neepheid

42 minutes ago, Clarky said:

My left hand, which I damaged in a horse accident in 2023, has regained a decent amount of mobility in the past year and my main issue nowadays is a degenerative neck condition (which could also have been hastened by aforementioned accident). So a long scale bass is now more comfortable for me (I have been using short scales almost exclusively) ... but it has to be super light. I spotted this Fender Traditional 60s P bass at FenderFever and it stated an amazing weight of 7.6 pounds. I asked them to double check and they confirmed. So I snaffled it and installed a DiMarzio DP122 creme pickup for the full Martyn P Casey of the Bad Seeds look. Very happy with it. No band at present but, when I get back in the saddle (obvs not a horse one), it should be very gig friendly.

Sorry to hear of your woes but glad to hear that you're recovering.  Just thought I'd mention that the new Sire models with the 6 designation (V6, P6, M6) which were unveiled at NAMM are designed specifically to be lightweight - based upon their blurb - "The 6-series models are focused on being lightweight (under 8 lbs. based on a 4-string variant) and playable while retaining the signature qualities of Sire's best-sellers. Based on our 4-string samples, the weights are 7 lbs 14 oz and 6 lbs 15 oz."

Read your post and thought it might be relevant and of interest...

5 minutes ago, ProjeKtWEREWOLF said:

My location tends to limit my ability to buy in person though. 

Hold my beer...

3 minutes ago, NickA said:

Still won't get me trading in my Wal for a G4M     🙂  (or 40 of them at todays prices  😮 ) 

Something tells me that you're not the target market...

There are many reasons why things happen the way they do RE: "upgrades"

Take the Babicz bridge I put on my Epiphone Les Paul bass.  I was doing the whole "black and gold" thing so was doing gold hardware.  Trouble is, you can't get a gold three point bridge for love nor money.  Hen's teeth second hand, and Gibson/Epiphone won't sell them to you, despite them being used on a current product (the Rumblekat).  So because I wanted the project to finish before I die, I got a gold Babicz bridge.  I don't even like the Babicz bridge - I think it's an overengineered, steampunk monstrosity, but at the time it was cheaper than the Hipshot.

As for the stock, chrome three point bridge - I gave that FOC to a Basschatter to breathe life back into a Westbury bass whose bridge appeared to have been made from cheese.

If I ever was to sell that bass, I would just describe it how it is now and leave it up to the prospective buyer if they agree with the value I assign it.

Oh and the last time I replaced a bridge, it was because there was an annoying rattle coming from one of the intonation screws.  Probably only an acoustic thing that would not have been heard over the amp, but it still bugged the living excrement out of me (as I do enjoy a lazy boi unplugged noodle).

2 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

Interesting. I would lump them all under "modified" just based on my personal experience over the years. I've never (from memory) had a bass that had tuners and a bridge that didn't do what they were designed to do. My issue if I had one had always been some other aspect. Again this is only my experience. I don't play and hold notes long enough for sustain to be a concern of mine. I understand this is one reason for bridge swaps.

Well, lucky you

On 21/02/2025 at 15:29, NickA said:

To be fair they winge about fancy basses too.  The warwick I bought from here a few years ago came beautifully setup, with an action so low I couldn't play it 😂.  Job 1, jack all the strings up.

 

Does anyone pull a bass out it's box and expect it to be perfect for them straight away?

 

Whatever your bass, it's always worth going over the setup now and then.  I reset the string heights, pickup heights and neck relief on my much used fretless Wal this week.   New bass!  Not sure why, as I doubt things drift much, maybe my playing style changed or the wood changed shape in the winter damp.....well worth it tho.

 

Still setup isn't everything and a pine body and poplar board are never going to feel or sound like mahogany and ebony.

You were doing so well, right up until then end!

As with most things, it depends. Normally I would agree with OP, but a counter example would be if I ever sold my G4M "rat" bass. I mean I'm keeping the Lace Aluma P, but I'm going to leave the Grover tuners I put on it. Not only was that a genuine upgrade versus the stock tuners but the stock tuners were so bad that I chucked them in the bin so that no other bass player ever has to encounter them again. I think I did the ecosystem a favour, personally

3 hours ago, lushuk said:

Thanks for the input guys, the item is several hundred quid ..... I would meet but we are at opposite ends of the Uk unfortunately, I'll maybe see if I can find some feedback , thanks again 

How "opposite" is opposite?  I'm at a pretty opposite end of the UK by any measure...

I ignore any part of a review which refers to setup out of the box - it's utterly irrelevant.  If you go through life expecting every bass you receive to be set up to your exact liking, especially at the price points being discussed here, you're going to be disappointed - a lot.  Either learn how to set up your instruments, or stop being a cheapskate and operate within the price points where you would expect this kind of service/attention to detail.

I suspect it's used in reviews as a cheap shot just so they can have something negative to say about otherwise perfectly serviceable instruments.

Dealing on here, feedback is the main driver.  I'll happily deal in bank transfer with a BCer who has a long and distinguished feedback thread, and being a long time and active contributor is also in their favour.  But you're right, there's zero protection, it's all on trust.  So if anything feels wrong, insist on something with a degree of protection - Paypal (regular, not Friends and Family) for example.

I can only speak for myself, but I have gone to great lengths to be a seller of good standing on here, even if I'm not super prolific.  It's not rocket science - take good photos, write accurate descriptions, package items well, and keep the buyer informed as things progress.  That's the way to get good feedback.

7 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

There's a couple of Spectre Sound Studio videos where Glenn demonstrates the total lack of difference in guitar pickups, while making absolutely and completely clear that he's talking about heavily distorted guitars playing metal. And yet he still gets people complaining that the pickups sound different when played without distortion, which wasn't his point.

 

Low End Lobster does a few comparisons between different ranges of bass with different pickups, eg the Ibanez EHB series with Bart BH2s on the low end ones and Nordstrands on the top of the range (although there's now another range with Fishman pickups), and also the same basses after he's changed the pickups. Pickups will colour the sound to a greater or lesser extent - I would say that the ideal is a pickup that doesn't significantly colour the sound, so you can add colour of your own. That means it's got to put out a full range of sound pretty evenly, not be weak at the bottom or top end, because you can always take away but you can't add what isn't there. Alternatively, you get a pickup which is pre-coloured the way you want it, though that then limits the range of sounds you can get from it.

With respect, I don't care about guitar stuff, and while Glenn is fun, Glenn is Glenn-ing all the way to the bank.  I do so enjoy his videos where he rips into the stupid comments he receives, but he also kinda has to make the comments happen, for the videos to happen?  LEL is quite the modder herself, if anything she's inspired me down the path of considered modding.  I mean there's no point if it doesn't bring anything new to the table, but I'm in the "it does, if you choose the right pickup" camp.

However, I rewatched the section about pickup swapping in the video we are discussing and I'm even more convinced that it was a myopic, awful example which has been spun out to mean all "swapping pickups BAD/POINTLESS", mostly because it was covering a quite complicated subject in a few minutes.

You make a fair point that we're all looking for different things, but how do you find out what you want?  Learn by doing, I say.

There's more to it than than just the pickup itself anyway - what if you swap from a 2 wire humbucker to a 4 wire humbucker to open up the possibilities of switching between parallel and series (or single coil)?  Is anyone going to seriously tell me that switching from series to parallel won't be detected by even the most uneducated of ears?  It'll even look different in the waveform.  Say what you want about that not strictly speaking the pickup per se, but you would have had to swap the pickup to open up these possibilities (or do some horrible, ill-advised surgery on the pickup you have).

The pickup swaps I've done which have made the most difference (while keeping within their criteria of the same form factor):

Epi Les Paul bass: stock pickups > EMG-HB > DiMarzio X2N-B

G4M "rat" bass: stock pickup > Lace Aluma P

Squier Jaguar H: stock pickup > Ibanez CAP quad coil double humbucker (as found in the ATK810 etc.)

Most disappointing swap ever has to be in my Sire D5 - I got the opportunity to try a Herrick multicoil pickup.  I was so disappointed - I had high hopes for this radically different pickup (one coil per string in a single coil P pickup package) and never mind the reduction in output (that's what the gain knob on your amp is for) it was so anonymous and flat sounding that it just made me miss the stock pickup in the D5 (which is mid focused to all hell and back, but at least it has character!)

And yes, live in a mix, bass be bassy, yo.  But I want my basses to have a punchy, thick sound, defined but loud bottom end, yet able to tease out highs when necessary.  EQ can only take you so far.  

TL:DR - I still think that portion of the video is lightweight in the extreme and sends a frankly incorrect, oversimplified message.  However, I do think that beginners shouldn't even be considering swapping pickups until they get good, because swapping a pickup isn't going to improve your playing one jot.  The bitter voice of experience talking here.  If that was the point of the video, then that's fair enough, but it could have been explained better.

Just now, Minininjarob said:

The video is clearly aimed at beginner to intermediate players. I have considered getting a QP but I won’t now cos I know it doesn’t make much difference. I’ve never heard of the pickups you mention and certainly don’t have the money to swap mine out just in case it might be better. 

It's experience which tells me whether or not a pickup will make a significant difference or not.  I just didn't appreciate the use of a pretty boring, edge example then just extrapolate that out to "all pickup swaps do eff all" type conclusion.  Absolute tosh.

But yes, your wallet will thank you for keeping out of it

Thorsten bought a G&L Tribute LB-100 from me.  Sound as a pound - respectful in the negotiations, prompt payment and communicative throughout.

Deal with confidence.

16 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

Is there a modern bass head or combo with integrated reverb? I hope not.

Well indeed, the little so-and-so will be off ordering cabs and basses as soon as you turn your back.

5 hours ago, PaulWarning said:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14411465/hated-delivery-firm-lose-22-000-parcels-today.html

Except for the fact that the Daily Fail is to news reporting what Evri is to delivering packages...

5 hours ago, herrlster said:

I was looking at getting a second for downtuning. The site says they have 5 in stock currently?

Are you looking at the same product as me?

1 minute ago, ezbass said:

I feel the gloves are off regarding encouragement and luring others into gear acquisition is now standard operating procedure.  

I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about...

8 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

Good point but they were really tatty by the time I'd done with them and I just wanted them out my life. You are right though 😉

That probably would have increased the value - flatwound players are a weird bunch...

14 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

I may get arrested for doing this but I finally put my TI Jazz flats in the bin. I installed and reinstalled them on various basses over the two years I owned them but I have to admit to not understanding the flatwound appeal compared to rounds. They're not the first I've tried but definitely the most expensive as I wrote in a previous post. 

You could have sold those!

11 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

That's where the attack and sizzle comes from. I really like these. Am I allowed to sort of like her music when I'm 55..?

Yes!  Why ask?

Goddamnit, jinxed it.  Can's been kicked down the road another couple of weeks

Just now, FretsOnFire said:

Still waiting on an item i returned to reach thomann and it's 2 weeks today since I sent the item back.

 

Starting to get a little worried now

Returns can take time, but they do eventually get there.  If you're worried, give them a prod.

42 minutes ago, RnRDave said:

 

Any update mate?

Changed to a new game - Groundhog Day - been "Fast delivery within approx. 4 business days" for about the past 4 days now.  TBF, the last email I got about a time change said the ETA was "week 8 2025" and we've just begun week 8, so hopefully it'll be soon...

I don't have any experience with the Spark, but as a former owner of the Mojomojo, I say it's a great OD pedal, very useable on bass despite its billing as a "guitar" pedal.  I had it as my main OD for years and only changed because of pedalboard consolidation (got a Joyo Monomyth which combines OD, EQ and DI in one package).

25 minutes ago, SimonK said:

 

I'm not haggling, and I'm not going anywhere near that sale thread - thing is I don't actually think that pedal is much good, or worth more than about £50 max, so if he can get three times that price good on him, although I suspect he will illustrate the OP's post. Thus said I'm not convinced the second hand market is any different from how it has always been - priced right anything will sell, priced wrong it won't. Mind you as time goes on I do think more and more music kit is becoming available second hand simply because more has been made over time. Thirty years ago it was all about Boss pedals and Fender guitars, now the options seem endless!

I never said you were, that's why I said "if" and "someone" - it's hypothetical.  I'm not accusing you of anything.