Bigwan

In a way everything I've ever sold... mostly because I lost money on them! Except the Wal and it was a total pig! Only bass I truly regret selling was an abused SQ Squier (only other bass I've made money on!). Looked like somebody had been trailing it round a car park by the strap, but it was light, resonant, nice neck and sounded glorious. Tried to buy it back but the guy was having none of it, and I don't blame him!

Come to me....

This is why I can't take anything BRX says seriously...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172528877300 Pickup only or I may have been tempted...

Get yourself a Vulkan Epi Brace to relieve the pain when using the arm (if you're on the border between 2 sizes go smaller rather than larger!), but other than the gentle exercises already mentioned, resting it is about all you can do in my experience. I have it in both elbows - not sure how I got it in my left elbow (certainly wasn't from playing tennis!), but it was the pull start on my father's hedge trimmer that did my right elbow in...

The bravado required to do the upper neck fretwork was definitely a product of one too many ciders, but worked a treat. Just 3 layers of masking tape on the 12th fret, marker the remaining frets and level until the top of the 13th fret is marker free. Since the frets were already leveled it only took a minute with the little leveling beam. Only issue I had with the whole fretwork process is my crowning file was brand new and a little vicious (and wasn't designed for wide jumbo frets like these) so I'm left with a few unsightly scratches near the base of the frets, but you'd only really notice if you went looking and it doesn't have any effect on the playing surface. A decent crowning file is on the shopping list for sure. I'd consider getting one of these just to stick a pair of chinese thunderbird replica pickups in.

I'm in the middle of fettling one of these as a gift. Out of the box the tuners felt awful, there were high frets all over the place and they felt rough when playing, the strings were binding on the string tree and the neck finish was so thin as to feel raw. Weight isn't bad, probably about 9.5-10lbs at a guess. Nut (although slightly too narrow for the width of the fretboard) is cut to the correct depth. Action is a little high, probably to compensate for the level of fretwork. A bit of a beast to play as a result, especially given the neck in the first position is fairly hefty! A set of Wilkinson tuners went on (after significant filing - still need a bit of lubrication), hipshot-esque string tree, a light level and crowning of the frets (my first attempt at this! Also got all Roger Sadowsky on it's ass and took progressively more off the frets after the 12th - seemed to work well), rolled the fingerboard edges a little with the shank of a screwdriver, polished up the neck with Kiwi mid tan shoe polish in an attempt to darken it down a bit (not sure it worked but it's taken the raw feel out of the equation), and a proper set up and you know what? Now it feels and plays brilliantly! Nice low action easily achievable. I may still replace the bridge with a Wilkinson as the current one looks and feels pretty cheap under adjustment. Probably needs shielding but I'm on a clock so that might have to wait. Would definitely recommend these if you have the time and inclination to do this level of work. As a confidence builder this wee project has been great. I've a couple of basses that need frets leveling so I'll not be frightened to tackle that sort of thing any more.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AMPEG-SVT3PROU-AMPLIFIER-32116-318-/182447598156?hash=item2a7ab96a4c:g:SaMAAOSwTglYmeuW

Who knows. Something to do with declared value perhaps. Never heard of anybody in the UK ordering from Prymax who did have to pay said fee...

[quote name='Osiris' timestamp='1486558519' post='3232734'] Just to clarify, are you saying if I buy from them I won't have to pay import duty on it? [/quote] [size=1]Yes... Shhh...[/size]

I have a Kala Exotic Mahogany and a deko HB. In all honesty I couldn't recommend the Kala at all. With the original strings on it it has a kind of charm, but putting better strings on reveals SERIOUS intonation issues. I've tried the pyramid roundwounds and a set of tapewounds and both are atrocious. I had seen a thread on that other bass forum where a few people complained of a similar issue that needed a bridge reset to fix. It's probably compounded by the common pickup issue mine also experiences - the pickup is epoxied to the underside of the bridge, but requires the whole unit to make contact to the body of the bass via the bottom of the bridge channel. Well epoxy doesn't leave a nice level surface and if it doesn't touch correctly you get dead strings. The E on mine is virtually inaudible. The Kala fix? Loosen the strings and pull/roll the saddle in the slot to seat it better... If I'd bought it myself it would have gone straight back for a refund, but it was a birthday present imported from the states... Other than a few sharp fret ends the HB is every bit as good to play. Doesn't look as pretty, but I can live with that...

[quote name='Osiris' timestamp='1486384914' post='3231259'] Cheers guys, I'll look into the Bearfoot. Bigwan, you mentioned in another thread about a [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]pedalparts clone of the Bluberry (presumably the original BJFE one?[/font][/color] [font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828]Is that the one you have? If it is, how do you get on with it? Would it meet my needs as in the first post? [/color][/font] [/quote] Yes it's one of the older style pedalparts kits that I hacked to BJFE specs. The kit has been updated so no hacking is now required, although I'm not sure if it's the Bearfoot or BJFE versions you can build with it. As Danny has said the standard BJFE is a little dark for my tastes (nothing a little EQ wouldn't fix) but being the tinkerer I am I made a few mods suggested by Josh Broughton (from that other bass forum) which brightened it up and made it a much more flexible pedal. As standard it's great, but the modded version is even better. I'd been meaning to get back to fiddling with the pedal and putting it in a bigger enclosure to allow me to add a few switching options and make the tone control a little more usable (a little nudge makes a huge difference and all the really nice sounds are between 9 and 2 o'clock), but I haven't got around to it just yet. Stacking my Blueberry clone and an Ashdown Lomemzo Hyperdrive makes for a really flexible drive section.

Doubt the body is either!

Looks-wise I couldn't agree more, but it prictice it counter the old P+J mix problem you here folk talk a lot about.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1486378186' post='3231169'] I have 2 PJ's (one I modded and one I bought) and IMO a PJ just sounds like a P with a bit more EQ. I have the J turned off on my Mike Lull PJ5 because it sounds better as a straight P. My Jazz basses and Lakland sound better than the PJ if I want that sound. I'll swim against the tide here and say I don't think a PJ is worth the mod. If you want to cover the sonic territory you still need a Jazz or another 2 pickup bass so adding a J to a Precision is just the sound equivalent of putting go faster stripes on it. If you have a P bass that sounds good, be happy with it. If you need a different sound, get another bass. Sometimes more is not better. [/quote] ...or go the ezbass RW with dual P route... https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site:+basschat.co.uk+ezbass+roadworn+dual&espv=2&biw=1536&bih=774&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi0mqGNp_vRAhWJ7SYKHbOKC2wQ_AUIBygC&dpr=1.25#imgrc=-eXEIvn3yoUPtM:

BJFE blueberry (or Bearfoot version as Danny suggests - slightly different feedback/tone circuit topology). The Mad Professor version is higher gain than either and does get into fuzzy territory.

I'd go with modding the RW myself. A bass you know and love. Adding a J probably wouldn't hurt resale if that was a concern.

Tom's great to work with. Worth the wait!

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1486109063' post='3229232'] This actually looks like a good cheap pedal for metal if you don't want to splash the cash: Joyo Orange Juice: [media]http://youtu.be/Uq9CDL4Jdyo[/media] [/quote] To me that sounds miles better than the Darkglass stuff, but I'd have to hear it with my own gear. I've been toying with buying myself one of these as a cheeky birthday present next month.