BigRedX

[quote name='6feet7' timestamp='1456320737' post='2987781'] Actually, just forget the YOB bass and look at Simon Farmer's new GUS G5 basses. Far more your style. [/quote] If I just wanted a fantastic new bass, as I said in HKH's thread I'd just get Simon to make me another G3 5-string the same as my black one but with a couple of extra pickup switching options and a more flamboyant finish. I just like the idea of being able to have a bass that I find usable that is as old as me. Particularly since my very first ever bass - the Burns Sonic - is very close to that.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1456322042' post='2987805'] How annoying - all the companies I thought of which haven't been mentioned started making basses in 1961! [/quote] That's pretty much it. All the interesting stuff starts from 1961 onwards. Still trying to see if Gretch were making basses in 1960 and if so which models.

[quote name='Shambo' timestamp='1456318094' post='2987725'] Fuuturama/Resonet? Never seen one but just throwing it out there. [/quote] I used to own a 60s Futurama Bass as a back up to my Burns Sonic. It was all plastic and red vinyl over plywood and looked pretty impressive. Unfortunately it was probably the worst playing and sounding bass I've ever owned. I won't be going there again.

[quote name='cybertect' timestamp='1456316383' post='2987690'] If you like more than four strings, you might consider the Hofner 500/10 six string bass - production began in 1960, so you might find one of the correct vintage [url="http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/hofnerfs/mground/6stb.html"]http://www.vintageho...round/6stb.html[/url] [/quote] That definitely looks like an option. My quick skim through the vintage Hofner pages hadn't turned this one up.

[quote name='keefbaker' timestamp='1456312491' post='2987617'] Get an upright maybe? Bound to have been a lot of those made then and playing uprights is a ton of fun. [/quote] I've dabbled with upright basses both acoustic and electric over the years enough to know that they are not for me.

Following HkH's thread on getting a bass for his birthday, many of the people saying that they's like a YoB bass and my initial response, it got me thinking: was there actually a bass made in 1960 that I'd like to own? These days I'm pretty much a 5-string player (and have been since 1989) so whatever I got would never be my main bass; and since I had a big clear out of my unused musical equipment over the last few years, if I was going to buy a YoB bass it would need to be something that would actually play for more than a bit of fun at home. If I was looking at getting a guitar there wouldn't be any problem. Aside from the Telecaster (IMO the world's most boring guitar) pretty much anything from 1960 that was playable and sounded good would be fantastic. However the bass guitar being a much younger instrument, the options are far more limited. Unfortunately the obvious choices from Fender - the Precision and Jazz don't do anything for me. Aside from the fact that I find them dull to look at, years of playing basses that have owed almost nothing to Leo's "classic" designs means that for me, they are unwieldy and uncomfortable to play. And while a decent 1960 P or J will undoubtably increase in value, as I said, for a YoB bass I want something that I'm actually going to do something with other having it sit under the bed in its case as an investment. So what about the choices from the other big manufacturers of the time? Gibson? The Thunderbird didn't come out until 1963, the violin-shaped EB1's original production run stopped in 1959. AFAICS that leaves the EB0 and the EB2. Both could be possibilities, especially the EB0 since the 1960 model still had the Les Paul TV style body rather than the more usual SG shape. Rickenbacker? The 4001 was introduced in 1961 so that's out, There was the 4000, but TBH while it is definitely unusual, it looks too much like something made at home by someone who saw a photo of a 4001 once. Too may of what I consider the classic features of the Rikenbacker bass are absent, and the overall design doesn't have the elegant looks of the later model. I supposed the other well-known brand of the time would be Hofner. The guitars are gorgeous, but the closest I've ever got to one of their basses was in the 80s playing a house-mates very horrible Grant violin bass copy. The 500/1 violin bass is a bit too obvious for me. However the 500/3 and particularly the 500/5 two pickup bass look rather tasty. Were there any other Hofner basses being made in 1960? What else? It looks as though Mosrite didn't start making basses until 1963. There appear to be some Kay Basses that might have been made in 1960 - the 162 and the Jazz Special Bass, both of which look cool but how good are they as playable bass guitars? Of course there is always Burns. I already own a Burns bass from the early 60s - a Sonic, but despite the fact that they were being made in 1960, mine almost certainly dates from later in the production run since it has features (rosewood fingerboard and it originally sported a Burns adjustable bridge) that weren't present on the earliest versions. Besides it has been so heavily modified in the intervening years that IMO it would no longer really count even had it been made in 1960. My Sonic Bass needed a quite a bit of work to make it a playable instrument, so I'm not sure if I could get on with the more primitive 1960 model. The other Burns bass from 1960, however, does look rather good as it was more up-market in it's design and construction and it is a long scale unlike most non-Fender basses of the time. Which brings me to a big problem. Researching the age of my Burns Sonic Bass, made me realise how lucky Fender owners are with their neck and body stamps. Burns instruments didn't sport serial numbers until late 1961, and instruments with set-neck construction had the serial number/date on a sticker. The best I can say about mine was that it was made sometime between 1960 and 1964, most likely in the latter years of the production run. Added to that that, the fact that record keeping was a low priority of many of the smaller companies and most of them went out of business at some point with a subsequent loss of whatever record had been kept, and you can see that accurately dating an instrument from that period becomes very nearly impossible. One of the instruments I have been keen to try for some time now is the re-issue of the Fender Bass VI. Which got me thinking - when was the original first made? It turns out that it's much older than I originally thought, the first models appearing in 1961 and more importantly that it was inspired by a much earlier Danelectro 6-string bass. So a Danelectro Longhorn 6-stringbass is a strong possibility. Especially since it appears to be able to accurately date them from the serial number. Are there any other basses that I should be looking at? 1960 appears to be just too early for all the weird designs that were popular a few years later. I'm looking for something a bit unusual design-wise but it needs to be playable and verifiable to 1960. Ideas?

[quote name='colgraff' timestamp='1456272750' post='2987382'] In some undefined way, a (subjectively) cool bass plays better than an uncool one. I don't know why, but it does. [/quote] Of course it does. A bass you like will inspire you to pick it up and play it.

If only it was rack mounting and fully programmable...

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1456182894' post='2986463']...if you were given the choice of one new (to you) bass that there was a little bit of pressure on you as being a keeper, then what would it be? [/quote] That's a difficult one. I'm not really bothered about having a YoB bass and besides no-one was making basses back in 1960 that I'd want to be using now. Also having had a very serious clear out of all the basses that I've bought over the last 15 years and don't really use, I'm actually very happy with the few that that I've kept So... Either get Warwick to make me a custom shop version of my MiK Starbass with the few little niggles I don't like about mine sorted out - mainly doing something about the horrible paddle-shaped headstock so it is more in keeping with the rest of the design of the bass, and then having it finished in sparkle flames. Or... Another Gus G3 exactly the same as my black one, but with a few more pickup switching options, and a more flamboyant finish.

To me the apparent "loss of venues" looks like inertia on the part of the bands who find that the places they used to play have gone and they don't seem to have to drive to go out and find the ones that have replaced them. As I said in the post earlier in this thread, the venues that were active in the 80s when I first moved to Nottingham are not the same venues that are putting on gigs now. And having thought about the bands that I was in previously, the venues that we were playing out of town (with just a single exception) are not the same venues that The Terrortones play now when we go to those same towns/cities. And why should they be?

I've got SD mini humbuckers on my custom Fretking Esprit. They sound great to me.

As others have said don't bother with a reserve price - just start the auction at the lowest price you are prepared a accept for the item. Also No PayPal for collection - cash only. I'd also add that by having collection only you are seriously limiting your potential market. Maybe living in London it won't be such a problem but for me the whole point of using eBay is that I can advertise what I have for sale to a world-wide audience.

[quote name='keefbaker' timestamp='1455890674' post='2983351'] How does look affect your bass? [/quote] Massively. I would never be seen playing a bass that I didn't love the look of. And IMO most basses sound perfectly decent within a band mix, so as long as it wasn't uncomfortable to play and the sound had some life to it, I would be perfectly happy if I thought it looked great. I haven't voted because I don't think any of the options adequately reflect how I feel about the first two basses and the poll won't let me vote in only one category. Out of the three options I'd probably happy with the last bass provided they were they right sort of skull inlays.

If you are looking to keep the maximum possible re-sale value for this bass then anyone who is pedantic enough to want original pots will probably also want original un-altered pots and will most likely be unimpressed by the fact that at one point the original pot as been swapped out, so even replacing the changed pot with a working one of the correct year will not satisfy them as the solder connections will no longer be original. In that case your only option would be to replace the whole of the electronics from the pickup to the output jack with a period correct unaltered set from another P-Bass. Alternatively you could leave the bass as it is with the new working pot and keep the original faulty pot in case you ever want to sell the bass.

I like the way it says "Moserite Of America" on the headstock, but has "Made In Japan" on the heel...

[quote name='Lw.' timestamp='1455488675' post='2979615'] Music brand related clothing is never cool. Wear a band T-shirt if you must but preferably only on Friday's & even then its still debatable. [/quote] This x1000.

[quote name='largo' timestamp='1455448220' post='2979106'] Thanks for the replies, I can't replace the strips as I would need to drill out the rivets and then redo them. I don't have that sort of kit, unfortunately. I'm going to try drilling a single hole, punched a guide hole already so keeping my fingers crossed. Unless anyone else has any suggestions. Cheers again for the speedy replies. [/quote] I had a similar situation many years ago with a rack unit, and was able to replace the rivets on the old rack strip with nuts and bolts on the sliding strip - all I needed was a drill and suitable metal bits to drill off the rivet heads and then drill through the new aluminium strip to take the bolts. About 30 minutes work in total and it gave me a lot me flexibility about mounting the gear with regards to spacing for ventilation.

Replace the rack mounting stops with [url=http://www.adamhall.com/en/ah_19_Parts_6162_-_Sliding_Rack_Strip_System_with_rubber_Insert_aluminium_90_U.html]these sliding versions[/url]. Then it doesn't matter where the mounting holes in the equipment is.

What are you going to do about the frets when they wear out?

Why do you want to refit the original pot? Is a vintage bass? The most common reason for pots to fail is because the carbon track becomes worn, and if this is the case then it will need to be replaced, which would involve opening the pot up. This will be noticeable no matter how skilful and careful the person doing the work is and will still result in a non-original part. If you want to restore the bass back to all period correct parts you are better off looking for another pot of the correct type and age that is still in full working order.

Second hand Roland GP8. Effectively 8 Boss pedals (wah/auto-wah, compressor, overdrive, distortion, phaser, EQ, delay, chorus/flanger) in a programmable 1U rackmount unit. All the effects except the delay and chorus/flanger are analogue. You do need the FC100 MkII foot controller and an expression pedal to get the best out of it, but it does allow all the effects on simultaneously if you have a sound that requires it. Also has an external loop between the EQ and delay sections to allow more routing options. Even has rudimentary MIDI. Built like a tank. Getting on for 30 years old and still going strong. I'm on my second one only because I sold my original GP8 to a guitarist I was in a band with and when the band split up realised that I needed to get another one. Not to be confused with the seemingly more versatile GP16 which sounds rubbish.

Used in the way that it was originally intended as a showcase for new works it's a great idea. We've used it in the past to host private links to review copies of our releases, which certainly saves on bandwidth from our own site. However they didn't adequately police what people were unloading, and suddenly found themselves hit for royalty demands for hosting and streaming copyright works. I believe that they have recently come to some agreement with the PRS which may well be the root of the current financial troubles. From what I've read they have no-one but themselves to blame.

For songs that will be presented to a band I never record anything when I'm at the writing stage as it tends to set the parts in stone too much. If I can't remember the part I play (most likely the bass) then it probably wasn't good enough in the first place. For the other parts I might have ideas but I would prefer the other musicians to put their own twist on them rather than slavishly copying me which is what tends to happen IME with recorded "demos".

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1455196412' post='2976913'] When was this? How old were you? I can imagine that if you're 16-18 and half the class at school are looking for a band who'll gig their 18th Birthday for free, or for free beer, you can get away with it. Iike Sausage, above, I'm 56. I've never gigged. I started bass when I was 50. My repertoire is negligible. Most bands expect a 56 year old to be seasoned musician. It's fine thinking you can busk through with roots and 5ths, but unless you can get the right genre on the play-list you'll struggle to make covers sound right, surely? You may be ok with 12-bar blues, but funk is going to be something of a challenge. My day job has me getting up at 6am and I don't get finished until 8-9pm some nights and I can't plan when those nights are going to be. So rehearsals are always going to be at weekends; when most bands want to be gigging.... now it's me feeling like I'm going no where! And that's why I play weird stuff (for a bass player) at home. [/quote] I'm 55 and my repertoire is still negligible. I can play the 20 or so songs that the current Terrortones set is made up from, and right now if I concentrated very hard might be able to busk my way through another 20 or so of the hundreds that that I've learnt (or written) over the past 40+ years that I've been playing. However unless the music was extremely technically challenging I'm sure I could come up with something half-way decent in a couple of goes jamming with a new band. Also even though I've been playing for a long time I'm still at best a technically average player. I'm sure that a lot of people doubting their abilities in this thread can far outplay me, and so if I can be in a good band pretty much anyone can!

Are you in a band? If not join one now!