GuyR

I have an A5 fretless - It's easy to play and sounds much better than the mid-range price would suggest. I'd swap it for a Rick Turner renaissance bass any day. Or, following my usual pattern, find a spurious justification for keeping both.

Signed. 8000+ now

I have a fretless A5. Great sound, brilliant for noodling unplugged, very good value second hand.

Have a top quality tech like Martin Petersen look at it and do the work if required - a well respected name for the refret is reassuring for buyers. I bought the bass you alluded to in your post for £6500, the fact it was refretted bothered me not in the least as all else was in order and it is a fantastic player. Any bass worth playing will eventually need refretting, so I see it as a wear and tear item. I have two other pre cbs Jazz basses, one with the original frets, which is the least good of the three. Great player 100% Original finish, original components are my criteria. Missing covers, finger rest, few wrong screws, wrong case, I can live with. Chiliwailer is absolutely correct in his post

I noticed that one just after it had finished. If it is real, I hope the seller never finds out what he was selling - that would really take the gloss off your day...........

Two come to mind - Quite recently an early 70s fretless Jazz bass modified with an extended fingerbard by Ned Callan and formerly owned by Dill Katz, which I had seen played live on many occasions - on ebay with starting price of £600 it received no bids. I phoned the seller the day after the auction finished and it had just been picked up. Turned out it was only two miles away. Gutted. Oh, and there was a '66 sunburst Telecaster I had on long-term loan, for which I couldn't find the £180 my friend wanted.

Bravewoods were £1500 when I bought my last one - still good value for bespoke. I did manage to buy another for £1000 second hand. Never tried limelight, but Bravewoods are v good.

Happy to send a picture, but no idea how to post one. If someone doesn't mind sending me a message with their email address, I'll be please to send an image.

I ordered a stack-knob jazz in surf green, aged white guard ,matching headstock and one-piece maple neck. Very happy with the result. You won't regret ordering

Headphones 100%. There is absolutely no justification for upsetting your neighbours. Your idea of what is loud and your neighbour's are likely to be different and ultimately, it is the opinion of the party suffering nuisance that is important, because they are the ones suffering stress and anguish, whereas the only stress you have to endure is to plug your headphones in.

John Elliott is advertising a '66 slab-body precision relic on his site, no pictures yet

I had a bass de-fretted at Andy's in Denmark St in about 1985, rare bass, regretted it ever since. Don't do it. I had it re-fretted at the Gallery. Super job but still not the same bass as before. Buy a spare neck if you have to, but why not use the best excuse to buy a new bass. You know it makes sense...

I have two Bravewoods - A Strat I bought second hand (Second hand seems an odd concept when describing a reliced guitar) and a Jazz bass. I ordered that new (surf green matching headstock, stack knob, one piece worn maple neck) and have had it for a year or so. Both are fantastic sounding resonant instruments that really have a convincing aged feel about them. They do not look out of place next to pre cbs originals. I think £1500 is good value for a properly hand-made custom instrument, I would have no hesitation in ordering another.

I have been trying to wear in my JVs or the last 30 years, but they still look exactly the same, despite my best efforts, due to the bomb-proof finish. I like my Bravewoods.

I have always tried every example of the bass in the shop, including whatever they would admit to having in stock. I'd much rather have the bass I preferred, even if it is the display model.

If you customise your Fender bass by less than10% you don't need planning permission, but you will need a Building Regulations certificate, issued once it has been inspected by your local Council. This does not apply if you modify it in a conservation area, in which case you will need the permission of the Conservation Officer. Pre-CBS basses are usually listed Grade II, and protected by English Heritage, which means it is a criminal offence to modify them

Bit of bog reading bumpf....No.2 is interesting to me as Tony was a friend of my fathers, I used to drool over his cars when he popped over when I young 'un! Surprisingly few boutique bass in there, with most being mass produced fodder. - About four years ago, I was lucky enough to be looking around Ronnie Lane's Mrs' loft -long story- and came across the (sadly empty) case for a Zemaitis acoustic bass. I wonder whether it was one of these

Aside from the customer service issues, and how the relic'ing feels and looks, what are they like to play? Like Mr Police Squad says, Bravewoods are lovely to play. My experience is they have a convincing authentic vintage feel about them, particularly the feel of the neck which is quite inspiring to play.I was also keen on the idea of having a bespoke build for a reasonable price, financially the ballpark equivalent of a second hand CS. I wanted a 1960 spec Jazz, in distressed surf green, matching headstock and a one-piece dirty-looking maple neck - not likely to pop up second hand. A 2nd hand CS, having already had its initial depreciation in value is a safer financial bet perhaps, as Dingus says, but I tend to buy as a consumer, and never sell basses, so it didn't concern me. I note there have been customer service issues, but my experience has been all good. Sadly I'm too much of a luddite to upload a picture.

i have 2 Bravewoods -one is a giutar i bought 2nd hand which gave me confidence in ordering a jazz bass. The ageing and finishing is as good as anything out there and better than the Fender equivalent, I think. In particular the impression of wear on the neck is very impressive. I have original '62 and '65 custom - colour jazz basses and it doesn't look, or play like an impostor. The customer sevice aspect of the order was fine and the bass was delivered on time. You get the impression from the website that John probably doesn't have much patience with time-wasters or high maintenance customers As production is tiny,they seem to hold a good proportion of their value as well.

John has also just done a build for me, fabulous bass ( beaten-up stack-knob jazz in surf green with matching headstock and one-piece maple neck) I get the impression he wants to avoid high maintenance customers. He's a nice guy and very straightforward to deal with. On the subject of JVs I agree with Dingus they are overpriced. I have 3, but was furtunate enough to buy new, having tried every one for sale in Denmark St. There was a wide variation of sound, feel and especially weight. JVs were very well received because they were a quality product (like Tokai) at the tail-end of the period of poor-quality copies and even poorer-quality USA originals. Having said that, I'm in no hurry to sell....

[url="http://i1058.photobucket.com/albums/t418/Guycrussell/Basses021.jpg"]http://i1058.photobu...l/Basses021.jpg[/url]" Hopefully have uploaded photos of an (almost) matching pair. Apologies to all if the link is not correctly uploaded

+1 for the sessionette 100w 4x10 I loved mine. Thought it might make me sound like Dill Katz. Apparently you need talent too.