drTStingray

PS if I bought used, it would have to have exactly the spec of @TrevorR 's Wal with book matched ribboned top (in fact if I ordered a new one I would ask for exactly that!!).

So on the general question of build times extending (in general) I don't know if anyone's suspected that this may have been affected just a bit (or maybe a great deal) by Covid. On the question of prices, as we know there is an economic crisis in most industries and everywhere in the world - as a completely unrelated example, I like making pasta sauce but for about six weeks or two months couldn't get hold of either pasta or tinned chopped tomatoes - I can get both now but the tinned tomatoes are now £1 per tin - I seem to remember them being 30 odd pence a tin not long ago - hmmmm I wonder why 🤔 So I'm not entirely sure why everyone has overlooked or is surprised the supply and pricing of our favourite instruments have not remained immune from these unprecedented external influences? Ps I've also been thinking of ordering a Wal and it too will have to be a mk1..... the mk2 and mk3s are wonderful basses but for me a Wal is a 4 string mk1, no matter how irrational that idea is 😬 Looks like I'd better hurry up and place an order!!

But that's not true is it - the OP sent it 6th July - the thread has been running for 17 days with numerous members wading in with their own impressions of the supplier's standards of customer service and everything else - so it is Basschat members who've dragged his name through the mud in reality? I'm still astonished that for an issue that's happened during Covid lockdown (the OP was 3rd July) not anyone has even recognised that this might have been a factor in lowering customer service standards - considering virtually everyone on this forum is not performing currently because of Covid, do you not recognise every business, everywhere is affected to one level or another. I'm not sure why this is surprising in sons ways as a similar lack of awareness seems to be applying on Talkbass as well 😮 I agree though that the supplier's response has apparently been lamentable.

They're few and far between used 😏 Anyone who thinks they can resist the sparkle - this is my 4HH - that colour has an ebony board and black hardware. It's just about 2 yrs old now - weighs around 8 lbs. That said, the silver's v nice @BassApprentice How are you getting on with the SR5 Specials, @Old Horse Murphy ?

I don't know much about this case but surely the current 'unprecedented' times might have an influence - one only has to look around to see household names cutting back on retail outlets and others going into receivership. At this time I would not expect anything like normal service unless I was buying something which was already in stock in a retail outlet or on line store. That doesn't excuse the issues here but I suspect it has a bearing on it. Just remember that musical instruments are classed as luxury goods and usually the industry demonstrates that when a recession starts - we are entering/already in the mother of all economic crises so problems should not be totally surprising.

Great - remember to post some pics when you get it 👍

Congratulations on your new basses. I would echo what you've said about the Specials - I've got two as well, a 4 and a 5 - both are very light, both HH configuration and have bright colours - the 4 being that same Aqua sparkle - it's a great colour - I've had them nearly two years now and am still very smitten - the aqua sparkle looks absolutely great (v nice under lights) - as Musicman colours go probably only second to the fuschia sparkle offered on Bongos (as well as Aqua sparkle) for in your face beauty!! 😬 I agree as well on 5 strings - whilst I got into them to play Stevie Wonder stuff I also couldn't be without a 4, so I've I have, and play both in rotation. I've recently been re-learning/practicing Stevie stuff (Boogie on Reggae Woman; Higher Ground and You Haven't Done Nothin') - I prefer playing all of them on 5 string owing to the keys or voicing. I don't quite agree on your comment about the pre Special MM SR5 being boomy or thin - my (quite weighty) natural ash SR5H sounds fat and punchy - I reckon the ceramic pick up, coil switching, 3 band EQ with high pass filter all contribute - the 2 band Classic Ray can be boomy (no high pass filter) dependent on location/ room dynamics and settings (and if the PA operator is too tuned in to sub frequencies rather than mid for bass guitar....). What songs will you be playing in the new 80s band - I must admit I really like 80s stuff as well.

I'm astonished no one has picked up on the requirement for singers to have a 3m exclusion zone around them (unless people stand back to back, for instance if you have two singers) - same for brass! And that's outdoors (I think)! 😧 The virus is still around running at 650 new cases a day in the uk. Below is the data by age and sex - quite startling really. And if you're in the US the deaths are on the up again Just saying - you sometimes get the vibe the problem is over 😐

The Ray4 (cheapest version) and Ray 24 both have 38 mm wide necks at the nut (this is similar to a US Sterling or US Ray with the SLO special neck) - the Ray 34 has a 43 mm wide neck at the nut (as per US Stingray, US Sub). The Ray4 has a surprisingly wide range of colour options.

Absolutely - vintage guitar prices are stratospheric compared with basses - 50s Strats are also silly money. Just shows that groupie was right - on this basis the guitarist (or at least their vintage guitar) is worth more than 10 times the value of the most expensive bass!!

You've probably picked one polar opposite here - early stack knob Fender Jazzes have some of the highest values of all vintage basses (but apparently quite reasonable compared to some vintage guitars)!! Vintage Fender Precisions are usually less valuable than a Fender Jazz from the same era (the stack knob Jazzes are really outliers in terms of value). I agree that perusing vintage instruments can really be quite a dangerous pastime for your finances, Ive been tempted more than once!! I've not succumbed so far, only having relatively new basses.

Worked fine on my v old iPhone too - i got 12/15 - got the double bassist wrong and a couple of others (black single pick up plus one other which I can't remember)!

I have less of a problem with the 'professional' question (several in the band I'm in are fully pro, and we are indeed doing it for gain) than I have with the requirement for:- 1) Singers to be at least 3 m from other band members and the audience. 2) Wind instrument players having the same distancing requirement So that's the front line being spread over 6 m laterally (over 18ft in old money), which is clearly not going to happen in a pub garden (our gig a week Saturday). An alternative is for two of them to stand back to back - reducing the spacing requirement. Similarly the band will need a depth of 6m to accommodate two lines of players and a drummer (we all also sing) - an alternative is for none of the second row or drummer to sing - or the drummer could face the back...... All sounds quite difficult to me. 😧

I don't know - you'll need to look on their web site for the specs and also could look at Musicman to compare. Certainly the Ray 34 has a neck very similar to the MM Stingray, if not the same. The discontinued Ray34 CA had a narrower neck profile, so it's possible the Ray 24 has (as I say, worth checking before you commit. A used Ray 34 or Ray 34CA would be another option. Let us know what you decide, with some pics 👍

The Ray 24 is a budget version of a 2 band Stingray - it has an improved bridge and other fittings over the SBMM Sub, which is more of an entry level bass. They both have a 2 band EQ with ceramic pick up - which will mean they will produce a punchy sound. I read some while back that the EQ for the Ray 24 was based on the Musicman Old Smoothie EQ. I think the Ray 24 also has a slab body (similar to the Musicman Stingray Classic). Both will give you a sound similar to a US Musicman (watch juliaplaysgroove on You Tube - she uses an SBMM Sub on a lot of videos and sound great). An alternative would be a used USA Sub - these are quite sought after and basically a slab bodied, 2 band US built Stingray with cheaper finish (textured paint on the body, black painted neck, non Musicman stamped tuners (but basically the same standard). They were only made between 2003-6 (as 4 string and 5 string - beware - some are passive - an active would be required to get the full Stingray sound).

The main thing in the section 4 guidance concerns singers and wind instruments (other instruments don't have the following requirement) - it says where there are no other mitigating measures, there should be at least 3 metres between a singer or horn player and audience or other group member (it calls them team but is obviously generic, covering for instance choirs as well) - this all presumes outdoor performance as well. As we all do backing vocals, the drummer may have to forego his mike or set up facing backwards 😁😂 (he is quite loud) - I think the back line probably will all have to forgo backing vocals and leave that to the two singers with the sax player alongside them at the front - and all of us as far apart as possible (3m) and at least 3 m from the audience. And at a reasonably low volume (to avoid people shouting to speak). As its in a pub garden this is all going to be very interesting..... Not for 10 days yet!!

Now come on - it's not signing for receipt of gig money 😂 Seriously, I've been to three places since the relaxation, a pub (for lunch), an ice cream type cafe and a barbers - all three took names and phone numbers and I just added mine to what appeared to be a legit list each time - I was impressed that the pub had security people and a reception type person - you couldn't go past the entrance (we got an outside table) until there was a socially distanced table free and you were taken to it. I noticed the non socially distanced queue outside Wetherspoons when I drove past Friday evening... However, Im still not 100% on this gig we have booked (outside - birthday party) - we've had no sensible answer from the venue about distancing measures etc.

This is absolutely true - in fact this is largely the reason for 5 string basses becoming popular - there was a time in the early 80s when bassists and especially drummers were running very scared that keyboards and drum machines were taking a lot of the work. (Producers loved drum machines as many live drummers were unable to avoid plastering fills everywhere - whilst many got replaced in semi pro bands for the same reason and the fact many social clubs got noise detectors which many drummers were incapable of not setting off, cutting off the electricity and wrecking the guitarist's expensive valves - plus one less person to share the fee with 😏) 5 strings have been ideal for that keyboard based work from the 80s and 90s and even up to date, much theatre music is written with 5 string in mind. So maybe 5 string basses helped to repell the keyboard onslaught in the 80s. It's only in the last 20-25 yrs that 4 string basses have become universally popular again, in some ways eventually regressing to where bass was in the late 60s!! Bass actually became a sexy instrument in the later 70s - Jaco/Stanley and others!! Definitely horses for courses - I'm happy to use a 5 string on any gig - they help with their 2 octaves over 5 frets ability - plus being the brass section's friend by being able to agree on playing a number of Stevie Wonder songs in the correct key (Eb), rather than the guitarist's favourite - E (which prevents proper bass voicing on a 4 string unless it's down tuned!!). I'd say it's given us a lot of flexibility where required or desired. I wouldn't be without one (or a 4 string; or a fretless....) 😄

My first gig is two weeks Saturday - an outdoor private party at a country pub with social distancing - we might have to put our sax player and singers being plastic screens though hahaha!! Seriously, I shall be aiming to stand behind where they are and might wear a face covering. And staying at least 1 metre from any band mates. Im sort of looking forward to it.

Jethro Tull - Living in the Past - it's in 5/4 All the more extraordinary in 1969 as it got into the UK singles top 10 (3) and US top 20.

Whilst respecting your view on this, I think you've defined the exact reason why it should be scratch plate - attracts the scratches instead of the body. I don't ever use a pick but all of my basses have scratch plates - all of which have worn and scratched areas where my fingers and nails wear at it - just an observation - the popping of slap and pop does this quite heavily in one area near the neck joint (in fact it affects the bodies of my basses beyond even the scratch plate)!!

Are the Greek and Latin influences the eastern part? Presumably the western is John Wayne, Bill Gates, Ronald McDonald et al?? 😂 I'm sure terms like McDelivery and McSalad will soon, if they haven't already enter the Oxford English Dictionary!!! Im afraid I'm very old fashioned - the language is English and a region of the country is England - hence..... English (US) is a special language enabling use of different versions and spellings of words without invoking the dreaded auto correct. It's wierd there aren't different words for frets, necks, bridges and other paraphernalia on guitars but there don't seem to be!! Or are there 🤔😀

Is she perhaps referring to it as an analogue version of the computer software item we have all come to love (and curse when the item you want isn't there and you can't write the correct one in because the field doesn't let you)? Anyone come across the term 'granularity' - seemingly originated in Silicon Valley but now misused by all and sundry in my industry - so when you hear 'those drawings need more granularity' it doesn't mean darker coffee cup stains - it means detail!! Looking at something in more detail is now obtaining more granularity - even Matt Hancock on a Covid 19 tele briefing referred to more granular data 😁 But why not say detail?? Definitely puke worthy. I blame Susie Dent and the panel for letting really silly words into the Oxford English Dictionary.

I'm British and to me it's scratchplate (even though all my basses were built in the US so all the terminology is non UK - eg tuning peg, not machine head etc etc. I'm not sure if they call a body a cadavre or not 😧 haven't tried to order a replacement yet 😂😂). Anyhoo I'm sort of cool with either as electric basses and guitars generally originated in the US. If my plumber starts referring to those things in the bathroom and kitchen as fawcetts I will have to do the old reminding routine (the English invented er English) 😀 This takes me back to an interesting story I was once told by a security adviser to HM Government I know that on presenting to US officials some of the UKs research into certain types of security measure the US guys objected to the names (they were worried about double entendres of the type which would class as a very indirect item in a Carry On Film - the sort you might suddenly get when you hear it for the twentieth time over a period of decades) - so sought to change the names - the UK contingent pointed out who had actually invented the language hahaha 😂👍 and it wasn't Bill Gates etc etc!!

V interesting - thanks for that - and also shows why moving the controls back towards centre of the range boosts apparent mid range. (It shows why the 3 band is different - enables mid boost in the scenario with bass and treble full - to get rid if the mid scoop if wanted - plus the high pass reduces the boost sub 40 hz). The P will probably feel less balanced owing especially to the difference in headstock design/length/tuning peg placement. 9lbs is not heavy though.... My US Sub 5 is so light the neck dives (not noticeable on a strap or sat down playing - only if you balance the bass on your leg sat down and let go with your hands - it will gradually tip over!!)