Jean-Luc Pickguard

normally that kind of plate is hiding chiselled out holes for extra pickups and electronics on overpriced examples of hacked up vintage basses on ebay so what it's doing on a production bass is anyone's guess. My guess is that as its a signature edition it is based on the plate of one of the artist's favourite basses - just as the Marcus Miller Fender Jazz had something slightly less extreme.

Kiss by Prince goes one better and uses a zero string bass

If you like the style of the klusons but don't fancy having a bass where the tuners turn the wrong way, Gotoh make a set of res-o-lites named GB640 which look very much like the klusons with the same footprint, but are precision made of ultra lightweight aluminium alloy and turn the same way as normal tuners. They have replaced hipshots as my favourite tuners and I think they look pretty cool on my thunderbirds.

The pickup looks like there's nothing to worry about - each is held by the two bolts either side & there's a spring to help set the height. It should be possible to get it to sit neatly with a little adjustment. The cracks look like they could be deeper than just the lacquer and even if there's currently no movement they might open up and cause issues further down the line. Personally I'd send it back.

If its so good then why's he selling it? If its not good enough for Bob Dylan, its not good enough for me.

It looks exactly how you'd expect it to look - a sunburst turntable

The Gibson Les Paul Junior Tribute DC Bass was another one that would have looked great were it not for a lazily designed pickguard that ruined the overall look. As this katana is a signature bass for some chap in Japan, perhaps he is to blame for the silly little pickguard - like when Kurt Cobain designed the the Jagstang by combining the shapes of two great loooking guitars and came up with something blobulent and hideous.

You really should get it out of the box to check that everything works as it should and it hasn't been damaged in transit.

Not sure what make this a status quo bass. At the moment it isn't really a bass as there's no way to tune the thing. The sticker is a nice touch though https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274918566344

I can vouch for the Epi thunderbird vintage pro - I have two of them. They are excellent basses, look as cool as a polar bear's nads and neither has a problem with neck dive.

Bought a set of bass electronics including PJ pickups, loom and knobs from Dave. I'm very pleased with the purchase and it was a smooth transaction with excellent comms and speedy dispatch.

Surprising that this thread has got so far without any mention of wishbass

I'm not keen on the snot green finish of the precision

Bill Withers - Live at Carnegie Hall

Bah! they haven't even been improved with perfect balance, mismatched pickups or wonky tuners

I used to use large triangle tortex picks but recently switched to Dunlop prime tone 1.5 mm non-grip small triangles which work much better for me on both guitar and bass. These are made from polyetherimide like ultex picks, but they are coloured brown which makes them look a bit like super-expensive blue chip picks.

Nothing wrong with a nice sunburst. Rather than seeing it as being dated I'd say it is a timeless classic.

Sounds like you need to invest in a PA system which includes monitors. The combo that the guitar, keys and vocals are plugged into - can a second cabinet, or a second amp taking a feed from that amp be added to that on the opposite side? At least get it off the floor and onto a stand or table so the optimum listening position isn't at knee height.

I wonder whether it has Perfect balance and set at random angles tuners.

It doesn't explictly say that it was Steve Severin's bass, only that he used it on two TV appearances. Maybe it belonged to a hire company?

I used to have one of these in that exact colour - cool looking bass.

At least the tuners aren't set at jaunty angles on a weirdly reshaped headstock

I like my go-faster banana righton strap so much that I have now placed an order for the white righton mojo strap for my white vintage pro thunderbird.

I like the effect fender used to use on some of their USA instruments where they use precision cut vinyl in a shiny metallic chrome or gold.