molan

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1402519834' post='2474447'] Wow! That's ridiculous! Those U2 boys have a lot to answer for ;-) [/quote] I think it's simple supply & demand stuff. Matching headstocks always sell faster than natural ones.

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1402504906' post='2474226'] Barry knows as well as anyone what the people who use the shop want and I'm sure his decision wouldn't have been based entirely on the fact that he personally likes a matching headstock... [/quote] Actually the manufacturer is only making the new range with matching headstocks - currently there's not an option to delete this and have a plain one!

Maple boards available very soon as well

Just re-read the original post (I'm on iphone with very poor connection!). The price difference sounds like they are marking up the cost a fair bit. Maybe ask if this cost can not be shown on the export value because it's all administration and not instrument value. At least that might save you the 23% charge on top when it hits the UK.

The US dept of Wildlife and Fisheries set up new regulations at some point last year. I know it covers the export of abalone so it's entirely feasible that it also applied to MoP. The supplier has to get a form certified that essentially says the shell products used have come from a sustainable source (at least I think that's what the form does). The butterfly logo in each Fodera is subject to this restriction so each one has to have the correct form approved before it's allowed out for export. Fodera are super efficient and handle all this on their side but it does add about £100 to the cost of each instrument (that's with VAT and 3% UK import duties applied). Fodera handle this at cost plus a fixed $25 to cover all the admin hassle. I think the official approval form was some I like $115 so I'm not sure why this one is $180. I think everyone is supposed to clear stuff this way but I'm sure not all suppliers do. Not at all surprised that Gibsons would need to be properly cleared after the problems they've had with Brazilian rosewood.

Thanks for all these everyone. Interesting to see how many people have voted for tort or pearl white guards. These are available but carry a cost premium to simple white. How much would people pay to be able to choose something other than white? I know how much it cost so source decent quality tort and pearloid but not sure what the 'market' will stand. In terms of body colours it looks like we can choose many of the the most common Fender standards. Oly White is next in line (it's surprisingly harder to get just right than a bright arctic white) but burgundy mist and sea foam green should be readily available. Five strings, lefties and fretless variaties should be seen in Sept/Oct

Works now It's about he same price as the Volto (which has been around a while now) give or take £5. I know a couple of people using the Volto with Pedaltrain boards with a lot of success. I keep threatening to buy one to go with my Nano but haven't got round to it yet!

I've not found Spector 5's to have overly chunky necks. They usually come with narrow string spacing and used to be one of my favourite 5's (I only play 4 now) because of this. The Euro models almost all come with optional Aguilar pickups as well now so there's lots of tone options if you're buying new.

Never trust anyone who starts off with: "2,800 Watts of powerful and authentic bass tone" The cabinet can't deliver watts - it can only handle them (I realise this is a simplistic way of talking about this!). I get a lot of enquiries in the shop I work at from people who ask how powerful a cab is because they somehow think the higher the power rating the louder it will go. We had a Bugera 3,600w head in once. It was no louder than a 500w Aguilar, weighed about five times as much and sounded about ten times worse. Really, really unpleasant amp. I think we sold it for £60 including a rack case!

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The shop I work in is about to order 6 new basses and has been offered quite a few different colour choices and some design mix and match options. As there are quite a few variations I thought it might be fun to see what the BassChat vote would be as a first order We can get something along the lines of a Precision with 1.75" nut or Jazz wih 1.5" nut. However it's also possible to put a chunkier P neck on a J or a slimmer J neck on a P. All will come with rosewood boards and, initially, in 4 string RH format only. All will also come with matching headstocks because we just really like them:) There's an additional option to add blocks and binding on any neck. Colour choice (based on something similar to Fender descriptions) is: Inca Silver Sonic Blue Firemist Gold Feista Red Lake Placid Blue Black 2 Tone Sunburst Ice Blue Metallic Shoreline Gold Lake Placid Blue Candy Apple Red Emerald Green Everyone gets two choices - I'll start the ball rolling with: P - 1.75" nut - dots- sonic blue J - 1.50" nut - blocks & binding - candy apple red It's obviously OK for people to choose the same as someone else and we really will use people's ideas to help shape the first order So what would you go for. . .

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1402262233' post='2471541'] - assuming it`s considered successful and people want me back that is. [/quote] This must be the song to play then - http://youtu.be/z91l_lPz1oc pretty sure that's Wilton Felder on a P bass

My old rehearsal space had one of these many years ago - I always tried to book the room with it in even though the other band members didn't like it much (the room shape not the cab). Sounded great at volume - actually,thinking about it, maybe the volume was really what the other band members didn't like

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1402260602' post='2471511'] You know what Barrie, there's no need to rain on the parade. Sometimes it's not about anything more than getting out the house, meeting with good people and enjoying what life brings. [/quote] There was a smile in there for a reason I'm probably the last person to say that all P basses sound the same

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1402255202' post='2471427'] That is mischief to the nth degree. [/quote] Actually why not just play the same bass over and over again - you know half the people won't notice. It is a Precision after all and they all sound the same. . .

Nice idea - I'm not sure I could hear multiple different playing styles across a 45 minute period from 15 different instruments and be able to make any sort of rationale opinion of them all though Might be better to cut down the number of instruments? Could be fun to drop a couple of hem in more than once to see how many people are able to hear that they are being duplicated and vote the same way both times - or is that just me being mischevious

I've tried many of the combos you've mentioned here and I'm not sure any of them are up to serious gigging. The two baby PJB's are very nice and produce some lovely bass tones from a very small box but you can't gig with one unless there's some form of front of house support. The MarkBass 802 adds a lot more volume and depth of tone but there is some colouration. In my small rock band setting it's just loud enough to compete at rehearsal volumes but my MB 121 combo kills it for volume and depth. My personal favourite PJB cab for smaller and quieter gigs is the C4. This packs quite a punch for the size but you'd obviously need to budget for a separate head to go with it. The little Aguilar TH350 is a nice match or the MarkBass Big Bang adds both additional power and the flexibility of headphones out and aux in. I'd say test the MB802 first and see how it sounds. It's not as light as some of he alternatives but it does have a decent core bass tone

I'm in the 2 x 410 camp as well. Sounds great, my favourite large rig!

The flame on this bass is particularly nice - one of the prettiest Carvins I've seen

La Bella make a 6 string set of flats but I think the B is a 128 so it's just creeping over your max size

La Bella have a range of flats in short and medium scale plus they have special ones designed for thru-body stringing. They also have 3-4 different gauges in each length as well. Not all dealers hold them but they can be ordered - we recently got a really obscure 6 string baritone set specifically designed for a Shergold with a bridge fitted half way up the body!

The Rezillos used to be great fun live, saw them a few times back in the late '70's I wonder if their baby still does good sculptures, yeah? http://youtu.be/CKly-dga3Nw Note the pre Human League Jo Callis on guitar

I like tuning my basses - I check the tuning several times during rehearsals every week. Gives me something to do while the guitarists are discussing whether they should really be playing a C# Major 7th diminished in the bridge or just knocking out whopping great power chord at full volume to drown out the vocals. . .

What amp/cab are you using? Could simply be that it's the amp settings rather than the bass. Also - have you asked someone with a decent ear to listen to you out front in the audience? What you're hearing on stage will be quite different to what your audience is hearing.

I received a bass for a setup a couple of years ago. It was a vague attempt at some sort of Aria SB copy. Quite nice woods, multi laminate neck and a decent body shape with active electronics. Upon strapping it on I noticed the awful neck dive. Worst I've ever experienced, plus it must have been 12lbs+. The next thing I discovered was blood on my left hand! Some of the fret ends were so sharp it had literally cut one of my fingers. On closer inspection they were also really, really uneven in height. The active electronics included switch positions where literally nothing happened. Some of the tapered pots were either off or on with nothing in between - this included the volume pot. . . Spinning it over I discovered the neck screws to be bloody great flat-head wood screws. Looked awful but they did hold the neck pretty tightly. I adjusted the neck which had some serious banana bow action going on, spotted the bridge which was really solid but looked like a school metalwork project and went to work on the tuning and intonation with a new set if strings. Did a quick test and discovered the 12th fret harmonics were way out and wouldn't ring cleanly. I looked a bit closer and realised this was because the fret markers went 1 / 3 / 5 / 7 / 11 / 13 / 15 etc. I simply hadn't spotted that the double dots for 12th fret were at 11 instead! How could anyone get this so wrong! It must have been a project build bass put together by someone with some basic woodworking skills who knew very little about musical instruments. When I handed it back to the owner he said it was much better and he was really looking forward to gigging it!!