uk_lefty

She's back, she's in good shape. The crack repair has been done well, you can still see the crack but you can't feel it, which is the most important thing! There's now a bone nut installed, strings and a set up... Though the pickup is not yet working, I've still got a knob missing and for some reason the switch has been hidden inside the cavity.

Ah OK Mark, understand its hard to part with something you've put your own sweat in to restoring. Well, I'd hazard a guess that if you ever did want to sell it you'd be able to buy a same period RH case and have a wad of cash left over.

To my uneducated and questionable ear they tightened up the sound a little on my jazz. It could be Emporer's new clothes, I dunno. They look nicer. I did think there was a difference at the time I made the switch though.

I can tell a very small difference but whether it's better or not depends in the bass. On my precision I prefer the original BBOT to a Badass. Maybe because I like big heavy flatwound strings. On a jazz I prefer the Badass bridge to a BBOT. A halfway house is a BBOT with brass saddles. Probably because I want a completely different sound to my precision.

Next to the neck pickup are those screws placed so you can easily drop on am ashtray..?! If so, that's great attention to detail. Have to admit I'm also tempted by these!

You'll get them when I get the bass!

Well, I have to order a pickup from Armstrong and I may as well do all the electronic guts while I'm there but it will have got me to the point of having a classic Aria from my year of birth. Now watch me give up on it after 3 months and sell it at a loss..!

Well this wasn't supposed to happen...! I got some quotes via email for the neck work and decided to flog the bass to someone who can do it as a labour of love. It just didn't seem viable to spend the money on it. I got a buyer but he pulled out before I could ship the bass. I relisted it. Then I was going to get my Stingray set up so I took it along just to see... And I must have caught the chap in a very good mood. The neck is repaired and a bone nut installed now. The frets are levelled and it's all set up ready to go. The price for the work was fantastic. I just need a replacement pup and may as well do the wiring all out too while there. So somehow I've gone from giving up on a lost cause to being within a pickup delivery and some solder of having a 1984 Aria SB Elite-i. I think it just shows that it's a bit unfair to get repair quotes just from photos, it needs to be seen and felt in the hand by the luthier.

I reckon I could suggest this to my guitarist just as an excuse to shout at him and throw beer cans at him. Seriously though, tis a good point.

It's funny I was in Wunjos with some tax rebate money. I loved the USA Fender Jazz, great look and really gorgeous tone, and whatever I bought my MIM Jazz was being traded in. But the Stingray just had something that fits "what I do" which is play covers for people to sing and dance along to. And it was a sizeable amount of money more than the Jazz. The jazz would have been great to keep at home but the Ray is perfect to take to "work". Long story short. I still want a jazz though I don't need it.

GAS is such a weird one. I'm a very poor guitarist, I hack through cowboy chords and do some uncoordinated picking. I want to play rhythm guitar for a band I dep in occasionally but I know it's not realistic without serious practice I don't have time for. I bought a Squier Tele at Xmas and rarely ever play it. At the same time I upgraded the bridge pins in my electro acoustic and it took on a new lease of life, I play the acoustic far more. I'm considering trading both in for some type of hybrid electric/ acoustic thingy but there's really no need. I can't see me actually gigging on guitar for a long time. In the three years I've known him I've never been to my mates monthly acoustic open mic thing though I want to, kids and work etc. mean I don't really have the time. I've got my eyes on a new fretless but I put a Kiogon loom in my old fretless and it turbo charged it in to a new instrument. Epiphone are bringing out a lefty Jack Cassidy, I don't know if these will last so considering putting down a deposit... But I miss having a jazz bass... I put it all down to boredom. A Stingray and my fretless are really all the bass I could ever, ever need.

I had just one bass for years and years. Then I got less time to play and had actual paid jobs so my gear acquisition has increased as I have progressed from impoverished student to employed "adult". Basses are a lost cause for me now, I have four and have eyes on more both new and second hand, it's amps!! I've got two but neither are valve amps so...!

That'll be next years release when this one doesn't sell enough.

Paranormal, some would say.

If it doesn't have to be new I'd just trawl local classifieds, you never know what you'll find. Peavey, Gallien Krueger backline, Trace, Laney, Marshall... Never know what you might find.

Harry, that control layout is mad professor stuff. Love it! I think you've done the paintwork well, a lot better than a lot of amateur and pro jobs. How does it sound?

I've got an old "project" bass that I need to either sell or strip for parts. I need to test the pickup for output, my father in law is an electrician so he may have the kit... It what tool would I need and what would I need to do? I've already tried putting a string on the bass and I got very low volume, but this is with no nut in place so it's hardly an accurate test. I'd like to know how to see for certain if the pickup is able to be saved or not. Thank you

Guitar guitar has these listed as coming soon at £689. Factory made lefties. No date for arrival yet... Awful timing when I'm already torn between fretted or fretless jazz or getting a quote for a Limelight Telecaster bass (I know, different beast altogether!)

Ever so slightly off topic... What's the difference between the RM range and the ORIGIN-AL? Phone autocorrect just won't let me write it properly but you know what I mean!!

Top work! I didn't get three of them. One I'm kicking myself for and one I don't think I've ever heard the song.

What's the fretless lurking in the shadows there? Looks like an interesting instrument

Personally I'd want the top off of her, so to speak!!! Gorgeous woods, good reports on the sound too. Only ever heard amazing things about ACG, would love to give one a tickle one day.

I've seen new ones for sale at prices I wouldn't be prepared to pay. I think your best bet would be to look at the specialist dealers of vintage guitars and basses and see if they sell, or even buy, the cases themselves to get an idea of market value. There may be a shop or two with a lefty 70s bass that would want a period correct case to sell it in so they can bump up the price a lot. Or there could be a BC'er or two who'd fancy one at a fair market price.

Thanks Phil. The weird thing is there was no continuous popping. Going to try and fire it up daily now and see if it settles itself before giving Ashdown a call. Would hate for it to just cut out at a gig though...!