Maude

I wonder if it's the same red finish as the BBPH. I'd assume so as that is the same deep red indoors/bright red outdoors kind of difficult to photograph finish.

As far as I'm aware the 734/5 is the only BB to get the dark brown to black sunburst rather than the more traditional sunburst with the reddish hues like the P34/5. Like you, I much prefer it. As you say, it's very classy. I think I still prefer the range before this, but if I want a modern active then this is it... just behind the BBPH 😁

Just a teaser on the coffee burst. An old photo with a BB pin badge that our guitarist bought me as a little birthday gift. 😁

I have a coffee burst 734 and it's a great colour, even better in real life, but there's just something special about the new red and green ones. Classic vintage BB colours.

Thanks for posting that, I'll watch it later today. I saw Pantera back when touring smaller venues was still a thing rather than three massive gigs. A Friday night in Plymouth on the last date of their UK leg. Absolutely brutal assault on the senses. Couldn't avoid the moshpit as the venue was the moshpit, and why would you want to anyway. To be fair Downset got the place all riled up anyway, the atmosphere was electric and just got better when Pantera came on. Ahh those were the days.

I'm lost for words. So sad and a real loss. May I be so bold as to quote the final line of a beautiful post to Sam by @Dad3353 in the depression topic, a line which I think would echo all of our thoughts... "Thank you for your participation on this Forum; we are all the better for it."

What a pain! Those LaBella white tapes are really chunky. I had to file the nut of the bass I had them.

Zoot Suit - The High Numbers (Thoo)

Ha ha, that's exactly where my two came from. 👌

Never Enough - The Cure

Sorry, quoted the wrong post. This meant for @Chadu25 I suppose you have to ask yourself what you'll be doing with the bag, just a bit of protection in the car/public transport or being thrown in the back of the band van with all the other gear? If it's just in the back of the car, everyday type protection then I'd just get something like the TGI Extreme mentioned above. Or being that's it's a Yamaha, a Yamaha gig bag. The standard ones that come with their basses are really nice bags (as has been said on your Facebook post), good level of padding and plenty of pockets. This one on eBay looks like a different material to the ones that came with my basses but the design is the same so I'd guess it's just a newer version. To be honest, if you feel you need more protection than this sort of bag then you probably need to be looking at hard cases.

The Idiot - Iggy Pop I know it's an album but it just fits too well. 😁

One is 4 string the other 5 so that's your biggest difference. The 1024 should be the better bass being two models further up the line, but as with everything it depends what you prefer. I had a 1024 and it was a great bass in all aspects. I haven't had a 415 so couldn't comment but I think the 414/5 had slimmer necks compared to their counterparts in that series.

Only a personal view but nothing looks good in purple, not even plums.

I came very close to buying one a couple of weeks ago, but I was also looking to buy a van so held off. I got the van just over one fretless Jack Casady less than he was asking, so who knows... Maybe one will be on its way soon 😁 Enjoy yours, they look wonderful, and if my fretted one is anything to go by, they are wonderful.

I'm stumped. The way I see it is if there was anything between the sliding part and a tube to earth it then it would leave a mark eventually, whether it be a ball, braid, carbon brush etc. Maybe they just weren't earthed. Part of my brain keeps saying if the sliding part contains all the electrics and is isolated from the bridge, strings, tuners, etc then it shouldn't need earthing. But we know on a standard bass those two halfs of the 'circuit' are only connected by wood (an insulator) and needs earthing. Intriguing.

When you mentioned the aluminium backbone I thought similar could be done here, but by the time the neck, bridge and rails are anchored in an ally block there's not really much point in printing a 'skin' to cover them. I now thinking three ally billets machined to make the three main parts, polished and connected with stainless or titanium rails would look fantastic.

I made a ramp for my 4005 for different reasons. First disclaimer, I have a strange style of playing. Is it right? No. Do I care? No. I like anchor my thumb on a pickup (or the strings depending which string I'm playing) and the 4005 pickups are at extreme ends of the playing area not making them ideal for this. Also the strings are a long way from the body due to construction methods, making string anchoring feel very odd as there is no body in contact with my thumb tip. In the heat of the battle I could accidentally lose my thumb through the strings, the depth of the gap is that much. The answer was a pickup height ramp, not to stop me digging in, I dig in a lot, but to give me a full length 'pickup' to anchor on. The other weird bit of my style is that I tend to hook the edge of my pinky on the side of the pickup, I think it gives me a reference point and helps keep my hand in place as I can get quite active playing live. So I carved a 'pinky point' in the end of the ramp. I didn't want a huge lump of wood spoiling the look of the front of my bass so I made it out of perspex, but then couldn't double side tape it on so it's screwed on. Does it add weight to an already heavy bass? Yep. Do I care? Nope. Told you I was weird. 😁

What are the two body parts of the originals made of, wood? If so, and the rails are just pushed in like giant dowels(?), then the thickness of walls around the rails makes me think there's not a huge amount of strength there anyway. Presumably the rails sit deep enough into the body to somewhat counteract the leverage of the strings trying to lift the tail end. What strength has 3D printed material compared to wood? I realise there's a lot of variables here too.

Would burning it and just posting the ashes cut down on courier costs? If so I think I might drop them a message.

Meh 🤷 Sorry 😁

Sod AI, I think someone's hacked into my home CCTV. 😬

The Warman 'Stingray' pickup is a very good pickup, and very well priced. Whether it'll give you the balance you're after, who knows. As suggested, the pickup heights may be the issue there. https://www.warmanguitars.co.uk/product/mm4-4-string-bass-humbucker-13-09kohm-4-wire-overwound/

I know you took a weird little shine to it 😁. If/when I decide to move it along you'll be the first to know 😉

Right then, enough of these lovely basses, let's have something pretty much universally hated. The kind of bass a lot of folks had as their first bass, and ceremoniously destroyed when they got their first 'proper' bass. A Kay KJB-1B. I was bored so bought this little survivor and treated it to a refinish inspired by those terrible plastic fan operated organs of the 70's. A lesson in just because you can, doesn't mean you should. All the above is in jest, this Kay is now a funky little bass that plays well (after some intense adjustments) and sounds surprisingly good.