Maude

I really like the look of of that, kind of an Aerodyne vibe going on. I don't know what the standard of finish is like, but it would be an excellent base to mod, if needed. Tuners, bridge and a pickup wouldn't cost much, and then give it a fret level and dress and roll the fingerboard edges. You would have a seriously nice bass for very little outlay. As I say, if it even needs it.

I know not really related to this but I picked up a second hand Harley Benton telecaster as I need the body for a project. The neck which I don't need is a lovely roasted maple one like the P bass above. The HB is only around £170 I think. Crazy! The above bass looks great.

She's Crafty - Beastie Boys

My, frankly unconventional, brain is starting to make stupid noises again. If you want to commission, and are happy to fund, a proper 'tribute' bass then I totally get that. But if keeping costs down come into play, could an existing bass be converted? I don't know the kind of neck dimensions a 12 string has but if bigger than your average four string could a five string become a doner? Plug the machine head holes with dowel, veneer the headstock and re-drill for 12 tuners. Replace the nut and bridge and Bob's your proverbial. You could then take it as far as you want. Pickups could be replaced with rail/blade types if pole pieces are an issue, even fill the pickup cavities with wood blocks and fit a suitable pickguard, or veneer the entire body face, then route for your chosen pickup type/placement. The body could be chambered under the new top for weight saving although would probably upset balance. Basically there's allsorts that could be done to an existing bass to save costs. Or it's a stupid idea and you can ignore me 😁.

Maybe I've misunderstood but I'm struggling to see a problem here. Has a seller listed a bass on Basschat for sale and got it for sale through a shop? If so then there will likely be two different prices to reflect the prices incurred in either transaction. I've currently got some things for sale on the both Facebook marketplace and eBay. The price on eBay is higher to reflect the cost and time involved in packing and posting the item and ebays fees, against someone from Facebook just turning up, paying and taking the item. The only other two scenarios I can see in the OP is that either the shop is lifting the sale post from here and re-advertising in their shop, hoping to buy the bass from here if they get a sale in their shop. Pretty risky and probably unlikely. Or they've bought a bass from here and are selling it through their shop at an increased price. That's just how a shop works.

Monkey Man - Toots

Pop black in eleven years, he might've replied. 😉

I do actually agree with everything in your post. I spent a summer gigging an Aria P bass I picked up for £40 because it played so nicely. I'd happily spend the rest of my days gigging cheap, well set up instruments but the luxury of disposable income means I can gig higher cost ones as well, if wanted. I'm at both ends of the spectrum, by that I mean I see no reason to not gig an expensive bass, but at the same time I see no reason not to gig a budget bass. Just make sure that whatever you gig it's well set up to your needs. There's good budget and expensive basses, but there's also budget and expensive basses that play like dogs.

Although I championship the budget bass I'll just as happily play an expensive one. My main gigging bass would be well into four figures to replace, for me that's expensive. But it sounds, plays and looks right for the band so why wouldn't I play it?

Boring old fart alert! Make sure you can get the neck straightened enough to cope with the (generally) extra tension of flats before spending out on strings. I've got Fender tapewounds on my fretless and fretted acoustics. They seem quite different to 'normal' tapewounds as they're relatively zingy. They feel like a roundwound with a slippery tape wrap rather than flat feeling like most tapes. I really like them.

Rightly or wrongly, brand name aspirations.

Love Potion Number 9 - Tygers of Pan Tang Edit: What the hell, this needs sharing! 😎

I bought an Epiphone Embassy as it's an VP T'bird in all but shape. Can't remember exact price but I was considering one and then a black Friday deal came up last year, well under £300, absolutely cracking bass. T'birds do look exceptionally cool though.

It's sometimes just trial and error to find what works best. Slow and steady wins the race. 🙂👍

I have heard that the Epiphone Vintage Pro Thunderbird is better than any of Gibsons current offerings. I know I've banged on about it lately but my super cheap 90s Encore that I spent a leisurely afternoon rolling the fretboard edges, bevelling, levelling, crowning and polishing the frets, sorted the nut and smoothed the edges/corners, in fact just rounded and smoothed any edge. It now feels as nice to play, if not nicer, as any high end bass I've played. A lot of what makes a high end bass expensive is the man hours put in to lift it above the machine finished budget models. Does it matter if your bass was made in Mexico by Mexicans or made in America by Mexicans? (that was tongue in cheek) And let's not forget in the late 70s/early 80s Japan were churning out stuff that embarrassed the likes of Gibson and Fender who'd sat on their laurels and let quality slide.

Mmm, nice wood! 😉 For the recessed knob holes (pack it in), do you have access to a pillar drill? Just thinking out loud here, but if you had just the right size flat wood drill bit you could run it in a the recess to take the paint off the sides and bottom, although they do tend to have a slight arc to the cutting face so would cut the circumference of the hole slightly deeper, but it wouldn't notice once the knob was fitted. They don't tend to cut cleanly though so it might not work. The better woodworkers here will hopefully advise. Possibly, if removing the blue cleanly proves difficult, just paint the recessed holes black, then sand across the top to get a clean edge. It all depends how much is visible with the knob fitted.

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole evening. Some very poignant moment, especially Taylor Hawkins' 16 year old son playing drums on 'My Hero'. I can only imagine the mixed emotions going on in that young lads head leading up to the gig but he did his dad proud.

At first glance he looks like Taylor, but then you realise he looks just like his dad when he was younger.

Have we just seen Foos new drummer? 😁 She's pretty damn good... and enjoying every second.

Happy Birthday - Altered Images

I too much prefer the older stuff but they won me over in London this year. The tickets were a present and I was prepared to be a little disappointed by them. Live they can be a bit shaky, especially Anthony. I've not seen them since the One Hot Minute tour with Dave Navarro, so a long time. They were fantastic. Yes it was a big stadium with all the bad bits that go along with that but they were on top form for a bunch of old fellas. Full of energy and Anthony's voice was sounding great. They had huge screens with some really good effects going on while they were playing which added to the whole stadium performance. The whole stage was a screen that started above them, curved in and down behind them, then flowed out and down over the front, with screens either side. Favorite moment was Nobody Wierd Like Me, and they performed it with all the energy and vigor that they ever did. I'd love them to be more like their 80's selves, but would we then be moaning how they churn out the same old high energy punk funk album every couple of years? They've evolved, grown up, grown old. Lots of folks like their older stuff (pre 2000),but I reckon many more like their newer stuff (post 2000). I didn't watch the gig through a phone lens but I did snatch a little bit just to show my bandmates the screens. Yes it's echoey, it's a stadium, but they've still got it!

Suicide Solution - Ozzy

It's going to have to be a pretty special cover version to beat that. ✊

Iron (pyrite) Man - Sabbath

Sick of Drugs - The Wildhearts