Sean

I'm not sure. I put @Woody1957 in touch with the seller and that was the last I heard. I can send you the seller's details if you want.

As someone who should know better and who rarely buys cheap cr4p, I will put my hands up and say that cheap soldering irons/stations are just landfill. I found out the hard way of buy cheap, buy multiple times. Spend a few quid on decent kit. Cheap stations have vague temperature control, they can have thermal lag after delivering their initial heat and the actual temperature versus setpoint can be off enough to screw up your work. Also, the tips are rubbish, although you can use good tips with them but that doesn't fix the other issues. The vague temperature control and lag can lead to dry joints, component damage through overheating and just frustration with the job that can lead to burnt fingers. The recommendation from @itu on 60/40 and 63/37 is very good too. Lead-free solder plus cr4p gear is a "challenge" to say the least. I was reminded of my own past failings recently when someone showed the difference in quality of the work between the looms in a Nash Jazz and a Limelight Jazz. Now, the quality of the work in the Limelight has nothing to do with the price difference of £1k vs £2.5k between 2 different partscasters. The quality of the work in the Nash is what it's supposed to look like and that in the Limelight was just unacceptable. I'm capable of getting both results and even following the same process, the big difference is the gear and the solder.

Nice to see they got the headstock design sorted. It looks classic Ibanez and it'll age well.

Another fab selling experience on BC courtesy of Ian. Superb comms, prompt payment. Thanks very much.

Me too.

They're punchy and cut through a mix. A pair of Js is scooped by nature but these are bright and sparkly. I was so happy with them that I got Lee to make me a pair of splittable J humbuckers for another bass so that I could effectively have the same j pair available on a push-pull pot. He also did me P+J set that is brighter and less nasal than typical. They have longer bobbins. I've had three sets of pickupsfrom him and he's nailed what I wanted each time. He changes the recipe to capture what you need.

I've only had excellent experiences with Lee Laverack, he's magic at understanding pickup requirements. I have a set of bright overwound J pickups here that are fantastic.

You can also muck about with weighing and taping coins to the headstock to get an idea of balance of lighter tuners. On such a long neck (distance from the strap hanger to the end of the headstock) small weights can make a big difference.

Some years back Spector introduced bridges that weigh around 180g compared to the older bridges that weighed 500-600g. It was a quick way to drop almost a pound from the overall weight of the instruments and I've seen no discernible change to tone. I posted about this a couple of times in the big Spector Fans thread. The consequences of this on a light bass is that it's going to make it neck/headstock heavy. I have an early Euro 5LX that is /was quite a heavy beast and when I replaced the bridge with a new light one, it did change the balance but it's a heavy enough pair of wings that it doesn't dive. Newer instruments tend to be lighter and some are "weight relieved". If neck-dive is the problem, we either need to lighten the headstock or get some ballast loaded on to the body. There are other options like moving strap-locks or adding extensions but that tends to be anathema to the Spectorati and it affects resale. Solutions to either cure or reduce neck-dive: Using a wide strap that has a suede/raw leather inside surface so it increases the friction Lightweight tuners - make sure you compare the weights of what you're proposing to change out with what you're going to put in. If the new ones weigh 50% of what's coming out, see how the bass balances with two of the old ones removed so you get an understanding of how it'll balance before you commit to buying the new light ones. Get an old bridge. This is obviously going to add at least 400g to the overall weight of the bass.

I bought a Vintage guitar from GAK about 6 years ago, it was absolutely shocking, the routing, the neck joints, fretwork etc. Everything that could have been wrong was wrong. It went back to GAK and Dennis Drumm from JHS (the brand boss) was in touch to apologise and they put it right within days, sending out a replacement that had been set up with my choice of strings and some extra goodies thrown in. The replacement guitar was really outstanding, and JHS stands by its products 100%. I've also dealt with JHS and Dennis over one of the Vintage ProShop guitars. Now, they are very good indeed, that one is a keeper.

That's quite the endorsement. Do you use the floating trem? From what I've seen/heard this is one of the features of the instrument that makes it what it is and something that's completely lacking in some of the quality competitors' instruments like the Schecter Hellcat VI.

I just voted Vintera. I love it when there's a loophole and you can vote for the outcome that's already been decided. Makes me feel like a winner. Enjoy the Vintera. I've always fancied a Bass VI but have no idea what I'd use it for other than noodling at home.

Question: What about joint purchases for bands made out of band funds? Upgrading lights, new monitors, a new backdrop. My contribution is 20% and it's deducted from the band slush fund.