kerley

Although the materials of the Fodera presumably cost more than a mass produced bass isn't most of the cost in labour. No doubt Fodera could reduce costs by not being based where they are and also cutback some time in areas which may not be noticed by many. Find luthiers with the same level of skill based in the far east and the 300 hours of work goes from 6,000 to 600 pounds even if all other costs remain the same. Unfortunately a lot of people still see an object made by the west to be more desirable...

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1328273472' post='1524722'] Had this happen, all the way from Bristol to Cambridge in a rented van and driver to pick up a rig, no-one in, hear the phone ringing in the house and see the rig through the window. [/quote] You could have just broken in and taken it, it was technically yours after all

[quote name='Stacker' timestamp='1328266831' post='1524581'] ......what difference is it to him whether it's I or a courier who stands at his door? Answer me that! [/quote] The difference is that couriers work 9-5 and do not usually give a specific time for pickup. Would you expect me to spend a day of my time waiting around for a courier to arrive when I stated local pickup by buyer only? The buyer would pick up at an agreed time acceptable to both parties, usually outside of 9-5 where a courier won't. And as to cancelling the listing, there is a 10% sellers fee that he would no longer have to pay while also ensuring he can get no bad feedback, dispute issues etc,. So all to the benefit of the seller! Did he have 100% good feedback and much of it?

And the slots can be lowered very easily with rolled up sand paper. Allows for very small reductions and rolling it up to match the slot width keeps the shape good. I pretty much always lower the strings at nut as find most guitars and basses to be much higher than optimum. I have always wondered why anyone would actually want a high nut as a perfect nut clearly brings down string height and especially makes fretting at the first couple of frets a much better experience.

All depends if there is a need to. I do not gig/play in band so I like to get them note perfect as that is why I am learning it. I can also hear every note very clearly as my bass is louder than the backing track. If I was playing in a band I would be much looser and just give the main gist of it. Only I am going to notice if every note exactly matches the original track (with exception of main, commonly known riffs)

If every new album and follow on tour is announced for every band it could soon fill up a forum I would imagine...

Could look at an all black Aerodyne and squint a bit :-)

I think a lot of bridge changes are purely aesthetic. The tone/sound differences are very slight, if any, but a well engineered and finished Hipshot bridge looks better than the standard Fender bridge. Although saying that it also looks more modern so to some the standard bridge may actually look better! Maybe for classic Fender basses a classic bridge looks best (i.e. wouldn't put a modern set of alloy wheels on a Ford Consul) but for most others a Hipshot or the like would probably look best.

[quote name='dub' post='1247103' date='May 27 2011, 02:08 PM']And why do so many people miss out their heads in these youtube clips.[/quote] If you saw my head you wouldn't need to ask. However you won't see it because I miss it out! I never think the camera catches what I really look like and I look awful on camera. My wife tells me that is exactly what I look like but I am sure she is only joking...

[quote name='Prime_BASS' post='1246874' date='May 27 2011, 11:55 AM']I'm just wondering what a 4000pund bass provides that a 1000pund bass doesn't. This has been covered before, but I've played a shuker jazz since then and IMO it was no better built than a 1000pund stingray, except for personal preference I sound and looks I don't think there is much in it. Except a W&T. Also if you are having a wait time of 15 months, isn't it time to hire some help?[/quote] You say no better than a Stingray but it all depends how you are judging better. Sound and playability may be the same. My £160 bass plays exactly as I like it and no matter how much I spend I can't see how something would play better for me. However it could sound better, but again I prefer passive so if I just put in top pickup/electronics then it may well sound the same (overall cost still only £250) As stated a few posts back, the time spent on the build is where the money goes. How many hours did it take to mass produce the Stingray versus a potential 150 hours for the handbuilt? For some the extra few thousand is worth that.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1246706' date='May 27 2011, 09:54 AM']Secondly think about how much you'd like to earn per hour as a decent living wage and multiply that by 150. And that's before you consider the cost of material, tools and equipment, premises and other business running costs.[/quote] Exactly, the labour costs makes up the majority of the cost. Same for anything made in UK, US, most of Europe. For those non nationalistic types it would prove a better bet to buy from abroad where 150 hours would equate to £100 but guess the access and valid list of top class builders is harder to find in Asian countries?

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='1236407' date='May 18 2011, 10:31 PM']This Corvette just sold for under £300: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270746727936&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:GB:1123"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...E:B:WNA:GB:1123[/url] I was thinking about having a bid on it but i need to cut down on bass stuff, not get more just because it's cheap! The Fortress that didn't sell at £350 was the same finish too, could have had a matching pair for £650. Ah well, i'll just console myself with the fact that i got a Fortress One for £250......[/quote] May not be totally representative. Would you give £300 to a seller with low feedback and not 100% at that. The question is does the buyer actually ever get the bass or just a load of hassle and eBay/Paypal claiming! If the seller had high feedback at 100% and actually bothered taking some decent photos they would have got much more. Still a good local pickup for cash purchase if you were close enough to the seller.

I think that link to the Talkbass test should be auto inserted every time a discussion around wood and it's effect on tone is started to bring the correct level of perspective.

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='1235240' date='May 18 2011, 09:21 AM']how can Fender justify charging £2K plus for a couple of planks of wood screwed together, some bent tin and a few bits of plastic? It's not like their R&D costs are high because their designs are 50+ years old.[/quote] They need to pay US wages for Fender employees, US wages for non Fender employees for all non Fender made parts (wood source etc,.). Marketing, interntational delivery, profit margin and so on. If you use an estimated overhead cost of $100 per hour and then assume a bass takes many hours from start to finish to make then you can see a lot of the cost would be labour rather than materials. Why people pay a premium to have a bass made in USA is the question. Are USA builders/workers any better than Korean? No they are not, however they may be allocated more time to ensure the product has better finished/QC but that could also be done in Korea. But as Fender is a USA product for USA people who are some of the most nationalistic going it won't change soon...

Something to bear in mind when chossing practice amps is where it is going to be used. For example, if I play in a bedroom with carpet, bed etc,. the MB15 sounds dreadful (boomy, muddy) Put the MB15 out in the garage now the weather is better and it sounds well defined and really nice. On the other hand, an Ashdown Tourbus 10 with it 6.5" speaker sounds good in the bedroom but weedy in the garage. So I have an indoor practice amp and a garage practice amp...

It could make your playing easier or could make it harder. All depends on the neck profile, setup of the bass and overall feel. Most basses can be setup to be pretty close to each other to suit how you like it, the neck profile and overall feel (balance, weight etc,.) can't really be changed. So if the 'older' basses are more suited to you then they are better and vice versa. Only you can say which.

The nut was easily sorted. Rolled up sand paper and a 20 seconds of sanding (couple of checks in between) and much better. No need for nut files as only lowered about 1mm. I have to do this on most basses as for some reason the nuts are never cut low enough. Not sure of the reason for this as be easy enough to use nuts that are 1mm lower as standard and makes fretting the first few frets so much easier. Are there any players who would actually prefer a high nut??

Even then you have changed more than just the fretboard materials. The whole neck, head, nut tuners etc, etc,. have also changed. Any of these other changes could have also contributed. There is a good test on Talkbass (although aimed at body woods) but proves the point very well that the woods are pretty low in the order of contributors to the overall sound. All things were kept the same except the body was swapped for an old bit of wood. Can't find it now but it was fairly recent and went over many pages.

Loving it. Managed to get the action under 2mm with no buzz (I can't live with action above 2mm!) Lowered the nut slots slightly to help with this but I always find nuts are cut too high meaning hardwork to fret on the first couple of frets. Definitely is a nicely put together bass for little money and the think neck is perfect for me. Can't find any negatives yet but have only had for a few days. I will probably swap out the pickup anyway as I just can't leave my basses alone and if the bass plays and feels as nicely as this then worth getting teh best possible sound. (although more expensive pickups can just sound different rather than better but a risk I will probably take)

I had an EB0 and for the price is was nicely made and played well - I like short scales which helped. The pickup location is limiting to the sound though (unless you get the EB3) and impossible to get a 'bitey' sound so worth trying before buying. A bit of neck dive even though short scale, not helped by the massive headstock and heavy big tuners no doubt. The short body combined with bridge being a bit of a distance from the end of the body actually makes the first fret further away than some short scales if you get what I mean so doesn't feel as short as it is.

Whoops, wasn't paying attention! As you were.

All depends how fussy you are on how good the fake tortoise shell looks. Cheap ones can almost look like a poor print whereas expensive can be worth it is they look a lot nicer. And as the change is for looks then worth considering.

Definitely worth trying the Marshall MB15 to see what you think. Two useful settings and gives a more powerful sound than other 15w amps I tried (Ashdown, Fender). I also use an Amplug although I don't think they actually sound that great it is used a lot as easier than plugging into the amp and then having headphone lead from amp (too many leads to trip over!) Also plug ipod into it as I spend alot of time playing along to stuff

[quote name='Faithless' post='1229711' date='May 13 2011, 10:06 AM']I think there's much more involved into fretless making process than leaving frets out..[/quote] Well it is clearly a different process but I imagine putting the frets in a very time consuming and possibly takes more end to end time than making a fretless board. Must be wrong though as the fretless costs more but that may be purely down to the materials used I suppose? Can't imagine anyone would take advantage of their customers so can't be that...

Could be a faulty tone pot? What difference do you get between tone fully open and fully closed. Does it sound like the tone has been completely rolled off all the time? Although that doesn't help with acoustic dullness. I don't put much weight behind acoustic sound as I use Nylon tapewounds so can't hear a thing acoustically!