4000

I always thought that was his worst sound, to be honest. I had a Euro 5, briefly. Unfortunately I didn’t get on with it. Have tried many other 4s and 5s before and since, but never got on with any of them, although I appreciate the aesthetic. Always got on far better with Warwicks (well, earlier ones). I find the necks on Spectors, (arguably DW aside, although that still has too-wide spacing )far too big for me.

My first Sei, a 6, had carbon rods and that neck moved more than anything I’ve ever owned, so much so I struggled to gig with it. Apparently it did settle down, years after I had it, but that’s why I sold it. I had the ‘91 Dolphin at the same time and that never budged a millimetre. FWIW, I love the idea of fully carbon fibre necks, but I’ve owned several and played many more and the sound tends not to do it for me, although I do play with a plectrum and I think that’s a big factor. I’ve found I can only really get them to work with a parametric style eq, which allows me to weed out the stuff I don’t like so much.

I had a ‘91 Dolphin Pro1, a ‘96 Dolphin Pro 1, a ‘91 Streamer Stage 1 and an early Dolphin Pro II. And possibly others, it’s all getting a bit blurry these days.😂

Well all the Pros were ash. And they’re my preference. FWIW, my Custom wasn’t that heavy, unlike many. Probably around 9lbs, maybe a tad over. Noticeably lighter than my Pro at any rate.

Nothing wrong with learning for the sake of learning. FWIW, I almost never write music on the bass. Usually the songs I write enter my head and then have to be translated onto various instruments and voices. The songs that are written by the other members of the band, again, the basslines are either mostly worked out in my head and are then translated to the instrument, or are sung and then worked out. It’s very unusual for me to come up with the line by playing first. If you come up with melodies and rhythmic ideas first, without touching the instrument, it frees you from just playing patterns you know all the time. Theoretically it means you can come up with pretty much anything, which you then learn to play. But there’s nothing wrong with learning other lines in order to try and think outside your own personal box. Although I wouldn't limit it to learning bass parts. Learn melodies, piano lines, sax lines, anything, the more the better.

John Sykes said he didn't believe there could be a Lizzy without Phil.

Er, that’s Jimmy Johnson....phenomenal player. Saw him with Allan Holdsworth several years back.

There’s a Status Buzzard II in the Gallery that used to belong to John and it’s got Maxima Golds on. I don’t know if it has been set up since he had it, but the action is about the same as mine. I believe someone on the Alembic Club (and poss here?) had one of his Buzzard 1s and said the same. I know that Rob Green said that he set John’s basses up and John took one look and said “they’ll go much lower than that!”, but every time my mate sent his old Status off to a Rob it came back with what we considered an almost unplayable high action, which we then had to drop several mm, so I don’t think that story means that much. I’ve read and watched quite a few interviews with John and I’ve never heard him say anything about filing his frets to the board. I’d be interested to know where that came from.

I have no idea what this means.😂 All but one 2 of mine were very early and high end. The newest was a ‘96 Dolphin, but even that didn’t move. And trust me, I’ve had plenty of basses that have moved.

I’ve often wondered this. When I started playing (1980), guitar shops were full of used equipment, which always had a steady turnover. Nowadays, eBay and vintage shops aside (and Basschat ads of course!), I hardly ever see used instruments. And yet I assume the turnover is similar, if not even greater, given the increasing amount of instruments. I dream of walking into a shop like Birmingham’s old Musical Exchanges, where you’d see all manner of oddities. Of course you do have places like The Bass Gallery, but they lean towards higher end.

I assume then that you play originals live? Do you write the basslines? If so, do you play your automatic go-to fingerings or do you try and challenge yourself? I sing most of my parts well before I get near the fingerboard, which helps me to think outside the box a bit.

The comment about Warwicks not producing stable necks is rather odd. I’ve owned several and they’ve all been very stable. Arguably more stable in fact than some of the graphite-necked Statuses I’ve owned, 2 of which had necks which went south.

And yet their ash bodied basses tended, to me, to sound better. 😉

I thought the Alembic had one of the few musical tones on offer. Horses for courses and all that.

I have plenty of time for him because when I met him, way back before all this, he was a really, really nice bloke.

You’re very lucky. Mine would sooner walk over hot coals than buy me something guitar/music-related.

Well that just goes to show, because I thought it sounded terrible! I can’t say I was that impressed with any of them, but I thought the Aria, Ray and Sadowsky were probably the worst sounding. The Ps, The Alembic, The Smith (not the HF) and the Kingbass were probably my favourites, although the KB was possibly a little pingy.

I’ve played basses that cost thousands that sound way worse than that.

I know he didn’t. I chatted to him once. But odd, and rather short-sighted, not to be aware that it could be an issue for some of his potential customers. Still, my experience is generally that nobody takes it seriously until it happens to them, sadly. In many cases, it’s a life changer. Mahogany isn’t generally considered to be heavy, on average. Typically lighter than maple, rosewood etc. Yes, Les Pauls can be heavy, but they have a pretty thick body. A solid maple or rosewood LP would be likely to be a fair bit heavier.

Forgot this. May be considered uncool here, but who cares? 😉Stunning.

Not much use if you can’t though! He obviously can’t have had back problems.

Alan really does have some spectacular woods.

Spectacular!