martthebass

I'm in the definitely try before buying camp. I bought a G1 Compact and really couldn't get on with it (and I really tried). It sempt very sensitive to placement and a bit on the wooly side. It moved me down the 2 x 12'' cab route (MB NY121). I'll definitely give the newer 12'' versions a go some time down the line though.

True, I do, just don't want to pay full price (when do we ever!) and you can't get the silver finish anymore. I still feel aggrieved at paying (well) over £300 for my Mikey Way Sig Mustang because I needed 'silver sparkle' for the Glam band when they were less than £250 new!

Oh you 2 are just making it worse! Hadn't thought about the upper register access. Now you mention it I wondered why I found upper register stuff in the bands set easier with my Sterling than the Mustang, thought it was me being cack-handed, What's the neck dive like on the Jag SS - I briefly had a long scale Jaguar and it was definitely present on that one?

I can understand where you are coming from. My musical training is also minimal though I have played pretty constantly for nearly 40 years. There are times when I find my lack of musical knowledge a problem, on those occasions, if the issue is theory (it almost always is), I read up on the issue and try and sort it to the required level. Like you, I've got my own style, as it works for me (I can play fast 16ths for 5 minutes without issue which is as much as I would ever need in my genre) and I wouldn't want to change it. I think there's some validity in having a limited tutoring session to maybe point me in the direction of where I can make improvements but, for what I do, I haven't felt that need strongly enough to act on it. One thing I do when I think I'm getting a little 'stuck in a rut' is to set a learning challenge, pick a song (or some songs) that would test me technically and work on the challenge until I've bossed it.

Awesome bass Nick. Had a 'scare' with a Kidney lesion last year which fortunately turned out to be 'nothing to worry about', glad that you're all clear now and can look forward to many years of playing mwaaaaaah type basslines.

It is mate, we play there a couple of times per year, always a good night.

Cheers Pete. Ill take a look, my Bay City Rollers cosie is getting ready for a revamp.

I’m in a glam rock covers band based a wee bit south of you in the Yorkshire, East Midlands area. You can get ex. Fancy dress outfits fairly reasonably or go down the bespoke route and get stuff made (not cheap though). For myself, I’m always on the lookout for tasteless, glittery stuff and 70s clothing on eBay and the like. Be aware that a lot of suitable stuff is ‘womens’ so you’ll have to get over that .

Gimmicks, nah....don’t believe in em.

This is all well and good but will it help me play bass, sing backing vox and do the Mud Tiger Feet dance simultaneously without having a meltdown

Yes, we've never had it so good, record employment levels etc.......stinks to high heaven. Rant over.

Been looking for one of these Pete but they seem to be 'intermittent' in terms of when they turn up. Seems like a nice back up to my Mustang, which is also an Indonesian build and has been fairly decent. All of these 'off-set' shortscale jobbies seem to have jumped up in price and desirability at the moment, god knows why...

However, how certain can you be that the only difference between the 2 basses was the wood used on the board? Did the pups have exactly the same number of winding, was the Cu purity exactly the same, were the strings the same, had the woods in the rest of the constructions been seasoned exactly the same and for the same period of time? Lots of variables and potentially lots of unknowns. As people frequently state on here, wood is a natural product and cannot be definitively specified in terms of it's physical, chemical and thermal properties. Comparing anecdotes, I once did a 'shoot out' with a friend with nominally identical 3eq maple necked EB Stingray 4Hs (both on hybrid slinkies and both basses were early 2000s) and they sounded chalk and cheese on the same eq and amp settings. Do I have an answer why?.........no.

Must be something to do with being of certain age.....also joined a (very busy) Glam Rock band at the late summer age of 54. Never had so much fun....the wigs can get a bit itchy though.

Neck wise, my 01 and 16 Rays are chalk and cheese. The 01 is a very slim profile - the 16 is much chunkier.

Ditch the wife....re-instate the cabs/amp. Simples

Nice to see you made the effort mate Don't get me wrong, the 4003 ain't my favourite bass (that accolade belongs to my sadly departed Status Streamline - must get another one at some point) I just think it's more quirky than crap.

I've got a 2010 midnight blue one with no bleed - do I win a prize? I agree that there are probably good and bad ones (anybody remember the famous 'peeling' paint incident?) but they aren't all like this. Mine doesn't get that much use (my MMs and Mustang get most of my gig work as the Ric feels big to me in the usual confined spaces I get to work in) but it's a perfectly gigable bass with a good sound. I know that you'll never be convinced that Rics can be ok (albeit verrrry overpriced now) but if we were all the same the world would be very tedious.

I can see your point Cato. Having said that, my current fretted Ray is a Starry Night version which shares a lot of DNA with the 'new' Ray (sparkle finish, roasted maple, ebony board) but I'd appreciate it even more if it was 8.5lbs.

Does this mean that a classic will become a classic classic and the current Ray will end up being reissued as a new classic.......

Generally I'd only advocate spending on doing the bass up if you especially like it and want to keep on using it. As Bigwan says, you're unlikely to recoup the outlay if you decide to sell later. Why not keep the bass as a back-up and buy another of what you fancy.....you can never have enough basses! You could do much worse than the Sterling SUB, it'll offer a different tone pallet to a Jazz

Yup just seen a ruby one in Electromusic at that. Some 'haggle' room but I suspect not more than 10%. I've had a midnight blue one sat under the bed for the last 5 years - it's currently doing considerably better than my ISA and not much worse than my pension fund.....