Woodinblack

I think that headstock is ok. I do hate fender headstocks on short scale things, it put me off the mustang. I am not normally a fan of fender headstocks anyway but on the smaller bodies they look ridiculously large. I think the only thing worse than a fender headstock on a short scale is an ibanez Talman headstock. And in grey, the whole thing looks very good. .

I would but I don't have use for 4 strings

If it doesn't sell I am not going to be too unhappy TBH, I am just justifying the Shuker, the more the credit card gets paid off, the less justification I need. Also having already sold two other basses, if another couple of cheap ones go, I will probably keep it. Yeh, the Shuker Uberhorn. Seriously in love with that thing, just walk past it and think wow, but as it is, it plays so well too.

Going to update my 11 to: Shuker Uberhorn, Chapman stick railboard, Maruszczyk Elwood, Ibanez 5 string, Bose S1. TC450 with BC112.

Heres the ones on my existing posted attachments! Currently waiting for the blue ones replacement to come back from bax! Ok, its for sale but I still have it OK, it will be for sale but I still have it! And this one (well, these two) are not going anywhere!

To me they almost certainly are. Not talking about a spoon that is so cheap it falls apart when you try to use it, but a spoon that is basically functional as a spoon. A Stradivarius will not make you sound better than a £500 violin unless you are already very good. If I picked up a Strad and tried to play, I would sound terrible. If a great player picked up a cheaper violin they would sound great (well, not great because its a violin, but you know what I mean). The effect the player has is way over the effect of the instrument*. So I think the analogy holds up. *Noting that when they did a blind test, most leading violin players who didn't have a Stradivarius failed to pick it out from a high end modern one. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25371-pro-violinists-fail-to-spot-stradivarius-in-blind-test/

Well done, the first step is admitting you have a problem

Me too but have often had the advantage of being a custom bass second owner, you already know what it is like and it has taken the big hit But yeh, life is too short to hang on to something you are not playing. I have regretted selling things, but I am no worse from doing so, and if I still had them they would be sitting doing nothing

Currently with the complaints from the band members in our second group because we are not yet ready to risk life and limb to stand practicing songs in the back of a pub (with no gigs yet planned), and after the hassle it was getting the group back together, I am not sure I can be bothered with it at all, it is rapidly getting beyond the level of aggravation I can put up with for something that is supposed to be fun.

Because some people don't care if they gig or not. That is the way with enjoying things. Some people even go into pubs when they weren't being paid, I know, I never got that myself.

I find that after a while playing a good bassline on a song you don't like, you start tolerating the song a bit more. Like that Dua Lupa song that someone had said about a few weeks ago. I have been playing some steely dan songs recently. I was never a fan and their music doesn't do anything for me (I won't say they are bad, I just don't really like them) but the basslines are hugely fun to play and different to stuff I normally do which makes it interesting. I agree with the aint no doubt, posted earlier, heard it on one of the guy pratt lockdowns, never noticed the song as I couldn't get past the music, but its pretty good.

OK, maybe I will get one when they get second hand!

There was a range of black paisley fenders in 2012 / 2013 iirc. But now I look and see there is a new range. What kind of crazy talk is that?

Are they different to the japanese ones that have been out for a long time, or is this a new range? I love paisley and would love that finish but they are out of the budget I would pay for a fender. Looks great though.

I am getting a lot of 'when are we going to be practicing again' sort of hassle from my new band, I mean we are not even gig ready so I am not sure why but getting the feeling they are getting fed up with my reluctance to die for the sake of getting some tunes ready. Not sure how that is going to play out. I imagine this is happening in quite a few places. Now that things are opened it seems like a lot of people think it was all for nothing and it is just the government overreacting (as opposed to my opinion that it was the government underreacting).

Really? I read the government advice yesterday. Outdoor gigs can start from the 11th (tomorrow no less). https://www.gov.uk/government/news/performing-arts-given-green-light-to-resume-outdoors-on-july-11 The guidance makes clear that the following measures should be considered to allow for safe resumption of performances: A reduction in venue capacity and limited ticket sales to ensure social distancing can be maintained All tickets must be purchased online and venues are encouraged to move towards e-ticketing for help with track and trace Venues should have clearly communicated social distancing marking in place in areas where queues form and adopt a limited entry approach *. Increased deep cleaning of auditoriums Performances should be scheduled to allow sufficient time to undertake deep cleaning before the next audience arrives Singing and the playing of brass and wind instruments in groups or in front of an audience is limited to professionals only Performers, conductors, musicians must observe social distancing wherever possible Don't know what they mean about professionals. Is that us?

Im one of these. I only play 5 strings, and I mostly (live) play in a cover band covering songs that people played on 4 string basses (and a few 5 string songs). I could take another 2 basses along to do e flat and drop d songs too, but find it easier with 1, especially when some of those songs dont have gaps between them. And frankly some of the other songs are just easier on a 5, and I am terribly lazy (and would have to relearn them).

Quite right. And I would extend that. What good was the modern motor car? I mean, we could get round just fine in a car from the 1960s couldn't we? I mean they don't do any more than they used to? And the colour television set, the programs aren't any better these days are they? But to be fair, the 4 string bass made a drastic decline in music quality. I mean there haven't been many beethovens and Tchaikovskys since we had the electric bass have there? No, its all 'she loves me, yeh, yeh yeh' and boom boom boom. And hey you kids, get off my lawn!! ah.. bring back national service, that will learn them!

That is just how your head got used to things growing up though isn't it? I mean I couldn't get a wow factor from a fender anyway but I never really thought much about the country of origin, more about the instrument itself. I understand that conditioning, I remember getting my first gibson after watching all my guitar heros with their les pauls and thinking 'wow, I have a gibson', then getting the creeping realisation that it wasn't as good as some other far cheaper guitars I had. Obviously anything that makes you want to play something is good.

The only thing I did want was a bass sub for the PA, luckily I was still deciding when lockdown hit. That money can stay in my account until next year

Most basses I have got have come from there, it is more reliable than most places and there is more choice than anywhere else

I just sold my dean 8 string

It is. They finally got round to emailing me to say they are looking into it, and I am happy with that, or I would have been happy with that last week. I know hermes are having trouble, my wife is have problems with stuff she was sending to customers, but she carried on trying and kept in contact with her customers so they knew what was going on. If you can let your customers know they are important to you and you are putting an effort in, it makes a huge difference.

When I bought my squier CV P bass, from a not so long departed shop a few years ago, I tried a MIM and US bass at the same time. It was better than the MiM sound wise, it was similar to the US, the us had better machineheads, but was 4 times the price. I don't regret the choice on that. I am not a fender player, so It would be hard for me to justify the price of a US fender, as I never found one that was far away better than anything else and they all look the same to me, for that sort of money I could get something special.

To be fair, that looks like a group of guys discussing scratchplates