Misdee

It was indeed co-designed with the company that BMW also use, and yes the first Bongo basses were offered in colours that referred to those offered by BMW at the time. ( To be fair, over the years I've had a fair few basses that seemed to have been co-designed with whoever came up with the Austin Allegro, but that's a whole other story...😟)

Just clicked on this thread to see if the title referred to a possible part exchange deal that someone had been offered. I was going to say see if you can get them to throw in an amp and a new set of strings as well. I've got a Harley Benton Shorty to futz about on at home and it's a really fun bass to play. Sounds like a P Bass, plays remarkably well, 30 inch scale, weighs about 7 1/2 pounds and cost less than a hundred quid. Eminently suitable for a twelve year old( the age I was when I started playing, funnily enough), I would think.

The hardest thing is coming up with original music that is so good that other lesser mortals want to do covers of it. Playing original material is one thing. Playing original material that has genuine widespread appeal to people other than those that created it is another matter entirely. It's the musical equivalent of making it as a Premier League footballer. Many are called but few are chosen. I used to love creating bass parts when I played in bands doing original material and imminently sharing our genius with the rest of the world. Now that I am of an age where I have come to terms with the idea that the world might have to miss out I really enjoy playing covers. Playing covers can really bring your playing on because you have a template in the original version that you have to recreate effectively. It can also be a creative process if you are doing a version of the song rather than staying faithful to the original. So in short, I really enjoy playing both!🙂

Lovely bass, Brian! In case you are interested, that finish is inspired by a colour used on vintage American muscle cars in the 1960s/1970s that is much sought after by collectors nowadays. The Dodge Challenger driven by the Dukes of Hazard is probably the most famous example of a tangerine muscle car. That colour used on your Bongo isn't identical- it uses the modern pearledcent paint that is on some American cars nowadays- but it is a reference to those old cars, nevertheless.

Wow, that number is all about the drummer for me. Love his feel, love the Tony Williams influence I can hear in places. Superb.

I've got a Reflex HH and it really isn't complicated in terms of eq and pickup settings. It helps that the bass sounds great with the eq set flat, or switched out completely in passive mode. There's a lot of options, but like with any bass you tend to find what works for you and stick to it. What's most apparent is that, despite having a preamp which is essentially the same as the Bongo, the Reflex sounds completely different no matter how much you fiddle with the eq and pickup settings ect.

I think the shape put a lot of people off, myself included.

That bass with a new set of strings sounds world class, Andy. The unique Bongo tone is very apparent, even listening on my phone speaker. Makes me want to get my Bongo out and play it. Probably won't though.

I must add the caveat that I am primarily talking about the HH and HS models. The single H sounds a lot closer to a Stingray, albeit with a Bongo twist. The single H also has a three band preamp, rather than the four band of the two pickup models, if I remember correctly.

😅Wow, this is making me feel old! Around the time I started playing the local guitar shop was full of new Fenders in what at the time were the latest finishes, and this Antigua Burst was one of them , along with Capri Orange, I remember, both of which have become pretty sought after nowadays. Good luck with finding what you are after Max, but might I advise proceeding with caution before spending a lot of money. Without wishing to stir up controversy, late 70s/early 80s Fenders can be a bit of a lottery in terms of build quality and playability, and an awful lot of the basses from that era are pretty heavy, if weight is an issue for you. Just something to be aware of, and I wish you well in hunting down your dream bass.🙂

The Bongo is a fair bit richer in the mids than the Stingray. It's still got something of that characteristic Music Man scoop in the tone, but it's far less pronounced than the classic Stingray sound that is so familiar. I really can't say enough good things about these basses, and the sound is the best thing about them. Effortlessly powerful and modern in a good way is how I would sum it up.

I've just been watching the first episode tonight. Wow. What tension. What drama. I don't know if I will be able to sleep tonight, to be honest with you. I mean, it could all be such a catastrophe. Imagine being onstage at the Isle of Wight festival and not being able to rock with sufficient proficiency for such an auspicious occasion! There could be a drug- fuelled riot by rampaging agist festival-goers led by Marilyn Manson and Liam Gallagher, hell bent on revenge. Those pensioners could be torn limb from limb. It doesn't bear thinking about. Let's just hope it all comes good for the oldies in the end.

We didn't stop the Holocaust. More than six million people were murdered. The Holocaust ended because we fought the Nazis and won. That victory was a demonstration of our martial instinct. The social and technological advances you reference are also a manifestation of the invigorating influence of our competitive nature. I am not trying to be a manly bloke. I am not trying to be anything.

You are quite right Si, that freedom of speech must have responsibility attached, but I don't accept that the majority of people don't want anything to do with people who express certain views which differ greatly from their own and are supposedly taboo. Rather, they have been told that they should shun certain opinions as a matter of policy.

Toxic or not, when the dust settles Putin will have achieved his aim of securing Russia's borders.

Well, firstly, the title of this thread implies that something called "toxic masculinity" is a definite thing that we all have to accept is real. Who got to decide what forms of masculinity are acceptable and those which are not, and what was their wider purpose in doing so? Why are we supposed to accept their judgement? People who become preoccupied with taking offence at the so-called injustices in the world invariably end up looking ridiculous because the world is a brutal place and human beings are inherently competitive creatures. That intrinsic cruelty is what has enabled humankind to survive and develop. We have flourished as a species primarily because we have an instinct to hurt each other. That, coupled with our instinct to help each other, is what has shaped our history. In light of that, what responsibility do people have to conform to someone else's timid and bourgeois idea of what is socially acceptable? Who is in charge of deciding and with what authority? Why isn't forbidding people to explore and express their so-called misogyny another form of injustice?

Hi Morton, I share your enthusiasm for graphite necks, but I also enjoy Fender-style basses too. And as others have said, you can combine the two elements of modern and traditional perfectly well in some instruments, ie a Fender-inspired bass with a graphite neck. However, from what you say about your quest for a more satisfactory bass tone from your amps and eq ect, may I suggest trying your graphite bass through some valve equipment, or at least more lo-fi electronics than you might be using at the moment. With my current graphite bass, and most of the others I have previously owned, the tone benefits from a bit of warmth and dirt. Not necessarily an outright distortion, but just something to put a bit of "hair" on the sound, if you see what I mean.

Unfortunately I got rid of my old Fender basses some years ago, when they were still considered second hand rather than "vintage". Another great decision on my part👍.

My favourite era for vintage Fenders is the early CBS years. For a start, the pre-CBS P Basses are too wide at the nut for me. I much prefer the A and B profile necks Fender introduced in the late 1960s. I think a good example from the early CBS years compares perfectly well to the pre-CBS basses in every way. They certainly sound just as good to me. It was later in the Seventies that things started to go awry to some extent, but a good bass is a good bass. There's good ones from the late 1970s and I have played some very poor pre-CBS examples. That's part of the beauty of old Fenders, sifting through a few and finding a good one for your own tastes.

I keep seeing the title of this thread and thinking to myself that Chancers And Beggars would be a good name for a band. Or a disco. ( Do they have discos anymore? Probably not. I don't get out much nowadays). I have always found prospective buyers on Basschat to be very fair and quite knowledgeable. However,back in the days before the internet when I used to advertise items in Bassist magazine I remember some right "characters" getting in touch by phone, quite often at very odd hours. "I really want to buy the bass but I can't afford that price because my wife has just had a baby." If your wife has just had a baby and you have more urgent financial priorities why are you phoning a complete stranger at half past ten at night to talk about a bass you can't justify buying? Just to let me know how you are fixed at the moment in case I was wondering perhaps? It can be hard to be polite sometimes.

The rear pickup is a fair bit closer to the bridge, in what I would describe as conventional bridge pickup position. The rear pickup on these HH basses isn't really a substitute for a traditional Stingray position H. There's an element of Stingray tone in the Bongo, but these basses have a distinct sound of their own. The midrange frequencies are inherently different to a Stingray, to my ears anyway. The Bongo has a unique sound, and I really like it.

These really are superb basses. I really regret not buying a single H to go with my HH, and now they don't make them anymore ☹️. Anyhow, I hope you have a lot of fun playing this Bongo. I really cannot fathom why some people think these basses are ugly. I have always thought they look very chic. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of folks who are of that opinion have never seen a Bongo in the flesh.

I really hope that is the case, because Status Graphite are an excellent company run by thoroughly decent people. It would be a big loss if they packed it in.

The bass in question is a Yamaha BB2024( ie the one without a scratch plate ect). It weighs 8.8 pounds, sounds great, feels great and plays perfectly in every respect. It looks nice, too. I really can find nothing to criticize about that bass. I have got other basses that are also perfect from a manufacturing point of view, I just don't like them as much as that one. I don't play those other basses either, truth be told. The reality is that for the last eighteen months I've mostly been playing a Harley Benton, I'm a little bit embarrassed to say. Why you may ask? Well, partially because nowadays I want to focus on putting my time and energy into doing some intense study and practice on the bass. Having nice basses around inevitably leads to me adjusting them, comparing them, or obsessing about some other superfluous "problem". Playing a cheap but functional bass makes me much more productive in terms of improving my playing. I suppose I have reached a point in my life where I have realized that material things are not as important to me than less tangible things, like knowledge. Anyone can buy a bass, not everyone can play it well.

They were indeed Benedetti pickups. Nowadays noisy pickups wouldn't be the deciding factor me, nor would the strings being a bit dicey in relation to the edge of the fingerboard. I would buy the bass anyway and accept the idiosyncrasies. The good things about Vigier basses from the 1980s far outweigh the drawbacks, ie they are relatively light, easy to play and sound as punchy as a kangaroo in boxing gloves. Back in those days however, I could only afford one bass in that price range, so I felt under pressure for it to be perfect. (In case you're interested, in over 40 years of buying and often subsequently selling lots of basses I have only really found one bass that was perfect to my sensibilities. I still have it but never really feel like playing it. It's been in its case for years. I can only conclude that perfection is overrated. What is that old adage about it being better to travel hopefully than to arrive?🤔)