Marc S

I wasn't aware of those @TPJ Many thanks for posting that link could be really useful!

Ah, shame. Sorry to hear that. I was once tempted by a wine rack that was made from a DB body. That would be the coolest wine rack in town 😎 Unfortunately, I'm more of an ale man! Lol

Any news on this bass @pete.young? Hope it's fixable

Looking really great 😁

Brilliant achievement 👏 😀 😀

I treated myself to one of these a while back - and it was nowhere near Christmas! Lol. Absolutely love mine. I'm sure you'll enjoy your new present. I'm quite pleased with the sound when bowed (although I'm not much of a bow player really). I'd be interested to hear what you think. I bought myself some tapewound strings to try on it - must fit them & give them a whirl over the holiday. Nadolig Llawen from South Wales

My Cort Steiny clone, which I picked up for a really reasonable price. I added the strap button extender, and this made it easier for me to play. I'm 6' tall, but still found it a stretch to reach the far end of the neck. It sounds absolutely awesome. Someone fitted EMG passive pups, and they sound huge. Recently acquired (from Burns Bass here on BC) Yamaha BX-1. Sounds lovely with flats. Very thumpy. The yam is just over 3kg, the cort is even lighter.

Yes, I've recently been seeking out lighter weight basses. My Japan Fender P Lyte has a slightly smaller body than conventional fender P's. Although I didn't particularly like steinberger style basses in the past, I'm now a convert. The really small bodies make them lightweight and compact - which can be a real bonus. I really liked a couple of Jazz bases I owned, but I found the shape of the bottom of the body made them trickier to play while sat on the sofa.... something I seem to do quite a bit lately.

I like tort anyway, and think it looks great on that colour bass. But I think black would work well too. Also agree that Pearloid would look great as well, especially if it's a yellowy aged tint.

I once had an Ibanez SR500, which I paid around £200 for, second-hand. It was a really well built bass, if you like slim necks. Superb pickups and electronics in it too, with Mk1 Bartolini pups. Albeit, the bass had a distinctly "modern" sound, if you like that sort of thing. I sold that bass for pretty much what I'd paid for it, and there were times when I'd wished I'd kept it (Done that many times lol) So a while back, I was looking for a 5 string bass, and had a couple of stipulations: I wanted it to be as lightweight as I could get (for around a £500 budget), and I wanted a slim(ish) neck, but not so slim for the string spacing to be too tight for the plucking hand - so I needed a slim neck, with a degree of tapering, to be able to get my fat fingers between strings.... Anyhow, I picked up the SR505 and it felt a lot like my old SR500. I instantly felt I could get used to it (I don't play 5'ers much - I just "noodle" at home). Again, quality build, great pups & electrics, very controllable tonally. It's also pretty lightweight for a 5'er. They tend to go very reasonably second-hand too. Mine was new, but in a sale - so I had a good few quid off IMO the SR500 and SR505 are rather underrated basses. Another recommendation from me, would be the Squier, early China-made Classic Vibe basses, if you're looking for more traditional instruments like a P or J bass. My 2008 / 2009 CV Precision is a superb bass, and there are times when I wish I'd kept my 2010/11 CV P in Fiesta Red. That said, the newer CV range made in Indonesia are pretty good too. I tried one of their earlier Jazz basses, and that was OK - but I've played a couple of the more recent ones and I think they've improved.

Here's a video, comparing the tone from 4 different string types

Hi Yotter, I find the same thing really. So I tend to mostly gig with my EUB these days. I did once own a Kala U-bass. Lovely construction / quality, nice sound, but I really struggled with the rubbery, low tension / floppy strings. Also, it was some shift to play something so short scale. After an initial period of playing it as much as I could, I found I wasn't playing it much at all. Those strings really did get on my nerves. I even swapped them at one point, for another plastic / rubbery type of string - slightly higher tension, but still lots of "drag" for my left hand. Plus, both sets seemed to need retuning every 5 minutes. They do seem to take an age to settle. However, there's a thread on here (started by yours truly) about the newer Kala - the Journeyman. This bass seems to come fitted with metal Flatwound strings, which may be a better option. You can also get rounds for a Kala these days - but there are several models of the bass around, and I'm not sure whether they all have truss-rods. So I wouldn't want to fit higher tension strings to a bass without a truss-rod. There's not a shop anywhere near me which stocks a Journeyman or any other U-bass with metal strings, so I can't give one a whirl. This is a shame, as I fancy getting a Kala again, as long as I can get strings I like. At the time I had mine, I didn't know that such strings existed, or I might have kept it. Other than that, of course, a U-bass is a heck of a lot more portable than an acoustic upright. And it may depend on how quickly you can adapt to a much much shorter scale. Good luck with your quest - let us know how you get on. PS. Taking my EUB to gigs, I get a heck of a lot more comments & discussions about that than I ever did with my acoustic upright. I love playing it too.... but that's a whole other topic

Thanks for your thoughts @vmaxblues re the strings - do you know how the strings on the Journeyman compare to the Rubber strings that usually come on U-basses? And for that matter, are they markedly "floppier" than standard bass strings? Sorry for the questions - but I'm beginning to think I "need" a Journeyman! lol There aren't any in shops local to me - so I can't try one out.

They last longer. I find rounds get dull after time, due to the build-up of dead skin & grease in the windings. And it's not the same sort of "dull" or "more dead" sound as with flats. Also, I've yet to break a Flatwound, and I know I broke quite a few rounds over the years. Perhaps this is due to the way they're made? Perhaps it's because there's no way grease & gunk can get in between the windings? Many flats users will tell you they've had some sets of strings on a bass for years. Some will tell you the sound improves with age and wear. So they may be more expensive, but cheaper over time. I've had flats on one of my P basses for around 3 years, and I think I'd probably have gone through 3 sets of rounds in that time (I was playing that bass all the time, as I was in several bands, and playing regularly). My first experience of Flats was years ago, and they were very high tension, which put me off them for years. Then I started playing upright, and you don't really get rounds on an upright (though I'm sure there must be some, somewhere). Playing upright got me used to playing with flats. I tried the TI Flats, and they are indeed low tension, but I didn't like them on my Fretless - they just felt too floppy. So I swapped them onto my P bass, and Bingo - They just felt and sounded right. I've tried several flats over the last few years, and it's strange how some will suit one bass and not another. I recently got myself a bass which came with Fender Flats... and I'm really loving the feel and sound of them. I'd say get yourself a set to try, and if you don't like them you can sell them on without losing too much. Go for it - I haven't looked back (though I do still have rounds on one bass).