Lw.

There's something wrong with me, I keep coming back to these. I used to hate this finish but over the last year I've started to desire it. Hoping everyone else has found them so hideous they end up heavily discounted somewhere like the anniversary basses!

New Settee, probably got enough space to add to the family now.

This is the one. The basic Fender Mexican "player" basses aren't particularly inspiring but if you can get the more premium Mexican offerings ("classic" or vintera etc...) then they're not bad.

I was down at Casbah in Greenwich too - got there an hour after opening & the queue was a similar size to your picture, flowed quite easily through, though it was a bit rushed in the shop. Picked up a couple of the records I was after, all in all a good morning! Might check what spare stock Rough Trade have tonight though my wallet is feeling the strain!

Gosh they're cheap. I feel like even if the electrics aren't great, if you've got the tools you should be able to sort them as the fundamental build seems decent. Really don't need another bass though, hmmm.

I think you'd be mad to sell the '71 but swapping out the Sandberg for the Custom Shop would probably be a good move. GAS is like the ocean waves; you can't stop them, you just have to ride them.

It does take some mental gymnastics, sure. Fortunately I'm not a trading block negotiating deals so it's not too big a problem, though generally I take it as wherever it says it was made, that's where it was made. If the electronics are originally made in china, the tree grew in India, the metal dug up in Africa but the label says it was Made in USA, then that's good enough for me. Don't ask me what nationality I'm classing my Limelight as! My buying habits very clearly show I have no brand loyalty!

I quite like it - like natural basses, prefer passive, looks quite smart. Never really played an MM bass but in the back of my mind always thought I needed one to complete the holy trinity. At c£100 a month for nine months it seems almost rude not to but I made a rule with myself a few years ago that I'd only buy basses from the brands country of origin (can probably blame Fender for that). One to consider...

Pedals that just add fuzz do tend to strip the bass out. I used to use a Dave Hall Amps pedal that was good, have also used a Big Muff Deluxe (this model has something it it to keep the bass frequencies in, I can't remember what it's called) to similar results. Depending on the type of metal, it's not a bad idea to just leave the bass clean & let the guitarists do the distortion.

Nice looking and sounding bass! I wouldn't worry too much about the price: a) That's not how much it will sell for b) Yes there is a rarity - there can't be that many of them left & we must lose one or two a year to fire/floods/car crashes/being stolen & dumped etc... c) You have to learn to disassociate cost & quality once you get past the threshold of £800-1000. Everything above that price is purely people treating themselves to something they deem as being a treat. If 26k isn't within your price range there's no point worrying because you can buy a perfectly usable bass from a musical perspective for vastly less so you're not missing out. For some people it will be within range and they'll probably buy it for noodling around at home.

They do make some very handsome basses, huge variety in finishes too. Would love to try one one day.

They're a box shifter, if they checked everything they sent out the prices would have to be higher - if you want set-up checks done you need to go to a brick & mortar shop (pref a good one as the rubbish ones probably still wouldn't check) & pay the extra for the privilege.

I never had a particularly big collection but I did fritter money away on a variety of mid-range basses over the years, then I decided I needed a P bass (having spent most of my earlier years hating them) and it pretty much killed the gas. Over night I switched to focusing on just having a few really nice basses/things rather than lots of ok stuff. Now I have a really good P, an almost as good J and an active 5er that I never play but for sentimental reasons need to keep (we've been through a lot) and it's actually a very good bass in its own right I just never play 5s anymore. Realistically now the only basses I think I'd look at buying despite knowing they would get way less play time than the P & J would be a Ric and maybe some form of Gibson. Honestly though, I reckon just the P would do. Younger me was wrong on many things but this was the worst mistake, so many missed opportunities for P bargains in years gone by!

Well, from a pretty negative start (the fake roadworn) this has turned into a decent result! Congratulations!

Certainly worth giving Mark at Limelight a call. Building & giving a slight relic does sound fun & probably quite doable but by the time you've bought the extra fettling tools, messed a few things up then eventually still not got exactly what you wanted you'd may as well just pay someone that knows what they're doing to do it for you. That's what I did, Limelight made exactly what I wanted - not the same specs as what you've posted but not a million miles away either, here's mine: