Lw.

Not really for me I don't think but they certainly look like nice things to have. I'm not normally an inlays guy but the ones on the rosewood board look pretty good too!

What changes are you actually trying to make? An easy solution would be to leave the bass stock & buy a nice EQ pedal to go in front of your amp, that'll give you a load of tonal options & if you don't like it you can sell the EQ on and get something else.

Are you left or right handed? I'd probably spend a few quid more & get a brand new Harley Benton from Thomann if I were you.

It's a shame musical instrument companies don't seem able to follow basic FX rules, they seem to forget so it'll either be £1k or they'll get it backwards and it'll be £1.2k!

I like the look of the JJ405 - giving me F-bass vibes. The JB-62 is very much just a Fender copy. They probably sound quite similar given the pup locations so probably more worth thinking about what you want to look like.

Funny this one is still rumbling on. Given all new fender shaped basses are at best licensed copies of what Fender used to make, is it any wonder the different licensees make their copies to different quality levels? Even if you look at US Fenders, Leo isn't there, the level of management that learnt from him are no longer there, the machines are different. There's not a whole lot that remains of what was & even back when he was there with his team & machines, they still kicked out some duffers. Not really surprising the far Eastern factories who are directly competing with each other for Fender based trade are upping their game & making some nice basses (looking at you 40th anniversary crowd). Neither is it surprising that that competition is pushing them towards or even beyond what is essentially the American continent B-team. I think you should just keep the ones you do like and sell the ones you don't, it doesn't matter what logo the licensee has printed onto the headstock. I've got two Fender type basses - one bolted together in America & one bolted together on the south coast of England, listening to a recording of my playing, no one would be able to tell which is which!

Another Harley Benton vote from me - the kings of cheap gear. Thomann are shifting huge volume so the price is helped by their economies of scale, brands selling less units are having to cut corners in order to compete on price. They can be quite heavy though so spend some of that saving on a nice wide strap.

Tele-bass looks seriously cool, price is a bit punchy though. Is this them trying to put a bigger price step between the Mexican ranges (player to vintera, positioning the vintera as more premium rather than just more vintage specced) or are the prices just being pushed up across the board some more do we think?

Sales person in making a sale shocker. That blue one would look good with a tort guard. Actually maybe the pink one would too 🤔

Cool bass! Hard to tell from the pic quality but is that a natural patina or has it been relic'ed? Looks to be some nice flaming on the neck too.

Well, yeah. People often talk about making their J sound like a P but in reality they do not sound close. It's the same the other way - J's don't sound like P's and P's don't sound like J's. That's why you've got to have both.

I think black ones look good if it has a maple fretboard as the black ties in with the fret markers, otherwise tort looks great so long as it's a good tort!

Also worth remembering we're all looking at the images on different quality screens so one persons comparison to real life colour will be different to another's.

Bass Direct seems like the obvious choice!

Interesting - it certainly doesn't have the sticky gloss feel the unsanded parts of the Fender have. Good work - I'm sure it'll be worth the wait!

You might find this useful; Limelight on the left, custom shop on the right. I don't actually know how either company do it but going on feel/looks, the Fender feels like it was a high gloss tinted neck that has been sanded down to bare wood (it feels very smooth like bare wood but I assume there's a very thin layer of satin clear coat on it) - the Limelight feels like the whole thing has some kind of oil finish that is even throughout, not rubbed through in the middle. That's what they feel like to me anyway.

Yeah it's good! Not one for the purists though - the loose idea was an early 70s jazz that had had a precision neck swap, but really it's just all the fender bits I like in one bass!

Been a bit quiet in here of late! Just popped in to see Mark & picked up this little number. Just noodling in a campsite at the mo but feels great!

Is that how much a JMJ is now? I'm sure they were "only" around 900 not that long ago when I was looking at Mustangs! You're right in that these newer Mexican models are making the player series look like a bargain! Maybe I'm just getting old - I remember seeing a roadworn jazz in a shop for 695 & thinking it'll never sell for that 😂 Still, price aside I think they look cool & nothing wrong with a bbot imo!

Like the paint job, would be fun for playing funk! Don't like the price. I know prices are always rising & the fx rate isn't helping but that's a lot of money for a Mexican Fender.

Looks awesome! I've got a real thing for relic'd natural basses at the moment, picking one up next week (from a different manufacturer) but the purchase was inspired by a hardcore aged Sandberg.

Nice bit of wood for the body that! I'd be getting some Montypresso on that fretboard if it were mine. Good fun to play Mustangs!

I don't really get this argument, what difference would it make to Fender? It made sense before when it was a licensing deal with the Japanese factories that were making great basses a few decades ago, but that's not the setup any more is it? Isn't Fender Japan a full Fender subsidiary now?

I wonder how many of the first generation they would have sold if they'd had that logo on?

The great thing about fender derivative stuff is it's all standardised - just buy the bits you like and bolt them together, it's all available individually. Ok the routing for that mm pickup you'll need to pay someone but the rest anyone can do from home.