Lw.

Yep - that's heavy! I like it though - looking forward to hearing the rest of it.

I think one of those gold aluminium ones could look good, though I don't actually like the feel of it when your thumb nail rubs against it.

[quote name='UglyDog' timestamp='1422872850' post='2677657'] Yes I am happy with it. I'm sorry yours wasn't so good. I'm assuming you must have had one, given all the things that you [i]know[/i] are wrong with them (dodgy frets, crap glued-together body wood, sloppy hardware, bad tone etc)..? [/quote] I think you're trying to read something in my post that isn't there; my points aren't complaints about the brand, they're just personal observations that may offer a reason for the basses being so affordable. I've never bought one, though I have played on one for about a month. There was nothing particularly wrong with it for the price the owner had paid, I wouldn't expect such an affordable bass to come in at a super high spec or finish - Thomann & HB are not stupid, if they could charge more for the basses they would, it's just business - they have spec'd out & built a bass that they feel can compete with the other brands at a similar price point & as I said in my first post it does the job with no one in an audience likely to complain about the bass being played (which was the original question). You are coming across as being very defensive & seemingly trying to have an argument when there is nothing to argue about - I think they're fine for the money & you think they're fine for the money, I wouldn't buy one because they don't offer what I want/need but that's not something you need to worry about - I can just make do with what I've got (for now).

[quote name='UglyDog' timestamp='1422719687' post='2676029'] Define "proper bass"..? Suffice it to say that I don't recognise any of the negative qualities you listed in my instrument. [/quote] I think it was quite clearly explained in my response to the OPs question about them cutting the mustard, in a gigging situation I doubt anyone in the crowd would even care what bass the bassist is playing let alone notice the relative tonal or aesthetic difference between these and any other brand. Congratulations on having a bass that you are happy with.

For non-bass related stuff I usually aim for 50% of retail with a +/- of 5% dependent on condition - the market for instruments (and other music items) seems to be higher than that when I've looked, often nearer 65/70% so it depends how much you like haggling; if haggling is likely to happen I think a lot of people add a little more to the price so that they can drop down & still be happy with the result. Obviously this is all just my opinion so take it with a pinch of salt, really prices are driven by what's already on the market so it could go anywhere - though the few people I've seen asking full retail for s/h goods did give me a smile.

So is this a sales pitch or are you just a fan of the brand?

[quote name='gadgie' timestamp='1422543727' post='2673923'] Hmmmm. So we condone violence now do we. [/quote] Yes we do & if you don't like it I suggest we step outside! :-)

There seems to be a lot of completely off topic bitching & moaning in this thread, odd considering there are plenty of other threads covering the topics... Cheers to the OP for bringing this new shop to my attention, I will be sure to check it out next time I'm over that way. It's always good to have more gear options. I will save my opinions on Denmark street, St Giles High Street, Shoreditch, Private Members clubs, rubbish music venues, capitalism & the state of the NHS for other more appropriate discussions.

[quote name='casapete' timestamp='1422210081' post='2669896'] Great gig with The ELO Experience at The Severn Theatre in Shrewsbury to a sell out crowd. One of those nights when it all comes together - venue, audience, crew & band! [/quote] My home town. Is that the new(ish) venue near the river? Only managed to make it there once since it's been built (don't live there anymore) but I thought it was a great venue. One of my old band mates often does the lighting there too so nice to know things are going well.

I have nothing particularly constructive to say but I'd love a Thunderbird. They probably wouldn't suit my style of play or sound but they look so damn cool. They can go on the waiting list with a black-black-maple P, YoB-bass Streamer & a (one day) Wal Mk1.

Niiice - welcome to the club. Nothing wrong with MIMs or Squires, MIAs are just different.

You could certainly get the cavities filled in but it will be visible without a re-fin, I have seen a natural bass that has had this work done (I assume it was on this forum as I can't think where else it will have been) - I didn't think it looked too bad but I suppose it depends on what you're after. If your current finish is already quite worn you could just look at it as just another war wound. I'm not sure what the re-sale value would be on such a heavily modified P but you could probably sell it then put a couple of hundred in towards buying another 70's P, they still haven't got to the silly prices of the earlier ones so that might be viable. Or (and this is probably what I would do) you could keep an eye out for an old P body then just move all your other bits across (other than the extra bits you don't need), that way you can get what you want but always have the option of going back if you don't like it.

[quote name='Misdee' timestamp='1420660783' post='2651921'] Regarding the tuners, these are probably the least generic/ cheap machine heads known to mankind. Actually they are custom jobs made out of titanium. as is the bridge and trussrod. [/quote] Ti is all very nice but in some ways that news (to me) makes it even worse that they've used the design they have. I'm quite into cycling so have seen a lot of really impressive work with Ti using it's superior strength to weight ratio to full effect, I'd have thought they could have come up with something better though I'm sure if a customer were to ask them to they would do a custom design (for the right price). Anyway, I'd love to play on one of their more traditional looking basses just to see what it's all about though I'd probably give this particular example a miss.

It's certainly not my cup of tea but I can understand why someone would buy one new - the service & that special feeling when going through the built process must be incredible! A few of things I don't really understand are: - Why would someone spend all that money on something then sell it after only 3 months? At best it makes them look silly & at worst it makes it look like something underhand has occurred or they're hiding an issue with it. - Why would someone that is willing to spend 30k on a bass be interested in such a tiny saving when they could spend 15/20% more and have it brand new? - [more general than just this particular bass] Why do so many high end custom manufacturers use what appear to be quite generic/cheap machine heads? Most of them look the same as what is on my Warwick & even my old cheapo Peavey - surely they can come up with a slightly different design/shape to make them unique?

Why are Ashtons frowned upon? I don't know anything about their basses but I bought one of their cheap acoustic guitars years ago when I was bored on holiday & it's worked fine and sounds ok to my ears. I'm sure it'll be fine for you to learn on, if you get into it you could even make a few modifications & not worry if you mess them up as it's so cheap.

To the OP: What do you mean by band meeting? What outcome are you expecting? From my experience band organisation falls into two categories; 1 - Group decisions on everything, these can be done in 5 minutes between songs at rehearsal whilst the guitarist(s) faff around doing whatever it is they do between songs 2 - Leader tells the group their decisions, group says ok So I've never really done a band meeting but I'd be interested to hear how you feel they should go / what the outcome of these meetings is.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1419200335' post='2637603'] Allparts, not Mighty Mite, I believe. [/quote] He told me mighty mite but that was nearly a year ago so he may have changed. Is there much of difference? I'd still like one...

All good points, I was just putting an opinion across that he's valuing his time at over (assuming he buys in bulk) £465 - I have no idea how many man hours it takes to do a relic, but I'd be interested to know... Especially as I'd be up for buying a mighty mite neck P neck that he's reliced to put on my jazz!

£200 more than usual though - ouch. They're probably the best looking aged fenders I've seen but if you look at what you're paying for; the parts are probably £500 if you were to buy them yourself - I can almost swallow paying £265 for someone to relic it given the time & attention to detail, but almost doubling that? That would be more difficult - I'm sure someone will snap it up though, they are very popular around these parts.

The action on mine is substantially higher than that of my e-basses but not ridiculously so, I assumed that was just how they were. Replacement bridge-saddles look relatively affordable after a quick google; maybe practice your filing on one of those so if anything goes wrong you can easily go back to how it is now...

I must admit I find a couple of things odd with conversations like this; firstly I don't really understand the obsession with low action, but I guess that's just personal preference for feel & tone. But really; how do people think lowering the action makes their technique better? In my mind if anything it'll make it worse as you're stroking the strings rather than plucking them & your fretting hand can be less accurate because there's less side movement before the string touches the board. Once a string has been fretted cleanly what difference does it make if you press a little harder (in my mind once it's fretted it's fretted)? Not having a go, just curious as it seems like my understanding of how it works is different to others....

Isn't it just assumed that people will put flats on a jazz so it's not worth mentioning? The question is; why don't they come with flats on?

Thanks for the feedback. Excuse my ignorance but what's the problem with 18v power? having to use an extra plug or does it cause issues elsewhere?

I've never heard of these Dave Hall pedals before, they look interesting. Can someone that knows about these things me please; Much like the OP I'm after a EQ/DI pedal that will let me sculpt my sound a bit, especially when using someone else's amp (or no amp for that matter) in a gigging situation. I was imagining I would just have the thing turned on the whole time. I'm not so fussed about overdrive or fuzz but wouldn't say no to a bit of tube warmth if it's available. I was previously thinking of getting a Sansamp bass-driver or probably para-driver (so I can adjust the mids), your suggestions have made me curious; would a DHA VT1-EQ-Bass-Drive be a suitable alternative or am I getting the wrong idea? Like I say, I don't really want distortion, I more just want to be able to bring out the nice tones of my passive jazz when out & about...