Lw.

I feel like it wouldn't be too difficult to get someone to make you one, then you could pick your colour. I'm sure I've seen a Limelight with that pick-up placement (though it'd be relic'd) or someone like Maruszczyk maybe?

Those 1x15 Peavey's were so good!

They were a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, like those sweat bands people loop around their basses nut for whatever reason.

Hmm the body shape looks decent and may be good for people that struggle with the non-contoured Mustang body but some of the other design choices are absolutely goping. 1 - I get that thoman must have done a bulk discount deal with gotoh for machine heads but that design doesn't work on traditional style basses (same with the jazz they did), it just looks wrong. 2 - similarly the bridge, one of the Mustangs key style points is the extended base plate on the bridge. Fender messed this up on a few models too. Having a basic rectangular one throws the visual balance. 3 - another one fender have messed up too but standard pick-up covers with the straight edges, they just look too big. It's like when you see teenagers wearing their dad's shirt. Still, for £200 it's hard to complain and I'm sure it plays fine & many people probably don't mind the style choices!

Remember to include the additional cost of sorting that headstock out!

I'd quite like a YoB Fender but I was born in '85, bang in the middle of Fender's worst period so not sure if it's worth it!

The worst part is that increase only helps you if you want to move to a less desirable location or leave the market! Maybe now is the time to sell your house, buy a load of basses & live off-grid until it all settles down? 😂

If you earned double/triple what you do now, would your spend go up? I'd probably limit mine at about a months salary mostly because my playing ability makes it difficult to justify spending more, even a month of salary is pushing it!

Isn't this just a "how much do you earn" thread? 1k for someone on 20k is a very different spend than for someone on 100k. I've only ever spent more than a months salary on a bass once, but that was when I was a teenager & it was only £700. Not sure if I could justify a months salary on a bass now!

In a band situation P's just cut through better than a J. But if playing solo'ed at home, J's are probably nicer sounding when you're practicing. As always, the correct option is to have both!

Nice - they've got the curved body right? I always wanted that on my Corvette. Such great basses Warwick's - very distinctive tone (which can be a blessing & a curse), you can tell when someone's playing one at a gig as soon as you walk in, no need to look at the stage!

Eww - no thanks! Some lessons to be learned; 1 - don't buy blind 2 - never sell your basses

Never heard of Mononeon but I think the bass is cool! Nice to see something different. I wouldn't buy one but do appreciate it's existence.

Oh yes, for sure! I can't afford to stretch to a 4k bass & can completely understand someone being upset if they did stretch to that and it turned out to be a bit of a dud. Even the idea of trying something that's a financial stretch and it then being a bit disappointing would be painful for some people. There's just so much in the price of a [new] bass that isn't driven by quality; not to be talked about on this forum (unless they've changed the rules) but inflation & currency fluctuations are going to lead to higher prices regardless of the bass quality. Then the higher prices leads to less of them being bought, which leads to higher prices again blahblahblah... Sometimes I think you just have to say "Do I like this bass - yes/no", then look at your pile of cash & see if they align. After that it's a sunk cost so you'd may as well forget about it. Incidentally - used Custom Shop basses come up pretty frequently at much more reasonable prices, given most of them are relic'ed anyway there's very little to tell the difference between a new & used one!

And this was your first mistake. It's the same across all price points but you only receive marginal gains on incremental cost increases. Obviously "good" in this instance can mean different things to different people but in the same way the 4k bass wasn't twice as good as your 1.8k bass, your 1.8k bass won't be twice as good as the next persons £900 bass and that bass won't be twice as good as someone elses £450 bass. If you don't like it, fine move on. If you, do buy it. Price tag is pretty meaningless when compared to enjoyment.

When I first started playing bass I was completely against Fenders & P's in particular, I just couldn't understand why anyone would want that boring old design, single coil pickup, passive, BBoT bridge etc... I lusted after Warwick's endlessly until I finally managed to buy one at a heavily discounted rate - they were everything I wanted in a bass for a long time. Been through a lot of basses over the years and now mostly play a P bass, am soon to get myself another J after I sold my last one a few years ago & actually have a Mustang too. There's just something about the Fender shape & sound that I really enjoy at the moment so am a convert! Still not a fan of red P's with white pickguards though - I think that must have been the basic model from Squier at the time I started & I can't shake that impression! I do still have my Warwick & whenever I play it I'm reminded how great it sounds - it's just not my current sound or aesthetic and it's a fiver so it very rarely gets played. Done so many gigs with it I'll never part with it, but she is mostly a case queen now.

Once you get it into your head that at some companies (including Fender) Custom Shop doesn't mean custom made for the end user, it just means the product is made by their best people, a lot of these problems go away. A lot of the FCS instruments are made to order for retailers, others are made as show cases as to what the people working there want to make, the rest are standard models they just churn out. For most I think they're just top end of the peg Fenders. Price can be a very emotive thing but if you put it to the side, I've played lots of FCS basses & an equal number of vintage Fenders - there were stars and dogs among both sets. FWIW - The best two P basses I've played were FCS, I own one of them now. The same with most basses - if you find a good one, buy it if you can.

Saw this the other day - the pull business model is what they should be doing so it's good they've released this, they just don't seem to have implemented it very well. E.g. - why aren't all the colour options available? Matching headstocks, switch of J vs P neck, reverse or lollipop tuners etc... Maybe it'll come in time, in the mean time I think/know I'll be spending my money elsewhere (on a Fender style bass too).

They get absolutely slated every time they try anything new or different. Realistically Fender have two bass products & fortunately for them they're the two basses all players really should have. The wider buying public are generally quite conservative, so unsurprising they often release the same colours - past performance probably tells them that's where the money is. I do agree it's kind of pointless that they keep rereleasing the same product though, I'd much prefer them to move to a pull model rather than push, make everything available and let customers order whatever heritage items they want but change in work flows and investment required would be massive.

So you bought two brand new CS's from a shop and both failed? That's pretty incredible if so and quite damning in the store. All worked out well in the end though - that black one looks great & you saved yourself a few quid!