Happy Jack

I've always thought that there is a generic, "family" resemblance between a number of bass marques that were around in the early 80s, close enough that I always felt that there was a lot of borrowing going on. I agree that there's a long list of detailed differences between the Bass Collection and the SR range, yet the overall look & feel is remarkably similar. There was also a range by (I think) Yamaha at the same time, plus of course the early Tune basses, and I'm sure there were others I haven't mentioned. My guess would be that someone came up with an overall design that worked really well and which wasn't yet another Fender clone, and a bunch of manufacturers fell into line behind it. All these basses were (I believe) lighter than their Fender equivalents, the bar being set lower by Fender's back-crushing output in the late 70s. I wonder if this has anything to do with the pro-Fender (and others) propaganda that then started to emerge about how heavier basses always and automatically sounded better than lighter basses.

Dan Bowskill wondered why there wasn't more love for the £829 Class D head ...

I suppose it's hard to imagine why anyone would spend their time doing something they don't enjoy just because they're being paid to do it. No ... wait a minute ...

It probably helps if you clean the case occasionally.

Active? I thought the SB301 was the only passive one?

Have you considered a fanned fretless, preferably with a torsal twist?

That 736 would probably have played better if he hadn't been wearing that silly ring.

The bass player is Richie Castellano, who currently plays with Blue Oyster Cult.

Norman Stanley Fletcher, you are an habitual musician ...

Bwahahahahahahahaha!!! How many people can leave a Forum and still be getting Feedback 2.5 years later? Come back Clarky ... you know it makes sense.

Really? I've played mainly fives for nearly 10 years and I still do it.

Pah! Kids of today, eh?

Doh!

But most Brits of our generation grew up listening to Hofners ...

Broadly speaking, lines on a fretless are pointless - you can't see them when you're playing, can you? If you can, try and have a go on a fretless with "fret-end markers" like this: All the comfort blanket of a fretted bass, but to the audience (and the rest of the band) you look like a fretless-playing God. If you can't find one with the markers already in place, any decent luthier will insert them into the unlined fretless of your choice for very little money.

In country music, women and forefront are two words that really go together ...

Excellent! I've managed to avoid her entire career. I thought it was just rap artists I did that to.

And according to her website & Wikipaedia entry she's sold "over 50 millions albums" too. That's more than 50. Dave Matthews Band -- 33.5 million units 49. Phil Collins -- 33.5 million units 48. Britney Spears -- 34 million units 47. Bon Jovi -- 34.5 million units 46. Queen -- 34.5 million units 45. Def Leppard -- 35 million units 44. Bob Dylan -- 36 million units 43. Tupac Shakur -- 36.5 million units 41. Backstreet Boys -- 37 million units 39. Tim McGraw -- 37.5 million units 39. Foreigner -- 37.5 million units 38. Rod Stewart -- 38 million units 37. Simon & Garfunkel -- 38.5 million units 36. Chicago -- 38.5 million units 35. Eric Clapton -- 40 million units 34. Reba McEntire -- 41 million units 33. Santana -- 43.5 million units 32. Alan Jackson -- 43.5 million units 30. Eminem -- 44.5 million units 30. Guns N' Roses -- 44.5 million units 30. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band -- 44.5 million units 29. Alabama -- 46.5 million units 28. Kenny Rogers -- 47.5 million units 25. Shania Twain -- 48 million units 25. Kenny G -- 48 million units 25. Journey -- 48 million units 23. Neil Diamond -- 49.5 million units 23. Fleetwood Mac -- 49.5 million units 22. Celine Dion -- 50 million units ... which is actually kind of impressive. It's good to know that you can rely on statistics readily-available in the public domain. Or not. Incidentally, does anyone have a clue who some of those people actually are? Tupac Shakur? Reba McEntire?

Not being sold by a copywriter, by the look of it.

Two slightly distorted guitars.

Does artificial rosewood produce plastic roses?

They're decent basses and the sliding pickup idea works surprisingly well, but they were built down to a budget and they were let down by the electrics, especially the pickup. My black one has a Dark Star pickup and all-new wiring and it sounds absolutely wonderful. I sold the red one years ago precisely because it sounded so meh.

This luthiery stuff is really easy, isn't it ... oops!