NancyJohnson

I'm a huge fan of early Tears For Fears, but only really developed a love of XTC about 20 years ago. Personally I adore the 5.1/Atmos mixes of both bands that Steven Wilson has curated, they're bonkers good. I've read enough comments from the naysayers to the contrary, but it's not as if the release of these versions erases all those that have gone beforehand.

Pretty certain there's some Steven Wilson hero worship going on here. I've come a bit late to the Steven Wilson party; I've loved the work he's done resurrecting/elevating the Tears For Fears and XTC back catalogue to spatial audio and Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Welcome To The Pleasuredome Atmos mix is an absolute delight, but (and there's always a 'but'), I find his total output somewhat overwhelming in a musical capacity. So much content to play catch up. No-Man, Porcupine Tree, his solo stuff, Blackfield ...and so on. I own a few albums/BluRays; more recent live stuff (Home Invasion/Arriving Somewhere/Closure Continuation Live) and some solo stuff (The Future Bites/The Overview) and I dip into Spotify for short hits of audio, but just want to throw something cohesive together (Spotify) that I can just stick on in the car, at home etc. My good lady happened to be sitting in the same room when Pariah (from To The Bone) came on - she said, 'I like this,' which was then swiftly followed by, 'I don't like this, there's too many notes,' and I can kind of see her point. Gimme you favourite tracks.

I've found another guy who bought the same model through the same seller and he seems fine with it. Five week delivery, only criticism seemed to be lack of comms post purchase. Electronically, the plan (assuming it arrives and arrives in one piece!) is to whip out the humbuckers and drop in a pair of Warman P94 pickups and pop in the appropriate pots (assuming it's shipped with 500k pots, I'll install 250k ones to subdue the higher frequencies. Might be interesting to source some 300k or 330k pots...best of both worlds. Beyond this, dependent in what's supplied, bridge and machine heads, but who knows, they may be great.

While I didn't use them for this, I have been perusing Cathy's Custom Guitars on Facebook. They don't sell from the page, you need to PM one of the site mods. They seem to do four main (Gibson copy) guitars, Les Paul, SG, Vees and Explorers, although I gave seen 335.

In answer to the original question, yup, I have signature sound. Gnarly. Any bass into a BDDI/XB Driver, clean power stage, cab(s). Easy.

Rainbow - Rising What a cracker!

Remove the machine heads and ferrules. Assuming the decal is under clear coat, gentle use of a high grit wet and dry to get through the clear and then the transfer. You should be able to just apply a Fender decal direct to the headstock and clearcoat over it to make good.

As I understand it, you have a degree of recourse if things go awry; Paypal dispute etc. I have seen a few posts from people who've bought the same model from the same seller and things are generally OK. End of the day, it was only £200! I can hang it on the wall.

I've bought a couple of knock off Fender Jazz/Precision necks in the last year, but have never gone the whole hog with a completed guitar. I'd sold a few books pre-Christmas, had a little surplus and decided to take the plunge. I've always adored the original Gibson Futura shape (with the split headstock), so pulled the trigger on this: So long as the body and neck are OK, everything else is dispensable. Gawd help me.

I guess it's just indicative of age/monetary availability, but we just seem to buy stuff when we want it rather than holding out for the 25th December. I also have my birthday on December 1st, so that screws things up, too. I never really want anything, but suppose there is this expectation that someone will pick up on something I've said, but alas, nope. Ever. I've been expecting a sausage making machine for over a decade. I drop hints, but tumbleweed. Inevitably, nothing (obvs) discernably bass-centric arrived (so nothing unusual on that front); we did treat ourselves to a pair of Sonos ERA100 speakers - my old ones went to @RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE a couple of weeks back - I just wanted an upgrade to allow Bluetooth and a wired-in method of playing the odd CD. Much to my chagrin I found out that these don't fit my stands, so I ordered in a pair of adaptors on Christmas Eve and they actually arrived today (shipped from Amazon in the US, so full credit where due). Beyond this, got some Canadian Bourbon (Bearfaced) and some smellies.

There's a really interesting insight into the Nicky Chinn/Mike Chapman production line writing of all these Top 10 hits by Sweet, Mud, Suzi Quatro and Smokie. There's an interview with Andy Scott, where he says Tiger Feet was offered to The Sweet but they either turned it down or asked to take it later. Obviously, Chinnichap gave it to Mud. I believe it kept another Sweet single off #1.

This ^^^

I haven't seen a date posted? Their 2025 bash was 12/10/25...we're covering 2026.

THIS ^^^

Bonny lad, you know that Basschat is fundamentally the worst place you can go to for opinions, because you'll end up with dozens. You've listed pros and cons from the five versions you've identified - and I'm assuming your leaning towards a Fender - but remember nothing is set in stone; you can replace bridges/machines/other hardware, it's highly unlikely that you're going to need to replace a neck, you can buy a hardshell cases (and so on). Remember also that you'll save a few bob by sourcing a used instrument. My advice would be to go out and try a few. You may find that there are other manufacturers that may tick the boxes as well (Lull, Lakland, Sadowsky).

Ours will be better 😉

Happy days. It is a thing, this data gathering. What on earth do the colloquial 'they' do with it all? Where do they store it all? It used to be about putting the words anthrax or letterbomb into emails that probably proved emails were being monitored.

I am finding it a bit bonkers that people are spending Paul McCartney's kids inheritance to save this (failing) business. As far as I know, he bought his Hofner basses in the '60s and despite the free publicity they've had for the last 60 years, I don't believe he's been offered, or they've made, a signature model. Now we've got people suggesting he bail the business out. Why on earth would, or should, McCartney do this? This would like Chris Squire bailing out Rickenbacker or @cetera rescuing Spector.

Earn it, pay tax on it. Buy it, pay tax on it. Sell it, pay tax on it. Die, pay tax. It's all about handing over to government. It's just a matter of time until banknotes are carrying tracking chips, because HMRC know they're unable to keep check on cash sales. Governing, regulating, managing. Thankfully I'll be dead by then. That's it in a nutshell, isn't it?

Well, 2025 has been tumbleweed for me and to be brutally honest, I haven't missed the band-centric activity. Had another hand operation last week (success already); this has been hindering things. Pencilled in for a studio session in January. On the up.

I just took a look at their website; now there's always going to be some smart Alec that will comment to the contrary, but the whole business seems to be being carried by their proxy association with Macca. Less core instruments than Fender. I was actually quite surprised they had a couple of guitar models and upright basses.

Vester were one of those brands that came in very low pricewise and were pretty well made. Maybe 20 years back, I had a Vester Strat-thing, pointy headstock with dual humbuckers generic Kahler-style whammy. It was a quite lovely thing. More than capable. Less interesting were the circumstances surrounding purchase. I was looking at a pair of guitars at the time, the Vester was shiny and new, the other one - for not dissimilar money - was used, battered and tired, so I bought the Vester. Of course I did. I often wonder where the other one, a 1961 Les Paul Junior single cut, ended up.

A few years back I was doing some home demo recordings here; we had a couple of amps set up in a spare room and stuck Shure SM58 (vocal) microphones in front of the each cab and a Rode vocal mic up away from the amp to pick up room ambience. Sounded fine. Guitarist put a photo up somewhere and got an absolute deluge of comments about how stupid we were, that we didn't know what we were doing and how we should have used <insert assorted microphone types here>. The responses just reflect the world we live in, the results were more than acceptable (we just dialled in the tone we wanted off the amps), the SM58 was the only suitable microphone I had (I used to use it rehearsal spaces rather than catching herpes off the studio mics). Ultimately, any nuances in tone/frequency shift (etc) off the SM58 would be lost once everything else was added (drums, bass, more guitar). Plus, it was a home recording, not Abbey Road. People are idiots.

I've thought about these as a project; another neck from China (rosewood with blocks), reverse P. Maybe in 2026.

These two owe me peanuts. This is off a '70s Aria Primary Bass; it was truly knackered when I got it, so there's been a load of tinkering. I put a knock-off Jazz neck on it earlier this year as it was cheaper than a refret. It's gnarly. Bolted this one together this summer. Cheap MIM Jazz body, Precision neck from the same seller as above. Filled the bridge pickup rout, installed a reverse P pickup. Owes me about £200.00. Also gnarly. I have a brace of very expensive basses, but I adore these.