NancyJohnson

It's interesting that it's taken until now for the request to be made and god knows how many guitars Gibson were producing annually back then. I'd reckon that the ledgers for that period probably went into a dumpster during some sort of office/warehouse reorganisation/tidy up in the mid-70s move from Kalamazoo to Nashville. You can (almost) imagine some Brylcreemed middle management bloke (imagine George McFly) being giving a remit to tidy things up prior to the move to the new plant and just going to some lacky, 'Ted, throw these in the junk, we'll have no need for these at the new facility.' Hopefully, I'm wrong.

I honestly don't get this response. I read your post and agree with everything you said, and @bassaussie just furthered your point. You don't care for the history lesson or what?

The prices of old Fenders is getting ridiculous...I suppose there's a parallel with estate agents estimates, thus adding a few thousand on the pertained value of a house, based on a similar one they sold earlier. Granted this was a few years back, but I was in New York in 1999 and visited a music store over the road from Manny's. They had a small bass room stocked full of a recently deceased session musician's 60s and 70s Jazz basses; I don't believe I saw anything in there over $1,000. End of the day, it's all a personal choice. Little enthusiasm to own a vintage Fender, but I can understand the drive and passion to own one if that's your thing and you're bitten by the bug.

While, I don't really need another bass, I concur that a couple of somewhat major upgrades could turn this into something pretty nice and a decent platform for mods. I'd certainly go with a Telecaster bass neck (sell on the old one). Not a fan of those BBoT bridges, so a Hipshot Kickass. Just throwing this out there, I really like the look of machine heads with longer posts...I'm not 100% whether they look longer due to the alignment of the machine head holes being closer to the top of the headstock or whether you can get them with longer posts. Anyhow, some of those. Yes:

My.mind.is.blown. I loved the Road Noise album, but to be honest cared little for who the backing band are/were...I would never in a thousand years seen any correlation between two bands. Blimey!

I've used those rack things, stands, propped up against sofas, left in cases etc.and can't say that any method seems to be better or worse; never noticed things going awry. I suppose my basses are all well set up, truss rods doing what they're supposed to be doing. No issues. Currently they're all on those Ultimate stands, at pitch, they hang from the headstocks, slightly angled back.

Undoubtedly there's going to be a plethora of stuff posted here. If you want musical madness combining odd time signatures juxtapositioned with ever odder key changes and dischords, look no further than Shudder To Think. Despite my description, it's all amazingly coherent. I turned @hiram.k.hackenbacker about a week ago, loads more previously. I'd suggest listening to Pony Express Record (where they really hit their stride) and then navigate backwards (Get Your Goat). I mentioned to Brains that he ought to listen once and then go again. This has recently surfaced...unedited live footage from MTVs 120 Minutes show.

Shouldn't that be here:

While this bass screams punk/hardcore, the Babicz just says, 'You know I'm an anarchist, but I like to chill out with a nice glass of red and listen to a bit of Kenny G every so often.' BBoT mate. BBoT.

I've gone through quite a lot of stuff over the years...have never really found an amp that does everything I want. Desired tone is a Geddy Lee/dUg thing; so until recently I've been using various Tech21 stuff for pre-processing then into a power stage (Matrix power amps or the effects return on a head). Right now I have two routes; basses into Darkglass A/0 or a dUg DP3 pedal into the effects return thereof. I rehearsed in Brighton last year with an Ampeg 8x10 and the Darkglass had no problem filling the place with headroom to spare. Generally though, I'm just using a Barefaced Big One...little point at this juncture in updating my speakers. Current set up does rock/punk/metally without issue. Small and portable.

What sort of music do you play? Clean tone? Dirty? Do you run a pedalboard? When you rehearse in a band, do you moderate the volume or are you going full pelt? Do you put your cabinet up against a hard wall or pull it into the room? I could add a dozen more questions.

The Lulls aren't really going to save your back. Believe me, I've got two.

Look, I know this thread is all pretty much done and dusted, but I've been round the block where Thunderbirds are concerned. My advice would always be don't rush and save for a secondhand Gibson. New Gibson prices are crazy, so wait for a used one to come up; they will always come up, and save yourself £££. Next option? Don't buy an Epiphone. Sure, you can put a Gibson truss rod cover on one, but you're not fooling anyone. The Epiphones look like Gibsons, but the body geometry is off. So, dear reader, I know what you're asking. What would you do then, NJ? I would probably go with a Spector 4X, one of the Korean ones. I played one in New York a few years back and played another at one of the bass bashes more recently. They're cheapish, look the part, sound nice; they're an interesting twist on an established body shape. Weight aside, both were very nice basses, a country mile nicer than any Epiphone. I'd spend a bit of time getting a decent set up and at a later date, pull the guts out and put a John East (or similar) pre-amp into it. Feasibly, you could end up with a wonderful keeper for under 800 notes.

In that budget, just the case then.

I've got a sticker on mine for Lovibonds Brewery in Henley. Henley Dark...slurp. The Darkglass sticker is off now.

Mott The Hoople. None of the really early stuff, so kicking things off from 1972s All The Young Dudes and I'll go through the post-Hunter Mott albums (Drive On/Shouting & Pointing) and then swing back to the 2009/13 live albums. That's me set for the day. Might watch the documentary tonight too.

Has anyone watched the video? Jeepers.

I've squirrelled away enough over the years and while I feel I have some dreamy basses, if a decent 60s Thunderbird II came up, I'd consider it. Anything else, nah.

I'd concur and I'd also maintain that we, bassists, are in general a bit smarter than our six string bretheren and can generally see through the sales and marketing guff that alludes to support Signature models, whichever manufacturer is producing them. I saw an interview with Geddy Lee one time and he was extolling the virtues of the Jaco fretless the Fender custom shop had made for him' he was saying something along the lines of how perfect it was and how he wouldn't change anything on it because, '...it's Jaco's bass.' Frankly, I almost did a little bit of sick. It's no more Jaco's bass than the guy over there who's playing Flea's 60s Jazz is playing Flea's 60s Jazz. It's a copy.

Over the years there's been a few instruments I'd have been over like a tramp on chips but for some part of it that just ruined the look of the thing. Many of you will know that a while back I was haemorraghing money on Gibson Thunderbirds, I loved the look of the Gibson Nikki Sixx Model but (three pointer aside) two things ruined it...the inlays and the scratchplate. Just thinking about it, I've never seen a photo of Mr Sixx actually playing one, so I don't know what that says. Moving forward, I have this on/off (mainly on) desire for a Les Paul Junior or a Gibson Melody Maker. Imagine my delight when I saw the Michael Clifford Signature Melody Maker: As I'm not 15, I had no idea who Michael Clifford was so I Googl...woah, wait a minute, red crossed inlays?? Gibson, Gibson. I could live with the red Gibson logo and swapped out the truss rod cover, but come on. It's a half decent looker, might have put a HB sized P90 in there, maybe some Sperzels later down the line, but the red Xs are a total put off.

I'm listening to a load of Max Richter today. Orchestral.

Just throwing this in. Has @Swaffle88 actually removed either of the pickups to determine what they are? Also, how would he/she feel if the non-matched pickup was something premium/expensive, like a Lollar or Lindy Fralin? Would the opinion then be that they had got one over on the seller?

Probably not... I'm fortunate enough to have a decent sized (brick) extension on the back of the house that serves as a TV/garden room; despite it just being an extension, it's effectively #2 lounge (as anyone here who has been to my house will testify) and I try and keep things tidy in there. My gear has moved away from racks/cabs to something more bijou...wherever this journey takes me and whatever I end up with, it has to look nice as well as doing the job; I'd prefer to go with a pair matched cabinets.

I'd concur with this; I've listened through studio monitors, AKG in-ears, over-ear phones. I would like to hear these cabinets driven at some point in these videos though...credit to Alex for demonstrating these with a flattish and clean tone, which if nothing is highlighting the nuances tonally between both the enclosures and the basses, but in my gigging circles nobody I met played with a flat/clean tone.