NancyJohnson

Yep...also check for slackness in the springs against the saddles.

It's wasps. They get everywhere this time of year. Check the machines are all nice and tight. Sometimes the source of these rattles isn't necessarily where you hear them from.

I've used SIT strings, nice kind of gritty feel. Amazon or eBay probably the best bet. I think Mark at Bass Direct had some cheap sets at the London show.

Yep, American seller. I think what hit me was that the seller actually thought I just wanted photos of his bass. He couldn't do enough until I said no...then he turned into the playground bully.

I don't profess to being a Prince fan, but I did own the Hits/B-sides compilation that came out years ago. That and the new compilation will make a decent playlist.

This Hamer FBVIII came up on a group I'm a member of; I know there's some multi-string bass fans here and also guys who are doing the Cheap Trick thing, so there's probably a few people reading this who are drooling now. Anyone who knows Tom Petersson's gear or are a member of the Hamer Guitar Discussion group will know this bass (I've been aware of it for a good 25+ years). So anyhow, as I have some inheritance money coming through in about six weeks, I sent the seller a PM for his cash price as his ad quoted he was either looking for an 'unbroken Thunderbird II' or a cash sale (he hadn't quoted a dollar price). I explained as I didn't have a Thunderbird for swapsies, perhaps he would like to give me a price. A few minutes later he pinged back a price. I'm not going to go into the price, but while it was a lot of $$ I didn't fall off my chair and it would be easily doable in a few weeks. (When the inheritance comes in, let's just say I'd be able to buy several of these.) I asked whether it came with the original case (yes) and would he mind sending me some better photos. Sensing a sale, he turned around the photos in under 30 minutes and then, unprompted, said he could provide a load of stuff to prove the basses provenance, then PMs arrived containing links to YT videos where Tom Petersson is playing this bass. He was obviously sniffing a sale. Everything was cordial at this point. I'd spoken to a mate in New Hampshire who offered to bring it in on his next business trip (which could in theory have saved me a fortune in tax), so the final hurdle was my wife. Hands up, I'll admit I've spent a lot on gear in the last two or three years so after a bit of a chat (and because I like my testicles), I thought better of it and as much as I'd have loved to own this bass, sadly decided not to proceed, but added if it was still available in a few months I would hit the seller up again. At this point things got a little weird seller-side. I mean, if you're selling something, you'd expect to at least send some photos and enter into a bit of dialogue about things, wouldn't you? When I apologised and told the guy it was a no, I was on then on the receiving end of a couple of strange, angry messages; '[I] didn’t think you were serious. Just another tire kicker wasting my time wanting pictures of my bass.' and 'Don’t bother me again unless you are serious. I hate when people waste my time. This is the ONLY ONE of its kind. If you don’t want it, someone else does...' He also remarked that there was the Hard Rock Cafe (the guitar graveyard). I dunno, I just found his rhetoric strange. I've sold stuff here, I've had stuff on sale where you email photos out. It's what you do. If the guy at the other end doesn't want what you're selling, they say no, so you just go, 'That's fine, no worries and thanks for your interest.' and the matter closes. Man alive, if I wanted photos of the bass, there's loads out there already; I really couldn't care less about whether it was one of a kind or not either. I've never been called a tire kicker in my life (I think this is what hurt the most!). Ack, there's no happy ending here. I just wanted to vent off how stupid and dumb some people can be (not me, folks).

About 25 years ago ('The Metal Years'), I had one that warned ladies not to stand too close to the bass stack as the frequencies might moisten their panties. I do wonder where my head was at sometimes.

In the last decade I've gone through ten or so Gibson Thunderbirds and now I have a pair of Lulls each loaded with a pair of his 60s clones. Playing tonally flat, the Gibsons were all a little different from each other, I'm not saying in a bad way, but there was an inconsistency from one to one...I certainly knew which ones I preferred, but as I've posted previously, preferred tone is subjective. The Lulls are fairly similar to each other, it's very close, although the NRT5 is slightly brighter at the moment (might also be something to do with string age as well). Thing is, I have an ancient Aria Pro II bass that's a wreck; it needed a bit of work and I guess all in it owes me £125 now. I put a used Delano pickup in it that had spent a few years in a Sandberg (bought for c.£60 on this forum); it really doesn't sound that different to the Lulls. Shocking, eh?

This is kind of what I was hoping would come up. Personally not a fan of the headstock or the ashtray, but otherwise cool.

Let me try and quantify where I'm coming from here. In the last 30+ years I've thrown a ton of money at trying to get what I believed to be my ideal sound; so many basses (some butchered to try different active/passive set ups), so many string choices, so many pre-stages, stompboxes, amps and cabinets. Customisation is a long, lonely and expensive road and GAS is as well. Along the way I came to realise that a) my gear in another person's hands will sound completely different to me and b) where I'm at now tonally is really just a short stroll from where I was when I first started out. Sure it's nice to have all this gear, all this very expensive gear, but the expensive stuff really doesn't sound that different to the really cheap stuff. The only reason I cited Rickenbacker here is that for me playing a 4003 the desired tone was there right out of the box. I borrowed one one lunchtime off a guy I worked with and tried it through two set ups and as a front end, it was exactly how what I expected it to sound like straight out of the box. The same guy had also put the Rickenbacker pickups in another bass and while it was similar, it was a stroll away from the 4003. You wouldn't know that guitar had Rickenbacker pickups in it is what I'm saying. It's akin to (as I've posted elsewhere) just because you have a Chickenbacker, it doesn't mean it's going to sound like the real thing. When you say you like Thunderbucker Ranch 66s, say why. Have you got access to a bass that has these in and you've played it through your gear?

This is a bit of a loaded question for me, so let me ask you these questions: #1 If you put Rickenbacker pickups and the guts into any bass (in the right positions, obviously) would it sound like a Rickenbacker? #2 Which variant of Thunderbird pickups? #3 In a blind test, would you be able to identify a Thunderbird from another bass? #4 What's your reasoning for doing this?

It's a little sad (and to be honest, not unexpected) that a discussion which started out barely 36 hours ago as the possibility to actually do something fun, has deteriorated into the usual knob-gag innuendos and Carry-On-esque double-entendres. No wonder the country is in such a state. Christ on a bike @Sercet, if you want a Shergold, there's eBay. There's an original four string one up on there now with a buy it now of less than £400.00; I'm sure you could convert it to a baritone for somewhat less than this project will cost you. I need a drink.

It's taken an awful long time to get the tone I've wanted. Tech21 stuff was a revelation, as to was dumping the old Ashdown gear I was running and getting the Hartke endorsement (the Hydrive cabinets were dreamy, lightweight, bright etc.). Right now, tone heaven. Racked poweramp, Tech21 GED2112 or the new dUg stompbox. The biggest revelation though has to be the Barefaced Big One that I won at the SE Bass Bash a couple of years ago. I took it out and gigged with it that night and it's just outstanding and is my number one really. I'd like to experiment with a pair of 1x12s or a matched 1x12 and 1x15 (TKS 1126 and H115), just so I can run the GED2112 in dual channel mode and then bridge the amp/daisychain the cabinets should the application arise . The whole backline set up I run works brilliantly with any of my basses, from the couple of cheapies up to the really expensive Lulls and Hamer.

I was at three or four..all Hammersmith Odeon. The 1980 section of Whitesnake Live In The Heart of The City (CD2 or vinyl sides 3 & 4). Blackfoot Highway Song Live. The live album that's now bundled with the 40th anniversary of Rush's A Farewell to Kings. Whether it counts or not there's also a couple of BBC transcription albums too. Japan at Hammersmith Odeon and Specimen at The Paris Theatre.

I think it'll be a case of whittling down the specifications once we get enough people. I suppose as I proposed this, I'll try and drive it forward as far as I can. We're all different and we all have differences in opinion and taste, but bear in mind that if there's enough potential with #1, we could do this more than once. The one thing that I've already noticed is that there's love for Serek basses and short scales; like I said initially it's not about copying what's out there, it's more like trying to do something different or raise an long extinct bass (or guitar design) and working with Eastwood to put a twist on it. It may sound brutal, but this isn't about producing a budget version of a Serek; just save up and buy one.

The reason behind my mindset of going Eastwood was the prospect of relatively low build numbers, along with the facts they've made a name for themselves knocking out models quirky guitars and basses for a long, long time and their entire business model depends on that. With all due respect to Chowny/Retrovibe, I don't see anywhere like the craziness or scope of what's going on at Eastwood.

The K200 would look a whole lot nicer with a Spector style headstock.

Hey Rich I don't want a Thunderbird...if I did, I'd buy a Gibson (or another Lull). I'm pretty confident the price would come in at under £1K, yes. The most expensive Eastwood Customs come in at $1300 or thereabouts, but I'd qualify these as being very well specced; most seem to come in at sub-$600.

At this stage let's just see how many people would be interested rather than throwing in suggestions. If we get 50 people interested, then we can decide what we want to try and do! It would just be too easy for me to say, 'Let's do a Thunderbird,' but that's not really the point here. It's an opportunity to perhaps resurrect a long deleted model (I could quote, umm, Dan Armstrong for instance) and put our own twist on it, or create something entirely new.

Pretty much. Like I said, there's little point making a Fender clone, but there's a great opportunity here to produce something really decent and fun. Once we decide what we want, we can tweak everything else from woods, hardware etc. thereafter. Michael Robinson at Eastwood said to me via email that if we did go ahead, they'd also put it on their current project page as well (obviously to generate more sales).

I'm wondering whether there would be enough interest for us to get a minimum of twelve (yep, that's right, twelve) Basschat footsoldiers to sign up for a run of Eastwood Custom Basschat Edition Basses. No design specs yet (but if you want a Fender clone, go to Andertons), no choices of finish (yet), no prices (yet). Let's see how many say yes first and then we can start discussing.