NancyJohnson

If you go to a restaurant and find a dead fly in the soup, they'll apologise and replace it. If you've had a bad meal and complain, there's a good chance you'll get a part of the bill comped. There seems to be this sliding scale of complaint vs cost and where tangibles are concerned, you expect the goods to arrive in a flawless/pristine condition and to the expected build specs. Cars or guitars, they'll try and put things right rather than replace, because it's more cost effective, but nevertheless, the product should be pristine at the point of sale (which in the OPs case is on delivery). As @Beedster posted earlier, both parties are now invested (an entrenched) with arguments. As I understand EU regulations, the seller is obligated to repair or replace free of charge or give a reduction or a full refund. Under EU law you have 14 days to return the goods without justifcation/reason. If Maruszczyk want to do the right thing, if it were me (and if I was desperate for one of these basses, which I'm really not), I'd press for a return/replacement; this way the OP gets what he wants and Maruszcyk comes out of this with a bit of face restored. Irrespective whether the issues are tiny, they're issues. Perhaps the sceptic in me would worry whether the replacement bass was 100% and not filled with unseen defect (akin to the chef flobbing into my cold macaroni cheese).

I used to buy so many monthly magazines...Q, What Hi-Fi, T3, Bass Player, Alternative Press, plus the two I still have on subscription (SFX & Empire). I don't read newpapers (I don't know anyone who does). While all these publication likely started as endearing and well intentioned, as one of the earlier posts pointed out, all of them are just in the pocket of the businesses they report on. I suppose there's an inevitability that SFX (Sci-Fi) and Empire (films) will fall along the wayside at some point, circulation has to be very low and unsustainable.

Blimus. This is going well.

Without actually seeing what you have, it's difficult to know whether this is true or not, but at least you didn't go FACT at the end of it! In no way jumping to the defence of Fender they do produce all the compents you've mentioned, but perhaps not currently all in the same bass. On a point by point response, they've certainly made 32" scale basses. They certainly made blocked and bound Jazz width necks, simply because they're Fender and that's what they do. They have also produced a myriad of non-sunburst finishes. They've produced chambered guitars, but unsure about basses, although I have seen Jazz basses with cavities and a maple cap, so it's feasible. Oh, they make lefties too. My point is here, it's like saying Ford have never made a car like my Renault and then going four wheels, leather seats, steering wheel, engine. (and you edited your post after I made this reply...that last disclaimer and that it was a P-bass wasn't there.)

Haha. Couldn't have put it better, myself. Lest we forget, Maruszczyk was pretty much an unknown brand when, many moons back, a new member called Ulas Engin posted up a blatantly obvious piece of backdoor advertising under the guise of it being an official Maruszczyk thread (I believe he also posted the same thing to Talkbass, almost word for word); the poster then disappeared three weeks later, never to be seen again, but the seed was sown and with his job done, the Basschat love affair took root and the flower blossomed. ("Conjecture!" I hear you shout!) Perhaps the guy who fronts the company is just feeling the strain in these uncertain times or maybe he was just having a bad day, but I read this thread and do have an inner chuckle at the albeit small backlash that's happening. I'm sure many people love their Jakes and Elwoods, fair play to them, but at the end of the day, the core basses he's making/getting made for him are simply just Fender copies at near Fender prices, so why not just buy a Fender? There's enough stores out there stocking them, you'll eventually find one that suits and you can easily customise it further down the road. Customer service is core to any business and sure, if you're going to enquire/complain about key points after something is delivered then you (as the manufacturer) need to resolve things in a civil manner, otherwise those tiny seeds of disdain will have a habit of growing (which has been the case here). When I bought my first Lull I had an irritating crackle off one of the pickups and Mike and Paul bent over backwards to resolve things, eventually sending out a pair of new pickups and a loom. That's service. Service isn't the manufacturer replying that you're only picking up on the bad sh*t.

Both of my Lulls.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jul/20/q-magazine-to-fold-after-34-years Stopped reading this over ten years ago and was a little surprised to find out it was still limping along. I guess they never adapted to a changing world; everything was effectively a month old by the time it went to print. Too much reliance on a handful of artistes (Gallaghers, Sheeran, U2) and a bunch of other ones that really weren't much cop. Q Magazine is (was) the tangible embodiment of Later...with Jools Holland, a publication full of bands you're not really interested in and something you just skim through hoping to find something worth reading.

Oh, who could forget Stump. Kev (@spoombung) is still a member on here:

A bit of a thread resurrection here. I'd forgotten how wonderfully discordant and frankly incoherent some of the material by The Diagram Brothers was. Andy Diagram went on to be a member of James and The Pale Fountains. The first Diagram Brother album os widely available on Spotify et al. I've just ordered the Peel Sessions on CD.

I just see that bass and think of bands like early Living Colour. Muzzy could have pulled that off.

While I've got little desire to own a Ritter, I have to say that that from a visual aesthetic, there's nothing not to like. I do love the look of Warner Brother/Simpsons/X-Men finishes (I'd be hard pushed to actually come up with any franchise that I'd want adorned on a bass costing £7/£8K), but this one in particular blows my mind: I reckon Jens just sees bass and guitar building as a playground and anything goes. Credit to him for making instrumenst athat are so nuts to be honest.

A very long time ago (Google search says late October 1978), I worked as an usher at Wembley when they did the in-the-round shows...they did a matinee and then an evening show. We were in the Arena between shows and they came out and played a few bits; there were maybe ten of us in there plus the band; I'm sure there were people outside the arena who would have given a kidney to witness what we were watching. I honestly wish I'd paid more interest and actually realised that I was in the presence of such greatness...I had little interest in them to be honest (I was more interested in The Clash at that point and these guys were just dinosaurs in my eyes). It was only a few years back that I came to realise just how good they were.

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.