kodiakblair

I'd be surprised if they did. The pine used for bodies doesn't come from B&Q. They go for Mexican or Indonesian/Cambodian varieties, a damn sight harder, heavier and denser than most mahogany earmarked for guitar building. Poplar is an interesting timber. More expensive than Ash, shares many similar properties with Alder. It's great for bodies and burl veneers but like Alder too soft for fretboards. Perhaps you were getting confused with the treated Monterey Pine which has been used for fretboards on recent years ? Sadly much Poplar goes the same way as Alder; making pallets. Good thing it doesn't burn so great; plenty Alder goes out as wood pellets or matchsticks. Pine body. Poplar body. Mahogany with walnut drop top.

Maybe he'll get lucky and as the joy fades another pandemic will come along to distract his folk, they'll be too busy dying to see what a complete and utter f##k up he is 🙂

Nothing unusual there. I'm a regular visitor to Talkbass, plenty complaints about dog basses coming from Sweet "we do a 55 point QC test" Water 🤣 Folk often cite set up issues with budget basses but they can be found at all price points. Thing is there's a weird guilt mindset with budget gear, buyers are desperate to find a fault; same faults get tagged as quirks with bigger ticket items.

Is that any worse than our policy, give folk enough to stay alive but keep them forever needy ? Nobody does charity from goodwill. Take Trump's foreign aid nonsense. His government will cancel their contracts with the American farmers, those folks will face a really tough time of it. When the foreign aid starts up again the farmers will be offered lower prices, they either comply or go bust. If they go bust, there's a few large corporations only too happy to score prime arable land for pennys. Trump's MAGA could happen but it only applies to latter day cattle barons and plantation owners.

Money is also saved as lumber is bought from USA sawmills which are either owned by the factories or they have a part share in. Kawai and World Musical Instruments were pioneers there, setting up their own mills back in the early 80's. Is this a budget instrument thing ? Common complaint folk trying Fenders in music shops make is the poor set ups. Do you think shop staff grab some tools and mess about before putting the basses out for the public ?

Admittedly guitar factory wages aren't high but it's hardly slave labour. If you're in the 'Land of the Free' and work for Ernie Ball you can expect $16ph, work for Fender in Corona and it's $18ph. For a comparison, the In-n-Out burger bar down the road from the Corona plant pays a starting wage of $22ph. It's just factory work so workers get factory wages. Over in Zheng'an, China the cost of living is 1/5th that of California but the guitar factory folks are on $4.5 - $5. There a few reason why bosses there pay a bit better. It's home to 130 guitar factories, if next door pays more you risk losing your workforce 🙂 If none of you offer OK money then you all risk losing your workforce to the big cities. Prior to the Guitar Park opening 25% of the county's migrant workers were in the big city guitar factories, keeping them happy and productive is now vital to the local economy. Exception to the $4.5-$5 rate is Zhang Weiyi. His place produces about 180 guitars per year but they carry $8000 price tags, he needs the cream of the crop for his work force 👍 South Korea has a higher cost of living than China but still much lower than the US. $9 - $9.25 is the going rate there.

Must have been something in the water last week, I spotted a Westone Thunder III listed for a mere £1400 🤣🤣🤣🤣

That headless of mine has the old Wilkinson SC, 62mm x 16mm.

Thankfully @Hellzero jumped in and saved me from burning out what few braincells I have left 🙂

I've a black one on this. Where I bought it though is a tough question to answer 😃

Had these 2. 158lb each and lived on 3rd floor, took a chainsaw to them when access to a skip came my way 🤣

About 30% less copper . Carey got his hands on some original 51 single coils, he picked the one he thought sounded best then reverse-engineered it. Fender aimed for about 6.3k ohm for the singles but being 'proper hand wound' the ladies played fast and loose with the spec, often going for "looks about right"; some are up at 6.7/6.8 k ohm while others are down around 5.7 k ohm. The Nord 51 is in that 5.7k to 6.7k range 6.3 k ohm is a fair drop from today's standard DCR. Duncan, Fralin, Lollar and the rest mostly go with 9k - 9.5k. I've plenty of singles in that 9k - 9.5k bracket but prefer a lower wire count, those Ali-Ex/eBay singles with their 6.8k ohm DCR fit the bill perfectly.

Been a few developments in the last 4 and half years. My monster Bloodstone is still around, had it in a custom build from last Summer. Few months later I swapped in the Herrick multi coil, nice enough but as always no drastic change. Both now reside in the parts box, replaced by the one below right. Stumbled across them on eBay/Ali-Ex while hunting for a Musicmaster pickup. Staggered pole came from eBay, seller (7th Songs) gives you various options for poles and string wrap. Cost £18 and is a very nicely built 'vintage' single coil, fibre flatwork/cloth push up wire/Alnico 5 magnets/ wax potted/ 6.8k ohm DCR and comes with foam pad, springs/tubing and both wood/machine screws. Raised pole for A threw string balance out, likely fixable by adjusting string height but the 2 saddle bridges I favour are limited in that respect. Flat pole model came from Ali-Ex (Shenzhen Finger Musical Instruments). Though I can't say for certain it and the staggered pole came from the same factory I'd take that bet, they're identical in every respect bar the poles 🙂 This one cost an astounding £10 inc VAT and shipping .

I'm not so sure about the "new" part. Thomann had these Harley Benton fanned fret 5b DLX basses out in 2016.