kodiakblair

Afraid I can't help if it's a 1st gen model, mine now lives in Hungary. Still have a 2nd gen 🙂

Had a couple of those. Left is the Dyna-Unity, centre a standard DynaBass, right is a Unity. On the right my, now sold, Dyna-Unity Koa.

There were a couple of models. Peavey signed up Brian Bromberg for a signature bass and allowed him to go to town. Called the B-Quad, they came with Modulus CF necks. This is my one . Few years later, 1998, they revisited CF necks but this time it was a under-sized maple neck with a carbon wrap. There was the 4 string model, G-Bass, 5 string G-V. Mistaken identity/crossed wires/wishful thinking have led to an urban myth the G-Bass/G-V also had Modulus necks, total BS 🤣 My old pal recalled the raw necks were shipped out to a gun factory, Bell & Carlson, for wrapping. Never found a G-V but did snag a G-Bass.

That was not a good look, I'm always surprised they agreed to take part. Only saving grace was all my contacts there had moved on years before. Sad thing is we get outraged at Peavey but it's just how US manufacturing is done, there was no union at Peavey; no union at FMIC, Gibson EBMM nor G&L. Think you can guess the union policy at RIC 🤣 Back on the Milestone topic. My pal Ronnie was head engineer for Peavey, when the neck on his T-40 went to s**t he replaced with with a Milestone neck; added a peghead pinstripe with a Sharpie and called it job done 🙂

Och, nobody is paying big money for Peaveys whatever their origin 🙂 They're popular with a small crowd in the USA, mostly those low on cash but high on the desire to own anything 'MIA'. Elsewhere they're not really noted as a brand, I think it's down to the timing. First Peavey guitars and basses (T-series) came out in 1978, two things were happening then. Quality of US instruments was pretty poor, late era Gibson/Norlin & Fender/CBS. Japan moving away from supplying cheap copies to good quality original designs. T-series wouldn't have looked out of place in 1973-74 but were old hat in 78. This habit of being 4 years behind everyone else is one they never managed to kick 🙂

Owned 68 of them so know a bit about them. OP's Milestone comes from the Samick factory, Peavey haven't built any instruments themselves since 2010.

Thanks. It's just the light, both neck and fretboard are Panga Panga.

Aye, this hole just keeps getting deeper 🤣 Paulownia has a long history with stringed instruments. The Chinese have been making Guzheng from Paulownia for about 2000 years now, it's 1300 - 1500 for the Japanese Koto. Feurich use it in some of their grand pianos. John Suhr charges $3.5k for his Paulownia Strats.

Facebook at it's finest. The 'Pine' Gear 4 Music use for their Chicago basses is Paulownia, completely unrelated to any variety of Pine 🤣 Having built a bass with Paulownia for the body I can attest to it's softness, a step above Balsa as far as Janka is concerned. Despite it's softness G&L were quite happy using it though they went with it's Sunday name Empress Wood 🙂 Not to be outdone, Fender released a limited (1000 units) run of 'Empress wood' Telecasters. Thank you 🙂 My good pal Mark Provan (Bonnywood Guitars) handled that one, he did me proud.

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.

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.

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.

Had the same set of TI flats on one since 2014, silk on E clears the nut by 40mm. On the 2 I fitted 2 saddle bridges that silk clearance drops to 4mm with the TIs and 10mm with the Status Hotwire tapes.

Sorry that knot does nothing for me, I'd hide it under a solid colour. If I wanted au natural, I'd knock up a body from scratch.

Heat gun but I fear you're opening a can of worms. The poly is thick, really thick around the edges. 'Foto Flame' is glued to the body, removing it peels away a layer of wood below. The Lime/Linden below is not pretty, has fairly plain grain and you might find knots. I'd leave the finish be; fill the screw holes, give it a light sand then hit it with a "make paint stick" plastic primer. You'll have a much flatter durable base for your choice of colour.