kodiakblair

After China's wages priced themselves out the market , Thomann has moved production to Vietnam for most of their guitars. Wages in Vietnam may be low compared to other countries but poverty levels are half those found in China,India and the Philippines . It's labour laws are pretty good. All employees must have a contract, after 2 fixed term contracts (no longer than 3 years) contracts automatically become indefinite. This applies to seasonal workers too. Minimum 22 days paid leave, 26 for manual workers. 1 day added for every 5 years service. 30 days paid sick leave every year, rate is 75% of wage. Certain illnesses have 180 days sick leave, after 180 days the rate drops to between 45 and 65%. Females get 6 months maternity leave at full pay. Males are entitled to 5 days for natural birth, 7 for caesarean ,10 days for twins. Paid leave is also awarded for surrogate mothers and for adoption. Paid leave for sick children is 20 days. Bereavement is paid for 5 days. This is paid out by the Ministry for Health. By law working hours cannot exceed 48 hours per week. Laws prohibit discrimination and sexual harassment. Employers must provide a safe working environment with training and safety checks, Workers must get regular health checks. Hope this clears up some fears. The question shouldn't be "how can these cost so little ?", it should be "How come X charges so much ?".

Added my tuppence worth to @ead's post 👍

Me too , had the newer version too.

Word of caution there. Japanese buyers went nuts in the 70's and bought up everything Fender. Demand was huge and some enterprising Americans set up "chop shops" to fuel the demand, not all the basses shipped to Osaka were legit.

Fond memories of lugging my Carlsbro on and off Edinburgh buses , fitted in the bit for prams nicely 😀 It lives in a Glasgow rehearsal space these days 👍

You might get a Stingray control plate to fit. Spoils the look IMO though I think there's a French builder does similar.

Electronics don't cost that much folks often confuse aftermarket prices with wholesale. Take the Tone Pump Spector use, you can buy it from the Czech designer for 120€ or direct from the factory for 40€. I know a fella over in the US was using Seymour Duncan in his basses, they were $20 a pop.

I see a pretty serious problem with the 51 slab bodies. The control cavity is great for a split coil P-bass but completely wrong for a single coil, this is how it should look.

G4M noted that in some of the B-stock ebay listings but only some, those'd be the ones where the pale maple shone through the split headstocks .

There a possibility Brian in Glasgow has the PG template, if not he will use the existing one and you'll have a clear PG in no time 👍

Not all Pine is equal. Eastern white pine is soft and light, Indonesian Khasi pine is heavy and hard. Khasi is 38lbs/ft3 with 3000 N Janka, by contrast Eastern white is just 28lbs and 1690N. FMIC still had those Squiers discontinued when I built my pine 50 else I'd have bought one in a heartbeat. Congratulations on your NBD and your great taste in bass 🙂

Alex Harvey's accent shone through most of the time.

Stew just took ownership of one my Harley Benton PB-50's. What a great guy to deal with. No pressure, no hassles 🙂 If I have a bout of "seller's remorse" later I can console myself knowing it went to a smashing fella 👍 Honest, trustworthy, easy-going, friendly. Just a few adjectives that describe Stew.

That's something we'll disagree on.

Do the saddles rest on the plate ? I'd have said the grub screws were point of contact. After owning easy 130+ basses I doubt there's a bridge type I haven't experienced. Simple strips of Corian, bone, 2 saddle bakelite all the way to brass/aluminium ABMs and Hipshots. Others being the 2-Tek, Gotoh,Babicz, Badass etc. Ease of use, adjustable string spacing, better looks. All valid. Better tone ? Not that I could ever tell.

One of the earlier ones. Company doing the carbon wrap had trouble getting the weave lines straight so they switched to a plain black finish. A good friend, Ronnie Goss chief engineer with Peavey back then, told me the company was gunstock maker Bell & Carlson. Sadly he passed away last week ☹️

Poetry from Mr Mindwarp Well I'm Christ In Shades I'm A Napalm God Your Lipstick Flickers Round My Lightning Rod You Fever Pitch beach You Love To Tease Well I'm A Hot Dog Daddy Up On Your Knees Sex Fuhrer Baby I'm A Love Dictator Blitzkrieg Romance I'm A Living Detonator He has a gift that just keeps giving 👍 I'm The Genius Of Love I Got An Honours Degree Baby You're In Luck I'm Gonna Teach You For Free I'll Show You Things You Don't Learn At School I'll Show You Baby How To Break The Rules Blow Torch Baby Give Me Hot Job Precision Apocalypse Lips Nuclear Kissing Oh Baby It Ain't Solitaire Horizontal Hold Get Your Legs In The Air

I remember seeing them on eBay around the time Traben closed. Seem to recall either CH Guitars or Northwest sold them, maybe ask them if they have one hidden in a corner 👍 Found a 5 string version on Ali Ex so they are still out there. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32881554067.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.77276bdeqrfIXn&algo_pvid=7ce451f5-afb7-4d19-9053-d498758a41a9&algo_expid=7ce451f5-afb7-4d19-9053-d498758a41a9-0&btsid=0b0a187b16030063506931058e3955&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

Mine is in the cupboard, if I get a chance over the weekends i'll dig it out From what I remember there's not much to it.

Aye, there's plenty to choose from. Shame about the combination of crap lighting and crap camera skills as the tort Brian did for my Cabronita looks fantastic in the flesh 🙂

Is that the one with the DIY scratchplate and the pickup lettering highlighted with Tippex ? If so, it upsets me too 😁

They don't bother me too much. Got my beard tangled in an augur bit few year back, that gave me a fright 😱 Thank God for reverse action on drills 😁

Same for all tools 🙂 Back to routers. Earlier this year I was on a contract. Edinburgh Uni student accommodation door refurb. 4000 + doors, plenty needed the intumescent strips replaced. Cordless router to the rescue 😎

I'm a carpenter and think routers are wonderful tools 🙂 They are also the tool I'm the most careful with when using 👍

Heard from Paul a few days back, he was wondering about a Peavey Fury. Handily enough I had the very thing he was after 🙂 A super easy deal and the Fury is now in Essex. Cheers Paul, was a pleasure dealing with you 👍