three

The more I see and hear of the Newport, the more I like it. Not the tonal range I’d normally favour, but I’m intrigued. A fun little bass for very decent money. Really impressed by the colour options too, especially sunset and coral. I think I could get over the glitches - reasonably easy fixes and just a full set-up and new strings really. I’d do that with pretty much any bass. I hope this is a bit of a hit for Epiphone - good to see the company trying

Definitely heading North. Interesting (or not) to see where this one lands: I suspect there will be much excitement and a deep space destination. If anyone is interested, Summerseat is a lovely little place and worth a visit without travelling to part with a wedge.

Sorry, it was a bit of a cr*p joke. I’ve done some pretty daft things over the years but even I wouldn’t take a big drill bit to an Alembic. I do genuinely admire the OP’s handiwork though

Love that - really individual. Did it change the tone at all? Got me thinking. My long scale is a bit heavy. There’s batteries and stuff in there so I’d have to be a bit careful but I love the aesthetic

Thomastic Infeld (TI) jazz rounds are the smoothest and least abrasive rounds I’ve tried. That said, I’m not keen on the tone or price

Hi Nick and welcome to Basschat. Pangbournes are beautiful basses and really quite rare - great to see some images when you have time. I had one some years ago but not the higher end model (Warlord). The active circuit may be repairable and I hope this is the case. I've had some fairly obscure custom electronics re-built and brought back to life in the past. If there's a real problem, there are very many alternative circuits. A lot of players use Bartolini though I tend to prefer the Aguilar OBP-3 - great for 2 pickup basses. I'm sure that many others will join the thread with alternatives (Glockenklang, East, Seymour Duncan etc.) I'm also sure you'll get the bass working and lovely to see it if you have a chance.

Some may be interested to know that a 5 string Mk 2 has popped up at the Gallery for £9.5k. Much more manageable. Others may have spotted this so apologies if I missed something in the thread. If anybody has a Wal to which they're not terribly attached, this does seem to be a good time to be moving on such desirable wares.

I’m really not trying to convince anybody that they should spend £70 plus - just offering options for chunky cables. On reliability, I’d agree in large part on connectors, though I’ve had speaker cables on which the cable itself has failed (without rough handling). On ‘free’, of course, I’d agree. If I was paying I’d probably go Designacable or BA. I’d consider EA. I’ve had one for over 10 years and would expect to get a further 10 of reliable service. It’s a cable I use pretty much every day so less than a penny a day. Almost disappearing

I tend to agree Bill but I don’t pay for them and I’ve found them to be very reliable (the most important consideration in my case). The Designacable seem similarly reliable. Soldering/screwing my own isn’t a cost effective use of my time

I tend to use Designacable (https://www.designacable.com) - a bit pricey but they tend to be durable and well-made. If you're feeling flush, Evidence Audio Siren is excellent, though very stiff (and very pricey) (https://evidenceaudio.com/products/siren?variant=43040014434540). Amazon have the EA Siren 3' at about £72 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evidence-Audio-SI2SPKSPK3-3-foot-Speaker/dp/B002E9IMI2/ref=sr_1_19?adgrpid=57400326710&gclid=Cj0KCQiAq5meBhCyARIsAJrtdr4153om2Ml1zgaiEihsYb8IDPy1c7y-GKIuMhSJDZQzrYkKCupqMtcaAiPFEALw_wcB&hvadid=606023417169&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9046654&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=12934758992670986926&hvtargid=kwd-328468852924&hydadcr=21342_2290206&keywords=evidence+audio+cable&qid=1673990532&sr=8-19)

The anticipation is wonderful and I hope that the Monique arrives with you perfectly safely. I have messed around with loads of pres and have tended to prefer solid state, the Warwick Hellborg being my favourite of all. The Monique was quite a surprise - very fast and articulate indeed - I sort of wasn't expecting that. The sensitivity knob seems to be where it all happens with the Monique - the combination of gain and sensitivity can produce some massively impressive results. I tend to use the Monique and Hellborg fairly equally now, both through the back-end of an Agi DB750. I look forward to hearing what you think of the Monique - it took me around 2 minutes to discover it's pretty special.

I can verify this - I bought my 6 on here in 2011 for £3250 and sold it around a year later to another BC member for the same price. A nice instrument but I struggle to understand current values (well, I don't really, I've worked in a number of well-known business schools). Wish I'd hung onto it and the fretless 4 I had - I'd certainly sell now and buy something I'd actually use and enjoy... something like that SCD shorty above. Fortunately, Wals aren't for me.

Love the Gallery! I don’t think the Wal was littleal’s. The latter started life as a fretless and was then fretted at the Gallery. I had it for a short while in its fretted state but sold fairly quickly (I don’t really get in with Wals). I didn’t get £12,500.