Dan Dare

They're great, but at a price, as you say. I thought hard about getting them and decided in the end to bite the bullet. I'd taken early retirement from my job when I decided to upgrade my PA, so was able to spend some of my pay-off on them. Haven't regretted it so far. If you own a quality PA, people suddenly want you in their band, which is nice.

Good shout. Adding a sub and taking some of the heavy lifting from your top boxes can give a surprising improvement. You can drive the tops harder if they don't have to cope with the low end and get a lot more out of them.

Some good advice above. I'm a fan of mini array plus sub' PAs, but, as always, quality costs. The better ones work very well and their advantages (for me, at any rate) include resistance to feedback, even coverage and clarity, as well as relative compactness and lightness. Some do, as Bill points out, require you to place the sub(s) beneath the columns, which can cause issues. Others, like my Fohhn system, enable you to mount the columns on stands and place them and the sub(s) wherever you like. When I bought my system, I was playing a lot of Irish and similar music - combinations of acoustic and electric instruments plus voices - so I particularly wanted clarity. I auditioned a number of stick and sub systems (not easy, as few if any dealers stock a range of them, so a bit of travel and time was involved). Mine sounds like a giant hi-fi - very clean and clear. It isn't a bass monster (I appreciate that additional subs could address that issue) and it wouldn't have been my choice if I played loud rock music and ran a lot of drums and bass through the PA. It will handle them happily at reasonable levels, though. Two subs (with onboard power amplification) and two columns set me back £7k about ten years ago. So adding a mixer, mics, etc will put the cost of the PA over £10k. Not cheap for something that gets used mainly in pubs and smaller venues, but it's been uber reliable and, being made in Germany rather than China, can be repaired should the worst happen. Try to audition a few and don't buy on the basis of recommendation. In the end, you pays yer money and takes yer choice.

Poor thing. I feel for it.

I reckon that will be a tasty rig.

Anything reasonably decent will do the job. A pal uses an Elf with a BF110 and it works well. Why not take the 110 shopping and try a few? It weighs little, so no great effort required in carrying it. If you already have a higher powered lightweight head, there's nothing wrong with using it with the 110 and keeping the volume level sensible.

Par for the course these days, especially with compact/class D stuff. LD Systems offer 1U power amps. Their PA speakers get good reviews and I've been impressed by those I've heard (I auditioned a couple of their stick and sub models when I was looking for my PA a few years back). Lab Gruppen are definitely worth checking out, too, but they ain't cheap. If you want shallow rack depth, power outputs are likely to be lower. Quart from a pint pot, etc.

Phil's right. If you're using subs, anything larger than 12s in top boxes is unnecessary.

Wouldn't the best option be to get a new, fretted fingerboard - ebony, rosewood or similar - made for it?

Sensible approach. With new/class D amps, it's wise to go for something that uses proven components. I bought an Aguilar partially (I liked how it sounded, too) because they use ICEPower modules, which are readily available if something goes wrong. ICEPower, Hypex and similar are reputable components that can at least be replaced if repair is not possible.

I still have it, yes. May finally put it on an instrument.

I may be missing something, but if any item of jewellery is uncomfortable to wear whilst playing (or doing anything for that matter), surely the sensible option is to remove it and put it in your pocket whilst you play.

I have the perfect headstock decal for it. I bought it intending to put it on my Bitsa, but never did. It says Findus (in black and gold Fender script) Sea Bass. I might message the seller offering it to him.

Perhaps the seller is counting the strap as a string...

Even more strangely, the "Item specifics" on the listing for that, er, bargain, state Brand: Squier by Fender and Model: Classic Vibe '70s Stratocaster HSS.