Dan Dare

Or Fever.

Either. Or a P/J. I have all three.

Why do some BC sellers insist on buyer arranging courier? Because they can. The goods are theirs and they can specify collection by buyer, buyer to arrange courier or whatever else they want. If you don't want to buy what they're selling, that's your choice. The fact that Amazon offers free delivery doesn't mean a private individual must.

No I won't sign. Who are you to demand that everyone be imprisoned in their homes and that businesses are forced to the wall? The fact is that it's small businesses which will be worst affected. The larger ones will be better placed to live off their reserves (or will have friends in high places who they can ask to protect them - like Branson, who is calling for £billions in state subsidy whilst living in a tax haven and not contributing to the public purse). Nobody has the right to destroy peoples' lives because of their fears.

The one(s) you already have. Not much chance to get to the shops to buy another...

So what happened to the rest of the guitar?

There are a couple of nice Js on evilBay at the moment that aren't too spendy, including a Mex that looks good. If you do go the route of buying a bargain instrument and upgrading the bits, try a Babicz bridge. I put one on my Jazz and it works very well - better than the Gotoh it had on it previously.

4 here, too. I could make do with 2 if pushed - a J and a P.

To be fair to eBay, It's eBayers - some, at any rate - one should hate, not eBay itself. I've bought and sold plenty of stuff on there without much problem. Having, said that, I'm extremely careful - insist on cash for face to face dealings, always use recorded delivery, never agree to deal outside eBay and so on.

Sorry to hear your news. A nice Jazz is a wonderful thing. Worth finding something modestly priced with a decent neck (a used Squier Jazz the obvious choice) that plays nicely and upgrading the p/us and hardware?

Does abstinence include buying used stuff?

I had that problem when building my Bitsa. The original knobs from the Squier donor bass (which I found are actually solid brass, chromed, so of nice quality) wouldn't fit the shaft on a CTS pot. I removed the grub screws, put them in a vice (wrapped in thick card to protect them) and drilled them out to fit. Use a good quality sharp drill bit, so you get a clean hole. Worth a try, given that you've bought them already?

Are you intending to buy new? Having several smaller cabs that you can use singly or in multiples depending on the requirements of the job is much easier - several journeys to and from the car with manageable loads rather than struggling with one enormous one. Having said that, I'm ancient and do live in a first and second floor flat. You may have ground level access (although gigs can present you with stairs) and be younger and fitter. In your shoes and given that you appear to like 10s, I'd go for two 2x10s. A couple of BF 210s would do the job nicely. They do vintage well (which it appears you like from your choice of head). Other makes are available of course.

The flip side of this is that you turn up with your high quality PA and backline to find the other band/bands have been told they can use it by the organiser. Takes a complete lack of compassion/sympathy to refuse as they look at you pleadingly, but I'm a miserable heartless bugger.

Once you get past the cost threshold for something sturdy and functional, which appears to be around the £40-£50 mark, the only thing you get by paying more is nicer appearance and maybe a few extra pockets, better shoulder straps, etc. I have a Fusion, which was not cheap, but I'm a gear tart. I wouldn't claim it does any better a job than a good basic case like the G4M one. You pays yer money and takes yer choice.

It costs 89 euro because it's made in a high tech factory in a low wage economy. If you have a few hundred million to invest in a manufacturing facility somewhere where people will work for peanuts, you too can offer basses for that price. Decent playing, btw.

"Home made"? In a care home, I assume...

I am Spartacus

Oooer

Bass Cub or Double Four then

It's your combo to do as you wish. Deedee has a point re. making the change reversible, although those old TE combos are so heavy, I doubt anyone would want to pay a lot for one.

A PJB C4 and a micro head. C4 is a one foot cube. Works well for guitars, too.

Got to be a folding trolley. The wheels on cabs are generally small, which means they are next to useless on anything but level/smooth ground. A trolley will mean you can use the gear you prefer, rather than be limited to the stuff that has wheels. Avoid the El Cheapo trolleys. You don't need to spend a fortune. I paid around £80 for something with a 120 kilo capacity that is still light and will probably outlast me. It carries all my PA stuff, too, which is a bonus.

I used to play in a bar where they had a giant screen directly behind the band, on which films/movies were projected, sometimes whilst you were playing. Made for an interesting evening...

As far as the original question is concerned, can you offer prospective buyers anything that other builders can't? This is especially true of electric basses, which are in essence planks with strings and not hard to make, unless you want them to be. You can build a very acceptable instrument with parts from Warmoth et al (many who claim to be custom builders do just that and just finish them nicely). My Bitsa P cost me around £200 to make (I used good quality parts) and I genuinely can't tell the difference between it and a US one, save the fact that the US one is better finished. They play and sound as good as each other. You are looking at the expensive end of the market as a custom builder. The budget and medium price ranges are too well catered for by the big manufacturers, who offer some pretty amazing stuff for the money. I'm in my 60s and remember the junky stuff I and my contemporaries had to learn on. When the Japanese started producing decent quality affordable instruments, it was a revelation. So what can you offer/what's your USP? Not attempting to pour cold water, but you ought to think about it before committing money, effort and time to the idea.