Dan Dare

In a nutshell. Well put.

Fair enough. It just gets my goat that some on here moan about the slightest thing. God forbid something really bad might happen to them.

I'd like to see you try to make that stand up in court against a private individual. Are you a lawyer?

I know you are a whiner. Probably another of the flippers on here (they know who they are - I could name some names but the mod's would probably jump on me), who buy and re-sell instruments and equipment. It always seems to be them who bleat about people not being prepared to post stuff. They appear to see it as their right that everyone should make it easy for them to turn a profit.

No. Read the specs.

As it happens, I don't want to sell anything "so bad". But wait. What's that I smell? Ah yes, the whiff of an entitled millennial.

A private individual is not a business, unlike Bass Direct/bass shops. By what right are you demanding that that someone should post an item (and accept the risks of doing so) to you? If you want it so badly, either arrange your own courier/pick up or get off your behind and go and collect it.

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