Dan Dare

I'll try. I'm ancient, so will have to work out how to upload one.

I used a Squier body, no name neck (but decent - nice flamed maple with a good rosewood board. Had to file/smooth the fret ends and level a couple, but simple enough to do. Plenty on eBay), Grover tuners, Gotoh bridge (not high mass), Seymour Duncan regular P p/u (not the high output version and don't bother with the Antiquity, because the spec's are identical to the cheaper regular one), CTS pots, orange drop cap, Switchcraft socket, that 'vintage' cloth wound cable and silver solder (tried to make everything absolutely bog-standard P bass). It worked a treat and cost me les than £250. Oh, and I put a 'Dinky Toys' decal on the headstock (you can get them off eBay). None of that using a Fender one 😊

My sentiments exactly. My main instrument is an old Jazz and I bought a PJ to have the best of both worlds. Versatile, but it doesn't quite do the full-fat P bass sound, so I built a bitsa P (simple enough, with only around 35 bolts/screws to do up and some very basic soldering), put La Bella flats on it and bingo. When you need 'that' sound, nothing else will quite do it.

No. Horses for courses. Use the tool for the job. Plenty of things a P doesn't do, but it makes sense to use one for the things it does do.

How much is it "worth"? Nothing. How much might someone pay for it? depends on how desperate/daft they are. I'll go with £65 because it has a case and strap and a Schaller bridge..

This thread highlights some interesting (not to say depressing) differences in attitude. At the extreme, attitude 1 is "I have MY sound and that's what I'm going to use. So there". Attitude 2 is "What suits this piece/song? How can I achieve that?" A number of previous posts betray some pretty sad snobbery (jibes about "playing on Nana Mouskouri records", "hired hacks", etc, etc). I'd bet that most in the attitude 1 camp are weekend warriors. It isn't just the sound of your instrument or what you play that's important. It's how it fits/blends with what else is happening and with the overall feel that the writer/arranger/producer of a piece wishes to achieve. There is an enormous difference between doing your own thing and playing for someone else. Part of being an adult is to appreciate that you and what you do are often not the centre of the universe. The sound we like when we're playing at home/with ourselves (oooer) isn't necessarily the one that works best in a given context. I love my old J bass, for example, but I'd be the first to admit that it doesn't always suit. That's OK. If someone is paying me, I try to give them what they want. It helps me make a living and lessens the likelihood that I'll have to clean toilets in order to put food on the table. I can always indulge myself/be "creative" at another time. If someone handed me a '62 L series P bass and asked me to use it, I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at it. For certain things, they're pretty hard to beat. I guess I shouldn't say all this. After all, the more people there are with attitude 1, the greater the chance "hired hacks" like me will continue to be offered work.

Correct. 'winning' an eBay auction is not a contract to buy. eBay likes to imply it is, but it ain't. If you are entitled to change your mind about buying a new item from a retailer, you are certainly entitled to do so over something used you have bought privately.

I love the caveat - "imperfections might be noticed..." Bloody right they might.

I expect that's why you're so in demand as a session player... A P bass works. It may not be good for everything, but it does the job a lot of the time.

Glad to hear you're back in the saddle and good luck with it. Now is not a bad time to look for used gear, with so many needing to raise some cash to pay for the excesses of Christmas. Where are you based?

Grindrod probably a real name. I was taught history at school by a guy named Dan Grindrod. Steve G looks to have serious pedigree.

At those prices, it could be worth buying cabs and putting better drivers in them.

A gentleman is someone who can play the drums but doesn't ;-)

Bad luck. The one time you leave something in the car is always the time it goes walkies.

This. Buy nice or buy twice.

I tried Roto flats, but find them hard under the fingers and tonally a bit uninteresting. I've switched to XL Chromes, which really suit a J bass. When I used round wounds, I used to like the Roto nickels, but haven't tried them for ages since I went over to flats.

I find amp demos fun to watch occasionally, but I wouldn't use them for serious research about what to buy. A bass amp is a bass amp is a bass amp, after all. The only worthwhile way to find whether something will suit you is to head for shop or two and try for yourself.

That is not usual. Are you buying used bargains on their last legs, or driving them to death?

My backup head came in useful when the power amp for the monitors packed up.

I'm with Bill on this. I did once try using two identical cabs, one each side of the drums (this was for situations where I was not DI'd into the PA) and found it made little if any difference. The guitar player liked it, though. He could stand his combo on my bass cab and hear it more clearly.

A valve pre with a power amp? Decent PA power amps can be had for little money second hand.

Socks, slippers, mugs bearing cringeworthy slogans ('Grumpy Old Git', etc), indigestion, a mild hangover. Just the usual bloody Christmas. Ho bloody ho

You said it yourself. Bongos and congas instead of drums to a load of drunks in a boozer who've come to hear rock, pop and soul covers the night before Christmas? A sure-fire recipe for disaster and for never being booked back in that venue. Your geetar player needs to realise it ain't art, it's entertainment/giving 'em what they want. You're right and you should stick to your guns. Save the arty, "interpretive" stuff for another time.

I haven't bought anything bass related for 2 years and have no plans to, but you never know...

I had a Fender Twin. Great amp' but too heavy to cart around...