Dan Dare

£795 on their website.

I've been looking on JMB recently, having moved to a new area earlier in the year. Now I'm settled in the new place, I'm looking to get out and do a bit of playing, so I put an ad' on JMB and have replied to a few. Nothing worth following up on as yet, but am meeting up with some guys who sound quite promising tomorrow evening.. Fingers crossed. I appreciate that you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet a handsome prince, but JMB can be handy when you don't know anyone locally.

This is by no means universally applicable, but I have come across several collectors who are not great players (to put it politely). The ones I have encountered are successful in their careers, so have plenty of cash to splash. They appear to imagine that owning fine vintage instruments will somehow enable them to play as well as their musical heroes. I played in a band briefly with a couple of guys - one an architect and one a lawyer - who were afflicted in this manner. They had plenty of fabulous instruments and were both nice guys and good company. They were also seriously hopeless. Socially, it was very enjoyable - we played at some very nice parties thrown by similarly wealthy pals of theirs - but musically, it was painful. I tried in vain to tell myself to just enjoy the company and the craic, but I had to walk in the end.

Being ancient, I remember when Fender released the Bullet instruments. They were a basic/budget line. The current versions still are. The seller is either delusional or hoping for a buyer who is.

I like that a lot. Always fancied a SC. The best BF cab imho if you like an old school sound.

Bit of a c0ck up on the photography front, Reggie.

+1 for Armstrongs. Many years ago, the pickups on my old J bass were sounding well past their best. I sent them to Kent (who was then running the firm) and told him to do whatever was needed - including rewinding - to get them back up to par. He returned them with a note saying he'd checked the readings, which were fine and that they just needed hot waxxing to get the air out of them, for which he charged me a very small sum. They could have rewound them and I would have been perfectly happy to pay, so kudos to them for only doing what was needed and saving me money.

The similarity is remarkable. Seller even has a large amount of positive feedback, as does MDP, although most of it appears to be for selling second-hand shoes.

Don't chuck the old pickups. If you ever sell the instrument, it will be worth more if you have the originals to go with it. If you're getting drop in replacements, I wouldn't even get them re-wound. Just keep them as is

Might come in handy with my kayak.

240v? Reminds me of a story a pal told me. A father came into the music shop he worked at looking for an electric guitar for his son. They sold him a starter Strat type instrument. A couple of days later, he was back, with a face like thunder, shouting that the shop staff had tried to "kill my boy". They asked what he was on about and he told them "I took that silly plug off the lead it came with and put a proper one on. When I plugged it in, it exploded". You've guessed it. He'd put a 13A three pin on the lead and plugged it into the mains. When they took it out of the box, the pickups were melted. They explained that it needed to be used with an amplifier and our hero insisted they were just trying to sell him more stuff, threatened to report them to Trading Standards, Health & Safety, Watchdog, etc. "It's an electric guitar, innit?" To avoid wasting time and money on arguments (it could have cost them, although they would have won), they gave him back his £99.99 and told not to come back.

NO. IT'S NOT JUST YOU.

Which D'Addarios did you use? I find Chromes to be long lasting. I do keep them clean, which helps to keep them fresh. Perhaps you got a dud set or one that had been sitting on the shop shelf for too long.

Find a decent repairer and pay them to do the job.

Correct. No such thing as "export duty". If you're being asked for it by a buyer, I'd give them the body swerve. Likely to ne a scam. Doesn't bode well for your being paid safely.

As an old git, I love rhythm and blues, blues and soul. I find the misogyny/attitudes in some lyrics questionable. I'm not a woke warrior or anything like that, but as a father with a daughter, I'm not happy to sing certain stuff. Shame, as I've had to steer clear of some otherwise decent numbers as a result.

Such a "simple spreadsheet" would be impossible to produce. Too many variables. For it to be in any way useful, one would need to audition every conceivable combination of cabs, drivers, etc. Probably better to just try things and see whether they do the job for you or not.

Exactly. Nobody complains that Tesco is still called Tesco, despite the fact that none of Jack Cohen's family or original owners have any connection with the business nowadays.

There are so many cheap decent active desktop speakers around these days it's really not worth building your own. The PreSonus Eris is well reviewed and can be had for 80 quid. Spend a bit more - on the baby Adams, for example - and I reckon you'd be hard pressed to better them with any self-built speaker unless you spend a lot more.

I didn't know the newer one had an internal PSU. Shame. I'll definitely have to hang onto my older one. You're right about avoiding used battery packs. They do deteriorate and lose the ability to hold charge.

Strings aligned perfectly over the pole pieces...

Use both then.

The PJB Double 4 can be battery powered with a portable chargeable laptop power supply. It's nice, but not a cheap option.

I've an idea Fender flats are re-badged D'Addarios (probably Chromes). They feel very similar and have the same coloured ball ends.

I've no doubt that Shane McGowan spends his £400k wisely each year. He's probably on his Peloton bike right now 😁