Cato

I know a bit more about the guitar versions as used on the Deluxe and Thinline Teles in the 70s than I do about the bass version. What made the Wide Range pickups unique was the use of CuNiFe magnets rather than the alnico usually found in Gibson PAF type humbuckers. From a guitar point of view although they've since developed a bit of a cult following they weren't actually very popular at the time because they were lower output than their Gibson counterparts. Until very recently Fender only used the CuNiFe pickups from 1971 to 1979. After that although they kept the Wide Range humbucker name and split pole piece pickup cover styling they were actually using alnico Gibson PAF style magnets in their humbuckers. In the last couple of years Fender have again started making Deluxe and Thineline Teles with CuNiFe magnets and those pickups are also available as an aftermarket part. At the moment there's no Fender branded bass version, but, when the Vintera ii series leaked a few weeks ago there was a Telebass with a neck humbucker in the new range so it's just possible that a new Fender Wide Range CuNiFe bass humbucker may be on the way. I have had a quick google search and I couldn't find any other pickup manufacturers that are making a CuNiFe Fender style bass humbucker, but that's not to say that there are none out there. Good luck with the search and fingers crossed for a Fender reissue inline with the recent Wide Range guitar pups.

It's not perfect but it's a massive improvement on the previous site, which was borderline unusable.

I like the aesthetics of the one on right but I'd guess that a single pickup right up against the bridge is going to sound pretty thin. More so than, say, the back pickup on a Jazz which would typically be further towards the neck. Happy to be proved wrong.

A guitarist friend of mine who was at Glasgow uni in the mid 90s got a tip off that Prince was doing one of his legendary post gig gigs at The Garage. He wasn't much of a fan at the time but he went along with some feiends who were and managed to get in. To this day he says it's the best gig he's ever seen in his life. No complicated lighting, no pyrotechnics, no dancers, just Prince fronting a slimmed down version of his touring band on a small club stage letting the songs speak for themselves.

I'm not famliar with her later work but this is a cracking song.

Personàlly I'm a big fan of the competition stripe on the Mustang. It's distinctive and , at this point, it's part of the Mustang's DNA. That said I wouldn't want it on a Jazz or a Precision, but on a Mustang , to me anyway, it just looks right.

I'd be suprised if they were less than £1200, which would make them more expensive than the US made American Performer range, but then some of the current Mex made signature models are even more than that.

I'd be very interested in trying the Bass VI especially if there's a shell pink or sea foam green version. The Telecaster bass is tempting too.

I've heard that they can feel a bit weird and take a bit of gettting used to The Epiphone suggestion is a good idea, I might try one in a shop to test how likely I am to get on with a full fat version that I may have to buy unseen.

I've been thinking about scratching a life long itch and getting Gibson Firebird skinny stringer. Although Gibson seem not to be making a Standard model at the moment, it's all Custom Shop vintage reissues and Murphy Lab stuff which seems to start at about 5k which is 2-3 times more than I want to pay. I'll keep checking reverb but ideally, having never actually played one, I'd want to try before I buy, just in case we don't get on.

Good to hear things are working out for you, long may it continue.

I suspect this Thinline jazz may not be that light. My Thinline Tele is less than a pound lighter than my solid body Tele. I strongly suspect that there are solid body Teles out there that are lighter than my Thinline.

New limited edition thinline Jazz from Fender. Not many pics of it yet, this screenshot was the best I could grab. In most of the publicity shots it's obscure by it's skinny string siblings. More details and better shots here. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/JBassSuonaVB--fender-limited-edition-suona-jazz-bass-thinline-violin-burst?sb=popular Personally despite my love of thinline Telecasters, the bass version is not for me, I'm not too keen on the colour scheme either. I'm sure some will love it though and least it's something a bit different.

Dave Mustaine leaving Metallica. Assuming him and Hetfield wouldn't have just ended up killing each other Metallica would have been a different band with Mustaine's creative input and obviously Megadeth would never have existed.

If it's an 80s or 90s model $129 is probably in the ballpark of what it would have cost new 30 or 40 years ago. I used to see them in catalogues like Argos back then. I belive they were made in India for a while, I'm sure someone else can give more details on their history. Take into consideration 30-40 years of inflation and it's probably not a bad price, although probably at upper end of it's price range.

I've got a Squier 70s VM Jazz that I often use in preference to basses that cost 4 times as much. OK it's been modded with Aguilar pickups, a Kiogon loom and and Babicz bridge, but it's the feel of the bass that I enjoy as much as anything else, it's just very enjoyable to play. So much so that , barring my fretless Sire, since I've had it I've felt no urge to buy another Jazz style bass, Fender or otherwise.

This series took me from not being able to slap properly at all to being sort of OK in a few weeks. I'll never be Marcus Miller or Victor Wooton though.

Honestly I wouldn't back myself to correctly tell humbuckers from single coils in a blind clean tone test. Let alone tonewoods and the rest.

Apart from 'slow down' or 'speed up' unless you drum yourself (I don't) I think it can be quite difficult to explain to a drummer what you'd like them to be doing in terms that make sense to them. Suggesting ' No it should be baddum dum tish tish dum' will only get youso far. I've generally taken the cowards way out - let the drummer lead and worked the bassline around that. Having said that playing with just the drummer can be a thing of joy just in itself. No distractions from other band members who have their own wishlist of what they need to work on. I'd be very suprised is you weren't playing better together as a unit by the end of the practice

A lot if not most celebrity/band/politician's official social media accounts are run by PR teams. There's a fair chance whoever you were messaging never saw it.

When I first started playing for various reasons I got into a habit of mostly practicing unamplified. These days I have my practice rig permantly set up and ready to go at a flick of switch in the spare room, but I still quite often just grab one of the basses/guitars scattered around the house and just start noodling without plugging it in.

There's a Squier affinity Jag bass with a single humbucker. https://www.gak.co.uk/en/squier-fsr-affinity-series-jaguar-bass-h-shell-pink/954028?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7uSkBhDGARIsAMCZNJu5kzLrw-jXu0eP6vwyJsPbQP4CUI7M7W-vnpeAaZdm9YnbpjSbnOEaAlxMEALw_wcB I've never played one but as long as the neck is straight I reckon it could be refined/modded into something pretty close to whatever the RB guy is using.

I've never really had much time for Elton John, I've never particularly liked his voice and I tend to associate him with Phil Collins and Michael Bolton and all the worst of the bland mainsream AOR stuff of the 1980s. Having said that I think his set last night has won me round, I really enjoyed it and I've had various Elton tunes stuck in my head all day. I think I'm going to start working through his back catalogue later to see if I've badly misjudged him.

Lizzo's set is well worth a watch on iplayer especially for anyone who likes a bit of 70s soul/funk.

I didn't realise they were on, I've listened to a fair bit of their stuff since I first heard 'I Wanna be Your Slave' on the radio and generally been quite impressed. The live stuff I've seen online has been pretty good too, I'll see if I can find their Glasto set later.