Cato

Ah, my mistake, I thought it had been rereleased with the new run of 50s P basses.

A couple of years ago the last run of LPB Classic Vibes were selling used on ebay for a shade more than their original asking price. I was tempted then and I'm more tempted now. Edit: Though it's a bit academic as I can't see anywhere in the UK that has LPB in stock.

They've never been that easy to get hold of in the UK . G & L have become a bit more prominent in the UK over the last couple of years, especially the tribute stuff but for whatever reason the US made ASATs still don't seem to make it this far in any kind of numbers.

I quite fancy one of these

There's also probably a bit of a double whammy. Production stopped at many factories earlier in the year but there was apparently also a global boom in guitar sales during lockdown, depleting existing stocks https://routenote.com/blog/fenders-best-year-yet-shows-people-picking-up-instruments-more-than-ever-in-2020/ I've been window shopping the big online music stores a fair bit recently and it's noticeable just how many instruments listed on their websites are currently out of stock.

The Ritter was on display in a jewellers somewhere in the US for a quarter of a million dollars, no idea if it ever sold. Presumably most of it's value was in the precious stones, metals and bits of fossilised mammoth, so if it never sold those could have been stripped and sold seperately, vastly reducing the financial loss.

I'm sure that they exist but I can't really picture a 'modern' bass like an Ibanez or a Yamaha looking good reliced, even though they've both been making electric basses for long enough for there to be some genuinely worn examples in circulation. I think we may have reached 'peak' relicing a couple of years ago, it seems to be here to stay but it doesn't seem as prevalent as it was. Roasted maple necks seem to be the new 'big thing' fashion wise.

I've had mixed results. Bass through most of the effects on the Zoom G1 didn't sound great to me, certainly no advantages over the Bass dedicated B1on. On the other hand I have a Helix Stomp which has become an integral part of my set up for both bass and guitar. Most effects such as compression, chorus and reverb work great on the bass even though they're all modelled on guitar pedals. The distortion and drive effects are less effective to my ears apart from the bass specific sansamp clone, but if I want an overdriven bass sound I can get some pretty good ones through the bass amp sims.

Not sure what your budget is but the Aria SB1000 fits the bill. New ones are not cheap but I suspect most people would recommend trying to get hold of an 80s or 90s model. Which can still be quite expensive.

Quality on budget basses is so high these days it might be easier to ask if there's any brands that should be avoided. The only one I can remember people not being too impressed by in recent years was Stagg and that's going back a bit , but others might have more recent 'steer clear' tips. With regards to Squier and Sire being out of stock, I've noticed during my browsing that there seem to a lot more basses and guitars that are listed as being 'out of stock' or 'available for order' at the big online dealers than would normally be the case. It's almost certainly down to disruption of the production and supply chains, especially in the far east, earlier this year and it might take a while for normal service to be resumed.

I'm quite surprised that Clapton is even on the radar of anyone under 30 these days, let alone that he's apparently managed to irritate them enough to make those kinds of comments,

Just because something is technically brilliant or even genuinely innovative doesn't mean that it can't simultaneously be incredibly boring to listen to. It's all down to personally taste of course and for me there are far worse offenders than Clapton in that department. The solo work of Vai, Satriani and most of the other 'guitar heroes' of the 90s springs to mind.

Always worth checking Amazon. A couple of years ago someone was selling DR Hi Beams on there, imported from the US, for less than two thirds of what they generally go for in the UK, including postage.

I've only tried Pure Blues guitar strings. Nice sounding, very bright, but the tension on them was like nothing I've ever experienced on a set of guitar strings, to the point where I had to take them off after a couple weeks because it was interfering with both my freting and picking hands. If the bass strings are the same (and they might not be as the guitar strings are pure nickel whereas the bass strings are apparently 'quantum nickel' - whatever that is) it might be worth going for a narrower gauge than usual to compensate.

I have no need or real use for a shortscale bass. But I'd still take one of these in seafoam green.

Weirdly the only thing that really upsets me on there are the gold screws with a silver bridge and white scratch plate. It makes it look like the bass has had an outbreak of expensive measels.

Funnily enough I've been listening to this over the last couple of days. The whole thing, 116 tracks of it, is on Amazon Music if anybody fancies giving it a go. Obviously there's the odd dodgy track on a compilation covering a decades worth of recordings, but most of it is very good indeed. The more I listen, the more I can't work out why they're not rated amongst the all time soul and funk greats.

I've got a first generatuon Sire V7 fretless 4 string and the dots are where they would be for a fretted. I'm almost certain it's because Sire use the same necks for fretless and fretted.

I keep my fretless as my 'noodling bass' in a corner of the living room. Most of the time if I get the urge to pick up a bass and work something out or just have a noodle I reach for the fretless just because it's the closest. Mostly I'm not even using it for particularly fretlessy stuff, I'm just playing 'normal' lines on it, but everything you play is good intonation practice. In terms of difficulty it's theoretically just a slight shift in left hand technique, my biggest problem is that if I don't really concentrate my left hand tends to creep up the fretboard so that everything gets gradually sharper as I'm playing.

It looks like they couldn't decide between single or double cut, so went for the worst of both worlds. Overall the body looks like a child's drawing of a Status 2000, done with the aid of a wonky ruler.

A few years ago I was helping with the clear up while my mates shop had automatic doors fitted. As we picked up the old glass door to put it in the skip the glass just instantly shattered inside the metal frame. Fortunately it stayed in the frame, but it looked more like a fine mosaic than a window. The guy fitting the new door reckoned it happens all the time, any kind of torsion forces on the glass when you pick it up and it just goes. Reading this makes me wonder if we had a narrow escape. Wishing the the OP a full and swift recovery from what sounds and looks like a very nasty accident.

I think in this case the difference in the woods is more about aesthetics than tone. Ash has a more vivid grain than alder so tends to look better in transparent finishes, which is probably why Sire have used it for the sunburst and natural finishes. Alder is quite a plain wood which is probably why they chose it for solid paint jobs that hide the wood. Any tonal difference beteen the two is going to negligible. Someone with a truly exceptional ear might be able to say which was which in a blind test but most people would struggle to hear a difference.

The first Editor's album - The Back Room I can't believe it's nearly 15 years old. Although being mostly inspired by 80s synth pop it either hasn't aged at all or sounds another 20 years older...

A couple of people on here have bought the sixer version and posted very positive reviews.

I've got two teles, a Thinline from c2000 and a 2017 Baja. There are other guitars I want, but realistically, unless I get a sudden urge to be the next Steve Vai or start a death metal band the two teles cover everything I'll ever need to do on a guitar.