Doctor J

It's interesting how the signature market has split in two directions. It always used to be the artist's vision of their dream instrument, usually (but not always) a standard design with custom tweaks like pickups, wiring and hardware, an instrument designed to facilitate the needs and unique playing styles of established iconic musicians. Since fake wear became a popular thing, signature instruments have drifted to a point where it now also means replicas of standard instruments with no real tweaks other than imitated wear. EBMM are stroking both sides of this particular piglet, with the likes of Pino and Cliff Williams on one side and the radical designs they've built and put into production for the likes of John Myung, John Petrucci and St Vincent, among others. Being honest, the replica instruments do little for me, particularly when you can buy actual instruments from the same era for a lot less. Getting your hands on what exceptional musicians have done to push beyond traditional designs from the previous century is far more interesting, to me at least. 6k seems crazy for this as, once you start playing it and putting your own dinks and scrapes into it, it becomes less and less Pino's and more yours, which is the opposite of what you bought it for in the first place.

There's no doubt budget instruments are better than they were, but they're not on a par with high-quality builders have put out, like some of the brands I mentioned earlier, for example.

Buying a new Fender is a gamble 😂 We're at the point in time where superb instruments made by the likes of Hamer, Ibanez, Warwick, Jackson/Charvel and many more have reached vintage status. Like I said, a bit of nous can get you into the vintage world for not much money and get you a superb instrument too.

It looks like the Toxic Avenger if he were a banana. Love it!

Probably my favourite bass of all, tonally, and that one is quite the looker. Well done.

Certain brands are expensive, yes, but vintage stuff is not, by default, expensive. Anyone with the nous to avoid the obvious can bathe in vintage gear all they like for not too much outlay.

I've seen several former instruments of mine relisted at over double what I sold them for - at prices they struggled to sell at - and then struggle to sell again at the new higher price. I've had a Stingray, a Peavey Sarzo, an Ibanez Roadster, an L-1000 and, most recently, a Warwick Streamer LX, all show up at over double their previous sale price, usually a year or two after they left my hands. Are these collectibles? I don't think so, I just think Reverb has given a global platform to set ridiculous asking prices which then seems to affect the general prices of these things. Generally, though, desirability seems to really go on brand name, rather than instrument quality. There doesn't seem to be a correlation between how well built an instrument is and the size of the market interested in it. With more obscure brands, you might find an obsessive or two who are prepared to pay up but, if you want things to move, I think you're safer with the big-name unit shifters.

I always enjoyed purposefully antagonising them. That could be done a number of ways but, usually, it would involve musically heading places they were not expecting to be taken, which kept it exciting for the musicians, too. It also allowed more room for self-expression, which was always nice. I understand this is different for the covers game, though. If you're playing for the money, you can't really do much outside the well-worn tropes for fear of alienating your brand and affecting future bookings, so I suppose you're relying on one of the group with charisma to continually work the crowd to keep them engaged and that energy should feed back to the performers. Everybody should play some part in that, however, and take their eyes off the neck dots now and then to look at, and remember to perform to, the people they're playing in front of. There are few things duller than a band with eyes glued to the necks of their instruments.

SHARRRROOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNN?

Celebrate the best of Swedish: SAABBA

Try listening 2 minutes 20 seconds into it, perhaps.

I heard they order a lot of pizza. Coincidence? 🤔

I used to love the clank when I had a 4003, it's definitely part of the sound for me, provided you're just getting clank and the strings aren't choking.

The song is called Hello, it's the first song on their second album, and briefly pulls a line from the Glitter song.

Duplicate post

When was the last time Fender brought out something where there weren't established market leaders in place already? What useful innovations have they pushed since Mr Fender sold out in the 60's? The Dimension tried to enter a space created by Musicman and G&L 30-odd years previously. Who was that bass aimed at, who was the target market? It came across as a half-assed effort at entering the humbucker game, just flung out there in the hope that they could poach some stragglers from leading brands in that market. It seems like everything they "innovate" has already been done better elsewhere. How is it possible they don't lead the Jazz-on-steroids market? How have they never managed to develop (or even buy or licence) a class-leading pre-amp and mate it with their instruments? Having that big F on the headstock is not enough to just plop something onto the market and not think strategically through design, production and marketing thoroughly before making the half-assed effort which has become their trademark, sadly. They got lazy on the legacy of that name. I'd be of the opinion that everything they offer is made better (and usually cheaper) by someone else. Then people say "Oh nobody wants Fender to do anything different" when it's more that everything different they do has already been done better elsewhere. But folks love having that big F on the headstock all the same, no matter what. It's always gas seeing home assembled parts builds and custom relic jobs getting that brand-name stuck on them 😂

I wonder if "Drum Off" was supposed to be an instruction to FOH when Metallica start up?

Really? 😉

Can't wait to hear the Tool medley for their 20 minute set. It'll feature two songs, I hear 🤔

How many kids can afford those ticket prices? Unless they blew all their instrument savings on a ticket? 🤷🏻‍♂️

They make a greater break angle possible than extra wraps, consistent with the E, D and G strings if positioned correctly and, of course, the more wraps you have around the post the more opportunity you have for tuning instability. OP, regardless of the bass you could just bite the bullet and get one of these. That Fender still persist with bad design for the sake of retro authenticity is one of life's great mysteries. Don't value aesthetics over functionality. https://www.public-peace.de/hipshot-string-retainer-3-strings.html

I think you might be right. The Grover tuners and truss rod cover fit the bill. The R font is different to the usual R they use but not too far away from the R of the late80's logo. Never seen it used as just the letter R though and never seen that headstock on a BC Rich, but it looks like the Outlaw body shape to me.

Hard to know who the market is for it though. It's a fair whack more expensive than the import versions from his previous two endorsers and he's hardly a household name.

Indeed. It would be a shame to see such innovative and iconic instruments disappear like Vigier, Pedulla and others.

To complete the set, just wait for Eurovision to come around again so people can tell you how many years it has been since they watched. It seems to be very important information for everybody to be aware of 😁