Doctor J

Fender Road-Restored Series - an innovative line of instruments carefully relic'd by the Custom Shop, to simulate years of hard road use, then lovingly refinished and restored to as-new condition by the Custom Shop. All the mojo of a vintage instrument without any evidence of it. Be careful your tears don't mark that pristine finish when you see the price. Buy two today!

Fender "Decal Only" series - random home builds where brand junkies have affixed a Fender logo for some reason

When you say "restrung" did you replace the strings with new strings or just put the same strings back on?

There are a lot of people chancing their arm with asking prices on second hand gear, which leads to people thinking the stuff is worth more than it actually is and asking prices go up, as a whole, as a result. Reverb is a haven for silly asking prices. I've seen several bass I sold off around five years ago listed, by the people I sold them to, for over double what they paid. It seems to be the norm, now. Just shameless profiteering, nothing more.

I concede defeat on this one, I'm not going to finish in time. Ambition exceeds ability, as they say 😂

I played a gig which started with the guitarist coming up to me, let's say somewhat "medicated", and told me he couldn't feel his hands. With his feet quite numb, too, he had to play slouched over on a stool. Halfway through the gig the singer left the stage, the venue and the band. We finished the set, though. That was painful. I've also played to the barman and then, when he left, to an empty pub. That was fairly excruciating, too, but I think when the drummer decided, mid-set, he needed to pee and, with the jacks being a couple of floors up, took about 5 minutes to do the round trip, that was a notch up from excruciating. It wasn't finally until my amp, an old Peavey MkII, make the sound of a sick whale and then went permanently silent, that I thought "This is really crap."

This is a path I walked before. To cut a very long story short, Josh Gemmell is the sales manager, a top man, and seems to be the only person on Earth capable of sourcing the pearloid buttons. In my case, I had Gotoh GB720W tuners but Gotoh Japan sent me to him. Send him pics in jpg format (well done Bassassin) and he should be able to sort you out. http://www.japarts.ca/

Well, somebody had to write the music 😉

You could just write your own music?

You can drill out some knobs to 8mm handily enough, no? They look like solid shaft so you should be able to bore out anything with a grub screw to fit.

Keep it simple and impress with your personality and playing, rather than gear. Bring the MPV-5 and the Jazz, but leave the Jazz in its case, there as a robust backup. If the MPV-5 is your main bass, stick to it. I've held auditions where lads were swapping over instruments and it just conveys someone who a) doesn't know what they like and b) wants to be seen to have lots of gear, neither of which are endearing. Pub rock is straightforward and unpretentious, be the same.

It's a string one can pull for a long, long time. Is Eric Clapton's music with Jim Gordon on drums twice as problematic? It goes beyond art to every facet of our privileged first-world lives. Are Boss clothes ok now, has enough time passed since they designed Nazi and made uniforms? What about Benz and BMW who made engines for Nazi bombers? Is there a passing of a certain amount of time which makes things acceptable or are some things truly unforgivable? Is the Whatsapp conversation taking place on devices made in countries with appalling working conditions and few worker rights? Where do we draw the line, indeed? If we start digging, really digging, into what is acceptable to us, we might find we subconsciously accept more than our conscious selves would like to admit.

Yeah, 55-02, make sure you try one.

Best? Only you know what is best for you. Decide what it is you want to have at the end of the process in terms of tone, ergonomics and appearance before you do anything else.

Was it hers before?

D'Addario 74T000. Wide, padded, just the job. https://www.thomann.de/ie/planet_waves_74t000_gitarrengurt_nylon.htm

I'll bet his shirts are whiter than white

The Homeball - There's a long and convoluted story how this evolved, but it's ok.

He was from Hackney, not Wigon, no? I'm deeply ashamed of that one. There's my coat, by the door.

That doesn't look like Marc Bolan at all

"Sharing cancelled by sender"

It's active. Imagine the battery crapping out on you during a nice sit down.

Shergold, I would say. https://www.vintageandrare.com/product/Shergold-Marathon-MK1a-Early-80s-White-26752 As an aside, wasn't 80's power hair marvellous?

I believe it was back in the late 60's 😅 @evan47 Another way to look at it is, you could get a small production run, hand made bass from a brand you're unfamiliar with, but who have a stellar reputation, for less than you could get a mass-produced Mexican unit-shifter with a familiar logo on the headstock. It's not an insignificant sum of money, for sure, but I would go for it, personally.

I have a few older Japanese Bacchuseses, Bacchiii... whatever. They're as good as those classic designs get, in my experience. I haven't played these newer ones but at £600 I reckon you can try it and sell on easily enough without making a loss if it doesn't work for you.