Doctor J

Steely Dan would be the big one. I only got into them a few years ago but it's some of my favourite music ever, now. This kind of thing happens a lot, though. I love finding great new music, even if it's old music. You have the soundtrack to your life but there was so much going on at that time and even more before, it would be ruse not to investigate.

Metallica'a utterly baffling Through The Never is part-concert, part-I don't know what but all rubbish. It has been a while since I saw it - only once - but there may have been some kind of small acting roles for the band members at various points. It's utterly terrible is what I'm trying to say. Although SKOM is a documentary, and an amazing one at that, when Trujillo hears their new music for the first time and acts like it isn't complete bowel offerings is worth mentioning.

Congrats, Skank, nicely done 👍

Sweet. I have a low 4-digit serial number ESP which I narrowed down to being from late '83-early '84. While that doesn't have a serial, the ESP stamp on the neck plate is the same as mine so I'd think it's from that era, if not a little earlier. They changed the neck plate stamp in the mid-80's. I hope it plays and sounds as good as it looks.

It's UV light exposure vs the lack of it. You're more likely to get an even finish by rubbing the rest of it with a very light abrasive to take off the finish which has aged than trying to darken those light areas to match the rest of it.

Very much so https://www.discogs.com/master/1039778-Vega-Who-We-Are

Nice to see new names too.

It's only what someone hopes to get for it, not an actual market value. I've seen much, much worse over the years. I never thought I'd get to see 1k Squiers either, but this is the crazy world we live in.

Iron, Maiden!

Manfred Mann - hate crime central.

Mansun! Smanshing Pumpkins! Mandonna!

Ahum...

Lad Zeppelin?

I respect him even when he doesn't have a bass and is driving a cab in NYC?

I don't think there is that much of a correlation between price and quality, certainly not in the used market and that's where I operate. Over the years, I've had some very expensive instruments, plenty of much less expensive instruments and those inbetweeners. In my experience, the price is often more associated with the brand name than the quality of the instrument. My favourite basses over the years have usually been picked up used for around the 400-600 quid mark, often less. I've bought much more expensive instruments, going on myth and hype, which were utter rubbish, not just as an instrument but in terms of build quality too. When you've been around long enough, you see how the price follows hype rather than quality. Did Japanese Squiers only become good in the last couple of years? The prices now compared to 10 or 20 years ago, relative to other instrument prices, certainly suggests so. And then there are 70's Fenders... wow 😂

I had one, it was useless. You quickly tire of being told the time is 1:vision Got coat, off I go.

I'd love to pick up a mint early 90's Thumb at some point. A Warwick Streamer with Wal pickups and electronics would be real nice.

On a tangent, if you're spending 4 grand on an instrument and you're not getting the full-fat brand, made by the main people, something is seriously askew.

Crimson guitars youtube channel has at least one build video for this idea. He made a Les Paul style IIRC.

Maybe they no cry?

When I saw the picture, I thought plastic society and teenage me had grand visions of the Crumbsuckers or D.R.I. style hardcore punk of my youth with lots of shouting. Unfortunately, I quickly realised I can't drum like that at all, so I needed to bodge together a compromise and somehow ended up with Devo playing a spaghetti western theme. The technical stuff: Guitars are a Bacchus Duke into an Avid Eleven. Drums and bass came from Reason, all smooshed together in ProTools. The song: A reflection of the superficiality of modern plastic society where little is of substance and little pandas stand beside big toadstools, probably taking selfies.

Gotoh branded bridges on some, ABM bridges on others. Possibly a licenced Japanese line? I wouldn't think they were made in NYC by Fodera, anyway, and certainly wouldn't be spending 4 grand on one any time soon.

Quite the opposite for me, it's my favourite configuration particularly when the pickups are blended. What is it that you don't like? I have found, over the years, that I tend to set up my bridge J a lot closer to the strings than the P. Most folks tend to set the pickup height visually, in my experience, so that they look about the same distance away from the strings. I go by ear, so that the bridge pickup has plentiful balls and, when blended, gives immense growl to the meat provided by the P.

I don't fancy any decals, custom or otherwise 🙂

While the price is quite revolting, the most offensive part is referring to the Brazilian 'slapboard'. Thumbs down to this kind of thing.