TrevorR

There’s a Sting and the Police best of I've got called “Fields of Gold”. Twofer... all you need from both on one CD The recent Wembley Or Bust live album by ELO is a pretty good career overview with a DVD thrown in for good measure (and has my chum Jo playing keys). Or the 2 CD All Over The World - The Ultimate Collection - all the hits and more. Or just buy Out Of The Blue! The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble 2 CD best of is pretty much all you’d ever need to know. But even better is the Couldn’t Stand The Weather (Legacy Edition) double CD - one of SRV’s best albums on one CD with a host of really good quality bonus tracks. Then on CD 2 a live album which really demonstrates SRV and Double Trouble’s raw power as a live unit.

You can waste/invest sooooooo much I’ve on the Sandberg “Configurator” web page !

That's very, very good advice - in general terms. Though to be fair there are probably fewer key variables when talking about an acoustic guitar - take solid woods as read then it's just body shape, neck width and profile, woods (which frankly once you've gone solid top is probably less critical) and electro or not. With bass, you're talking about several different pickup configurations and types all of which are designed to give different tonal flavours (as opposed to an acoustic guitar where they're deliberately trying to be transparent), much wider scale length choices, body construction (solid, chambered, semi-solid, bolt on neck, set neck or thru neck), much greater variance in the range and type of active circuits (if you go that route), number of strings, body shapes (both visually and ergonomically in terms of how they sit/hang)... all of which, in the end will come down to developed personal preference. No one's suggested buying a £50 Argos bass - rather, initially, going to the mid-range of the market where the quality to pound ratio these days is, frankly, hard to believe. Take something like the Lakland or G&L brands where a £1200 US made model probably only gives you 5-10% "performance advantage" (however you could quantify that) over their £500 far-East manufactured "budget models" which are less than half the price and are fully professional quality instruments in their own right. Lots of the other mid-range brands offer similar performance to cost ratios. Having said that, if you're looking at Sandbergs as your target instrument you, frankly, won't go far wrong with any of them . They are wonderful basses and great quality and value even at the new price point. And then if you're looking at a second hand one in the £600-£700 price range they're an absolute steal and, should you eventually move it on for some other type of bass in the future you won't really lose any money on the deal. But once again, even that's moot as Sandbergs definitely fall squarely in the potential "...this is my bass for life.." category! I know that if I was looking for a new bass right now (I'm not but a man can still look and dream!), it would be definitely be a Sandberg - and it would very probably look very much like one either of these... Not that I've been thinking about it, or anything!

Alan, I agree but this guy, it seems has never played or owned a bass yet!!!!!! I'm guessing that a post lockdown scoot round GuitarGuitar looking at the Squiers and Ibbys will serve him best at this point. Now in a year's time when he's ready to dispose of his wad of cash... well THEN we're definitely sending him your way!

For this user I’d currently steer well clear of custom orders... as a newbie I doubt that they’d have refined their tastes enough to be able to decide on the manifold custom options a new build entails.

For the £1k+ range I'd definitely have Sandberg at the top of my list, Maruszczyk, G&L, Lakland (though personally I don't like the shape of their bridges), Overwaters, Enfields... and maybe the higher range Reverends... lots of nice basses out there.

Very good advice from @ClassicVibes If you get a moderate priced bass to start on (and a couple of hundred quid and a browse on some of the online retailers - Andertons, GuitarGuitar, PMT, GAK etc - will furnish that by return of post) then you have something decent to start your development on. As others have said there are few fundamentally bad basses around these days. Then when we're back to some sort of normality and lockdown has been raised, in N London you're well placed to browse the really nice basses in London (Guitar Guitar, The Bass Gallery - Camden; Wunjos, The Bass Cellar - Denmark Street; PMT - Farringdon/Clerkenwell...) and find out what really floats your boat in that £1k+ price range. Lots of nice basses to look at in those shops before you even consider the Basschat classifieds here. Also budget for a small amp too... something like a Fender Rumble 15 or 40 to facilitate your home practice.

😉🤣🤣🤣

Happy Star Wars Day - May the fourth be with you! What better day to post this nice little bass tune, from the low side via John Williams.

10 quid for a Fishman system... yes, that's absolutely 100% legit! Absolutely! Like Esther used to day, "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is!"

I had tickets for HRH Prog the weekend after lockdown started. Had been looking forward to John Lee’s BJH and Rick Wakeman with a full band including Mr Pomeroy on bass.

Also consider LR Baggs who make great pickup systems with a non-destructive preamp mounting on the sound hole... https://www.lrbaggs.com/acoustic-guitar-pickup-systems Blendable under saddle and internal mic... https://www.dv247.com/en_GB/GBP/L-R-Baggs-Anthem-/art-GIT0028945-000?campaign=GShopping/UK&ProgramUUID=HADAqJarPzAAAAFlea9yjI.G&gclid=Cj0KCQjw17n1BRDEARIsAFDHFeyS8I8ZBjLgL2WAWBc5FQyxZ9y92VF8_yAUNj4bENhdL-JxpbCHVxsaAs76EALw_wcB

And here's the one we did last week. Every Praise by Hezekiah Walker... when we do this live at church I do like throwing in a bit of envelope filter for a more funky, Bootsy-esque tone to the bass line! This one is straight - playing the 1985 Wal Custom Mk1 for this one...

All our musos are members of the church and play on a volunteer/service basis. We’ve had a few friends sit in to play when we’re short. But we don’t advertise or pay team members. Church is about 250-300 strong so we’re quite fortunate being able to have such a strong team drawn from within. I think that advertising and paying for players is more of a US mega church thing. A number of their big city churches seem to approach big venue size (Brighton Dome, Royal Festival Hall, Bristol Colston Hall, Guildford G-Live scale if you’ve ever been to any of those venues for comparison. Or even bigger).

Thanks. Pleased with how it came out. Yes, fortunately our church likes bass (which is a rare thing). I’ll post last week’s too when I’ve worked out the YouTube clipping thing. Don't know what software but I’ll ask James.

Ironic to have a thread resurrection in a thread about playing in church... OK so our latest song to introduce our streamed church service is up online - Open Up The Heavens by Vertical Worship. This is our second one so we’re still learning how to do it. Each part recorded separately on our phones/cameras playing along to a guide track and then stitched together into a single track by our drummer/keyboard player/AV dude, James (the smiley guy in the video)... playing my 1979 Wal Pro 2E in this one. If we do one next week I may pull out my Aria SB700 for that one... Enjoy! The song is the first 3 mins 47 seconds. Feel free to ignore the rest, I’ll see if I can work out how to trim the video to lose the rest of it so as not to violate board rules - it doesn’t seem to be an option on an iPad... think I need to break out my laptop for extra share options. Humph... EDIT: DONE IT! PHEW!

Yeah, and very deliberately so, Gareth! Respect.

Absolutely gorgeous. I know that Paul’s working hard on shaving weight off through savvy wood choice etc.

Ah, yes. Good point. Got confused. However, she’s definitely NOT either French or, more specifically, Breton!

How about a bit of Scots Gaelic, Breton (and a Eurovision entry! Yes, that’s the same singer and she’s not French, she’s from Shetland!) and a selection of French?

Don’t think I ever posted a family photo of my haul... I only ever got round to taking one a few months ago, after meaning to for years. Left to right... 2014 Faith Neptune Titan acoustic bass, 1981 Aria SB700, 1985 Wal Custom Series Mark 1, 1979 Wal Pro 2E, 2006 “Signature” Frankenjazz (body & neck September 1991 - from a Build-a-bass, eBay), 1993 Custom Built Tony Revell acoustic bass.

This was Guitar Galleries (looked it up). Also a tiny place in that little parade of shops near the level crossing on Station Road, opposite where the Asda was (used to park in the Asda car park). Must have been there from mid-90s to mid-2000s. Now Premier Lettings...

Well, back in 1999 a new Wal Custom Series Bass was in the region of 2 and a half grand. Up in that London a second hand Custom Series 4 string was around £1,500 at most. An old Pro Series Wal was about £450-500. Well, in Spring 1999 a nice red Wal Pro 2E turned up. Really good condition and IMHO a real looker. But the price tag said, £1,500! Of course I had a try (I’d actually been looking for a Pro 2E ) and said to the owner. It’s lovely. I’d take it off your hands today but it’s just way overpriced... by a factor of about 3, you know.” “Nah mate. That’s a Wal that is. They’re top flight basses those. That’s what they go for up in London. Properly rare.” “Well, yeah, the newer Customs go for that, the ones with the exotic wood bodies and newer electrics. This is a Pro Series. The market value is about 500 quid. Honest, I’d take it off your hands today for that.” “You’re ‘avin’ a larff, mate. This one’s worth one and a half grand. That’s the price. Take it or leave it.” “OK, I’ll have to leave it. But I’m telling you now, it’s just going to sit there gathering dust, taking up floor space and cluttering up your inventory. But if you don’t mind I’ll pop in every two or three months to have a bit of a play on it and see if the price has come down to a sensible price. That OK?” “Huh, please yourself but it’ll be gone in no time. Really sought after these are. It’ll be gone within a week.” So that’s what I did. Every so often I’d pop in, have a look at the guitars have a noodle on the Wal and offer £500 for it.” Over the course of two years the price label was amended to say £1400, £1250, £1100, £1000, and then £900. Then one month in 2001 The Guitar Magazine covered Pro Series Wals in their vintage basses you might see around and what they’re worth feature. As ever, it finished with a price round up which said that a good condition Pro IIE could go for up to £500 or £550. It was a Saturday morning so I rushed down to the local library and got a photocopy. Then it was straight to the shop to wave it under the owner’s nose. Sadly he wasn’t in, just the Saturday boy (to whom I was a familiar face by then. I had a chat with him and said, “You know that Wal?” He smiled, “Well can you show your boss this article in this month’s TGM and let him know that my offer for £500 quid absolutely still stands.” I wrote my name and number on the sheet and toddled home for lunch. It was about 2:30 when the phone rang and the Saturday boy was on the other end. “I’ve had a word with the boss and showed him the article. He says that you can have it for five hundred and fifty quid.” “Shall I pop over now?”... Got there about 20 minutes later and watched him take the £900 sign off and hand me the bass... Here she is...

Oh, the hours I spent in that little shop in the late 80s and 90s... And in the Slough branch (which was where I got my first ever acoustic guitar - a slope shouldered Washburn D25S dreadnought. Do you remember the odd little guitar shop down by the level crossing, can’t for the life of me recall the name. Guitar Galleries or something...? Got my Wal Pro IIE there in 2001 after 2 years (yes, two years!) of haggling the price down!

Oh, those bring back memories. Is that the sort with the bolt on neck and a metal neck plate on the back of the guitar? A chum used to play one like that. Built like a tank, as I remember.