lemmywinks

I think this has been mentioned on here before - the Gator gigbags are fine if you're tall. I'm 6'6" and have been walked from the next town over with a ProGo deluxe containing an 11.6lb bass and all my other gig crap, probably half an hour or something. I can get through doors but it involves dipping my knees and leaning forward a bit!

I like the way he's stuck a 21 fret neck on what was originally a 24 fret bass, realised he can't mount the bridge correctly as a result of that but instead of correcting the mistake he's carried on, left the bridge hanging off and slapped his "perfect balance" schtick on it. Even with a 24 fret neck the bridge is right up against the edge of the body: When he originally knocked this bass together I had a look at sold listings and found it was parted out, I think he also bought the neck (all went for low money btw) so this is again just tinkering for the sake of it with no end goal. Just swapping parts out without any consideration as to how they will work together and ending up with something completely mental.

The Mk1 pickups are ok, they're usually paired with the Mk1 preamp which is the real weak link however yours has an Ibanez preamp so not surprising it sounds better. I imagine the Mk1 pickups are more suited to a fretless as well, a lot of people buy Ibanez/Cort basses with them in expecting something more modern sounding but those licensed Barts ar emore at home with more traditional tones.

Mr Phillips' creations have a storied history here. On this particular one I like the way he's cut the nut slots to give you the option of fitting four low B strings if desired:

I used an Ikea Brada laptop stand with my old Markbass head, could tilt the cab at around 45 degrees with no issues. Hooks over the front of the cab, amp sits on the main bit and the little lip at the other end (where the front of the laptop is on this pic) stops it from falling off. Imagine it would be easy to cut down for the Gnome.

Wholesome Grandad on the internet moment

Nice review and cool aquarium as well!

Looks tidy enough, I don't get on with the look of Riks at all but quite like 'em headless.

Would make for a very interesting restoration project. That neck heel though!

The wax sticks and markers work surprisingly well, especially on darker tones where it's easier to blend and doesn't draw your eye as much. I've used them for a few basses now and made some large (and very unsightly) bare wood gouges almost disappear.

The natural stain SRs look lovely, fretless with black nylons really suits it. The strings are cheap as chips if you consider they need changing, err, never. Some of the furniture touch up kits might make the bare wood disappear unless you like the mojo.

It's an abandoned kit bass project I think - headstock gives it away, not a bad score. Similar to this one but with a slightly different control layout: https://kitbuiltguitars.co.uk/guitar-kits/5-string-bass-sr-style-diy-build-your-own-bass-guitar-kit-kbg-5sr-a/

The XLR socket on these has a little switch in it which I assume completes the circuit when a plug is inserted so should be ok fitting a regular 1/4" stereo jack.

That's a shame, used to love them and was planning on sticking a set on my backup bass. Good to know anyway.

There does seem to be some alarming QC on big name instruments all over really, Fender and Gibson get singled out but there's been some serious grounding issues with a lot of Harley Benton (6 string) guitars recently, heard some poor reports of Cort/Ibanez (mainly 6 string again), the 1st run of Rockbass Sadowskys, the Charvel San Dimas preamps (ok a rebadged MIM Fender again) Ephiphone's horrendous QC run from a year or two ago. Some of this can be blamed on covid backlog catchup and factories rushing batches out the door to meet deadlines but it's still worrying. I had a Cort last year with the worst fret job I've seen on a production guitar, its replacement is perfect. I may have rose tinted specs on but there was a time not so long ago where everything was just decent with no silly faults unless you got really unlucky. Seems to be a lot more hit and miss now.

Don't think any of my basses could become misaligned in transit or even by force, seems like we're going backwards if tolerances like that are acceptable and justified by traditionalism.

It's not one of those two or if it is Fender have specced it in a different case, looks closer to this one without the pole pieces: https://shoppartsland.com/rkb-nfl-cr/ Being an aftermarket Ricky pickup would explain how the strings don't fit properly over it as Ricks have narrower string spacing at the bridge.

Roads look in better condition than the ones round here!

The factory is in Ensenada, looks like a nice place tbh. Lots of tourism etc:

Performer series are £1.3k https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Fender-American-Performer-Jazz-Bass-RW-Arctic-White/2RA0? https://www.andertons.co.uk/fender-american-performer-jazz-bass-rw-3tsb?

Wait that's a MIM? Why is it £1.3k? You can get a USA Jazz for that!

Mate of mine just got one of the PRS SE 245 guitars from the Andertons sale (£399 with gigbag - total bargain) and it's immaculate. Like staggeringly good, can't even find a tiny niggle wrong with it and it was setup superbly out of the box. If WMI can produce such amazing instruments, not rely on poverty wages and keep the price within that magic £500-£800 range then why do the big names struggle so badly with their production line instruments on home soil? How do you even get something like that with CNC? This and the Gibson Rex from a different thread both have the type of issues you expect on a £200 AliExpress copy.

Crazy stuff on a £1.3k CNC bolt on plank. How do they get it that wrong?