lemmywinks

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?

I've always found routers a bit scary so the go slow and tidy up afterwards seems like a safe approach. Do you have a pillar drill you can use?

Oops, spelling edit mistake!

I do sometimes wonder what people think the purpose of online content creation is, in the case of guys like Lobster it's informative entertainment where you can watch a general topic you're interested in but there's also a lot of helpful information in there if you're considering a purchase. There's also the vicarious NBD factor which some people enjoy.

I think he pays for some stuff and gets freebies for other mods, pretty much how online reviewers work. I like that he does detailed pickup comparisons after reviewing a bass and will go back to them and tinker, the EHB videos were really helpful in terms of showing what the preamp mods do and also comparing Aguilars to Nords/Barts. Seems to be a bit of vitriol directed at him on here, not sure why, his videos are streets ahead of the Andertons goons.

Ah well then I'd be onto the company abpout a free upgrade! Always liked the look of these and the Wingbass things.

Quick look here, pickups out of phase on this one and seems like it needs some work.

Might be worth measuring the screws and seeing if you can replace them with something suitable for tuning by hand, like a wing or knurled adjustment screw.

They've been floating around on AE but this is the first time I've found a 5 string version, piqued my interest as the problem with a lot of headless conversions is that the bridges always hang off the end of the body whereas this one would potentially solve that. Maybe worth the design compromise, what little reviews there are seem positive and the guitar versions turn up on some Earts. Branded as Guyker parts here, looks like the little crank thing has its own little storage slot on the upper edge: https://www.guyker.com/products/guyker-alp-5-string-headless-travel-bass-bridge-wb1005-black That's a really interesting project btw, is the bass still going?