lemmywinks

I've been ordering from China for years, in fact I just ordered a new phone last night from Banggood! With AliExpress it depends on the seller - I ordered a £140+ item from the official GPD store on there and when it arrived with a small fault they paid return shipping and gave me a full refund, similarly with Banggood I've had refunds and been allowed to keep incorrect items etc. In fact I'd recommend Banggood purely because their live chat is very good, much better than a lot of UK firms in fact, my last two phones and my daughter's tablet have all come from there. DHGate are a reseller like Banggood, Fasttech, Gearbest etc so you should have no problems and can pay with PayPal, AliExpress is basically the Chinese eBay so it depends on who you're buying from.

The licensed Ultralites are genuinely great, I had them on a Cort B5 and they were absolutely rock solid and very smooth. One screw hole though so on a Sire you'd have exposed holes, with the Schallers you have to drill 2 new holes per tuner IIRC as two existing ones line up, the old ones are covered by the base plate though so once they're installed everything looks fine. You'll need the 11/16" nuts for Ultralites btw, they only seem to be available in 1/2" (13mm) or 3/8" (10mm) on Bass Direct, or just use some tape! I kept all the original parts as modded budget basses tend to be hard to sell for their composite value. Don't envisage selling it any time soon but you never know.

Schaller BML 17.5mm 5 string set I picked up on here last year for £40 all in which was too good to miss really. In fact I remembered them as £50 so you can knock a tenner of the overall spend on upgrades I mentioned above! Don't know if they're reversible or not as these were the 4+1 configuration so if you need a 5 string set that might be something to consider.. They're great tuners and are superbly engineered but you may find some licensed Hipshot Ultralites a good option to save a little weight.

I've put a bit of money into mine (about £190 for Schaller tuners, Gotoh bridge, Nordstrand pups and metal knobs), it's my main gigging bass though and is still cheaper than most at £490 total spend - everything except the bridge and some of the knobs were used. If you're not bothered about through-body stringing then there are much cheaper options for replacement bridges.

Is that the Alien Ant Farm guy's bass? I seem to remember him trying to flog the masterbuilt one a while ago.

That looks absolutely stunning Andy, superb work.

Seen those floating about on AliExpress for years, weird he chose those as they don't suit the bass at all and there's much better ones on there for not much money. Have a look at something like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/84mm-Metal-Electric-Bass-Bridge-Fixed-for-4-String-Bass-Guitar-Parts-Accessories/32888000438.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.1.3a616adewKvrwi&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_7_10065_10130_10068_10547_319_317_10548_10696_10192_10190_453_10084_454_10083_10618_10307_10820_10301_10821_10303_537_536_10059_10884_10887_321_322_10103,searchweb201603_52,ppcSwitch_0&algo_expid=30a103b8-9b0c-47a2-b5b9-a2a6853e8a7d-0&algo_pvid=30a103b8-9b0c-47a2-b5b9-a2a6853e8a7d

Depends what parts are on it, if it's got lots of expensive components and is going to be a few hundred then I'd part it out. If it's just a nice looking cheapy then it would probably sell better as is. Oh and put some pics up!!!

Mine is probably around 12lb, compact body but very heavy (it does have a load of ebony on it though). Never been a problem and sits nicely on a strap, just wish it had one more string!

Audition them again, maybe with more time the first guy will sound miles better and it will also give a chance to the second guy to show if he's going to communicate and not be a total PITA. We auditioned new singers a few years ago, first audition was very close between two of the girls so so we asked them both back and the second time it was an easy choice. Also don't deal with all the communication this time, leave it to one of the other members who were enamoured with the PITA guy. You might find they change their mind when they're the ones trying to organise someone who is so blasé with other people's time and schedules. Recruiting a band member who CBA to reply to messages is setting yourself up for a headache.

Yeah I also need a long gigbag as I use a Sire which has a poky beak of a headstock! Weirdly the guitar versions of these Gators are never on offer, our guitarist still uses cheap learner bags (his best one by far is a Mex Fender gigbag I got him from a charity shop!) so I always have a casual look to check. If anyone sees any I'd be grateful if you could tag me on here so I can send him a link, will save me having to baby his guitars when loading them into the van.

Not sure you need to go any higher than £100 for anything other than aesthetics or brand bragging rights. I have the full fat Gator Pro Go (think they call it the ultimate now) which is all I could ever need in a gigbag and they're £99, superb bags and rock solid with high end appointments (solid metal clips for strap connections, integrated rain cover etc). I'll be honest I think the Mono stuff looks a bit tacky, like the puffer jackets everyone wore when I was at school:

I think up to £70/£75 is fair for these as there seems to be a bit of a gap in the semi-rigid gigbag market at that price range, I can remember when Protec Contegos were about £70 but everything seems to be £100+ now. Thomann do one at a decent price (a Mono Sleeve "tribute") but it looks a bit cheap compared to the Gator: https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_voyager_e_bass.htm Incidentally their next model up (they do a few fancy gigbags now) looks interesting for £100, has a removable storage thingy: https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_safecase_80_e_bass_bag.htm

Not seen one of these before, looks cool: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westone-Super-Headless-Bass/113711446317?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20190212102350%26meid%3D345fb08a3dd94258a74fda267294fdd4%26pid%3D100012%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D192540922755%26itm%3D113711446317&_trksid=p2047675.c100012.m1985

I thought the Chasers were only partly made overseas and were finished in the UK? They were £900 new IIRC and were still high end basses, cheaper but not cheap. Either way the eBay bass is far too cheap, whoever got that is extremely fortunate.

I use the Fishman Platinum Pro EQ into Channel B set to Hi-Z and the gain centred, plenty loud enough.

Yeah it's the same regulars, the 5 string fretless is actually something I'd be interested in but not at that price, if they knock it down to £50 then I'm on it! Weirdly they had the 4 string version of that bass and the 5 string of the fancier model (the 5000 or something?) for about £60-£70 if memory serves, no idea why the fretless basic model is still so much as a deko. I also seem to have missed all the 5 string fretless acoustics they had a year or so ago. That Nashville guitar is the only interesting instrument on there for a good price and they seem to be hanging around despite being cheap, I think they look great.

I've stopped going on, clicking on basses you've been waiting for only to find they're sold out is soul destroying.

I had wondered about those as they've been hanging around the Deko bargain bin for ages. Nice to know you got a good score, looks lovely!

I think it's illegal to post anything with skidmarks on it.

I think your CAPS LOCK key is broken, Ronnie Pickering doesn't use lower case.

Ronnie who?

Who?