Owen

Fair point. BUT, as you know, they are SO much better. I have been through 3 Bravewoods and put them all against my 66J. They scratched exactly the same itches. If I played 4 strings I would stop right there.

I totally agree with all you have said. There are so much better out there. But each to their own.

I also have no interest in sustain, but my 36" neckthrough Overwater has monster sustain. Not anything I am fussed about, but the immediacy it speaks with and consistency in that the bass does not eat any of the energy is quite exciting. £70 towards the next one! Excellent.

I put a Badass on a J bass I had. I went back to the BBOT bridge. It was different. Not better, or worse. But for me - not worth the effort.

You could 3D print a pickup cover to suit. So I am told!

Bartolini and Duncan make lovely stuff. Bartolini are voiced specifically. I am sure Mr CW could cover that if you asked him. Pickups are magnets and wire.

He has done several pickups for me. He is always open to tweaking stuff. Making pickups is not rocket science. Stuff from overseas is not inherently better.

I had a Columbus bass as my first bass. Easily the most horrible instrument I have ever owned.

That headstock is ALL sorts of wrong. Like it was done with tracing paper that moved.

Hey Simon! Welcome aboard

I agree, but I guess it might port pver eventually.

This looks interesting. https://pitchslap.rocks/

This is just the stuff we need! I fancy a white/cream pickup cover for an incoming bass.

Aint that the truth.

Clean wood. Apart from the neck. Body and neck done in two different rooms by different people. Screwed together by a 3rd person. It looks like a year 9 relic project. You would probably mark it as "well done, for a 14 year old" but be glad that you did not own it. I do love a good relic. This is not a good relic. But people buy them - and for a commercial company, that is where it is at, so what do Fender care about my opinion?

Very cool indeed. That is how cool it is. Really subtle. Less is always more.

The one there is not. The chase only there is.

The pedant in me cannot resist pointing out that a 16 hour band practice might be quite draining.

You are still young. There is time.

We have all been in bands down the local pub where not everyone is pulling their weight. Church is no different. It is just people.

People put themselves forward to serve. Not all of them have the correct skillset. Sometimes that can be nipped in the bud and they can be told "yeah, but let us walk through techniques etc for a couple of months before we let you loose on a Sunday morning". Teaching that skillset is time consuming. Time is not what a lot of us have. This means that people slip through the net and as we play we are thinking "is that ok?" and "why would you play that there?". Not every week, but some weeks. The beauty of it is that a lot of it goes over most people's heads. It is SUPER frustrating for those of us who have put the hours in. But I guess it is a mentoring situation - a bit like Brass Banding. The tricky bit is the "you are not doing that right, let me help you" and the finding time. But being in community is costly. I would prefer to have one acoustic played well and one vocal and leave it at that. It is leading, not performing. Sometimes that is a difficult convesation. As long as the congregation have a cue to start singing in the right place, everything else is secondary. If we are relying on a stellar band rocking it out to whip up something, then there is a problem right there. I very certainly do not look to playing in church to get my musical jollies. It is to serve - like stacking the chairs, and no more than that.

Sadly Caerdydd is further from me than many, many English Bass Bashes.