Trueno

They look very tempting. Price is about half of some of the competitors I've been looking at.

Can't speak for Sire, but I've upgraded the knobs on my two recent budget purchases... a Squier and Hofner Ignition... to proper Fender and Hofner knobs. As well as looking much better, they have a practical use as they have dot markers to give a bit of a clue where they're set. Loads of stuff to choose from when you look.

^^^ I know you didn't direct the question at me, but I'm finding it hard to justify changing the pickups on the Jag. They sound good enough for what I use it for.... bedroom noodling, but I would happily gig with this bass as it is. Then again, I have an EBS microbass preamp leftover from my gigging days and it makes almost anything sound fearsome.

Mine is CAR with black pickguard (I have a bit of a thing about this combination). Cost £180. It came with really nasty knobs, so I put some Fender Jazz ones on, also put on my fave d'Addario strings and a Gotoh bridge... I just hate bbot bridges, but I'm sure the original was ok. Everything else is fine. It was already set up well, I did a bit of tweaking, but the biggest difference was resetting pick-up height.

You can buy brand new saxes without the lacquer... so they acquire an ancient patina very quickly. Before that I did hear of sax players having the lacquer stripped off. Never heard of deliberately dinging a sax, though. On the other hand, I bought my sax mouthpiece second hand (expensive brand new) and it looks like it's spent most of its life in a very unpleasant place. I did a lot of disinfecting befire I stuck it in me mouth.

That's what I did. Works.

Just sold my much loved MIA Fender Jazz to Guy. He is an all round Basschat good egg, prompt, easy to deal with, communicative... bit of technical chat.. all the stuff. ... and he paid me £5 for good feedback (only joking).

Hershey's is a good substitute for silicone grease... sorted out all my clunky doorknobs.

One point about distortion with lower powered practice amps... if you whack up the volume and bass eq, it probably will distort, if you're a bit careful with both you can get a great sound... good enough for home practice... I've had a few, not tried the Rumble, though.

I love the side topic on flakiness. The only originals band I was in, the main guy was massively talented... possibly even a genius.... but he was an unbelievable flake (is there a correlation?) Ultimately I had to go... can't work with flakes.

I love the colour... treat yourself to that white pearl pickguard!

Regarding the Squier Jag SS. I've got one... will get round to posting some pics sometime. Crazy value for money. The only mods I've made are... Fender Jazz control knobs, Gotoh bridge (I just have a thing about bbot bridges) and fave d'Addario strings. I'd like to put new pups and electronics in, but finding it hard to justify. Might just get a pearloid scratchplate from Jack sometime. The winders look a bit flimsey, but they work ok and stay in tune. The neck and fretwork is very good. Hard to go wrong at the price.

Spot on, Dad.

Usually down to excess consumption of alcohol by other band members in my experience. Anything from spoiling gigs with fluffed notes and butchered solos to disappearing on two week benders. The last band I was in the singer was a total bum. We had a rule... don't let him get his hands on the takings before we've divvied them out. One time he did get his hands on the money and p****d off. Next rehearsal he had "no memory" of what happened to the money. What killed it for me was the reaction of the rest of the band... "typical... you know M*****... watcha gonna do about it?" I wanted to string him up by the heels until he paid us back and then ditch him in the canal... then sack him. It wasn't the money, I just didn't want to be in a band with this guy. I'm very happy to be a bedroom noodler now.

I tend to think my newly acquired (and rather whizzy) Hofner Ignition bass would do the business, plugged into a practice amp or DI'd. However, if the band left me out it would be goodbye band. Cajons (or should that be cajones?). I suspect they might be useful for standing on if you want to paint a high ceiling. I did cut- down gigs years ago... with everyone's agreement and in the corners of small pubs. I played sax then and we played mostly unplugged. Drummer had small bass drum, snare and hi-hat. That was probably around the time everyone was bringing out an unplugged album. I'm hoping this will just be another temporary fashion... nothing beats the sheer dynamism of a full-on band.

Josie recently bought a Markbass combo from me. Sound buyer and totally pain-free transaction. Communication and payment very prompt... what more can I say?

You're absolutely right. I've sold a lot of stuff recently and I just wonder if I should spend some of the money I've made. Don't really want to buy a new base. But it ain't broke...

I hope you can get it sorted quickly and cheaply. I assume the seller finds it within himself to sleep soundly at night. Shame on him.