SurroundedByManatees

It's truly nice indeed, I like it. But the cheap looking pickguards ruins it a bit for me to be honest. At these price points they should have top quality tort guards fitted. People who pay Custom Shop kinda cash are happy to lay another 150 for a Spitfire quality pickguard. A good looking pickguard would make a huge positive difference in the overall appearance.

To me it feels like they are being a bit arrogant, like "why bother, it will sell anyway". No interest to inform potential customers at all. Personally I wouldn't bother to buy from such a store. If looking for vintage Fender stuff in the UK, I'd go to Andy Baxter. He IS knowledgeable and takes effort to inform potential buyers about each item for sale. Actually, such type adverts with no info are unacceptable from private sellers already. You'd be burned to the ground if you put an add like that on here 😉

If you ask "modern" prices for your late 70s Fender, at least take the effort to write a text about how amazing it is. The pickguard in the "all original" precision is a replacement. Any bass dealer that represent themselves as knowledgeable should see this in one second. And double check if making such statements. The refin on the '60 looks nice though.

For a Stingray sound-alike on a budget, the Ibanez ATK has always been a good option. Would still like a 5-er if it crosses my path.

Super nice. I would have done the same. At that price, you need it.

My Funk Unlimited has a ´truss rod´. It´s actually not a truss, but only does 3 settings; neutral, a bit flatter or a bit more relief. I think I´ve left it neutral as the fretboard is almost flat with little relief. I did try it out though and there was a noticable difference in action when changinging the adjustment.

Any love for the Modulus Q5-ers on here? I bought mine a few weeks ago and haven't regretted it🙂 For a while I've been on the lookout for a 5 with narrower stringspacing like a Stingray. I marked the Modulus Quantum as very interesting (I like the way these graphite necks seem to respond) a while ago, but the 35" scale gave me doubts. Apparently there are 34" scale Q5 basses around, but I haven't seen them for sale anywhere. Not that they are super common in any form. Anyway, 3 weeks ago a very attractive one (to my taste) popped up on reverb. I ignored my fear of the 35" scale and made a deal with the seller. A week later I had a beautiful second Modulus (my other one is a Funk unlimited) at home. It's a '96 model so it has no trussrod. The neck has just a little relief te accomodate the strings some room for vibration, the action is pretty low. I am very positively surprised about the playability. The only other 35" I've played felt much less compact; it had a larger stringspacing, but probably also other balance. I don't have any trouble with the scale on the Q5 at all. So that's great. Soundwise I like the Q5 very much. I have one with the EMG system. I like it, it's clear and tight, even and dynamic at the same time. The whole bass sounds well balanced from the B to the G string. Some pictures because only text is pretty boring: Anyone else owns or owned one? What are you're thoughts? Pictures are welcome too of course.

I used to care about weight because of a sensitive shoulder. A few years back though I started doing workouts at the gym, which helped me massively. Nowadays I could gig a 5kg bass easily for a long while without a moment of being uncomfortable. The balance of the instrument is more important to me. That being said, I use a good comfortable Mono Betty strap with heavier basses.

That's what I think too. Dating in the pickup cavity with pencil. Definitely no stamps. And like you said it probably shouldn't have a paint stick mark. Burst is also not correct. The other parts, if original; I think black bottom pickups? And a pickguard with wider bevel. Bridge is also consistent with late '60s/early '70s. I'm tempted to think that he doesn't have a partsbass, but that it's all original (based on the available pics).

Looks like a late 60s/early 70s indeed. Seems like the guy is confusing a random factory code with a serial number.

Looks like an obese Stingray. I don't think I'll be tempted to get one.

It's the combo. Yes there is a horn that can be turned off. The hiss is not superloud, but it's there. And like said can be more apparent when more treble comes in.

Early 90s stingray with maple fretboard. I can totally imagine myself buying one in a moment of weakness, while I know I will prefer my Modulus.

No it pretty much stays the same.

I play in my living room at modest volume mostly, when cranking up it gets lost for the bigger part indeed. Still it surprises me that they have a noise reducer built in that kicks in when things run silent, while the amp itself is kinda hissy. It seems that this amp could benefit when it was an always-on function

Anybody else noticed a hiss when playing? I haven´t noticed it before, but it is quite apparent when close to the amp (200-210). I´ve read these apparantly have a noisegate. All great when it´s silent when not playing, but is it normal to have an hiss when playing? It´s sensitive to frequency; once the Tilt knob is favored to the treble side, it becomes more apparent.

That´s because most are overpriced, even in the current market. I´ll use the late 70s Fenders for this example. Seller A has a high priced ´78 Fender for sale on reverb. Seller B wants to sell his ´78 and checks reverb for pricing. He decides to add a little to it for some negotiation room. Seller C wants to sell his ´78 and checks reverb and sees the priced of A and B, and is optimistic so sits a bit higher than those. And there we are; ´78 Fender Jazzes that are listed around 4k... Don´t get me wrong; I like the sound and playability of a good ´70s Fender. But I can´t imagine why one person would pay those prices while it can get you 3 AVRI basses and a few sets of spare strings. Realistically priced instruments will sell eventually. Some (non Fenders) will take more time probably.

That's one example of a well built early 80s Fender indeed. Though they are not all great; the earliest Precision Specials we're made under the old (lack of) mindset. The worst example I've seen had a body with so little contouring it was almost slab. Later ones were built with a tight fit and finish and sexy curves all around.

Gorgeous. Seems like a decent deal for nowadays indeed.

Dan Smith era Fenders are actually 10 steps up from their late 70s counterparts in terms of build quality. And cheaper because not '70s

Enough decent basses are available for little cash. Especially used Ibanez (higher SR models), Yamaha, better range squiers to name a few... The prices of vintage basses have rocketed in a few years, and keep rising every day it seems. It's totally normal now to see late '70s Fenders in a common finish to be listed near €4k. Meanwhile most of them have a sloppy build quality you won't accept from the cheapest house brands out there. But apparently people are prepared to pay big cash for them.