Annoying Twit

The seller has some negative feedback and a 96.7% rating. Looking into the negative feedback, one of them is probably for an instrument "an Ibanez" where the buyer complained about being duped, but then apologised. With a followup by the seller mentioning that (paraphrased) "it was an Ibanez, just not the model you thought." Perhaps the seller decided that s/he didn't want any such misunderstandings to ever happen again. I saw a Westfield MM copy in Fair Deal Music which seemed to go for the same look. But I didn't like it, as the finish on the wood looked just a bit too glossy, and made it look slightly cheesy. Photos aren't always 100% accurate of course, but it looks like the real thing avoids that. Edit: One of these, I'm pretty sure. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/westfield-stingray-bass_W0QQitemZ300275287335QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/westfield-stingray-b...ents_Guitars_CV[/url]

[quote name='Adrenochrome' post='334734' date='Nov 23 2008, 10:00 AM']Item number: 120334885212 Okay, so I'm after a very cheap passive backup bass. There's a Westfield Jazz on Evilbay currently standing at £30 which is only a few miles away from me so no postage costs etc. It finishes at 11:43 this morning. Anyone any idea if this would be up to gigging? (I'd be happy to throw on a better bridge and strings and do action/intonation if needed)[/quote] I wouldn't claim to have the background knowledge to answer your question. But one data point. I bought my son a Westfield 1/2 sized LP style guitar. Within the limitations of my knowledge, it seems a competently built instrument. But when I looked inside the control cavity the wiring and soldering was not good. In fact it looks pretty bad. I don't claim to know much about bass guitars, but I do no sufficiently enough about electronics to know that poor wiring work like that = potential problems. The Jazz bass on ebay may of course have excellent quality electrical work for all I know, but I put this data point out anyway.

[url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WBJTNqo5aQY"]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WBJTNqo5aQY[/url]

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Musicman-sterling-bass-Natural-body-maple-neck-4-str_W0QQitemZ120338326609QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Musicman-sterling-ba...ents_Guitars_CV[/url] Can you never have too many photos in an ebay listing?

A "rainmaker"?

Maybe a mod will move this to the off-topic forum. But if you look in the "other instruments" section of ebay, there's some pretty weird and (potentially) wonderful stuff in there. [url="http://musical-instruments.shop.ebay.co.uk/items/Other-Musical-Instruments__W0QQ_sacatZ308"]http://musical-instruments.shop.ebay.co.uk..._W0QQ_sacatZ308[/url]

I don't own one, but it was one of the basses on my list of potentials when I was looking to buy. But none turned up during the appropriate time period. My son owns a 1/2 sized Westfield LP guitar, and as far as I can see it seems a competently made instrument. Apart from the horrors I saw when I took the cover off to look at the wiring. I'd appreciate it if you'd review the instrument. What do you think of it?

How much would it cost/how difficult would it be to obtain one of these?

When I was 14-15 or so I played a bit of bass. But I didn't really know what I was doing and consider myself a beginner again. My first bass was bought from a pawnshop, and was a cheap precision copy. But my second bass was bought for me by my father, and was an Ibanez Artist. I don't know if there are visually similar models. But it might be one of these: I don't feel that I must track one down again. But I'm curious as to how difficult and/or expensive it is to find them these days. Anyone know?

[quote name='cytania' post='293455' date='Sep 27 2008, 02:10 PM']Well I part exchanged an electric I haven't played since going basswards and got a nice deal. Spent the afternoon tweaking the intonation. Tuners are a bit plastic spongey but working the nut slots and adding graphite has helped. Neck is actually a dark stain on maple but still as good as I thought. If I don't screw up again there should be a suitably caveman posed picture.[/quote] I try to keep my Harmony Centralisms out of this forum. More or less. But just this time, this seems appropriate.

People use them to scare their children. "Go to sleep NOW, children. Or the BASS is going to getcha!"

[quote name='owen' post='329900' date='Nov 15 2008, 09:56 PM']I have a 5 string Mazeti. I paid £120 for it new. It needed new pick ups. The rest is just great. I have spent an awful lot more than I care to admit to on basses (US MTD, US Lak, Sei yawn yawn yawn). The Mazeti 5 is just fantastic with new pick ups and proves that we are indeed living in the golden age of lutherie and the law of diminishing returns is alive and well.[/quote] Here's a Mazeti 5. I quite like the look of it. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MAZETI-SOLID-PIEBALD-POPLAR-MAHOGANY-5-STRING-BASS_W0QQitemZ330287738373QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MAZETI-SOLID-PIEBALD...ents_Guitars_CV[/url]

[quote name='spinynorman' post='328386' date='Nov 13 2008, 02:35 PM']I had high hopes for this, but not at 420 quid. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300270608244&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=020"]Ibanez Les Paul[/url][/quote] I don't claim to understand what things should be priced at yet. But this looks another overpriced Ibanez to me. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=220311005804&Category=4713null&_trksid=p3907.m29"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...rksid=p3907.m29[/url]

Could The Stick be seen as a step forward, or at least something radically different? And what about optical pickups?

What sort of pickup is that? On topic though, it's not something I'd aspire to owning myself.

I thought these were less than £600 new. I think the rickenfaker Indie has been discontinued (couldn't find it on the Indie site), but even so... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Indie-RIKI-Style-Electric-Bass-Guitar-IRK-4-String_W0QQitemZ350090310019QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Indie-RIKI-Style-Ele...9QQcmdZViewItem[/url] Edit: It is new. That shop marks their S/H goods as S/H. Even so, it doesn't appear a bargain. Are these really good Rik copies?

The ebay page doesn't say which model it is. Is it one of these? [url="http://www.masht.com/guitars/deanbassdetail.htm"]http://www.masht.com/guitars/deanbassdetail.htm[/url] When I was looking to buy my first bass a few months ago, there was a Dean bass for sale near to me. It was similarly cheap. Didn't sell the first time, but I had the seller's email address from a previous contact. Reviews said that it was a cheapie, but good value for the price. It wasn't this model though, it was a "rock" looking bass, but reviews said that it was capable of a wide variety of sounds suitable for a wide range of music.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='329473' date='Nov 14 2008, 11:13 PM']Whether you shim the whole neck pocket or just one end makes no real difference to being able the get the action lower provided that you use enough material in the shim. The only difference will be where the angle of the headstock in relation to the body. And adding shim material to just one end of the neck pocket will give you more room for adjustment at the bridge for less material added. Have a look at the diagram I made in [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=18034&view=findpost&p=184507"]post #27 of this thread[/url] and all will become clear. You might also want to check ou the diagram about neck relief in relation to action in [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=13342&view=findpost&p=138864"]post #6 of this thread[/url]. HTH[/quote] I looked very closely at the diagram, and it helped a lot. But I've decided that restringing the bass with a proper set of new strings and adjusting the bridge are the two things to try first. When I tuned the bass, the action seemed to improve. It was tuned way, way, high, and perhaps the extra tension was putting more bow in the neck. Previously it looked like I wouldn't be able to get the action I want without shimming the neck. Now I'm not sure, and adjusting the bridge is a smaller job than shimming the neck. Given the diagrams, I would try to shim just one end to put the neck into an angle, to avoid the problems of using a thick shim as described in the diagram. Thanks. @bassbloke I'm not planning to be a professional level musician, so don't have to be sensible. An F# might be fun. But it looks like it will cost me about £25 to do the F# thing, and that'd be ordering the string from the US. So I think I'll take the path more travelled this time.

[quote name='guyl' post='328943' date='Nov 14 2008, 10:59 AM']Oh bugger - you found them for 2 quid cheaper than I just paid at String Busters! Actually I use a slightly lighter gauge EXL170-6 - but yes the same. And also yes, you seem to loose some metallic harshness with the nickels. Personal choice. Stringbusters are helpful with "unusual" single strings. They once sent me an addario Low F#. Didn't have a long enough scale to get decent definition though, so it didn't last long. Now i use it to tow broken down lorries![/quote] Soundslive adds too much postage on - not competitive. I looked into a low F#, but it would cost too much. All else being equal, given that I'm not a professional and hence don't need to be sensible, I'd give it a try. But it would cost too much. But I couldn't find any sign of any individual strings apart from Rotosounds, which didn't have any strings larger than a low B. I did find a 0.195 (!) low C# on the Conklin guitars site. I think I'm going to go for a set of D'Addarios with the 0.135 low B.