Steve Browning

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That's right, the Beehive. The band is Simon and myself and two Beehive stalwarts in Rob Beckinsale (Gtr, Keys, Vox) and Dave Kitching (drums).

Hi. Hope the bass is giving good service? I'm actually there on Friday. The guy who built the basses (Simon) is in that band too so he'll hear them in anger for the first time too.

Rory Gallagher's Live IN Europe '71 is a wonderful example of a live album. You're almost sweating yourself by the end!

Really nice JV Precision in the For Sale. Superb instruments and likely to appreciate too!!

Actually, he's miles from you. For some reason I always think you're in Swindon!!

If you are a Jazz player I would be looking for a B profile neck (between a Jazz and a standard Precision). These necks were prevalent between 1966 to 1973. A 66 would be well outside the budget but a later one could sneak in under your limit. These basses are seriously good value in that they are nice and light (later 70's basses are famous for weighing a ton) and have proper tort plates. If I were you, I'd be looking for a Fender Japan 70s reissue or I would go down the Limelight route. I have dealt with Mark and he's a great guy and he's not so far from you. Maple is certainly brighter than rosewood so a B profile maple neck/board would be my recommendation.

I will have to work on that. Possible gig being recorded on Friday.

They had their first outing on Saturday night and I was just blown away by them. The closest I can get is to say it was almost as though I been playing with the handbrake on up until now. The pickups are amazing, loads of clarity and punch right across the frequencies, thunderous lows and wonderfully articulate highs. These things are just awesome basses.

How about a small mixer and feed both basses out of that into the single amp. At bedroom volume you only want to recognise the notes I would imagine. Negates the need for the expense of the second amp at all.

I suspect they will. Having to wait for Saturday to play them in anger but the first impressions are very good indeed.

Probably whichever I pick up first. One is a gnat's heavier than the other but neither weight very much. Very much on a par with the '66 on which they're based. In theory I wanted them to be identical. Goes all the way back to seeing Queen on their early tours and John Deacon with his pair of sunburst Precisions (as they were then).

Thank you. They really are fantastic basses. I'm thrilled with them in every way.

Thanks. Slightly lighter than true 70's mocha but I actually prefer this colour. Simon did some very slight ageing rather than any kind of full on relicing. I wouldn't want a relic personally.

Thanks all. Simon concentrates on guitars and has only made a small handful of basses but you can see the quality of his work on the website. He would certainly make a bass if requested. He specifically asked if he could build me a bass and my daft spare obsession required two of them. Had to unload 6 basses to cover the cost but well worth it.

Ok, to many these will be just another two copy basses. To me (having played them) they are just so much better. SVL Guitars are the work of Simon Law, guitar tech for Matt Schofield, Robben Ford and Pete Townsend. In fact he is with the Who recording at the moment (and, with these, I got a set of Pino |Palladino's strings). Hugely resonant and nice and light. They feature 5% overwound Lindy Fralin Vintage pickups, lightweight reverse tuners and Gotoh bridges. Absolutely awesomer work and they will be my constant companions from now on.

Lovely basses. I have the fretless version of it. Quite a few have a buffer fitted to the piezo circuit (I did mine myself) to bring the pickup outputs into line. You can get a wonderfully wide range of tomes and the fretless can do a very passable upright bass impersonation. I may well be looking out for this when it resurfaces.

If it's original I would leave it. If it's a refin I would be tempted to just have it stripped.

Not a great fan of the genre but did like Firestarter.

Sizeist!! 🙂

And so will the apostrophe police!! 🙂

Very much in jest. Good luck!!

Kent Armstrong Vintage P - wonderful pickups. Great depth and clarity.