Planemo

Well clearly the cake is the main draw, but even so I think I will struggle to get there although I very much appreciate the offer. I'm not sure Mrs P would wear me travelling to the Midlands and back just to fiddle with a bass, especially when doing so could lead to another bass on the hearth

I get that, which is why I added 'and general profile' to the nut width when referring to what I liked about the XT2 neck. Some may feel the XT2 is quite deep on first glance when compared to some other necks but I think it's partly a false impression given the profile that Steinberger uses, along with the overall width along the entire length which isn't tapered nearly as much as some other basses. It sure feels a lot skinner everywhere than my 41mm nut P bass neck. I mentioned it in relation to this thread because if the XT25 is based on a similar neck profile (and I have no reason to doubt that it isn't) then I think it will feel pretty slim on the 5er. Edit: @SpondonBassedsorry bud I missed your comment - I am in Billericay, Essex. Some way from where I think you are my friend!

I would love to try a 5, but it would need to be thin as I really like the skinny 38mm (1.5") nut and general profile on my XT2. In fact I wouldnt mind a bang on the XT25 which has, from what I can see, a pretty skinny neck for a fiver at 41mm (1.625").

Decided to add Fieblings to my Encore fretboard today, came out just how I wanted so quite chuffed. Whilst it was all apart, added some 3M carbon to the face of the headstock to match the pick guard and finished off with some new flatwounds which I have never experienced before. Sounds really nice! Makes it a mellow alternative and a different playing experience to my Steiny. Encore is deffo a keeper for me. I know the appearance wont be for everyone but its unique to me!

Your ball and gun example made me think about this subject a little more, because I write left handed, throw a ball with my right but fire a gun with my left. Other left handed things: Hold a bat (tennis/ping pong), use a spoon/fork (but if using just a knife its my left), kick a ball, brush my teeth, drink from a cup, hold a can opener, hold a hammer. However, other right handed things: Play bass (yay!), use scissors, shoot a bow, punch dominant, use a computer mouse, deal a pack of cards, strike a match, open lid on jar. The above results on an online test shows I am 47% left handed! I find it all quite interesting. This just goes to prove the slide-rule thing that there is no such thing as left or right handed. Its all a bit odd for me. Sometimes I really dont know what hand to use when something new comes up! As regards to bass playing, for me I think its down to dexterity. I feel theres more needed than with my plucking/strumming hand but again you could say thats simply down to my lack of skill, as I am sure that professional players need just as much dexterity in their right hand. I cant remember whether I made a conscious decision when I first picked up a bass, maybe I will switch over to try one day. It will be difficult to test now though I feel, as it will clearly be less 'natural' now given I have been playing right handed for a while now.

Zoom B1on. Can be mains or battery operated. Aside from it's multitude of on board rhythms and effects, it also takes a 3.5mm aux in (I use a male to male from my phone if I am learning something from YouTube). Brilliant bit of kit and I use mine all the time.

Every living room has to have a bonnet and a slab of chequerplate right? I built a Ford Crossflow 1760cc in mine once. Over Christmas. I called it our 'festive engine'. The Mrs was not amused. Made good money on it though so every cloud.. Nice bass!

I feel your pain. When I ordered my XT2 from DV247 it said '3 in stock'. Even given my benevolent assumption that it was in fact likely to be at their warehouse in Germany, after 10 days with no show and no contact I called them to be told 'oh those 3 were either sold or allocated - yours has gone on back order'. Great. The fact that the one I eventually received some weeks later had a siezed truss rod (not entirely DV247's fault I admit) only rubbed salt into the wound. The only reason I ordered from them was because it was 'in stock', as I would have otherwise ordered one of the many Hohner B2A's that passed through Ebay during the many weeks I waited for a usable XT2 to get to me. I can only assume that either DV247's website does not automatically update stock levels post-sale or (a risky strategy to lay on customers) its done manually by some YTS yoof on a Monday after a heavy weekend on WKD blue. In fact it was only last week that I recieved the partial refund I was due as they overcharged me. This was only after many emails/calls I made to them and bearing in mind the order was placed in September. I think the problem is that these companies run on the bare minimum of staff and skills. To get a decent retail manager that knows their stuff is going to cost upwards of 40k a year and I doubt that they are paid more than a little over half of that. Its a shame but I will struggle to use them again for anything.

A Zoom B1on for me, love it to bits, awesome little thing!

Guys, I would like to make a mention for JB Guitars in Writtle, Essex, www.jbguitars.co.uk He works a slightly unusual setup in that he does not allow visitors, and prefers to collect/drop off instruments around the Essex area. I personally think this is a big ask, allowing someone you don't know and have never met to come to your house and take away your pride and joy with nothing more than trust that you will ever see it again. John's take on this is that he works from home, and would rather lose work than allow all and sundry to know where he is keeping and working on ££££'s worth of instruments. He also added that he decided on this policy because people cant help but fiddle (Bassists Fingers Syndrome?!) and in the past this had led to damage to customers guitars when they visited his workshop. Put simply, the security of your instrument is more important to John than taking on work and I have to admire this approach. Anyway I took the plunge and explained to John that I wasn't happy with the fret levelling on my brand new Steinberger XT2 and that I felt the action should do better than 2.75~3mm on the E at the 17th. I was getting fret buzz all over the place and on an initial assessment at my house, John said that although he had seen far worse, his pocket level checking tool didnt lie and he made sure that I could see the problems too. He also identified a 'bump' in the neck which wasnt helping matters. On this basis, I requested a fret dress. He took it away and worked some magic. A full pro setup was done, and I will add that he doesnt use flat decking bars as I have seen some luthiers do and hope for the best. Every neck radius is checked and he uses the appropriate convex decking bar to suit. Given the variations on neck radii, he has spent a considerable amount on precision decking bars alone. After levelling, chamfering of edges, high grit sanding and finally polishing as well as a clean and dress of the fretboard, correct setting of the string height radius and relief, the job is done. He stresses that new strings are always fitted as despite mine being 'new', he had no idea what quality they were or how long they had been sitting around. If new ones are fitted, it gives him a firm baseline to work to and again I can see his point. He just isnt happy at all to give a guitar back without brand new strings. Although not 'cheap' at £150 for the work + £25 for strings, I can see where the money goes. The job takes a whole day which works out at around £25 an hour and I dont think thats a lot at all for skilled labour. I now have the bass back with me and I have to say its utterly fantastic. I have actually run it down to 1.75mm on the E at the 17th but brought it back up to 2mm to allow for heavier playing when needed. The neck is super smooth and the finishing looks a million dollars compared to before. I cannot reccomend JB enough, and would have no doubt in giving him other basses to work on. He's a thoroughly nice guy to boot, and will treat your instrument as a work of art. I am not sure I have come across anyone as fastidious when it comes to care or setup.

All I can say with absolute fact is that the frets on my ancient Encore are far more level than the ones on my brand new £350 headless Steinberger! Not impressed at all at having to spend another £150 on the Steiny to get it right, and the only reason I am doing it is because ergonomically I much prefer it. I have no idea if my Encore would be considered heavy or not, but I know its made of ply and is 4.160kg or 9.17lb. Seems heavy to me!

Gotta love the Encores! I got a 'kit' for an Xmas pressie, must have been 15 to 20 years ago. I think it was about £120 for the lot inc a little practice amp, all of which I still have to this day. Amazing value. Action was really high when supplied but a little diy work on the nut, a neck shim and general setup now has it at stock Fender specs of 2.4mm on the E at the 17th. The neck and frets in general are actually very good. Plays really nice and honestly I cant fault it. It's perfectly capable of punching out some decent tone even on the supplied (10w?) amp and the only gripe I could mention is that it neck dives a bit which is why I prefer playing my headless. No markings that I can see, only the text 'A John Hornsby Skewes Product' under the Encore logo. Overall though, its the best money I could think of spending on a bass. I think the kits are now around £200 but have no idea if the quality is the same, worse or possibly even better. For not a lot of money and just for appearance, I swopped out all the chrome hardware for black, and vinyl wrapped the pickguard in 3M carbon. The headstock now sticks out a bit much for my liking so I think I will wrap the face in 3M as well. I am also thinking of putting flats on it out of curiosity.

Anzoid - I meant to add that I agree - I am convinced my frets would benefit a full dress as well. Frustratingly, I was able to get a really nice low action on the first XT2 I had. Despite the truss being siezed, it just happened to be at the perfect relief and I got down to about 1.8mm at the 17th (I am a very light player). The one I have now cannot do better than 2.3mm despite many hours making adjustments. The problem is around the 5th and 6th frets and no amount of truss adjustment will get rid of it. I did take it to a local Luthier who did some checks and found a few frets slightly out but in his opinion he didnt think it was too bad at all and basically tried to talk me out of spending £75 for a fret job. He reckoned he had seen far worse on brand new Fenders, and couldnt be happy that if he did do the frets it would be any better. He added that he thought I had set it up very well. I had to admire his honesty but I am now unsure what to do. I am convinced it could be better but part of me is now thinking I am just being too picky. I can definately tell the difference between the 2 XT's I have had though, and I much prefer going as low as possible. As an aside, I also had to do quite a lot of work on the zero nut - it was waaay too high on all strings. My first one didnt need touching. It does seem that there are QC issues with these XT's. I had contemplated sending my 2nd one back as well but I am now not convinced that a 3rd would be any better, and given the hassle I had with DV247 I have no desire to go through all that again. Maybe I should have just got a used Hohner B2A instead, but I thought I was doing the right thing buying my first brand new bass.

Frank, thanks for clearing the design with me, I didnt want to tread on any toes. It was never going to be something to make any real money out of either, I just felt your design is a great, simple solution for others and there must be a few out there who are struggling with the stock ergonomics. I am not sure it will go anywhere tbh, I have a feeling that most carbon shops would want a minimum order of 50 and I doubt I could justify the cost even for that. We'll see. Like you say, I find the strap button being in line with the body is perfect as the strap comes off the shoulder in exactly the same plane. Having a button at 90 deg (like most full bodies) would require the strap to also twist 90 deg and so I am not sure I am understanding why the hook type extension would be better in terms of strap angle...