Stub Mandrel

If the 'controller' is a 'microcontroller' it is a tiny 'computer on a chip'. It may well cost pence but it will need to be programmed before you can drop in a replacement. If so, I'd ask the manufacturer if you can send off your board for the chip to be replaced by them and be willing to accept the cost being rather more than pence.

For most of its life it probably didn't even have an e-string fitted. Keith wouldn't have been bending the low string (I won't call it A as it was probably G) and the high-fret wear might be the result of strumming (as per the top horn). Sherlock.

These ones: Stagg ones are fairly close, cheap eBay ones almost identical externally, although neither has the bevel so they clip on or the pyramid spikes that bite into the strap and they both would need the smaller washer..

Mine comes from fingerstyle guitar, happy using anything except my 'pinkie'. 😲

WTF??? 🤣 Indeed.

Agreed, originals with much smaller washers than modern ones. I have a pair here 🙂

<Pedant> We didn't have colour coded eylets in the 80s.</pedant>

B2s thrive on abuse 🙂

@ped Another forum I use that has the same software uses 'vigilink anywhere' (I think) which basically is a divert on any links clicked and sends them through a revenue generator so if someone links to an item on Amazon (for example) you get commission if they buy. No ads required. <edit> I think that is the right version, ordinary vigilink seeds the whole site with links to irrelevant products which is more intrusive and annoying.

In the early days of spam, a New Scientist columnist wrote "I experimented with clicking on every pop up that appeared on my computer for a year. My pen_s is now ten feet long."

I use adblock plus but disable it on sites I want to support, also by default it lets through advertising that meets some sensible guidelines (e.g. no repeated animations, no pop-ups). It let the old Roto/Elixir ads appear, and I was happy with those.

I bought a Blackstar Fly for quiet guitar practice and its usable with a bass, so I imagine the bass-specific version is very good. My 'proper' bass practice amp is an Orange Crush 25, which has a 'pad' button that keeps things sane. Actually had a (very civilised) jam last week and I left it on the pad and barely went over 1/4 on the volume, I reckon you could do an 'unplugged' gig with it or even a small pub. Downside is no DI ou,. Advantage is that any and all basses sound fantastic through it, disadvantage is that it seems to impose the 'orange' sound so if you are 'Mr Trace Elliot' it may not be your cup of tea.

Well that's proof alone that rock bass playing is not a refuge for failed guitarists...

I have an old Japanese Maya p-bass with a tortoiseshell scratchplate. I got a nicely aged pickguard effect when I scraped the white gloss paint off with a knife... replaced with a stock item that is a ringer for a 62 scracthplate. I made one for a 'new' guitar and chose off the shelf vintage yellowed effect rather than a harsh white material.

I love the way the drummer's face says "Wow! I'm part of this!"

And sometimes the opposite. The album version of Doctor Doctor is insipid compared to the classic live recording.

Why not head for a decent sized bass shop and see what they have for you to try out?

Worth adding the basses you linked to are NOT 'decorative' ones. Harley Benton is Thomann's own brand and has a decent reputation of good budget instruments; the deco ones are QC fails and the mere fact they weed out the bad ones should give you some confidence in the full price ones!

I think learning a bass line and learning a song are different. It's one thing to learn a bass line off by heart, and practice improves my playing and phrasing. Last weekend I met up with the guitarist and drummer from the 'weekend warrior' event I've signed uyp for. My first time playing with people who aren't family for a quarter century! I was pleased to be able to more or less run through some of the songs we had lined up. I was more pleased that we managed to jam our way through some songs we hadn't planned on trying. To me knowing those songs well enough to improvise a bassline and anticipate the changes was more satisfying than rote learning.

Look at Squier basses. I bought a Jaguar VM SS and I've hardly put it down since.

I think it's a distinction between means and ends. The prime objective is to make sure band and audience has a good time. The attitude here doesn't preclude making things more complex or challenging than the original. In my first band the keyboard player and I used to do some of the lead guitar lines. Is that invalid? (Hmm, Jim lea was well known for being an ace interpreter of Jimi Hendrix songs on his bass...)

Just a philosophical thought. Someone made a good distinction between tributes and cover bands. A tribute is like an impersonator or an impressionist -and those two different words imply different things. Outside 'popular music' it is the norm for the performer to put their personal stamp on a performance. In classical music, orchestras vary in their composition and conductors vary in their styles. An classical soloists have their signature styles. Bach's Tocatta and Fugue sounds very different on depending on the organist and organ. Jazz is all about improvisation developing the themes in a piece. Folk music is all about a huge canon of music that gets continually reinterpreted. Perhaps the question should be 'why do covers bands try so hard to sound like the originals'?

Think about the alternatives - Sky Sport or Jive Bunny on the juke box...