chris_b

Glue it, clamp it, paint it. A cash offer might work.

Bassists are very important. It's our job to make the band sound good.

Seriously? The reason that manufacturing moves from a "western" country to any country in Asia is 100% about cost. Low wages, non-existent workers rights, low taxes etc. The Chinese can put a man on the Moon, and get him back again. There's nothing wrong with Chinese ability, but their workers are on very low wages and in the case of the Uighurs, probably no wages at all. The reason the Cort factory moved from South Korea to Indonesia was poor working conditions, low wages and aggressive management. So low wages, poor factory conditions and, lack of workers rights are the reason we have low cost items in our shops. I was made redundant in 2005, when my job was outsourced to South Africa. I told my manager that I would work for the same salary as the South Africans, and was told, I could work for nothing and, with all the regulatory stuff, NI, sick and holiday pay etc, I would still be too expensive in comparison. Old chestnut my derrière.

The guy who caused most of the problems at Gibson has gone. Maybe they are sorted with the new management. This news has caused generally negative response here and on TB. That shows how highly MB is regarded and IMO how poorly these takeovers are viewed. MB are saying nothing will change, but plans always change. The cynical view is the probably the realistic approach.

I don't actually know the name. I heard that someone couldn't do a gig and put my name forward. Nothing had been finalised at that point, so I quickly backed out when I realised it wasn't going to end well.

Oh dear!!

That's not going to plan at the moment! Ken Smith has handed over his entire operation to Kevin Brubaker. Pete Stephens handed Wal over Paul Herman. Stuart Spector gave up and sold to Korg. His partner is staying on for a year so we'll see how that pans out. It seems that if you want to maintain your legacy, find a like minded person to carry on. By selling or licencing to a corporation your legacy is in far more danger.

Guys, I hope your optimism wins out over my pessimism. Eden, SWR, Fender, Trace Elliot, Genz Benz all suffered a change of fortune when they were either bought by larger companies, or had "money men" parachuted in. I've been using Aguilar amps for many years. When you find something that just works you don't want it to change. . . . and it will change. I know all companies have to be profitable, but Korg's only focus will be the bottom line, like CBS when they bought Fender. It must be tough, running a manufacturing business in New York these days and paying US wages, so my guess is they'll be moved to China within 2 years and look at the trouble Warwick is having with it's new Chinese made Sadowsky basses! I'm typing this on a Lenovo lap top (Chinese owned), I have a Volvo (Chinese owned) in the drive and my pension scheme was sold to a Chinese company shortly before I started collecting! After the tone, the thing I liked about Aguilar was they're not made in China.

A few years ago, I volunteered to dep for a punk band. I got the set list and dug out my, at that point unused, pick. After 4 hours I called back and declined the gig. I just couldn't play properly with a pick, fingers didn't seem to sound right and I couldn't make finger style sound anything like a pick. l did try.

I just bought a backup battery for my Jazz bass.

Oh dear!!

You've answered your own question. It doesn't matter what they sounded like, you couldn't lift them anymore. If you only think of your current amps as a compromise then you'll always be making yourself unhappy. The 3 and 7 are good amps. They sound good in their own right. Move on.

The Royal Philharmonic. Those bastards have been trading on the name for 100 years!!

Any number of stings on a bass is cool. All basses are cool, full stop! So, play the bass that makes you happy. That'll make you a better player, no matter how many strings you've got.

A "decent" Fender Precision would be a 2014 American Standard. It's unlikely that you can guarantee that a "vintage" Fender is better than a more recent one.

Well I got thorough 2020 just buying a Roqsolid cover for my Barefaced BB2. That was it! First, last, best and worst purchase rolled into one. 6 gigs. My worst gig total in 35 years. Let's hope 2021 gets better. . . . Happy New Year.

There are Bergantino 2 x AE112 and 2 x CN112 cabs in the classifieds. Either would be a classy and great sounding rig, with any amp you choose.

These basses are 100% Warwick's responsibility and made in their own factory. That Roger Sadowsky has had to get involved at all seems like a massive vote of no confidence in Warwick's ability to execute the terms of their licence agreement with him.

I have the Amazing Grace CD, so I'll be watching. And the Respect documentary that's on afterwards.

But it's not his factory or responsibility. That should be down to Warwick. I'd like to have heard that phone call to Hans-Peter Wilfer!!

The Warwick Sadowsky basses are produced under licence, so, responsibility for all sales, manufacturing and QC is down to Warwick. I guess this is Roger Sadowsky's delegation nightmare.

+1 But if they make you sound like a better version of yourself, that's a win.

A few years ago, about 30, when Loot and cards in music shop windows was the internet, many bassist ads were for Radiohead bands. I had no idea what that meant. It took me 6 months to find a band with a repertoire I understood.

If you want to pep up this bass, get a good outboard pre amp, like the EBS Valve Drive, or Sadowsky SBP1.

. . . . but we shouldn't have to. You'd have expected Warwick to have fixed this issue (now seen in the UK and US) in the testing phase!! Sadowsky quality control was legendary. Maybe these could be called teething problems, but how did Warwick let basses with such problems "escape".