Paul S

That is sooo bad!!!

Queen of Clubs for disco, surely?

I picked up a bass for the first time in my late-40s, had my first public gig at 50. Now, at 60 I am in two bands. A new Bon Jovi tribute with big plans and a smaller pub band. Both equally good fun in their own way. Currently have a weak lower back, a hernia, torn rotator cuff in my left shoulder and a touch of sciatica down my right leg... Light gear, light basses is the way forward!

My classic rock band played most of your core set. Others we did that always went down well were Live and Let Die GnR Rosanna, Toto Here I Go again, Whitesnake Feeling Good, Muse version. Loved playing that! Don't Want To Miss a Thing, Aerosmith (surprising to see who was singing along with this in the crowd) Anything by Bon Jovi (we ended up morphing into a Bon Jovi tribute band) First encore - Sweet Child Of Mine. Cliche but got a huge roar every time as the ice cream van opening started.

If you get no nearer offers, I am just off the A13 in SE Essex between Basildon and Southend.

Makes perfect sense. Most, if not all, of my kit I have because it pleases me.

I may be missing something but is there any reason why you aren't looking to a Precision bass to give you your missing P Bass-ness? Occam's Razor may well apply.

Well, that is what they say about the 60s - if you were there you can't remember it. Although as time progresses it is probably more to do with dementia than drugs.

I'm into week 10 after paying my deposit! Keep looking at the mock-up picture...

Today I acquired a Fender MB-5 from Hamster of this parish. A real live MIJ Fender, 5 string bass. Passive, J/J pickups. Very tight string spacing, especially at the bridge end - which I really like. Weighs approximately 7lbs - unbelievable for a 5 string bass. Sounds to me like a Jazz bass, especially when the blend rolls away from the neck pup and gets some of the bridge in there. Quite astonishing. Could be the start of something beautiful I wonder what the MB-4 weighs?

Bought a Fender MB-5 from Colin in the easiest and most pleasant of transactions. Met half way on the M25. a pleasure doing business!

We shouldn't encourage him....

This is where they score so heavily for me- they just slip into the boot and then prop themselves up against a wall without needing a stand. A convenient get out of jail option.

... and I would say, look for a Hohner B2B, which is passive with P/J pickups and sounds more 'organic' to me than the EMGs in B2As. They don;'t come up very often but there are a couple on eBay at the moment.

I don't know if that was someone else's experience or mis-remembered from mine? I fitted both licensed and USA Hipshot lightweights to my BB425 (Yes, I know, why twice? ) and licensed ones to a BB5000. Both were the 1/2" size. Both are the same size and neither lined up with a hole from the old tuner. Nearly, but not quite. Without going to the bother of plugging, glueing and re-drilling, I just made new holes far enough away not to crumble into the existing ones - hence the tuners now being at a rakish angle but work perfectly like this. The shaft itself does not fit tightly inside the headstock holes but once the strings are under tension it doesn't really make any difference as it kind of sorts itself out. Well worth it for the weight saving, I would say. Also the balance on the strap is much better.

Not a new thing at all - IIRC didn't early electric basses come fitted with a 'tug bar' - which was effectively a thumb rest but fitted beneath the strings - to facilitate this very style of playing?

My 425 weighed 4.6kg before I butchered it. I had a BB5000 for a while and that weighed 4.3kg. So, yes, you are lucky!

I moved over exclusively. I figured that it was bad enough trying to find my way around a new neck without keep going back to the old one Take away the safety net!

Nice helpful advice, Mick. Sterling Ray would be great. There is also a SUB 5 for sale somewhere in the classifieds and that is a bargain. One of the Yamaha BB 5ers - 415/425/1025 would be what I would look for in your position. Also one of the new series BB235 for sale at the moment https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/316361-yamaha-bb235-5-string-in-black/ I migrated over to 5ers about a year ago and found that, for me, (apart from weight - they are generally hefty buggers) the most important issue was string spacing near the nut end of the neck. Have a look at the 4s you find most comfortable and measure the spacing - then try to find a 5 string that has a similar spacing. At least, that is the approach that worked for me and was the reason I failed at my first couple of goes at playing 5ers.

Here's mine - bought on here a few years ago.