Paul S

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.

I've had a couple of basses that have formalised this and had a 'micro-tilt' arrangement - an adjustable thingy on the neck plate that raises or lowers the neck at that point. One was a Fender Precision Lyte but I can't remember what the other one was. The Lyte sustained for ages.

We're back to ingunal hernia again....

Just made their first breakthrough!

I've known wise men and I've danced with foolsI was both in my lifeLife's been hardSo have IHad my share of strifeIt's not the things you doIt's what you never get round toThat makes you sad Wouldn't say that changed my view of the world but when I first listened to those lyrics 45 years ago they made me think about what it must be like to be old. Now I am they have a certain poignancy. From John Kongas' eponymous album, the track 'I Would Have Had a Good Time'

I'd get Nile Rodgers to produce it - that seems to work.