Paul S

Thanks.😀 I was hoping they might have the odd one that was a bit lighter as even 9lbs is too heavy.

Having hastily sold a lightweight Gibson Thunderbird I am mulling over the idea of replacing it but - ever the tightwad - without paying Gibson money. I understand the 'Vintage Pro' is is the pick of the Epiphone Thunderbirds. Can anyone who has one please weigh it? Be interested to know if they are consistent. Muchas gracias Edit - also wondering about the Classic Pro, how it compares weight-wise. Or anything else-wise, actually. I had kind of disocounted it for no particular reason but reading more it looks like a cracking bass as well.

I recorded 'Barracuda' a couple of weeks back and just went straight into my mate's Zoom desk using my JV Precision strung with TI Flats, with tone and volume fully open. He can sort anything else out. [ramble]There was a story as to why my mate Andy (a drummer I had been in a band with for 5 years or so) and I decided to record 'Barracuda', other than it being a killer track. Last summer I answered an ad for a start up classic rock band, the intention being for a bunch of retirees to get together once in a while, rehearse, maybe gig. I asked Andy if he was interested and he was. The guitar player managed to get a lady singer interested - she was a backing singer in his function band, and her partner was a keys player with backing vocals. It all sounded very promising, especially when one of the first tunes to get discussed was Heart's 'Barracuda'. The vocal for this is always going to be a tough call so to even suggest it kind of set out the stall. Or so I thought. After many weeks delay for various reasons we had our first meet up - and the singer hadn't learnt 'Barracuda'. In fact she hadn't learnt anything other than the tune she already knew. Which was 'I Love Rock and Roll'. Which I would have thought was about as easy as it gets but apparently caused this particular lady some problems with phrasing, despite reading it from an iPad. Or perhaps because of it, I dont know. And, to be honest, the guitarist didn't cut it either. My mate and I graciously bowed out. Having learnt 'Barracuda' we were keen not to waste it... but the vocals! Andy had been in a band with a lady who had the chops but he hadn't seen her for some years. He got in touch and she was keen, so that set that in motion. Meanwhile he has a guitarist pal that he had contacted and he has just recorded the various guitar parts. Just waiting on the vocals, which I am looking forward to hearing. [/ramble]

My blues trio have a 'similar' fan. A 70 year old widow who turns up at all our gigs and thinks we are brilliant. But the dancing... it is zombie dancing. Not 'Thriller Video' zombie dancing, though - this is like someone has died, come back to life and a small not yet decomposed part of their brains has half an idea of what dancing used to be like. I can't watch.

I dislike red guitars with a passion. For some reason I bought a red Fender Precision Lyte with faulty electrics and decided to refinish it. I remember why - it was cheap Precision Lyte basses have matching headstocks so I decided to refinish in the body black and remove the red on the headstock and finish in clear. IME a little red paint goes a long way but it actually came off just fine and I did what you are intedned to do - had a new replica decal made that included the original serial number. Couple of coats of clear, job done. Looked good, in fact. Unlike the body refin - I ended up handing it over to @Andyjr1515 who worked his magic on it. Sold on since, of course.

That is lovely. Shame they are so bloomin heavy. Something about the tone those earlier Thunder 1a had was rather special. A real 'Precision but not Precision' woody character which seemed especially to suit the fretless. At the time the 'budget' fretless was the Squier VM Jazz, which was fine, but the Westone knocked spots off it. It seemed like it wasn't trying to be anything other than itself. The later ones were lighter but I wasn't so keen on the pickup.

This. But also different back injuries can bring their own individual issues and what helps one doesn't necessarily help another. In my case, long term I've had a weak sacro-iliac joint and used to see an osteopath who specialised in treating said joint - the local hospitals and doctorswould refer patient to her. One time when I hurt my back more seriously I saw her again, both assuming it was the same area that was injured, and ended up in worse pain than when I went in.* It transpired I had done something completely different - prolapsed disc - and what she had done was actually quite dangerous. So I would recommend, if you haven't already done so, find out exactly the cause of the problem as the treatment can vary or even conflict. But, yes, whatever the issue pilates, yoga - anything that concentrates on the core muscles and spine will help generally. I end every afternoon with a 30 minute set of stretches working from my neck downwards (no more stiff neck, either!) and most mornings will go for a walk, which seems to help reset my spine to default somehow. However, for me, the single biggest factor is a lightweight bass. These days I aim for 8lbs. I tried a duo strap but couldn't get on with how it felt - more like a girdle than a strap and, despite the adjustment built in for different wearing positions, never managed to get it feeling comfy. But that was me - I tend to play my basses with the body angled back on my hip rather than flat on. *As an aside, this was the day before I went on a holiday to Tenerife. The flight was horrible - we hit some turbulence and that was really painful! 2 days in, and faced with the prospect of not being able to do anything at all, I had to seek out an osteopath with the help of the holiday rep who did all the ringing round. The guy I saw (who luckily spoke near perfect English) was meticulous - sent me off for an MRI scan the next day (just Euro 200!) and I went back with the results the same day. Some deep tisssue stuff unlocked the muscles and resulted in being able to do some walking, so the holiday wasn't a complete write off - plus my holiday photographs included the MRI scans

The Longhorn and the '56 single cut, which are both short scale. Although they look different they sound pretty much the same. Also the long scale DC sounds pretty much the same as well. Based on that I assume, but don't know, that the others sound alike as well but I never got to try any so far. Despite the lack of solid materials they seem pretty robust (I haven't broken one yet!) and are amongst the lightest basses you can get. For me the pick of these is the Longhorn - I've had a couple although don't own one currently and I just love the shape - but they are decent basses. At one point I had the '56 and a Hofner Ignition Club side by side as I wanted a lightweight hollow thump in my life and the Dano was a better bass by some measure.

I had a Westone Thunder 1A fretless - they are unlined and fabulous things. A Precision but not a Precision.

Danelectro basses sound rather like Jazz basses. Not so much the neck pickup on it's own but when you combine both you get that similar burpy thing happening.

I like to tinker and fettle but am very much aware of the edge of my abilities. Usually when I get a new bass I'll take it to bits, clean it, put it back together again - adjusting the action, neck tension, intonation etc if necessary to get it how I like it. Anything beyond that I leave to the guy I use now who is both brilliant and reasonably priced. I used to dabble with a bit of soldering and fiddled with the electrics but my hands shake too much these days and represent something of a fire hazard

I like this one of his. A man is up before the magistrate for shooting a golden eagle. 'It was a terrible accident, your honour. I was shooting pheasant,had one in my sights and pulled the trigger just as the eagle swooped down from nowhere and took the bullet. It was never my intention to shoot the eagle' 'Sounds reasonable' said the magistrate 'case dismissed. But before you go tell me, please, what happened to the eagle?' 'I ate it, your honour' 'Really. And what did it taste like?' 'Rather like swan'

After a try-out in the local PMT I bought 2 x Evox 8 for my band - thought anything bigger was too much - and and they handle the low stuff really well. Also not short of volume. For the loudest gig we've had to do we had the amp volume on the back of the unit at around 1/2, on the desk if the sliders for the channel and master are around 0 I only need to turn up the gain to around 1/4. Plenty of headroom all round.

They are a whole lot easier to set up, too, as the heavy bit is on the floor not perched on to of a tripod.

That was pretty much what I believed. Sadly my max usable weight has gone from around 9lbs to 8.5 tops over the last couple of years which filters out a large range. But, there again, there's plenty of good lightweight basses. 😊

No backline, just into the pa. Due to some magic I don't understand these units sit behind us without any feedback issues and so I can hear what goes through without extra monitoring. Great kit imo.

All thanks to you, Davie.

That is bloomin' lovely. How much does it weigh, do you know?

I can maybe stop looking at your one now.

Got it back this morning. I couldn't be happier! Looks amazing - Leighton Jennings made a fabulous job of the modding - and actually sounds great, too. I thought at first it was a touch too mellow in the clank department but then changed the eq from my P bass setting to a slight push on the upper mids (I normally cut these) and a bit more treble and now have a passable Rick-type tone. With all the new innards it works out at 3.4kg, which is a whisker under 7.5lbs. A little neck dive, cured by a grippy strap. Happy chap Big question - do I bother with some black triangle 'inlay' markers? I invested a whole 99p in getting a sheet to make some but am now thinking it looks fab without. Maybe I'll do it and see. Someone who knows Ricks would know but I have a feeling the unbound bodies are more likely to have dot markers anyway?

I quite like your posts. Gives me a direction - when you write your usual disparaging ranty diatribe about something it means I should check it out as I will probably like it 😂

Bet they get a lot of disappointed male tourists.

The bridge pup was a drop in, the neck Maxon was a different size to the Artec, which needed some fettling to fit into the rout and a new pickguard - but by all accounts the Artec mudbucker is a drop in for Epiphone and Gibson. The dimensions are there on the Artec site somewhere.

This one still hurts Yamaha SB-35.

I have an old '71 Antoria short scale EB-3 and swapped both stock Maxon pickups for Artec ones. Stupidly cheap but a massively more mudbuckery.