Paul S

UK City of Culture 2017. A good friend of mine lives nearby and says they were marketing it with T shirts that read 'Come to Hull, it isn't crap any more'

Cheap, too!

The cheapest bass I have ever bought was a Harley Benton Shorty P bass couple of month ago at £80. The only thing I changed is the scratchplate, all the hardware is fine. Pickup is great, sounds like a vintage P should. I find it miraculous that a bass of this quality can be produced for the price of a pedal. I've only managed one proper gig since Covid arrived and I used this. Anyone in the market for a short scale should seriously consider one of these.

People will look at it, think it is silly, point and laugh. That was hard work but I think I got away with it.

That's actually a difficult question to answer. I'd say they are fairly loose but my 'fairly loose' might be your 'way too slack' as it is so subjective. They work for me just fine but they might not for you. All I can suggest is that, if you enjoy the 344s, that you get a set of the 324s and try them. If you don't get on with them, I'll buy them off you. At a good used price, obvs. That wasn't much help, sorry

It worked just fine for Hamish Stuart, who occasionally carried the bass part and is (still) one of the funkiest men on the planet. You could do a lot worse than get yourself a Harley Benton Shortie precision bass. £80 +/- depending upon the exchange rate which is nothing short of a miracle. 30" scale, sounds like a Precision bass should sound, weighs around 3.2kg if I recall correctly. If it didn't work out you could flog it for not much less.

Yamaha 5ers are amazingly good for the money. A used BB425 will leave you plenty of change but not leave you feeling short changed.

Hmm, 4 more since then. Danelectro '56 Riverside Unicorn Peavey Fury Guild B-301. Hohner B2B is for sale. Considering letting the Danelectro go, too.

Yup. I fit these on all my basses - 34", 32", 30". Love the tone, love how they feel under the finger. Brighter than some flats, just the right tension for my preferences.

Just did a little Googling and it seems they aren't called anything other than this, so thanks Pete. Pic nicked off t'net of one with its clothes off.

Don't know.

It could be that I misuse the word 'honk' but I use it a fair bit to describe the nasal quality of upper mids that are pushed too far. Reminiscent of a distorted tuba.

Have to say this is pretty much what I think. Seems to me to be a lot of snobbery/jealousy involved here. Adam Clayton seems to get universally panned for playing root notes. Cliff Williams get universally applauded for playing root notes. I guess AC/DC has more street creds than U2 😂

Yup, that's the place. Vinyls, Juke boxes, Dansette record players, amps and guitars. Quite an Aladdin's cave.

Just to add that I have used one of the old 130W TE combos before now and it is SERIOUSLY louder than the Elf.

I've owned a host of the old school TE heads. Loved them all. A back injury meant I had to stop using them. I bought an Elf. It is actually quite good and you can get an approximation of the old TE pre-set 1 on it by judicious use of the eq. Use your ears not the markers. They key to using it is the gain, which doesn't work like other gains as far as I can see. Ordinarily you wind up the gain until the clip light comes on. If you do that to an Elf you lose what I reckon is one of the most useful bits - the area once the clip light comes on and you go into slight break up and thereafter distortion territory. But is it going to be loud enough? Some folks say it is, and if it works for them that is excellent. But no way I could gig with it for either of my bands.

I'd always fancied the look of the Guild B series basses but simply assumed they would all be boat anchors and discounted them. Back in August @cd_david started a thread on Guild porn, where I discovered that they weren't all heavy. In fact some of them are relatively lightweight. So I stuck a 'wanted' post out there for a lightweight one. @AndyTravis then did me a MASSIVE favour by alerting me to a lightweight 301 for sale on Facebook, collection only in Matlock, Derbyshire. I got in touch with the guy, he wanted a cash only sale so, after initially toying with the idea of starting off one of the infamous 'Basschat Relays' I decided I'd actually drive there to pick it up. 3.5hrs each way. I have been further for less. So that is what I did yesterday. The auspices were good - not a single hold up en route and I found a car parking space just 50m from the shop via an alleyway. He took it out of the gig bag and handed it over - it was one of those instant bonding situations. Love at first sight. Weighs in at 3.7kg on the nose. 8.14lbs. One owner from new, original unmolested condition. Some honest wear about the body but the frets have been barely worn in by the look of them. Serial number indicates it was the third from last ever made - 1980! Pics below are as I got it, I've since taken it to bits and given it a clean. Fresh strings. Wow. The tone is like nothing I have owned. Not Fender-ish. Organic, deep, rich but punchy. Really punchy Pickup is further back towards the bridge than, say, a P bass which I guess makes it so clear. The build quality as right up there, as good as anything I have owned. open back Grover tuners with a cute wiggle to them. 3 point bridge that is a massive improvement over the Gibson version. I even love the knobs! A little neck heavy but nothing a grippy strap won't cure. I've kissed a lot of frogs but reckon this is a Prince among basses. It has completely blown me away. Can't wait to give it a try out with my blues rock band!

And here it is on the Shorty. For me a bwb pickguard looks so much cooler than the white one

I bet. He looks more like Arnold Schwarzenegger than the reality - guy with narrow shoulders and neck like a hyena.

This seems about as un-Lemmy as it is possible to be in every sense.

Did the trip today. Not a single hold up on the way there - Set the cruise control at 65 and relaxed. 179 miles, according to my car, driving time 3hrs 27mins. Plus wee breaks, of course. Parking spot behind the shop, next to a a park (with toilets...). Journey home not also good apart from a detour I made to pick up something else in Ware which was stop start from M1 across to A10. But I am still smiling about the bass.... TOTALLY worth the trip. NBD thread will appear soon-ish.

Yes, I found that out with a bit of research on t'web. The slight problem in my case was that postie didn't leave a card so I had no idea where it was. It was only when I started to think laterally that I lifted up my front door mat and found it. Luckily none the worse for wear for being stomped on for 2 days.

Pics when fitted please.