kwmlondon

Yeah, deffo. I'll post a link once they put it up online - it'll also be really fascinating to see the neck joint and electronicy bits and the pickups if they take 'em out. They are a nice bunch in that shop. Arthur is a canny old cove but there's a lot of very slick rip-off merchants out there so I wanted to put his prized Precision in good hands.

Bass now handed over and I must admit I’m very relieved to have got it to its destination safely!

Thanks, that’s really helpful to know. I’ll see what the bass gallery fellas say. On my way there now…

Just checked serial number against online lists and it's coming up as a 1973. I wonder if Arthur has gotten confused which year he bought it... I hope that's all it is! He's quite elderly and it was a long time ago.

Okay, here are some in the sunshine. It could definitely do with a clean and polish... and a setup but hey. The action is miles higher than I normally go for but it's fun to dig in!

Let me rephrase that. I have three basses. My Dingwall Combustion 5 is perfect for me and if anything ever happened to it I'd buy another one and it'd be just as good. The '89 Stingray I've had since 1993 and I love it and want to be buried with it. The third one is a nice bass but I just don't play so I'm getting rid of it. At the moment I think that rather than having a third bass I'd actually prefer to upgrade the preamp and bridge on Combustion, you know? I'd really like a passive tone control again. What I WOULD like would be to borrow a bass. I've never had a Ricky, it'd be interesting to mess around with one, or an Ovation Magnum. But I don't think I'd like to have the hassle of owning one.

Thanks. Very kind. And if you own a bass like this one well, I can absolutely see why. Just noodling around on the thing I feel like I've got an icon in my hands, you know?

Ah, well, I really REALLY want Arthur to get as much as he possibly can for the bass - he nees the money and I trust The Bass Gallery to do him right. But, I will admit part of me is thinking "why not offer him 15% less than the Bass Gallery would put it on for - he gets the same amount and I'd get a vintage bass for less than the going rate" but honestly. No. It's lovely, it really is, but I'm just not a collector and I'd never use it. I own three basses and that's too many for me - I'm actually getting rid of one.

Here you go... Arthur bought it new and took the chrome off the same day. Put it back on for the first time in 53 years!

Yeah, I guessed that but that doesn't mean you can join the pub quiz team! Unless you know a lot about sport - I'm rubbish at sport.

I mean, turning up to work with lunch in a 70's Fender bass case would be stylish and unconventional...

It is one of the most charismatic instruments I've ever played. Absolutely knock-out. Proper Donald "Duck" Dunn territory!

Nop. I'm not selling this. It'll be going to The Bass Gallery. They'll have to take the neck off and get the scratchplate and pickups out to take photos and stuff. I just thought I'd share some pics before it went off to some collector somewhere.

I'll start taking proper pics in a bit. This thing is so seventies it's just lit a Rothmans, put on a pair of flared nylon trousers and asked for a lager top.

Nice try. I'm afraid you've not made it onto the Bass Chat pub quiz team but better luck next time...

You're half right! It's a Precision...bit more recent though. 1970. He got it in '71 from Sound Centre in Cardiff.

It is!

I'm building this up!

Yep. It's a bass... Here's a bit more!

Bit more info... It's not mine (I'm VERY sorry to say) Belongs to my dad's mate and he bought it new. He's retired from playing now and is moving his bass on. It'll be heading to The Bass Gallery shortly

Over the next few hours I'm gonna take pic after pic. Go on, what do you recon's in the case?

Ladies and gentlemen... Shakira!!!! https://bassmagazine.com/shakira-plays-bass-during-surprise-times-square-performance

I've never had a signature model before, is it obvious? Is there a signature somewhere? I mean, if I liked the bass it'd have to have the name of someone I really despised on it for me to turn it down, and then I'd probably still buy the bass but find a way of getting the signature off!

But the Les Paul is a signature guitar. Every bass made by Sire has Marcus Miller on the headstock - if you wanted a Les Paul or a Sire bass would you really be that put off by the fact it's got an artist's name on the headstock? Or do you think those are maybe different to a signature model where it's a pretty standard, off-the-shelf instrument e.g. a Roger Water Fender Precision or Guy Pratt Betsy bass? Don't you think with a lot of signature instruments you don't have to advertise the fact? Sometimes it's a canny purchase - The Bass Centre Betsy bass is supposed to be an absolute belter of a j-bass...