Shaggy

Wow, cooler than a very cool thing!. Needs a Prince tribute band.....

A not great pic of my old 1980's Gordon Smith Galaxy semi-acoustic bass; maple flat-topped body, ultra-slim maple neck, and twin narrow soapbar Jazz-type pickups (Kent Armstrongs, I think). A very simple but beautifully crafted bass; the action could be set next to nothing without buzzing. My main gigging bass for many years, wish I still had it......

I feel your pain. I had tickets to see Led Zep play Knebworth in 1979 - had the flu and couldn't go OP sounds a hell of a great gig. Who've have thought in 1968 the classic line up would still be playing together in 2025

I guess the clips have been around for as long as the 9V PP3 battery has; which Google tells me was introduced in 1956, intended for transistor radios. I had a mid-1960's Vox Special Mk IV guitar which had active EQ / onboard effects powered by one - actually the typical flimsy "dangly type" clip never broke on that, but they have on so many basses I've owned.. Much better connection systems in modern basses, as above. At least with alkaline and modern rechargeable batteries there's no more leaks knackering your clip and electrics, like the old zinc batteries used to......

Problem is. this will soon turn the satin finish into a gloss finish. Also I found out to my cost; never use beeswax polish on French polish finishes, the solvent in it (traditionally turpentine) dissolves the finish. In the OP, it's likely to be a polyurethane or (less likely) an acrylic lacquer; a wash with a gentle soap and warm water would do the job. As said; try it on a small area first. Agreed

Ahhhhh.... that would explain the mirrors on the ceiling and the pink champagne on ice. They kind of confused me when I joined (Bassworld, as it was then) Great sentiment though! Stacked knobs? To paraphrase Bill Shankley's famous misquote (about football) - It's not a matter of life and death........ ...........it's more important than that

Thanks , but only in this sense, I'm afraid...

Yup. If it was a pre-EB I'd say no, as it is is and if it's your playing /gigging bass then do whatever makes it better / easier to play

In terms of solid bodied guitars and basses I'd say that if you're making the neck by hand then you're a luthier; cutting and routing the body from a block of wood is mere carpentry ; and putting a bitsa together from aftermarket parts is no harder than putting together the average Airfix model kit - the finishing is the hardest bit - and doesn't really warrant any specialist job description. Yes, as said above the word "luthier" is derived from a maker of lutes; I believe the word "lute" itself derived from the Arabic for gourd: oud (which in dried form made the backs for the ancestral instruments). Subsequently extended to guitar and violin making throughout Europe - although interestingly in Spain, the apex and epicentre of guitar building, a master such as Ramirez or Contreras would be called a "Constructor de guitarras", which is really more descriptive. Thanks to Maggie Thatcher giving me some spare unemployed time over 40 years ago I've completed lute-making, guitar-making, and violin-making courses, which were hugely enjoyable and character-building, so I guess I could call myself a luthier but wouldn't have the cheek to do so. Very helpful for building bitsas though, and did make one bass from scratch;; a fretless Stingray (that was enough!).

Anything to fit a Thunderbird should do - Thomann do (or used to do) a really good quality and inexpensive soft case for T-birds, or an Epiphone T-bird case, and I've found the big rectangular Freestyle cases also fit. Worth mentioning that standard guitar stands are no good for "reverse" basses - the Hercules stand that hold the neck under the headstock are ideal. I know it's already been pointed out above the similarity of the Nekromant to the old Gibson RD Artist - to me it seems practically a copy.

Not the Kevin Rowland of Dexy's Midnight Runners, surely? Back to the OP - for me; nothing unless you count a vintage Technics turntable so I can now once again listen to much bass goodness on my old vinyl, plus a bottle of single malt to enhance the experience.......John Rebus style.

On my bucket list of basses I still have any GAS for but will probably never now be able to afford (actually now just down to this, an original Ric 4005, and a pre-EB 'Ray in sunburst / maple). These used to crop up now and again around the £1K mark. If only......... Looks like a nice example.

Really impressive! I'd love to have a bespoke custom bass made, sadly unlikely to happen, but on the plus side I've enjoyed having owned many lovely vintage basses (including 3 Wals) before prices went totally bananas 🍌 and out of the reach of the ordinary player Shouldn't this thread be in "Build diaries" though?

Surely that's @Beedster 's man-cave / studio? This one should have been unplugged; i.e. unplugging the mixer from the mains socket.......

I do like that mod - DiMarzio Model 1 with single vol control? Rather reminds me of my old '81 RD Artist which had been "EB3-ised" with mudbucker and mini-humbucker; beast of a bass (apologies fir nicking pic from @chenzo_1 who I sold it to....)

James very handsomely posted a load of vintage amplifier valves on the Recycling forum, which I immediately snapped up - great communications with him, valves sent out rapidly and fantastically packed - happy bunny here...... Definitely one of BC's good guy - huge thanks

Very tasty indeed Why can't Gibson put out stuff like this???

No, you were definitely not "the bad guy". Live and learn, and I wish I'd been that assertive in a couple of deals that I've had (non-Basschat, of course)

Really sorry to hear that Chris; I know you were right in the zone there where as musicians we want and try to be, and that's just unnecessarily spoiled it. Hope you get it properly sorted, and preferably amicably. If you have to move onto another bass though, at the very least this seems to have shown you the direction that you want to go.

Have to say I feel the same about this as I do the new - Chinese? - MG cars (I used to own a '72 MGB Roadster) - if the new product bears no relation whatsoever to the old product and what made it uniquely appealing, then why not just call it something else entirely? Wal basses were one way the Hayman / Shergold design evolved, but there were potentially other ways - keep the multi-string formats, keep the multi plug-in module model with modern module options such as MIDI, synth, headphone amp, bass modeller etc, keep the original body and headstock design but make it a bit sleeker with modern finish options like flip metallic paint and funky stained hardwood. Also agree with @AndyTravis about the short scale thing - always needs to be an option of course, but are players getting smaller these days or what?