Shaggy

Not especially rare, but the couple on eBay at the moment are silly money. £700 ought to buy a tidy one, and they're really lovely and unique basses. Stay clear of the active II & IV models if for recording as they can be noisy (the I and III models are passive / stereo).

Ovation Magnum - more low end in the fundamental tone than any bass I've played, but clear and articulate with it - no mud. They do crop up 2nd hand. as played by Jah Wobble.....

Reviving an old thread about varitones, rather than starting a new one - just wondering if any BCers are fans of them? (Or otherwise..... ) My only previous experience was on a BC Rich CS NT Eagle bass, which rather bizarrely had a 9V active output boost with passive Varitone, which to be honest I wasn't too impressed with and usually left on "bypass". Generally I prefer passive basses anyway, and rarely touch the treble roll-off tone control. However, I was recently looking for a decent wiring harness to put in my latest bitsa P bass build, and bought one off this forum from (top fella) greenolive, which had an integral Tonestyler Varitone: http://www.stellartone.com/Page.asp?NavID=313 - replacing the tone control, with the standard tone control on a stacked double pot with the volume control. Thought I'd give it a go, especially as it was only a couple of quid more than a standard P harness, and the components were top notch. Have to say I'm knocked out by how good it is; the darker settings give a thick, punchy bass and midrange with all of the growl and clarity intact and none of the woolly mushiness of a standard passive tone - really usefully sculpts the sound. Wonder why varitones aren't more widely used?

Having restored a good few old acoustic instruments, I've always used Rustins finish reviver: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rustisn-FINR125-125ml-Finish-Reviver/dp/B001GU6E76/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521054210&sr=8-1&keywords=rustins+finish+reviver - it's essentially the same as T-cut (meant for automotive finishes) but specifically for furniture / varnish - and does work on nitrocellulose lacquers. Most decent hardware shops stock it

Hell of a story, hell of a bass, you sure earned it OHM - some basses are special, sounds like your missus is pretty special too

Anything with The Runaways........ Or more to the point; "Love will tear us apart " with Joy Division. Not because it's a great bassline, but just to be in that time with that band with that song

Nowhere for Slowhands to tuck his fag in that though....... edit: besides, it's also a 2 + 2

Generally accepted that Bigsby got there first with the Merle Travis electric guitar of the 1940's: https://ledgernote.com/columns/guitar-guru/merle-travis-guitar/

The inside of the original hard case for my Ovation Magnum 1 smells like a tramp's trousers, but only sometimes. I think it may be haunted.....

I used rounds for years and years (DR Hi-beams for choice whenever I was flush) , but I'm a recent convert to La Bella 750T White nylon tape wounds, mainly as they've such a nice playing feel. (Mini review: https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/review-la-bella-white-nylon-tapewound-bass-strings )

Was yours the one FS on here a year or two ago? I've liked that finish on a 'Ray ever since seeing Benjamin Orr (The Cars) playing one

They weren't uncommon at the start of the 20th C with the resurgence of interest in Early Music, I think even Gibson made some versions. Mind, they're usually a good bit cheaper than that when they come up FS (Edit - example, just sold: http://www.instrumentspast.co.uk/instruments/CG/C262G.html )

My tuppenceworth Having rather aimlessly been through various rigs over the years, I got into Mesa via their EV-powered Diesel cabs - the weight didn't much bother me (at the time) and I was hugely impressed by the power, transparent tone, and indestructible build quality. For ages I happily gigged an old Eden VT.40 head through a Mesa Diesel 1516. Also acquired Road-Ready Diesel 1x15 and 2x10 cabs for more flexibility / portability (they're actually pretty compact too) - still got all 3 cabs. Being a bit of a completist I then tried and bought a Mesa head - a silverface Walkabout, and now that's pretty much all I use. I'm sure there are better amps out there, but it sounds great for the stuff I do (blues / soul / rock) and never misses a beat. It's also quite amazingly powerful for a 300W head - I bought a Mesa Titan V12 head for big / outdoor gigs, and have never needed it (the Titan sounds more like my old Ampeg SVT-2 than the Walkabout, and has some nifty dual-channel and foot-switching options). Also have an early '80's Mesa Boogie D-180 all-valve head which I'm going to try gigging with (it's a fraction of the weight and size of the SVT), and an early '80's Mesa Boogie mk3 all-valve head / 1x12 Thielle cab for guit*r So a bit of a Mesa nut I guess! A bit ironically , I now use the Walkabout head with Ashdown 4x8 and 1x15 mini-cabs (all drivers replaced with greatly up-graded units) which I'd have to say is the best and certainly the most portable rig I've owned. I haven't tried the modern ones - seems to me that rather like Harley-Davidson, Fender, Gibson etc, Mesa are a "US icon" brand trapped in the retro market - but being an amp manufacturer also have to keep up with technology; as far as I can tell they seem to have done so pretty well.

Yup - the real unfortunate thing is that wherever there is rarity and potential profit, the vintage market will be driven initially by collectors and then by investors, freezing the actual players out Rock is always looking back - whether it's biker jackets or retro gear. Didn't the La's obsess with getting the '60's vibe integral to their album recording to the extent that they had to use original 1960's recording desks complete with original 1960's dust? And can anyone actually hear the difference?

That would really depend on the make. Vintage Gibsons and Guilds used really top quality exotic tonewoods (Honduras mahogany, Brazilian rosewood, African ebony etc) that are prohibitively expensive and / or unavailable now. Fender from the very start used Northern American tonewoods (mainly ash, alder and maple) to keep costs down, so there would be little difference between modern and vintage instruments except that the vintage instruments would have a degree of acoustic "playing in", and also woods sourced by Fender during the '70's were notoriously often pretty heavy (i.e. dense - with less resonance, but more sustain). Alembic and their ilk have always used top-notch materials and there would be less "vintage effect"

It's a recurrent thread this, and no simple answer. I think a couple of the factors are - 1. Players hankering after the basses they couldn't afford during their formative years (certainly true in my case!) 2. A connection to a past when things were generally over-engineered rather than disposable, quirky designs got through into production which accountants and marketing men wouldn't contemplate these days, and in many cases were made with materials simply unavailable now - same reason that people like classic cars, watches, etc etc All but 2 of my 15 basses are made pre -1980, but no rose-tinted spectacles here - during the '60's and '70's almost all entry level and much of the intermediate level instruments were utter shite. These days it's really hard to buy a bad bass at any level. Despite having a 1950's Fender P and 1950's to '70's Gibsons my go-to bass is a fully hand built 1980's Steve Smith custom with Bartolini's that is incomparably better than any vintage bass with old pickups and electrics. Acoustic instruments are a totally different matter - a quality hand-built instrument (and most of the surviving antique ones are the quality ones) will wipe the floor with a mass-produced one. I'm sure I read somewhere that they hit their tonal peak between 100 - 200 years old and thereafter decline, so those multi-million pound Strads are actually past it.

I had that Wal custom made to match my stage zoot suit! Seriously, good score, and likewise I'd be interested what the details on the cavity cover label are

Bought a P pickup off Harry - smooth easy deal, great communications, amazingly fast despatch - thanks fella!

Excellent post, Sir!

Well it was C-reg - but to reference another thread in this sub-forum; it did have a fake "Quattro" logo, and it actually was bloomin' annoying that spark plugs came in multi-packs of 4

Tried a 5-cylinder once (an '86 Audi 90) but soon went back to 4's..........