Shaggy

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..........

A seminal one for me - Magazine's 2nd album "Secondhand daylight", Barry Adamson at his funky and melodic peak. Mick Karn obviously well represented in previous posts but I'll mention again - just because. Technically much of his best playing IMHO was on "Gentlemen take Polaroids" (not so far mentioned), but "Quiet life" remains my favourite.

WD Music tort guards are proper celluloid, I've had a couple: http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/pickguards-c62/fender-basses-c111 - not as nice as Simms or Spitfire, but pretty decent, and cheaper. Used to be around the £50 mark but seem to have gone up a hell of a lot since Brexit.......

Briefly owned the OLP Tony Levin model for a while on a whim, and have to say it was rather nasty. Worth forking out a bit more for the Stirling I'd have thought

Had my eye on this, with a view to swapping out the transformer into my US-spec Walkabout to convert it to UK voltage (currently using a step down transformer which kind of defeats the point of an ultra portable head) - but no way for that kind of money, and maybe just as well as I'd have probably ended up with 2 dud amps instead of one bulky but working one......

"Oozing with mojo.......". (Gone out of fashion a bit, this one) "Tastefully reliced......." "would trade for [bass worth twice as much] with cash my way......" "Can't prove it, but previous owner told me it was made out of wood from the true cross and owned by John Entwhistle......."

Seems to be a common theme of converted radiograms here, so I'll add my pennysworth.... My first amp (at 16) was a completely home made SS head built by my elder brother (who was a bit of an electronics whizz and went on to work for Siemens), that closely resembled explosive devices used by the Bader-Meinhof gang and their ilk at the time. Cab was the 2 speakers from the family radiogram ripped out and mounted in the wooden carcass of a de-gutted TV set. The cab entirely and spectacularly self destructed during the first practice with the band (this was the early days of punk) 1st bass was actually quite decent - A mid-60's Kalamazoo KB-1, cost me £25 - took me a good while before I learned you actually had to change the strings once in while though Happy days!

Seems to me a similar kind of exercise (including the eye-watering retail price....) to Warwick's Jack Bruce signature and Star basses - essentially modern boutique takes on the humble Gibson EB-3 and EB-2. Don't remember any fuss about those - maybe because Warwick is a more mainstream manufacturer than De Gier? I'm a huge fan of the original T'birds (see: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/180496-the-welsh-fenderbird-mk-2-a-quest-for-perfection/page__p__1715729__hl__thunderbird__fromsearch__1#entry1715729 and http://basschat.co.uk/topic/76091-gibson-porn/page__st__60 ) - it's a quirky but brilliant design, very much of its time. There were certainly flaws - mainly the fragility of that big volute-less mahogany headstock, also the limited range of adjustment on the bridge (as BigRedX says), and tendency to neck-dive. But IMHO any "improvements" tend to take away the essential Thunderbirdyness of the design. Like many others here I'm not keen on the body cutaways of the Lowlander, but it's a nice bass, and I'm sure it's beautifully crafted

Likewise, bought a P bass harness from Chris - smooth and easy deal - thanks fella!