Shaggy

.....as the T shirt slogan goes; they’re not leaking oil, just marking their territory.....😉 Growing up in the glory days of the British rockers on their Truimphs, Norton’s, and BSA’s, that was always true biking for me - I’ve owned all of those (also Hondas, BMW’s and MZ’s) and for the last 30 years it’s been the same bike, a ‘72 Norton Commando 750 Roadster. Coincidentally my Ric 4001 is also a 1972! I guess both are beautiful, functional, but ultimately design dead ends (the Norton 850 was about the limit that the parallel twin engine format could be pushed to). My dream bike would indeed be a big V twin, but it would have “Vincent” on the tank, not “Harley Davidson”. 🏍

Tue, and it’s become more of an interesting thread now back on topic for a while; initially it was heading the way that every thread about Wals seems to inevitably and tediously head; ie: “I owned / tried a Wal one - didn’t like it.” (your point is?) Or: “I bought a Wal back in 1985 for £1.50, traded it for a packet of pork scratchings. Wish I’d kept it”. There may be a few of the proverbial bankers / dentists buying Wals purely for investment, but I personally doubt that this is much of a factor - the smart money would be in schemes realising very, very much more more profit. More likely it’s well off amateur musicians buying the dream bass of their formative years (in the same way that born again middle aged bikers buy Harley Davidsons, thereby inflating the price of a agricultural product with a strong perceived lifestyle image), or gigging / recording musicians who simply need “that sound”. In the rarified air of top end instruments very small margins cost thousands; £12,500 might be half the price of my first house, but it’s about what a concert guitarist would expect to pay for a decent classical guitar, and a violin or cello for a performing artist could easily be £50K or very much more, despite the fact that an instrument around the £1K mark would do a fine job.

To be fair to DHL; my experience was good with them this week. I ordered an item on eBay from Spain on Monday, they told me to expect it Thursday via DHL. On Thursday the DHL driver phoned me ahead of delivery, and patiently talked me through how to pay the duty online before delivery. Turned up 20 mins or so later, nice guy, good service in this instance anyway. 👍

I fit Luminlay side for markers to all my gigging basses, which does involve drilling the original ones out. There’s still a problem with importing these though, so I recently had these off eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/407pc-Glow-In-The-Dark-Round-Dot-Luminous-Sticker-Sheet-Self-Adhesive-Room-Decal/165753031622?pageci=239ab921-0aea-4092-8b2b-37e779ab8fa6&redirect=mobile I just used the small ones, and they’re impressively good. Clean the area you’re going to stick them to with meths first to get a really good stick (unless your neck happens to be French polished, in which case don’t....), and they also come off leaving no marks to the finish.

The only song of this title worth hearing of course is this one 😉:

Recorded the Eurovision Party thingy (BBC1?) and watched most of it when I came back from my NYE gig. You know you’re going to get glossy gender-bending tosh, and it didn’t disappoint..... (a glass of Laphroaig helped). Rylan is surely Kryten (from Red Dwarf) with a beard? Hootenanny used to be genuinely entertaining, but last couple of years I’ve watched it’s been self-indulgent twaddle - a shame.

Enfield Avenger 4 in = +1 Westone Thunder 2 in traded for P bass out = 0 so net +1, though to be fair; nothing else in over last 4 years (bass-wise anyway).

Lots of basses with MM pickups (as above), but most of them also seem to be Stingray proportioned, so if playing ergonomics are the main issue I’d have to recommend one of the Warwick models with MM pickups, of which there are several. A good few years ago I bought (on here of course....) a German made ‘98 FNA for a funk band project, essentially as a much cheaper alternative to a US ‘Ray, only expecting it to have it for a few months. Despite attempting twice to upgrade it with something with twin pickups (a Streamer LX and then an Enfield Avenger) the FNA remains my main gigging bass, as it’s just so darn comfortable to play, perfectly nails the Stingray sound, and I’ve come to love the simplicity of the single pickup in the sweet spot (original EMG upgraded with an Aguilar) paired with a good flexible preamp (Seymour Duncan 3 band). Warwicks are still incredibly good value secondhand too. Hope you find what you’re after! 👍

Likewise, had to pick the feedback thread! Bought a very nice watch off Paul, smooth and easy deal with great communications throughout, despatched quickly and with probably the best example of good packing I've ever seen. The fact that the proceeds of the sale went towards funding a local dog rescue centre just emphasises what a true gent and top Basschatter he is. Thanks fella!

Really good score 👍 - much more authentic with the big Hagstrom / Darkstar humbucker, the reissues with the split P bass pickup look just plain wrong to me. And the Byrds inlay is pretty funky

Fabulous bass, great score 👍 - my gigging bass for many years was a 1980 MM Sabre in natural / maple / black pickguard, just like yours. Neck figuring on yours is much nicer than mine was, but - just personal preference - I wish they’d kept the exposed poles on the pickups with the reissues! Enjoy 🙂

Quick update on this - a very decent bloke called Andy at the Reproguitarparts site that Bassassin kindly pointed me towards (above), has made me a custom truss rod cover, now also listed on the siite: https://reproguitarparts.com/#!/Westone-Thunder-II-Bass-Truss-Rod-Cover-Cream/p/512633017/category=1385115 Thereby proving once more (if proof were needed) 1. just what a truly great resource BC is, and 2. if you need something, however obscure, it’ll be out there somewhere.....🙂

Recent thread on these 🙂

Aw, one of my favourite guitarists in my favourite bands, and such a larger than life character. Circa 1976 I was briefly known as “Wliko” at school as I had the same haircut as him......

We had this exact problem when our guitarist moved away and left our funk /soul / disco / ska band, so we had to audition for a new one - I even put In the JMB ad “style-wise; think Nile Rogers rather than Hendrix.....”. Simply couldn’t find one, and the band folded. When you listen to Nile, you realise what a clever and intuitive player he really is. 😎

Yup, good luck with this, and that amp is going to be so much more special to you when done than something you bought ready to plug and play. IMHO those old silverface Bassman amps are the best looking amps ever made. Around 20 years ago I was lucky enough to find a Bassman 135 silverface head in a local junk shop. Got it for £50 as it was dead as a doornail, but - as I’d hoped - a new set of power valves brought it back to life. That amp with an old H/H 2x15 cab was my gigging rig for many years - long gone now, but missed. Update the thread after the restoration! 👍

Great, thanks for that Bassassin - what a great site! 👍 I might still try to make my own just because of the colour, but that’s a very good plan B. They're actually cheaper than the couple of old Thunder TRC’s (Thunder Jet and Thunder 1A unfortunately) from Bristol guitars on uk eBay.

You're a star Rich, thanks so much, and there's absolutely no hurry. Yes, as far as I can see all the Thunder range have the same type TRC. I might get an engraver to get the wording as close to original as poss, as I doubt my skill with a Dremel will cut it...... (boom boom) Mine should look the same as on this one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Rare-1981-Westone-Thunder-llA-Fixed-Neck-PJ-Bass-Guitar-MIJ-Japan-Case/394324212665?hash=item5bcf8dfbb9:g:jPsAAOSw3LRi6EHM&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAAoNI4AK6ewnqUIoVXb1cFy3N+4zWT2c4y9AqhcsjennlX80qWR9KDVdZJvLfzc1MJPrI/TinxyWSoFydsNQO5dJhHlZ/Kx6qAcVtAwV+uoUMOz/uh+nx6MZMiF8hUNggljp0mgd5JBF6BlJjWjwZ/IN5kcUjigDxUTXQWqiwLMxlnwD9MdEacDl/iNFKN5VSIBHcx9fTrO39aeiOR99OR8jc=|tkp:Bk9SR5KLsrKMYQ&pageci=95ec67ea-14d8-4a9f-8331-22e532adb0cc&redirect=mobile

Hope this is in the right section..... Having recently acquired a lovely Westone Thunder 2 bass on this very forum, I’m looking to source a replacement for the missing truss rod cover. Unlikely I’ll find an original, particularly as for this particular model it’s creme rather than black, but it’ll be a straightforward DIY job for me to cut one out of a spare bit of pickguard material. However, what I need is an exact template to copy, so I’m wondering if a very kind Thunder owner could please trace an exact outline of theirs by drawing around their TRC, and send me the outline template? Not sure if it’s feasible to email / PM it as the copy needs to be 1:1, but if posting on a bit of paper I’ll of course cover postage cost. If someone happens to have the guitar rather than the bass, I’m pretty sure the TRC is exactly the same. Thanks guys and gals! 👍

Did a bass swap with Dunc (my favourite kind of deal, that only really works on BC) that took around 2 weeks to complete from my first PM, and like all trades involved a fair bit of trust on both sides. So I’m now the proud owner of a Westone Thunder 2; a bass I first fancied back in the ‘80’s, but never owned until now. Fabulously smooth deal, top guy to chat with, very happy bunny here - just to reinforce previous posts that Dunc is one of BC’s genuine good guys, you can absolutely deal with him with complete confidence 👍

Bought an Aguilar pickup off Mike yesterday, easy deal and a great guy to chat with - pickup delivered less than 24 hours after my first PM. I don’t think you can improve on a deal like that! Many thanks fella 👍