Beedster

I've owned several Fender Custom Shop basses that weren't very good but were in the same price range Dan. They looked great for sure, but they just didn't have that combination of playability, responsiveness, and core tone that says 'great bass'

Could be so many things from loose screws at bridge or tuners through to poor neck relief through to worn/uneven board. Assuming you've checked loose screws etc I'd suggest starting by taking up the action by raising the bridge saddles and checking whether that changes anything. If so, come back here and we can more precisely diagnose from there 👍

Vintage Fenders that fetch massive cash are no more than bolted together 50-year old and off-the-shelf/run-off-the-mill components, and therein lies the opportunity and the challenge in this thread. I've 'built' (in reality sourced, drilled, screwed together, soldered, and set-up) a lot of Fender-alike bits, at last count around 35 basses, most of which I've sold here. Some combinations were outstanding, they're the ones I sold (I've kept two but I'll sell them one day too), others were average, and some were dire. In most of the latter cases I deconstructed them and held on to the parts until I found combinations that worked (and I still have some bits that never worked.....). I love the process, so none of this was a problem for me. But unless you have a lot of parts - especially the wooden bits - when you take an order you won't know whether a combination works or doesn't ahead of time (which is why some Fender basses are magical and some are very much not). If Lull are using aftermarket parts, but through trial and error finding those that work together to produce outstanding instruments, then good on them it's a good business model because I rarely hear a bad word about them (and let's face it, Warmoth quality is significantly above Fender et al so the start point is solid). I have however had the misfortune of buying a lot of basses including eBay bitsas that despite being promising on paper were dire because people do not always go to that trouble (one particular seller who has a lot of bitsas for sale springs to mind). But to reiterate my earlier point, I've ALWAYS made a loss cobbling together and selling bitsas, I enjoy doing it, so it's a loss I'll take, and that there are over 30 basses out there in BC-land that I cobbled together makes me smile (I think I'm going to go back through my photos and put all of them in a single composite photo when I can find the time). But it takes a clever and very dedicated person to turn that model into a business. Easier to think of it as a form of bass altruism that costs relatively little in real terms. Less rewarding in cash terms but hugely rewarding in other ways

Sounds like you have enough

Nice, but as you say, not cheap, and only marginally less than you would pay for the parts new

Yes, and have done. I'm not sure to be honest whether I walked on principle or because I immediately disliked them when I noticed the racism. Both I hope

No, I’m building them 👍

Nicely done 👍

1. I've rarely used pedals, and when I have I've usually lost interest very quickly 2. I know a lot of other players who should try the same experiment (always funny when a guitarist playing around with their 24-unit board finally finds a combination that s/he as well as the rest of the band prefer only to realise they just hit bypass)

Thanks @skej21, funny how what on paper look like marginal differences make a difference, but they do. I had two Warmoth necks, one of which I feel really home on, the other I didn't, and the difference was probably in the 2mm difference in depth, not dissimilar to the above (I'd almost certainly prefer the AVRI of the two). Guess it's why - especially if you're intent on spending a lot of cash - you need to play first. I wonder how many of us have let a basses go because they didn't work but without ever really knowing why (2mm neck depth difference for example), only to repeat the mistake?

intrigued, how do the AVRIs and the Am Originals differ?

So I was right 😂

IIRC the board was levered and could be raised a few mm to make a fretless and lowered the same amount to allow the frets to engage. I may have got that wrong though

Wow, a promo video that turned me off a bass I'd always wanted

Impressed that you built your own 👍 Like you I've sold most of my gear, and it's been a refreshing and cleansing process; very very few boxes coming into the house these days, a lot going out

That's a very nice bass and the seller's inviting offers so given the rarity I'd go in with a cheeky £1800 if I was in the race for one of these 👍

The AVRI '63s do have a very good reputation and by comparison with the other 20,000 varieties of Fender Precision, you're right, they are rare birds

So a long term swap for a bass you won't play....? Get rid of the bloody thing and move on, If not I worry that soon you'll be staying awake at night ruminating and checking this thread in case there's been a shift in public opinion 🤣

...that's me out then

Start a band and talk to people about it(people know people and some of those people play music). It's kinda what I did in my early 40's, and on a drunken night out in 2005 I found out that two of my then colleagues were actually very good musicians (and one a talented songwriter). We recruited a drummer and ended up in a band that lasted close to 10-years and which still occasionally gets together to play despite a couple of geographical challenges 👍

Nicely put, my problem - and to be honest it was a problem - was that as a kid I had zero money as was largely the case with my family. Even my early 80's Satellite Bass was a stretch for my family, so I 'd look through gear mags and daydream about owning one of two basses, a MM Stingray or a Hagstrom Swede (I SO wanted a Hagstrom Swede....._ ..and that 'life will be better if.....' thing takes hold in the same way as s many other habits of thought or action take hold. And then in my 40's when for the first time in my life my incomings exceeded my outgoings, that thing came back and tugged at my consciousness. Took me close to 15 years to get on top of it. A great if expensive journey, but one from which I'm glad to have got to my destination 👍

The BC Vetting Committee might want to take a look at your suitability for continued membership 🤔