Shambo

Bought a bass from jflesh and I'm very pleased with our transaction. I'd happily deal with him again. Many thanks Guillaume.

Hi Lawrie. Edge Guitar Services is the Mr Eltham Jones I mentioned earlier. I read somewhere, probably here, that he prefers to work from his workshop in Bridgend these days. I think I might just have to give him a ring this afternoon and see what the score is. Thank you for the offer of the drop off, you're a good'un.

Oh, I've done quite a few setups before. I've got a set of allen keys and I'm not afraid to use them. I'll try and explain my reasoning to you, (and myself). I want a full time luthier to do this because; a) they should be better at it than me, and b) because it's difficult to be subjective when adjusting an instrument for your own use. If I do it myself, I'll be trying to make the bass feel familiar or 'right'. These adjustments could take months, years or forever. If I tell a luthier how I want it, when I get the guitar back, (depending on how good a job I think they've done), I'm more likely to accept the instrument for what it is and adjust my playing style subtly to suit. Then I can just restrict myself to the twice yearly seasonal truss rod tweak, and use more brain power trying to play the damn instrument rather than trying to fettle it. I put Labella flats on all my basses, (yes even Stingrays it seems), and only once. I'm probably more likely to sell a bass before swapping new flats for old. I've always been happy to take an allen keys to a friends bass when asked, because I can be subjective and I don't have to live with it every day. Also, under the proviso that I am very much an amateur and that a pro luthier will do a better job than I could.

That was one I was looking at, and your recommendation is enough but... he lives outside of the city and I don't drive. I'd be looking at a 2+ hour journey on foot and bus each way... with Saturday morning my only window of opportunity to visit. I might end up there yet if there are no other luthiers, in the city, somebody could put in a good word for.

I'm looking for a luthier based in Bristol to set up a Stingray for me. I could do it myself, but the adjustments would never end... up a bit, down a bit, back a bit, forward a bit, repeat ad infinitum. I'm happy to pay for a good pro luthier, then tell them how I'd like it to play. They can usually do a better job than me. I hear Waghorn only does guitar builds now. Or that Eltham Jones doesn't work in Bristol very often. Can someone recommend one to me please?

Bought a Stingray off Lawrie this evening. Collected it from his house and he was kind enough to give me a lift home! Very nice to meet you, hope we can do business again sometime.

I just picked up one of these new. In a musicshop audition with the Fender Rumble 15 and a Laney RB1, it was the clear winner for me. Not very loud but it articulates well. Definitely for bedroom practice, not band practice use.

Bought a bass of Mike today, which he delivered personally. Great to meet you. A highly recommended forumite.

I decided to face my fears head on. Like when I watch Heather Smalls on the Camino De Santiago, I've been singing 'You've got to search for the hero inside yourself', in a deep husky voice, as I photoshopped a mock up of the automotive incubus that haunts my sweaty nights. I'm hoping this will help me better come to terms with my irrational phobia.

That... rippled beige texture. It reminds me of quilted maple. Gross.

It'd look much better in Butterscotch Blonde... IMHO I'll take one from the middle please.

It certainly suits the guitar but, for me? I'd take the orange one please. Even the blue version seems to have a bit of a subtle burst thing going on and for that reason, I'm out.

Actually, the antiquity of the burst finish works nicely with the 1950's pulp sci-fi body shape... and I've got a real big Big Al SSS itch that I can't quite reach to scratch. If you were to ever put this one up for sale, despite me really wanting one, I could never bring myself to buy it and that makes me sad.

Strong word isn't it? Hate? A couple of years ago I had a dream (nightmare) that I was driving around my locale, visiting friends, in a clapped out old Austin Metro. The jalopy in question had been finished in tobacco sunburst by a previous, semi-professional, pensionable rock guitar wombler, who needed to express his intrinsic love of everything rock and/or metal to absolutely everybody he passed on the street. I'd found myself the owner by virtue of being unable to afford anything else. Each body panel had individually been resprayed tobacco sunburst... the roof, wings, doors, hatch and bonnet each had that brown middle moving into red and then to black along its edges. The stanchions that held up the roof were black, as were the bumpers. I woke up and was awoken to a basic internal disgust for any guitar with a burst finish. At first, I thought it a mildly amusing figment of my imagination, one that I would soon forget. But I can't. My dislike tobacco sunburst has since extended to any type of burst finish, surpassing my previous best dislike of coffee table basses... even more that the nausea I feel when I see quilted maple, which looks to me like baby has just vomited a Farley's Rusk on my shoulder. I despise it. I see perfectly good basses that I'd like perhaps to own, but couldn't entertain the thought of buying just because of their finish. Is it just me? What is my problem?

https://www.facebook.com/amazingkappa/

WAIT until he's started his course, got settled in, spoken to his tutors and come to understand exactly what hardware he needs to progress with his studies. He won't need a new mac on the first day of his course and will have a better understanding of exactly what's needed after 3-4 months.