Martin E

I guess there must different types of this wood. I assembled a bass some years ago with a paulownia body. It was so light, liberally like a piece of balsa, that it had impossibly bad neck dive. It also had the consistency of a piece of cheese, I was really concerned that the bridge screws would rip out. It also little in the way of grain. A bad experience but I know that it is being used in some good quality instruments and it can have attractive figuring. So it must be a rather different timber to the body I bought.

An interesting thread. I can add one more pont about buying an unfinished body, they sometimes don't have the internal holes drilled from pickup(s) and bridge to the control cavity for the wiring. You have to drill at a very shallow angle with a long drill bit which can be tricky. Just something to be aware of.

Excuse my ignorance but how are you guys watching this ? Thanks

Yes they crop up on Amazon so worth a look. (I find the G string a little too thick on a long scale set so bought a single C from a six string set from Amazon as an experiment. It works well and the tension is fine despite it not being at its designed pitch. It doesn't work so well on short scale, I've tried it.)

Just thinking out loud,,, is there not an expectation that a bass like this will hava humbuckers or at least something that looks like them. Imagine a Les Paul looking bass like that having a pair of jazz singlecoil pickups, they would look really out of place.

Yes they're great. I had one from new and used it for many years. Loud, good EQ, everything you could want from a combo. In the end the weight was just too much, god knows how I got into the boot of the car. You must be a lot fitter than I was at 60.

I gigged with one for some years, they're great. I think mine was 300w with an extension cabinet.? Good solid bass tone, just really, really heavy. I separated the head from mine eventually to use with lighter cabs. I recall the fan got noisy, an easy replacement, otherwise I had no issues.

No. On the basis that most of the new basses I've tried in shops, at least in my price range, have at best only had a minimmul set up. It's only after an hour or so at home with some nut files, bridge and truss rod adjustment that you can tell if you've got a good one or not.

Sorry to hear your problems with this instrument. I have one myself bought a couple of years ago which is excellent. No consolation I know but I am sure you must have a duff one. It does rather knock your trust in a brand when this happens. I bought a G&L Tribute last year which was awful but not representative of the vast majority of instruments I'm sure. An excellent bass for noodling on the sofa. I bought mine to get my hand working after a Dupuytrens operation and it did the job. Always good to have an acoustic handy to use and these are great. I like the feel of the nylon cored strings which have some bounce like an upright. It also sounds good amplified. Mine came with another bridge insert which you could modify to adjust the action and a spare bridge pin which I thought was good. Cheers Martin

I've just returned faulty bass bought in Andertons Black Friday sale. Prompt response, good communication and swift collection. Excellent customer service in my book.

I bagged a JB2 Tribute from Andertons myself last week. I rarely buy new instruments but the Black Friday deal seemed too good to miss. Unfortunately I got a duff one. Upon arrival it looked good but then I noticed one screw missing from a machine head. A couple of days later I sat down to set the thing up properly with my favourite flats. On removing the strings I noticed several of the frets were really tarnished almost corroded. I then tried to correct a forward bow in the neck. The supplied Allen key was a sloppy fit as if the socket had been rounded so I found a slightly larger key which would fit tightly but found the truss rod would not budge in either direction. To their credit Andertons 'returns' department was very efficient and responded quickly to my emails and the bass is now on it's way back for a refund. Sorry to put the damper on things but you wonder how these things get past any sort of quality control.

I bought my SB14 new when they first came out. It has been my main gigging bass since. Initially with a light gauge set of Stadium Elites and for the last few years with TI flats. I've never had an issue with string balance and don't think I've ever needed to adjust the pickup. I think you must have a fault somewhere. Sorry I can't be more helpful. Martin

I have a Sterling SB14 which you may remember has a rear route for the controls so no plate on the front. This arrangement would look a lot more elegant on this downsized body. The control plate even when aligned properly looks oversize and rather dominates this version I think.

I've just watched this. After the comments above I was expecting something awful but have to say I also think it was a cracking little show. I realised it was Abe Laboriel Jr on drums at the end. I thought the Danelectro guitar sounded surprisingly good. Jammed on a small stage in a small club I thought the sound was quite good and the Hofner bass sounded just right. His voice can sound a bit ropey at times but on this one he was fine.

Really enjoying this, pure nostalgia for us old farts. Some great stuff on this channel.

Thanks so much for posting this, one of my favourite albums with some great bass playing. This should be fascinating.

I've recently bought a pair of Studiospares own M1000 headphones used by two other members of my band, very good sound and extremely comfortable. Just a little more expensive at £59 but you get a spare set of ear pads and a case.

Just a note of caution that the popular shorter scale Ibanez acoustic basses (I have the PNB14 E) use a bronze D Addario string developed for the Taylor GS mini bass. These are nylon strings and these instruments are effectively bass versions of nylon strung guitars. Stringing with normal bass strings with much greater tension could quite possibly damage the instrument.

Thanks for that, ill watch out for lightening strikes then. I've only had mine for a couple of days so yet to try it in a live situation as well. Using it with a Phil Jones C4 cab it seems plenty loud enough and I am immediately appreciating it's completely silent operation.

I've just acquired a Phil Jones D400 amp and what a beautifully made little thing it is. Anyway, browsing through the instructions it twice mentions not to leave the amplifier plugged into a power source for a long period of time when not in use. I'm now curious why this should be. Any ideas?