LeftyJ

I tried to convince my girlfriend of that motto because I have more straps than basses, but she's not buying into it

That looks beautiful! Is that an ash top on an alder back? When I wanted an original Atelier Z strap for my Baby Z-4J I ordered it through Ikebe as they appeared to be the only one that had them in stock. They may have replacement parts too! For overseas orders, they have a contact form on their site to inquire if the item you want is eligible for international sales (some items can be domestic market only). I got a very quick and polite reply from Noriaki Sato, who was great! Great strap by the way, very reminiscent of a Mono "the Betty", but made by Music Area (who also produce gigbags for Dingwall, for example).

I'm afraid not! I'm a lefty, so I've used reverse logarithmic pots in my passive bass because I like to have my pots turning the "proper" lefty way.

There are high quality pots with metric shaft diameters too, like MEC. They could be a great option too, and don't require enlarging any holes. I have them in my Jazz, my custom Ellio Martina and (obviously!) in my Warwicks and like them. The taper is nice, they feel solid. My only gripe is with the ones with center detent: over time, it becomes less noticable. On my 2002 and 2003 Warwicks the detent in the EQ pots has become more vague over time. Then again, that's 20+ years of use!

Nice! Did your SSS have regular Strat switching? The switching on the HSS is quite different, and offers some cool in-between sounds I can't get from my regular Strat: 1: bridge, series 2: bridge (bridge coil) + middle pickup, parallel; 3: bridge (neck coil) + neck pickup, paralel; 4: middle + neck pickup, parallel; 5: neck pickup + Silent Circuit noise canceller The middle position is very nice, it's not quite Telecaster-like but the wider distance between the pickups does make for a nice twang that's both bright and has ample low end. I really love these guitars

Sonic diabeetus.

I can't help you, but that's an awesome idea! I have a wallet made from old firehose made by Feuerwear and it's the toughest wallet I've ever owned (I've had it for almost 10 years now). I can imagine a strap made out of the same material would be very robust too! Any fire equipment has to pass very high certification standards and real fire hose (the type fire brigades use) has a limited service life. I would imagine certification companies or manufacturers like these guys will also take back old, discarded or rejected firehose. Maybe give them a call?

That's not reasonable. The batteries on both my Status S2 Classic preamps (one Board 300 and one Board 303) have lasted a long time. I don't recall replacing them since I bought them both (in 2017 I believe - but maybe I have once). I don't play my 4-string much, but the 5-string has seen regular rehearsals and a few gigs and gets used at home occasionally (a few hours per month - I play my shortscales the most at home) and so far they're still good. Were they batteries that you've had for a longer period of time, or did you buy them brand new? They should have a best before-date stamped on them somewhere. If that's not the problem, then maybe your bass has developed a short circuit somewhere (in the jack, or the battery box itself)? I would suggest having it looked at by a tech.

Challenge accepted. Instructions unclear.

I don't think they do a headless A2? If you want headless, it's either going to be the Vader, Osiris, Thanos or Zeus IIRC. They do all of those in multiscale too, but the A2 is their only model that has the option of using the same fanning as a Dingwall (i.e. with a 37" low B, but it's also available with 34-36" multiscale) - which is apparently important to some people. The other multiscale 5-strings are 33.5-35".

Maybe I'm stating the obvious here, but have you tried playing around with pickup height? Often the factory setup isn't to everyone's taste, and adjusting pickup height can change a lot for the tone of your bass. Raising them can also raise the output. I played a U5 last week and was very impressed with the tone, even if it had flatwound strings (which I'm not a fan of, I like the punch and zing of fresh roundwounds).

I'm inclined to agree. I've played several of both their basses and guitars, have owned an Artisan B4 and still own an acoustic fretless bass (NTL-B) and a very lovely guitar (an older MGM-1 Matt "Guitar" Murphy signature, from 1999). None of them stand out in any way in their niche of the market, but all have been very good and versatile and played and sounded great. Especially the MGM-1, that's a definite keeper for the mere €350 I paid.

Bloody hell! I have power tools that sound better.

I love it! Some lovely attention to detail there, and I love how the Boudica shape has evolved. The contouring on the front and back is beautiful! I like the bridge design too, with the varying saddle lengths.

That's not far off actually! This is the guitar:

I'm searching for a strap that somewhat matches my dark purple Music Man Silhouette Special... I'm having a hard time so far! I may end up just going black...

I know Maruszczyk makes 3+1 headstocks, and I'm pretty sure Vintage has, and many others who copied Stingrays (Mayones? Fame?). Why would Sire drop it, while those others didn't? I doubt it would have anything to do with EBMM reaching out and threatening to sue. We've seen other changes to the Sire models after they first appeared on the Sire USA website, like the lower horn on the singlecut model, following comments on forums like this one. The headstock change may also be a response to reactions of potential buyers. That said, the basses at NAMM still had the 3+1.

I wasn't actively trying to participate, but didn't exactly plan on buying anything new either. But only 2 months in, I have bought a tube guitar amp, an electric guitar (Ernie Ball Silhouette Special) and a bass (Sandberg Lionel) and sold nothing

Had a guitarist come in for an audition with my old pop noir band (murder ballads in the style of Nick Cave). I had brought my Rickenbacker 4003 along for that rehearsal. The guy barely spoke, barely acknowledged anyone in the room. His playing was OK, he had a decent enough tone with just a few pedals in front of the house amp, but was just a totally antisocial weirdo. The only words he uttered during the entire audition were "Hey, a Rickenbacker."

They're nice basses, but be advised there are a couple of things different about these than on a German Warwick: First of all, this one is from the very first Rockbass series. You can easily tell them apart by the one-piece bridge, instead of the typical Warwick two-piece bridge and tailpiece. The later Rockbass series (which replaced the Korean Warwick Pro Series) do have the bridge, and are a lot more expensive. Sellers will often try to sell the older models for newer model money, but they're a completely different animal and really not worth that much. When production of the first series ended, Thomann was offloading these for €200 (and Rockbass Streamer Standards at €99). I think they originally sold for about €350-400 max; Second, you won't find the typical Warwick woods in these. Bodies were often pine (Warwick calls it Carolena), with maple necks and rosewood boards. Nothing wrong with that, but it may sound different from a German-made Corvette; It looks like this one has the same active MEC pickups and pre as many German Warwicks, which is a huge plus of you like them. Most importantly: don't pay too much. There are a few on Reverb for well over 600 USD, but that's crazy.

Great finishes, very tasty!

Owned a 2009 Rickenbacker 4003 for a bit, and definitely had a love-hate relationship with it. I loved the looks, loved some of the tones, but hated the wonky ergonomics, the sharp bound body edges, the wide and flat neck (I'm talking the rear too, it was very square), the lack of places to anchor your thumb, and I could never get the low E string to sound as good as the other three. I loved it, but i didn't enjoy playing it. I sold it, not for the above reasons, but because I needed the money. No regrets though, and it's unlikely I'm ever buying one again. Maybe a 4003s, which has a little more curve to the edges. Probably not though.

My Ellio Martina Forza was my absolute number one for a few years, and still is one of the finest basses I own. For my bands however (mostly metal), other instruments were more appropriate tonally so it's mostly sitting in my rack unplayed. In or around 2013 I bought a Warwick Streamer LX5 that has been my live bass ever since up to about 2020, and currently it's a Status Graphite S2 Classic. Every time I do play that Forza, though, I am in awe of how nice the neck (and neck profile) feels, how great it sounds and what a wonderful range of tones I can obtain from it. I'm not a huge fan of the Aguilar OBP3 preamp that's in it, I may want to change it to something more basic and add a passive tone control.

After a few days of playing this, I've decided to pull the trigger. I'm not handing it back It's a brilliant little bass, it's a fair bit heavier than I would have expected from such a compact shortscale bass but it's very comfortable to play and it sounds huge! Nice agressive mids and lots of attack from the stock pickup. I only have a few gripes with it: 1: the stock gigbag is flimsy, and most importantly: it doesn't fit all too well. It's not shortscale-specific, and the velcro strap to secure the neck in place sits somewhere halfway along the headstock 2: the body is very thin where the tummycut and the forearm contour meet. This gets uncomfortable over time when resting my arm on the body while playing seated. That couldn't deter me from absolutely loving this little beast though!