LeftyJ

Have you tried tweaking the two trimpots inside the control cavity? They adjust the mix of the second coil of each pickup. The tonal difference is subtle, but effective.

Yes! I read Jazz neck and the Sterling was my first thought. There's also a Jazz neck option on the Stingray, called the SLO Special. Doesn't pop up often, but worth looking out for.

Yep, those are EMG HZ (Hi-Z passive pickups).

I stand by my earlier assessment: S2000. The small knob looks added. Many of these, depending on year, had a tiny switch in approximately that position, sometimes with a red status LED next to it, so this may replace a switch but not sure. Your best bet would be contacting Rob Green or Dawn at Status and sending them the photo's and the serial number (at the end of the head clamp). He also does amazing work restoring old Status basses, someone in the Statii group on Facebook just had an S2000 restored and it looks absolutely like new!

Status S2 Classic or S3 headless neck-through 5-string with CW electronics and pickup positions Dingwall NG3 5-string Zon Sonus 5-string (a 519 or Custom preferably - but waaaay out of reach)

Came here to post this. They're great! They're everything the typical Ibanez bass is not: big, wide-bodied, and fat-necked. And they sound and play great! I've owned two 1990s MIJ ATK300's and still own 1998 MIJ ATK305 and I love it. I have owned a Stingray 5 too, and the neck profile is remarkably similar - but lacquered instead of waxed. Those are great too! The Kiloton is fully passive, but otherwise very similar to the L1500.

I bet it will look great in pink. Seriously though, I'm looking forward to pics of the finished result.

USA-made G&L Legacy Special in a blue swirl finish for 250 euros. A previous owner used to have a Roland GK2 pickup in it that was stuck to the pickguard, thankfully not screwed to the body. However, there was a little piece of pickguard material screwed to the body as some sort of cable guide for the GK2. It was a great guitar, very versatile, but I hated the finish (it was a foil wrap with a clear coat finish sprayed over, it actually had air bubbles in the cutaways!) and couldn't get along with the floating tremolo and sold it. Not such a good deal anymore: the buyer recognized it from the previous ad where I bought it from and wanted to pay no more than the same 250. I stupidly agreed. Carvin LB75 on this very forum with LOADS of finish wear all over the body but a perfectly good and unharmed neck, also for 250. I loved the tone and playability but absolutely hated the looks. Sold it for 450 to pursue another bass with the same pickup configuration and later bought another LB75 that sounded nowhere near as good as the black one. I was able to buy the black one back a couple of weeks ago for approximately what I paid for it and I'm glad I did. It still looks like sh!t but it's a great bass. I had to replace the battery box with a new Gotoh BB-02 and the frets were dented a little more than I remembered it from 7 years ago but I was able to solve that by polishing the frets.

Long lasting. I've happily been using Duracell Procell / Industrial 9V batteries for years. They're sold in boxes of 10, they're affordable (I can usually get them for around €10 a box) and I haven't experienced them being too large for the battery compartment of any of my active basses. Most of them use the Gotoh BB-02, or a battery clip inside the control cavity.

Yes, that is THE best finish for these basses! I already loved Aquamarine on the D-bird and D-roc, and it looks equally good on the NG!

They can not. The concept is similar to Dunlop's system, the part that mounts to your strap goes into the strap button rather than around. The strap buttons are very Schaller-like though, and are straight without a wide outer rim that could hold a strap. They can easily be replaced. If you want strap buttons that can do both (hold a strap with or without locks) I think Dunlop is the only way to go. The Warwick system uses common screw sizes. My Streamer LX5 came with gold hardware and Schaller security locks, I replaced it all for black hardware and black Warwick security locks and was able to use the same screw.

As a lefty, music stores are usually a disappointment because they don't stock many left handed basses outside the obligatory black or sunbust Squier or entry-level Ibanez. I buy most of my basses used, online, from private sellers. Most basses I buy unseen and without trying them out in real life. Of the 30+ basses I've owned, only three were bought new in a store, one of which was not in stock and had to be ordered especially for me (without the possibility of a refund), one came from Guitar Guitar's webshop without playing it first and one was a NOS store demo that I've been eyeing for several years and tried on several occasions and just HAD to buy when the price was almost cut in half because the store in question ceased their activities.

I just meant to say I like it better 😅

I always love the looks of the Miller Jazz, but that white one really stands out! Lush.

Maybe you'll have better luck searching Google for the Pavel Jazz Pro 🙂 I have no first hand experience with the basses, but the impression I get is Pavel is a fantastic luthier but a terrible businessman 😅 Someone I know owns a brilliant 6-string Pavel singlecut and raves about it.

Especially something that suspends your prized posessions a few feet above a hard floor 😟

This thread had me pick up mine again yesterday after not playing them for quite some time. My 1983 is still one of my favourite basses ever! My 1981 however (with the older body style, the brown soapbar singlecoils, and a LOT heavier and with a much fatter and wider neck) didn't suit me at all anymore. It just felt big, unwieldy and heavy with an overly bright tone. I even consider selling it now 😬

Same! Even though there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. I guess it helps that it's black, it gives the bass a slightly more modern appeal.

There's a 5-string KSD Proto-J 705 (the 70s style version, with maple board, 35" scale) on Leftybass.com right now, located in Italy. Upgraded with an Aguilar OBP3. Absolute steal at 300 euros.

The Westone is a Thunder 1a, the active version of the Thunder 1, with the "bird"-style logo and shorter headstock dating it to roughly 1983-85.

ZZBottom

Nice! The Noguera is by far the most elegant of the ERB's IMHO. Some of these really look "stretched" (especially the Streamer Stage 1 6BN and the Conklin, and the Overwater to a lesser degree) but the Noguera looks great.