LeftyJ

Funny thing is it wasn't supposed to look like this. The prototypes they showed at NAMM had a 3+1 headstock like the Stingray. But a certain mr. Ball probably asked them kindly and politely to drop that design.

Coldplay comes to mind, with their latin version of Clocks.

I had a set on my Atelier Z Baby Z-4J and loved them. They have a round core rather than hexagonal, but despite the supposed lower tension of a round core they felt relatively tight even on my 30" shortscale (I used 045-105's). They were great, and defined but not overly bright. I've been using nothing but Elixirs for almost 15 years until I got my first headless bass, and Elixir don't do double ball end strings so I had to start using uncoated strings again. It has led me to try different string types on several of my basses and it's been a fun journey so far - but I've come back to Elixirs on most of my headed longscale basses as I just enjoy the feel of coated strings and love how long they hold that "new string-tone". I have GHS Boomers on the Atelier Z shortscale now (and a set of Slinky's waiting to go on next after the Boomers die), and La Bella Deep Talkin Flats on my Sandberg Lionel.

Stiffness is inherent to flatwounds because of the way they're wound: the square wire surrounding the core won't allow for much movement in the string. I've been using thinner strings on my 5-strings for the last couple of years, with a .125 B-string, and I've been having great results with them - and I only have 34" scale 5-strings. I have Status Hotwire strings on my S2 Classic, and Elixirs on my Warwick Streamer LX5 and Ellio Martina Forza and love them. The Warwick can get a little floppy but the Forza is by no means, despite using the same strings. No idea how or why! They're set up similarly. I just don't like a thicker B-string because to me anything thicker loses definition and note separation on the lower frets.

Lovely! So far I've been hearing nothing but praise for the new Series 23 and CW-2. I tune my headless S2 Classic (with graphite neck) down to A with fairly light strings (040-125) and although the tension is low it still sounds tight and punchy. I use mine in a doom metal band with two 7-string guitars to punch up to, and it sits really well. I would love to try one of the new ones, but as a lefty I would have to order one to be able to - if Rob still makes lefties, that is. I'm so happy with my current Status basses I have no desire for another though

And the Ritter! My phone's photo gallery app thought it was about time to remind me of a lovely weekend in Oldenburg, Germany, exactly 6 years ago today. It decided to do so with this pic that I had all but forgotten: There was a beer tasting festival in the city (by chance we happened to visit on that day, and my girlfriend and I love a good craft beer). This was clearly afterwards.

That's beautiful! Any luck with the saddle insert yet?

I believe @wombatboter owned it for a while, among two other Bas Extravaganza basses.

Came here to say exactly this. I've always thought Nash overdo their relics, especially on the necks. The one in this thread takes the cake though.

Cool idea, do buy one and keep us posted I have my doubts about how well this works, I would guess you need to at least set up the action at the bridge for this to work - even though it ends at the 14th fret. The raised area that replaces your nut makes it incredibly tall, it would seem. I also really wonder how well it will stay in place (won't it rattle against your frets higher up the neck?) and how good it will really sound. And how durable it will be when using roundwounds that dig into the plastic. But I'm intrigued!

Nothing else about it looks out of the ordinary, when you compare it to this one for example. Aside from the heel, it looks perfectly legit. Is the chrome battery cover on the back in its usual place? Maybe that could help indicate if it's a modified original body or a replacement body altogether. It very much looks legit though, down to the downward facing angle of the upper strap button. I suppose taking off the neck should help: it will hopefully expose any stamps and/or writing in the neck pocket and maybe some plugged holes where the neck screws usually are on one of these. I did that with my 1998 Ernie Ball Silhouette just last week for maintenance and because I was curious, and it revealed a date stamp, a stamp indicating the factory finish colour, and one additional screw hole - presumably where the paint stick was held in the factory. The heel of the neck on mine has a handwritten date, the initials C.S. and a small B stamped into the wood.

We definitely need more pics now, maybe it'll help identify it It's not in this list: Music Man Bass Global - Neck Plates Pre-EB & EB (but then again it only discusses neck plates so it makes perfect sense a bass without one would not be in that list )

I've been using a small 8-channel USB mixer by Yamaha for this purpose. I use it for playing music from my PC, for practice (plugging my bass straight into it and playing along with said music from my PC) and in the past I used it for some recording too. It's an older model that sends a stereo mix through USB to the DAW rather than individual channels, but there are more recent models that do support multichannel recording. Then again, when recording a single instrument at a time it's fine - but I'm sure the interface you're using is a lot more modern and versatile. I have two KRK V4 series II powered monitors hooked up to the monitor outputs. Doesn't your interface have playback options from your DAW? Or are you looking to use a different audio source?

Yes, that is unusual for a JV. It should have a round access hole with a cross head screw to adjust the rod and not a hex screw. If it is a genuine JV, it may have had the truss rod (or at least the truss rod nut) replaced. Does it have any more stamps or writing, at the bottom of the heel and in the neck pocket?

I just put a set of LaBella Deep Talkin stainless steel flats on my Lionel. I chose the lighter gauge with slightly lower tension, 043-104. Obviously they're still very new and bright, but time will tell! I haven't played flatwounds before but it just suits the Lionel so well. It had Pyramid flatwounds when I got it, but it was a very unbalanced set with an incredibly boomy E-string that would clip my amp when all the other strings sounded fine.

That's probably the closest I've ever seen a piece of wood look like a pair of jeans! Jokes aside, that looks great! I love the wood pickguard, control plate and pickup covers too.

Actually, it's Sandberg that have the pickup closer to the classic P position relative to the scale length . 5.5" from the bridge on a 34" bass versus 5.5" on a 30" bass will sound warmer on the shortscale because it's actually further from the bridge relative to the entire scale length.

I like the look of the shorty, but the colour... not so much (it's the only colour it comes in). It's about 1.5x the price of the Squier Sonic Bronco, I wonder how it will compare

Sunday was maintenance day, I took it apart for a thorough cleaning, polishing and oiling of the fingerboard. Looks and plays almost like new now, except for some minor damages that won't buff out with just a rag and some guitar polish fluid. But I'm happy, and after all it is a 25 year old guitar - as it turns out it was made in 1998! (no, I didn't really get the action THAT low - this is what it came back to after putting the neck back on and restringing it. So either the neck wasn't properly seated into the neck pocket before, or I did something wrong when bolting it back together. There definitely was no shim prior to my work, and I didn't install one. I adjusted neck relief and saddle height to compensate, as you can tell from this pic the saddles were set very low. Adjustment was weird already when I bought it, with the neck set VERY concave. It adjusted right out with a few turns of the truss rod) Frets good as new! It also turns out it is, indeed, very purple! The stamp confirms it

I think Praxis Musical Instruments is only their "production partner" as they call it in their "About"-section, just like Cor-tek (Cort) is for many guitar brands (PRS SE series, the Indonesian Ibanez models and many, many more). But yes, you're absolutely right: the EBMM factory won't feel a thing from the demand for the SBMM SUB Joe Dart model. Their "cut out the middle man"-approach to selling these through their own channels is clever and helps raising demand by creating an air of exclusivity, since it won't be available through their regular dealer network.

Paging @pepe1001 Edit: Works for Eich, but hasn't been here in almost 3 years. Maybe not so effective.

I suspect "class D" could be replaced with "small and lightweight" in this case

I don't think that's accurate. They call themselves "Sterling by Music Man" for a reason About | Sterling by Music Man Their predecessor, OLP, was unrelated to EBMM. But when their license to build Music Man copies ended, Ernie Ball took matters into their own hands and started the Sterling brand. OLP was a subsidiary of Hanser Music Group, who used to be the US distributor for brands such as Kustom, BC Rich, Michael Kelly guitars, Traben, Warwick and Spector. Under the OLP brand they also built cheap versions of Traben basses and a line of motorcycle-inspired "Orange County Choppers" guitars that were awful, back when OCC was at the height of their popularity due to the Discovery Channel series.

Quietly (and unintentionally, really), and amicable. Our ADHD singer was juggling 4 kids (at the time, she's at 5 now) and too many hobbies and just didn't have the time and the focus. She was completely unreliable to make any appointments with - and entirely unaware and oblivious of it. Eventually it just didn't work out anymore and we had to tell her. Together we decided it was in our shared best interest if she quit the band and we found someone else to replace her. This proved to be easier said than done. We were an originals band who played poppy metal. We had one album out and had played about 20-30 gigs per year in small clubs and sometimes as opening act for bigger names in our genre. Not quite established, but we were making a bit of a name for ourselves. We were in the process of writing new material for a second album, and were looking for someone who was equally amazing as our old singer: she had great pitch, a great voice, good English pronounciation, and was able to create good and creative vocal lines on the spot in jams, with temporary nonsense-lyrics. Turned out she wasn't that easy to replace... We held auditions for weeks and had about 10 female singers try out. Only one of them was any good but she was a true pro and we couldn't offer her what she was looking for - because all of us had different day jobs and no intention of making music professionally, with the exception of our drummer who had a degree in contemporary music. So she kindly thanked us for our time and left. The others were all terrible: either absolute beginners, or just an absolute mismatch to our sound. And none were creative (or confident) enough to join in on a jam and create on the spot - which is OK, we were perfectly aware this is difficult when playing with a bunch of guys you've never met before. Then our lead guitarist left. He already had a PhD in chemistry, and would go to Oxford University for 3 years for a postdoc research project of 3 years. That's about 8 years ago now, and he never came back . He's a professor at the university of Barcelona now. Our band is inactive ever since, but it's safe to say we all quit. The 3 remaining members (rhythm guitarist, drummer and myself) still played together in a doom metal project since late 2019, but unfortunately the guitarist was booted a couple of months ago for not making enough of an effort. That was (and still is) a real bummer for me, having played together since 2009