LeftyJ

The Ray34 used to be offered left-handed and can still be found on the used market (only in black, as is of course tradition), but no new ones are being manufactured. Other than that it's just the Sterling SUB Ray now.

I thought it was a damn near match with an old Korean SR300 headstock It's 100% identical in shape, tuner placement and all. Only the upper screw hole for the truss rod cover was moved.

Looks like the neck of a more affordable Ibanez Soundgear mounted to an old Fernandes Revolver body or something similar.

I only started playing bass around 1999-2000 and have never even been to London, but I've been doing some catching up on classic 80s basses. I've owned a few classic Ibanez basses (RS924, ST924, three MC924's and a very early Soundgear from the first year, 1987), an Aria SB-1000 and I currently have two Status basses, and even though they were produced much more recently (2002 and 2012) I'm definitely counting them

Not normally a fan of the faux-neck-through look (and even on actual neck-through basses I prefer it to be hidden underneath the top), but that looks great! I love the attention that went into the little details, like those little laminations underneath the top and between the center section of the top and the "wings". And that very subtle fingerboard binding that I only noticed when I looked up some more detailed pics. What a beauty!

Would have looked a lot better without that ginormous pickguard.

There's a 404BO too, which has exactly the same baseplate but slightly different saddles (which are brass on the BO instead of steel on the SJ). Probably won't matter much. String spacing is the same on both.

Gotoh 404SJ is a fairly affordable option with 5 screws, and options for either quick change or strings through body. If you want something more like a vintage bridge Hipshot make a very solid Vintage Bass Bridge which is essentially a bent plate design like the classic Fender, but with a beefier baseplate. They're twice the price of the Gotoh though.

I always thought they looked great, and that separate front pouch was based on the Mono "the Tick" which, at Mono, is an expensive accessory! If it's the same size it will comfortably house a Pedaltrain Nano.

Absolutely not. Agile and Brice are brand names owned by Rondo, but they were originally made by Saein (Shine) and Unsung in Korea - and most Brice instruments were just rebranded Shine instruments with some minor changes like maybe a different headstock shape. They have absolutely nothing to do with Hoshino. Saein and Unsung appear to both be out of business: Saein went bankrupt somewhere in 2014-2015 but rumours as to why are mixed. Some say it was due to a factory fire, other say it was after their largest client, Epiphone, moved production elsewhere. So Rondo had to switch suppliers and is now apparently with Cor-tek, but this singlecut is definitely not an Ibanez design. Ibanez has or had various singlecut designs of their own on the market, one based on the BTB and one based on the Soundgear, and they were involved with Tosin Abasi for a while until he took his design elsewhere and started his own brand which now also includes a bass. Ibanez doesn't design instruments for others.

And one in Los Angeles too. But otherwise their manufacturing is indeed outsourced to other companies. Famously, this also includes some smaller workshops. In the past they commissioned the likes of Sugi (for some Gary Willis signature basses), Bunker Guitars (for the USRG and USATK instruments with Bunker's Tensionfree Neck) and the late Swiss luthier Rolf Spuler (who designed and built the first Affirma series for Ibanez).

Gave my 5-string S2 Classic a good cleanup, fret polishing and some WD40 on the fingerboard, and it struck me how beautifully the radiusing of the fingerboard exposed the various layers in the phenolic resin fingerboard. I thought you lot might appreciate as well She's still serving me well, @Bonin-in-the boneyard! It's a fantastic bass.

Looks interesting, but I don't like where they center their fan, or how it changes depending on number of strings: 4-string, straight at 14th fret; 5-string, straight at 11th fret; 6-string, straight at 16th fret. Seems a little random, and all but the 5-string have a more extreme angle at the nut than at the bridge. For reference, both a Dingwall and an Ibanez EHB center at the 7th fret.

No it isn't MEC's with gold logo are active at all times, you can only bypass the tone controls with the push-pull pot.

And formerly in Brazil (!), Korea and China. Squiers are mostly made in Indonesia and China these days, but previously also in Japan, Korea and very briefly in India (until a flood destroyed that factory). The Brazilian Fenders were made by Giannini

My most recent Thomann purchase (Sadowsky MetroExpress Hybrid 5 fretless) I ordered on November 25th, I got a shipping notice from Thomann the next day (with UPS, not DHL. I wasn't given a choice during the ordering process) and it was in my hands on the 27th. I have to add I'm in the Netherlands, so within the EU. Therefore Customs wasn't involved. I paid with my credit card, I don't know if that affects the speed.

Can confirm, I've owned an RS924 and three MC924's and they were all incredibly solid - and heavy! I have since sold most of them and only kept the lightest of the MC's (a 1983 with PJ pickups, the others were 1981's with a thicker and wider neck, different body contours and two soapbars). Especially the Roadster was a true workhorse that I enjoyed a lot. The Musicians can be prohibitively expensive these days, but Roadsters and Roadstars are still affordable and great basses.

I don't think Ibanez ever made a Roadster (RS) with anything other than maple boards, but there are MANY models op Roadstar (RB) out there with both maple and rosewood boards. And don't forget about the Blazer basses, they're the closest thing to a traditional P Ibanez made in the 1980s. Are you looking for a specific model?

That pickguard looks so out of place on that body shape... I really can't look past it. Ruins it for me.

Mr Bassman "No Sweat" by Siggi Jäger of Human Base. Mr Bassman was a bass store in Hamburg, Germany (I think) that had a few German luthiers craft basses for them under their shop's name. Some were made by Human Base and some by Clover (based on the Slapper, with a graphite neck). I wasn't ready to appreciate this bass when I had it some 15-20 years ago. It was beautifully made and had some interesting tones, but it was too hifi for me at the time and I found the 2-band EQ limiting. I would love to have it back but I have no idea where it is or who I sold it to.

G&L under BBE management has been messy at times, and when BBE as a brand went down in popularity G&L became their milk cow. There has been a lot of cost cutting in various departments, there was a time when Tributes had USA hardware and pickups but aside from the MFD pickups it's now the USA models that have Tribute hardware and pickups. But I thought the current USA models were pretty solid again. This is very disappointing to read! I hope you can get it sorted or get the bass replaced or refunded.

ETS will happily make you one of these with 5 saddles:

Dear lord. Warrior could have at least tried to find a proper 15-string bridge. I'll bet this thing is a b*tch to intonate properly. With the saddle at that angle, the octave strings aren't even the same length! Terrible design!

Incidentally, at last Saturday's gig it occurred to me that I couldn't see the actual frets on my Status S2 Classic. I could see the side dots just fine, but on a darkened stage all of the neck is just BLACK and the fret tangs are lacquered over. Never bothered me before, but somehow it did now!

That EHB5MSBSP though, with the blue hardware and pickups They introduced an RG guitar in that same livery too, but it's not on this page because the USA are not getting that model. I'm mostly interested in the lefty version of the SRMS805! They already had a lefty EHB1005MS but I'm not thrilled by the design. The fanning is a bit more subtle on the SRMS (the G is 33" on the EHB and 34" on the SR, and the B is 35" on the EHB and 35.5" on the SR). Thomann already has it listed for €1249, which doesn't sound too bad. The EHB1005MSL is priced similarly at €1319.