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I believe Morten Ehlers at Bass Buddha is had the odd Stenback in, and might know more about how to get hold of one. From what I have heard and read, the waiting list for Stenback basses is so high that he basically doesn’t need to advertise or do any of the conventional marketing. What a superb position to be in as a luthier. edit: the Stenback Instagram account is fairly active with photos of basses, nothing particularly new but regular posts.

I completely agree, I think Roger comes across really passionate and quality focussed when he is interviewed. Apart from the new singlecut model, he hasn’t mucked around with his formula for basses in years, relying on jut making high quality versatile instruments. The wording used around the Metro Express basses is interesting. They challenged the top factory in Japan to see if they could make a bass good enough. Roger hasn’t been around as long as he has by making bad choices and poor quality instruments. edit: just to add, I am no Sadowsky fan boy, I have played a few and didn’t really get on with the sound, but everyone says it’s in a band they come alive. However the quality on all of them was just incredible.

Sadowsky are certainly entering a fairly crowded area at that price point, especially if you open that up to what you can get secondhand for that kind of money. The Sadowsky is a very different beast to the American original Fender and I would be as bold as to say that as good as Sandberg are, the Sadowsky name carries a bit more weight and pedigree for a lot of bass players. I would be very surprised if there is a noticeable difference in sound between the Metros and the new Express models. There may be some noticeable differences in fretwork and feel of the neck but I would go out on a limb and say it won’t be worth the approx £700 difference between models. So where is the appeal in the existing Metro range? I guess the same appeal that makes folks buy any variety of expensive instrument, because they have the money and are happy to spend that much. Also there is a certain level of exclusivity attached to it and a certain level of romanticism that the Metros are crafted in small batches by fine craftsmen in japan and not made in some generic factory that churns out models for almost every other guitar and bass company out there. It will be really interesting to see the first lot of real world reviews come in.

Sennheiser for me and the rest of the band for vocals. My last three bands all used Shure 58’s or Beta 58a and I always wanted to use my Sennheiser. I got the usual “you want to use an SM58, best microphones around, industry standard” so much I bought a 58 to keep them happy. Slowly after me sneaking the Sennheiser in at gigs, they all heard how much more defined it was they all gradually shifted over to Sennheiser too. They aren’t for everyone but I have converted a lot of folks just by them hearing mine in a live environment.

I have had a set of D’Addario NYXL strings on a bass for quite a while now and they have just about outlasted every other non coated string I have ever used and I am very impressed with them. Dunlop Super Brights were really good too, and they weren’t expensive. Love Ernie Balls but my sweat kills them quickly but they do boil up well. Best all round for value, lasting tone, quality of tone and feel under the fingers is no doubt Elixirs. I had one set on 18 months of solid sweaty gigging and rehearsals and to be honest they didn’t need changing when I took them off my main bass and are in fact still working nicely on my backup nearly 30 months later.

I nearly posted that winery dogs video earlier but for a slightly different reason. There is no doubting that Mr Sheehan can rip it up and is a phenomenal bass player and seems like a top all round guy, actually I met him once and he was a lovely chap, forgot that... Anyway I am in the minority it seems, but I think part of being a great musician is recognising when to manipulate your sound to create something that sits well with the song. The Winery Dogs video, for me in my humble and insignificant opinion, is an example of how his signature sound, shouldn't just be dumped into every musical situation and ruins an amazing song and performance. in this case its all of the harmonics and fret noise, its not even about the level of distortion.

I was doing a run of Christmas gigs a year ago and as we got closer to Christmas day, the audiences who were out on Christmas parties got more out of control and drunk. During the last gig I see a couple of robust drunk individuals get more and more animated on the dance floor and get closer and closer to the band. I was doing lead vocal and all of a sudden out of the dark, a lady comes flying towards me backwards. She hits the monitors, flies backwards over it and hits the floor hard. Her head then hits my mic stand, my nice robust Sennheiser mic hits me on my top lip and teeth, glances off my face and then hits the bass drum and cymbal and my mic flies out of the stand and lands in my drummers lap. I then have a bleeding swollen lip and dented microphone for the rest of the gig. Luckily the lady was so completely hammered and she felt nothing, not even any embarrassment, so no real harm done, but it was pretty funny.

I cant claim this story as my own, but it happened many years ago and the drummer in my old band was involved. He was playing in a band with two brothers who sang and played guitar, a bit like the Everley Brothers and at some point pre gig they had fallen out. I think there was some alcohol involved but as the night went on, they started bickering about what to play until it got to the point where they were almost at each others throats. They both demanded that my old drummer count in and play the different song each brother wanted to play or he would be booted out of the band. I believe the drummer walked off stage after they started fighting each other.

Check out Rode, they make a series of mics for phones and cameras and I have only ever heard good things. Almost bought one for the same reason not long ago.

I love the idea of a couple of pedals, but in practice I know at a gig they would stress me out and add more complications and more chances for things to go wrong. In all honesty I barely even use my amp settings, it’s mostly flat and my stingray does my small EQ tweaks.

The question was whether they had an EU warehouse, but I admit my response could have been clearer and said mail order for UK

Warmoth are USA only but in all honesty, Allparts and mighty mite seem to make good necks too and they are in the UK. You might only get regular maple and rosewood necks but they will probably be cheaper. My pal said the customs isn't horrendous and it didn't take them long to get the parts.

No don't apologise, what I meant was your not alone in wondering this. I have had this conversation many times in the past and it is just incredibly annoying that there isn't an option on a Jazz when it would be relatively simple to do. I have big hands and I struggle with jazz necks when playing down by the nut, my hand actually cramps quite badly, which is weird because it has never happened on massive necks like on my 5 string. If it is your dream bass I strongly suggest a parts bass like Beedster says. A guitarist I know has two Warmoth parts Strats and the build quality is incredible. One has a roasted figured neck and its a dream, and the whole build with hardware came in under 1k. Get the bits and even send them off to a great guitar tech to be assembled and finished. One day I will do it, but for now I might just have to settle for a P neck on my Harley Benton Jazz.

You are not the first person to ask this question and you wont be the last. I have been asking the question myself over the past couple of years since I moved back to mainly playing a 4 string basses. Jaco used to put a precision neck on his jazz for practice, there is a picture of it somewhere on the tinterweb. I think that most companies presume that a thin neck is faster/easier to play, which is why they offer the Precision sound with the 'easier to play' neck of a Jazz, and not the other way round. You can pick up the odd PJ Fender with a Precision nut width but they are hard to find and usually special editions. It is daft to me but maybe we are in the minority and it isn't worth big companies offering it as an option. Although I don't see how it makes any difference as the necks are mostly interchangeable anyway. I looked into it and came to the conclusion I would need to put together a bitsa bass or spend a lot of money and buy a custom built bass. I presume Fender CS would do it if you threw enough money at them, and I would hope most other custom builders could do the same.

A good friend of mine picked up an Ashdown electric blue combo for £100 a couple of weeks ago. I have it until he’s back in the country and it’s bloody brilliant! Heavy, solid, big sound, sub harmonic button is great fun and the compressor is suprisingly good. I jam along to songs on YouTube with my Bluetooth speaker, great option when I don’t fancy headphones with my laptop.

Congrats, beautiful bass. I have had so many moments where I nearly bought a secondhand Sei but something has always got in the way or I was just too late. One day.....

What a phenomenal rhythm section, awesome stuff. I watched a video of Nate Smith playing with one stick the other day, he was still twice as tasteful and in the groove than most drummers I have met. What a talent.

Local Facebook groups and probably going to a regular open mic night and meeting people. There tends to be a lot of musicians there playing and watching and if you get up for a Jam you never know who you mights chat to that needs a bass player at some point.

If you are used to EBS and have been happy with the sound go and try the big Reidmar head. I had one for a couple of years and it sadly got stolen. I had the lower powered head they made originally and it was massively loud and kicked like a mule, I never had to push it with my EBS 410. I replaced it with a Aguilar Tonehammer just because I fancied a change, and that has been an incredibly solid and reliable head. You can give it a vintage vibe or go super clean with it, it’s a great head and very light. If you have a good chunk to spend I would take look at the Vanderkley Spartan too.

Well I saw him last night and whilst I knew a lot of the stories from his book and a couple of YouTube vids over the years, it was a pure joy to watch him tell them in person. He seemed so incredibly humbled by the fact people had paid to go and see him talk and seemed to bit a little nervous to start but really warmed up when he realised how much everyone was loving the show. Said hello, shook his hand and said thanks for being a big influence and got my very old copy of his book signed. One big tick off my list. As a funny side note, the venue he was playing and the Diner next door were owned by Keith Allen. Having seen him on TV and being a cult figure amongst me and friend for his appearance in Twin Town, it was really strange to have him bring me dinner and then see him singing vindaloo with Guy at the end of the night. Good times!

If I was looking for a 5 string to cover multiple situations and had a few pounds for a more ‘boutique’ bass I would be looking at the following brands: lakland USA (although the skylines are excellent too for a lot less), GB basses Spitfire 5, Moollon 5 string Jazz, Sei Jazz 5, Overwater Basses and Sadowsky. I have had experience with all but the Moollon and you won’t go wrong with any of them it just depends on personal preference. If I had a massive budget I would be trying to find a Tom Stenback or a Fodera to try out but your talking big bucks.

This Friday is in Stroud, Gloucestershire. He does them fairly often but never really a tour, just odd shows here and there.

There are some really interesting bits in Guy's book. The one that took me by surprise was that he wrote the music and even appeared in an episode of, A young persons guide to becoming a rockstar. It was a comedy series on Channel 4 years ago and it is available in full on 4 on demand. I thought it was brilliant when I was younger and recently re-watched it and it was still very amusing. Guy plays an A&R man along with Keith Allen (who he also wrote Vindaloo with). I'm going to see Guy's show on Friday, cant wait and hoping to get my book signed at the very least.

It’s crap they didn’t give you a straight response one way or another after the first email, but seeing as it doesn’t appear on either the U.K. or Japanese Ibanez website yet, I’m not surprised they didn’t give you any information on the spec and price.

I have a sunburst Harley Benton Fretless Jazz that I want a maple Precision neck for, coincidentally a bit like Jaco used to do with his jazz.