binky_bass

Not my cup of tea, they're bitsa basses 'assembled' in the USA. They look like a weak version of an old skool MM Stingray and they don't do 6 string basses, so no dice on Klös I'm afraid!

Gus also have a website that is entirely impossible to navigate on a mobile phone, so any potential customers can't even have a browse of the website.

I can't get passed the look of Gus basses... they look like they've been made with modelling balloons. I'm sure they're amazing instruments, but aesthetically not for me!

I had a Rainsong Jumbo acoustic a while back and that weighed in at 1.7kg, was hoping a bass of similar material would be lighter by a decent margin to that of a traditional wood bass.

Evening all! I'm debating looking into having a full carbon fiber bass made, neck and body - set neck or some kind of through neck. It'd be a 6 string bass, ideally headless. Essentially I'm wanting something as absolutely light as possible. Anyone know any builder that do full carbon? Status do/did but they're books are full I believe. Cheers, Russ.

Not one for me. Where's the originality?

Peavey USA TL6. Fantastic instrument.

Been using mine for a few weeks now, no crackly knobs and no issues as yet. Hopefully that'll continue! Still very impressed by it.

I don't think I've ever bought an instrument 'not blind'! Alan has made me 3 basses, all blind buys as they didn't exist until they were finished. Fred of Bee Basses made Binky, that was again blind, and that is (IMO) the single greatest bass in all conceivable capacities in the world. Every other instrument I own (currently 23 basses/guitars, a Mapex drum kit, numerous cymbals, pedals, a piano, 3 ukuleles, a Dynacord desk, EV PA Speakers etc) have all been 'bought blind' and I've never regretted it! Only ever buying if you can pre-test things is massively limiting in my opinion.

Second ACG. I have a 30.5" ACG 6 Salace E-Type. A very nice thing indeed.

The most accurate description of Bass Direct I've ever heard! 🤣

There is a myriad of evidence (that I have very much personally experienced multiple times) that suggests otherwise. Chill.

You mean a starp?

5 typos in one small paragraph... it's almost as bad as their website!

I think this is all verging on the edge of a slanging match. The takeaway points here, as I understand them, are: 1: Seller is not hiding the fact that the bass needs refinishing - in fact this is clearly mentioned with, what seems to me, a very fair estimated cost for a professional refinish (£500), therefore damage to the original finish is somewhat a moot point. 2: This is not to everyone's taste. It's not to my taste. The seller can sell what they want at whatever price they want. Whether they stand a chance of achieving that price is another matter. If I were the seller, I'd take some of the points mentioned here to aid me in minor tweaks to make the bass far more sellable. 3: Sometimes innovation is achieved by a seemingly crazy idea. The thought of hacking up a very good condition and very expensive bass is crazy to some... @PriZeMaN did what he did because he wanted to do it, and why not! 4: The 'craftsmanship'. I can't attest to that as I don't frankly know if the headstock routing to accommodate the string clamp has undermined the structural integrity of the top of the neck - what I can say is that I think 95% of us don't have the skills to have done what @PriZeMaN has done, regardless of our thoughts on the end product. Personally, I would not buy this. I've voiced my reasons why. Hypotheticallly, if the seller changed the headstock to a standard headless 'straight cut' shape and finished the bass so it looked shiny and new, then maybe I'd consider going to take a look. My personal thoughts is that at the asking price, in its current state, this simply will not sell. But I wish the seller the best of luck!

Binky cost me somewhere around £4000 18 odd years ago. Today, I can't see you getting change out of closer to £8000 for a similar build. I bought a few ACGs from Alan, I think the dearest was £3300, but (IMHO) that was arguably the nicest 6 he's built! I won't be spending anywhere near that on basses these days as frankly I'm in the very fortunate position of now owning basses I never ever dreamed I'd own when I first started playing. I'll still buy the odd bass here and there if its something I fancy, is priced at a point where I won't loose money and, I happen to have that amount of disposable income to hand. So, it's a very subjective question that is based on a myriad of personal circumstances. My personal equation now is: Can I Afford It + Will I loose Money If I Sell It + Will I Enjoy Owning It. If the answers are Yes/No/Yes, then I'll probably buy it!

Just some thoughts to make it more appealing to those potentially interested. I think most on here have a similar opinion. I understand you don't want to undertake any more work until a buyer is lined up, but not making a few adjustments to make sure it appeals to the masses is hugely limiting the already exceptionally small number of people that'd be interested in such a beast. I know you know this already, but my comments are of course my own opinion and I'm not knocking your work at all. In my minds eye I can see it finished the way I'd want and except the paint part, you have the skills to carry out a huge modification like this and I definitely don't! Customer bass wise, let's say there's 500,000 bassists in the UK, of that maybe 5% play 6 string bass, so that's maybe 25,000, of that maybe 10% would buy a Bongo, so that's 2500, of that maybe 10% would buy a headless Bongo, so 250. Of that maybe 10% would buy an unfinished headless Bongo, so 25. Of those, maybe 20% have the means to spend £2000 spare to spend. So 5. Its of course complete 'finger in air' math/logic, but I doubt I'm far off the mark! In any event, its all good fun and you've done something I'd not dare to do for so many reasons (lack of skill covers 90% of those reasons!) So kudos for doing it, I'd be interested to see more of your slightly crazy ideas! 🤪

Thanks for falling into my trap! 😂 Going back to the bass... Do you think you'll consider re-cutting the headstock to a less divisive shape? Also, someone mentioned employing a bit of elbow grease and sanding the whole thing back and giving it a nice natural oil rubbed finish - both wouldn't cost you much more money and both would increase the chances of a sale exponentially. Make your work shine sir, at the moment you've done some interesting and good work which is being marred a bit by the look of the product your offering - a few costless minor tweaks and you'll really be on to something cool! You're minutes down the road from me (I'm in Wickford), if you normalised the headstock and gave it a natural rub finish I'd be interested to see it in the flesh.

Never publicly... 😘

Pretty wonky grammar their. 😆

It's a diverse and multi-functional P. 😁

@BassApprentice - honestly, buy it. I've had the good fortune to play and own a sizable cross section of 'boutique' basses and this Peavey is blowing some of them out the water. It is VERY close to Fodera territory in terms of sound, very articulate, very crisp - piano like almost. The B is superb. The build quality is amazing too, a slight curve to the body (like Spector/Warwick but a little less pronounced), solid maple wings, graphite reinforced neck, dead solid truss rod (you'll need the Peavey specific truss key though). Nice thin Conklin-esque neck. I'm a little bit taken back on just how good this bass is.

I've just plugged it in, and I'm suitably impressed. It has some real bite to it. A great pallette of tones and a very comfortable neck. Looking forward to seeing how it sits at Band Practice this week.