Skybone

I always have a couple of silicon gel sachets in my case (you know, the ones that you find in the boxes of most electrical equipment you buy). They draw the moisture out of the air, so in theory at least, they'll keep your strings in reasonable condition when the bass is in it's case. Stainless steel strings always last that bit longer as well as retaining their brightness.

Line6 POD HD500x Rockinbetter & Bass Collection Fakers.

And especially with more and more bassists using DI pedals. My guitar setup was fully analogue, cost a fortune, and sounded amazing. Boutique, UK made valve amp, hand wound pickups, the only digital element of the signal chain was the true bypass tuner pedal. Annoyingly, I can now get a very similar guitar sound from my Line6 HD500x. Though it doesn't have the same touch dynamics of the analogue setup, it's 80-85% there. For bass, the HD500x is my go to kit. My bass amp lies in the spare room unused, and the pre-amp of the rehearsal room amp gets bypassed. I think it sounds great, and I've had no complaints from the rest of the band. In fact the only "complaints" I've had were down to my No.2 bass having new pickups, and the heights weren't quite right. I'd like to get a Helix, but for now, the HD500x is more than what I need, it's ace.

Squier Affinity or Standard P. Vintage P (the JHS brand)? Harley Benton P? Something cheap & unwanted from Gumtree?

Just do it.

IMO, it's certainly going to hit most, if not all, of the US Manufacturer's. Add CITES into the mix, and we could potentially have a situation like that of the late 50's/early 60's where US made instruments were out of reach from all but the very well off. Gibson's recent financial history doesn't help the situation either, and Ric's are just seriously overpriced outside of the US anyway. The EU appear to have "targeted" these tariff's to key Republican States, so whether they'll hit the guitar manufacturer's, we shall have to wait & see.

I remember my Thunder 1A as being a solid and great sounding bass. The biggest downside of them was their weight though. Bloody heavy basses, but when they sound like that, you can manage. The cachet is coming from people of a certain age, who bought & used them as their first/second instruments, and went on to use them in our first bands. Add to the fact that they have the Matsumoku history, and better build quality than some of the other "budget" instruments of the time, and now that people of a certain age have a bit more time available and a bit more disposable income, then prices start to rise. Yes, I would have another one, purely for nostalgia purposes, but it'd have to be at the right price. Saying that, I always wanted a through neck Thunder II or III.

Sell both the P and the J. Then buy a sunburst P with a rosewood fretboard.

We agreed on "Overrun".

I used to use them, but found them a bit too rough. They were good, but not great. Bargain though. Think I was paying about £11 a pack (bulk buy from Thomann). Switched to Fender 7350M's.

Shock news, we came up with a name, and everyone's agreed on it!

So what's happened since Kopite? Did you go with the bezel, or soldiered on without?

Took the BC along to rehearsal last night, knew I should have taken a screwdriver with me! Overall, the new Retrovibe pickups sounded good, just the string definition wasn't quite right, the skinny strings were getting lost in the mix & the fat strings were booming. Great sound from them though, a few tweaks with the screwdriver sorting the pickup height should sort it I reckon. The Retrovibes are brighter sounding than original pickups, which is a good thing. I did take my No.1 Rockinbetter (RickenFacker) along as well, and reverted to that one part way through, mainly because I've got the pickup heights just right, and it sounds ace IMO.

Just waiting for the Evil Blizzard promo pics to go up on the website...

LOL, and Dingwall isn't too far from us.

Saving up for a Dingwall I'd guess.

Bought a new set of the Retrovibe "Vintage" pickups recently, decided to fit them to my Bass Collection Californian. All was going well, until I realised that the neck pickup is bigger than the original, and expanding the existing hole would be very messy. Some time ago, I bought 2 sheets of pearlescent plastic (black & white), with the intention of making some new scratchplates. I completely wasted the black sheet, made loads of mistakes, and they were resigned to the bin. The white sheet was untouched, until now. Third attempt, started slow, taking my time, looking good, until I realised that I'm not left handed. The air turned blue for a moment or three. D'oh! Fourth attempt. Start slow & taking my time again, looking good. Made sure it was the right way round this time too. Some time later, I was left with a new scratchplate & TRC that I was happy with. Big grin. Fitted them last night, new neck pickup fitted perfectly, had to make a couple of minor mod's as I went, nothing too drastic though. Definitely need a new soldering iron. neck pickup fitted, sounded good, switch to the bridge pickup, sounded thin, something wrong. Take the strings & scratchplate off again, and the earth wire is loose. Resolder that, put everything back together, restring, plug in, and boom! Good to go! The new pickups sound great, quite "zingy" (the new strings help I suppose), and the new scratchplate & TRC look good too.

Looks good though.

Or an Aliexpress special?

That is nice indeed. Active or passive?