BabyBlueSound

Well for example that Starstream is still out there! If you're saying we can have only one good bass, this industry is in big trouble 😁

FWIW, I just got my first £500+ instrument ever (a new Sandberg Lionel for £1200). I love it, it feels right, it sounds right, I WANT to play it. BUT this could be indeed true for many other basses in other price categories. I bought it new as it was exactly the config I wanted: matte blue finish, black hardware, Precision shortie. Normally I am a "value for money" guy so likely this is my last ever brand new bass, I'll go back to budgets/used ones after this. But at least once it had to be done 😁

You got the proper Ray though, maybe that would have felt better in my hand and would not need to get rid of it... 😁 And I know the problem is with me, I had 2 pro friends try the Sterling and everyone was amazed, even though they don't even like shorties. Maybe it's the thin Jazz neck? I thought I liked those. Yet I always seem to go back to P. So is that a gold finish, or mustard yellow? Hard to tell because of the shine.

Thanks for the kind words and the advice! Good to know the bridge just looks more daunting than it is in practice. The Sterling still has to go, I never connected with it for ~3 years or so. Just doesn't feel right, even though I love a MM-style bass AND it's sounds. It just doesn't work in my hand (and I think I got quite average hands), I rather play the crappy bumpy necked cheapo Ibanez Talman. For that "another tone", I got the aforementioned more classic P Ibanez Talman with the EMGs which I am usually stringing with either Cobalt flats or D'addario black tapewounds. For the Sandberg, I have a La Bella and a Cobalt flat set sitting there ready to be put on, just waiting for the final go-nogo decision 😁 Just want to play the original strings till they're dead, with strings I am frugal like that 😁

I have FINALLY managed to join the club 😁 And I couldn't be happier, what a lovely piece of resonant wood with bits of metal! (Lionel VS BB) Don't want to doublepost so here's the NBD in the shortie topic, and will just attach the pic here:

NBD! I have been longing for a more high-end instrument for a while, never really owned anything more expensive than £500 (that is my used Sterling shortie). I have considered various Fenders for a while, but then... things happened out there in this volatile world and I rather decided to buy something made this side of the pond for that price instead. I wanted to design my own Sandberg shortie, but there's like a 1-year wait time for manufacturing the custom design... Enter Thomann, who happened to sell EXACTLY the config I was after! Blue-burst, matte, short scale, black hardware, precision, passive! AND it was like £600 cheaper than if I do the very same custom config myself. Only thing I'm missing is the roasted neck, but hey you can't have everything. 😁 And the wait time was "only" 3-4 months, they estimated an early April delivery, so I reserved it and started saving up. "Unfortunately" it already became available in late February and got delivered since... Before I could sell the Sterling that was supposed to partially fund this. 😅 So it's here and I just can't get enough of it. I don't even know what's so good about it, it just works. Everything feels perfect to the touch, everything is consistent and controlled, the neck is just incredible. The setup is lovely, although I prefer a lower action, this somewhat higher one still works for me... so for now I keep using what the experts decided on. They plek these things, and it shows and feels! While I always believed "an electronic instrument has a feel too that effects your playing", I never really experienced this myself until now, even though I have briefly tried expensive basses before. Seems like something in this Sandberg really connected with me. 😄 People say this feel is (at least partly) due to body resonance. I am not sure that's true in this case, I would say the Sterling is a more resonant bass, it resonates to a level that actually starts to bother me. It's more like the overall, smooth and close to perfect feel for me in this case. It's got a very very bright, modern P sound, so I sometimes have to roll down the tone a bit, which is very unusual for me. Planning to put some flats on later. The passive pickups are ridiculously loud. I got a VU meter in my compressor which shows the incredible volume difference compared to my passive EMGs in the Ibanez. It's almost like an active pickup. My pedals react completely differently due to the volume being that much louder (like a touch-sensitive Prunes and Custard). Previously my Ibanez and Sterling could run with relatively the same pedal settings to get to a similar sound, but I need a complete redial for the Sandberg! 🤯 The only ❓ in the whole package is that weird, overcomplicated Sandberg bridge. I am already dreading a bit when I decide to lower the action... 😅 Now I just need to sell the Sterling, that's still available 😅

Man, I love to look at Euroracks. But I must NOT take up that hobby too, no more time and/or money...

Got a new bass from Thomann, once it was in stock (which was earlier than estimates), it was delivered in less than a week. This is my usual experience with them, ever since 2006. Never had any trouble with them.

I learned about this a bit too late See you in 2026!