Tim2291

Tbh, I was going to paint it shell pink or something equally inappropriate, nowhere seems to do extreme colours in nitro cans, and then do a satin finish. It would look horrible, but at least it would be finished nicely! On a side note... if anyone wants a beautifully hand painted Explorer bass 🤣 make me an offer ! I think I was told it was Aria when I bought it, but fortunately the beautiful paint job extends over the headstock obscuring any brand referencing and completing the amazing look of the bass.

It's far worse in person to be honest, this photo does a lot to cover up how awful it really is!

The pickup used to match 🤣.

It's in my Dads cabin at the moment so I'll try ad get a photo... I have managed to get it off but when I first got it, the pickup had also been painted!

Tbf, I can compare my first bass bass to a Wal... They aren't remotely similar... Comparison complete!

I have an explorer bass, no idea what brand it is, bought it off ebay years ago, but it doesn't play badly at all and has a single P bass pickup so sounds pretty P bassy. Needs all the paint stripping as whoever had it before me tried to paint on a wood effect... it looks awful! I'd love to have the time to do the work on it and then use it at the most inappropriate moments. Jazz gig... crack out the explorer!

Good choice of location ;)! Welcome to the club, as others have said, Squier make some great gear!

We played at a small festival at the weekend (split across multiple venues in a local town). First gig was awful due to a terrible sound person. I turned round during our set and found him looking through the instruction manual for the mixing desk... tbf that was an improvement on being at the bar drinking! Tbf, our guitarist had knocked the bass control (and his volume 🤔) on one of his presets on his pedalboard so I actually turned off during one song to make a point. Second gig was much better, sound engineer was brilliant, no over loud guitarist issues (turning my bass off did the trick here). Mixed weekend but got to take the bad with the good. Annoyingly only got a single gig in August due to band member holidays so if anyone knows of any dep gigs going in the Portsmouth area give me a shout :D

Comparing the Ibanez "Iron Label" SRMS625EX with the SRMS805, they have the same pickups (Bartolini BH2's), electronics and the same wood (Okoume) for the main body (805 has a poplar top), the necks are pretty similar both 5pc (both use Walnut and another wood). The iron label uses a synthetic ebonol for the fretboard which is going to be a lot harder than the Panga Panga used for the 805. The neck shape and scale etc are identical, the bridge is identical so if you are happy to have the matt black finish... save yourself around £200 on the retail price and buy the Iron Label!

Rehearsals I'm quite lucky, my singer has a home studio and has a "problem" with collecting gear... he has a decent Trace rig (far too large for taking to an actual gig) that I use for rehearsals so I just turn up with my bass! Live, I have downsized as much as possible so it all fits in my boot!

I always take 2, never had a guitar actually fail on me, usually the peripherals that fail, strings, straps etc. Much much faster to grab the spare than faff around trying to change a strap or string! Touring made me superstitious, rarely my gear having an issue, but seeing other bands gear fail on them, I now always have backup options for most things. The band I play in does a wide range of music so an active 5 string is my main option, I take a jazz bass as backup... I have another active 5... but its tuned with a high C, which I get carried way with much to the guitarists distaste.

12-6 String conversion... in other words, didn't have a 12 string set so used ever other hole...

Has anyone else found his youtube yet... he explains the reasons for his mods on his videos and it all makes perfect sense now... he's absolutely insane 🤣 https://www.youtube.com/@markphillips573

I'm particularly keen on the different size screw that was used furthest in to the body! Such a unique feature! In all seriousness though, did a blind man with no hands make this?

I have an explorer bass that I bought for like £20 a few years ago that someone did this to... but they didn't stop with the wood, they also painted the pickup with their "wood grain" effect! Looks bloody awful, my plan was to strip it and respray it in a matt pink finish, or something equally as garish but I just haven't got round to it yet!

Had my first gig back after paternity leave this weekend, haven't played standing up for a few months... When did my bass get so heavy? 🤣 First time using my new Vanderkley 2x10 as well, in the words of my singer and drummer, "something that small and light should not sound that good or be that loud!"

They're great cabs and sound amazing, but they also weigh more than a small family car!

To be honest, that's pretty much what I thought! I haven't changed the speakers in it because they are not cheap! Equally, if someone was happy to change the speakers, they'd practically have a brand new GK 410 for half the price (including the new drivers) of a new one! I think this has reinforced me keeping it for the time being as a coffee table!

Hi all, I have a gallien krueger rbx 410, great sounding cab and I loved using it when I had a roadie to carry it for me, annoyingly 3 cones are making scratchy noises. I don't use the cab and keep saying I'm going to fix it... In reality I probably won't. Any idea what I could get for it in current condition if I was to sell it? I know its obviously not worth an awful lot, its an amazing cab and with new cones will serve someone well!

So 130 K for a jazz bass that wasn't built until after Jacos death... Whatever the seller is on must be pretty strong!

Dead strings on my passive jazz bass sound great... on my active 5 string they sound awful!

I literally just did the same! Got super excited and was about to order like 10 sets... a few for me, the rest i'd flog on ebay... now i'm sad because it was only a single string 😆

100%, being polite and respectful to the people in the call centre is always the right answer, it isn't their fault at the end of the day! I work with customers a lot and when one phones shouting, screaming and blaming us for a problem, 9 times out of 10, they end up having to part with money to fix their problem, and it will take a longer time to resolve. If someone phones up and is polite about the issue, 9 out of 10 times it will be a quick FOC repair even if they have caused the fault!

There are some great ideas above, but if he is using online resources to learn, you could always look into a Scotts bass Lessons membership, I've never tried it but I have heard great things about the platform!