hooky_lowdown

Best colour imho. 👍

Really nice. The Aria is a good choice, Kim Deal played one, enough said. 😀

Too many bum notes? 😉

Bit of a low end joke somewhere here...

I think the 1967 thing is a campaign promoting the fact Rotosound have been around since 1967, they have heritage, and an association with Abbey Road. No other string manufacturers can claim these things, making these a strong selling or marketing point.

That's a lot of pickups in a little amount of time. I am not a fan of Seymour Duncan pickups, I've tried most models and they all sound fairly characterless to me. Another cheap brand I like which rival Wilkinson and Tonerider are Roswell. I think all three brands are made in Korea. Glad you like the KA's. 👍

Faxing @Bassassin

I hope not. All the Paulownia bodied basses I've tried were so lightweight, they had terrible neck dive. 😥

This won't work. When the strings are made the silks are wound into the flatwound, I guess this stops the silks from slipping or bunching. I've tried using a sharp craft knife to remove some of the silks before, it's not easy and you won't get a clean edge.

This! I've had dozens of flats, only once did the silks all line up. If your friend can't remember what they did, i guess it was pure fluke, not by design.

You want to put a short scale neck on a full size body? If that's the case you'll never get full intonation.

A beginner needs a comfortable, lightweight, easy to play bass. Imho the best is a Squier Bronco short scale bass, these are cheap, well made, simple to use basses. In fact I've seen pro musicians use them live on stage! Team the Bronco with a Fender rumble V3 15 watt amp, and you'll have a decent set up. Also strings are often overlooked, but are actually very important to how your bass sounds, I'd suggest nickel roundwound strings, which are nice sounding and a little softer on your fingers then the steel equivalent. Alternatively this may help... https://www.bassbuzz.com/gear/beginner-basses

As @itu says. Alpha pots are as good as CTS imho, only cheaper and can be had in full size and smaller pots. 👍

Lifeless. Having said that some strings just sound better on different basses. I've put strings which sounded dull and uninspiring from one P bass onto another one, only for them to have bite and sound really punchy. I don't understand the science behind it, but sometimes certain strings (similarly with pickups) just work with certain basses.

If it's a parts build, no one will known its origins other than the builder.

The DRs and the D'Addario are fairly similar in tension, the Roto's will be of higher tension than the other two.

I'd avoid Roto's, lifeless strings. You may want to also look at Warwick black label nickel rounds, as smooth at DRs, but cheaper. 😀

Every ash bodied bass Ive owned weighed well over 10lbs, one upto 12lbs. Wouldn't call those light.

I like how ash looks, but not how much it weighs (at least my back doesn't). 😥

Which HB's? Have you tried the J&D (DV247 home brand) 75 jazz, slap some flats on that and you'll have a decent bass for peanuts. 😎

Do they make them for short scale, as that's what the OP is looking for?