Muzz

This sort of thing was what I was led to believe rock and roll was all about when I signed up as a spotty youth...in more than 40 years it never happened, I'm furious and I have no-one I can sue over it...

If you approach the place like it's the bass equivalent of Olivanders Wand Shoppe from Harry Potter, it's always a good experience... 🙂

I have a friend who is of the (admittedly rather strong) opinion that were there any justice in the world, Pete D's only legally available method of getting from place to place would be to lie in the gutter and request passers-by to shoe him in the direction he wished to go. So I don't think he'll be buying it... 🙂

That Double-P has made me go proper funny all over... 😍

That's the bunny I was on about - in a bigger band with keys and possibly even 2 guitars, there's room for the bass to play the other line, but one acoustic and the bass? It sounded like I didn't know what I was doing... ...and that's the last thing I need to be alerting people to... 😕😀

Yup...I did pick on your 'diminished' tho...so that kinda works either way... 🙂

Just a smidge of their integrity, then...for marketing purposes, natch... 🙂 I might amend my original stance to be '95% of the talk about tonewoods is marketing piffle...' 🙂

...and I'm not even going to start on Jens Ritter's 10,000 year old mammoth ivory for making nuts...adds that 'Neolithic Tone', which is so sought after... 🙂

Pack it very very well: I had a cab (a Schroeder, as it happens) arrive from Sweden in Fairly Good packaging that had been dropped, and dropped so hard and the magnet had sheared off one of the speakers...a Scout is a heavy, dense lump, it might be an idea to try and put handholds in the box... 😕

Yep, this, absolutely; I've played this bob on in lots of bands, but in the trio (sometimes just an acoustic guitar and drums) I play the post-chorus (ish) one-off riff in unison with the guitar, because it sounds odd otherwise. The main riff, tho, is canon, and sounds good in whatever circumstances. As has been mentioned above, the better the drummer on this one, the better the song sounds...

Ohhhh, I came very close to buying this from Chris, and always kinda regretted I didn't - simply the best looking BB I've ever seen...

I've just listened to the video without watching it, and I'm sticking with my '95% of the talk about tonewoods is still nonsense'...I'd like to see a blind test when the wood species wasn't given, and let's see who can tell from the sound what species it is...should be easy, yeah? I'll bet the lads at Alembic could do it with their eyes closed...'Oooooh, it sounds burly...that'll be burl maple...' 😀 And that test was possibly the simplest bass design of all, with three big chunks of wood (and presumably one-wood necks); what about adding body caps, fingerboards and laminates? Where's the tone gonna go then? Are we gonna end up with a Gilly Goolden* tone description? Pfffft... * 'Sweaty gym shoes on hot tarmac' being one of my favourites of hers...

Don't forget the distance at which the lighter tuners are a benefit, all the way out there at the end of the neck: it's only a few ounces lighter, but it has a much bigger effect than that*...well, that's what I've always found. I have Ultralites on all my basses... *I've had to check, because it was a long time ago when I did my Engineering HND, but it's the Turning Moment of the weight, which is the force multiplied by the distance

I had a Washburn Status a couple of years ago, I moved it on quick because it didn't suit me (but then no Statiii do), but my 80s one was a B20-8, which was enough to put anyone off... 😕

In answer to the OP, I went to Jon Shuker with a fund of money (less than half what a 4003 will cost) that had been bolstered by all my friends for my 50th, and I wasn't disappointed...it's the definitive keeper...good job it's a brilliant bass, too...the one on the right... :0)

The Tooting Popular Front needs a comeback...

So you're saying you have had non-musicians tell you they can tell the difference between body woods of a bass on a gig? I've had an entire band not notice* I switched to a 12-string bass at a rehearsal before now... 😁 * OK, technically they did notice me put one bass down and pick another one up between songs, but when I asked them what they thought about the difference in sound, they all went 'What?'** ** OK, the really depressing bit: the geetar/singist said 'Look, it's just a bass'... 😕

I've got Dingwall pickups in another bass (I upgraded the ones on the Dingwall (for different Dingwall ones) so they were spare) and they sound good in that. I did change the EQ for a John East U-Retro, though, which (again, IMHO) brings it to another level when plugged in. It's not just the pickups; there's the fan frets, the compound radius board, the banjo frets, the recessed tuners, the lightness, and importantly the overall quality of the build - it really is flawlessly designed and made. My point with the 'Ash and Maple' is that in terms of 'tonewood' it's a very very common combination for basses, yet no basses I've owned made from Ash and Maple sound much like my Dingwall.

I have a Dingwall, and it's a fantastic bass, there are several design features which taken together IMHO make it a step up from much of the normal designs around. It's made from Ash and Maple, but it's the way it's made that makes it extraordinary.

Yep; as I've just mentioned, it's all very very very subjective, and therefore a lovely grey area...which, if it were being sold as a Premium Grey Area, would probably be described as 'Light yet dark; clear yet misty'... 😁 Edit: Although I'd love to see some nice scientific evidence that Rosewoods are 'bright and dark'...got anything? I'll wait... 😁

I think a more pertinent question is Who is making the money? See SteveXFR's thoughts above... It's simply very good business practice to make a Premium product from more attractive materials and to then help justify the price of said Premium product with some claims which are, at the end of the day, completely subjective.

Naaah, you'll never charge more for it if you call it Tone Plywood...how about 'The body wood is a mellow yet sharp, dark yet bright Tonoply'? Double the price and Bob's yer Uncle, craddock's yer Aunt and yer dog's from Tarporley... 😁 Edit: the Naughty Filter's completely ruined that saying, then...pfffft 😕

More florid obfuscation from the Alembic 'Premium Woods' page: 'Indian Rosewood has a rich look to match its rich tone. As with other Rosewoods, the complex tone is both bright and dark.' So it's, erm, bright and dark? I think the only certain thing we can say is it's Premium, which means it's gonna cost you to find out...ditto Koa: 'Koa has a mellow tone, with big, plump low end response. Better for fingerstyle playing as a slapper will have to fight its mellow nature (but we certainly have heard players who can overcome the default tone of Koa).' Ahhhh, right...better for fingerstyle...unless you slap it, of course...then it's OK, too... These Premium Woods are a right old tonal conundrum...they do look nice, tho...