AndyTravis

So here’s the thing...if I’m following the right train of thought, the metro express at £700 ish are made in China. I know Warwick used to use “Grand Reward/Education” - for rockbass (after the snappy truss rod early models). And I think they may have had something to do with the chinese made series they ran for a brief period a few years ago. Grand Reward/Education produced the Squier Classic Vibes and Fender Modern Player stuff, they also made some basses under their own “Farida” brand... And their FJB is a very passable J bass - they were in around £150-£250 and an attempt at premium models was a bit of a flop. If they are indeed made in this factory - they’ll be lovely. But shows what Brand power is. I’ll be intrigued to try/see. If anyone has one delivered from the factory packing - I’ll be able to tell you if my theory is right 😉

@bnt if it was vintera I would’ve bought one. It’s American Vintage, meaning about £1500-1700 and not “cheap”.

I’ve owned way too many basses. And recently sold what I considered (and still consider) to be the best Fender jazz bass I’ve played. It was my job for 12 years, buying and selling basses - as well as guitars. I sold 1000’s of Fender basses, and set up/restrung more than that... In selling that bass to @Normski he mentioned he had a Metro which was lovely, but sat unused as he has way too many basses (he describes his stingray collection as a roomful’) - I had zero intention of taking a trade. This is a very recent “Metroline” - and I was in trouble the second I opened the case. Is it as “good” as the CS? Yeah, yeah it is...but it’s probably not as “special”. A change is as good as a rest, and this Sadowsky has had me playing bass again, and now after some tweaking to strings (New ones on today) and action (now a bit too low...if that’s possible) - I’m really enjoying it. Might’ve overstepped the realms of normal behaviour by buying a HPJ Metroline last night...but I’ve sold 3 expensive basses recently and it keeps me out of trouble. Anyhow...After a discussion with Drew of GBBL fame the other night, we got into a to and fro about bass players “chasing the unicorn”. Some Fenders are good, some are average, some are bad. What @bassfan wants from a Fender or Sadowsky May well be hugely different to what I want - so his version of “good” will be different to mine. There is no hard and fast rule to be applied to any basses by any manufacturer. If you fancy paying £1500 to find out if it’s for you, go for it - in fairness, if you buy used you’re limiting the losses. If it costs you a £150 loss after a few months, think of it as a rental cost. Horses/Courses...etc.

Maybe you had the wrong sadowskys 😉😂

That bridge isn’t the nice quick release jobbie either...

He has

This is happening...looks to be absolutely stonking...

True. I had a chance to buy a 60’s p a good few years ago. It smelt like a dirty old shed. And that put me off...don’t know if I regret it or not. I do love that 57/58 pbass look though.

I suppose you could get close with a Mexican Standard and a gold anodised? The Mexican classic 50’s (only 2tsb) often crop up at about the £500-£600 mark

Looks great 🧐 Edit - aha! Yers. Very lovely.

I always thought that...

It’s all this self isolating. Making me selfish...and a bit doolally.

I refer to my earlier post. Deffo that. As I’ve just bought it...

I’ve worked on 1000’s of basses, a well fitted shim made of an appropriate material (I seem to have Some slivers of rosewood currently) Will do a grand job. I can’t recall if the gotoh 201’s are plated cast metal or machined (tempted to say the plated/cast) which would just look a bit pants. Either way, OP says it’s not that big of a deal... I wouldn’t swap saddles over between bridges as I’d say the gotoh is a big upgrade to stock item.

And filing a nice bit of metal isn’t? 😂😉

Shim is less permanent if you want to use the bridge elsewhere though...

Ah well @hooky_lowdown I found it an odd comment, if you didn’t then fair enough. Not getting shirty over it. £130 for one of these is decent as with a bit of modding, a gotoh (with shim as was rightly suggested) and some uprated pickups and maybe even pots - it’ll be a great bass. As a point @bigthumb these are the same bass as the classic vibe jazz, the Farida factory made for squier (classic vibe) and Fender (modern player) as well as others - that’s why the lower horn isn’t jazz shaped - they got told off by fender. Get some nice Duncan pickups or even fender reissue ones. And you’re laughing.

In all honesty, I was just adding a further comment as an insight as to what these were in the shops - not just flogged out at £150. I sold them for about 8 years as I worked for the distributor, so thought it might’ve clarified what they cost new - there isn’t a huge amount of information out there about them. OP asked for information, there it is. I felt my comment was half in response to yourself and half aimed to the OP so he didn’t feel too bad about having paid the “high end” of the price range (bit of an odd comment in itself - he paid what he wanted to pay, otherwise he wouldn’t have put a bid on). Apologies if my quotation riled you somehow. 🤷🏻‍♂️

They fluctuated between £249 and £150, depending on stock levels. £130-£150 isn’t bad for a decent bass...

Well... I know a fair bit about these. You have an FJB-6 there... They’re lovely for the money. I had a white one with Duncan 1/4lb pickups in it and it responded well. These two are prototypes for a “deluxe” version which never made it to the shops. And they’ve been mine since 2010. I specified them and when we costed it all up they were deemed “too expensive” by the powers that be... These have Seymour Duncan Classic Stack pickups in, and a volume and tone per pickup. Ash bodies, maple tops, ebony boards. there we go. Machineheads are prone to rattling. but other than that - a really decent bass.

I say debating...it’s in the basket...

Debating this...very dark blue. Think a tort guard would make it look awesome.