Paolo85

3 hours ago, Bobo_08 said:

I'm not old or infirm but neither do I wish to develop any kind of shoulder or back injury. 

 

...

 

Frankly in the overall scheme I would be willing to pay a little extra for a HB bass that was say 300g

 lighter. 

I feel the same. My back is ok for now but clearly back problems are quite common among bass players. I work in front of a computer and I have been meaning to start doing sports for many years now. Unless something kills me, there is potential for a few decades of playing ahead of me and if that turns out to be the case I don't think it's likely I would be one of the lucky ones without back problems. Especially as I play standing up most of the time.

I could see myself tempted by playing a heavy 60s precision. Not really tempted by playing a heavy bass just to get a supercheap one instead of a quite cheap one

43 minutes ago, stewblack said:

I have HB P basses which are incredibly well priced and they're not remotely heavy.

That's fair enough. Let's just say they have a tendency to make basses I personally am interested in quite heavy. The two I bought, I sold. The Enhanced and the PJs are reportedly heavy. Even the PB20 with a poplar body, can easily be heavy for what I read. I have good hopes for the poplar JB62. The one on sale in rhe classfields was 4.4kg if I remember correctly, which is ok for a Jazz in the great scheme of things, but it is not on the light side for a poplar body. This makes me suspect that, much for the JB75 I had, they use fairly thick slabs of wood. That being said, other people report lower weigh and I will likely end up ordering one at one point.

I am annoyed at the Enhanced because I would be all over a cheap P H bass if only they were not known to be super heavy. I would even get over mixed reviews on the electronics as these can be replaced. I see this one costs £150 more than the other Enhanced. They have added a gigbag and a roasted maple neck. I am not too excited about either of them.

At £439 you are not in the "so cheap that I am shocked it's good" price range. At that price one can buy a Sire V5 or a Sterling Ray 4. I am not saying this is worse (I have not tried it), I just wish they figured out how to make lighter basses instead throwing around Gotoh tuners, zero frets and roasted maple necks for free

Just bought a Gruvgear strap from Clarky. Everything went perfectly and he was supernice. 

Buy with confidence!

1 hour ago, Richard R said:

 So I am reasonable at making stuff up to fit the chords and the mood, but I haven't learned the progressions and rely on a chart on the music stand. 

Well I wish I could do that 

7 minutes ago, Franticsmurf said:

It takes me ages to learn songs properly. I usually use crib notes in early rehearsals and wean myself off them by showtime, but it can take weeks. 😃

Glad to hear I am not the only slow one. I guess the difference is that if I showed on stage instead of you, after having "learnt" all the songs, people would still look at me and say "what the f are you playing?"

28 minutes ago, Richard R said:

 

Maybe we could combine into a  BC 2023 list?  

As in, a list of songs BCers are learning? That could be a nice thread. I like thay stuff because once said publicly "I am learning this" I might feel more compelled to actually learn from start to finish!

5 minutes ago, Richard R said:

 

Which 30 songs? I need to start learning songs as a way to practice. Maybe we could combine into a  BC 2023 list?  I might manage 3, bit even that would be an improvement.

First, let me say here as well for transparency that I failed miserably with the abstinence again, there is J neck coming my way and I am already looking into some sort of therapy for addictions!

I have a list of more like 70 songs for which I have gathered books/tabs/notation/youtube videos. The fact is that I decide "ok, I learn these songs next", and then I find myself learning another random one that is not on any list. I guess that's the way to go to keep it stimulating

So far, since January I have

-Learned or almost learned (but let me say that rendition could be excruciating, so I do not consider myself done)

Stand by me Ben E. KING
Cissy strut The Meters
Thank you Sly & tfs
Stop! Diana Ross & Supremes
She caught the Katy Blues Brothers
Le freak Chic
You're gonna need me Albert King
Trouble Jose James
Too young to die Jamiroquai
Walking on the moon Police

- "half learned"

Mean disposition Muddy Waters
Night train Oscar Peterson Trio (I may skip the solo)
A remark you made Weather Report (when I play on fretless though it's embarassing :D)

I am also working on Wherever I lay my hat and Barbary Coast but I consider the latter a "long term project" so to speak

...now, this is stuff that a pro may learn in a day - and unlike me, play it well - but I must admit I had never learned so much stuff in such a short time. That's why I swear by gear abstinence - associated with  if only I could actually do it and stick to it 

Right, that's quite humiliating! After failing here before the end of February and going into a buying spree, I committed to abstinence again here

I was about to sell a bass. Sell, not buy! It's a beautiful Squier Affinity PJ with KiOgon loom and Wilkinson pickup, whose neck has given me a lot of aggravation. Tired of not being able to use my string of choice because of truss rod issues, I was about to post it here for sale, not for very much given the neck. As I opened Basschat to put it for sale, I saw a Fender Modern Player Jazz neck for £150...

...clearly, that was a sign from the sky thay my bass had to become a bitsa! I could not go against the will of whoever inhabits the sky? Or am I mad?

Admittedly I look at eBay and Reverb only occasionally, mostly for stuff that is up to £500-600 new. I never bumped into something offered at an interesting price. The differences with new prices are so small that it does not make sense. I am not sure this harms the market though. As you can see on BC, if a seller really wants to sell the price gets reduced and fairly quickly. If the bass sells, clearly somebody thought it was worth the money

Are they Labella LTF? They are known to occasionally have a "sitar" effect. In this case Labella could send you a replacement string to try I think

I don't know anything about prices 15 years ago but I find this very interesting. Especially as at the same time a lot of people are saying cheap basses were never so good and a lot of people question the returns of buying anything more than £500-800 new.

I wonder if there is a relationship between the two issues. Marketing can be funny and people are funny. Maybe, and I am speculating here, they figured out that Stingrays and high-end Yamahas are just better business if marketed at a high price as an object of desire. If they were sold for less it would send the message that they are 20% better than a Sire, instead of something you dream of. Both brands cover the lower end of the market anyway with great basses such as the Sterling Ray 4 or the Yamaha BB424

1 minute ago, la bam said:

I should perhaps clarify as I've got a bit lost - the bass sounds superb in passive mode and great in active mode.

You mean you prefer passive than active? In that case, there are preamps that are fairly "transparent" which should give you flexibility to eq while preserving your passice sound for the most part. If I remember correctly, Nordstrand an Glockenklang were said to do that, but don't take my word for it as I never tried them.

For the most part, preamps (much like "amps", which have a preamp) alter the sound by choice and design. That's part of what they sell: the promise to "improve" on the natural sound of your bass

1 hour ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Disagree completely. If you're shipping a bass you owe it to the buyer to protect it properly. If you don't have suitable protection, don't ship it.

You can always factor in the price of a case when you sell the bass.

That's an absolutely fair opinion. And I agree with you that one should make the best effort to prorect the instrument. At the same time, note that the way a bass is posted is pretty much always clearly stated so both buyer and seller make an informed decision. Besides, I say, and I assume is customary, that if a bass arrives brocken it's on the seller making it right.

Because of the issue of cost effectivness mentioned above, it looks to me that the custom is to do as I say.

I went through the classfields and checked the most recent adverts for basses ~300 or less. I checked all that mention anything about shipping, without making a selection.

Here is what they say:

". I have the original box, so can post/courier at buyers expense"

"£300 cash on collection from Carlisle, Cumbria, or bank transfer £25 P&P for UK Mainland only." <-- 25 definitely does not cover a hard case + postage + insurance so I guess that's not the case..

"NOW ONLY £250 POSTED" <- hard case not mentioned in the advert. I suspect it would have been if there was one given it would be worth 25% of the bass

"would very much prefer collection in person here in north London (N21) as I can demo the bass with an amp and make sure that the potential buyer is happy. However I do have a couple of shipping boxes that I would be willing to post basses in at the buyers risk. "

"I'd much prefer collection in person, but I can also post at cost in the UK if needed as I do have a proper shipping box from another bass I purchased from Andertons in the summer."

I only remember once a hard case mentioned for a cheap bass in the revent past. But nite that it was a semihollow

I think Parcelforce says you have to ship instruments with a hard case, so shipping without it I guess would invalidate the insurance?

2 hours ago, Boodang said:

... and yet you're blaming parcelforce! I've got some sympathy, the economics of shipping something like a Squier is difficult but that doesn't make the bass any less delicate.

I look at the classfield regularly for basses in the £100-£300 range. Never bought anything more expensive here. You'll find that most adverts say something like "pickup xx but I have a box and I can ship".

Thst being said, I also agree that the neck off is a goid idea in principle. With some concwrns.

With an old battered Squier taking it off and putting it back on, carefully, caused a crack in the poly finish near the screw. It was probably a latent issue, the finish had many other cracks already. Personally I could not care less but these would be embarassing conversations to have at point of sale/purchase. Sure, less embarassing than a brocken neck.

I remember somebody selling a Squier body here with a big chip in the paint, he said it came off with the neck removal. 

Maybe there's something with Squier's poly finishes?

I would not be that harsh. I do not think the economics of selling Squiers in hard cases add up. I have not looked into insurance yet (I have not shipped a bass yet) but I suspect it's the same.

Last year I bought a Thomann hard case, proper crap, and it cost me some £90 all included if I remember correctly. If I buy a Squire I expect to receive it in a cardboard box and ship it in a cardboard box. We are talking stuff that cost 400 new and most of the time is on offer somewhere at 350 or less.

Buying used already means giving up on free returns for no good reason and multi-year guarantees, so the price needs to be competitive.

...on second thought, I would also argue that in most cases, having maybe 2, three max basses if you play very different genres, and sticking to them your whole life is perfectly fine unless you're a pro gigging musician who needs top end gear, and most of us are not that

It's all about having fun in the end

For LowEndLobster that's a specific hobby and the angle of his channel. I guess in general that's part of the point in modding. If one considers all the trial and error, cost of tools, zero resale valie, and time spent on it, just buying a bass that suit you makes more sense. But it's not the same.

Personally, I have swapped pickups quite a bit and I am a big believer in that. I tend to buy bottom-of-the range basses with cheap ceramic pickups. This does not mean they are bad per se, but I cannot see why I wouldn't drop in something like a £20 Wilkinson P If I prefer it, or some higher end pickups that often come out here at very good prices. 

As per the tuners, there are a few aspects of it. Some ar hard, and I could not care less. Some do not keep in tune for very long, and this bothers me a bit. While I never got to replace tuners just for that, I get a special satisfaction from one of my basses when I play it, pick it up the next day, and it'a still in tune. Is it worth say £50? For a bass that I play an awful lot, I would say yes, regardless of wether it cost me £100 or £500.

Then there is the weigh issue. Most basses I have got were at least a bit neck heavy, and could always do with some less weight. I have some hipshot licensed ultralitesthat I bought here for cheap. But again, for a bass that I play an awful lot, I think they are worth full prices, even if the bass I put them on is worth £100

Bridges? So far I do not care as long as they work. Maybe one day I'll think differently

I think I like both the sound and the looks. Not the price though, but atm my most expensive bass cost me ~€275 (admittedly 20 years or so ago's money) so please ignore me

I like that it's a shortscale that does not look too small. I guess it's the wide body, like many semihollows

Right, so glad I did this post earlier today. I was just thinking recently that I really wanted the bass in the link just it was priced a bit higher than I wanted to pay. Now with the price reduction, I was literally about to buy the third bass in a  month, then I remembered.. 

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/475623-2000-1-squier-affinity-precision-bass-and-rockbag-gig-bag-price-drop-£135-ono/

I thought I'd try this one and see if anybody is interested. This thread should be for people that, like me, failed the 2023 Gear Abstinence thread, or did not even try, but still want to commit to a period of abstinence. Or maybe, delaying their next purchase not for a set period of time, but until some objectives have been reached.

Like other basschatters who tried the Gear Abstinence game, I didn't even make it through February without buying a bass. Three weeks have passed and obviously, not being in it anymore, and after two months of abstinence, I have bought another bass, a pedal and a practice amp.
But now I miss the abstinence. In that thread I said I wouldn't buy gear before having done a few things including learning 30 songs and finishing an online course. Saying that publicly, even if in a forum where just a couple of people have seen me in person, had an unexpectedly positive effect. I was doing more learning, less noodling. More attention to how I play, less to whether bass X or string set Y come out better than bass Z and string set K, which objectively at my (extremely basic) level of playing does not matter.

So here I am again!
I am not going to buy any gear unless
-I have learnt 30 songs since the start of 2023, well for my level of playing
-I have finished a Talkingbass online course (chords for bass or walking bass)
-I have done a full fret dressing

For the purpose of this, I would also abstain from trying new types of strings!

In the end, they have given me a £25 voucher. I think this is very fair, especially considering I could have also returned at no cost. This brings the total cost of the bass, including postage and future postage of whatever I'll buy with the voucher (I am never short of ideas unfortunately :D) to around £85, which is half the HB B450 I was also considering.

I have fiddled with the bass more. A couple of considerations

-Weigh is worse than I initially though. Can't spend an evening with it on the shoulder. The positive first impression was probably linked to the great balance

-As for the pickups, after changing the strings I would agree there is nothing wrong with them. For a ~£100 bass, it does not sound bad at all. From memory, I would say it compares well with a Squier Affinity PJ (disclaimer: not a fan of their pickups). Pickup height as said cannot be adjusted correctly so maybe they have even more potential.

-On that note, initially I was thinking it would be a massive job (expanding the pickup cavity) and it put me off a lot. I am now thinking a neck shim (maybe a flat neck shim, not creating an angle but raising the neck altogether?) may do the trick at least to an extent. The bridge may need to be raised as well by putting something underneath. Btw it all may be even simpler, depending how thick is the foam under the pickups. Either way, not a massive job if it works

Is the bass worth thr money in the end? Well, it is worth £85 for sure. The nameplate price would be £166, and at that price I guess it depends. I certainly think this should be considered as an alternative to Harley Bentons. I would prefer it over a JB75fl as it balances better. With the HBZ 2004 it is a tough call. The HBZ is more versatile, but it costs £266 and is not a good mod platform as pickups are non-standard. Probably the Fazley wins for me.

On paper, without having tried it though, I would prefer the HB B450fl to a Fazley at £166

Right, so the bass has arrived.

I must say, the neck feels very nice, plenty of mwah, I would say as good as the HB JB75fl I had. Also, while it is definitely heavy, it is not ridiculously heavy, and it balances very well, unlike the HB.

BUT

- looks and feels cheap. Mine has glue marks here and there. Given the cost I would not hold it against the bass though

-More importantly, the pickup cavity is not deep enough. With a conservative setup (3mm E string height at the 15th position, "standard" for fretted but fretless tend to go lower) the P pickup pole is just 2mm away from the string. I doubt this is ok for the stock pickups. Certainly it is not ok for my plan to replace pickups - why would I put good pickups in if I cannot have them set up right?

I regret not ordering an HB B450fl, which is a bit more expensive but it is reportedly featherlight, sounds good, and is active with active-passive switch

I have asked Bax for a price reduction. I doubt they will be up for it. If they are not, this is likely going back

Well, I have a Squier P which balances well. It can happen