simisker

That's a brilliant idea! Do this!

..

When I bought my custom Elwood three years ago, I ended up having to pay import duty some months afterwards. I didn't have to pay to 'release' the bass from customs or anything; it was shipped to me by PP once ready. The duty came afterwards in the shape of an invoice from DHL, if I remember rightly - 150 quid or so [I wonder if Adrian declared a lower than accurate value... 🤔]

I guess I'm seeing something different to you guys. All I'm seeing is something that's Cort quality* - including the clearly misnomered premium** gig bag - for TWICE the price. Or, for the same price, you could get an actual MTD Kingston. Oh, hang on, wait: 3 free months of lessons in the Gibson App? Fair enough, then 😛 * Not that I'm being disparaging about Cort quality; quite the opposite! It's just that they don't slap £1.5k-2k price tags on their instruments. ** IMO, if a gig bag doesn't have a proper padded handle, it's not premium. End of.

Nerdiest bass: any 'coffee table' single-cut bass*. Ultranerd points for when you reel off all the exotic woods involved. 'Cos you sure as hell ain't buying one for the cool rock 'n' roll looks * for the record, I have one**. ** Wenge, Walnut and Flamed Maple.

Yes, it's possible - Alan fitted my ACG Salace with a P-Retro and a battery box. It's a great preamp.

Heh - no, true... because they're aware of the fragility of egos. Or if they aren't, they soon would be made aware Maybe it's because I come from the indie/rock/alternative side of the tracks, but I've interpreted a 'band' as an artistic collaboration between all members [in variable proportions, obviously/famously]. And maybe I'm being presumptuous, but it's this collaborative definition that, I think, is what OP/Beato/Richard Osman et al have all been all been implying when they refer to a 'band'. Beck wasn't a band. CMat isn't a band. Idles ARE a band. At least, that's how I'm interpreting it. Just don't ask me what The Fall were

True, but then you're not a band member, you're a hired hand.

I think that's fair and a level-headed approach. The elephant in the room, as alluded to by the OP, is that bands as we maybe knew them are either dead or hibernating, and us bassists... well, we're supporting band members. With a few remarkable outre exceptions, we kinda need a band. (As much as I'd love the idea of solo bass guitar becoming 'culturally ascendent'! :D)

I'd never thought of it as gravid, but now it's obvious and I'll never be able to unsee it

From the late Chris Cross' collection auction? I was tempted myself, it's an iconic bass - I thought the all grey look was cool AF. Congratulations! Of course, the pressure is now on to also acquire Midge's Ibanez

That's the fella! Right, time for this old dog to learn a new trick. Thank you

Here is just one of the many brilliant tracks from the greatest computer game soundtrack of all time. Yes: in retrospect, I found out it's a Thunderthumbs Johnson homage. But my question is: How is he doing that triplet/rapid-fire staccato percussive thing from approx 2:50 ? ['he' being Arion Salazar from Third Eye Blind, it turns out!]

Well, that was worth the wait 😍 What a sensational* collection you have there, @ziggydolphinboy ! * you won't believe the inner conflict that had to happen in order to stop me from saying "Sei-nsational" or "Sen-sei-tional". Ah, goddammit!

Yeah, I'd say it was a Vantage that has seen enthusiastic sanding. The hexagonal-ish tuners line up, as do the controls on the bloaty body: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8XFw90ns-Y