von Braun

Just seen this, it was very moving reading through the thread. With all the crap in the news, it's good to see the humanity. I've stuck a little something in the pot. Good luck with everything Andy.

Lovely, I am very partial to the Gibson basses from this era, the Ripper, Grabber and G3 especially. The RD always seemed like a studio bass rather than a good all rounder like the others. As an earlier poster said, much underrated. GLWTS, this is very well priced.

I do like a Westone, great quality for the money. I have a Thunder 1A out on loan to a mate which I really should get back. This is several notches up on that. GLWTS.

Ibanez basses from this era are true quality instruments and basically bulletproof. I had '79 active Roadster bass that I used for rehearsals 10 years ago, lived in the back of the guitarist's farmers Landy, along with hay bales, horse feed and sundry other detritus (in it's battered old case) and never put a foot wrong and near enough still in tune every time. Epic! It did acquire an unfortunate slight niff of the farmyard though and when I came to shift it on, I had to let the original case go and air it out for a couple of weeks...Great basses and the Studios have so much flexibility in terms of sound.

I couldn't stretch to an EB2d but I did have the Epiphone sister bass a '64 Rivoli which I sold during a skint period in the 80s to my regret!

Morning all, many thanks for your comments. Now sold pending the usual.

Thanks guys, it is a lovely thing. Just weighed it and it comes in at 3.45Kg, so one of the lighter ones.

Evening all, I have for sale an EBMM USA Sterling in Blue Pearl with the traditional unfinished roasted maple neck/board and inlaid neck plate purchased from . The EBMM site dates it to June 15th 1998 but also states that it should have a rosewood board and while I'm no expert, I would say that the neck currently on the bass is the original, it feels so integral. That point aside, the bass is entirely original and is in excellent working order with plenty of fret life and no crackle from the controls. I put it through its paces last night and bearing in mind that I hadn't played it in over a year and it had been sat in its case, only the G was slightly out of tune, which I thought was pretty impressive. Being a 24 year old bass, there is one ding which I have attempted to capture in the pictures below, just below the volume knob. For those that aren't familiar with it, the USA Sterling is a very versatile bass with a ceramic (rather than alnico) pick-up with 3-way switching between series, parallel and single coil. There is also a phantom coil which prevents hum when switched to single coil, I believe some guitar P-90s have this, it's a very useful feature. There is a 3-band EQ giving bass boost/cut, mid boost/cut and treble boost/cut, so it is possible to dial in a lot of different tones. Also, this is a powerful bass that can cut it with any guitar in the mix, it won't get lost that's for sure. And that brings me to the reason for sale, I just don't need something with this much grunt any more, so I would rather it went to a good home and saw some action, gutted as I will be to see it leave. In terms of playability, this is one of the nicest basses I have had the pleasure to play, the profile of the neck is very Jazz (as opposed to the Stingray's more Precision feel) and the lack of finish gives it a fast smooth feel. The intonation is excellent all the way to the sculpted heel which gives great accessibility to the high notes, if you like that kind of thing! 😊 Set up on the Sterling is easy due to the dial wheel truss rod and the bridge is the later model (post Flea bridge with no mute posts) but very solid and keeps the strings well locked in. This one is strung with a set of DR Hi Beams (100-45s) which were put on in late 2019 when the bass was last set up and neck re-oiled but due to Covid they are hardly played and have plenty of life left. All in all, a great bit of kit which I will be sad to see go, it comes complete with an old school, sturdy EBMM hard case (curiously like an old Fender model) which is also in very good order with no rips or tears. The Sterling also has Schaller strap-locks fitted which I will leave on and throw in a Nu-buck strap with the matching lock clips. I have priced this at £1100 couriered in mainland Britain, which looking at Reverb, Bass Gallery and other sites, seems a fair price point. I will use a reliable courier and the bass will be delivered (insured) in it's case which in turn will be wrapped.

For sale, a mint 2006 Fender MIM three colour sunburst, two piece alder body complete with an equally mint Leo Quan Badass 2 bridge, a Kiogon Volume/Blend/Tone solderless control plate (with the usual array of fine electronic components) and a genuine Fender replacement '62 tortoiseshell scratchplate. There were a pair of Lindy Fralin pick-ups on this but I have plans for those and the neck. This bass was bought new by me from, the now defunct, Fret music in Southampton, the Badass 2 was installed by a local luthier (Vince Hockey) so intonation was excellent. This body does have a particularly fine paint job and the figuring of the visible wood grain is quite striking for alder, which is normally a bit average. I only ever used the bass for some acoustic gigs (after I realised that my acoustic bass wasn't cutting it) and the occasional rehearsal, so it was never in a "hostile environment" and always hard cased. The body is more or less showroom minty, as is the scratchplate. The Kiogon VBT control plate I found gave me a more nuanced sound than the original VVT and the upgrade of pots and caps was very noticeable and got the best out of the Lindy Fralins. The neck plate and screws will be included, as will the Kiogon wiring diagram and mini-screwdriver. Body weight including bridge, scratchplate and control plate is just shy of 3KG. I'm looking for £330 posted in mainland Britain. The body will be fully bubble wrapped, boxed and couriered with insurance. I'm not looking for trades at present. 0 postedin

Definitely a punk era classic, Paul Simenon, Sid Vicious et al. Great bass, GLWTS. Love this quote from Simenon, on how he trashed the wrong bass: “The show had gone quite well,” he recalls, “but for me, inside, it just wasn’t working well, so I suppose I took it out on the bass. If I was smart, I would have got the spare bass and used that one, because it wasn’t as good as the one as I smashed up. When I look at it now, I wish I’d lifted my face up a bit more.”