80Hz

Funnily enough it started life that way, but was fretted by the previous owner.

More like glamb rock... we might risk dazzling the sheep 🐑 [I'll see myself out 🚪]

My inner magpie wouldn't stop chattering since seeing this... I've wanted a bass with one of these metal flake finishes for years... I'd considered going the custom finish / build route but this ticked all the boxes. Really happy to have a G&L back in the stable. It's a great sounding bass too, loads of sustain and zing. All being well it will be making it to the 2025 North West & Scotland Bass Bash 😀

As your bass is the same year and colour as my old tele, that era of lake placid blue has always felt ever so slightly green tinted to me. But it's always subject to slight variations. Crap photo with dubious lighting, but here's my P with the mint guard. I've tried to leave a bit of white paper in there to help with white balance. Looking forward to seeing it with whatever you choose -that's the important bit of course!!

Lovely bass and the Mexico factory were kicking out some great instruments at this time. I had a 2010 MiM tele which was an excellent player. lol at the tort vs white pickguard debate, when the correct answer is obviously mint. (I have a lake placid blue + dark rosewood Chender P with this combo and it's a good look) Edit: 350 is a steal, congrats on the pre-pandemic pricing 😆

The neck is absolutely gorgeous. The way the lines / cracks on the body finish and the brushing on the pickguard align gives it a very unified look. Also the colour of the pickguard brings together the neck and body finish. Enjoy it!!

Yeah, you make a good point, and I was thinking about this the other day. From a manufacturing perspective tariffs could be disastrous for a company like Fender which, if what one reads on the interwebs is true, regularly transport parts between the US and Mexico facilities. They're only 180 miles away from each other. Perhaps the line of thinking is, if import tariffs increase the price of this manufacturing model, its inevitable that will raise both the price of USA made and Mexico made instruments, for the US domestic market at least. As many counties will likely respond with retaliatory tariffs on American made luxury goods, the cost of a brand new instrument with an F logo may well get hit twice, and that's not even taking into account general inflation and the likely disruption to international markets if a trade war happens. So the Indonesian made line will be a good entry point for ordinary folks without big budgets. Or buy used, it's not like they're rare! Just conjecture of course, I'm no expert in international economics 🤔

If anything it seems to me that the Squiers have been a bit more adventurous / creative in choices of colours, special editions etc. The new releases are fairly, well, pedestrian in that regard. Let's hope a few bucks of that 100 price difference goes into tight QC.

There's something about it which satisfies my eye in terms of proportion (the carved extension on the headstock seems to add to that, funny that it's sort of a Tbird headstock turned upside down)

I love this shape. It's like it's anticipating the more extreme angling of something like a Jackson Warrior or a Washburn Dime. I know nothing about Overwaters. Would these be late 70's early 80's?

This product / price positioning makes a lot of sense though. The MIM instruments used to occupy the circa $/£500 mark a few years ago, but with inflation and the Ensenada plant making "nicer" lines such as Player Plus, there's a gap for a new standard Fender series that hits that price point. Of course it will be interesting to see a side-by-side CV to FS comparison.

Yeah I get a little of that. Everything looks a bit packed in. Those tuners hanging out beyond the bottom curve of the body don't help with it looking "busy". Then again, I guess if you want six strings, a compact body, and plenty of control over the sound this is where you end up. Looking forward to demos of this series anyway.

That's a very fair price for something with probably about £300 worth of upgrades and fret TLC. Your JB's a good deal too. I also just noticed this hanging out in for sale - same pickup configuration as an L-2000 - very cool looking bass imo:

Yeah, Guitar Guitar have very little in stock, no basses; Andertons have some guitars but only one bass at time of writing. Weird. That '81 L-2000 on BassBros is the real deal though - pre lawsuit headstock too. I expect something like that would hold its value well.

Yeah, I think in general the used market is in flux as sellers inflation-adjust their prices upwards, meanwhile there's more and more great used gear around (just maybe not G&Ls 😆)

Not sure if you're anywhere near Manchester but this guy seems to have basses for sale by the tonne on Gumtree. He has a nice looking Tribute for sale: https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/g-l-tribute-series-l-2000-4-string-bass-guitar-sunburst-stunning-/1490956546 The serial number says 2015, well before most of the recent QC shenanigans. Edit: if memory serves the L-1000 I saw was about £900, so you may be able to find a US made in that general price range.

I had a pretty bad experience with a Tribute series ASAT guitar - QC was very poor, and overall it was a bit of a mess. But this was during the Covid era when every company's QC went out the window. However that hasn't soured me on the brand, and in fact I'm eyeing up a USA G&L as we speak (not an L-1000 or 2000, so we're not in competition 😉). I'd certainly consider another Tribute just on the strength of the bridge hardware + pickups, but I'd want to check it out in person first. Let us know the outcome!

Are you thinking USA made or Tribute series? There was a CLF Research L-1000 that came up on Gumtree a few weeks ago which I almost snagged, but dithered for too long and it was gone. So they're out there, but it might need a bit of patience. Not sure on preamps, etc, but replacement pickups can be sourced direct from G&L. I also saw elsewhere on the forum that parts (so presumably also electronics) can be sourced from UK G&L dealers.

This document https://www.kester.com/Portals/0/Documents/Knowledge Base/Lead-free-Hand-Soldering.pdf was of interest. As I read it, a lead-free, tin-silver-copper alloy seems to be the most widely used, and in terms of flux, "no-clean" is widely used. I'm far from an expert, but this is where I'm going to start looking, cross-referencing with manufacturer safety info sheets. It's entirely possible these are specialized solders made for specific types of manufacturing. Happy to be enlightened by those in the know 😉

Fair enough - I wasn't aware it was the rosin! Looks like a good time to research flux alternatives. Monitoring the thread with interest.

Recently I too had to get a new iron as the Maplin thing I was bodging stuff with hit peak useless. I used to have a nice Hakko station but sold it when I moved from 60Hz to 50Hz land (what is it with me and Hz..??). I know the OP is sorted now, but in case anyone else is looking, I ended up with one of these, a Yihua 939D+ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BTY3NHZS Sadly the budget for simple guitar/speaker/microphone wiring couldn't run to a replacement Hakko or a Weller, but I still appreciate having a sturdy "station" with a separate holder for the iron, and the extra cleaning gubbins, etc. So far it seems to work nicely for what it is, plenty of heat for lead-free solder, and seems to hold temperature pretty well. My preferred solder is Kester leaded rosin core (44 I think?) Fairly expensive, but a roll got me through several years of hobbyist work. I'll need a new roll soon, probably should look a lead-free, but that's pretty low down my list of things I'm worried about dying from.

Goodness, the fretboard on the OP's instrument is stunning. A tasteful choice to have that paired with a black finish.

I'm a longtime Ibanez fanboy so I really want the EHB series to be successful. Ibanez tend to do a good job of iterative refinements and improvements, so it's probably just a matter of time before "my" model comes along 🙂

This prompted me to look at the Ibanez website and I see there are now EHB models with the Fishman Fluence pickups. I would definitely be checking out any demos of those. I came close to buying a SR MS720 earlier in the year as I thought the Fluences sounded great.

Former EHB 1505 owner here. I found it great to play - ergonomics are excellent, and with the chambering it was very light. Not to mention it just looks wonderful and futuristic But you're correct, those low gloss finishes need to be babied as they will ding and mark just by looking at them (well, not quite, but you know what I mean). I sold it as I just couldn't get a sound out of it that I was happy with. I must be the only person on the planet who doesn't dig Nordstrands!! The B string also had (to my ears) a strange inharmonic overtone that dominated the note. So yeah, if you're interested in an EHB I would be tempted to go for one with a more "standard" poly finish. I can also attest that the T1 pickups are excellent - I had a BTB 805 MS for a short time and it was a great sounding bass (I sold it because of the satin finish problem, it was an absolute boat anchor, and the German carve around the body was nearly slicing through my forearm). Can't help you on the 1265, but my experience with the Nordstrands would lead me to not dismiss the Bartolinis out of hand - it just depends on the type of music you play and whether the tone profile of the Barts would be a good match.