ead

[quote name='Ziphoblat' timestamp='1371108301' post='2109786'] Well I can't see Musicman making a claim to that based on my experience. [/quote] On a serious note (and apologies for the thread mini hijack) but in the current climate you think companies would be doing there utmost to support customers - not that they shouldn't do this all the time. I forget the stats, but I think we typically tell 7 times more people of bad experiences compared to good ones. Is that 'cause we're British and love a good moan?

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1371047000' post='2109060'] The thing to remember with custom builds is that you pay a hefty premium for the "custom" bit. A large part of the fee you pay goes into making something specific to your requirements, not necessarily on improving the "quality" of the finished piece. Yes, you expect it to be good quality, but not all of the price difference between an off-the-shelf model and a custom model is spent on "quality", if you see what I mean. [/quote] I'm not sure that I entirely agree with that. Yes I'm certain that the exclusivity (or whatever you choose to call it) forms part of the price, but I also think that the cost is related to the time and effort spent on the fit and finish of the bass. Luthiers will not be buying the quantity of parts that the mass manufactures do and will be buying higher quality raw materials too both of which will be reflected in the costs. Many of the hardware manufacturers have price points that lower dramatically at certain order values/quantities and these will never come into play for the small builders. There will also be the issue of financing the stock of woods that allows them to be thoroughly dry before use, and even allowing weeks for items like the neck to stabilise after the timber has been cut. None of the big manufacturers could cope with the quantity and cost of work in progress if the manufacturing time was measured in months not hours. At this point I will declare an interest as an ACG owned and fan, but I would urge you to compare one of Alan's Graft basses costing c. £800 with an MIA Fender probably costing the same if not more... All IMHO of course

Very interesting thread, really enjoying reading all the views. I've been fortunate to have owned a number of basses ranging in price from £60 up to my ACG custom fretless that was a little over £1,500. My experience has been that whilst all the fretted basses I have owned have been solidly under £500, my fretless basses have ranged from my first, a £70 RBX270F, upto the ACG. With the fretless basses it seems to me that the sound (tone) is more closely related to the qulity of the construction and materials. After the RBX I've had a MIJ Fender J (the most disappointing), a VIntage V1004, and a Jon Letts bass bought for a very reasonable sum. Each has had good and bad points, but as the construction 'quality' of the instruments, in particular the 'board and the stiffness and fit of the neck, improved the basses have sounded better to my ears at any rate. I appreciate quality is hugely subjective and the 'fit for purpose' label is as good as any, but for me the attention to detail moving away from mass manufactured instruments does make a difference. I suppose the other point in this is are we all comparing apples with apples? Is an older bass that may have been more expensive at birth and that has been sold on a few times until it qualifies as a 'cheap' bass, a fair comparison with a new more costly instrument. Should we benchmark all comparisons based on RRP when new adjusted for inflation? By way of an example my very first bass was a Squier P bought new for around £270. Seemed OK at the time and served to learn on. I later acquired a second hand (as in nearly new for the same money) Spector Legend which completely shifted my perspective on playablility and sound. When I was trying out the 5 string thing I bought an old Yamaha BBN5 for just north of £100 and that seemed like an excellent bass, but I have decided to stick with 4 strings. Just my thoughts really. Still loving my £110 Antoria Jazz though. It sits on the stand and gets noodled pretty much every day!

[quote name='Ziphoblat' timestamp='1371052905' post='2109206'] Have you dealt with them all? [/quote] I've never had the occasion to speak to anything Musicman related as I've never had one of their basses. Other than that...

+1 for Spector customer service. Albsolutely top notch and easily the best by a big margin of all the larger manufacturers.

I've never really given any thought to the signed / unsigned thing. Maybe I incorrectly assumed that most bands on BC would fall into the latter category - profuse apologies if I'm way off target. It's not something I look for, I just press 'play' and hope I'm going to like what I hear. Too true about the number of posts lamenting the music available - amybe we should provide these individuals with some well chose links to the BC recordings section

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1370878399' post='2106754'] BEAD on a 4-string worked fine except I found I needed it so rarely. I certainly found it preferable to 5-strings but I use a D-tuner now. [/quote] OK thanks for the info. I was thinking about the number of tunes we play where it might be useful and concluded 'not many' in all honesty although it might be nice to play up the neck on the lower strings occasionally.

Definitely a top notch bass there, beautiful top. I've having the passive set up in my next ACG too.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1370857961' post='2106257'] If BC members could be bothered to go to the recording section and listen to other members' music and watch their videos, then the posting of them in GD might lessen since there would be little need. But I suppose the majority of members would rather talk about, rather than actually listen, to music. [/quote] I suspect you are right about the second point. Education of members to look there would be the long term solution, maybe a hyperlink to a thread in the recoding section and stuff in footer (like you do Nigel). I think members would be aggrieved if for sale posts started appearing in the section - although I notice a number of "I'm thinking of selling this bass" type threads. For the record I listen to the stuff that gets posted and do visit the recording section too. Just seems a little odd that the sections on the site for specific topics by and large are read and posted in, the recording section, argualbly one of the more important bits of the site appears to have a poorer following.

I play all my basses and have gigged all except the ACG fretless until I sort out some insurance. Talking of which, an apologies for a minor thread hijack, but... [quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1370864201' post='2106423'] I guess having a bass is the same as anything else; if you can't afford to lose it, insure it. If you can't afford to insure it, then you can't afford to own it. I got a quote for £1200 of gear, covered for about £3 a month. It's not big bucks. [/quote] Where's a good place to go for insurance for musical related items?

Spec for #3 as follows: Graft Recurve 4 with 34" scale Body: Alder with black limba top Neck: Maple with maple fretboard 2 x SB pickups with passive electronics - bridge p/up over-wound Back to bassics - see what I did there

Beautiful. And don't worry your secret is safe with me

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1370805445' post='2105836'] I've used the BEAD of a TI Flats 5-string set on a 4 string bass, tuned BEAD. [/quote] How did that go? It's something that has crossed my mind more than once to try out on my 35" scale fretless (for the tension).

To state the blindingly obvious on behalf of all BCers... I used to own a Legend 4 and it is probably the bass I most regret selling. So much so that I recently acquired an NS-94.

I have a lightly used B string from a lightly used 5-string set I bought on here (for a 4-string bass) that you are welcome to if you'd like to try it out cheaply. Please feel free to drop me a PM if you're interested.

I think it has occasionally turned into other sections. Maybe a bit too many of the 'here's my new band vid/CD/website/song' (delete as appropriate) that should be elsewhere. I don't get too excised about it though.

Just got back from Moffat discussing #3 and also a change in the electronics for the Finn bass. Instead of the ACG EQ02 Alan is going to put one of the new ACG SEQ active systems in. Looking forward to this bass being finished in the not too distant future. Mr C was as always very helpful and provided plenty of advice and guidance. I'll share the spec shortly.

No of course not. In reality the Beatles recorded for only a few short years and holding them responsible for the last 50 years of popular music in general is unreasonable. They songs are in the context of the time in which they were written when the country had just emerged from the post war period of austerity and was looking for a bit of levity. I think the clue is in the genre - popular music - it's what people buy, like it or not. There's a separate discussion about what music is promoted by the industry and whether people would buy the 'mainstream' releases if there was more equal promotion to other styles of music. In the days of home recording, YouTube and the internet the choice has never been wider if you go looking.

Ian Anderson was always very demanding of his band and generally employed only the best he could find. I saw him do an accoustic set a year or two ago and that was excellent, I guy playing keys/percussion, one guitarist/bassist and IA, all very low level so he didn't need to strain his voice at all. A good evening had by all in a nice small venue (Burnley Mechanics).

Great band Tull. If I've seen them once, I've seen them 20+ times. So many good tunes. Start with Benefit and Stand Up and off you go until maybe Stormwatch then skip A, check out Broadsword and Crest of a Knave. After that I think the qulity is a little more variable, but as ever it's a personal thing. My favourites: Songs from the Wood, Heavy Horses and Minstrel in the Gallery & Thick as a Brick.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1370470746' post='2101633'] I firmly believe that 'analysing' music in this way, although instructive in many ways, is a bit self-defeating. The 'Fab Mop-Tops' or whatever did some great, and some very poor, stuff, as did, and do, most composers, bands, groups or whatever. Don't look for what's not there. You don't have to like or dislike any 'label'. It would be more interesting, perhaps, to listen to music without knowing by whom it was composed/performed. Alas, a bit of a pipe-dream for most of the Beatles stuff, but everyone's vision is treated by the lenses they have acquired over time. Enjoy, just the same, but the very disturbing opening of doors won't come to you now; at least, not through this medium. At 16, and in '66, Revolver was an electroshockkfor me. This, plus he Fairports, the Airplane, the Dead, Zappa, Shakti... the list is long. [/quote] This pretty much sums it up for me. I remember buying the LP of Dark Side Of The Moon shortly after it emerged. I listened to it so much I pretty much wore out the grooves in a few weeks and had to buy another. Completely altered my perception of music.

I like the early stuff, but you may want to try the so called 'white album' or maybe Rubber Soul.

Andy, you're welcome to borrow my Midget but I appreciate that meeting up may be a bit trickier.

I've seen the buttons individually but not the strap bits - not that I've searched extensively for them.