Chris2112

This guy sounds like a real tosser! Fair enough if he wants to keep his item, but he is not being a gentleman about it. He should have been honest from the start!

Very smart!

Give him a ring then and find out whats going on!

I'd give him a ring (from a withheld number) and try and sort it out over the phone. See what the score is, see if he has dropped the ball. If he isn't forthcoming with some good answers, just leave him some bad feedback.

Oh dear! Sounds like trouble! I much prefer to buy and collect basses myself, although I appreciate that isn't always possible. I've never been mis-sold anything though,or had anything damaged in transit.

G&L are good but I do find they can lean towards being boat anchors at times. They're nice and sound great, but the designs do feel a bit old hat. I'd still own one if I were looking for an "old skool" bass but even then, aside from having some coil splitting options I don't think they improved on the Stingray design. When there are so many wonderful things to experience, I don't think bassists need to look back as much as they do. I've just discovered singlecut designs, having liked the look of them for years but never ownedone. It's a revelation!

It was interested when Hadriend Feraud appeared and he was playing his Burner everywhere - one of the top line wooden topped ones. IIRC He got a USA Ken Smith bass but then endedup playing the Burner fulltime because he preferred the feel and sound! As I've said they do sound good but I don't think they're quite up there with the big boys like Fodera and Alembic in terms of amazing tonal quality. They can sound so compressed off the bat sometimes, which can make that lovely midrange honky and silly sounding.

Andy, that does look lovely! Those wood topped Burners have always looked good! I find Smith basses very interesting because outside of Fodera and Alembic they are probably the highest profile handmade American basses. They are very acute in what they do they, I have found them all to have a very focused tone, relying heavily on the midrange. It's a very nice sound for fingerstyle playing but I've always thought if the gig calls for something other than that deep, burpy sound you'd be taking a knife to a gunfight. Still, they look nice and play well. I'd still like to own one someday, but the handful that I've played have never really "hit the spot" for me. Good, but not something I'd consider to be absolutely top line. Far more interesting than a Fender though!

Guitar Guitar are typically the best place to look for good gear on the highstreet. They usually have a couple of nice guitars in, although the bass selection can occasionally be a bit "vanilla" if they haven't got any used gear in.

[quote name='Machines' post='1006596' date='Oct 30 2010, 07:17 PM']So Holly is a white, almost grainless wood, right ?[/quote] If you get the right piece, although you can get some with grain or figuring.

I'd just look at the used market. Give it a few months and you're bound to see a good one for a good price!

I'll be honest, that does look awful.

Well, I'd do what you've done and go down the Musicman route - it is IMO the natural evolution of the J and P bass! I find myself a little bored overall with typical setups and I've turned towards basses that are a little more interesting - graphite components, headless designs, high tech preamps etc etc. However, I am not a fan of things that are frivilous in design, they have to add to incredible tone or playability. Recently I've found myself interested in basses with unique and interesting preamps and electronic settings. Things like Alembics, ACGs, Wals etc etc. I also believe that the Musicman style humbucker pickup is the way forward, it just sounds so much better than a singlecoil or a split coil or whatever!

I've always thought Behringer stuff was pretty good for the money, the morally dubious quality is another thing.

Lovely looking bass there, not sure it sounds so good through the TC Electronics head though.

That Kingbass #4 really is stunning. I was offered it for a sale a few years ago for something ridiculous like £850! That must have been on Bassworld. I'll get a Kingbass one of these days!

Thats what I love about Fodera, their simplicity and elegance. I think this is the key to their design above all other things, they look so natural and avoid the tacky and contrived look of some handmade basses such as Ritter etc etc.

They're nice basses and without looking at the Ebay auction I can't comment on the price. However, having had the chance to play Pro basses and the top line mk1 and mk2 models there is (IMO) quite some distance between them. For instance, I don't dream of owning a Pro series Wal but I've been made about the Mk2 basses for years!