Bass Porn

Whoa.

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not a sacrilege I think, we don’t all like the same things. I don’t like those Warwick at all. to me a Warwick is a pretty “cold” instrument, in fact, that’s not at all what I’m looking for.

I like the fact that we don’t like the same things, no sacrilege in my opinion, just some diversity :grin:

About all the vintage Fender stuff : I understand the “part of history” thing, but I don’t believe those instruments were really better than what you get today. Saying that, I must precise that I played a few vintage Fender (and Gibson) guitars, I don’t speak without knowing anything about this.
It’s not really the same thing about amps, but I would recommand AGAINST buying a vintage amp unless you know an amp tech. I have some friends who bought vintage amps and they all were pretty happy to know me to repair them at some point :sweat_smile: but some of those vintage amps sounded insanely good. (and … as an amp geek, of course I myself own a few vintage amps, some of them being pretty prestigious :innocent: )

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Not this one, surely?

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Yes… without having done anything even approximating a scientific study on this (blindfolded, with control groups, the whole shebang), and without ever having played one of those fabled vintage instruments, I would agree with @terb based only on what my stomach tells me!

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No. You absolutely don’t want to get a Rockbass without the Warwick logo on it.

I’d probably be looking for a later model Streamer LX or maybe Streamer Stage I. Probably not a Stage I as they are heavier (though they are neck-through). The Rockbass versions of these are pretty reasonable, especially used.

The one in that ad is priced probably double its value as well.

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Amazing the way someone has just chizeled a thumb rest into the body lol.

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I follow a few Facebook groups for home building guitars. Some of the folk are full-time professional luthiers, some are part time custom builders, and some are hobby builders, but the one attribute they all share is an ability to create beautiful instruments. I started following the groups to get some basic info and motivation/encouragement to have a go, but sometimes I just have to sit back and admire their work and know that I may never scale these heights.

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I wasn’t aware of this instrument.
I saw Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band a few times in the early 70’s (72/73) so may well have seen this live.
I saw the reformed Magic Band a few times too, over the last 10 years or so, but Mark Boston (Rockette Morton) was playing a more ‘modern’ bass for those shows.
Let’s hope you get a chance to play it :+1:

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Oh My

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That’s a beautiful bass.

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I played it!
It’s amazing. Can’t really explain it… I brought my 50s road worn reissue, and it sounds pretty good.
Then I plugged into the Beefheart bass… and it was just better. So so so so much better. 60s P necks had a tighter taper, not as wide at the nut as mine, thinner neck too. It had been modded with a badass bridge, and had round wounds on it (which was a surprise to me).
But, even when the other musicians on the session asked - “what makes it better” it’s an ineffable, mysterious thing.
Years and years and years of being infused with sex, drugs, rock and roll, and killer grooves. It just has a vibe.

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I can imagine.

Ah, there we go!

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That’s just an amazing thing for you to have happen.

On the strength of your post about this, I looked at some Magic Band stuff and stumbled across some interviews conducted by this guy in recent years with the 4 guys from the Trout Mask Replica sessions, about the sessions - including Mark Boston, who’s interview is sadly not on vid but just audio.

This is the John French/Drumbo one in case you’re interested, and I’m guessing you must have an interest lol

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This is gooood stuff. I tried to find a video of Beefheart playing with this instrument… couldn’t find anything. Well, dang. I still like the story though. As a legend, I’ll stand by it!!

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So I assume by now its pretty well known that I have an obsession with StingRays. :smirk: Figured I’d post this beauty that yesterday was dropped into “The Vault.” For those that are not Music Man fanatics, The Vault is the super limited edition stuff that they just randomly put up for sale. Most of the stuff they make is a limited run of less than 20, sometimes 10, 5, or even just 1! Some times literally only ONE!!! For example there was a Bongo posted yesterday where they only made one of. Spoilers its already gone. :rofl: The one below is a run of 5. Since I plan to buy a StingRay in 2020, it certainly caught my eye and raised an eye brow. However, there are two standard colors that I certainly enjoy so I’m only pulling the trigger if a special edition just has me over the moon. What I’m really hoping for is an active dual humbucker 5 string with the body of the 4 string in a color that I at least enjoy. The active 5 string on a 4 body with dual humbuckers is really the motivator here, and not the finish. Now if that doesn’t happen, then the finish is nearly the lone decider as you can get an active dual humbucker on every finish in a 4 string. You might also see something the early part of next month as MM drops their “Ball Family Reserve” bimonthly picking 3 or 4 guitars across their entire line to do something special with. Those runs are of around 100 or less usually. Nevertheless, here is today’s vault drop.

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If you’re in the market for some mild bass porn (nothing too kinky), check out Bass Buddha’s channel on YouTube:

I’m quite aroused by the Nash and Sandberg four-string basses, particularly the heavy aged stuff. So much so that I’m seriously considering a Sandberg as my first bass. Nothing quite as smutty as the heavy aged stuff (which is upwards of 2000 eurobucks) though.

Speaking of Sandberg, they launched a short-scale at NAMM 2020, the “Lionel”:

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Yes, seen the Bass Buddha…not least since we share the same country of residence :grin:

But, yeah, he is more into the pricey stuff, which, of course, gives good examples for the main topic of this thread :smile:

@Timberfist: Sandberg makes some great basses - if money is not a restriction, then you can custom-tweak almost all of their models - it’s the Configurator on their webpage. My “dream Sandberg” would look like this:

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The configurator is fun and I’ve spent a lot of time in it. You can go even further though. I was talking to them about some bespoke custom work and they were well up for it. Obviously that costs more though. I think a lot of their model variations are from requests for bespoke work that they liked the end result of.

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I found two Sandbergs for sale on Gumtree and they were both quite reasonable prices for a higher end bass. I wonder if some of the configurations lose a bit more value than others, given that they’re more personal.

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Good point… and you are probably right! Could make for a better “buyer’s position” then… :grin:

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