The Last Bass Outpost

so my Krugerands into Gibson mission has struck the rocks.

I bought a 93 thunderbird from Reverb, when I got it and tuned it to pitch there was a horrible rattling when playing the open E and A. I took it to my local guitar tech to check out to see if it just needed a setup or  I had bought a lemon. 

The results are not good.
 He got the buzzing to go away with a truss rod adjustment, but a twist in the neck means the G is always going to have a reasonably high action (TBH i could live with this, I played it like it and it didn't seem all that high)

But worse when he was putting new strings on it the E tuner cog is broken.

I dont know whether to at this point engage with Reverb to get my money back  or keep it and ask for the price of a new machine head to be refunded?

my guy says that to replace it with a non Gibson part will require a larger hole to be reamed which will obviously affect the value. how likely am I to be able to find a replacement?

 what do I do ?
 

I'm looking to invest around £2k in a Gibson bass i can hang on my wall and look at, that will not depreciate in value

I'm looking at this bird on reverb, its a bit  younger than i was hoping for, but also a lot cheaper than I was expecting  is there any reason for this? were mid 90s birds pigs for any reason?

https://reverb.com/uk/item/74601496-gibson-thunderbird-iv-1993-vintage-sunburst

following on from this thread, https://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=12304.0

I think if I'm going to do this I really want a Gibson, ideally a thunderbird, how far will my £3k go towards a 70s bird?

as in what are the ballpark prices?

I know when it comes to it I will do my own research but time is pretty tight at the moment so coming here for a rough idea please?
cheers
 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1977-78-Fender-Jazz-Bass-Guitar/264754366975?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D0ec95b714b3b468784d0160480dbd896%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D373027024568%26itm%3D264754366975%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057%26brand%3DFender&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Afa3e1ff4-d983-11ea-a6f3-c6f75989466a%7Cparentrq%3Ace7cb0b81730a69c21817585ffff923d%7Ciid%3A1

Hi,
   I have a favour to ask, does anyone have a subscription to a guitar magazine that allows searchable reference to online back issues. I need to find an issue that has a review of the DS-1
 
  its a Uni assignment where I have to do a compare and contrast piece based on 4 reviews of an effect. Ive just found out that one of them has to be hardcopy (book, magazine etc.)
 
I thought I could search online for the right issue  then get it on back order or second hand from ebay ...
 turns out its hard to search issues without having a subscription

can anyone help ?

more children doing Classic rock, the singer has quite a voice on her, although she does seem to be channeling Anne Wilson in her prime
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkLWC-clCjk

sooo, I have been inspired by the reception 999 got for his non traditional bass to share my project..

 This has actually been ongoing for the whole time I've been on the outpost, alongside the baby bird, the flying Vii and the twin tele, but I didn't think this was the place for coffee table basses and was hesitant  about the reaction I would get. I was also I thinking to wait for the finished piece before sharing, but certain lifechanging  events mean I'm not going to have time for bass building for the next few years so its going to stay as it is for the foreseeable

 TBH my own tastes usually run to the traditional, but .. I have a background in sculpture and always had a keen interest in the science of ergonomics so..

  It all started when I was given a load of Jazz bass chromeware(pickup and bridge cover, weird curved control plate and tuners), I had the carcass of my old Maison (copy of a bass collection ) that I wanted to resurrect because the neck is still the nicest I have ever played so the original idea was to see what that would look like oldschool chromed up. Unfortunately the body was too small to fit it all on so I set out to carve my own body.

 This was the project that sent me to the wood reclaim yard where I discovered the kerua wood that i used in the flying Vii

  The build has taken me about 7 years so far, a gradual process of making it the most comfortable bass to wear. The process has been to glue wood on and carve, then put it all together and play it for a few terms to get an idea of the fit , then in the holidays strip it apart and add more wood, and carve again, rebuild rinse and repeat. Annoyingly I cant locate all of the early photos, so the pics start from about mark5, but you can get an idea from the last rework which was to adapt the head stock to accommodate a drop D tuner. all the wood used, both the kerua tonewood central spar and the random other bits I used for the rest of it is recycled junk wood.

  She now sports a chinabucker and sounds like a bird but earlier on in the build I used the J pickup from the Maison and ppl said it sounded like a Ric. the controls should be  tonemonster active preamp but I managed to kill it during the install so at the moment its just volume and 3 dummies. I'm now thinking that I might stay passive and put the J pickup back in in the bridge position instead.

  Shapewise, I know it looks horrible, but is so comfortable, having the body shaped in all 3 dimensions means it wraps around me, and the playing position and neck are exactly where I want them to be, standing up the back curl sits on my hip and the top of it is perfectly contoured for my arm to lay on. Sitting down the lower bout is exactly where it needs to be to sit on my knee. And of course the balance is spot on. the old adage about not strapping it on but wearing it really holds true, and it being so comfortable to play really helps me to play, I feel like I play better with her than any other bass

  Due to my work I often have to put my instruments down in a hurry to deal with stuff so to avoid detuning when I lay them down most of my instruments sport coathooks or drawer handles on the back of the headstocks, but for this I have the luxury of incorporating a 3d headstock design so that it lays on the floor without the tuners being disturbed.

 At the moment its still primered but eventually I imagine a shiny fire engine red...

   Mark 5



Mark 6 (thrown together and primered so that i could use it for my college performances)

 


Mark 7 (headstock rebuild for detuner, Chinabucker fitted and string through added)





 sooo,
 whatdya think ? (ducks)

On a recent load in I noticed a bunch of monitors marked Motorhead (it was some pop band) when I remarked on it to the touring guy he told me that the PA company had inherited them by dint of being the PA company on the last tour. apparently Lemmy had no will so all his equipment is wherever it was left.
 makes you wonder what will happen to his basses ?