The Last Bass Outpost

I came across this on facebook today, Fender is releasing a "Bassman TV" series of Amps that look like little tweed TV sets of yesteryear. I think they're all tube tube driven and include an XLR out which is a definite plus & casters on some models.

You can give them a scout over, at their website (including a little commercial, and some sound bytes): http://www.fender.com/fba/bassmantv/

I guess in keeping with their new PLEK system and their own "in-house custom wound pickups and matching preamp" that Lakland has begun phasing out the Scheff Bass. I guess maybe it has to do with lessening sales and probly the fact that it uses the Kent Armstrong Lipstick Jazz pickups. But its no longer up under the Lakland website. Sad day. =(

I came across an interesting eBay find today about pre-orders for a new '58 Danelectro Longhorn reissue. And in so doing, went over to DanGuitars.com and saw they have a 'Sneak Peak' for the new '09 Danelectros. Which look pretty sweet.
http://www.danguitars.com/2009Danos.html

They're offering the '58 Longhorn (in copperburst w/ pointer stacked knobs), and what seems to be a D-series guitar, and a D-series Baritone as well. All seem to have very era-specific stylings. And look really sharp.

I've been wanting to put Competition Racing Stripes on my Gibson Thunderbird Studio since before I even won mine on Ebay. But I'm not a big fan of making permanent cosmetic changes to instruments (Cars, amps, or anything else for that matter; unless it makes them better somehow).
So... I've been looking to see if I could find some sort of removable "Static Cling" type decals that I could cut to size and put over the finish.

I know if I leave them on there too long they'll eventually fade/corrode the finish. But I figured the effect could be less permanent this way. And I could just get in a habit of removing and reapplying them I suppose.

I wondered if something like the 'Scratch Pad' might be modified for this use. If you haven't heard if it before, since they are relatively new, The Scratch Pad is a removable guard designed to protect the back finish of the guitar/bass that typically gets minor scratches and 'buckle rash'. Also they're marketing it to Stores as a way to protect the guitars they're selling. http://www.scratchpadusa.com/index.html
The only downside with the Scratch Pad is that they come in limited colors and seem to be velvet covered. Plus they have been known to have adverse effects on Nitrocellulose finished instruments.

So I thought I'd bring my question here, and see if you guys had any suggestion/ideas that I might be able to investigate and use to do this.

While I was watching random videos on youtube today (broading my musical knowledge and wasting as much time as possible) I came across this. Its about a 1:30 sampling of an Eastwood EEB-1 bass (the Ampeg-esque fretted one) that has had the stock pickup replaced with a Q-Tuner BL-4 pickup.


I ran across Q-tuner a few months ago (it kept appearing in the ads across the top of my Gmail) and they seem to have a very neat looking/sounding pickup. For a quick overview, Q-tuner pickups are passive neodymium magnets that are adjustable through 11 M3 screws via Allen wrench. You can get them to fit jazz or humbucker sized routes, and they also sell guitar pickups in single and humbucker version.
You can check them out here: http://www.q-tuner.com/

Hey guys, gals and strange green creatures from the vicinity of Betelgeuse. Just wanted to throw a little love out to ye olde Gibson Forum and ask a question.

Having recently switched from a short-scale to the Thunderbird Studio, I haven't yet had to get strings for it yet. So I thought I'd pose the question of what strings you are using for your Thunderbird (or Thunderbird Studio)? I just restrung it recently with a set of Gibson roundwounds that I found in a bargain bin at a local music store (can't remember the gauge off-hand, I'll try to update that later). But I doubt that I'll be able to find those again. So whats your Thunderbird string poison?