killerteddybear

Agree. You'll have to wipe that guys' cooties off the bass if you buy it.

It looks like reverse grain laminations to reduce twisting. Pretty too!

I'm happy with Mogami cables.

I must be blind. The neck pup in the 1981 photo looked black. Maybe they were blue or gold?

FIFY

This years' unobtanium...

It'll cost you an hour or so to see if one of your available speakers shows improvement over the stock speaker. Maybe it will , maybe it won't. After that, the rabbit hole is your decision.

Roy Buchanan with a Les Paul. It's just wrong.

There was a broadcast of them many years ago. Well worth a watch if you can find it. F'rinstance, "When The Levee Breaks" -

Crack?

$800 online. Maybe you sell it.

Try talking to these guys: https://www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/bass-bridges-and-tailpeices/ They have the 4 string version. Maybe they can source an 8...

Finding great raw wood is more exciting than finding your dream guitar.

Yup. Saw that. But yes, he's praising everyone else's pickups. That's a good man there.

To a degree they are. I'd suggest pressure wound. I had a set of grounds maaaany years ago and they included metal shavings that embedded into my fingers... Something that may sound silly, but switching from stainless steel (Rotosounds) to nickel coated or pure nickel helped with the string feel. Stainless used to feel rough on my fretting (left) hand. And, pickups respond better to nickel than stainless steel (better fundamental).