Rickenbacker Bass Fisking

These videos threaten to break out into a full-on Mr. Plinkett shitfit at any moment but never quite get there.  It is some fine Rickenbacker fisking, though, from a solid Fender fan.  Rics get all the hate from all over, but damn, they often sound so good.  There are many valid points about all the problems in the Rickenbacker design and execution articulated by plenty of folks for many years, but in the right hands, the Rickenbacker bass sound is so amazingly perfect.  Of course, a mid-priced Ibanez SR bass sounds pretty fucking good too--and packs a real punch per dollar--if you don't want the same old Precision or Jazz bass that all the other kids have.  A decent Fender Jazz can be something special, too, and the Ric and Fender Jazz bass were supposedly direct competitors. 

All the Roger Glover fluffing is pretty fucking randomly hilarious in 2015.

Ibanez Electric Guitar Package

They're not doing them anymore, according to the website, but they're out there, and I had to get one for a kid as present.  I was pretty impressed; the guitar is solid--and heavy--without any of the honed-from-the-spongiest-balsa-wood impression the least of the Squiers give off, and the tiny, ugly amp works and is pretty freaking loud.  The distortion channel is especially loud and reasonably crunchy with plenty of crackle, hum and feedback.  The setup was decent; the instrument tuned up easily and plays okay.  For the money, it was a hell of alot easier than picking up the components on their own, and quibbles and nitpicks aside, the quality is probably similar to what ever particular brand you might to choose to get for a similar the price.  (The guitar appears to be a full-scale, 24-fret version of the short scale Ibanez that Santa brought.)  Plus it had to be red.  And it is red.  Red.  So that's what most important.  Red.

Santa's Kind Of A Bastard

Well, Santa brought more pink shit.  Now we have the entire one man band minus the gods-damned drums.

Ibanez Mikro Bass And The Perfect Hard Case

Thanks to the gods I was able to get a very nice pink Mikro bass, brand new and ready for the picky, pink-loving young musician.  I was also thankful to jeebus that the bass is about the size of a Strat, so a generic Strat/Tele hard case fits wonderfully; the thought of kid and bass and gig bag was not fun.  I'm really impressed with the Ibanez; it is way nicer than the alternatives.  The case is pretty cheap, but more than good enough to protect the instrument and oh so much less expensive the Ibanez-branded guitar cases.

What Every Young String Player Needs

In a discontinued color.  Fuuuuccckk.  It's the kid bike tragedy playing out all over again.  The problem is that the first-choice color, some metallic pinkish, is not available locally, so I may have to go online to buy an inexpensive fucking guitar, which is as bad an idea as you can have, and the very cool local luthier/music store owner doesn't get the sale.  The Fender short scale basses are available locally, but, one, no pink, and, two, they are cheap looking and sounding.  I may luck into a sweet deal on a cherry, low-mileage model or not.  I've played the Ibanez a bit, and it is way better, and the kid likes it better, too.  Discontinued color.  Bastards.