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Meet the new range, same as the old range...

Adrian Maruszczyk must laugh his socks off whenever Fender come out with an updated range & price list...

F**k Rock, F**k Roll

So... skimming through today's threads we learn that you're probably best off with an old Peavey TNT combo and a used Fender bass. Hooray! Ten years of membership to find the best gear was totally worth It!

Boring.

Okay, okay so plenty of head shaking from the experts and the knowledgeable, but I just discovered Chuck Rainey. I'm learning Rock Steady by Aretha for an audition and have steadily fallen in love with the extraordinarily splendid bass line. So I do a little research and discover that I probably haven't just discovered him as he has played on so much. I have actually been listening to him for quite some time, notably with King Curtis. I just didn't know who he was. The riff to the song is a joyous thing, rhythmically perfect, and perfectly repetitive with some little unexpected flashes. He then breaks into a few bars of pure inspiration before settling back onto the groove. Yum. It's beautiful. A little more research and I find he played with Steely Dan who were of course one of Bruce Thomas favourite bands and Bruce has always been my biggest influence. So there we go. Anyone familiar with Chuck's work who'd care to point me at other of his gems would render me eternally grateful.

As a bass player, I don't give anyone playing solo bass a second thought, either.

Fender really need to start looking at what other builders are doing. The likes of Maruszczyk, Sandberg, Lull, Sadowsky, Moolon...the list of builders who seem to make better Fenders than Fender themselves at competitive price points is as long as my arm. There’s little incentive for many of us to buy a brand new Fender and the sale of used models obviously brings no new revenue in for the company. Out of interest, anyone know how Fender are doing, financially?

Today's word is 'grandmotherable'. You win the internet.

If the title wasn't "new range" you could be forgiven for not realising

Lake Placid Blue! Yay! ..and tort. Wut?

Judging by the video I don't think he is!

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You could look at it another way... I'm assuming that you and the guitarist don't sing. Find a singer or maybe a singer songwriter and be their backing. Get some gigs doing acoustic sets. If you do sing, don't look for a singer, but do the acoustic sets! Then get a drummer. Then do bigger gigs. Open mic nights can be good to polish things and inject some momentum and urgency to rehearsal, if there's something to aim for people pull their socks up. Did it myself where there was a singer and guitarist who were flatmates, I played bass for them and we did some open mics while looking for a drummer. A good drummer will want to know you're moving in some direction and not being yet another load of dreamers, so it helps.

I understand your smugness. I was getting remarks along the same lines after a bee-sting to the scrote at a naturist campsite years ago.

That's the Spirit. Oh teehee back at you.

Hi all, done a few transcriptions over the last couple of years so thought I'd start sharing them with you all here, before I get my own website up and running. I'll be doing some playalongs of some of these tracks in the not too distant future also. Hope they are of some use to you. Countdown to Ecstasy and Pretzel Logic are also done, just proof-reading and layout to do, so expect them soon! Cheers https://drive.google.com/open?id=17WeLSNw4fCnT6vLav75e0Nr0f0iXx6IB

I was playing in a club in Banbury last Saturday. We played Mustang Sally. and yes, I was playing a Fender Precision.

And better than me too. Which is why I'm going to be making a pilgrimage to SE London...

I used micromesh pads, cut them into strips as thin as I needed with scissors and didn't worry too much about sanding across the grain. It would have been nigh on impossible otherwise. Then a good polish with Meguillar's ultimate compound (T-cut would probably work just as well) and I have a nice shiny fretboard. It's not a bass though, which is why there's no build thread on here

To keep a level head

Fascinating Steve ... but what do you actually use the spirit level for at a gig?

FRFR= Full Range Flat Response

Full Range, Flat Response

The noise floor in all its glory:

Think there's one on there from some minger though........

One band I play with does a cover of Days by the Kinks, and I always end it with a two note root-third chord. I'm so proud of myself. My one and only chord!! I've been playing 7 years now and I'm really getting flashy

As a lady of grandmotherable age, I find it quaint when gentlemen apologise to me for swearing (this happens quite frequently in a new band situation). My stock response is 'Don't mind me, I lived with a drummer for 11 years'

Nothing particularly new there, more like concentrating on their strengths which to me seems pretty sensible. And even though I no longer play guitar I just love that 50s Tele.

Didn't know Russell Bland was a bass player.

The incident is one that I will never forget. The site of the sting was right on my glans! I modified the story slightly for laughs to compensate for the days of agony that I suffered. I'll let you imagine what sort of ribbing I got from the other campers. That was the last time I swung a leg over a motorbike whilst naked without checking the saddle first. Talk about motorcycle helmets... mine was a beaut for a while.

I was hoping to find something that seperates but lifts. A wonderbra perhaps Seriously thos something that doesn't end up being the pit of doom where all things can get lost in a black hole. The Lugville shown earlier would be ideal but its a bit expensive and don't see any for sale in UK. I like the idea of my leads being secured individually and compartments for other bits and bobs incl smaller pedals like my TC Polytune. The toolbag sounds promising. Will need to look into them a bit more.

I think my Ashton 410 had these - part of the lower end Tru-vox / TF series and they worked great in that too. They haven't got an exceptional spec but there's something pretty sweet sounding about them.

Good call, me too. It’s sat up my mates barn, still going strong despite many winters and not being looked after. Bomb proof too!

The pound shop.

So many people DESTROYING ROCK AND ROLL. You BARSTEWARDS.

Tone foam is tricky stuff. If you can't get pre-CBS foam then modern foam that has employed wax-based products gives the best results. Be sure never to wash it though!

Amazon UK when DR strings are marked really low. Bass Specialities on eBay is good.

Looks a bit like the Sue Ryder basses that were going around a few years ago!

A used sealed abm go for nice low prices....i found it had that nice sealed cab mid punch

https://ritter-instruments.com/blog/

TI flats. They just seem to improve with age and I love the floppy feeling that many others hate. Frank.

No probs Nance. We'll do tea / coffee / chinwag etc

Hmmm, that makes sense of something I’ve been pondering. Way way back, I recall being off work with a virus and veg-Ing in front of daytime telly. I remember seeing a Wal bass on (probably) Lorraine. Gareth Gates was trying to make a comeback and was doing his latest single backed by a “himbo” backing band who barely knew which end of their instruments they were holding. Except that “bass player” was “playing” a banana yellow Mk 1 Wal bass. I often wondered whether it really WAS and actual a real bass player or just a male model and, if the latter, where the yellow Wal had come from/gone to. I suspect we now know the answer. What’s the betting Gates’ management/stylists popped down to the West End and Camden and rented some telegenic instruments for the hired totty to “play”. If they’d gone into The Gallery and seen that bass hanging on the wall it would have screamed TV bass”! Never have managed to find a YouTube clip of that performance. Back to the bass itself, I love that the yellow uses a white undercoat to enhance its brightness. Garish but in a lovely way!

I'm sure that bass was in the Gallery once, many years ago. I'm sure I remember playing it, unless there's more than one that colour, which I would've thought unlikely.

I'm lucky with my neighbours. Technically we are detached, but due to various extensions built over the years there's about 1 inch between. A few years ago Neighbour 1 was having trouble with his teenage daughter. He was embarrassed about the music noise. She had her window open and was blasting Cypress Hill out. I said I reckon I could stop it with 1 conversation with her. I saw her later. Told her I approved of her music. She was surprised I had heard of Cypress Hill (!) I told her they were one of my favourites. And then I started to rap Insane in the Membrane at full volume in the street. With dance moves. 10 seconds later she was running away from the greying middle aged man rapping outside her house. Job done.