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Next month: "7 reasons you can't play metal on a strat" "How to convince yourself that watching YouTube tutorials all day is improving your playing" "$150 vs $5000 Les Paul: why only a true Gibson will do for your bedroom rig" "Dave Grohl explains why cocaine was the best thing to ever happen to him" "A look at the barre chord, and why you might as well ignore all other shapes" "Reliability is over rated - a run down of our favourite valve amps"

Really? Whilst I do agree that you have to write music for you, and not because you think audiences will like it, take away the audience completely and what do you have left, bedroom guitarists/bassists/drummers. The audience and fans are to me the major thing - what we all do means something to people who come to see us. A few weeks ago we were asked to play a gig for a guy who unfortunately had cancer - I say had as sadly he passed away recently. At the end of the gig he said to me "that made my night". I was really humbled and pretty choked by this, I felt honoured that we had been asked to do the gig. Never forget that whilst we get pleasure from what we do, it`s who you deliver it to that counts, and your music could really mean a lot to someone.

Hiho just had carbon fibre cages fitted to my neck and all's well now. No not my bass but me and hopefully I'll stay in tune better now.

Mine went well until I got a music stand out...

Up in the sticks (out past Todmorden). No bars, not even 3G!!

Zodiac BXP incoming 😎🎸 Should be with me this weekend, all being well. Whoop whoop

9:30-1:30 tonight at Traditions Pub. I'm going in with a good attitude. Blue

I've played a few overpriced disasters, inckuding an MM Bongo that played & sounded worse than the bog seat it resembled. The stand-out however was a Fender Custom Shop Jaco sig - a £3500 bass with a neck like a banana and an action you could stick your arm under, and strung with roundwounds as rough as rat-tail files. I'm sure a good setup & some more appropriate strings would've helped sort it, but it still would probably have sounded more like someone whacking a plastic bin with a 2x4 than a high-end Jazz!

And a classic Radiohead performance.

Morning! Yes we’re getting there. The newly painted scratchplate is looking great! Thanks for the steer on the ashtray - much appreciated 👍🏻

The concept of saving money in a sale on something I would not have thought of getting anyway, always tickles me. A quick way to becoming a millionaire, right?

Did a fundraiser for one of our colleague’s daughter who has been recently paralysed from the waist down. We played at work in an outdoor area about 60’x120’. Sound was a nightmare due to the walls and the marquee roof, struggled to avoid sounding like we had permanent reverb. Floor was wobbly slabs which didn’t help the sound either. Mostly colleagues, friends and family and were up for it from the off. The support band played 40 minutes then we did 2x1hour sets with them shouting for more at the end (sadly we were bouncing off the licence curfew). A brilliant night and raised a load of money as well.

Very happy with the carbon reinforced neck in my Shuker 5 string P bass. Very stable, no floppy B, and almost comical how well it stays in tune.

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Never seen the words 'stunning' and 'Bongo' in the same sentence before. However that does look rather pretty. The headstock shape does still remind me of Peppa Pig's head, though.

I'll just leave this here... https://ashdownmusic.com/collections/legacy/products/bta-400 ;-)

Bass Guitar Magazine has been raising funds for pro bassist and staff writer Ellen O'Reilly, who has been diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer and is undergoing all sorts of unpleasant chemotherapy, keeping her off work until she is better. LBGS exhibitor Strings&Things donated this bass with a view to getting it signed by as many stars as possible and then auctioning it for Ellen. This is the link, in case any of you would like to own the bass, and help. Many thanks from all at BGM! (Yes, I have Ped's permission to post this.) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Totally-Unique-Sterling-By-Musicman-SUB-Series-Bass-Guitar-See-Description/222980908977

I played a Lefay Herr Schwarz 5-string once that blew me away. So beautifully made, well thought-out, and barely any standard parts. Nearly everything was made specifically for or by Lefay. Super comfortable to carry and play, and a great variety of awesome and useful tones via a rotary switch. But I couldn't afford it!

Not my gig. A night off. I went to watch a band at my local and their drummer quit during the second set. Just started dismantling his kit. While someone else covered for a song, he dragged his cases on stage. Singer announced the next song, but no. Show over. Astonishment.

The Celinder J Vintage 5 that's in the For Sale forum at the moment.

ACG stuff is gorgeous, within budget possibly?

Status S2? 😀

@Al Krow the Dunlop Flats I put on my VM5 are glorious! Just spent a few solid hours jamming and I’m loving em. Definitely worth getting a set.

Can confirm this. I played the full size version and mini version side by side. The full size keys felt really cheap. I’d get the mini or the module version. However, might be worth hanging on as Behringer showed a prototype Odyssey clone at Superbooth which has full size keys (same keybed as the Deepmind), built-in effects and a sequencer. It should be out this year.

No problem. Just don't put it underneath the Barefaced!

Reading the song lyrics onstage is a bit like an actor going out on stage holding the playbook.

Morning all, Quite some time back I managed to pick up a Harley Benton bass uke as "decoration only". It arrived and after a quick inspection, decided there was nothing wrong with it. So I set about playing it, it came installed with some horrendous rubber strings which I told myself I'd grow to like. They were bearable and I endured them. What I couldn't stand about this bass was how intonation went out the window on anything below the 5th fret on the E. Deciding that a luthier would cost more than I paid for the instrument (and some), I decided to use it as advertised...a decoration. It sat on top of a bookshelf in the living and that was that. During the week I sat down to come up with a price list for our band (we go out as anything from a 2-7 piece, electric or acoustic) and remember the uke. Thinking that if I sorted it, it would be perfect for pubs with tiny gardens, where an upright would be impractical (much like the gig we'd just been offered for this Sunday). First port of call was to look on here for a solution. First one I came across (and came very close to doing) was a complete de-fret. I'm used to playing an upright and the dodgy fret intonation wouldn't be an issue anymore. Let's not get too hasty, even if I de-fret it, I'm still going to be stuck with those awful strings. Straight on to Thomann and ordered a set of the Pyramid silver coated strings...along with a wee gigbag should I be able to get it working as it should. Old strings off and in the bin, followed by the arduous task of threading strings up through the body. Once I'd done this I'd learnt that there was a bag of washers in the string packet that had to go on, so off they came and the process repeated. Before I get too carried away, let's bring them up to tension and see if I like the feel/sound. feels like a regular bass string - brilliant, sounds like an acoustic bass guitar - can't complain, tension and playability are spot on and hang on...is that my E string working as it should?!? Intonation issues resolved. Hurrah! I've retuned it every 30 minutes to settle the strings but I'm chuffed to bits. Working bass uke that I actually want to play now, it also means that I can add mini garden gigs to our price list. Bass uke, singer/guitarist and a Roland busking amp each stacked on top of each other in the corner. IMG_0627.HEIC IMG_0628.HEIC

Thanks mate! 😊 She got her first gig last night, sounded great with the Dunlops on there, I'd forgotten how comfortable it is to play - I've been using my Sire V7 for gigs and although that too is a great sounding bass, they are a little on the heavy side. The P/J is a bit lighter but doesn't' feel insubstantial like some lighter basses. It certainly sounds heavy with the new pots. 😁

Martin Kemp on Bass. Astral Joe..... He was a friend of mine.

There's a new Player series coming up, made in Mexico, with a choice of maple or pau ferro fingerboard, and apparently not just black and sunburst either.

Hanoi Rocks. Lords of the New Church. Johnny Thunders. Dogs D'Amour. This was pretty much the soundtrack to my teens & although my tastes have broadened over the years, I still regularly play those bands now

Two songs, jeered and threatened all the way through by inbreds with bad teeth and 6 fingers, then told to leave by a massive rugby player like landlord. Got paid though!

At this year's SW Bass Bash - @Jimrs2k2 let me try out his Status (Kingbass I think?) What an amazing thing it is, I'll definitely own a Status one day.

Possibly it being "fetless" has something to do with it.

My Fender USA Jazz V has two rods either side of the truss rod, all I know is the later versions like mine (2013) have a much better B string than the older ones with five in a row tuners.

I've got a Spector EuroLX4 (a carbon-reinforced neck), and the sound reminds me of King Wenceslas - deep and crisp and even. What's not to like?

A good gig is the band playing well and the audience enjoying it. A GREAT gig is when the magic happens. That all too rare night when everyone in the band is "On" and the musicians are almost telepathic. When everything you touch turns to musical gold and the components of the band fit together like a Swiss watch. When even one or two of the songs you have played for years, and are not that fussed about, just take off. The audience picks up on this and you can feel the energy flowing back onto the stage, adding more fuel to the bands fire and lifting things even higher. It can be in the local pub or the local arena, whatever, the feeling is the same, emotion and energy. That is a great gig.

Hi Following on from @Phil Starr 's post, I'm one of the regular forum modder / builders he refers to and certainly my personal view is that for a 'standard' 2k finish there would be no perceptable sound difference (assuming the finisher put the pickups back at exactly the same heights as before). There would, however, be a change in the value - modding guitars and basses almost always result in a drop of value even when the mods are clearly improvements. I say that not to put you off doing it, but it needs to be a keeper to warrant making the change. Hope this helps.

I reckon that north of 90% of the acts on Later have not been to my taste. That doesn't make Later a bad show. Later is a good show because it features live music. Why anyone would want to take it off the air just because they don't like the acts beats me. What these people should be moaning about is that lack of alternative music shows on TV. With more choice, maybe, people would stop bleating on about Later.

Sometimes a feeling is all you've got to go on. I've learnt not to ignore such feelings. If someone is kosher, they'll be perfectly willing to accommodate you, answer your questions and make sure you're completely happy. If they're not, they won't!

That 'feeling' has been with me the whole way through this, trying to anticipate exactly what the angle was. He was definitely up to something, I suspect he's just a bit greedy and perhaps not the sharpest knife so telegraphed it to me well in advance (which was nice of him), whereas a good conman would be gone well before I'd even noticed. But yes, that unease that sometjing was wrong was there all of the time.

Ok mate no need to shout, I heard you this time. Maybe you EQ’d those out of the bottom end......

I get that. It's usually my knees.

'71 Telecaster: A very resonant lightweight example. Beefy neck, but it plays nicely with a low action. I have fender flats installed, which sound and feel great. Not too vintage:). Aerodyne special run: Bought just recently. These are nice allrounders. Light in weight and comfortable to play. This is from a limited run in old candy apple red. '82 Precision special And my Precision special that seems to be moving to a new owner one of these days. Its a great sounding, playing bass. A bit heavy though. These are very well built.

Holy stinky poo. That explains the market drought in second hand T-Birds.

Pickup arrived from Spain, at last, I've had stuff from the States quicker! Anyroadup, anyone who gives a rats will notice I sprayed the head satin black as it seems to suit the vibe………not everyones cup-o-tea, but I achieved the look I wanted….. All done sounds and plays great!………