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Can’t be seen wearing the same outfit!

Hi I'm pleased that I've pretty much finished my dreadnought acoustic because the next two to three months are going to be busy! I limit myself to one full build and one major mod at any one time. That way, the timescales that I can estimate are unlikely to be exceeded and I generally don't put someone's neck on someone else's body! @eude 's VI is the major mod I've just started (ditto the build thread) and running alongside that is a full build I had just started when @eude contacted me with the thumbs up. This full build is a second Swift Lite bass, similar to @Len_derby 's one finished a couple of months ago. Indeed - the request came about from the 'Bass of the Week' win of @Len_derby's bass featured in the "No Treble" e-zine. The added challenge of this one is that it is to be shipped to Hawaii! Although @Len_derby 's bass contained no CITES Appendix timbers, there seems to be confusion in some US and UK customs operations (and some associated scare stories) to make me believe that I need to be particularly careful that this does NOT contain any such woods and that I can prove that in a way that would satisfy a well-meaning but ill-informed customs official who might think, "Bass Guitar - impound" or even worse - and just my paranoia because I'm sure this would never happen - one who might think, "Hmmm - bass guitar, impound ...and keep" Anyway, generally a repeat of @Len_derby 's lightweight bass: ...but PJ configuration and a slightly different front end. This is going to be the revised shape: It's just the front horns that are different and, of course, the P pickup at the neck. I'll keep you posted! Andy

It's a long and drawn out story, but here goes. About eight years ago, I formed a band called Nancy Johnson with a guitarist and a singer that I found through small ads and a drummer that I'd known since school (we were each other best men). We laughed like drains, constantly...I remember doing a gig in front of about 1,000 people and was laughing uncontrollably wondering how we'd gotten to this point. That said, revolving doors; the line up ebbed and flowed until I was the remaining original member. Musically, we moved away from a pop/punk ethic to a more garage/punky sound and we changed our name to Who Killed Nancy Johnson? but ultimately, it was still my band. We continued for around a year/eighteen months, gigging once or twice a week, trip to Milan/Turin, more gigs. Irrespective of the talent, I could write a book on the intertwined personalities in that band; guitarist hated the singer ('Can't we just fire him?'), singer worshipped the ground the guitarist walked on, the drummer just sat on the fence and saw every gig as an opportunity to hit on women. Me? I just wanted to write good tunes (I was doing the bulk of the writing) and have fun playing them...we were too old for world domination and it was never going to happen. Inevitably (as covered elsewhere), I left. The attitude of the other three, at a time where I had just lost my father-in-law and had a mother dealing with cancer, was abhorrent; everything came to a head and I walked. So there's now a band out there partially using my name, still playing my songs, with not an original member in it. It's like a football team, sure it's the same band, but it's not the same band. If there's an upside to all this, the band I'm currently recording with (Lutz) contains 75% of the original Nancy Johnson lineup. Musically, it's way more intense from where we were at eight years ago, but it's more fun than I've had in a while.

The boss at work decided it was ‘go to work dressed as one of your favourite possessions’ day. So I did. I am self-employed.

I cannot tell you how strongly I feel about this piece of advice I'm about to give. I'm not much of an evangelist but I'll shout this from the roof tops if need be. Learn to play the blues. There is so much material from this simple starting point you will absolutely get a lot better in a very short space of time. All the other stuff is complicated and hard and this is the backbone of pretty much every form of American music. Lesson 1 - 12 bar blues in A just root notes. Work it out slowly, see if you can do it without looking anything up on the internet. See the relationship between the 3 notes visually. Hear the relationship and feel when to change. Lesson 2 - play along to this Only use the root notes, play it loads and use different rhythms. Really get into it, have fun. Lesson 3 - add notes. Try and learn some common patterns to play in addition to the root note. I suggest the uptown shuffle. 1, 5, flat 7, octave. A, E, G, A. See the pattern on the board, move the root, play the same pattern. You'll get it. Lesson 4 - Downtown. Same pattern going backwards. You now are good enough to play with others and a whole world just opened up. This is not the only way but I promise you it is a very fast way to getting tools you need to move on. Solid foundations letting you interact with others and be creative.

50? Its a number. I have played more gigs with better musicians, with less ego, than ever before. Our keys player is 71 and the best I have ever played with, he is first to turn up for rehearsals and he lives the furthest away. Life is good at 66 and I no longer have to work for the man so more time to devote to music.

I'd given up. Late forties, couldn't get an audition never mind a gig. Too old. 54 years old and another band I'd not even heard back from contacted me, desperate. New Years Eve, they'd chosen someone else but he couldn't do NYE. Bit of a cheek but would I consider it? I still tease them now about the bloody cheek of asking after not even giving me the audition but I did it and now I'm their regular dep, playing bass in three other bands and hosting regular jam nights. Playing bass every day, taking lessons, learning to read music and having the best extra curricular activity I've ever had. Give up? I tried to. No point. Bass isn't a hobby, a job, an obsession, it's in my blood.

probably... the logic is largely for valve amps, where the bass version will typically stay cleaner at higher inputs and louder volumes...you will probably learn a lot about "head room" now that you're a bass player. There's also how the amps are "voiced" and some guitarists prefer certain bass amp characteristics (Fender Bassman's have a long history of being used by guitarists, as have old Marshall valve heads) At practice amp levels, what you'll probably find is that guitar amps aren't "voiced" to handle bass very well (plus, as above, the speakers aren't designed for it) but the bass amps will give you a fine clean sound for guitars. What the guitarist is likely to miss is any overdrive or distortion that they might expect to find on a guitar amp's dirty channel. Easily fixed with a fuzz box. The contour button you asked about will have a pre-defined eq shape, and that would be aimed at the range for basses, not guitars, so anything like that isn't likely to work very well for both instruments, but the basic amp function will be fine... Which leads me to one final point - effect pedals. It's a bit early in your bass playing journey to be stocking up on pedals - learn to play first, don't get distracted with a load of other whistles and bells that you don't need yet, but as a rule of thumb, for anything dealing with eq you really need to get a bass specific version - for example if you want a Boss graphic eq pedal you should go for the GEB-7 rather than the GE-7. Doesn't always apply - for example things like delay are fine, but others that work brilliantly for guitars, like distortion pedals, usually don't work so well for bass. If in doubt, you know where to come to ask...just be prepared for a range of opinions.

Five of us jamming this afternoon, combined ages 337.......

Not of us pretending we are playing along to the EP, no But if you can bear to watch my ugly mug (and if you have the sheer stamina to get to the end of it) here is a little glimpse of us in The Jenny Lind in Hastings. Soundwise its just a capture with a Zoom H4n out front, so the sound is not at all special, but you get a hint of what we are about anyway, last track of the night this one (3rd track on the EP), it either goes very well, or not so much, this version was not too shabby I think, plus after some of the footage was from out front rather than the dodgy fake go-pro the perc player always brings to a gig. Cinematic Funk then, see if you dig it....

First time playing The Lewes Con Club, in fact first time I had been there. Really nice venue, great sound guy (totally got what we needed monitor-wise and dealt with the larger than standard line up with ease). Initial thoughts as we walked in were oooh this is maybe a tad big for us given that we haven't done more than a couple of little charidee festivals in Lewes before. Punters are kept nicely hidden away during soundcheck, though to the point where we really thought we might be playing to an empty room (oh dear). Needn't have worried though, punters allowed in to the main room 10 minutes before we went on, had 3 rows of people dancing for 2 hours solid, and the room full to the back and the bar area well occupied. Sold decent amounts of merch after the gig too. Had a complete blast and am frankly still buzzing about the whole thing BTW E.P. is here if anyone wants to have a listen:- https://mistersuperjuice.bandcamp.com/releases

If anyone is remotely interested here is Mister Super Juice's debut E.P entitled Produce The Juice, we bill ourselves as Cinematic Funk (Lalo Schifrin / Roy Budd inspired in a big way):- https://mistersuperjuice.bandcamp.com/releases These tracks are more from the second set of the night (first set would be darker, mellower and a fair bit jazzier than these are). Be interested to hear if anyone digs it at all . All the best, Si

It's a bit like when you get supplied a tracking number and when you check the tracking you only get the message: "Tracking will be updated once the item has been delivered."

Assuming funds were available..? The amp/cab part would be easy enough, as there's a very nice Laney Nexus rig for sale at the present moment in these very pages, so that would be snapped up in a shot, to replace my Hiwatt 200w head and HH 2 x 15 cab. A bass would be more difficult, as there are no longer that many Hofner Verithin basses around, certainly not in as good condition as is mine. I'd be patient, although, in the meantime, I'd get by with a gold-top Jack Casady from Epiphone. The Verithin is much lighter, though, and at my age... Pedals..? Nah, I plug directly into the head, s'all. Did I mention I was 'old school'..? No..? Hmm, how odd...

^^ I agree but not paying through the nose doesn't necessarily mean a compromise. More expensive does not always mean better.

Plug the gaps. Metal flake red. Job done.

The scratch plate arrived this morning. I had to widen the pickup holes, cut in to the neck pocket corners and cut the truss adjustment hole (original neck was headstock-end truss nut). i am really pleased with the neck - it’s perfect! Look at this grain!!! I have no affiliation to the seller, just thought I’d add a link to them as they do a few neck options... musicalaccessories https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F232723568523

I was playing keyboard in a pop-reggae band a few years back (well, we thought we were reggae but really we were a rock band with a passing offbeat acquaintance) and one of the doormen round town booked us to play at his nephew's christening. He wasn't offering much but he was a nice lad and we already owed him a few favours for 'well-timed assistance' around town, so we hop in the van and troll down to Brum for a play. We rock up outside this old community hall about 6PM to meet Mustafa, and after a minute he comes out dressed in this incredible full-length black and red leather robe, which makes him look like something out of Star Wars. That was Red Flag No 1. Red Flag No 2 was the polyrhythmic music playing at punishing volume inside the hall. We go inside only to find ourselves walking into the middle of a traditional Ghanian christening ceremony (or whatever the equivalent is) and that was the point where we instantly realise we are not going to go down well. We're sat down over at the back of the room with the other men and given a plate of rice that nearly takes my head off (our singer causes a minor scandal by sitting with us instead of the women, but I think we got tagged with the 'musician' exemption) and Staf introduces us to approximately 350 members of his extended family, who are all absolutely lovely and just as totally baffled as to why we're there. The ladies are all sat in circle of chairs in the middle of the room with the kid in the middle, the men are sat around the edges, and the actual ceremony is being conducted by two MCs, one man and one woman, who will quickly become MC Tall and MC Short respectively. They're taking it in turns to shout through a PA turned up so loud it's become a fuzzbox; there is a second PA playing music at a volume where my eyeballs are vibrating; I do not recognise a single tune all evening. Every few minutes MC Tall or Short will double up on the shouting tempo and the women all get up and pull huge wads of dollars out of their pocket, which they then throw at the kid. The ladies are all stunning with incredibly elaborate hairstyles and the men are wearing the same leather robes as Staf - this is clearly a big occasion and everyone is putting on their best 'look how much money we have' display, which explains the throwing of the dollars. We are under-dressed, hungover, and trying to make awkward chit-chat at the top of our voices. Eventually the ceremony is over and we set up on the community hall stage, planning to make this the shortest set of our lives. We have a quick argument about what to play, which ends with us scrapping everything from our set that isn't the reggae material. Our singer is already nervous after the men's section faux pas and we've not been able to understand a single word of the ceremony so far so we have NO IDEA what is happening. We're gamely vamping away at our best imitation of an authentic roots band but are keenly aware that our material is aimed at a spot several thousand miles and a different hemisphere away from what the crowd is expecting, and it's just dropping into the abyss of stares. The crowd is polite but clearly expecting something which is not happening. Second song in and we're contemplating dropping the rest of the set and legging it. Singer is visibly wilting under the stares of an entire flock of matriachs perched to stage right; I'm getting extremely interested in the top of the keyboard, which I have never examined so closely before. My nose is scraping the flat keys at points. Suddenly MC Short is on stage with us and grabbing the mic off the singer. What fresh hell is this??? We're expecting to be cut off unceremoniously, but instead she starts shouting at the crowd with a variation on her earlier theme. This lady is about 60 and barely four feet tall, but she can shout for God and with the backup of the PA she is reaching pitches that are melting my fillings. Every dog in a twenty mile radius is starting to howl. At her instigation, the entire front row of (stunning) women gets up as a unit to start throwing dollars at us - I'm beginning to have some very complicated feelings indeed. After she feels the crowd are sufficiently harangued we get the mic back and play another few songs which are met with respectful applause if not much actual interest, so we take the hint and finish up. We've picked up about 600 dollars in ones and have to carry them in a basket along with our gear. As soon as we finish the party is back on and everyone is off their chairs and dancing; hundreds of kids have appeared out of nowhere to do the old church hall skidding dance which apparently transcends culture! Huge baskets of homemade fried fish and curried rices have started appearing round the edges of the hall and we eat as much as we can physically carry back to the table. It's all delicious but so hot my hair starts curling and I spontaneously develop sunburn, which the kids all find hilarious. Staf is crazily happy that we played as he seems to think we are megastars rather than the chancers we are, and we're just happy to have been asked to do it so we decline our fee and take petrol money instead, reasoning that the story will likely pay for itself in beer over the years. We donate the dollars to the kiddo as a gift because we're all fairly drunk on Star Beer at this point and getting them changed seems like hassle. Some of the stunning girls from earlier are starting to give us the eye but my daddy taught me never to hit on a girl when A) you're at someone else's family occasion and B) her daddy is roughly the size of a car, in the room, and giving you the death glare, so prudence becomes the better part of valour and we make a swift exit. In reality it wasn't actually that desperate considering we were playing to an audience who had absolutely no interest in what we were doing, but it was hell of a night at the time. Don't think I've ever felt so out of place before or since. The food sure beat the hell out of my family dos though! I'd do it all again just for another crack at that buffet, even if my fragile little English stomach meant I spent three hours glued to the toilet next morning...

I went with the family to the cinema today, and to my surprise before the trailers, there was an advert for a Fender Jazz Bass! Featuring The Idles, and seemingly filmed in and around Bristol (including the room in Factory Studios that my band rehearses in!) it has the band's bassist eulogising about how great his Jazz is, with lots of close ups of a very lush yellow bass. Anyone else seen it? I think it's the first time I've ever seen a musical instrument advertised in the mainstream media.

Has a nice ring to it...

I'm deep into the neck carve at the moment. This time I'm doing it slightly different to my normal method. Only slightly differently, mind, and if you look away you;ll not notice. But, this time I have cut my facets only as far as the start of the transitions like this....(rather than trying to cut facets through the transitions, if you see what I mean). And I sanded the bulk of the neck to 90% of the finished shape before starting work on the transitions. It's worked out really well. Having the neck virtually finished meant I could 'feel' the transitions more clearly somehow. I should finish the carve tomorrow and I'll post some pictures....

It's funny because the Royal Danish Orchestra dates its inception to 1491 and nobody seems to complain that none of the original musicians are still in the band. Mind you, there was nasty spat a few years ago when the Hallé Orchestra got into one with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic over who'd been going the longest. The Scousers eventually prevailed but not before some serious argy-bargy. To be fair, hardly anyone plays like Wilko. His immediate replacement - the late Mr Gypie Mayo - was more 'conventional' but still came up with some interesting twists on the standard RnB cliches. Thereafter (and not wishing to be unkind) the Feelgood guitarists have all been a bit meat and potatoes though I suppose that copping Wilko's pretty unique style would expose them to accusations of plagiarism and - anyway - we've got the original studio recordings and Stupidity upon which to recline. Though I applaud the band's longevity and persistence the Feelgoods kind of stopped being the Feelgoods when Brilleaux croaked 24 years ago. Even though The Great Man himself wanted the band to carry on it must be admitted that that he was irreplaceable - as time and events have sadly demonstrated. Funnily enough, that legendary figure from my own musical past - The Guitarist Who Could Only Play In The Key Of A - claimed at our first meeting to be a Feelgoods fan. I should have smelt a rat when he later confessed he'd never heard of Wilko.

Here is the latest incarnation of my big bass rig. BB2 and Dubster 2, Alembic Preamps and Crown XLS1502 in bridge mode. Had it out on a reggae gig last weekend. 🙂

I shall be following this build with great interest. In an early celebration I've updated my profile picture with the 'original' Swift Lite at a recent outing.

Ooohh - I've got some great jiggering coming up. A new home-made jig I've not used before and has been just waiting for this very project!

Not to mention the BBCITV. Or KMFDM.

+1 keep doing what you're doing. Most bands are at best temporary. If you and everyone else is happy with the band direction, keep going.

At one point in time there were two bands calling themselves "Bucks Fizz" on the holiday camp circuit. They tried to sue each other for exclusive use of the name. When it got to court the judge said there was no mileage left in the name and they should just do whatever they want and stop bickering, just in more eloquent language that was even more cutting, and also legally binding. Suggest you fire the lead guitarist/ founder member but only one he condition that he sets up a rival band and you have a huge rock and roll feud with local newspaper coverage.

Just an update for anyone interested. Had the Ibanez back from PMT and all the issues seem fixed. They filled the split wood, made a new screw hole and glued the preamp pcb down, it sounds fine now - issue fixed They even ordered in a replacement just incase anything else goes wrong. Thanks everyone for messaging.

Did you lift that from a dating site?

Thanks for this Andy! I'm not sure it was a throwing of the gauntlet, more a seeking out the right man for the job. I made this bass myself back when I was 16. As a huge Primus fan, I needed a 6 string fretless, in a Carl Thomson flavour, and growing up in South West Scotland was extremely unlikely to ever see one in the flesh, never mind be able to afford one, so I took matters into my own hands. For the record, I've still never seen one, and I'm unlikely to ever be able to afford one nearly 24 years on... I built a 36" scale 6 string fretless at a workshop in a unique slightly hippy private school local(ish) to me. The wood working teacher there was a wonderful man called Richard Jones who made baroque instruments, renaissance viols etcs, on the side, something I believe he still does (in fact he absolutely still does >> http://www.rjviols.co.uk/ ) and he taught others to do the same. Well, when my father, who knew him in a professional capacity, told him I wanted to build a 6 string fretless bass but didn't know where to start, he welcomed me into his workshop with open arms. As a former bass player himself, he was intrigued as to what a beast like that might look like! He had a gorgeous 60's P Bass hidden away in the workshop by the way. I didn't ever finish the bass off to the kind of standards Mr Carl Thomson would aim for, but it was enough to get me going and it was the only bass I played for a number of years, recording and live, but when a student loan paid for a Warwick Thumb Bass, I realised that there were better playing instruments out there and retired it. Fast forward nearly 24 years, I'm still playing bass, albeit without a audience for now thanks to having young kids, but I keep my hand in and I'm extremely lucky to have a lovely collection of ACG basses, the dilemma is though, what to do with the beast sitting in a gig bag in the loft. It would seem such a waste to sell the bass off as an unfinished project, especially given how much time and effort I put into making the damned thing, so I contacted Andy to see what he could do. Not being the tallest of bass players, and having a bit more experience under my belt, I know that 36" scale basses aren't for me, in fact I really don't know who they're for really, so this bass had to be of a shorter scale, 31.5" in fact, to match my other custom basses. Andy is going to make a new 31.5" neck, with a fretless ebony board and a headstock design tipping the hat to Mr Carl Thomson. As Andy mentioned, there will likely be a bit of jiggering and lots of planning required to make the neck to fit a pre-existing and likely oversized neck pocket, but he loves the challenge, right @Andyjr1515 The MASSIVE hole in the body, was as a result of me routing out the control cavity, and a drill stop slipping tearing a massive hole through the front of the bass. Without stopping and thinking about what to do, I simply cut the whole cavity out, right through. I had no intention of having a pickguard, it was purely cosmetic to hide to bloody great hole! With hindsight, I'm sure something could've been done a little more subtly, the original hole was only about the size of a pound coin... The answer to this riddle is to thin the body down and pop a full face figure top on. This is also an opportunity to perhaps put the bass on a bit of a diet, as the body alone weighs more than the last bass Andy made in it's entirety! As noted by Andy, we're losing the weird Wilkinson bridge, and replacing it with a 2-piece Warwick effort, I posted 6 Gotoh GB7 tuners along with the body, and we're keeping the EMG DC pickup and the simple vol/tone controls, for now - don't worry though Andy, if I do change my mind about the preamp, I'll be sure it only requires two hole in the body! That's basically it really, on the surface, a fairly simple job, but underneath, probably a complete and utter mare! Thank you @Andyjr1515 and apologies for making life more complicated for you... Eude

I'm originally a guitarist but I was a very early adopter of IEMs (excluding the pro guys) and it just made sense to me - a mix wherever you go inside an earplug that prevents hearing damage...what's not to like? With modern options such as Helix, BIAS-FX, Kempers etc I just can't see a need for backline! Our drummer does like to hear a bit of bass next to him though hence me not ditching everything and just going DI Cheers @Lozz196 - i think that if we're going to use backline then it's a sensible setup. Both guitarists now use Victory heads that can run around 7w. At a gig one even said "I'm swamping the FOH mix, I'll turn down!" As long as there is a suitable monitor source then backline is just a way of delivering sound to the FOH system. I wish more musicians understood that simple principle - the louder you are as an individual the more problems you cause for everyone else and the less control the engineer/unfortunate band member who runs the desk has over things...as a band your volume in any venue is only as quiet as the loudest on-stage performer.

A self-heckle from our singist/guitard after a particularly inept go at the solo from Smells Like Teen Spirit: "Cheers. The more observant of you might have noticed I ran out of talent half way through the solo, there..." 🙂 And a slightly inadvertent inter-band one: We do a version of Volare, just for a laugh, and singist/guitard can't be arsed learning the lyrics for the first verse, which he plays on his own, so he just does the Fast Show 'Shminky pinky Boutros Boutros Ghali' thing where he makes up slightly-Italian-sounding gibberish. The first time he did it I leant across and said "Are you having a stroke?", which the mic picked up verrrry clearly... 😕😀

It really should have been a pearl finish Dean bass.

Really enjoyed that! Some excellent advice too. Just subscribed 😊

Can't say too much...you know..."Lose lips.." and all that...😎😎 Anyway if I did tell you, we'd have to kill you and you wouldn't get the benefit of Andy's handiwork. The less said, at this stage, the better. 🙈🙉🙊

My main Shuker has a pair of the 35P4s in it. Sounds fantastic.

Perfic.

There's a Valeton Delay on ebay at the mo too. I too am tempted by their range - particularly the preamp strip thing.

Ooh - tinkering and amending, sounds good!

Yay - glad you could fill in while Christine is gallivanting around the EU... Srsly though - I love your build threads. So this was cunning marketing then - an enquiry straight from: 'Having read your No Treble piece with interest, can I have?'

I’m also a massive fan of the double P setup! Believe MTDs like my USA AG5 are dual reverse Ps under the soapbar housings...

Oh this a very interesting thread indeed. Someone basically gives me a bunch of money that is the equivalent to buy back my current equipment. My situation is a fairly expensive guitar, fairly inexpensive 2x12 and a quite inexpensive class D amp. Conservatively lets say 3 grand I'd probably spend about £900 on a Fender P of some description, ideally a Japan made PB62US or if I couldn't find one some MIA P, the best Aguilar amp and cab I could afford with the rest. Maybe AG700 with a DB212

Absolutely. The Ampeg BA-108 is an impressive little practice/small gigging amp for not much money, with a decent bottom end and no rattling/farting

Knocking on Heaven's Door (Dylan), Cortez The Killer (Neil Young) and The Joker (Steve Miller) are nice easy three chord songs. Paranoid by Sabbath is fast but easy. When you're more comfortable with the bass maybe try some slightly more difficult, riffy numbers like Sunshine of Your Love (Cream) or You Really Got Me (Kinks). You can probably guess my vintage from the suggestions above...

It’ll probably arrive straight!