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BOOM! Got the job!!!! Band is called Fraudio btw. Absolutely stoked and in need of a beer or two. Now begins the hard work!

Bass Players be warned.

I recently quit a blues band I'd been in for the last five years to avoid the routine of Saturday night gigs at pubs up to 50 miles away to indifferent audiences. Last year I played 50-60 gigs, this year about 20, plus five I am proud of that were played with a band who share my taste in music, to an audience who know the music and are there just to see us. I'd say think about what you really want to be playing, find some people who share that dream and get a band together, and you'll find an audience. You won't get anything like as many gigs as the local standard covers band but you'll feel so much better about yourself.

I do it because I've seen other bass players do it, and I think it will give the illusion that I'm quite professional. 😁

I never understood this. You're literally giving away your bank details [*] to strangers all the time. It's good to be cautious but... On the other hand, bringing a stranger to my place, I may be more cautious about that. [*] By bank details, I mean account/sort code. There's nothing anybody can do with that other than put money into your account If that's a scam, scam me all the way to Chicago.

Just for balance... Several years ago now, I saw an ad (not on BC...) for a Hiwatt amp I was keen on. Isn't it always the way; I didn't have the £600 asking price. The amp was in Kingston-on-Thames; I'm in France. Not deterred, I asked the seller if I could buy it, but pay in instalments, 3 x £200. To my surprise, he agreed. I paid using Paypal (not into his account, but his father's...), and three month's later, with Our Youngest, took the ferry to Portsmouth, then train to Basingstoke, from where my elder brother drove us to Kingston to collect it. Uber-heavy, in a new flight case, it almost had to be crow-barred into the boot of the Jaguar. Some folks can be trusted; some folks are trusting. It may be rare, but sometimes the two go together. The amp (DR205...) is now our principal bass amp. A Good Deal; it does work out, sometimes. Just for the anecdote, the car was parked in the only space available, quite far down the road from the address. My brother stayed in the car; Our Youngest and myself went in to see the amp. The bloke had it set up in the back kitchen, with a 4x12 cab. He handed me a Telecaster, to try it out; I plucked away a few chords, testing the inputs, listening for pot crackles; it seemed fine. I handed the Tele back, and the fellow turned the master to full and hit a chord. Our son and I both jumped back a metre or so; it was loud; very, very loud. Lugging the brute out to the car, my brother, who had been quietly listening to the radio in the car the while, asked what the heck that noise had been..? That power chord had woken up half of Kingston; it was audible, and bloomin' loud, all around the block..! No, we don't play that loud, but I'm ccomforted in the knowledge that we have 'headroom', and that it can deliver..!

My truss rod looks like that. Not wishing to teach anyone to suck eggs, but you do know the Maruszczyk truss rod is backwards to other truss rods don’t you?

For me Aladdin Sane is TB’s finest work. It’s possibly my favourite record of all time any road (certainly the one that never strays from being in the top 3) and would be my recommendation to any budding bassist in terms of an album to listen to that inspires. The title track is sheer perfection. And of course he also had those amazing sidies!!

Now that my Reincarnate bass is almost finished and I still haven't decided how to move forward on the neck thru build!! I thought its time to start planning an new build It's either going to be a 5 or 6 string depends on what donor bass I can get hold of?? This is the shape it's going to be: I'm thinking (at the moment but it could all change?? ) of doing a wood and resin body, I can get for a very reasonable price from a fella that lives in my village and sells 'character timber!! ' a nice looking lump of live edge Spalted Ash which I think would look really nice teamed up with some Black resin I haven't decided if it's going to be trans black or opaque yet??............. 😀

[Long-winded old-man alert!] Reading this may alter your mind. "Retirement" is only a modern-day phenomenon. We've forgotten that in past centuries, people never retired. They belonged to guilds as shoemakers and blacksmiths, ...etc. When they became old and feeble, they simply cut back until they could no longer pass muster and hopefully, they were wise enough to save for their twilight years. Or successful enough for apprentices to take up the slack. Perhaps retirement was born as a military contractual benefit, to entice men to join such a thing. But, everyone else couldn't just stop working and "retire", as their work, proprietary profession and business was certainly their only means of livelihood. No cushy pension schemes. Life was short and brutal. Most people dropped dead on the job, before they could worry much about "retirement". You bopped till you dropped. Today, most of us work as employees for corps and gov't. Retirement schemes abound. Even doctors and lawyers are salaried, now. Of course, it's a ponzie scheme waiting to collapse as demographics invert. Hence, the big push for immigration. Soon, we'll all witness abrubt and impending retirement upheavals and the fallout of lowered expectations. If you can still command an audience, carry on. Back in the 1980s I watched Peter Noone (aged 71) performing Hermin's Hermits songs for twenty-five people in an open-air park at the CNE fair in Toronto. While sitting on a park bench, I had to wonder how this could be. But I was still young. You're all in for a surprise at 52. That's when you find out how stupid you really are. Things get better after that. By the way, he's still performing. I'm 64 and have long moonlighted as a BP. I have no intention of working the careers that I chose to raise a family and earn a living. But last week I joined a bar band. Why? Because bass playing is my passion. Knocking those four strings about makes me feel like I'm flying. I know that I'm a denizen of the far tail on the BP bell curve and can shake a dance-floor better than most. So why not? (I'd rather recline, drink coffee and watch House MD, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Law & Order and Tommy Cooper; but I seen 'em already. Besides, the actors are really the ones having all the fun. A bar band provides human interaction on a grand scale.) Why is age a factor? Is it youth that is the real commodity? Do you go to a concert to see youth or hear music? Dancer or lurker? That's the part that makes no sense. Mass youth was simply a property of the post-war baby-boom. It's not a religion. Why would anyone seek after a youthful face when they really just want musical entertainment. It's not a romp in a cat-house. It's only entertainment for bar hoppers and pub punters to immerse themselves in a joyful noise and dimness so they feel more secure as they seek a buzz or a mate or give the baggage a good shake in public. Those who like music based on the Fender bass have grown-up and aged. But they still like this music. Look at the Stones. Look at their audience. The sixties was not just a youth rebellion. Most of us were not rebelling. We just liked to hear the drum kits, the Fender basses, the 'lectric guitars, and the vocalists with colourful voices and magical, meaningful lyrics. Trump is 71. Merkle is ? McCartney? Richards? I'd bet that even Elvis would still be gyrating today at 83. Why do they do it, the OP asks? Because there is a public need... Because passion rivals money... Because they can... and they're good at it! Satisfaction trumps waiting to die. Live the life you love... till it's time to die. Let's not call it a disorder. It's a blessing.

OMG, I do that too!!! Black ones, obvs. In all seriousness, I do find them useful during the summer months if your fingers are getting a bit sweaty!!

10 holes and only 2 screws. Just like my last visit to a swingers club. Looks very nice though.

I just couldn't stand the 'no pickguard'' thing any longer. It's just not me. I tried tort, black, gold and white, they all looked terrible. So I went with this cream job. I hope you like it. If you don't - too bad!

This. It takes less than a second and avoids that schoolboy-error embarrassment as your lead comes out and you look like a total twât. Or more of one.

I can't be the only one wanting to know the name of the band surely?

I have this in a week or so's time but as I keep telling myself, joining a band is a two way thing and you are auditioning them too! To make a band that works needs so many different stars to align that if you don't get the gig it's to be expected in many way - getting the gig is a bit of a miracle! Good luck!

It's what keeps him going; he loves it. Same reason most on here will travel 60 miles to a gig on a Saturday, spend 2 hours setting up, play for 3 hours, spend another hour breaking down, then drive home, and maybe get £30.

I dont have much time for Cliff's music, he was a late 50s/60s artist to me, but to suggest someone should stop doing something they love seems strange. If what he was doing was important to well being in any way (Yes I know ) then yes, give it up, but its just music and if he and the audience enjoy it then why not? Its his job after all. My old man loved his work as a carpenter and did his job till he was 76, not cos he was desperate for the money but because he loved it.

My original comment about it looking nice was because it did not have a pick guard. So leave it alone!

Sandblaster.

Drums!

Well spotted! It's temporary. I'm still not 100% about having a guard at all, and still may paint the bass a solid colour (white? Lake Placid Blue?) ...if so, I'll only have two holes to fill on the body. Fnaar.

I started out on a Stingray after the Warwick I went to buy from sound control in Birmingham was faulty! I had cash in my pocket to burn and that was it. Nearly 20 years later and they are still my go to bass albeit with a jazz along side and they've all gained a B string these days. I've never got the one trick pony thing, I think that applies to one trick players.

I don't find it to hard to get my head around. Drive off, it's just like any amp, gain doesn't have any real effect on the sound. Dialing in drive lowers the headroom, so that the gain control starts to produce soft clipping overdrive. It also starts to roll off highs and lows as you turn it up, so you can think of it as a modern/vintage knob. At low gain, you could just use this drive control as a HPF+LPF speaker simulator. The final thing to realise is that the mid control is placed before the clipping section, so has a massive effect on the overdrive character. Boosting mids gives you more drive, but boosting bass/treble does not, since those controls are placed after the clipping section. Therefore don't be afraid to drastically scoop mids if using lots of drive!

I meant the OP, not Blue.

TWITCHY FINGER 🙄 Time to sell everything....

We wouldn't know 'em anyway; they never left their basement.

IF I'm selling on PayPal, I send by tracked courier - not had a problem yet............... 😎

I can’t believe it took me so long to try these. I’ve used them on acoustic guitar for years. I’m now 8 gigs in and they still sound and feel like new. I’d have gone through 3 or 4 sets of Rotos or EBs by now.

Spot on ambient. I did exactly the same as you when I sold my us jazz a while back, I set an old practice amp up in the dining room and closed all the other doors so everything was out of sight ie laptops , iPads , tv etc . I think most people are genuine buyers but for me , no cash, no goods . It was @fleabag who educated me on the way you could be scammed by PayPal (thanks ). That’s why threads like this I think can be helpful to us all 😀

I have had a set on at least one bass for over ten years now and I can’t see that changing anytime soon. I just love the soft slinky feel of the strings, and the tone just last so long. They are well worth the investment if your body chemistry ‘kills off’ other strings. I did a price comparison to another brand and in the same period I had one set of Elixirs on, I would easily have been through four sets of the other brand which would have cost me a chunk more than the Elixirs. Just as a side note, I can highly recommend D’Addario NYXL strings too, great feel, brighter tone out of the gate than Elixirs, and I have had a set on my stingray since August last year. Yes they have lost a bit of zing but they still sound good, feel good, and no signs of any corrosion, which for me is unheard of. They aren’t even advertised as a long life string either!

I totally agree about PayPal, though if you paid someone by cheque then they'd see your bank details; sort code, account number and account name. I don't believe anyone can do anything with just those. I've sold a lot of things on Bumtree, including some quite expensive items, and always advertise cash on collection only. I always make sure I'm not at home on my own when they call, I never let them see anything else that I may have; MacBook etc, whatever I'm selling is set up downstairs. You just have to be careful. On the whole everyone I've encountered through there has been fine, though I did almost fall for a scam a few months ago when I was selling a pair of Genelec monitors, I posted on here about it at the time. At the end of the day, if you're unsure then just walk away, someone else will no doubt be interested.

Really smart work! I'm not a huge fan of the reliced look, but this is very nice indeed. The Lake Placid jazz and the Duck Dunn are special... the DD especially is giving me serious GAS. Darn.

Yesterday I took my B3 apart. I had a problem with it recently on gigs. Like this: Effect 1, all buttons work. Effect 2, up / down work, page didn't. Effect 3, Up and Page worked. Also patch select and save didn't work. So I took it apart and checked what was wrong. Didn't find anything but putting it back together I got this: Effect 1, page up and down worked. Effect 2, nothing worked. Effect 3 Page up worked. Now none of the buttons along the top worked apart from tempo! I have a gig tomorrow. So I took it apart again, but this time upstairs, not sitting on the sofa by the nightlight. Found that the circuit board had always had a problem where it was done up too tight and had cracked the circuit board, and eventually one of the tracks that held the buttons failed. By taking it apart I let the rest of the thing flex. So now I soldered those lines together, put it together and everything works, apart from patch down, which is not working because the button is actually broken, but as the patch up and down are replicated by the big buttons, that isn't so much of an issue. However, putting it back together, I remembered this thread and measured the power consumption. At startup it takes 160mA. After it has started it goes to 140mA. Once the led saving goes on it goes to 120mA. Switching of the effects on and off has no increase of current. Plugging a DI in goes up a few mA. However, I couldn't get it to take over 160mA whatever I did. Maybe with USB it might take more, and almost certainly with headphones, I didn't try those, but they aren't normal gigging issues. I am pretty sure it would be happy on 200mA.

hmmm sounds a bit flakey but not a scam, giving someone your acc no and sort code isn't that unusual, Id be inclined to accept the £20 deposit and give him a few days to get sorted but as fleabag says be careful when meeting up one to one, but its a bit of a faff for a mugging TBH

Good luck to him. No big fan, but he's getting to do what he enjoys doing and people still want to listen. Not a bad place to be I reckon.

Well, I've got a few days of grandparent duties coming up but I'm pleased to say - other than a tweak still to do on the volute - the basic neck carve, I reckon, is there or thereabouts and we are now entering the 'sanding, finishing and assembling' stage: The back cover and body will be the same shade as the headstock once the finish has been put on and the body will darken a touch. The neck will probably remain this sort of colour. And I say 'the basic neck carve, I reckon, is there' because I've actually never ever played a 6 string bass - and I'm building this for a guy who has...and lots. So what we ACTUALLY have is, 'I've never played a 6 string bass but, if I did, I think this is what I'd like one to feel like' What could possibly go wrong

Some time ago I posted a version by Ray Charles with Carol Kaye on bass. This one's from the author of the song, with a much simpler bass line Tony Joe White - Rainy night in Georgia | Bass Transcription

Play the chords on your bass.

I must say, the experience of being part of a choir has not only made be a better bass player, but a better musician all round. I didn’t have any formal training in music. I started playing as a teenager, so moved and inspired by the early output of Jamiroquai/ Zender, that bass was the direction I took. 25 years later and no regrets. Bass is still my primary instrument, and the one I love above all. My musical tastes have remained very much rooted around that hemisphere of music too, but deeper, naturally. However, a few years ago, by some bizarre accident of events, having had no previous singing experience and no involvement in traditional music, I found myself joining the local Gaelic Choir. It was a revelation, and there was no turning back. There is something ethereal and electrifying about standing in the midst of 30 voices when you’re locked tightly into a complex arrangement of a big piece. Whether it’s sensitive and beautiful, or vigorous and bold, the emotive power of the situation is huge and unquestionable. There are strict technical requirements though, and these are what have made me the better musician. Firstly, I had to learn how to read music and, by default of the learning process, my sight-reading is ever improving.By absolute necessity I’ve developed a greater sense of subtlety, restraint, and discipline. A more refined sense of place and, as a result, the whole. My natural timing has improved, and the basic nature of choral singing has made me infinitely more harmonically conscious. Also, the specific process of learning, breaking down into tiny detail and reconstructing a few select pieces over many months, and the inherently complex nature of the arrangements have allowed me to understand music in a way I never would have otherwise... and it’s all transferable to bass. Choir singing happened randomly, and out of the blue, but now that it’s part of my life I love it. I’m more of a musician than I ever was before, or ever would have been without it ... and I’m grateful for that. Are there any other choristers here? If so, what benefits have you perceived? Tell me something of the kind of choir you’re in 🙂 My choral experience has been entirely in the (Scottish) Gaelic language, in both men’s and mixed choirs, in performance and competition, Scotland, and abroad.

Thanks so much everyone! i'm super happy that everyone is enjoying this build log, im certainly enjoying building it! making a start on the top carving for the body now. lots of work with rasps and spoke shaves. as mentioned in the previous post, this isn't going to be the most radical of carved tops, its more to add some shapes and highlights to the upper "horns", i also have to keep the carve very close to the edge at the bottom, so that the top is flat enough to accommodate the bigsby. on the wider parts of the body, i really just want it to catch the light, and be a bit more shapely than a normal bass. this will also help to remove a little bit more of the weight from the body! you can see from the left picture sort of what im going for, the curve is mostly convex and then only concave right down at the edge. it makes it look quite bulbous, but i dig that! i also put a tiny bit of tru oil (literally 3 drops for the whole board) do darken the ziricote a tad before i put the frets on. i might do 1 more but i think that'll be it. i dont want the board to end up shiny, just a bit darker to add some contrast

These are the components that John will be fitting to his cab. A P Audio PH-170: and a Celestion CDX1-1455 compression driver: My prototype version looks something like this: It is worth mentioning that 1" exit compression drivers come in different voice coil sizes. The most expensive versions have 1.75" coils. This one has a 1.4" coil, which offers a good compromise between performance and price as long as you don't try to use it too low. But it works well down to 2kHz. I have always found that compression drivers with 1" coils sound really tizzy and are only useful as supertweeters. Some bass cabs manufacturers use them, however, because to most people a compression driver is a compression driver. Because we are unable to take advantage of the natural rolloffs of the drivers this time, the crossover is more complex. Also, this is a constant directivity horn, which by its very nature requires a more complicated crossover circuit. The design is finished, and I'll post the details of the crossover, the crossover layout, frequency resonse and impedance measurements as soon as I can. Despite the fact that the horn and driver only cost around £50 together, this is probably the most advanced HF unit on any bass cabinet on the market.

If that's your plan then make sure you organise it well in advance and not on the day! Every airline differs but usually it's the captain's discretion, I'd sort it first. Long haul flights are less stringent, if you were going to Paris or something on easyjet they'd probably tell you to stick it in the hold or buy a seat(to earn them mroe money) but to South Africa I'd guess it's a slightly better airline and they'll have a more professional, old-school feature called "customer service". You can employ "customer service" to your benefit in obtaining a flying experience where you're treated like a "human being". You may not be familiar with these terms if you've flown with Easyjet, bmibaby or Jet2 before...