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I have just complete a tremendous experience, ordered a bass for my 50th and it arrived early thanks to Alan. From start to finish Alan has been great. The bass on the other hand is fantastic. Full specs here: https://www.acguitars.co.uk/project/0328urecurve5/

Call me crazy, but I just met a chap in Buxton and did an eBay trade deal. Traded my PDN Musicman Starry Night Stingray for a Euro 5 LX. Couldn’t be happier!!!!

... but almost as good - I've just re-strung my Jazz Aerodyne BEAD. I'll have to play the strings in a bit, of course, but first impressions are excellent. The strings (basic D'Addario medium gauge rounds that I've been carrying around as spares) fit the bridge and nut nicely, the tension and action were fine without any tweaking, and the B string (which is supposed to be E) is better than the one on my Jazz V (which is supposed to be B). This is going to force me to use the B string in my main basslines rather than just for throwing in passing notes under them. I do tend to drift towards the higher end of the range, although I know that means my sound can get a bit lost in the mix - this should keep me away from that. It also gives me a new sound - and a new toy! - for a lot less trouble and money than buying a new bass! 🙂 Happy cat.

A completely unplanned ambush which left me with a fit of the giggles and slightly spoiled the rock'n'roll sneer that this song needs.

Plan is, try and remain cost neutral. If I want something, then I need to sell something to raise the funds. Thats 2019, still got a week of 2018 to shop in first and I’m going out in style. 😂

Merry Xmas Basschatters! Thought I'd share a quick arrangement of "Christmas Time Is Here" by Vince Guaraldi Trio, taken from the incredible "A Charlie Brown Christmas" album. Always loved Guaraldi's contrast of sweet melodies against unusual harmonies so thought I'd have a go at transcribing a piece finally! Have a great Xmas when it comes, all!

I thought I was going to be able to contain myself about this build, but the more pictures Chris sends me the more excited I am getting I can’t wait to get my hands on this thing! I cant recommend Alpher highly enough, anyone looking for a world class instrument should really give them a shout!

Otoh I stepped up at the jam at Carlisle Blues Festival last year and found myself playing with Matt Long from Catfish - possibly the best young blues/rock guitar player in the UK atm - and Connie Lush and Kaz Hawkins, definitely two of the best female singers (both in the loud unsubtle mould - hurricanes if you get anywhere near them on stage). Utterly intimidating (I've told the story in full on another thread) but Matt supported me brilliantly and I got through ok (on the cr@ppy recording on my phone I sound better than I thought I was at the time). Playing with better (in this case off-the-planet better) musicians is imho the best way to raise your game, if you get the chance. And that is now one of my all-time most cherished memories and motivations. If the chance comes again I'll be able to play better. Promise to myself.

I used to go to open nights when I lived in Chelmsford in the late 90's. I had some fun nights there, getting up to play on a few numbers. Then one night, Guthrie Govan turned up and joined in. I hid in the bog for half an hour until he went away.

It just has very serious look that says “I am capable of knocking down buildings”.

He was in Curved Air for a bit so he's alright by me.

It's that orange that I thought they must have used Tango to stain it, I was thinking of leaving it near the window so the sun gets on it and it might lighten up a bit but then I realised I lived in Wales so not much sun so the UV lamp idea sounds like a good idea 😀

It's an illness, it sneaks up on you when you're not looking and causes you to make irrational decisions. It doesn't discriminate, it cares not of wealth, colour, sex, race or age. Be careful folks, it hides around every corner and pounces when your guard is down. I was totally happy with all my gear, even started working out what to sell in order to downsize to what I really need, and this time I really am going to sell stuff. Then in a 24 hour period I'd seen, pondered and spent the most I've ever spent on a bass, without even holding it. As I said be careful out there folks, beware of the classifieds, FB selling pages, instrument shops, even mates of mates who 'have this bass for sale', it's too late for me but if this cautionary tale helps just one person then it's been worth it. Stay wary! 😁

They have the suffix "M" if they have the magnetic pickups, so that would be (but isn't) a CR5M.

Best bass purchase: my NS Design CR5 upright bass - Love it!!!! Worst bass purchase: Dunlop Super Bright bass strings. Dear goodness! At first they're all top and zingy, but without a solid bass fundamental to the tone. Then, as they bed in, they start to settle down. And then one day, overnight, the sound goes from zingy to sounding like someone is kicking a cardboard box down the street. Bloody awful strings!! (in my humble opinion)

In all fairness, you only have to play one note at a time so that's easy, right?

10 o'clock yesterday morning and I was just up and pottering around the flat when I received a phone call.. could I dep with a Rolling Stones trib band, performing that very afternoon? Load in time, 1pm!! I madly said yes. I depped with this band for a few gigs over the summer and really enjoyed it and I got to know the songs really well. However, I hadn't played any of them since the end of August and I didn't really feel 'match fit'. Still, it seems they were desperate. There had been some sort of falling out the night before, leading to the departure of both bass player and drummer. The gig was a 'Rock n Roll Circus' event, featuring a John Lennon trib, a Who trib and the Stones trib 'headlining'. I had in fact intended to go along to watch with a few friends, so I had to let them know I'd be going on ahead and actually playing!! The Who drummer agreed to be both Keith Moon and Charlie Watts for the night 🙂 It was a smashing afternoon. There was an MC all dressed up like a ring master and a very good magician doing conjouring tricks with balls (steady, discreet!) which all added to the rock on roll circus atmosphere. However, I felt very nervous as I was completely unrehearsed and was just hoping that it would all come flooding back. As we were last on, my nerves just grew throughout the afternoon. When I got up to play I decided not to do anything flashy, just concentrate on trying to remember it all, and to stay at the back and not to try to move around much. A pretty good Bill Wyman impression then, haha! 🙂 Afterwards everyone was very complimentary, especially the 'John Lennon' who I know slightly but who hadn't see me play rock n roll before. So I took that as the biggest compliment, as he made a point of coming up to speak to me. However I felt I had only just got through by the skin of my teeth and delivered quite an array of bum notes! Saw some vids of it on line today though, and I didn't sound as bad as I thought, so that was a relief. Looks like I'll be doing another one on Friday!! I'll be better prepared this time though 🙂 I love my life 🙂 🙂

Excruciatingly painfully dull

That is a thing of great beauty. Frank.

Nope. Just bought a new USA three band. Big, full bottom end. Loads of punch and clarity. Particularly enjoy boasting the mids with the bass and treble flat. I played a Ray34 on a shop a few yrs back and didn't see/ hear anything distinctive about it, but the real thing is excellent IMO.

Daylight shot:

We probably will 🙂 My plan for 2019 is strings and only strings. I've just re-strung my Jazz BEAD and it's almost as much fun as having a new bass. (Better in some ways, because I love it and it's now completely different to any of my others and so I'll play it more.) Next on the list is tape-wounds for the fretless acoustic, then move the flats it has now onto the fretted acoustic. That should be as much fun as having two more new basses, and should keep me happy for quite a while! (should...)

It's a Christmas miracle...

I saw that bass. Martin Kemp's JG with the leather scratch plate and the switch on the pickups. Maybe slightly before 2000. One of the best sounding basses I've ever heard. They wanted £1000 for it, which I thought was too much for me, as a 5 string player, to pay for a 4 string bass. Even one that good. It was gone by the next day. I mentioned it to Pete Stevens and it was bought by someone in South Wales, who had dropped it over to get Pete to look at it, on his way home. Pete thought that those basses sounded so much better because they were made before the switch to metric sized wire. The imperial size wire in the pickups made a difference to the windings and so to the sound.

Just saw this on Facebook too, lets hope he gets it back !

We had a problem at a gig last weekend - a pub local to me that we've done about 6 times without issues but suffered from Xmas p***head syndrome last week. Some old girl kept getting on stage and groping the guitarist (she did it on 3 separate occasions), 6 young blokes that could barely stand up throwing beer about at the front of the stage and we we were just waiting for one of them to trip over the monitors (and they knocked a few drinkers clean over a few times!) And all the time the landlord was just filling them up with more beer and laughing at the old girl. We tried slowing the pace of the set down to diffuse the situation but i got to the point at 11.40pm where i just said, thats it, i ain't doing anything else until its calmed down and we have a bit of protection at the front. It took 10 minutes of silence to reinforce the point and we eventually played 2 more songs then packed up. Never had to do that before and it really spoilt the night. The landlord was trying to be all matey after so he knew it had gone too far. We have 4 more booked next year and we're going to pull them if we can replace them. So FFWD to yesterday.....a gig we were looking forward to finishing the year up with thats always been a good one before. Again a lively pub that we always go down a storm at. And i get a message from a mate who played there last week saying to be careful as they changed the door staff, let a load of idiots in who were getting onstage and trying to grab instruments, the venue didn't manage the situation and the band ended up getting threatened by the punters. Fisticuffs were involved. Great...just what i needed to hear after last weekend! Its the first time i've ever been nervous about a gig...i could just smell a difficult night coming and i wasn't in the mood for a punch up. We came up with a plan - first sign of anything uncomfortable happening and we would stop playing until it settled down, breakables firmly away from the crowd and we used some low cases to build a stage edge. We told the manager when we arrived what we were doing and why (he denied there was any bother last week.....) and we cracked on with the show..... And had a blinder! Great crowd who danced and sang all night from the first song, the manager told a member of staff to stay at the stage all night to keep an eye but there was no trouble anyway, we played well and the sound was brilliant apparently (I even had a few bass players come up personally after to compliment my sound!) Balance has been restored. It just goes to show that it just takes one decent gig can lay a lot of ghosts to rest. Next weekend off and then get cracking on January :-)

You "Do The A-Frame" Dave, the new sensation that's sweeping the nation ...

Season's Greetings to S-W Bass Bashers from scrumpymike and the scrumpettes - see you all on April 7th!!! 😊

What a gig! Great show too if like me you grew up on it!

Best bass purchase - Lakland skyline 55-02. It''s the first bass I've bought in a few years, and it's really wonderful. Superb build quality, really lightweight and has a great sound, it sits really well in the mix for everything I've used it for so far. Very happy with it and it's making me consider getting a skyline precision now of some sort too... Worst bass Purchase - Haven't actually bought anything else in a while, and definitely not something that I wasn't pleased with. Possibly a set of TI flats, which to be honest I didn't dislike them, liked the feel of them but in the end just decided I preferred the La Bellas that I already had. Here's a photo of the beauty, took the day I got it back in April.

Jam nights are, in my experience, just self indulgent boredom. Endless guitar solos, sax solos, piano solos etc etc. Most of it seems to be 12 bar, some 8 bar if someone's feeling adventurous. Other than that if anyone tries anything outside that it all starts to fall apart because no one knows what the hell is going on. EDIT: even supposedly well known songs get completely smashed to bits. Someone, I think, suggested Stormy Monday. I don't know it, but the number of people who think it's a 12 bar. It does make for some funny moments when the one person who knows and probably suggested it is playing it right and everyone else is 12 barring it.

A cheap way to try is to buy the Legacy brand sold by Strings Direct. They are re-badged Rotosounds but nearly half the price

12 bar in A Bb B C C# D Eb E F F# G G# - sorted.

It is a paid gig at a regular place, although the place recently changed management and cut the rate, so I'm not so bothered about that! I just don't want to stand up there for two sets as part of the unrehearsed rock'n'bongo comedy roadshow. I'm getting massive Spinal Tap/Stonehenge vibes about the whole thing. Also it's at an undisclosed location. Unless I can get loads of you to turn up and shout "TURN THE BASS UP!" throughout. Or maybe if you all bring a tambourine and join in it won't be so bad!

New home for a forum bass..

Because we are converting a 4 string to a 5 string which happens to have a rosewood bridge (that, once again, isn't an off the shelf buy), Simon had to make a new bridge. He just happened to have a block of left over rosewood that was the exact right size. Because we couldn't find a piece of plastic/graphtech or bone long enough for the saddle, brass was used.

Personally looking forward to Hell Toupee.

Excuse the amount of pics, but a past to present.