Leaderboard

Now the song is as bland as they come, and I'm being very polite here, but I still liked this a lot. Enjoy!

A rare thing, indeed! I have put this up to tease Jon - Bassassin. 😂 I have two of these and have not seen another in the UK. . . from memory. Atilla Balogh Odyssey - around 1976/1977 - My most used bass. . . by far. Cheers. : )

Don’t tell me, the support band were so bad that the crowd were still booing when you came on? 😂

He was once thrown out of his flat by his 'Landlord' and the 'Fall Out' from that is his girlfriend, 'Roxanne' left him which left his bed being to big without her, but undeterred and living on 'Peanuts' he told another girl, 'Sally' that he was 'Hungry for you'. Sally said he had a 'Deathwish' but she had him ;wrapped around her finger'. Sting said it would be ok 'on any other day' as he gazed into 'visions of the night'

It's all gone too far! Basically a 3 channel rig that started life as a Muse rig...now I am back to 2 bass channels and one faux guitar channel...i guess think Royal blood. For those interested signal chain is P bass mid pickup.... tuner....lehle...to CH1...pitch fork with exp pedal (love this on bass and guitar)...T rex bloody Mary (seriously underrated)..Boss Os2. (Fantastic in a mix)..mxr micro chorus...Nobels trem....alesis reverb/delay rack (would like to change this for timeline/grand Canyon/dispatch master etc) ..out to Peavey Valve king.. (this gets guitar tone with octave up but flipping octave back to unity with exp pedal adds extra grunt when needed) CH2 from lehle ...Boss oc2.....animato (yum) ..big muff...sheehan deluxe drive (hell of a pedal) with ls2 in gain loop to blend in some crunch when clean...BMC (does a thing esp if you want mids boosted funily enough)...spectracomp....out to Marshall 7400 CH3 neck Pick up (woofer PU) on my adapted P Bass...Way huge green rhino (love this pedal) ....bass balls.(lol)..Big muff...FM pro rack..(love this) .EHX octave....prunes and custard..(great odd distortion sounds).. second Marshall 7400. P bass has 2 outputs. Board Works great as i like to play some G**tar as well.... if i plug guitar in to main input on board the signal splits through the lehle giving me the option to use wet/dry rig when recording. Downsides are power supplies and sheer weight...but sounds great from Sheehan to Motown .. looks good at night...lol

That top cutout...”where’s me washboard? Eh?”

That is some very fine electronic work right there. Amazingly tight but neat as 👍 Years ago I refitted a bass of mine with a Nordstrand pre amp, something wasn't quite right, so I paid a visit to the well known Bass Doc up here in the North East. Howard had fitted the previous EMG system for me at his now long gone shop The Bass Place, so if anyone could sort it, it was him. He opened the back up, looked at my soldering attempts, and without raising an eyebrow declared... 'Ah yes, I see the problem - you've used the wrong sized welding rods....' Brilliant 🤣

Wow. D'Addario Chromes sound fantastic on the little Gretsch. I am so chuffed with this....

I own this Sei Flamboyant: It's actually got an ACG EQ1 pre-amp in it, so it's got a similar sound to an ACG but with the Flamboyant shape which I liked more than the ACG shapes (sorry Alan!) I've tried a lot of Shukers but although I liked the looks I really haven't liked the feel of any of them. As others have said, it doesn't matter what we think. What matters is what you like, and whether or not you get on with the luthier. My advice would be don't expect to be able to specify every aspect of your bass, a lot of it should be guided by your choice of luthier helping you to get the instrument you want. My Sei was based on the fact that I liked the shape, wanted a Wal-like fretless sound and wanted my bass to be grey and orange in colour. Martin did the rest.

older than that according to this picture

Peavey. Bulletproof amps. Noah had one on the Ark, I believe it's currently in a practice studio in Birtley...still going strong.

I reckon this is probably the best placement on the walnut planks: The 'whirlpools' are both there, there's a 'V' at the tail and this rippling: ...looks WONDERFUL when it's been sanded and finish is applied. So today's job is cutting it to size and preparing the joint and then gluing the two halves together

OK - I can now turn my attention to the top. This is how is looks so far: Forgive the glue lines - this side still has to be scraped. And no, @fleabag - I can't just leave it like this, however much you like purple This is just loosely laid on the heel but is a good fit and should work OK: The nib in front of the original neck heel will be carved to slim it as it moves towards the neck centre Whether the neck skunk stripe lines up quite like this once it's hard bolted, I don't know...it will be what it will be. But this is properly slotted in the neck pocket so, you never know. So, as I say, the front nib will be carved slimmer as it approaches the neck. As will - as far as strength will allow - the treble side of the heel. I'm determined not to rush this one. Each step needs a period to look, think and sometimes re-think. But I'm happy with it so far. Later today I'm going to work out the best positioning of the top to maximise the use of the amazing figuring and then joint and glue together the bookmatched blanks.

We were asked to play at a wedding once. We turned up at the venue and there was another Celidh band playing as well. They had set up taking up the whole stage. Everyone was still finishing off their meal, so we never got any kind of a sound check. We squeezed into the tiny bit left for us and started. It was like tumbleweed blowing across the dance floor. I’m also the singer, so I kept shouting to the guitarist , get out front and tell me how it’s sounding, is it us or is the sound bad? He wouldn’t move. I was raging because something was clearly wrong. A few weeks later the groom met me in a bar. Do you rehearse ? He asked. Yes I said. Well you should have rehearsed before you played at our wedding. I was mad. He knows we could play and it was himself and his wife that had asked us to play on the strength of seeing us play in the bars. It was all down to no sound check, no monitors, no room and the wrong crowd. Note to self. Never put up with another band leaving you no room. Always have some kind of sound check , no matter how many people shout at you to hurry up and start. Different venues have different acoustics, so settings from last Friday, won’t cut it for the wedding!

Hey guys! I just finished a new video on the bassist and drummer relationship. It's got three things in which I personally feel all bass players should know but I'd love to hear what you guys think too! Take a look and let me know Cheers, Hugh

https://reverb.com/item/17839883-collection-elements-water https://reverb.com/item/17839892-collection-elements-fire Now, you might think that these look like a pile of old cack, but hold on. These things have been made using a special "*EZO Energy/Space Method of wood, metal, and ctr. treatment." Yeah. Try asking Fender for that. "Modifications: mass crystallisation (wood), resonating in human emotional range." See? They're not just screwed together, they have a metaphysical birth. Well worth 120 grand, I reckon.

That's really not a very sensible suggestion. At the very least, you're going to need a new set of strings, and a thorough cleaning job.

Tired of forking out for expensive sets of nut files? Simply detune a string enough to slide a 30mm square of 400 grit wet/dry (dry) half way under the string, hold the wet/dry around the string, tune up slightly to provide enough tension to nearly trap the wet/dry under the string, then "sand" the nut with it toward the tuner for the perfect break angle. I don't know if that's a common hack, but I thought of it myself. I've only done it once, and it seemed to work OK. 👍

I got this great little folding stool for £6. I put my 112 cab on it during gigs or rehearsals on boomy stages. (Disclaimer: I know the benefits of floor isolation are always up for debate. It works for me. I don’t want to derail this thread by discussing it 😊) https://www.diy.com/departments/1-tread-plastic-step-stool-0-22m/1345854_BQ.prd

I almost certain this is the same guy I played with for a couple of months when I first moved back to the UK, so early 2013. I remember his vast collection of guitars and his inability to play any of them. A low point was reached when I had to tune the chosen guitar of the day for him. Best day was when he 'auditioned' another drummer because our usual guy had ducked out of a rehearsal as he had family over from Australia, and the 'new' drummer turned it to be a consummate pro. After 3 or 4 numbers with the two us trying not to laugh he told them they were wasting his time and started to pack up, and said they were all useless feckers, except the bass player (didn't make me too popular!). Apparently he was receiving threatening emails from the Merc driving (I did see him in at least one) martial arts expert ex-school inspector for weeks afterwards. Sound familiar? I've since played a few deep gigs with the drummer, and ran into the fantasy guitarist in the old PMT shop in Oxford. He recognised and insisted on showing me how they were doing certain songs by then ( a year or two later). His playing was still unbelievably bad, he had to put his left hand finger in the right place on the fretboard with has right hand before he started! Total nutcase. Initials R.G?

And a handy source of fretboard oil on a budget is walnut oil from the supermarket . Woodturners use it on salad bowls because it is foodsafe .

I went to visit him, some years ago - to show him a bass he had made. In a nutshell, a great bloke. Was with him for about an hour and he was very happy to have a chat, whilst sipping on our tea. There was dust everywhere and various things that were mid construction but when you saw the finished article - quality. Doug's workshop and my bass. Cheers. : )

I really like this...I think @fleabag is going to have the bragging rights for @Andyjr1515's best project. Damn!!! 😉😉

You could try Duchy Timber: <http://www.duchytimber.co.uk/our-products/sustainable-sheet-material/> They're part of the Premier Forest Group: <http://www.premierforest.co.uk/premier_forest_products_products.htm> who definitely sell poplar plywood. So if Duchy haven't got it in stock, they should be able to order you a sheet. Try to get Italian or Spanish rather than Chinese. Your local wood merchant should be able to order you a sheet too. A lot of wood merchants will cut the sheet up for you for a small fee. Not only will that save you a lot of time and effort, it'll make the wood easier to transport home. Just give them the cutting list in the PDF with the drawings.

I'd probably hand him my bass and ask him to show me how he'd play it. If he came back with something like "well you're the bass player" I'd be tempted to pack up and leave, or insert my bass up his backside to the 12th fret.

I've only left one band acrimoniously. I told the band leader to screw himself after he started mucking me about with the gigs. Taking gigs back that he'd given me and giving them to a mate of his. Then he "forget" to tell me he'd cancelled a couple of gigs. The car was loaded and the motor running when I found out! Other than that one, I always try to leave bands on good terms, usually to join another, hopefully better, band. I have been fired. There isn't much you can do if you're good one day and the next they decide your face doesn't fit. Always try to be in 2 bands so the diary doesn't take a hit. Bad experiences can be minimized if you are with better players. Always aim for the bands with a more professional attitude. Playing with guys who are doing it "just for fun" opens you up to all sorts of bad and flaky experiences.

Worst gig? Too many to pick just one, to be honest! I first started gigging in original bands back in the late 90s. In the first band I was in - a three piece in which I was the frontman, playing guitar and vocals - we persisted for almost 3 years and during the second year (2000), things started coming together (due in part to me actually listening to advice and having vocal coaching). We got offered a major opportunity to support a big local band in a large venue on a Saturday night and we were hyped. But the turnout for our set was poor; the opening band hadn't brought anyone, and neither had we. 15 people in a 250 capacity venue doesn't look great from up on stage if you're an egotistical 21 year old. I was a total w***ker back then, and walked off stage after the second song in a total huff. Looking back, I CRINGE at how I behaved. The next day I was summoned by the two other band members for a chat - if that happened again I was out. I'm amazed they wanted to carry on to be honest - but we did for another year, playing some much better shows until things fizzled out naturally. I've played many other gigs where the support bands have been so catastrophically bad they've literally driven the crowd out the venue before our set. And too many gigs where the soundcheck hasn't happened & the first few songs have sounded terrible as a result. Sometimes I really do miss it, but looking back, gigging in an originals band was generally an exercise in masochism (Les McQueen).

This is the last time I listen to your advice! 😡 ...and relax... Silver lining: already looking into buying a new Kindle and a new MP3 player.

As promised, my amateur efforts at finishing my neck.

Well I got round to setting up the Traben yesterday. It didn't need much to be fair. Checked all the frets and they're bang level with no sharp edges. Gave the truss rod a tweak to drop the action to my preferred level. Got rid of the flats it came with and put on some new D'addario rounds. Set the intonation and job done. I must say the thing plays like a dream and sound absolutely amazing. It very much reminds me of my old Warwick Thumb which was five times the price and twice the weight. So all in all I'm well pleased with my purchase. This is definitely going to be my new daily playing and gigging bass. Not to mention the thing looks superb! (ymmv)

Ditto, until I went on holiday, and tried to read on my phone (or iPad) in sunlight.... Then I realised why I had had a basic Kindle.

I cant avoid paying my taxes, its paye and vat mainly. Amazon make billions and still skulk behind tax evasion. M n S paid more tax last year than Amazon paid in the last 10. Its unfair competition and the consumer chose it cos its cheap. Its cheap because we subsidise its lack of tax by paying the poor staff top up benefits to make up meagre wages. Say what you like, I vote with my debit card and its not going to those shysters.

“Crikey, that Bongo is ugly!” ”Hold my beer,”

It is very bathroomish.

Groovilium?

And were back to 4 moogs!

Is it any good for mecha ?

And he's definitely been an Englishman in New York, visiting his friend Miss Gradenko (who was Born in the fifties); she was having a bit of trouble with a Demolition Man and had nearly been Driven to Tears...

It's horrible looking.

“What do you play?” ”Lead guitar.” ”It’s pronounced LEED.” ”No it’s not. Hold out your hand.”

Our guitarist, my mate, was passively aggressive. We would all agree on a song. He might say I’m not that keen. We would say well look , the rest of us want to do it. Next week, did you learn that song? No, but I learned this, try it. It used to boil my wee

I impersonated Sting once by taking off my shirt and acting like a self righteous preaching pr#@k. Does that count? 😂

Can you imagine if The Police had their van nicked? *Ring Ring* Hello, police. Hi there, this is Gordon from the police. Our van's been nicked. Jeeze, a police van? Boy you're in trouble. No... well, yes, I suppose you could say its a police van... it's certainly the police van. What? Look, I'm in the police. OK. And our van's been nicked. Right. Well can you like, find it? You're in the police. Yes. Find your own ****ing van before your Sgt finds out. No... I'm not in the police! You said you were! Well in one way I am. I'm recording this, you know. Oh, that's ironic. What? Etc...

Spare a thought for the poor little so-n-so that eagerly opened his tenth birthday present of... Cork sheets. ...

I've had both recently, the Peavey was better. The Ashdown compressor and octave thing were rubbish. The Peavey was in great nick for its age, got the impression that it would outlive me.