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I've been in the same band now for 10 years. We've recently started doing a few songs that I've suggested. The general consensus is 'Why weren't we doing these years ago?' The answer is quite simple really; 'We could have been if anyone thought for 1 minute that my opinion might be valid. Instead, we've wasted years churning out the same sort of generic pub rock covers that every band from here to Land's End has been doing. It's a proper slog being a bass player who would like to be heard once in a while.

She is finished! 😍 My dreambass made real by Maurício Costa @ MGbass Guitars. Many thanks to Mauricio who took this idea I had of my dreambass and succeeded in making it even better and more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. Mauricio, I will be forever grateful for you making this gorgeous instrument for me and I feel honoured that I can call you my friend. I can't wait to hit the stage with this beauty on my arm! 😎👌 #MGBass #Nordstrand #ZenBlades #Fretless When I was talking about this custom bass build by Mauricio a lot of people asked me why I didn't build my dreambass myself as I have been putting together affordable, but high quality parts basses myself for many years now.. My answer to that question was always the same, I simply said that "what Mauricio does is on a totally different level than anything that I could ever assemble myself, no matter how good the parts I use." "Mauricio is not just a luthier, Mauricio is an artist, he builds the entire instrument by hand and does it with so much passion and dedication that it becomes more than just a bass guitar, his instruments are a work of art, this bass will be a muse in it's own right that will keep on inspiring me until the day I die!" After receiving these pictures today I can only stand by those words with even more conviction, this bass is out of this world and I strongly advise all the bassists out there to check out his work as having Mauricio build your dreambass will probably be a lot cheaper than what you would expect when buying from such a talented and well known luthier! 👍 https://mgbassguitars.com/?lang=en I've just got these pictures today and she is on her way to me right now, I couldn't be more excited to be honest. it is my birthday today and just the thought that I will be able to play this beauty soon is enough of a present to me to make this the best birthday so far. Spec's are : - Brazilian olive wood top - Ash body - Maple/Wengé neck with Lined Ebony fret(less)board, - Nordstrand Zen Blade pickups (with custom made ramp) wired passive V/V/T - 18mm string spacing at the bridge Hope you enjoy the pictures!! 😍😍😍

Ten hours of video is a lot to edit. Probably cut down from a lot more. Probably production staff to pay (some young buck getting their first break making the tea etc - deserve to get paid, right?) What else goes in to these videos? Renting or buying the space to produce them, etc. It’s the same argument with music - why pay for it? Because someone took the time to get good at it, then make it. Btw, I’m not a subscriber. Devils advocate duty for today - check!

SBL, firmly on my “ignore” list.

Just had a chat with Tony Butler (of Big Country fame) and he will be joining me at the bass bash to hang out and chat and geek out about gear. Sure he’d be happy to sign stuff etc.

If by "dissuade" you actually mean, "egg you on," then sure: I'm more familiar with the Gibson version, but it's a wonderful instrument. I'll second @stewblack's comments about them sounding great - given the pickup placements you could argue you're looking at a Jazz bass with more "oomph," and the front pickup soloed sits in a similarly comfortable sonic spot to a Precision. Also, I don't know whether it's the humbuckers or the neck-through construction, but if you like to venture up to the "dusty end" of the neck, you'll find them very articulate. I've also not had a problem with neck-dive. THAT SAID, don't be tempted to skimp and go for one of the cheaper, bolt-on models. There are several good reasons why they're cheaper.

Mornin' all. Just had a few days break in Southsea - wandering around on Thursday afternoon I heard somebody playing a bass guitar. Immediate thought was 'there might be a music shop nearby'. WRONG. Outside Debenhams was a young lady busker with a light blue MM Stingray (I think), playing along to AWB's 'Let's Go Round Again'. Of course I stopped to watch and listen and witnessed some fine playing - very melodic and fluid with some delightful fills. I put some coins in the hat, complimented the young lady on her playing. If anyone in the Southsea area knows this young lady bass busker, please let her know that her playing was appreciated. Thanks. Chris

No, you're not. "Your guitar sound is crap" would have been opinionated. But "this is a bit too fast/loud" is both realistic and perfectly reasonable.

I found a Focusrite 8i6 for £70 on ebay - works with the FI plus has 6 inputs and midi for inputting into a DAW. Needs in/out midi cable as well, but I can now record the whole band live (that's bass, guitar, vox, e-drums and live cymbals) as well as editing the FI...

This was all a bit of a whirlwind romance. I only found out about her yesterday and here we are happily ensconced in my room already. A Trace Elliot BLX 110 which sits daintily beneath my trusty Series 6 head and makes it sound like a normal bass amp but with honey on. Not light, not by any stretch but the easiest lift of any TE cab I've ever owned. Two of these would make for the most adorable and Tracelicious stack ever seen. I have a 210 coming to sit beneath but honestly I think that will be overkill. I know the trend will be away from back line in favour of the Sony Walkman, or whatever young folk use these days, but luckily I'll be dead and buried long before it catches on. In the meantime I'm going to gaze adoringly at my green and black beauties, and sigh with contentment every time I hear that deep satisfying badouff as I flick the power switch to on.

As a regular SBL paying member, I wanted to participate to the Gary Willis masterclass, because there is absolutely nothing on fretless bass on SBL, but the Steve Lawson course that I already followed. WTF, I have to pay $147 USD to attempt this masterclass. Scott, are you just kidding me or do I have to pay for your new stylist and your new cap ? SBL isn't that terrific and for once, there was something very interesting AND different, but I have to pay for it as an official member !?! Is it the Brexit effect or is Scott already an American citizen just talking too much and making easy money ? I'm simply shocked and gutted at the same time. I've lost money with this SBL thing, so Scott keep it, buy a new cap and goodbye.

I just love buying guitars and basses - it's what brings me joy and they are forever in and out. No regrets selling any of them. I bought a fret king last night for £250 and this brought me as much joy as spending thousands on the Zakrzewski's, Fibenare's etc. I would say i get as much enjoyment from buying as i do in playing.

My solution is to wait until a secondhand high end bass comes along that is close to what I want, then subtly modify or finesse it until it’s exactly what I want. Ends up being a hell of a lot cheaper than a brand new custom, and I lose very little in resale if I ever change my tastes.

Well it’s what I call a boutique bass, brilliant, love it.

I love that you’re gigging loads and getting good use out of some outstanding basses. Top stuff brother. Enjoy the 30th at the weekend.

I took the idea from this video:

Thanks all. That was the thread I meant. I just couldn't remember that it was called sniping. I will check out the links you've all posted.

Blooming heck (or words to that effect) - that is stunning!!

Neck carve about to start. Btw the neck is sitting in its cavity in the body there and there’s no glue whatsoever. Tight as a cats derrière that fit, glorious!

@mcnach tonestylers are very very cool, I have installed one in a P bass of mine, great tones at a click. For anyone interested this is a pretty good video of what it does

Personally I don't like the way SBL constantly markets in an aggressive manner. I never signed up to payments but I signed up by email and decided the emails were annoying me so I unsubscribed. He is very talented but I wouldn't want him to teach me.

@Hellzero I see your point. However, the way I see it is that doing such a course with Gary Willis, costs money, making a living costs money and that’s what Scott is doing. To have 10h of material for the price of 2 lessons with Gary (without the commute to Barcelona 🙂 ) - a lot of people will benefit from it. I’m a member at SBL also and it feels like there’s too much stuff. I don’t have enough time to do another course on top of it (I have to look at Basses for sale section 😋)!

Check out my laurel! Have hit it twice with the lemon oil and looking pretty healthy.

I've trained myself to take constructive criticism without going in a huff. In fact I welcome it.

Mine is the Keeley bassist:

I've never seen a neck carved using a round over router bit!! That's a brilliant idea!! 😀

Back to the OP, it's difficult to answer without knowing exactly how it was put. Everybody has an opinion, and everybody thinks they're right...and often a lot of people get very upset with people having different opinions. If you can raise things constructively then great, but often people are bad at judging themselves - one man's clearly explaining things in a direct manner is another man's shouting bully. And as others have said, there's a time and a place and it may not be at the audition if you really want to join the band. And the trouble with being a reasonable, thoughtful person (which seems to be the default character setting for a lot of bass players) is that in general musicians tend to be spoilt, petulant children who scream and shout and stamp their feet and refuse to do anything they don't like (and yet they think they are winning the argument by being forceful and direct, not a shouting bully). I do think there is something that feels quite personal about being criticised for your playing, whether it's volume or timing or whatever, and people can take it to heart. I've certainly been in bands where issues have festered because nobody wanted to address it head on, and it's never ended well - by the time it's raised it's a huge issue, when it could have been easily sorted out with a quiet, constructive word when it first happened. The best bands I've ever been in, both personally and for playing standards, all musical matters were dealt with very straight forwardly - this is wrong/needs improving/isn't working, let's sort it out straight away.

Hmm, perhaps some lines to try... "Sorry about that, I didn't realise you were struggling to keep up with me until near the end. Do you want me to knock the tempo back a bit next time?" "Do you think we should try death-metal vocals to better match our playing style?" "I would turn up my amp, but your speakers sound like they breaking up a bit already." But the ultimate weapon for any bass player... "You think that's loud? THIS is loud..." 😁

At an audition (and I've done this), I'd just be saying (with a smile) "Well, that was...invigorating. Bit quick, though?" and the responses would tell me what I needed to know about the band. If the replies were along the lines of "Did you think so?" or "Well yeah, but we do that because..." then I'd be happy I could work with them, but if it was "No it wasn't" or "That's how we play it." then I'd know the lie of the land/band. And I've had both...you can guess which band I didn't follow up on... 🙂

You lasted an hour and a half longer than I would have done.

Sounds like a flaky joint. I fixed a noisy valve amp just by removing each valve then working it in and out of its socket for a while 🙂 At the weekend I fixed a mixing desk that had developed a mains 'buzz' - I just resoldered every suspect-looking joint in the power supply and it magically went away. The main suspect looked like it had been bad from new. Made me look like an electronics god, but to be honest all I had to do was identify where the regulator circuitry was.

Well I just assumed you'd be the one holding the Bass Guitar

This is as good as it gets. Until you've tried to do it, beautifully smooth creamy end grain like this may look easy. It really isn't. Jabba, I have a folder of photos of your sanding, just to remind me of what I should be aiming for. Edit: Jabba, can I ask what the string retainers are that you use? They look as though they work really well.

Yay! A chance to try it out! I am stupidly excited.

I HAVE BEEN QUOTED BY ASHDOWN. I HAVE ALSO BEEN QUOTED BY JAMES DEMETER ON TB. The rest of you can pack up and go home now. I have won.

Hmm, it was actually Guy's request to fit in with the early Pink Floyd vibe for 'The Saucer Full Of Secrets' gigs...

It's not opinionated to ask a drummer to rein himself in nor to suggest a reduction in room volume. It's entirely normal. Given that many of us here are middle-aged, life is too short to stand in the corner and smile weakly. Get it out. Give it to 'em straight, though always politely. If they can't handle it, that's their problem, though one may find oneself hooshed out of the band. Well, what's the alternative? Stand there and put up with a drummer who plays too fast, and / or lose one's hearing? Fact is 90% of bands are utter numpties. We just have to work our way through them until we find the right combination of people then stick to them like glue.

There is nothing wrong with having an opinion, it is the way that the opinion is put across that generally causes the issues. It can also be dangerous to express opinions via eMail. Nuances and emphasis do not carry across on paper, unless one is a pretty hot writer. See some of the rows on BC. I am convinced a lot have only happened because of the medium used to get a view across. In short, nowt wrong with an opinion, perhaps the timing and the way it is expressed is the issue?

Better to know what works for you and stick to your principles... Sounds to me like the other bands didn't realise how lucky they were to have someone with your experience and knowledge in the band. Their loss I'd say.

No, it’s this Crimson Red one, with the 30th logo on the head

Does anyone still have a template for the tortoise shell one pictured above? It looks fantastic.

In my experience, people accuse you of being "opinionated" when they don't like what you are saying, but cannot produce any good argument to refute it. What's wrong with having opinions? We all have them, whether we admit it or not. The instances the OP describes sound like that curse of so many bands - Richard waving. Guitarists who blow the windows out, drummers who smash the kit to within an inch of its life, running away with the tempo (usually caused by the fact that people don't appreciate that their adrenal gland is in overdrive) and so on. The problem seems to be that many who play in bands view it as some sort of release from everyday life, cares and worry. They think "I'm free. There are no rules here to tie me down. Whoopee" and proceed to go berserk. It may be therapeutic for them, but it certainly doesn't make for good music. On the plus side, I suppose it's better than getting plastered and picking fights with strangers, which is what some who are not fortunate enough to have any other form of release available to them tend to do. If it isn't right, you have to speak up. Frustration and unhappiness awaits if you don't. If you cannot agree, it's time to go. Not worth wasting time trying to work with or round those who don't/won't get it. Plenty more fish in the sea.

There are a lot of uncomfortable examples of musicians behaving in ways that are deplorable. One of the stranger ones that I have trouble getting to grips with is Eric Clapton's drunken, racist rant at a gig in Birmingham in 1976. He's talked about it many times since and while he seemed to be trying to explain it away in interviews at the time, he has since said that he is disgusted by his behaviour, that it didn't make sense and has apologised. He was, by all accounts, on a spiral of self-hatred and self-destruction that most people don't survive. Should he be forgiven for it? Note: there are articles out there that purport to have transcripts of the outburst... they don't really tally with reports of the show where he was supposed to be mostly incoherent and slurring. I have looked for bootlegs of the show but none appear to exist.

Hi Simple Minds days in the eighties were fun, but not a patch on Derek!!