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I do, but not in the way you're asking. The shame never entirely fades...not really - you just learn to live with it. 😢

I'm up for the raffle going to charity.

Well. Long story short. This arrived with me yesterday. I like the way this looks and feels. I love the way it sounds in a band setting (was at rehearsal last night). The purchase wasn’t a pleasant experience, the dealer is someone I’d never use again. I didn’t pay what he was asking for originally, nor did I accept the bass for the price we’d agreed based upon images he’d sent me. Apart from him. The bass for the price, I’m pleased with. If I hadn’t have enjoyed rehearsal so much last night, I might’ve been less polite about the dealer.

Here is my latest build. The Brooks Telebird. It is my take on the legendary Fenderbird that was built by Peter Cook for John Entwistle. However I decided to combine the characteristics the Thunderbird body with a 51 P (aka Telecaster bass). The specs are as follows - Two piece Swamp Ash body - Allparts Maple 51 P neck. Bolt on - Vintage blonde finish - Jess Loureiro 51 P split coil pickup - 34" scale - Tusq nut - Wide travel Thunderbird bridge plus tailstop. Nickel - Matte black single ply pickguard - Gotoh GB528 lightweight tuners. Nickel - Allparts push/pull Volume pot - CTS Tone pot - Silver reflector cap knobs - Telecaster jack cup. Nickel - GHS Brite Flats 49-108 I'll post pics of the build process in several answers below.

I thought my Epic was wonderful, only sold as I needed money & space for the six strings. I played it at three gigs, only one of which was recorded:

No going back now 😂

This isn't bass related but wanted to share anyway. I was looking for a nice looking semi acoustic of some sort. One that can be left in the living room without being an eyesore. I took a punt on this deco item. Think I paid 70 quid for it - no idea what a normal one retails at- and for 70 quid I'm blown away! The only issue I see is that the white plastic bridge section was loose and pointing towards the neck meaning the action was extremely low and of course making it not work. However a bit of superglue and its working a treat all the electrics work fine and I can't see any other blemishes at all! Love it!

Just received email Your Amazon.co.uk order of "Geddy Lee's Big Beautiful..." has been dispatched I ordered it 27 December so looks like I just squeezed in on the available copies on 2nd print run 😃

I have an Italian leather Markbass Strap to put in the raffle... One of these: Markbass Strap I'll see if I can blag anymore MB goodies from MSL!

Reading this thread has really taken me back. I remember seeing Whitesnake at the Hammersmith Odeon as was in about 1980/81, I guess. Neil Murray - you were definitely on bass. What a band! The only album I now own though is 'Live...In the Heart if the City'. One of the very best live albums - right up there with 'Live and Dangerous' in my book. And the live version of 'Fool For Your Lovin''! I doff my cap to you, Mr Murray - what a player!

In traditional grind-core setting, exactly 45 songs.

If it's any comfort, autocorrect on an expensive tablet is just as good.

We used to plan for 9 songs a set in our Blues/Soul/R&B band. Having 2 guitarists and good arrangements helped. Even 30 seconds of any slow blues makes me want to leave.

Anywhere between 10 and 12 songs. 10 minute version of Stormy Monday personally far too long, but each to their own.

Oh yes. 😋

OK - I'll start off the raffle prizes. I will contribute this: A number of you have already seen it at previous bass bashes and - until the website wiped all of the avatars - this was my avatar since joining Basschat, so it's only fitting It's a Squier Jaguar - the original full scale version. Great to play; hmmm...Seymour Duncan 'designed' p/ups - not the most exciting but eminently upgradable; passive electrics; stacked volume tone for each pup; D'addario Chromes; one of my early veneering jobs; remodelled scratchplate covered in automotive-go-faster-carbon-fibre matting; natural sides and back: Andy

A very faithful rendition, in many ways - perhaps 95% correct. It would be almost impossible for me to play the song all the way through exactly the same as the original, partly because I've played it so often since then, and although I stick closely to the album version, I improvise a little. So well done Troy! I have previously recorded the bass line on its own, sticking almost 100% to the recorded version, but that required many drop-ins! Any video would require the same technique, though obviously I could do slowed-down passages too. He uses all four fingers, whereas I mostly use three, bringing in the little finger only when necessary. This is because I play hard, often with heavy or stiff strings - a compromise between ease off playing and the tone needed to cut through two guitars, keyboards & drums. Having read some of the comments under his video, some are good, but some are the typical American obnoxious haters who are intent on slagging anything and everyone, usually from a position of ignorance, which is another reason why I've been slow to put videos up on there. Bah!

Well, loving the sound of a recently acquired Attitude at band practice last night - really fancy putting together my own version of Billy Sheehan’s “wife” bass. So tonight I’ve amassed the parts and the shipping will happen over the next week... 70’s Natural Yamaha Pulser Body Allparts TMBO neck - pre decal’ed with a telecaster bass (68) logo. 70’s Greco Shell Pickguard wilkinson black tuners wilkinson chrome bridge seymour duncan 1/4lb P pickup Artec mudbucker (I bid £80 on a Gibson one but it’s gone off eBay - reviews are good on this one) and ive messaged @KiOgon about a suitable loom. it will be mono - not going to scallop the fingerboard as every home grown attempt I’ve seen looks bloody awful. debating cutting the pickguard and having a black metal end made to nod at the black section BS has all the Washers on. photos of bits to follow.

Just put down a deposit on one of these bad boys to keep my 4LE 1977 company..

I have a pair of FatBeams on my StingRay 5 - I put them on in January 2009 They still sound a bit too zingy...

I always thought of it as the recorded murmurings of a chimp.

It’s a Maruszczyk Jake L. It has a chambered, alder body (3.25kg), katalox fretboard, Maruszczyk’s own p/up, 40mm nut width (very comfy). Sounds just as it should.

I'm not a huge fan of the music Mick Karn gets involved in but i do like his own personal style. His left hand technique is simply amazing. One of the legendary fretless bass players without doubt. He's one of those guys i would buy an album no matter how bad it was just to listen to his bass playing. That for me says a lot for any bass player. Dave

Here is a quick video that I made to show you how the Brooks Telebird sounds. The bass is plugged into my MarkBass SA 450 with Eden D210XLT cabs. Mic is a DAP PL01. Via my Minidisc recorder into my iMac. Video recorded with Photobooth.

I'm sure that's what he xeant.

2,820

Each to their own; but even genuinely road worn basses don't float my boat. In fact, I must confess to being extra careful; verging on OCD, to keep my basses looking as unmarked as possible - which is a particular challenge in the more cramped venues I play in.😯

it's a very big question...as awesome as reputation and price tag? To some they're mythical beasts, and I suspect many of us haven't seen one up close, let alone played one. To others, over-priced, overly-ornamented and a bit of a dinosaur - early innovators but disappeared into some cosmic, highly esoteric hole. Trying to be as objective as possible (I've owned six and retained three but played many more), for me each instrument feels very different. Woodworking is complex and beautifully executed and quality of finish is the best I've seen anywhere (I've owned Fodera, Wals etc. but not a Ritter). Ergonomics can be err... idiosyncratic. There's a rigidity or stiffness to most instruments and they tend to sound quite oddly dead unplugged (there are reasons for this). The house tone is present in most models but you'll get more of this and more versatility the higher you ascend the price scale - I'd say you're generally buying-in to the characteristic tone from around the signature models and up. In the SI and SII models, this reaches its zenith. The basses are generally not that easy to set-up and some notable builders and techs don't like to deal with them. When set-up properly (and of course, to individual taste), they can play remarkably well - certainly as well and better than anything else I've ever used. On the downside, I find most Alembic body shapes uncomfortable on a strap and only really play them in a sitting position. Some are also very heavy. Adjusting the on-board controls takes some getting used to. There's also some nonsense talked about Alembics and a bit of a negative cachet (as with any expensive brand). So... to return to the original question. Yes on both counts for me though with some caveats. These aren't magical instruments but they are beautifully crafted and thought-through in a (wholistic) way that doesn't appear to be the case with most basses (or other instruments for that matter). To add a question, is this the transcendent bass and end of the search? Well, I've been playing my US Lakland PJ a lot more than my Alembics recently and it fits most situations perfectly. And it's not fiddly or uncomfortable in any way

Er, no 😂. My lust for authenticity does not extend to making the same mistakes. I’ll probably just make some of my own in different places 🙄.

Unfortunate turn of phrase, but an ace name for an album! 🇺🇸 (not sure why my 'phone decided to add an American flag, but I can't delete it )

Barry White died years ago.

I have an old Behringer V-amp Pro that I got 2nd hand and I've never had a reason to use so it can go on the raffle prize table as well.

Hi all, I'm back again with my Prototype EVO-FX5 .... I've changed the PU configuration J/MM ...therefor I've to enlarge the bridge PU cavity ...

I watch a lot of Queen and bass related videos on You Tube, so it randomly threw this at me today. Did make me laugh....

My new custom build is finally finished. it was designed after a Modulus Flea bass, except headless Graphite guitar systems neck Body carved from scratch Nova bridge system Lane Poor pickup Nordstrand 2 band a little heavy but I’m still very happy.

I was making a pickguard for one of my basses recently so thought I'd take a few pics along the way in case anyone else might want to have a go at making one. I'll be using a router, but if you don't have access to one it's easy enough to make a guard without one and the steps would be similar. I'm making this one for one of my own builds which is a Walnut bodied 50's Precision style bass, this is the first 50's style one I've done but intend to do more, so I'm going to be using a template for repeatability. I first draw my pickguard on the body, I'm using a chalk pen here which cleans off very easily and can also write on a finished bass. You could also use a chinagraph pencil or anything else which fits the bill. Ignore the inner lines here, that's for the chambering which I've yet to cut. Next I lay a piece of clear Acetate on top of the body and using a DVD/CD pen I trace onto the Acetate from the line beneath. You could skip step one and draw directly onto the Acetate, but I prefer to draw onto the body first so I can see it clearly and don't have to worry about creases or positioning too much. Then I cut the Acetate out and transfer that onto a piece of 1/2" ply wood. This will be my template for the router to follow, if you don't have a router, I'd still advise to use a template but you could use much thinner Ply, or even thick card. Then the ply is cutout, if you've only got hand tools - a coping saw, file and sanding block would be all you need. You can see I changed my design slightly where that black line is towards the top. I've also drilled all the mounting holes so I can use these to index the template. The neck pocket the area around the control plate are rough at this stage, we'll take care of them next. Here's the router (with wide base attached for stability) and a bottom bearing guided bit. I attach the template using a couple of the mounting holes, then use the router on the basses neck pocket walls to cut the template flush to the pocket. Now I rough cut the pickguard, I used a bandsaw with a fine blade, but you could use a jigsaw, scroll saw, or a coping saw if you're using hand tools. Then the template is attached to the rough cut pickguard using double sided tape (you could also use the mounting screws) and cut using the router and the two bits here. One is a bearing guided flush cutting bit, the other is the bevel cutter which cuts a very neat bevel onto the pickguard. If you were using handtools you would use a file and scraper to get both the correct shape and the bevel. I actually follow up a with scraper if there's any little bits which need taking care of, but usually it's pretty good straight from the router. Then I polish the edge with 0000 steel wool. Next I countersink the mounting holes. I use the drill press and set a depth stop, so that every countersunk hole is the same depth. The finished pickguard! The bass body now finished and with its chambers cut And the finished article! Hope this has been of some help, or at least mildly interesting!

I've found you can achieve a similar sound by repeatedly sliding the straw in and out of a half empty large size fizzy beverage paper cup with plastic lid from a fast food chain.

Seems to me that one was originally fretted. Original fretless would I think have had an ebony 'board and no dots. What do you think @TrevorR? Really lovely bass either way.

The neck is just a spare 21 fret job (21st is an overhang so the heel is Fender width etc - the 68 tele bass neck is delayed - but wanted the strings on for two reasons. 1 - to have the pole pieces under the octave harmonic 2 - to check spacing, the ebo pickup means it’ll never be spot on perfectly aligned under the strings, but won’t be far off.

I've played maple neck instruments, but never played one where the fingerboard wasn't another piece if wood stuck on the front; the same as a rosewood construction. I've also owned rosewood neck basses where there was also a skunk stripe.@Lozz196 was staggered by the result. Before the test he'd made the choice to go to having all maple neck instruments. In the test he found rosewood actually suited the sound he wanted more than maple. What this demonstrated to me was, there would appear to be a reasonable difference and a consistency in the sound. More than I would have expected from a fingerboard. I would expect the wood of the back of the neck to have a bigger effect as it's the larger mass of wood in the neck. I'm not so totally convinced about body wood making much difference. If the body was 2 meters long there might be more chance of resonance, but a plank 500mm long doesn't bend a lot.

I made a similar pedal board some time ago, there is a link to the build diary on here somewhere. thank you please RK7

I guess people hang on to it, when they find out it's what they need 😉

Yesterday was a good day for painting my EVO-FX5 prototype 😉