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To come together after learning all your parts beforehand at home and nailing the new song at rehearsal after going through it two or three times. 👍

Dreams do come true!! I've finally received the bass I've ALWAYS wanted but never dared believe possible..... a stunning super-Rare US Spector NS2X 'Spectorbird' complete with 9v Haz preamp!! Just "Wow........"!! 😍😍😍😍 Solid 5A quilted maple body, thru neck, US 9V Hazlab preamp, Abalone inlays, heavy duty gold Spector hardware and Gotoh lightweight tuners.... It's almost 7 years old and in absolutely mint condition! Perfection...!!

Tough on Grime, tough on the causes of Grime... Sorry, it's been a long day.

In recent months, The Star in Guildford, a venue I've both frequented and played at several times, was subject to a noise abatement case bought about by the occupants of an apartment block adjacent to the venue. The apartments had been converted from an older office block, the new tenants had taken residence, failed to do their due diligence and get this, din't like the noise emitted from the venue, so a legal case was brought against the venue by Guildford Borough Council. Happily the matter has been quashed; it appears moreover that the GBC case was fundamentally flawed and the judge threw the matter out. It's a moral victory and a victory for sensibility. It's a wonderful venue and so geared up for live music; killer PA system. https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/live-guildford-star-pub-court-16511558

When I saw the thread title I thought it was another..."best way to clean the fretboard.." thread. 😅

After a blooming long wait, I finally took delivery of a FSR Mustang, made in Mexico in Seafoam Pearl with a maple fretboard. The pearl finish is absolutely lovely. Nothing fancy about the maple board, but I'm pleased that the front is gloss whereas the back is satin. This'll probably be my number one bass for gigging with Stray. I was torn between a standard MIM and the American Performer - I was edging towards the US one for various reasons, but I'm a sucker for maple boards so when this came out I jumped on it. Its not mega light for a shortie - weighing in at 8.4 lbs - she seems to balance ok but I won't really be able to tell until she's gigged. The intonation was out a bit which I've sorted. The action was medium and neck relief just right - I've since got the action pretty low and she won't need any fettling. Sound wise, I've played with the pickup heights and been able to get the volume of the bridge pickup loud enough not to be dwarfed by the neck one so happy there, but I'm on the lookout for a SD quarter pounder set to drop in. Fret ends are all good so nothing else to do now except play her. I might replace the strings with TI flats but I'll give it a good playing in with these on first. I'm one very happy bunny!

After having finally admitting I quite liked Fender basses, I very quickly realised that I did but I didn't really, so did a big change and bought PTB's Maruszczyk Jake 5P P/J bass. Partly because I think it looks gorgeous, but also it only weighs 3.5 kg (which is wonderful for a 5 stringer). I also decided to exchange my three remaining basses for a German made Warwick Star Bass II 5 Bubinga (I did momentarily put it up for sale on here straight after I got it because I thought it was too good for me. It is, but it's also so wonderful I quickly withdrew the sale). My logic behind this is that as I'm in two bands (a function electric band and a double bass/acoustic instrumental style band) and I didn't want loads of basses upsetting Mrs 6feet7, I though one bass could act as the backup to both the electric Maruszczyk and my double bass. At the same time, rather than have 2 different sets of amps, I've got rid of my Phil Jones Briefcase and my Markbass setup and got a Phil Jones Suitcase Compact BG-400 with a Phil Jones Compact 8 Cab that covers both bands (I've kept a Markbass LM II head as a backup, just in case). To say I'm excited to do my first gigs with this setup is an understatement. Anyway, I thought I'd share

Hope you don't mind, I took a little photo of you while you were typing that.

I like a rehearsal where the drummer turns up in a foul mood cos he's had an argument with his Mrs, then the guitarist turns up drunk with no leads. After I've helped the drummer set up and lent Mr Guitar some leads I'm then most gratified when the drummer starts taking out his frustration by hitting every drum as hard as he can, with GuitarMan playing his best Hendrix impersonation at a different speed at absolute full volume. To be perfect, the singer should then turn up saying they can only stay for 1/2 an hour, at which point guitarist nips out for a 10 minute smoke break, coming back smelling of skunk and unable to stand. We'd have time to play 4 or 5 songs, but wouldn't get past the first one because: a) the singer thinks it should be faster b) the drummer thinks it should be slower c) the guitarist is sick on my pedalboard

A good cheeseboard.

Discipline at rehearsals is key. People messing with new gear, widdling away, on their mobiles, smoking/vaping breaks etc all go towards making things very arduous IME. Being able to talk and express ideas in an open manner is vital to making any material work in performance.

My only deep sorrow is the unrelenting insistence of recording and motion picture companies upon purveying the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear—naturally I refer to the bulk of grime*. It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people. It smells phony and false. It is sung, played and written for the most part by cretinous goons and by means of its almost imbecilic reiterations and sly, lewd—in plain fact dirty—lyrics, and as I said before, it manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth. *(changed from rock 'n' roll as it appeared in the original Frank Sinatra disquisition upon the evils of Elvis and his co-conspirators)

Herebe our latest offering, from our 4th album which will be released on 01 Aug 2019:

That would explain the daft grin 😄

Recently I've been going to a couple of open mic nights - one at my local bar that's just gettting up and running & one at a nearby pub that's well-established. The established one is run by a group of Windrush generation musicians who play all sorts of reggae influenced music. I've heard loads of songs I'd have never come across & leant the bass parts so I can play at the night. The open mic at my local is a bit chaotic at the moment, with people with all different tastes in music wanting to play. As a result, I've told them I'll learn anything as long as they tell me in advance, and it's working quite well so far & I'm listening to & learning all sorts of music. The only problem is in response to the question: Me: "So, you do play it in the key that is was recorded, don't you?" Them (various): "Oh yes! Of course!" Song starts... Me: "What jeffin' key are you playing it in!?!" Them: "Erm...I'm not really sure." Or... Them: "Oh, it's in Am" Me: "Fine, but you're not playing it in Am." Them: "Oh, is this not Am?" Me: "No - that's Em" Them: "Well, I just put the capo on here for a change..." Me: *sighs* "Ok then."

So here are my initial thoughts on the Kustom. Firstly it might be worth mentioning why I went for it as I previously stated by lack of enthusiasm for Class D amps. My MarkBass SA450 does not seem to be delivering the goods like it has over the last 10+ years. I seem to have to wind it up a lot more to get the desired output so I thought lets give the Kustom a go as if I don't like it, it can go back within 30 days. Out of the box it feels quite solid and there is certainly more weight to it than a lot of the Class D offerings that are around. I'm hoping that is a nicely designed power supply. Build quality is excellent, everything fits well and it has a quality feel about. I'm not sure why they chose to have 2 inputs as they are not independently controlled. A simple slide switch is used to select your input and each has a 10dB pad switch. The tone controls puzzled me at first as they do not have centre detents so initially I didn't know if they were boost only or cut and boost. A quick email to Kustom and a very speedy reply confirming they are cut/boost with the flat position being at 12 o'clock. I find it a bit strange that they chose not to have a centre detent on Bass/Mid/Treble but have on Room EQ controls. A minor thing I know and whilst I'm nitpicking, why a Speakon/Jack combo output AND a Jack? I would certainly prefer 2 Speakons as I don't have to daisy chain my cabs. Right so firing it up through my 2 Zoot 1x12s and boy is it LOUD. With the gain on 12 and master on 12, I hardly had my bass volume turned up at all. With everything flat it had a nice deep thick bass sound with just a little bit of crunch. The definition was there and I felt just like i did when I first plugged into an Eden WT550, it was just there. Certainly a different sound to the Eden but a great natural tone nevertheless. The 2 room Eq controls do exactly as described. Low Contour Room EQ - this active control is the final shaping for low frequencies. Increasing this control cuts a notch in the low frequencies to help smooth out room “boominess”. Decreasing this control rolls off the extreme low frequencies. The High Contour Room EQ - this active control is the final shaping for high frequencies. Increasing this control cuts a notch in the high frequencies to help smooth out typical speaker peaks or room “harshness”. This can be a useful way to control the horn level. I used it on a gig last Friday and it was an interesting setting. We played in a brewery on a raised stage so probably the worst acoustics imaginable. Huge steel containers, a "bouncy" stage, concrete walls, however it sounded great. My problem with all the Class D amps I have tried in the past is that they sound bloody loud on their own but get lost in the band mix. Not the Kustom. It sounded exactly the same when we started playing as it did when I was setting up and with tons of power in reserve. I've another couple of gigs to try it on before i have to make a decision, but so far I can't see me returning it. For just over £200 with a 3 year warranty, it is a bargain.

I like gigging too, However, for me being rehearsed makes gigging more fun I like bands to know their material and don't like / avoid bands who take the looser approach, y'know the 'we don't need rehersals cause we can toss off this stuff' type of bands..

Well, given that I don't listen to much mainstream popular music nowadays, I nevertheless decided to dip my toe into the broadcasting of Glasto this year, not having listed to this for at least a decade. I still haven't seen everything on I-Player, so there's a lot of catch-up to do, but so far there's been some stuff that I've enjoyed and some that I haven't. So no change there, in other words. So..... Janet Jackson - inaudible vocals, though level seemed fine when shouting to the crowd? Ergo, avoiding singing at any volume as voice not what it used to be, instead relying on BV's. One-paced set, too many numbers with exactly the same drumbeat. Dull as ditchwater. Lewis Capaldi - See this, Ed Sheeran?? THIS is why you need a band, not a fecking Looper!!! Some light and shade, some rhythmic variation, dynamics.. Plenty of good songs, not a bad voice, and taking the p*** out of a Gallagher. Fine effort. Kylie Minogue - Sorry, a dairy allergy prevents my consumption of that much cheese in one sitting. Kokoroko - oh now THAT's the good stuff!! Thanks BBC for giving them a bit of a feature in a more acoustic-level setting. Fab. Liam Gallagher - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh no, really, please don't. Two Door Cinema Club - Consistently excellent set, fine singing and playing, great melodic hook-laden guitar-driven songs. Saw a bad review of their set, which I find incomprehensible. Apparently they had the nerve to play some new material, rather than being a mere Greatest Hits Festival Jukebox..... Christine & The Queens = Emperor & The New Clothes. And finally, The Cure.....I kept thinking "they can't keep this up, surely?" as they reeled off one great piece of music after another. If I had gone to that Festival, that is absolutely the kind of stuff that I'd have wanted to see. Nice that Robert Smith seemed genuinely overwhelmed by the crowd reaction. Still, I'm off to Love Supreme next week, for Sparky Yuppy, Chicory Ear, Jamie Column and the like. We'll see how that turns out...

I'll start. The ability to listen to each others ideas and suggestions. Blue

Evening Well, I finally pulled the trigger on one of these. Rather like it! Just a quick question if you've got one of these, too: are the marks on the side of the fingerboard part of the roadworness or are a later addition? e grateful for your thoughts. It didn't come with a case. Should it have done?

LIkewise the basis of most British acoustic guitar singer songwriter music is whinging about feeling fragile and broken and hurt and terrified. The reason for this widespread spinelessness is not that the artistes in question are feeling fragile and broken and hurt and terrified. Not a bit of it. Exactly like their pop forerunners the stars of today are bathing in cash, driving expensive cars, snorking cocaine by the kilo and slipping the brisket to anything with a pulse. The difference is that their fans are not bathing in cash, driving expensive cars, snorking cocaine by the kilo or slipping the brisket to anything with a pulse. Their fans feel fragile and broken and hurt and terrified and are buying music to reflect their mood. Do these fans feel fragile and broken and hurt and terrified because they are not driving expensive cars, snorking cocaine by the kilo and slipping the brisket to anything with a pulse? Or is it because they are genuinely fragile and broken and hurt and terrified? And if the fans of British acoustic guitar singer songwriter music genuinely are fragile and broken and hurt and terrified is it because they have been taught to feel this way by a generation of howling pinko social workers, commie educators and loathsome 'journalists'? Or are they fragile and broken and hurt and terrified because they are in a sense cut from shoddier cloth than those who came before. And would repeated listening to The Immigrant Song or Ace of Spades or The End put some much-needed iron in their souls? I do not know but I think we should be told.

Well, it doesn't look like I've done much but have been sanding, checking, sanding some more to get the neck how I want it. I've finished the neck profile and neck joint, now to radius and finish the headstock. I'm also having a third go at making the control cavity cover as I just haven't been happy with the first two. The original one didn't match well enough to my eye and the second one had a slight bow to it. Third time lucky....

So, I was 50 last Saturday... treated myself.

I reckon @NancyJohnson is going to be envious 🙂

I dunno. We rehearse at gig volumes. That's not LOUD, but we're no quieter because we're rehearsing. And sitting down is a bit a pet peeve for me. Unless you gig sitting down, in that case you're excused And I hope you take fig rolls to gigs? Otherwise what are they doing there?!! 🤣

Social injustice! How dare people whinge about such things! Next thing you know they'll be wanting the vote!

I don’t know what you’d call those first two, but I wouldn’t call them grime. Grime is more like UK council estate gangsta rap with atonal metal riffs played on a Bontempi organ.

I can't stand reheasals that are not work. I auditionned for a few bands, and everytime there was more beer and smoking than playing, I just said goodbye. I'm a professionnal in scheduling and project management, hence... all rehearsal dates are planned, confirmed at the end of the previous session, with the to do list (songs to work on, to learn...) we record every rehearsal, so if there is a difficulty that has not been mastered during reheasal, the guitar guy sends the recordings and we work on it. Ne songs are learnt at home, and set-up together, with changes if wanted. I'm a real freak about it. Sure, we have fun, we joke, but at the end of a two hours rehearsal, we have at least played 10 songs ininterrupted like in a show, and one hour of working.

...they heard you play?

I've got the studio time booked but no producer will work with me. Not since.....y'know

This is the venue: https://www.facebook.com/events/morley-cheeks/morley-cheeks-jam-night/1385026628424796/ And this is one of the musicians (bass player, of course ) http://www.dyversemusic.com/2013/07/bos-70th-birthday-party.html

It's going to vary from band to band depending on what the priorities are, but the key to me is agreeing in advance what is going to happen at the practice so that everybody knows and can do their homework accordingly, whether it's learning a new song, running through the set to sharpen up the playing, or just coming in with bits and pieces to have a jam and see if any new songs emerge. Emphasis on "agreeing" - and sometimes reminding certain band members what has been agreed so that they actually do their homework in time. One passive/aggressive lead guitarist in an old band was very good at seeming to agree what song we'd be preparing for the next rehearsal, and then turning up to say that he hadn't had time to work on that one so why don't we all play the song that he wanted to do instead? Beyond that, arriving on time. While I'm OK with singists timing their arrival until after the lead guitarist has finished assembling his gear and widdling away for ten minutes, and the normal five or ten minute delays that life throws at all of us, I've been in a couple of bands where one member would routinely turn up over an hour late. If that's normally you, I can guarantee you that the rest of the band has spent that hour calling you a c#nt and discussing how and when to sack you

Does somebody need a hug?

The problem I have with Glastonbury is the music. I'm not a fan of most of the guys who play it and I'm not really inclined to wade through the stuff I don't like to get to the few bands I do. Then there is the BBC coverage. I don't much care for their ideas of how you present a music festival. The trouble with TV people, they can't just show the music. They have to get creative and believe they have to add all their bits which is what makes the show interesting! Take all the BBC rubbish away and just leave the music. And then, what idiot thought all those bloody flags were a good idea! What's going on there? Janelle Monae. Did she bring Brandon Gilliard? An amazing bass player. I'll have to have a look on YT and see if her set is there.

I think you'll find it's actually DE6 5JQ. (Yes this is desperate bid to drag the thread back on topic!)

Ditto my own appreciation of grime. I love 80/90s hip hop, jungle, drum’n’bass... and I’ve tried my best to like grime, I really have. But it does nothing for me. Just dull. But that undoubtedly a good thing. I’m a middle-aged dude (45 years) and I’d be sorely disappointed in the youth of today if their music wasn’t incomprehensible to the likes of me; just as “my” music was to the generation above me, back in my day. So all is as it should be. The balance of the universe in harmony 🙂

Yeah wristbands all the way, go all out with the 118 look with matching headband too

coincidentally,another Rod song, Maggie May. Hate the song, love Ron Wood's bassline so I learnt it. Some chords, some double stops, very melodic.

Following on from my earlier post, here's my now restored SB-R150 with it's siblings. 😁 I've created a thread in build diaries showing the loom, pickups fitted etc.

Alan Gorrie is borrowing my Overwater for the Average White Band gig in Cardiff tonight, as his bass was nicked last night! Glad I could help out though!

Don't understand the hype about Idles? Just another shouty punk type band with honest lyrics and forgettable songs. Sort of remind me of Gallows when they first started getting big.

Only 30 mins later and Lee from ARIA has called me, he's found all the parts, and is sending them to me free, gratis. I'm stunned.