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So, just to make sure we have pre-arranged roles here. @Frank Blankis in charge of wheels, I'll handle "the shootahs," @fleabag can arrange for a cash paid lockup to store and then fence the goods and @hiram.k.hackenbacker will be in charge of "fitting up" one of our rival firms in the aftermath to divert attention in case an unfortunate store assistant should be accidentally shot in the head for refusing to open the Dingwall and Fodera rack. We've got this covered peeps. DM us any orders of gear you want and we'll see what we can do in the 5 minutes after the alarm goes of and before the cops turn up. Relax. We're professionals. All basses will be delivered with filed off serial numbers. Untraceable. Okay, someone might have been kneecapped for your new NG2 Combustion and Darkglass Microtubes amp, but if you can look yourself in the mirror afterwards, we'll take your money.

Another update folks Jason is on holiday so he will sort next week hope that’s ok, I’ll notify the winners tomorrow anyway so you know who you are

I have just finished a 30" 4 string fretless . Cherry wings with ash core .Maple and mahogany through neck. Rocklite fingerboard with mop dot markers . Bartolini MM pickup with East MM pre. Steinberger System bridge with hipshot nut.

My son Jack is a hip hop producer, he’s spent years developing his style, making contacts and putting his tracks out there. He’s had loads of knockbacks along the way but he’s never been deterred, he’s never given up and he’s kept on plugging away. A while ago one of his beats got picked up by a rapper in the US who used it in a track that did quite well on the underground scene. This lead to his stuff being passed on to Logic, an artist on Def Jam, and an invitation to provide beats and additional production on a track called Still Ballin’ If you’re into hip hop you’ll know the track, it was number one on the Billboard charts, number one on the ITunes chart in the US (and I think in the UK). It’s now being used on NBC’s NBA coverage in the States. Suffice to say he’s thrilled, as am I. The other day Def Jam sent him his plaque. Just goes to prove that you can do anything, with talent, drive and persistence. Even a kid from Walsall making beats in his bedroom. Where this leads now I don’t know yet, but he’s getting offers so hopefully the momentum will continue for him. I’m absolutely made up for him and so proud

Thanks, folks And so to the bit of a build I enjoy the most. The neck carve This is my neck carve kit: ...and of the above, the humble card scraper is the one I use the most. I had previously taken some profile measurements of Matt's favourite guitar and transferred those onto a plasticard template for the 1st, 7th and 10th frets. I had also taken neck depth measurements and had thicknessed the neck to those dimensions. I scribbled a pencil line down the spine of the neck to make sure I didn't cut into that depth at all. For shaping necks I prefer to hold the guitar or bass a bit like a back-to-front cello and draw the cutting tools up from the heel towards the nut. First to use was the spokeshave (strictly a two handed job but I was holding the cameral here) I use the templates to guide how close I'm getting : Once I've taken the corners off, I quite quickly move to the card scraper (again, two-handed): Getting there... And quite quickly it's at the sanding to final fit stage:

Something that has made a massive change to my playing & is remarkable value for money is my much used Zoom H2n (& before that the H1) handy recorder. In the dim & distant past, recording rehearsals & gigs was a much more involved process and the sound quality was fairly hit & miss. Having a good recording of every rehearsal which can easily be shared helps a lot with practicing new songs & remembering the arrangement and fiddly bits of a song.

Just wondering really as I think it really helps get people in the mood but I've noticed a lot of bands don't. The Mod/Northern Soul/Ska band I'm in always get the PA up and running first and we have an mp3 player with a setlist of Northern Soul classics on that we play at decent volume while we're setting up. It gets people up dancing and sets the scene for when the band starts, a bit like a support band would do. Then in the break, we always do two sets, we put it on again (not the same songs) to keep folks interested, and again at the end until the PA gets taken down last. It doesn't take any effort once a setlist has been put together, it's not like DJ-ing, and means we are supplying music for a good four hours which the pubs love, and the main thing for us is that it gets people up dancing before we even start and they don't drift away in the break. I can see it would probably work best for a band like ours with a theme as it can become as big a part of the night as the band but I'd have thought any band would benefit from tailoring an mp3 set to their band for the reasons above. Yet I don't think many do. Even if using an installed PA with resident soundman there's no reason it couldn't be done. Personally I love seeing Northern Soul dancers enjoying themselves while we're setting up and it makes a tedious part of gigging enjoyable. So I was just wondering if we're in a minority doing this.

OK, not strictly bass related, but worth a watch and listen - it's only 1min 45 secs.

Can you identify the musical styles the owner of an instrument is into from their fretboard wear patterns? Of course you can, here's the simple and infallible Basschat Guide:

I have friends on the force, so we'll have no trouble from the local feds.

A bit like this, which I made up from old surplus parts from Shergold.

This idea started whilst on holiday a couple of weeks ago, with too much time on my hands to mull over new 'projects', and with easy access to alcohol and the internet, I decided I needed a B15, the perfect partner for the '64 style P bass I made recently. However, once again, without the spare cash to find and buy an original '64 Ampeg, I began to consider the alternatives, and in a bit of a deja-vu situation, the answer seemed to present itself. Last year, whilst on holiday I missed out on a great deal Kenny's Music had on the Ampeg PF20t and PF50t, basically because I dithered instead of snatching one, and they went out of stock by the time I got home and got my derrière in gear. So, this year when I noticed a similar offer on the PF20t from Gear4Music, I ordered one and delayed delivery till I got home. This will suit my needs perfectly, I have never had a valve bass amp before, it's low power, intended for home practice and recording and you can plug it directly into a recording interface, without a speaker connected. From what I read, the sound was reminiscent of a B15, and seemed to me to be the perfect alternative to shelling out on an original or a Heritage reissue, providing you can find one! Then I began to ponder on the idea of building a cab like the infamous 'double baffle' cab from the early B15 fliptop combo's. As you can imagine, there are a lot of references to the B15 on the internet, but surprisingly few people have properly documented any attempts at copying a cab or even restoring one, so getting anything more than the basic dimensions proved a bit tricky. I found exploded diagrams of the cab design and the baffles, and snippets of information from various sources, including an American company called Fliptop cabinets, who make reproduction cabs and restore original gear. I had a fair bit of the drawings I needed, and enough reference photo's to have a go at 'reverse engineering' a cab, which after all will not be a copy of a flip top, when up stepped the wonderful Chimike of this parish, with a kind offer of a complete set of plans for a B15N...…….result! Thanks again Mike So, this is what I have in mind. As I mentioned, I don't want or need the flip top arrangement on the top of the cab, this cab will be used for home practice and recording, so an authentic sounding and airtight cab will be better suited to my needs. The amp will be used a lot of the time, plugged into my recording interface and utilising the Two Notes cab sim, which has Ampeg models on it. This will also (hopefully) make the cab build easier or more straightforward, as I have never made a cab before. On the Fliptops website they offer an extension cab, which is pretty much exactly what I have in mind, with a solid top instead of the rotating tray thing, no wheels dolly on the bottom, and with a removable back for access to the speaker, but still retaining the characteristic double baffle design. I have a full sheet of 3/4" plywood, which is what the originals were made from, this has been in the cellar below the garage since we moved into our house 15 years ago, and it looks quite good quality and void free, just a bit dusty! I found a local seller on Ebay, selling an Eminence Delta 15a, which is the replacement speaker recommended by Fliptops for the cabs they make, which incidentally start at around $500 plus shipping and import tax, so, obviously are a non starter for me. The Eminence seemingly sounds the closest to the original speakers. Anyway, got the speaker for £10 (bargain) and if anyone can find a use for the metal speaker grille and port tubes that came with it, drop me a line and I will gladly post them to you, as I won't need them. The grille cloth and the checked tolex is available, albeit not in the UK (unless anyone knows better 😉) and this will be the most expensive part of this project, which so far has cost me £10 and a gallon of diesel! If anyone is interested, I will slowly keep you posted!

NBD is imminent at Black Towers. Continuing my apparant quest to replace every instrument I own with a P Bass of one sort or another I have jettisoned a P/J and am eagerly awaiting the bass stork. I'm calling her my Stealth Bass.

New arrival and my god it’s lush! I know Fender Custom Shop sometimes gets bad press for their prices and stuff but this is a beauty. Same spec and build (bar head stock colour) to Scott Divine P Bass of Doom! 1959 heavy relic finish in Oly White over Candy Apple Red 😍 I know relic can be marmite but man, it’s a beaut! Even got Fender to send me the Shop Floor Traveler. Sounds bloody lush too! Welcome to come and try it if you’re local to me 😁 Bought on EBay but I believe it belonged to @Atomic dustbin on here. Lovely fella 🤘 Few sexy bass pics for you all.

https://pastdaily.com/2013/12/27/mike-oldfield-concert-1973-nights-roundtable-concert-edition/

The PRS rules in this country have always baffled me. In my youth, when I lived in Italy, every band had to produce and sign the complete list of the songs they would play at every gig, and if they also played recorded music, they would have to list those songs too. The pub would counter-sign, and everything would be promptly sent over to the equivalent of the PRS office, for royalty payment. If you didn't do it, the police would eventually get you and both the pub(s) and your band would be fined. This country is a bleedin' free-for-all from this point of view. Never seen any band being asked for a list of songs they played live or over the PA. I have no idea how artists get their dues here. Ah, but we're getting our country back from EU red tape, so all will be fine, won't it. 😮

We have our own rockabilly playlist that we use at most Damo And The Dynamites gigs, and occasionally for the Junkyard Dogs. We try to replace the house music with it wherever we are allowed to. It definitely helps, not just because it sets the mood, but also because I have control through the tablet over when to turn it off as the band goes on stage. The bar staff always seem to need yelling at several times before they bother to turn off their (usually) crap house PA to make sonic room for the band.

Rug and antlers

Our bassist back in the 70s had a Ned. What an awesome beast it was. Talk about heft. He played it through a Sound City 100 watt valve amp through a WEM 2x15 ported cab, it was areal chest shaker.

i do depending on the venue. it also helps to keep the songs we play being played by the venue's DJ

since the thread is starting to re-awaken, here are my basses Series I & II europas. Quilted maple, burl maple and burl redwood.

It’s also a good move as it keeps the theme going for the whole night, rather than once the band is on a break a load of doof-doof starting up, singing about hoes and gold chains, or The Wurzels top 10 hits one after another.

I can’t help but think this is very smart. Keeps the punters happy. Happy punters = happy landlords. Happy landlords = repeat bookings. Repeat bookings = a happy band.

Great skill Andy, you make that look a doddle 😲 and I see you are another builder keeping a smile on the face of @SpondonBassed 🤣

sad for us that he has already surpassed all of our combined centuries of effort lol

Thanks for your kind comments I have been working on 6 basses over the past few months I should be able to post one a week as I finish them.

His optimistic "these go for a grand in good condition" quote! This pile of rust used to be a series one E type Jag bonnet, in good condition this would be worth over £10.000 !

As said - very subjective, but having built a shedload of P bitsas over last 30 years, best I've found (currently available) are the Jason Lollars and the Fender '62's

Small is beautiful. It is also wireless and battery powered 😃

Thought I'd wander across the Pond and see what the Brit Builders are up to. Haven't posted here in a long time. Here's a couple of Ric inspired builds, the Black one finished a couple years ago, the Walnut one just recently. The black one took 4 years on again/off again, the walnut one two years. The full build diaries posted on Talkbass USA here: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/the-hossenfeffer-bass-build.1102535/#post-16376432 https://www.talkbass.com/threads/the-hossenfeffer-ii-build.1286896/#post-20081778

When we first met, keen to impress each other in the first flush of love, Mrs. Pook and I agreed we both liked REM. We don't - nether of us does, never have. Sweet tho, isn't it ? We were probably hammered, but still...

Cheers fella - I am a regular follower of your wall poster pictures with the occasional bass thrown in!

I was hoping someone more expert than me was going to revert on Stew's query, but here goes: I personally wouldn't describe it as an inverted compressor, because a compressor is typically acting on both the peaks and troughs of a signal, but more an inverted limiter (which I accept is a type of compressor); whereas a limiter cuts the signal above a certain threshold to limit peaks (e.g to protect your speakers and / or stop you sounding like a Richard mid-set if your hand decides to take on a life of its own), a noise gate stops any signal getting through until it reaches a certain threshold level e.g. to prevent annoying white and / or dirt-pedal noise.

I don’t anyone was deliberately trying to mislead and that includes Blackstar, I they could have chosen EL34, KT66, KT77, KT88 6550 or 6L6. The 6550 is probably more we’ll lnowm that any of the others all over the world ye to American influence and immediately gives the end user in indication of “valvey warmness”. I have not touched valves for years but from memory the KT88’s properly (or maybe improperly for hifi purists) biased could outperform all the rest but some preferred the way the 6550 sounded when pushed hard.

Okay, I overspent on a noise gate. Or did I? This thing is incredible. I can’t get my head around how a pedal can remove white noise as you are playing in a signal in real time...maybe I’m just behind on noise gate tech 😂

The production on that first album never ceases to impress me, it’s all crystal clear and uncluttered, which I think adds to its timeless quality. Bad Co were a supergroup that was more than a sum its parts IMO, normally it’s the other way around.