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So after playing Fender basses for 40-odd years I decided to give my back a rest and look for something lighter. After months of waiting, a Yamaha RBX-A2 came up on eBay which I bought and loved, then a second really tatty one came up which I got for £135. I don't have much guitar tweaking experience beyond the odd pickup swap, but on the basis that I had little to lose I decided to have a tinker. This poor bass was quite badly abused although the neck only had 2 dents which I drop filled with Superglue. I filled a much bigger ding on the body edge with epoxy putty. Then I decided to try vinyl wrapping it with a carbon fibre look. I’d never done that before and I’m pleased how it came out, although how long it will last is anyone’s guess. Has anyone else vinyl wrapped a bass? The Yamaha is flat topped which makes it easier, I can’t imagine how you’d wrap a curvy Fender. I couldn’t avoid the odd tiny crease at the edges around the horns, so I covered the edges with car pinstriping tape, which seems to work well and should help to stop the edges lifting. Photos attached. For a £135 bass I don’t think it looks bad, and it plays and sounds great. If anyone’s interested I’ll report back in a few weeks, after a few pub gigs, as to how its bearing up.

Well, we appear to have drifted back into general Br*x*t territory again. The visa subject appears to have been comprehensively covered and is starting to repeat itself a bit. With that in mind, I think we can draw a line under it.

ok, well, I don't want to assign malicious intent to something where none was meant, but the conversation seemed very bizarre He said To which you said I am not quite sure how you worked that logic out from that sentence, but still Do you genuinely believe that there is a logic to what you have said? If so how do you work it out? Not only is it not a quote, it makes really no sense. He didn't say that and he clearly didn't mean that. He clearly said that pretty much every policy which people believe was imposed on us by the evil EU is a policy that was created or approved by the UK government. At no point does that imply that the UK created all of these policies, or that noone other than the UK approved any policies or that the UK never makes policies that in its benifit. Just because strawberries are red, it doesn't mean that everything that is red is a strawberry.

Then if we were still members and our democratically elected representatives thought that the regulations were not in the UKs interest, then they could have been vetoed. BTW. The whole fishing rights thing is a complete red herring. The idea that the fishing industry has been decimated by the the EU is a fallacy. As usual with the UK, it has far more to do with UK government policy, which was to privatise fishing rights, meaning foreign boats bought and buy licences to fish what should be, under EU rules, UK catch. And also by the way, without complete change in this regard and a pay out of large compensation to the rights holders (some of whom are rich UK citizens who sub out their licences) this will continue after Brexit no matter what Cummings and his cronies would have you believe. Pretty much every detriment to the UK that's perceived as EU imposition is actually traceable in one way or another back to UK Government policy and has little to do with the EU in comparison. If you want to play the game of naming one that isn't, be my guest.

Blue passports printed in Poland, or is it France? Hopefully they’ve got the words ‘printed in Poland’ in a prominent place, in a bold font.

Blue passports tho eh.... that’ll make everything better.

This is a problem that a lot of quitters have, they over estimate the size and importance of the UK economy The UK is not the USA…! America has a number of music industry hubs (LA, New York, Nashville, Atlanta, Chicago, Austin, Dallas, etc – these are just off the top of my head), all of which are currently more important than London. There is simply no comparison. The American market is big enough that it really does not need anyone else. If you look at the biggest touring acts in the USA over the past few years, there will be very few (if any) none American based acts. This is not the case with the UK and British musicians need to access the European market on our doorstep in order to survive.

Well yeah. Funny though, and I'm not having a pop at you Lozz, is the perception of the EU as a single, external entity. This is the root I think of a lot of Euro-scepticism and it's mostly to do with how the press portrays "The EU" and the relationship we have with it and had within it. We were "The EU". Every time it was EU this and EU that, the press were actually talking about the UK and externalising it. People have never got the hang of the idea that the EU is a membership of individual and sovereign states who all agree to exist in an agreed and cooperative framework. As soon as we leave, bar a trade deal, "The EU" essentially ceases to exist for us as individual citizens. We must get used to that idea. Each member country is as it has ever been (and we we were all along) to citizens of non-member states, an individual, independent, sovereign nation. Spain is Spain, France is France etc. For us, their membership of the EU is irrelevant. People are still talking like we're still Eu citizens. We’re not. These countries owe us nothing. It's going to take some time for people to get their head around that.

Not my argument, or my conversation but I am wondering, are you deliberately misreading and misquoting everything he has said, or do you have a problem understanding? It seemed pretty clear what he said the first time you misquoted him, now it seems you are actively trying to misunderstand.

Thats not what I said. What I said was, pretty much every detriment to the UK that’s perceived as EU imposition is traceable back to UK government policy. Fishing rights is a prime example. It doesn’t take much to research it. But whilst we’re at it, all of the directives, regulations and decisions taken by the EU were done with the UK as a highly influential member with a veto which the UK government of the day has chosen to write into sovereign UK law rather than make use of. I said nothing about them being in Brussels. literally nothing, ever has been imposed on the UK by the EU against the express will and without cooperation of the UK government, If you have a problem with any of them, then your problem is with the UK government and not the EU. These are not my opinions either, they’re just plain fact.

First time out for us as a proper band last night. A 'Battle of the Bands'. A biggish venue with a very powerful pa (it belonged to Slipknot when they were starting out...) first time I've ever had a separate sound engineer for monitors. We sound checked first and had the benefit of it with the bassist of another band saying our soundcheck sound was 'outstanding' 🙂 Unfortunately for some other bands it was a bit hit and miss - I think it was those who brought their own guitar amps instead of using the backline. I was lucky, for the last few weeks I've been practising with the huge Fender rig they used - it was still on my settings when I plugged in and no-one changed it all night which made my life very easy! Numbers were modest, about 200 including the bands, but it was a very enthusiastic crowd who got into all the bands. Last year's winners 'Dark Matter' put on a great show, their singer told me he had decided to pretend it was a 10,000 crowd however many people turned up. We were on last, and started with Song 2; another band had done this earlier so we decided to just really go for it... it certainly got nearly everyone dancing 🙂 The rest of the song choices went down well, we couldn't have picked a better day to play what ended up as a pop-punk version of I'll Be There! We thought In Bloom might be a bit of a gamble with a largely student audience, but in the end it was probably our standout track because all the Nirvana fans went crazy 🙂 I absolutely drenched the bass with chorus for this one and it sounded absolutely gorgeous where it's just bass and drums (IMHO!) Then two songs from the end I stood on my power cable and all the lights on my pedal board went out. Quick check it wasn't a pulled out wire so I just swapped the wireless to the amp and turned up the gain bit. After weeks practicing Ace of Spades and learning to play chords with a plectrum my moment of glory and no overdrive... fortunately the adrenaline got me through it and my dread of starting too slow was unrealised! We finished with Club Foot, which always sounded poor whenever we rehearsed it without fuzz on my bass, luckily we'd decided to double the solo on guitar which paid off as I could barely hear myself playing fingerstyle with no compression and no distortion. Somehow we started and finished together although I'm not 100% sure what happened in between! We didn't finish in the top 3, I'll probably use the age of three of us as an excuse (we were introduced as three old men and their carer 🙂 ) but as far as I'm concerned that was a fantastic night because I know we were tight, several people complemented how good we sounded (including the sound engineer) and that was probably the most enthusiastic audience reaction I've ever got. My fourth gig since taking up arms again, but I think I can now say; "I'm back!"

The creative industry employees some half a million people, that’s as many as the construction industry. It brings £110 billion into the economy. In contrast, fishing employs 11,000 full-time people, and delivers £1 billion to the economy. Which industry is being listened to, which ignored? It also has wider implications. Without going off topic, I’m a musician it’ll affect me travelling to perform in whatever guise. I’m also an academic, my PhD is practical based. Academia relies heavily on travelling and meeting people, especially so where the two fields meet.

A pal of mine works in the vinyl Industry and has wrapped a number of guitars/basses. He already has a sideline supplying customised bass drum heads, (he is a drummer), and has also wrapped a number of complete drum kits. He did a stunning design for a guitar for my son and also a couple of scratch plates for various people. The fact that the original instrument is preserved and if you get fed up you just pull it off makes a load of sense to me. Also very cheap compared to a respray. Here's a guitar and bass he did.

Agree with the wooden strip across the wall directly screwed onto the stud woodwork then screw your hangers onto the wood. Make sure you leave enough space between basses in case they don't hang straight down. Some basses will fall slight off centre depending on type of hanger and weight distribution. My hangers pivot but some basses do still lie slightly off centre. You don't want your basses banging together when hanging or removing either. Here's mine

Here now, but nothing to do 'till 10am. So.. time for a cuppa and bacon stottie. The songs are proper eclectic mix. Yesterday was interesting 'cos a couple of the songs really spotlight the bass, which isn't really my thing. I'm quite enjoying it to be honest... even if I need a lie down afterwards. A couple of the guests are pretty particular about arrangements - for the right reasons - so we've had to go into microscope mode. It all feels comfortable in the hall now. The show's going to be amazing, but the opening sequence and closing sequence (of the show in general) are absolute bangers. Here's a vid of my route onto the stage...

That’s it isn’t it? The new passport is in reality a sign of regression, and a loss opportunity and freedom. Previously we had the right to live, work, study, travel freely and retire in anyone of thirty counties, also to receive free medical care whilst there. We now only have those freedoms in one country.

Made by a French company and printed in Poland of course. Like any of this is going to make any difference to anyone other than making our lives more difficult and things more expensive at best.

I was interviewed recently, nothing exciting or prestigious, a bit of fun for our FB page. Which is your favourite bass? I was asked. After a moments reflection The Bruce Thomas Profile, was my response. I was a little surprised myself - I always assumed it was my Aria. So I took it out last night, wondering what made it so special. What became clear over the course of the evening was that either it produces a wonderful sound, or it coaxes a special performance from me, because every time I play it someone remarks on how good the bass is. And asks me 'what bass is that?' Which, given its superficial likeness to a P. Bass, is odd. But I think the main reason it's a favourite is that even when I'm consciously examining the thing, I just forget it's there. They say the best football referee is the one you don't notice, and this applies here too. I am unaware of weight or balance issues - there are none. I'm not thinking about how good or bad the neck is - it's perfect so I don't notice it. I focus on the audience and my fellow musicians not the playability or sound of the bass because they're exactly right. It's like breathing, I only notice I'm doing it when it's not working properly. I really love this bass.

Something like this?

Nice little support slot at The Jacob's Ladder in Falmouth. Good fun!

More info...

TBF, this is a musicians forum and so the gripe about the effects on musicians is natural. In the wider scheme of things, it's not going to be just musicians though is it?

Have you thought about painting the wall like a shadow board so you know where each one belongs and more importantly spot if one is missing?

Techy pics.

I really like this one. AVRI 63, now discontinued. Great pick up.

I’m out... bought back my old my old Lull PJ4 today. Couldn’t be happier - it was worth it

Well obviously those awful foreigners keep coming over here and taking all the well-paid gigs away from talented-but-starving hard-working BRITISH people who have paid for the social services and stuff that they want to nick and take back to foreign-land with them when they steal all our best tunes and leave talented-but-starving musical geniuses to rot in garrets while they take all the cash which should have been ours but it's OK cos we're going to kick out Johnny Foreigner and tow Britain out into mid-Atlantic where we can become the first-choice trading partner with North Korea and Peru.

That's not strictly true... They behave as if the tones are wired across the inputs to each volume control, not the outputs, so their effects only blend noticeably when both pickups are above about 75 - 80% volume. As you can see from that diagram, when either volume control is rolled right back, its tone is grounded and effectively out of the circuit. I often keep the neck tone off or near off and the bridge tone bright, and switching pups using the volume controls shows the settings to be independent when used like that. Turning both pickups right up and if one tone control is rolled off it will have the dominant effect. This takes some getting used to but does actually open up a very wide range of tones, something I've only really been exploring in the last month having had the bass for about four months. So, for example I can go from a reggae style neck pup, tone rolled off, to bright bridge pup with two knob twirls, where my other Jazz requires three. Effectively you can 'preset' the tone for each pickup at the expense of having to learn to understand how it behaves when using both pickups. My 'main sound' now is neck pickup tone rolled back and volume at about a quarter with both bridge pickup controls maxed. I find this adds just enough 'fatness'. Interestingly the Seymour Duncan website where I got the diagram above seems to share my findings: https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-tone-garage/the-1962-fender-jazz-control (Note the first reply on that page is wrong because the clever bit is that the pickups are wired to the WIPERS of the volume controls a point most commentators seem to have missed.) Here's a pic off 'the other website' and you can see its consistent with the above diagram.

I’ve still got 7 years left on mine. I believe you can buy burgundy covers for the blue ones 😁

Oh? Ok Understood. OK. Got it. If I've been a little short with you I apologise. I may have also assigned politics to you. Again, apologies.

Absolutely. Any artist that points out how they're going to be affected by this will be portrayed, by some, as liberal elites who don't respect democracy. At some point I'm sure they'll wheel out Roger Daltry to say it won't be a problem*. *For bands with a tour budget the size of his.

Why are your 'garage tools' all just giant knives??? 😂

Aye.. he's a great drummer, too. So tasteful.

Again, Sparks were great! That’s why Top of the Pops was such a fun but important programme growing up - seeing them for the first time doing ‘This Town...’ was something else. The look of Ron, and the sound of Russell. The guitar riff/playing. The gunshots!! Great pop music...

I now own the white Limelight Jazz at the start of this thread. It’s a monster, as good as a real ‘62 I was loaned some years ago. I would certainly recommend them & you’re welcome to have a play on it if you’re passing my way.

Right.. more pics from yesterday. MD Alan Clark. Drummer Ray Laidlaw Ray & Pete Accordionerist Shona Newey The video team The gallery - Geoff Wonfor & Chris Cowie's domain...

Grainne Hunt. Irish folk singer/songwriter who did a living room concert for my sister in law's birthday this evening.

Real bummer to post here but .... In general, if your house was built before 1999 just try and be confident that the walls don’t have any sort of asbestos insulation board (AIB) any where that you are likely to be drilling . just completed my awareness renewal and the death rates from asbestos diseases are not likely to peak for another 15 years. it is a total bastard and there should be a national outcry , it is everywhere and really doesn’t get the press and coverage it needs.

No No No! Simplify the process. Buy a shortish piece of plank of appropriate size (I tend to use a 48" length of 5" x 1" or similar) and take your time positioning screwholes - preferably countersunk to get rid of the heads - in the plank and matching holes in the walls over the wooden studs. Attach your guitar hangers to the plank, working safely and comfortably on a workbench, and finally attach the completed rig to the wall. This last bit is MUCH easier if you have a helpmate. Be aware that the supplied screws that come with most guitar hangers IME are pathetic slot-heads made of cheese. Buy some decent cross-head/Philips/Posidrive screws to replace them, and be sure to use the right type of screwdriver/bit rather than "this is close enough, it'll do".

Maybe the thread should be renamed “Aja - where are the (what I would call) good bits”? Then it would be clearer - there is no answer as only you know what defines good. There’s an element of jazz to the songs, as there are on many Dan records. This may have an impact on whether you like them or not. I do agree that Donald Fagen’s vocals are something of an acquired taste, but no more so than many singers. The only point raised that I take issue with is the assertion that somehow the musicians aren’t putting emotion or commitment into their performances. Not only does the album have some very fine “real” players like Steve Gadd and Chuck Rainey, but their support of the tracks (whether you like the songs or styles, or not) is excellent. If you don’t agree, learn some of the bass parts. Musicians of that calibre, who aren’t intellectual players but feel players who just so happen to read music because they had to in order to get studio recording and big band gigs in the 70’s, just don’t phone in performances.

I never knew he was a director. I thought he just took care of the money, and his partner Steve Twofer looked after the show

I'll drop this custom BB here...

Impressive, especially doing it as a trio. Another Aussie covers band who do a fine SD cover:

I think first up was The Sweet. The three or four singles Blockbuster, Hellraiser, Ballroom Blitz and Teenage Rampage, along with b-sides. Next up my foray into albums, Sparks. Kimono, Propaganda and Indiscreet. Finally, Japan. The first three albums.

I’m obviously not the first to point this out, but that headstock / logo combination really is horrible. It would look better if you got rid of the excess wood on the end (which looks like it’s just there to fit the enormous logo on) and took the “bite” out of the bottom instead of the top. To be honest though, from a sales point of view - and to echo others above, you’d sell loads more units going for as close to the Fender design as you can get away with, with custom colour / wood options, delivered in a few weeks. I reckon people would go for that. Something traditional - which 99% of players want anyway, with the “feel” of having something built specifically for you 😊