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Well...... In 1975 I was playing on the island of Jersey with the remnants of a 60's pop band called Love Affair. (Remember them?) We were doing some sort of cabaret show at a big hotel there. We'd finished our set in the main ballroom, and then picked up word that Robert Plant and John Bonham were in the bar. Went and had a discreet look, and it certainly looked like them. Plant was on crutches - I knew he'd had a car crash recently. Bonham looked completely out of it. They were surrounded by a posse of hangers on and music people by the looks of it. Next thing we know, everyones cheering, and Plant and Bonham are heading towards the stage. Plant stops and talks to our drummer briefly, and then our drummer points to myself and the guitarist, and indicates we should go up on stage with Plant and Bonham. The rest was a bit of a blur, quite honestly. Bonham was clearly more a bit worse for wear but started fiddling with the drum kit. Then someone fetched a stool for Plant to perch himself on, and Plant suggested over the mic that we played 'Red House' Sorted out the key, and we were off. I was doing my best, but was only one step back from pissing myself with fear, god only knows what it sounded like. Luckily our guitarist was an excellent player and carried things along, as Bonham was hardly able to keep time, let alone play well. We played two lengthy numbers, half drowned out by whooping and cheering from the crowd, possibly undeserved. I cannot remember for the life of me what the second number was. Most unexpected thing that's ever happened to me at a gig!

I had a new bass day this week. An immaculate china white P-Bass from the Bass Centre's collection. Sold to me by our own @nickcarey , replete with Detroit Flats , it has also been upgraded with new knobs and bridge. I've hankered after one the BC precisions ever since I got my hands on my Bruce Thomas Profile and this did not disappoint. Finely balanced, clean punchy sound, lovely neck and the nicest tort guard I've ever seen. More importantly I've never owned a white bass before and was stunned how pretty it is. At the same time this arrived my Ampeg returned from having its valve job completed by @basstone who I happily recommend to any other Somerset Basschatters. Well today I had the house to myself. Set up and gave both amp and bass a good go. I have no idea what it is about the SVT but somehow it contrives to fill the air with bass without ever being too loud. I played along to music on a bluetooth speaker and never had it at high volume. I could easily follow the track and yet was enveloped in beautiful warm bass. I think the white looks rather good against the black stack too.

I think this is what the internet is for!

Did an apprenticeship to be an electrical maintenance technician. Went on to maintenance planning engineer for a big factory, a job which i still do now. Said factory is about to close though. At which time i will start doing my "other job" as my main job. I train dogs. More specifically, dog agility. Anyone watch Crufts? Few people i train were there competing. I love it.

I picked up a good deal today, found this bass on Facebook marketplace for £35 It's nothing special, has a bit of rust on the bridge and pickup, a chunk of paint missing on the back (no problem as I want to relic it anyway), a bent tuner, and I suspect it's plywood or something similar. And the neck is fatter than I'm used to, but it's light and sounds decent. For £35 I'm happy enough! Harley Benton short scale P. I've already adjusted the truss rod quite a bit and changed the strings to my preferred ones (actually they're old ones that I took off one of my other basses a few weeks ago and didn't throw away!)

I picked the Maruszczyk bass up off Basschat as I had a hankering for something light and passive... boyo does it fit the bill! You have to marvel at how 'M' can knock out basses of this good consistency and light weight. Little features like the easy string change bridge (which has adjustable saddles for string spacing), angled back headstock to alleviate the need for string trees, zero fret, well finished neck edges and frets... even daft things like the pup covers are well rounded over for comfort. Sounds sweet with just enough bite without being too hot. The Fender P bass (Mexican) is with me as I had far too many cabs in the house (I had spare TC RS cabs incase I played anywhere that needed more than a pair of 210's... nowhere it seems) and a local guy was after some with this to swap. It's a reasonable weight being sub 9lb and balances well. It needed fettling when I got it (we all have preferences) but it is set up with a nice low action now and plays really sweet with these La Bella low tension flats. Fit and finish isn't up there with the 'M' bass but it is half the value! The protruding saddle grub screws ALWAYS bugs me with 'F' basses but hey ho, it was good enough back in the 50's... 70 years of progress comes to nothing!

BTW I’m still up for making a contribution so you don’t end up massively out of pocket, @scrumpymike, as I’m sure others will too.

My mate told me that I would like this new band 'Marillion' back in 82. It was before they even had a record deal. I rang the record shop in Aylesbury as I heard that they had some of their cheap demo tapes on the counter. The shop owner said, "they've all gone, but you could try the singer Fish, here's his phone number" (!) so yeah, I rang Fish and chatted for 25 minutes about prog. He was out of cassettes though! Then a month or two later they came to the student union bar at my home town (Luton). Still pre-record deal. The ticket was £1.50. Fish was selling tickets at the door. I asked if he'd sign one of the small gig posters and he said 'Sure, come with me , I'll get all the band to sign it" So we did! I was a MASSIVE Marillion fan whilst Fish was in the band, the musical love affair of my life. And here's the poster: And ticket:

Ebay isn’t the problem. People are the problem, exploiting systems put in place to protect buyers and actually using them against good sellers.

For anyone thinking they've left it too late to take learning an instrument seriously, take encouragement from this: I have recently taken on a student who is 96.

Totally inspired by Bilbo's "I Was There When ..." topic, where I posted: One of the early monster gigs at Knebworth with a line-up to die for ... so good that 40 years later I don't remember anything about the gig except the point when the DJ between bands put on Jilted John. When we got to the appropriate moment, about 40,000 people all yelled "Gordon is a moron" in unison. So I thought, that's ridiculous, how can I not remember any of the bands who were there? I had a vague memory that Zappa might have been involved, but was I confusing that with seeing him at Empire Pool Wembley (along with a bottle of amyl nitrate)? Surely I saw The Tubes around then, but was I confusing that with seeing them at Hammersmith Odeon and just three weeks later in (of all places) Oxford? So ... Jilted John was a big hit in the Summer of 1978. I checked the line-up for the 1978 Knebworth Festival - no chance. I've never seen any of those acts live - Genesis, Jefferson Starship, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Kept searching and discovered "the Knebworth Park Concert", looked it up and Bingo: FRANK ZAPPA THE TUBES PETER GABRIEL BOOMTOWN RATS ROCKPILE WILKO JOHNSON'S SOLID SENDERS Blimey! I've seen Peter Gabriel live? I had no idea. Boomtown Rats? Ditto. Even more embarrassing is that I have been for many years a big fan of both Rockpile and of Wilko Johnson without realising that I saw them in 1978.

My current crop. Some old, some new and some home made 🤘

It's now finished. It needed a name and this seemed appropriate.

There's a bass one too

To be fair to eBay, It's eBayers - some, at any rate - one should hate, not eBay itself. I've bought and sold plenty of stuff on there without much problem. Having, said that, I'm extremely careful - insist on cash for face to face dealings, always use recorded delivery, never agree to deal outside eBay and so on.

French Corona Virus Solution.mp4

there are many basses that have a singular feature I like, but only my Shukers have them all on one bass. So for me it's a question of having one bass that does it all, rather than having several basses that each do a bit.

Thank you for the interest, encouragement and help, without it this would have taken me far longer and not been half the fun. Here is a family photo with the Ampeg PF20t and the '64 style P bass I made this cab to partner up with, I think they're made for eachother.

Thank you Stub Mandrel If you look at this photo of a pukka fliptop, taken from above with the lid removed. The innermost panel, with the slotted ports has the speaker attached to it. If you look at the circular speaker cut-out, you can see the gap between this panel, which on any other cab would be the solid, fixed front panel of a cube really. The difference with this cab is that it has another removable front panel, which has the speaker grille cloth attached to it, and is bolted to the inner panel. There are spacer blocks with bolts through them to keep the gap even all the way round. These two diagrams are like a cross section of the cab, as if it were cut in half horizontally. The turquoise part being the outside grille baffle/panel. Here's an exploded view of a whole fliptop cab. The cab I made is simpler, with a solid top and a removable back panel, quite conventional in that respect, but it's the same dimensions and has the same baffle arrangement. There is an American company called Fliptops who make replacement B15 cabs and also do an extension cab, just like the one I made. I have a proper set of dimensioned plans for this, if anyone wants a copy then please PM me.

Looks like someone may have popped a couple of Jazz's in there by mistake

Thank you kind sir. In the interest of full disclosure this is what's on order:

I wish this kind of thing was around when I was doing acid.

Let me know if you ever want to move this on

I take a slightly different view, which is always go for the best you can afford, so the £1,200 bass doesn't need to be "£1,000 better" than the £200 bass (whatever that means to you and however you measure it), just that for you it's a" better" bass (again, whatever that means to you and however you measure it). Clearly if the £200 bass is just as good as the £1,200 bass by whatever your measure is then you'd be an idiot to spend the extra £1,000. Unless it's really pretty

Excellent strings the Detroit Flats too, my go to choice

Updated list as of March 2020 with purchases within last 11 months in bold: (PRE-KRAMER) SPECTOR SB-1 USA 1976 (Walnut/Maple) (PRE-KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Cherry Sunburst) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Black) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Black) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Gloss White) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Tobacco Sunburst) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Red/Black Lava Crackle) - Ex-Barry Dunaway (Yngwie Malmsteen Band) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Red Stain) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2A (Gloss White) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2A (Black) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2A (Black) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2A (Teal) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Custom Holoflash Black & Abalone) SPECTOR NS-2X USA 'Spectorbird' (Tobacco Sunburst & Abalone) SPECTOR Euro CR (Holoflash Black) SPECTOR Euro CRFM(Dark Purple Stain) SPECTOR Euro CRFM (Plum Stain quilt) SPECTOR Euro CRFM (Forest Green quilt) SPECTOR Euro LX (Gloss White) SPECTOR Euro LX ‘Ian Hill’ (Black) SPECTOR Euro LX 'Rachel Bolan' (Black/Silver Sparkle) SPECTOR Euro LX (Black Stain quilt) SPECTOR Euro LT (Violet Fade quilt) SPECTOR Euro NS-2 JA-CR Euro RI (Gloss White) SPECTOR Euro NS-2 JA-CR Euro RI (Black) SPECTOR Legend 4X (Holoflash Black) SPECTOR Legend 4X (Black Stain) STUART SPECTOR DESIGN NS-4 Euro (Red Stain) DINGWALL D-Bird (Blue/Purple Colourflip) WAL Mk1 Fretless(Mahogany with Stained Maple facings) WAL Mk1 “Geddy Lee” (Black with Gold Hardware) FENDER Precision ‘70’s Jap RI “Phil Lynott” (Black/Mirror) FENDER Precision ’62 Jap RI (Vintage White/Red Tort) FENDER FSR Precision PJ Deluxe Active (Sea Foam Metallic) 1 of 150 FENDER FSR Precision 70's RI (Nat Ash) FRANKENSTEIN Tele neck/P body '"Billy Sheehan - The Wife" JACKSON "Kip Winger" Sig (Cherry Lacewood) JACKSON TBX-Pro ‘Jacksonbird’ 1 of 56 made (Black) JACKSON Ontario ‘Concert Bass’ (White) HAMER Impact USA (Black & Gold ‘Marble’) HAMER Impact USA (Red) HAMER Scarab USA ‘Rick Savage’ (White) KRAMER Forum I (Flipflop Blue) KRAMER Ferrington Electro/Acoustic (Black) ESP The Surveyor 1984 (Blue Stain with Blue fingerboard!) ESP PPJ-160 ‘Masayoshi Yamashita’ Sig Model (White) ESP/Zep-II PPJ-160 ‘Masayoshi Yamashita’ Sig Model (Black) PEAVEY RJ-IV “Randy Jackson” Sig Model (Red Sunburst) PEAVEY RJ-IV “Randy Jackson” Sig Model (Grey/Silverburst) PEAVEY “Rudy Sarzo” Sig Model (Dark Natural) TOKAI ‘Hard Puncher’ P (Black/Mirror) TOKAI Works TW801? (Black) FERNANDES MV-65NS “Nikki Sixx’ Non-Reverse Spectorbird (Black) FERNANDES MV-65NS “Nikki Sixx’ Non-Reverse Spectorbird (Black) FERNANDES MV-65NS “Nikki Sixx’ Non-Reverse Spectorbird (Black) FERNANDES TB Ltd Edition ‘Thunderbird’ (Off-White) YAMAHA BB3000 (Black Sparkle) ARIA CSB Black & Gold (Black) HARTKE XK-4 Active (Black/Chrome) GUILD Pilot (Purple Burst) GUILD Pilot (Red) MUSICMAN USA Sub Stingray (Black) HAGSTROM Super Swede "Rutger Gunnarsson" (Dark Mahogany) EPIPHONE Thunderbird Vintage Pro (Black) EPIPHONE Thunderbird Vintage Pro (Tobacco Burst) ITALIA Imola GP "Ricky Phillips" (White) HOHNER B2A w/D-Tuner (Black) FELINE/SPECTOR "Gene Simmons SB-1" Copy (Black) FELINE/KRAMER "Gene Simmons Axe" 1980 Hybrid (Black/Silver) PUNISHER "Gene Simmons" Ltd. Edition (Signed/#’d) (Black) AXE "Gene Simmons" Ltd Edt (Signed/#’d) (Black/Silver) CORT “Gene Simmons Axe-2” (Black/Silver) CORT “Punisher GS-2” (Black) STACCATO MG Active (22 of 34 made) (Black/Magnesium Alloy) I also have 10 'guitards'....

I was dismissive towards the Corona thing initially, but reading the sensible stuff (rather than the media shitstorm) I’m inclined to agree with postponement. Sorry.

I saw Primus as the support band for Jane's Addiction back in the 90's. they had just released Frizzle Fry - still have their T-shirt somewhere. I remember thinking that they were very impressive, but a little difficult Also saw Bon Jovi touring their first album as support to Kiss in 1984. They were very good Muse supporting Skunk Anansie at Brixton - I don't think their first album was out then, just a couple of singles (but I may be wrong on the exact timing) Saw Cliff Burton twice, the last time at Hammersmith Odeon the week before he died Faith No More at the Marquee in Wardour Street Moby as the support act for a couple of bands - I thought the Rollins Band were one, but Wikipedia tells me that the Chilli Peppers and Soundgarden are more likely candidates Talking of whom, the Chili Peppers with John Frusciente the first time he was in the band (a few times actually) Megadeth with their original line up Status Quo's first farewell tour in 1984 Black Sabbath's first farewell concert at the NEC in 1999 Motorhead's 10th Anniversary concerts (still sad I didn't get to see them on their 40th) I'll stop now...feeling very, very old

Your cat obviously loves the bass as well John

Or 2 or 3 basses at around the £400 to £600 mark.

Head of design and branding for Public Health England. Been working at the same place for 30 years (although the organisation has changed a few times). I've been insanely busy with COVID-19 this year, I was producing all the early posters and info for all airports/uni's and ports (in 8 languages).

1. After a dramatic entrance Jim Kerr fell off the front of the stage at the Lyceum and had to be helped back onstage by audience members. 2. An enormous rockabilly fellow getting on stage, again at The Lyceum, with The Cult and doing the classic chicken dance. Several roadies appeared to get him off the stage, all of whom he dispatched with flailing punches. He eventually rejoined the crown but only after drop kicking Jamie Stewart into the wings. 3. SPK supporting The Birthday Party at the Electric Ballroom. SPK had animal skulls on sticks as stage props during their set which they threw in to the audience when they finished. I picked one up, a sheep skull I think, my finger found something squelchy in the the eye socket, a rotten eye. The smell was epic. This was the most violent gig I’ve ever been too, a friend of mine had his ear spit in two during the fray, he was (and still is) vey proud of it. 4. During a Killing Joke souncheck Raven was informed that guest was trying to get in. I went to see who it was and looking in through the window was Billy Duffy. “It’s Billy Duffy” I reported back, “Tell him to fück off” came the reply. I went back, opened the window and said, in my most gentlemanly tone “I’m afraid Paul’s tied up mid-soundcheck at the moment but he did specifically request that you fück off”, which, seemingly, he did. During the actual gig Duffy returned but Raven clocked him and between songs shouted “Oi Duffy, I thought I told you to fück off?”, which, this time, he promptly did. 5. During a Crystal Method show in Houston (I was working for the support band) ZZ Top turned up. Billy Gibbons had ZZ Top headed post-it-notes with his autograph which he stuck to anyone who asked. 6. Working with a band at the Phoenix Festival in 1996, the tour manager ran up to me and said “There’s some nutter sitting on the DJs podium and he’s rocking it so much ******* can’t scratch” I ran over to eject the fellow but as I approached I realised it was Goldie, ”S’alright, I’m fücking off” he grinned. 7. Returning from a Banshees gig in the early eighties, about thirty of us boarded a train at Liverpool Street. Once we’d all found seats someone shouted out, “It’s Gripper” and indeed, sitting quietly on his own was Mark Savage who played Gripper Stebson in Grange Hill. Once he realised we weren’t going to throw him out the window he was a good laugh. 8. Hearing a rousing chorus of Stand & Deliver being sung by a crowd of football supporters alighting from a train at Euston. Only on closer inspection did I see a highly embarrassed Adam Ant walking along the platform with his wheelie suitcase as the crowd sang behind him, he looked like he wanted a hole in the ground to swallow him up.

In and around 1976, I was having a quiet drink one evening in a local country pub in Cranleigh (Surrey).............and in walk two unassuming chaps, both with acoustic guitars. The barman tips them the nod and seems to know what the'll want to drink. They set up two stools in a corner and proceed to give an impromtu acoustic concert for the locals. Guess who?? Ronnie Lane and Eric Clapton. Gobsmacked or what !!!!!!

I wouldn't trust this bottom feeder to post it back. By Ebays own rules, it must be returned by a trackable method, but who knows if he'll use decent packaging. PP will refund him after you sign for it. They wont give a hoot if it comes back dented , covered in cow dung, or missing and a telephone directory in its place. Mind you, he'd be a brave bloke to do anything daft like that. You know exactly how to find him I would collect in person, as he's proved what he's like, and then give him a taste of his own medicine. Buyers think they can feck sellers around on a whim on Ebay.

My holy grail?!? Quite possibly....! My gorgeous US custom built Spector NS2X 'Spectorbird'.... tobacco sunburst finish on 5A quilted maple with gold hardware and legendary Haz-labs preamp. Signed and numbered #003 on rear of headstock. A very rare bird indeed.... 😎 My Hamer Impact basses (circa 1990) - very rare - prob less than 100 ever made and they look and sound lush! My mega-rare Staccato MG bass. One of a approx 40 in the World and this one is signed by Gene Simmons.

I run my own recording studio in South East London. Anybody need anything recorded or mixed and mastered? Prior to this, I was a civil servant for 17 years. I'm a pharmacologist by degree, but I haven't used that professionally for over 15 years.

Is Carl a friend of TIM?

The flip side of this is that you turn up with your high quality PA and backline to find the other band/bands have been told they can use it by the organiser. Takes a complete lack of compassion/sympathy to refuse as they look at you pleadingly, but I'm a miserable heartless bugger.

"Woke up in the morning.... thank god for that"

Finally finished! There were just a few finishing off jobs to do, but for some reason it took a while to get them done. I took a bit of trouble to try to make it as airtight as possible, I've not made a cab, or even looked inside one, but from what I've read about this design, ownership is as much about chasing squeaks and rattles, as about enjoying the sound it makes! So, I got some adhesive spray, some sheets of black felt and foam, both about 1mm thick, and pinched a load of tricks from others, that will hopefully each make a little bit of difference. I glued rubber patches on the inside where the bolts for the handles come through. Then made one with a smaller diameter hole than the speaker socket, so that it stretched over and made an airtight seal. I glued a bit onto the spacer blocks on the back of the grille panel, as I have read these are a source of rattles. Then I followed the advice of Mark at Vintage Blue in the USA, I covered the other side with the black felt, it seems back in the day, they were covered with some sort of foam or similar, which was there to stop the grille cloth from rattling against the outer baffle. These would disintegrate over time and the cloth would flap against the front of the cab. Then I glued the wool felt to the inside of the cab, oh what sticky hairy fun that was! Then once again, following Mark's example, stapled on the grille cloth and heated it up in the oven to tighten it up onto the baffle, and bugger me it worked! This was quite satisfying! On went the back panel, and that was it!