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I've had this for about a week now. It's in pristine condition and sounds wonderful. One happy bunny.

It’s not often I read the Sunday e-mail from Bass Direct. I kind of scan it and rely on looking at the photos of the used section on Monday to see what’s new. Well, I’m jolly glad I did read it Sunday just gone, because there was a Ken Smith BSR 4WT mentioned in the list that wasn’t on the site and I've been after one for a while now. I quickly e-mailed Mark and said I would have it subject to seeing photos and getting a bit more info on it. He came back to me quickly saying it was due in any day and that it was a 2015 build and in excellent condition. A home use ungigged kind of deal. A day or so went by and Mark sent me a couple of photos and it was exactly what I'd hoped it would be. There was a bit of confusion at one point when I received and e-mail addressed to someone else saying it was on hold. Apparently I was not the only one who was after it, so if anyone here was enquiring and lost out, I do apologise. Anyhow, I paid for it yesterday and it arrived just after lunch today - that’s under 24 hours folks! What a bass this is. Lovely weight and balance, plus the neck is just spot on for me - very Jazz like and not very deep either. It's set up quite low, possibly too low for me even, so I'll have a little adjustment session later. I haven’t had a chance to plug it in yet, but so far, so excellent. I know there are some here that don't like coffee table basses, but I think this one is quite understated compared to some.

Go on. You know you want to. I'm sure the other half wouldn't mind.

I’m sure that anyone buying this won’t need the second pillow.

Is that quilted maple?

Thing is, it's not aimed at me 'cos I would have emailed the guy as he requested. But then the last paragraph, would put me right off. From what I can see: He's helping some of the applicants he's trying to filter out, by pointing out exactly what they need to do to pass the first test He's putting off some some of applicants he's trying to attract, because of his attitude. Remind me again how this is a good approach? 😄 Interesting discussion, tho.

It should be re-strung to BE_D

At least I'd have a genuine excuse for reaching for the G string!!!

I have my first gig doubling on DB (well, EUB to be fair) this evening! I'm very much an unintended bassist - I picked up a bass for fun after being a drummer for 20+ years and whilst I've played a few gigs solely on electric, this'll be the first time I've actually done a gig using my EUB as well. In fact, it's only the second time I've really played it in public - the last being the last rehearsal! I play in a community orchestra and the conductor/arranger asked me to bring my EUB to the last one as there were a couple of pieces that had bowed DB parts. I'd usually played them using a sustain pedal on the electric but I thought 'what the hell' and brought it along. To my surprise it went fairly well and I got lots of compliments about the sound (what is it about a DB/EUB that captures the imagination more?) so I thought "sod it, let's give it a go" tonight! It's a mix of bowed parts and pizz bass, as well as the stuff on the electric. Only wrinkle is that it's forecast to be 2deg when we're playing so hopefully I'll be able to keep my hands warm!

Well, back, and it was ruddy cold! Fine for setting up, but as the tunes went on fingers got really stiff! The bowed DB parts didn't sound as good - no doubt a combination of being stood right on top of my amp, plus the tuning really wasn't happy with the cold! Still, a couple of people remarked it sounded okay. I struggled more with the 'normal' parts I've played loads - by the end of the gig - the most complicated and fiddly tune! - my fingers were really struggling by the end! Enjoyed it though, and we drew a decent crowd so yay! On to the next.

As I like to say, with a wink, these are the best Fodera's ever. 😉 Congratulations, it's really beautiful !

So I sent it off to Dave at Ashdown. Their service was beyond superb. I cannot rate them highly enough. I would recommend them to anyone without the tiniest hesitation.

Indeed... After all, all human interactions are politics! I remember back in the 80s when Queen were vilified for playing Sun City at the height of apartheid, the England Cricket team also got grief for similar. And the justification was "keep politics out of music/sport"; but what that failed to take account of was the fact that they gave tacit approval to the SA Govt's policy. So not only were they condoning extreme racism, they were getting a nice bit of bunce for the privilege. What's the saying? "All it takes for evil to succeed is for a good man to say nothing" (or words to that effect)

This 'other half' would only object to the fact that the damn thing shows an effing Precision. 🙄😂

My motorbike is a spectacular colour called 'Nuclear Red' by Triumph. However I have seen this shade referred to as 'Dog C**k Pink' on Triumph owners' forums.

And... it happened! By the look of it, Damo And The Dynamites were luckier than many other bands and individuals, as the offer of a custom URL promptly appeared this morning, only 4 days after we started trying to get it. Many thanks again to all of you who helped us by subscribing! 🙏🙏🙏 As things stand, both the old gobbledigook URL and the new one with the name work perfectly. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPV6QAb2Pu-7dhX3hwgqohg and https://www.youtube.com/DamoAndTheDynamites take to the same page. The actual custom URL, however, has the extra characters c/ which are visible to admins and which, to be honest, seem to have no function other than aiding some sort of classification by Youtube. 🤔 Never mind... 😉

But not My Herpes. Best avoided for intimate use.

In fact…

Don't ever go to a Killing Joke gig 😉 Edit -> I quite like when performers give themselves to a performance, including what they are passionate about in "real life", rather than some choreographed and characterless vanilla run-through of hits just to appease punters, maybe with an air-grab or two to really show where the emotional parts are. Part of the appeal of the like of KJ is Jaz is authentic in what he believes and, when the rants start to ramble, Geordie starts playing the next song and the show moves on. Bono's non-musical exploits frequently inform his lyrics, you don't get one without the other. Besides, anyone who gets upset by a football jersey deserves to get upset. When Iron Maiden perform The Trooper, Bruce waves a Union flag. In many countries, that flag was the symbol of centuries of oppression, but he still waves it in those countries. It's part of an Iron Maiden show. It's part of the theatre. If you don't like the flag, or the jersey, or the artist's political beliefs, or their religion or anything else, then can you really like the artist? Does Rod Stewart not wearing a Celtic jersey make him any less Catholic, if that is what is offensive to people when he wears the jersey?

For me the general tone would be a big red flag. I mean, when I set up a band last year I didn't advertise for "drummers who can play IN TIME and get to rehearsal ON TIME and get set up QUICKLY and don't then go for a fag as soon as you've already had FORTY MINUTES OF REHEARSAL TIME JUST TO GET THERE AND GET YOU SET UP and doesn't HOG the band EMAIL AND TURN AWAY GIGS BECAUSE YOU DONT THINK YOUR TWO MATES WILL GO THERE and WONT DISMISS POPULAR 80S COVERS SUGGESTIONS JUST BECAUSE YOU DONT WANT TO DO IT and DONT GET A FEW PINTS DOWN THEN BOOK AND ADVERTISE A GIG ON FACEBOOK THAT YOU KNOW SOME OF THE BAND CANT ACTUALLY PLAY IN..." There are other ways of weeding out people who won't be suitable quite quickly without coming across as a n0b.

He can talk about politics all he wants, it's his massive hypocrisy that disgusts many people.

Following my recent "Which Custom Shop?" thread, I received quite a few contacts from people selling CS basses for me to consider. One such bass really caught my eye, and I decided to go and give it a try. There's a little bit of history to this one. It's one of a batch of Custom Shop Basses that Andertons got in, I presume to try out the CS Bass offerings and see how they fared. It's still on the Andertons website (as out of stock) and funnily enough I have the original receipt left by the original purchaser as well, confirming that it sold for just a touch under £4k. It actually featured in one of Andertons YouTube videos - I'll link that in another post. Now, I was offered this for significantly less than that, and just about spot on the upper end of my budget. I've had a few CS guitars in the past, but never a bass. I always considered the guitars to be really well put together, really resonant and lively, and full of character. 5 minutes with this Jazz confirmed that this bass is similar - really super to play, and a very comfortable neck shape. I've always been a P-bass guy and love the wide fat 50's necks, and have found Jazz necks to be a bit awkward, but this one is slim front to back and widens nicely up the neck and really is comfy. It really is lively, and very resonant - lots of sustain, lots of depth to the tone, quite similar to my experience with the CS guitars. Anyway, it's Charcoal Frost - and I'd say a mid-relic (not heavy, but not light either) with a Tort guard. In some ways it's a bit of an oddity - it's certainly individual and plays really very well indeed, so I'm happy. I can see this being a keeper - spent most of last night playing it and didn't for a minute question why at all. I've put flats on it - Super Light Gauge Chromes - and they really seem to suit it. It also came with slotted saddles (as you can see in the pic) which I've swapped out for some threaded which I prefer. I also have some Lindy Fralin Split Coil J pickups on order to get rid of the hum when solo'ing each pickup. I really like Lindy's split coil - got one in my 51P build and it's superb.

Speak to Neil at Newtone Strings. If you tell him the scale of your bass and the feel and tone you're after, he'll make you a set. They're made in the UK and don't cost any more than a decent 6 string set. Great string and good value all while supporting a home grown business! 👍 Alternatively, Kalium do great sets, as do Conklin. I've had custom sets for my 10 string made by Rotosound in the past but they are very expensive! Newtone would be my recommendation. https://newtonestrings.com/

The headstock is definitely LAMS 😁

I was after a new audio interface. I’ve been using an Apogee Duet for ages, but the breakout cables were annoying me. I settled on a Focusrite Scarlett. I couldn’t believe how prices varied. The manufacturer wanted £160, or £135 for a refurbished model. The price at other places varied from £130 to £150. I then tried Gear 4 music and got one for £99. Brand new, the latest version, and next day delivery was for £5.

Charles Saatchi, I’d imagine. While I’m here, I saw the thread title and assumed it was a euphemism. Wrong again. Life is full of such minor disappointments. Oh well,

I have several obbm cables. When they go, I will give up playing.....

I assume my OBBM cables will never fail. It’s been 8-9 years so far without fault.

This is how mine ended up The grille increases the weight significantly (stainless), but they're so compact that it doesn't really bother me.

My new beauty, needed a proper clean and setup as the action was around 5mm at 12th fret 😂 but now plays and sounds fantastic!

There definitely is a difference at the low to mid price (mainly whether the cable is shielded), but like everything after a certain point the law of diminishing returns applies.

Where should it be done then?

Does it give you tone wood?

I use one for rehearsals and two for small/medium pub gigs I reduce the low and low mid eq a smidge and power them with a TC BH550 Given the simplicity and the size, this design really does pack a punch Pre recorded music through them sounds really good too. Amazing, given how simple the crossover circuit is! I'd recommend anyone to have a go! Its very satisfying when you hear your own creation come to life 😊

Our main problem stemmed from the fact that we had a rota for musicians but not for who was leading/singing, I pushed for this to be put in place, I received great support from the others and so it is now in place. We know who is singing/leading until January and then the new 2022 rota will be drawn up. Because we now know who's singing, I picked this weeks songs and sent out the list on Monday, yesterday I sent out the list for Sunday 5th Dec and the person leading on Dec 12th has already sent out his list also. Life is good, God is good!

Another bassist here who has used various 'oils' on basses for 40 years (I have basses I've owned for 30 of those years) and I've yet to have a single issue with fingerboards popping frets, rotting, delaminating etc. I've not read any of the links but I would like to ask that if fingerboards shouldn't be oiled due to microbial whats-its... what the hell does the oils from our skins do to aid microbial attack / decay? I've seem some pretty minging, gunky fingerboards where you have to scrape the fatty juices off the side of the frets to find out what the fingerboard actually looks like! If that isn't going to rot the wood, I can't see a cleaner, healthier product doing 'more' harm!

Can't you just turn comments off o Facebook? My last job, part of the application procedure for developers (I wasn't) was a series of written questions. On the cover page it said do not answer question 4. Knowing now what a kn0b the guy was who ran the company and wrote the questions I'd run a mile from anyone advertising for band members in this manner.

No.

That last sentence sums it up for me. Potential band members are auditioning the band and its members too. I wouldn't want to be in a band with someone who seems to be just that - a member.

U2 were a big influence being a young teenager in the early 90s. I read somewhere AC is your typical bass player- did a lot of the donkey work in the early days doing business and hustling, keeping the other guys in check etc. The ‘brains’ of the operation you could say. A position a lot of us can identify with I’m sure!

I've emailed them to tell them I've responded by PM.

I can't help mess about with stuff, which is often the way I guess.. The Lindy Fralins are excellent. As a bass, I'm loving it. Superb neck, probably one of the best I've played (surprisingly). Love the look and the vibe. The only bit I'm not really getting on with entirely is the stack knobs. They are just too, eh, finicky. I really don't like not having a master volume. I'd prefer a pickup blend and master volume. Anyway, long story short, decided to get an East J-Tone. It arrived. I even did a relic job on the control plate so it fitted the aesthetic. Opted for the Master Volume/Blend version (obviously!). You get a Passive mode, and an Active mode. In passive you get Master Volume and Blend on the first stack knob, and Passive Tone on the third knob. In Active, the Second Stack Knob has Treble and Bass +/- 18db boost, and the tone is still a tone control. (Tone knob is push pull for active/passive). The passive mode with blend and master volume is much more usable, and I'm much more comfortable with it. The active mode brings those Fralins to life - touch of bass and treble boost on the Neck pickup solo'd and it's superb. As close to P-Bass tone as you'll get. Roll in the Bridge on the blend and cut the Bass/Treble a bit and it brings in a bit of mid that you often lose with both pickups on a Jazz. Play around with the tone control as well and it gives some really excellent and usable tones. John does some really nice stack-knob Fender style knobs now and I like them a lot - really high quality. You also get 3 extra tone caps so you can change the tone cap on the tone control, and two balance wheels to set the type and range of the bass and treble boost. It's a cracking upgrade for any Jazz - no soldering to fit it, all self contained in the standard control cavity, and great value for money as well. Highly recommended.

Mineral oil mixed with cement, then your fingerboard becomes as hard as concrete. 🤔

One the one hand, yes, it comes across as rude, but I totally get it. The amount of musicians out there who can't follow instructions/process the most basic requests/suggestions has led them to this (and led me to resign myself to the life of a perpetual bedroom warrior). EDIT: The more I think about it, surely it would have made more sense to NOT reiterate the instruction. Instead of filtering out those who don't listen, they've given them a free pass. Now they're going to hire someone who needs everything explained to them twice, in all caps.

The strings not lining up across the middle of their individual round pickup circles would annoy me more.