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There's still stuff to do, but visually this is pretty much there so I'll do the 'finished shots' Photographing this, with or without total cloud cover, is...er...challenging. Anyway, here's a few arty ones: And two or three in the great outdoors:

Second (and last) date of the Rascallion Village Hall Tour 2021 last night. Interesting setup - the folks at the hall had said they'd be removing the DJ desk for the night, but then decided it was too much hassle in between Friday night's regular "village pub" event and Sunday's Christmas Dinner, so we ended up with me and Mr Drums on the stage, and the other three down on the dancefloor, which made for occasionally interesting inter-band communications. Also possibly the ultimate in socially-distanced gigs, with us at one end of the hall, and the small but perfectly-formed audience seated at tables at the far end. Anyway, despite a few minor "incidents", with final choruses omitted, extended codas added where there shouldn't be any, and somebody down the front starting at least one song before everybody was ready - cue much scurrying to catch up - we got away with it, and the audience enjoyed themselves and were *very* complimentary at the end. On the strength of last night we've been booked for the hall booking fella's birthday bash in February plus the promise of four more dates through 2022, and also a slot at a local outdoor festival in July, so it presumably can't have been as bad as it occasionally felt from where we were sitting!!! 😎

Wahoo!

I assumed they just did a 50/50 split between Kings of Leon and Wilson Picket and figured they had it mostly sorted.

The Boss Tuner TU-3 App which is totally free for Android and Apple smartphones. https://www.boss.info/us/products/boss_tuner_app/

The Grolsch strap lock

Origin Effects Cali76 compressor. A subtle effect but makes a huge difference overall. You don't really notice it there but definitely notice when it's not there

The Guild Starfire I Bass. Granted they're relatively new but there seems to have been very little fanfare about them compared to other basses that have been launched recently. They certainly seem to have missed the short-scale band wagon that's been gathering momentum steadily over the last year or so. For under £500 they really are excellent instruments and built to a high standard.

Arrangements have been made…back in the club.

I always thought you had more stock than Bass Direct Andy….

Strange Brew - Cream I hope I don't get sued for suggesting this

I think generally just everything has gotten so much better these days. Growing up in an era of rubbish budget instruments and cheap practice amps, I am constantly amazed by how good most entry level stuff is these days. Maybe we understand a good setup better these days but I think it's hard to buy out and out rubbish now. Apps have been mentioned but you look at the online lessons and availability of tabs (okay, I'm sure someone will point out they are often wrong) but generally it's all a lot easier now. And making music should be accessible.

Clapton has a bit of cheek to go all legal at someone when he himself shot the sheriff.

Behringer BDI21 is an amazingly good bit of kit for the money. I also think that Ashdowns ABM600 should be raved about a bit more than it is. Sure it doesn’t compete with Class D weight & portability but it’s hardly heavyweight and the difference in its sound to Class D amps is easy to tell.

I love what you did there! I did something similar after I bought a Fender Rascal 5 years back. Loved everything about it except the quirky body shape - not an aesthetic issue, just that the body extending so far south of the bridge put everything in the wrong place for me. I bit the bullet and had the bass re-bodied a la P Lyte with a nice piece of walnut that I already had, and that's been my go-to gig bass ever since. I loved this bass so much that I decided to have the original body re-shaped as the basis for a similar build with the amazingly versatile Rascal pickup/control configuration. All in all, most satisfying thing that's ever happened in my bass world. You just have to be ready to take that leap of faith, but that's easier said than done! All work done by my Basschat buddy Andyjr1515 with build diaries to prove it.

I depped with some friends in their rock band last night at a pub in Beverley. The guitarist/ keys player and the drummer have been friends for nearly 50 years now, and it’s always great to sit in with them. Usual stuff - mainly dad rock with a bit of Slade at the end. Crowd loved it, and the gig made even more enjoyable by some people in fancy dress. I used my 63 P.bass into GKMB800 and Gen 1 BF Compact cab, and had forgotten how good a Precision sounds in these sort of situations ( or any other TBH). Hopefully not my last gig this month!

I have never found an Ashdown envelope I could use. And the Bassballs is a very acquired taste - even its biggest fans admit it can work on one bass and not another. Dont know the Malekko so I'll refrain. If I had to recommend one, guaranteed to work whatever the bass, and whatever sound you seek it would be the MXR Bass Envelope Filter. Utterly reliable, easy to dial in.

The La Bella 760FS-S flats are my choice. Pricey maybe but mine last so long that it's not an issue.

This is how it turned out, darker and less contrast than I'd hoped. Pure tung oil probably wasn't the best choice; I hadn't understood how different it is from tru-oil. Also, I think I overdid the stain, I should have sanded it back more. The restoration wax (satin finish), I could have built it up even more, but it was starting to leave white residue in the holes.

And... was this the first live appearance of the new BC t-shirt?

One subtle re-shaping later... Its broken nose bump is gone, and I've blunted the bottom point somewhat. You're right, it does look better for not being so spiky.

I’ve gigged quite a fair bit this year with the new Northern Soul band that started last year. Last night’s was a fosters poor turnout. Other bar (though all open plan as such), had a few, but we had maybe a handful. A few ventured in for a dance then went back. We were offered the chance before we started to get paid the full amount and pack up, or play- our choice. We played, as thought, we may as well. Everyone seems to have either been scared witless unnecessarily, or they’re frightened of having their Christmas screwed up with the dreaded ping. I don’t post in the vaccine topic, lest I get into an argument- even though I’ve been tripled. The venue are really whizzed off- lockdown in all but name, but minus the furlough. Anyway, I digress. Last night’s rig

I'd also add G&L's. I'd say they are criminally underrated.

A bit of a saga this one. In 1988 I finished my playing career. I was never going to make it and the residency in a pub on Hessle Rd (Hull reference) where the audience was mainly sex workers, burglars who wanted to fence gear and Norwegian sailors. I thought it’s time to call it a day. I was playing with a guitarist and drum machine and had two basses. A Fender P to play at the pub and another which I left at the guitarist’s house for rehearsals. So, one night in April 1988 (I remember as that famous Yorkshire song Reet Petite had just been re-released) I left a rehearsal never to return. The bass was left with the guitarist. It went out of my mind as I got a proper job and career. Fast forward 33 years and whilst I’ve resumed playing (acoustic guitar – yeah I know) I met up with a friend who knew the guitarist. He’d mentioned the bass and to cut a long story short I rang the guitarist (who at 75 does lighting and PA’s) and arranged to collect it. It’s been untouched apart from moving 6 times with him. His missus kept on nagging him “when are you going to give that bass back? Why does it move with us every 6 years?” It’s moved from Hull to Lincolnshire to Sheffield. I was in my 20’s last time I saw it. I acquired it new in 1979 by swapping a jetglow 4001. I’m now 63. He put a new set of strings on it and had it set up. As you can see it needs a bit of cleaning (where there's brass there's muck) and some screws are missing. It may be me getting old but it weighs a ton, much more than my Fenders or Rick. Still sounds good. I’ll post when I’ve got it back to it’s former glory.

If you can find a bb414, 424…easy

I absolutely love Sean's playing, he is a total boss. He is killing it just now playing with John Mayer.

Sealed designs are simple compared to ported. The advantage to sealed is that they're hard to mess up, so long as the drivers used have the right specs for sealed. It just so happens that the right specs for sealed are high Qts, which are what's usually found with inexpensive drivers, so if you're going to use an inexpensive driver just stick it in a sealed box and you're good to go. Ported cabs work best with lower Qts drivers, which also tend to be more expensive, so if you have a more expensive drive it probably needs to be in a well designed ported box for best results. Ported goes lower than sealed when done right. What you don't want to do is to put an inexpensive high Qts driver in a badly designed ported box, as the result will usually be a boom box. When you hear people complain about ported speakers being boomy it's usually because they had a cheap driver in a bad box. Like most generalizations it's not true. The Ampeg SVT, for instance, was made sealed because that's what gave the best results with the high Qts drivers that they used. They could have made it ported and probably would have if they were able to find low Qts 32 ohm drivers, but none were to be had in 1969. Damping factor is a non-factor other than in extreme cases that are very rarely seen. http://www.cartchunk.org/audiotopics/DampingFactor.pdf

Here's my pedal board! I feel a bit inadequate 😔

I reflected on that list and on my own history and thought, well, I've no moral authority at all except it wasn't a friend, more a colleague I occasionally had drinks with. .

To think, that was just a pile of wooden planks not so long ago. As ever, amazing!

Not much progress this week and discovered a problem. Got the chamfer on the guitar and got the top on the yew top sanded a bit. I had not finished routing the chamfer on the bottom horn in the picture. That’s now sorted. I’ve miscalculated the thickness of the yew bass body and it’s too thick so I’m going to have to use a router sled to cut it down a bit. Easy enough recovery but a just shows you how easy it is to make a mistake.

Yes, I'd forgotten about that, the related 'swappers remorse' and pit of the stomach feeling when you suddenly remember it. It was a 1973 with case and was a joy to play, I bought it second hand from a guy who was in an Eagles tribute band and wanted to be Randy Misner. My first bass was a Hondo copy, Chris Squire was a bass deity then, I suppose he still is. I lost one of the bridge saddles in 1977 and it took 3 months to get a replacement from Rickenbacker so in the meantime I bought a 73 Precision, put round wounds on it and became JJ Bunnel (can you see a pattern here). When I got the replacement bridge I swapped it for the Curlee about two months after. This is the one remaining picture of it from 1976. Behind is a Carlsborough 1x18" which weighed a ton and was eventually replaced by a Peavey 2x15". The picture was sent by the guy on the left who made his way to London, played sax with Joan Retailtrading and then saw sense and took up the bass. He made his money writing for some name acts just before Napster destroyed composing fees.

Neither is superior, both can be designed well - and not so well. They are a bit different, but both are complicated to design.

If I had to take a moral stance and ensure musicians I admired lived up to a ethical or even expected standards of social norms I would be stuffed. Just imagine the metaphorical Christmas party. James Brown, Miles Davis and John Lennon in fine fettle. Shane MacGowan, Jim Morrison and Mark E Smith having a festive tipple and sing song joined by Nick Cave on piano with little Richard entertaining the youngsters. Fitting new locks on the bathroom before Chuck Berry rolls in and please nobody ask Mr Hendrix to keep an eye on the Turkey. The man’s a total space cadet. Edit: And I haven’t even mentioned Keith Moon ..

Dawn razor - Fields of the nephilim

The Spector NS shape would suit you perfectly.

The shooting of the Deputy, however, remains unsolved

Any bass player with all his gear in any band…. 🤪

I don’t think I’d call it underrated though

Slow hand is very fast when it comes to money. What a selfish greedy man. He should be ashamed to sue a woman who's certainly in need of money. Instead, he should have helped her the way Bruce Springsteen can do (and I don't like Springsteen's music). It's about time to boycott him.

Last Sunday, fundraiser for Mencap & Mind organised by Lions. Also played with the acoustic support band .