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Following @FinnDaves new pair of sunburst beauties, I received this today, a Fender 2016 US Standard. Shock horror, it’s not black as you can see but the classic Precision imo in sunburst/tort/rosewood. Plays and sounds fantastic, largely thanks to the Custom Shop 62 pickups. Thanks to Mark at Classic & Cool Guitars for a nice & easy transaction.

In 1983, when I were just a mere slip of a lad, me and my good lady saw Big Country, The Alarm and Yip Yip Coyote at the Lyceum. So taken with the band, me and a mate decided we should catch them a few months later and decided that (for logistical reasons) we should fly to Jersey and see them in the Fort Regent Centre. My brother (and my mate's dad) both worked for British Airways, so flights were arranged. We'd procured tickets through my mate's channel Island office and found two days board in what could best be described as a house straight out of The Munsters in Pontac. Gig day we pulled on our Big Country shirts, thumbed a lift to St Helier and got picked up by a very drunk man driving a Lord's Taverners Fun Bus. We arrived at the venue around midday, found a bar, had some lunch at which point Big Country just sauntered in. I doubt any of the punters in there knew who they were, but they saw us and just sat down with us. We had a couple of pints, discovered Mark Brzezicki knew my brother, that Tony Butler lived a couple of doors away from a friend of mine in Sandhurst and that Stuart was amazed and appreciative that we'd flown over for the gig from London. They invited us in for the soundcheck. We just hung around with them until 7.00pm. Post gig, we went back to Chez Munsters and were back at the airport about 7.00am for the flight back and in they strolled, saw us and just started cheering and greeting us like old friends. Stuart bought me a roll of film for my camera as I was out of money. We were on standby, so had to wait for seats on the plane, we got called at the last minute, got on the plane and they're cheering us on (again). I met Stuart a couple of times after and he remembered the whole thing. He was a lovely, lovely bloke. I miss him. He shouldn't have gone like that. [Edit] Just wanted to add something for context here. We (me, my best mate and my wife) were all mahoosive Skids fans and remember that The Crossing hadn't even been released when we did the Jersey trip. Obviously, it was an absolute joy to be two young blokes standing in the middle of the venue watching them soundcheck for an hour, it was like a private gig. (Later in the same year, I recall an occasion where me and my mate experienced something akin to absolute joy at hearing 'In A Big Country' on the radio for the first time. We were in my old Datsun 120Y coupe, driving to rehearsal down The Causeway, approaching Staines Bridge. I haven't experienced such delight since. The excitement when it came on - and the silence that descended while we listened - was just fantastic.) I can recall Stuart saying he'd bought a watch for £2.99 and kept showing it to us. 'Two, ninety nine!'. Also Kenny Dalglish (and family) was at the gig and on the same flight home. He saw us in our Country shirts and got a bit animated; I couldn't understand a word he said. Worryingly (I suppose), the drinking thing was evident with Stuart at the airport on the way back. He was knocking back shorts at 7.00am in the morning.

Two New Fender Bass Day. By a strange coincidence, I received two new Fender basses today. This morning I took delivery of the MiM Precision I ordered on Saturday and a couple of hours later the replacement for my faulty Vintera Jazz turned up. Each has had a quick once over, been tuned and played along to a few songs, and both sound and feel fine. I'll get them set up to my taste over the next few days. I know have a Precision with flats and a Precision with round wounds, and two Jazzes, one with flats and one with rounds. I sill prefer the feel of the rounds and the sound of the flats, but at last I can chose without having to change strings.

So I’ve recently been having a bit of an epiphany and after decades of only playing active five string basses, I’ve recently assembled and gigged my first passive five string and loved the experience. This got me thinking that I’ve never owned or gigged a four string passive P bass, and of course GAS set in and the search began. As one of my side hustles is a three gigs per year Black Sabbath three piece, and having failed to find a precision at a price I was prepared to pay, I advertised on here for a Lakland Skyline 44-64 and thanks to thebrig, this little lady has just been delivered safe and sound by Parcelfarce. She’s an ‘06 model with the jazz width neck with the single P pickup, finished in natural. I’ll update later when I’ve had a proper play but acoustically she sounds nice and bright with a great low action.

So after a few months with the Euro 4, I decided I would actually be happier with a Euro 5 that looks the same. My (new) band requires a 5 but really liked the feel and sound of the Euro 4. In the meantime, I actually bought a Dingwall D-Roc 5 and was going to just trade in the Euro to balance the books. This was an eBay purchase, but it was very very close to BassDirect and the journey killed 2 birds with one stone. This is a 2007 model and the TonePump (pre trim pot) was a bit of a surprise compared to the newer model I had before. It's manageable with delicate volume control use however, and does what I wanted for that sound. I managed to break a pot expanding the shaft, but a new one is on the way. It has a couple of minor dings but all very good for 15 years old. Truss rod was slack and action high, but all sorted easily. So that's 2 unplanned basses in the last 2 weeks 😳.

Remembering Stuart Adamson (Skids/ Big Country). A good man with his share of demons. Born this day in 1958, gone these 20-odd years.

Wanted a slimmer neck for chord stuff so slapped a roasted Jazz neck on it. For a new neck it needed zero fret work which was nice as the last fender roasted neck i had needed a fair bit of fret leveling etc.

here's my G&L and my SR5

You are my dad and I claim my five pounds.

A gig in the village hall to raise money for Ukraine. We raised £1800. The local Ukrainian centre provided a choir of young ladies to sing some traditional songs and one of them is a refugee from the conflict Followed by various ditties from local acts and scratch bands, one of which I was in.... we're mulching our way through 'Sorrow' here. The chap on the left of the pic in the white shirt is Forest & Newcastle legend Frank Clark

When I started this over on the RIP thread I didn't know that Stuart's daughter Kirsten has today (11/4/22) released a cover of her dad's song Peace In Our Time. This is in support of the charity War Child which "works directly with children who are living through conflicts, offering them safe spaces and delivering life-changing services and support". Vocal performers include Karen Matheson (Capercaillie), Dean Owens, Jill Jackson, Dave Burn, Lisa Rigby, Dan Raza, Emily Smith, Paul Gilbody and Jason McNiff.

My Precision Lyte.

Rake Me Nirvana

Here is my L-2000 received from @warwickhuntearlier today. The sound from this bass is phenomenal. I would highly recommend G&L basses. I must try a L-2500 at some point too!

Just added this fantastic Spector fretless from Graham. I think I’m set now.

Got the pick ups cleaned and ready to fix with new screws

Avicii crossed with Coldplay goes back to my answer of “what does current Christian worship music sound like” “Coldplay with a 5 year delay”

Look who's back!

I'm not in full blown gas, but there's been a small leak

https://youtu.be/fNjcunc8U5s I think this sums up Stuart / Big Country rather well. Especially where they pick up again so smoothly.

I can NOT believe this thread has gone on for so long with no pictures. Disgraceful behaviour, you should all be ashamed.

A bass made from planking stolen from a victorian era beach hit?

That video is giving me a migraine. It must have taken days to edit. I am aware that this makes me sound like a miserable old git. I own that.

Believe me it's unusual for me to go for the expensive option in life, in fact very strange indeed. But in this case I believe it's the right option for me. It's simple to edit effects and patches without recourse to a computer, I believe the effects I use most sound better than my other Zoom pedals, the big screen is visible to my lousy eyesight, the tuner is excellent, the effects bypass switch a good addition, the overall tone and volume controls with real life knobs priceless, the DI out useful for me, two inputs useful for me, the different colours for different effects being mirrored on the switches is great on stage, the effects loop a welcome addition, the scene mode for songs is cool. It ain't perfect. I'd have preferred an expression pedal built in like the guitar model has, I'd have liked a couple more foot switches - but four is actually ok for me - and the DI switches seem not to make much difference to my ears. It's a bit big but I'm old and short sighted so that's ok.

Past through his home town last week in Crossgates

Snakes for the divine - High On Fire

Yes, somebody appears to be chopping onions very near me too.

I know it's not the point of this thread but the VI with the bridge cover looks fantastic.

Similarly, I wouldn't buy a used instrument without seeing the serial number first. If I asked a seller who refused to provide it, there is no way I'd buy from them. I've yet to hear a good reason why one would hide it from a potential buyer. What does it achieve other than making the buyer think you've something to hide? There is so much serial number information out there now, going from basic manufacture dating functionality to the detailed specification info the likes of Warwick, EBMM and Fender now make available. It's the best way for a buyer to verify they're actually getting what is advertised, or to fill in the gaps a lot of sellers leave in their information.

2017 AmPro Precision 2019 AmPro righty neck / 2017 AmPro body--My favorite of the 3 2012 AmStd Jazz--converted to fretless and really wonderful And yes, I'm a book nerd--was an English professor for 30 years.

I've just returned one as it was really bad - Infact all of GAK's stock have the same issues! So got some money back and going to resolve it myself as it's too nice to let go for summit as "silly". The Pre-amp is getting ripped out straight away & replaced once I double check the cavity size. I don't know how they can make something so nice and fail at this last part of shielding , grounding and a decent pre-amp.....

A precociously pretty plank!

ah yes, but are they really mini humbuckers

I would say that operationally I don't have a #1 - I give all my basses a fair rotation, what's the point in having them if they don't get played? Over all time since I started playing though, evidence points towards my #1 being the Epiphone Jack Casady Sig. The evidence? I'm on my third one, and I regret selling the first two. I had your typical gold top first - sold it because I was fickle. Then I had a super sparkly Blue Royale one - sold it because of financial pressure. The happy end to this saga is that I now have a 20th Anniversary model. The red one with the flamed maple top. I think I may have snagged one of the last ones available from new in the UK because I had to go a bit off the beaten track to a smaller vendor to get it. If I won the lottery, I'd collect this bass in every finish it has ever been available in, just because I can. So yeah, I guess I'm a JC Sig fanboi then

I sold mine as I found it lifeless and sterile compared to my Spectors....

Classic riddim! If you want to get nerdy about it (I do!) then riddimguide.com is a good resource. Cuss cuss riddim has apparently been used at least 181 times https://www.riddimguide.com/tunes?q=Cuss+cuss&c=

Lost patrol. Big country

Franken P. Ignore the F decal!

The Skids - What a band; saw them live in Liverpool Uni circa 1979. Have to say I wasn’t quite such a fan of BC, although a really unique sound, and what a golden era of Scottish music that was: Simple Minds, The Associates (with the fabulous and equally tragic Billy McKenzie), Orange Juice, Altered Images, the Blue Nile, etc etc The good die young ☹️ Listen and enjoy:

Strings are absolutely everything. The cheapest 'mod' you can do, that changes your tone, quite drastically in some cases. I recently found DR Pure Blues and they transformed my playing. Sound wise, they're warm, but with the right level of bite. Not only that, but the string tension and feel is absolutely right for *me*, which in turn, changes the feel of the bass as a whole and the way I play it. All of that from £25-30.

Just felt the need to post a brief update on my JMJ Mustang now I’ve had it for a few months. I’m sure it’s been said many times, but my God, they got this bass so right. It really is my perfect s/s bass and now largely all I play in my band. For me it’s got future classic written all over it. I finally got around to switching the pickguard too. Also switched to black screws. Think I’ll be doing the same with the pickup screws now too.