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Our gig with headliner Larry McCray last night went really well.

Ah, they make that wierd staccato noise when near amps. Your phone related tale reminds me of another, not so much a D'oh moment but embarrassing oversight. In a now defunct band we used to open the second set with 'Blockbuster'. I'd found the correct siren noise online and looped it into a five minute mp3 file, and put it on my phone. I used a Line6 X3 Live and I'd plug the phone in the line in and route it through the volume pedal, I could then just leave it running and fade in and out as needed. Start of the second set we'd get the fog going and had old school red and blue police lights either side of the stage, I'd then fade the siren in and folks would wonder what's going on, until the guitar riff kicked in. I'm smiling just remembering it. Anyway half way through the song at one gig my wife phones me to leave a message about something or other, only problem is the phone is routed through the PA and the whole place was treated to my answer phone and her message. I put it in flight mode from then on at gigs.

With semi-circular cut done at the fretboard end, time to glue on the fretboard. First was a check on the fretboard position do end up with a dead straight neck in relation to the body: Then I drilled through into the neck for the fretboard dot holes that I had left un-dotted and double-checked that the cocktail sticks were in the right place with a further straightness check. And before anyone panics, no - that pencil line in the photo isn't the centre line : Next was to insert some cut lengths of cocktail stick, leaving the hole on the fretboard face clear for the remaining dots to be inserted: Trussrod inserted and masked off, time to make a mess - rubber gloves on and old-fashioned slow set araldite mixed with a decent amount of ebony sandings dust and spread evenly on both sides: And finally - you can never have too many clamps! : And that will remain clamped until this time tomorrow

Nothing’s worth it. Bass is just a way of passing the time until the sweet release of death.

No one complain how bigger it used to be back in the day?

Had a gig at Ye Olde Smack in Old Leigh, played there before. The quaint old fishing village of Old Leigh was totally rammed when we got there - a sunny easter weekend - and the pub is one of those ramshackle old places that has random spaces and very low ceilings. A mixed night. Plus - the load in is pretty easy, the space cleared and available from 6:30pm. Minus - the area for the band is inbetween two areas of the pub and punters continually use it as a short cut to get to the bar. Including one drunk girl while we were actually playing, having to pick her way in between all the gear. Minus - it is almost impossible to get a good sound 'on stage' the low ceilings and room configuration just gives a weird muffly reverb effect. Plus - it sounded good further out into the pub. Plus - sound check (SRV's Mary Had a Little Lamb) got a huge cheer. Given the genre - blues rock - surprised to see loads of people were up dancing from the start and everything went down well. Even Red House Plus - at half time I popped into the gents and overheard a couple of chaps saying how good the band was. Minus - a big drunken idiot kept shouting 'Play Wonderwall' in between every song. Minus - most of the people who liked us left at 10:30pm so we played a lot of our best stuff to a handful of people who were not really interested. Plus - guitarist Alan had got into his stride by then so played like he was at Wembley Arena. Minus - all the people who said they were going to come along didn't. Plus - break down and load out was quick and incident-free. Plus - I was in bed by midnight. We are playinig there again in September, I expect it to be the same mixed affair.

Hello fellow kids. It's nobody. I have returned to the bass world after leaving and realizing the rest of the world is crazy(which coming from me is really saying something). Anyways... I needed something to distract me from all the bullsh!t going on in the world and decided I missed making low growly noises so I bought a bass after selling all my stuff a few years back. I always wanted a bass like Mike Watt's heavily EB3 but the vintage Gibsons are out of my price range and I wouldn't feel right modding one so I looked into Epiphone EB0s. I found one used on reverb in good condition that already had the pickup replaced with a DiMarzio so I bought it. It also came with the original pickup and that got me thinking. I moved the DiMarzio pup to more of a middle position and use the original pup cover as just a cover over the original cavity. It looks pretty professional as long as you don't take the pup out and look at the new cavity(It's not pretty but it works). Before that I disassembled the whole thing and deglossed the finish(except the front of the headstock) with fine steel wool and put on a Hipshot bridge. It looks a lot nicer with a satin finish IMHO. I finished soldering the pup in Friday and got a used Ampeg Micro CL yesterday. The Epi sounds HUGE through that amp. Punchy. Bright enough. Growly. Easy to play(my first short scale). Neck dive like crazy! I moved the bridge side strap button up about 4 or 5 inches(sorry I'm a Yank)10 to 13 cm and that helped a little. Then I moved the heel strap button to the lower hole instead of the upper hole of the neck plate and the also helped. The combo of the two made it good enough. Then today I remember a P bass I had seen at a local pawn shop that had a P bass Special(JAZZ) neck on it that I kinda wanted so what the heck... I bought that too. I got the P bass home, tuned it up, plugged it in, turned on the amp and... NOISE FOR DAYS!!!!! The pickup is microphinic and a touch technotronix or something like that..... I'm probably going to have to replace the pup and I'll probably upgrade the pots and jack while I'm at it. I'm absolutely cool with that since as I mentioned before, I'm looking for things to keep me distracted from the mess the world's in right now. I hope you're doing well. Different strokes for different folks And so on and so on and Scooby-dooby-dooby I am everyday people

Complete and ready to ship out to me this week. I can’t wait to get my hands on this beauty!

Riverside Bar in Dumfries. My 2nd time in this venue with this band and always a nice welcome. Large conservatory type ad-on to the original bar with a wooden floor so sound i was hearing was a little bit more boomy and couldn't hear the top end too well. Used the para EQ to cut the low frequencies helped Lot of dancers as always with the punk band. Quite a civilsed gig as we arrived 5:30 set up the gear by 6:30, went for dinner in nearby restaurant and on stage 8:30pm. 2 sets and had to finish 11pm. Usual conversations at the end of the gig with punters which is always good. Several compliments even better. Offer of several drinks but driving meant no drink for me. Packed up and ready to go by 12:15am, home by 01:30, bed at 2am after my coffee and biccies. While packing my car the singer came out to say lots of nice things about the new bass player (me) all positive and complimenting me. I do love compliments at the end of the night. The band have been regulars at this venue for quite a few years now. Dont know how to copy a FB vid onto BC i'm afraid. Dave

Hey! Hope this is in the right place , the luthier section seemed a little off for what is essentially a few mods. So, for my birthday the Mrs treated me to a bass i had my eye on and i was happy. Then it arrived and i could not for the life of me find the arrows for the 4 sting bow i had been sent. Neck angle was waaaaaay off and even with the bridge saddles absolutley slammed the action at the 12th was about 6mm... Unfortunately i have no pictures of just how bad it was, i'm not one of those who photos everything and shows the world what i had for dinner last tuesday. The finished pic i had to take for this post, its been finished for 2 weeks now. I had my eye on this bass as a project, a cheapo wonder to be improved upon with as little as possible spent but all new parts. Wanting to do things properly, or as properly as i know how i opted to copper shield the bloody lot. Turns out it was possibly the best £7 mod i have ever made and every instrument i own will be treated to the same eventually. The bass was £105. The parts (pickup , knobs , bridge , tuners ) inc. delivery were £74. Neck shims and p bass wiring kit delivered from Stewmac was £45. The time was my own , and it turns out it was well spent. This bass is incredible, Incredible to play, incredible sounding. I have never owned a P bass before and have been looking for this sound, Wow. Action is really nice too , the 1 degree shim was perfect. I honestly did not expect results like this and am kind of blown away. I still have a couple of high frets to deal with and they all need a good polish but that'll be sorted at next string change cos i can live with it as is until then. £30 quid a bloody pop for strings damn sure i can wait. Parts used were Wilkinson bridge , pickup. Northwest guitars gold tuners and knobs, Stewmac wiring kit with cts pots. Strings are DR fat beams. Sound is heavenly. A friend who had a go today commented it's so quiet its like playing with a noise gate. For a first go i think i did alright.

Well I used to throw dried figs at the drummer whenever he was rushing... 😁

We just sit around and silently judge each other.lol 😆

I have spent too much on kit. I have had 90% of the lush preamps out there - I know which one I prefered. I have owned what I consider the best backline out there - there is a pleasure in amplification which reaches all the way down there without giving up. I have had a solid 80% of bass guitar options. An instrument which responds equally across the range will always make me smile. I like a 33" scale because the strings are a bit more rubbery. As soon as Drums Rex and The Guitarmageddon kick in, any subtletly just dissapears. And after too much time in loud environments I cannot play without earplugs so even if any of the subtlety is there, I miss it. Does this stop me owning more basses than I need? Nope. But it is cos I like them, not because anyone else, including me, will hear any difference when the chips are down.

Ahem ... April Composition Challenge... Never stronger; don't hesitate. Just jump straight in, as all of us have done in the past (and more will do in the future...). The more the merrier; all are welcome. No bagpipes, though.

So, I’ve run the 12at7 in the V1 position and It’s great. Gain is definitely lower, I noticed the drop in volume as soon as I plugged in but a couple of notches on the volume or depressing the drive button picked it back up. What it has allowed me to do is get a much higher gain and volume setting without the tube break up, just clean rich tone. It’s fruity, it’s juicy, but creamy too, it’s got a growl if I dig in. The notes sound punchy and really tight The string noise is a little more defined but in that raspy way that sounds great with a bass, if you like that (I love it.) The highs seem a little cleaner and chords are just singing. Of course this is what I want to hear so I’m plugging the 12ax7 back in for the afternoon. I need to get it to a practice with the band to test it properly but so far it’s a positive.

Some of us are handy enough with a Stanley knife and some tough foam to cobble up a facsimile for a little less than that amount.

I think I'd vote for 'nothing in the style of AC/DC, bagpipes or not'. ...

He’s 68 1/2; he can do as little or as different as he likes!

Try using some cable ties. 2.5mm is the smallest I'm aware of , 91p gets you 100 of them at Screwfix. https://www.screwfix.com/p/cable-ties-black-100-x-2-5mm-100-pack/65467

Why not? They have a lifespan of about 30,000 hours, so if they have been gigged for 3 hours every night for 3 years you would still have another 6 years of the same schedule before they are getting towards their ends of life. If I picked up an old amp for a recondition I would be far more concerned about the conditions of the capacitors than the valves.

I can’t think of anything more boring than playing everything identically to a record. Most bands who wrote the originals don’t even do that.

I kinda sorta agree and kinda sorta disagree as well. Budget instruments nowadays are much better than what they used to be in the past. Better construction, better quality control and with the advent of the internet, fora and social media, it'd be pretty much financial suicide for even a budget brand to consistently offer only "lemons". Sure, there are some "misfires" but for the most part, even the cheapest instruments are at least serviceable. Now, myself, not being a pro, am mostly resigned to harley bentons. I know the brand, they have relatively consistent QC and offer stuff I like at prices that enable me to have five different instruments instead of one. Do I want a 51 P but lack the funds to get a fender or a sire? Here's the HB PB50 (honestly, one of the best, despite the extremely low price). Do I want a stingray but don't even wanna shell out 500 for a sterling? Here's the MB. Now this is not an ad for harley benton but I am considering diminishing returns. Do I really get 3, 4 or even more times a better bass with some other name brand? In my experience, usually not. Granted, these cheaper instruments do need some work and are sometimes lacking in certain parts; say electronics, for example. But I do dare say my 90 euro HB precision plays much nicer than a lot of fender player series after I've worked on it. Are the fenders better quality? Absolutely. Better woods, better pickups, etc. Are they 7 times the price of the HB better? Not for me. And considering I can do the work myself, the choice is pretty easy for me. Having said that, I would love to have a few expensive basses but I've found that, the point where you do really get a much better instrument for your money is somewhere above the 1000 euro mark and that kinda money aren't peanuts for yours truly. Hell, I got my car for 800! 😁 I'd still gladly spend that but that would be on something more "special". Say a human base or something, not another FSO kinda thing. In any case, long winded way for saying "do whatever makes you happy".

The way I see it is, if my job was to be a musician I would prefer to only play music I actually like and want to play - preferably my own. If that wasn't possible I'd play most things just to earn a crust. However, my job isn't being a musician... It's one of the ways I have fun, which means only playing stuff I want to play - otherwise it's no fun for me!

No. It’s precisely drilled to fit my loupe so I can examine my extensive stamp collection.

Just been chatting to the owner of these two 1964 Precisions, he's gigging them in a few minutes. Holding them was a near-religious experience.

Sadly my house is about to go on the market and the makeshift studio has been sacrificed to revert to a dining room - apparently that's what "normal" people expect in a house. Therefore I won't be able to submit an entry this month. I may yet record "Can You Hear Me Calling?" a rant on the vagaries of communications reliability when living or working away from loved ones just for fun. I will keep an eve out for the voting thread and wish everyone great dollops of inspiration in the meantime.

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.

Played a new (for us) venue last night - the British Legion Club in the old fishing village of Watchet in our home county of Somerset. High expectations as 'Legions' normally have a decent car park and stage. First problem was the sat-nav led me to the car park of a pub called the Star. As there was no sign of the Legion and the Star was in a cul de sac, I decided that road access had to from somewhere behind the pub and set off on a big loop to try and find a way in from the other side. After stopping a couple of times to ask directions, I ended up back at the exact spot where the sat-nav had taken me in the first place. This was indeed the nearest place to off-load and stuff had to be hand-balled the remaining 100 yards to the Club. By now, I've wasted 20 minutes searching the tiny, winding streets around the harbour and am somewhat whizzed off. At least the hoped-for stage is there when I arrive. So, quick set-up and we're straight into Gimme All Your Lovin'. This results in a healthy round of applause and four punters jump up to ask if we can do some more ZZ Top. "Yep, we always finish with Sharp Dressed Man and Tush." The sight of four smiling faces and 8 thumbs held high means that either there's a party of hitch-hikers in tonight or that we're guaranteed an audience of at least four at the end of the gig. As we get into the first set, we realise that the venue's acoustics are great, the mix is perfect, and the band's exceptionally tight tonight. The gig is even better for me as I'm still in awe of the sounds coming out of my relatively new Mesa TT-800 now I've got my head round it. Because of all the covid stuff, mine's one of a very small number of these amazing amps to have made it to our shores so far, and I'm feeling grateful - smug even 😊. The crowd are with us and the first set just flies by. During the break, I spot that the two different groups of people I asked directions from are in the audience and go and have a chat with them. Like most people, they love classic-rock covers and, even though I've enjoyed playing in a number of bands doing all original material, it's the classic rock that really does it for me. The second set kicks-off with Thunderstruck and also passes in a (Jumpin' Jack) flash. When we're all done and dusted, the Club Manager comes over with a big smile on his face and - even more important - an envelope containing our ill-gotten gains. The cash turns out to be more than expected, which is the icing on the cake! It's 56 years since I played my first high-school gig and I can honestly say that the buzz I get from gigging is as strong now as it was back then. On a good night at least 😉

It was “fine” before but a little bit sterile sounding . Now it’s an aggressive beast ! Loads of mid range attack and not scooped at all (which I’m really happy about) very jean-jacques ! ive a precision bass also and I wouldn’t compare it to that either . It’s like a souped up p bass .

Preamp tubes/valves when designed reasonably are typically good for a lifespan pf between 7,500 and 10,000 hours with some that will make it to 15,000 hours and some failing earlier. I see so many perfectly good tubes/valves replaced without any consideration that what's being installed may in fact have higher failure rates due to infant mortality (first ~200 hours) On a 3 years old amp, capacitors aren't even barely "broken in". Typical lifespans when designed/selected properly runs in the 15,000 - 30,000 hour range, but I have some that I have seen well beyond that. I have however seen a lot of damage from folks who think a capacitor change-out is a maintenance item that should be done every 10 year or so (fueled by a bunch of bad information on the internet).

I saw the L serial numbers which are 63 to 65.

Sign him up to a heap of magazines and junk to that mail haha Si

Any Roxette single will do, and a bloody good use for them too!

Thanks Stew. I didn't realize how "old school" our little band looks. Four pieces and 4 vocals. We really can't fit keys into the budget yet. You can really get spoiled with these plush gigs. Next weekend, back to reality.lol 😀 Blue

That doesn't describe anything played by JJ Burnell, James Jamerson, Paul Jackson, Wilton Felder or Duck Dunn.

I couldn't believe how good mine was first time I gigged it. Bearing in mind I hadn't had it long, so was really quite unfamiliar with it. But I barely needed to tweak it beyond dialling down one effect. What blew me away was the way the sounds sat in/cut through the mix. Better than any of my uber expensive individual stomps have done in the past. Even allowing for my cack handed inability to dial in a good sound on those pedals, the Zoom out shone them.

Have you seen Mike Watt's signature Reverends now? 🤤

Not exactly on topic but, if high-quality boutique north-western US pedals are your thing, Iron Ether is taking pre-orders for the Xerograph Deluxe. Apologies to the mods if this is not the appropriate place and contravenes a rule.

Or rain

An early personal favourite of mine from 1976. I heard it recently on the radio and have always loved the bass line so, here we are.... From the 1976 album, 'Wings At The Speed Of Sound', this is Paul McCartney's bass part to 'Silly Love Songs'. Over 40 years in and this is the first PM part I have transcribed! https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/silly-love-songs-paul-mccartney-and-wings/

I hate not gigging. I have absolutely zero interest in recording, whether solo or with others, the only thing that lights my fire is playing live to an audience. I especially like gigging with material that has room for improvisation. I enjoy the fact that the band and the audience know we are never more than a few seconds away from a complete train wreck, but still somehow stay on the tracks. The guitarist in my main gigging band will shoot me a certain look when he is about go way off piste - it's a kind of challenge he likes to lay down, and I enjoy following him into the unknown.

Used mine last night for the first time with the band at rehearsal.......at volume . At the moment lm using just the presets to get used to the box . Went through quite a few of the presets and immediately noticed the difference in sound at a volume , compared to bedroom level . I settled on 80's studio , very over compressed at bedroom level , but l found it great in band situation . Quality of sound ( IMHO ) far, far better than the b3n . For a 75 year old , things ain't half improved over the years . Now back to the box , to learn how to tweek it , to get it even better .