Leaderboard

No pic but we played another slot at a local pub just before the weekend. It was enjoyable but I didn't think it was worthy of sharing... However, yesterday I met by Dad in my local pub 8 miles from the gig and a very decent chap came up to me and said he recognised me. He then bigged up my playing in front of my Dad. I was really touched. (for context, I am a few months shy of 50, not a teenager!) 😸

Not last night, but day before. Barking Bikefest, in support of the Tour Series 2022 cycling event. One of our singers blagged us the last (aka headline) entertainment spot of the day before the main event via his contacts with Amazon Key who are the main sponsor. Really nice small scale festival setup in the middle of a beautiful park. Played on a temporary bandstand with various street food eateries and other stalls around us whilst community cycle races went on around the park. We were down to a 4 peice from our usual 6. One of the guitarists is on holiday and our female singer came down with tonsillitis during the week. Luckily, our other signer handled it with aplomb. Provided backline was excellent (Ampeg PF500 plus Ampeg 2x10, Fender Twin and Roland Jazz Chorus) but unnecessary as me and the guitarist went direct via our Helixes (whatever the plural of Helix is). Quickest set up and break down we've ever done. Set went down well, especially "Park Life". When else do you get the opportunity to play that song in the middle of an East London Park on a beautiful sunny day?! No pay, but free food and use of a secure green room. Bonus points as we were invited to the Hospitality area with free booze, food and goody bags to watch the main event after. Really good fun. The American Amazon contingent who flew over for the even really liked us. We jokingly said... " if you need a band for your Christmas party at HQ in America...". I'm not sure if they were serious when they said, heck yeah, we'd love you over there for that.

There's 2 major points here! Firstly, the idea of "self-indulgence" and "niche appeal". Self indulgence is usually applied to virtuosity in music one doesn't like, whereas a similar, or possibly far lower, level of skill in another piece of music could be called "genius". And those types of music with by far the highest levels of skill are also those with niche appeal - frinstance classical and jazz. Now could this lack of appeal of more complex music be because of the first point, a failure in music education at a young age? After all, most (UK) school music lessons are an excuse to misbehave, it's not treated as a proper subject, media largely ignores any music outside of the simplest of popular warbling. So in order to continue your musical education you have to either go it alone - often because of parents' hot-housing' efforts via private lessons - or being self-taught, or braving the school education route with all its difficulties. And by musical education I don't just mean playing an instrument, but an appreciation (not necessarily a liking!) for all forms of music. And there's been many Berkeley alumni in all sorts of musical genres: Les Claypool, Stewart Copeland, Adam Duritz (Counting Crows), Susanna Hofs, Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead - attended for a while!), Raymond Pepperell (Dead Kennedys), Terry Riley...

Really beautiful, and so nice to see some of the older 'bics in recent posts. Mine's likewise a '76 series 1, long-scale with birdseye maple facings, marked as an export model. A couple of gratuitous pics, which I've no doubt posted previously..

So I managed to get hold of a custom shop bass case and here it is!! Very pleased although in all honesty I’ll be using a gigbag most of the time!!

It would be my US Lakland 44-94 passive P/J. Shoreline Gold (incase that wasn't obvious), Rosewood board, 1.6" 'tweener' width at Nut (B-width for Fender-heads). Yeah, just a wonderful bass with plenty of sounds, wonderful feeling neck. Cheers Si

New bass day! This is a 1975 USA American Vintage Re-Issue, made in 1999. I don't really know too much about the specifications that they used to make basses to in 1975, all I know is that this one feels really, really good! It's got the classic bullet truss rod, three-bolt neck attachment, 70s pickup spacings, and finished in this lovely three tone sunburst with a rosewood neck and mother of pearl block inlays. The best bass I ever played was a mid-70s jazz bass, and this one (whilst not 100% there) gets really close to the magic of the vintage one I played. I bought it Sat, and immediately went and gigged it that night with the original band (The Achievers - R&B, Americana, Blues etc), and then last night with a function band at a wedding. Both excellent experiences! Decent weight, nearly 5KG, so good but not compared to the originals. It's strung with flatwounds too! I know - curious for a jazz... I got this from Will at Bass Bros on Saturday, and the service I received there was excellent - can't recommend them enough. Pics below. Cheers for looking

It's this one. Version II has already been planned, just waiting to have my body parts valued so I can get on with a build diary! Love that P bass @Nobody, I'd actually love to have one the same with a maple fingerboard, with a plain headstock.

Welcome. Then you are in the right place. Ypu turn up with whatever basses, amps, FX, anything else, you feel like bringing and then we all look at/try out whatever we are interested in. That and talk about basses all day long. It's a gas and it gives you GAS. You do not, just turn up on the day, pay a tenner and you're in. It's the best tenner you'll spend all year. No problemo.

I steer away from Rickies because I've played one

EC would sound so much better if he played air guitar.

Welp...the guy did not fancy a fretless (lightweight, baby bassist IMO) so I am off the hook....I learned a lot and feel very vindicated by all of your responses.

Morning. Just wanted to drop a +1 review of BassBros on here. I bought a '75 AVRI jazz bass from Will on Saturday and the process couldn't have been better. Great communication throughout the week to arrange the appointment, and when I got there, the basses I had mentioned I was interested in were laid out ready to try through a really nice TC / Vanderklay rig. Will was really kind, warm and accommodating, making cups of tea, having a proper chat about what we loved about jazz basses. I tried three different AVRIs out, two in natural and one in 3TSB, and I left a very happy customer having bought the latter - picture below I immediately went off a gigged it twice through the weekend, and I'm very happy with it! Couldn't recommend BassBros enough to anybody wanting to purchase their next instrument. Nice one Will!

It's not too different to a wooden necked series 1 apart from being a little brighter and maybe a little more clinical sounding - no room for sloppy technique as the clip below will testify. The neck is like a broom stick, almost no taper on it and the action is super low. alembic series 1 slap.mp3

Hi All, I recently bought a Pitbull kit and thought I'd share the experience, hope it's of interest. Delivery: The kit was ordered Thursday night and arrived mid-day Monday. I’d describe the packaging as ‘light but sufficient’. I didn’t get hit for VAT or import fees on arrival to the UK, which was a pleasant surprise. I think the price is just under the UK threshold. The overall finish and wood shaping is good. There is a small dent/gouge in the lower horn of the body. The horns will need further shaping and I will be able to fix this dent then. The fingerboard is nicely finished with a 12 inch radius accurately sanded. The side markers do not align to finger positions, which is not my preference, although I may come to prefer it. The neck pocket is an excellent fit and is straight in relation to the body and pickup routs. Tuners (snag): It is a little disappointing that the tuners do not fit the head stock. Three of the four nuts cannot be done up tightly enough to hold the tuner firmly against the wood of the head stock. There is a gap of between 1 and 2mm on 3 of the four tuners. I have used a socket to ensure I am driving the tuners as far as they will go. Experimenting with matching different tuners and nuts the problem seems to be associated with specific nuts. This makes me think that maybe the black finish on the threads is too thick. This may not be too much of a problem as I was thinking about veneering the head stock anyway. A nice rosewood veneer would match the fingerboard while adding thickness to the head stock, making the tuners fit. At the same time I don’t really like the supplied tuners. The tuners are not terrible, but they are a little bit ‘gritty’. To be fair they look like they will work and are good for the overall price of the kit. However, given the effort about to go into this I do feel that maybe an early upgrade is the way to go. I’m really not wild about the bridge either. Gotoh have been a ‘goto’ brand for me in the past and a replacement bridge and tuners will cost me an extra £110. This is a lot of money as a proportion of the kit price, but not so much if I am building an instrument to keep. Back cover (upgrade): This is a bit crude. It’s a lump of plastic which sits proud of the body. As the body is nicely shaped with good curves it needs a flush mounted, good looking cover to finish it. Screws (upgrade): The black finish hardware is OK, but it’s built to a price. Previous experience has shown similar screws to be soft and easily snapped. With pilot holes drilled the screws will be useable, but I doubt they will survive longer term use. As I am working with hard woods I expect to substitute in better fixing hardware for this build to give trouble free maintenance in the future. The screws for the strap buttons are particularly Waiting for Gotoh: I decided to upgrade the tuners and bridge from the beginning of the build. This has almost added £110 to the price of the build. I’m not sure if I needed to upgrade the bridge but we’ll see when it gets here. I went with GB707 tuners and a 201B-4 bridge. The arrival of Gotoh: Unlike Beckett’s legendary protagonists I waited only 2 days. Now I have the parts in my hand, is it worth the extra cash? Well, yes, and maybe. The tuners are clearly a cut above the kit parts, as they should be given the additional cost. The nut threads are free of finish and they fit straight away. The feel of turning the tuners is smooth and feels good. To be fair I have no evidence that the supplied tuners wouldn’t be OK in use, but I do like these Gotohs. The bridge comparison is less clear cut. The bridge in the kit is decent enough. I didn’t really care for the recesses in the casting but it looks OK, the black finish on it is good. The Gotoh bridge is a little big heftier, not enough to make any sonic differences. The fixing screws are a similar size. The saddle tracks (if that’s what they are called) are deeper with a rounded profile on the Gotoh, they may hold the saddle location a little more firmly, but I doubt it will make a real difference. Overall the Gotoh bridge feels a little better in the hand, but I’m not sure it will make a huge difference on the bass. So far so good, next steps will be to assemble and play.

Afternoon gig yesterday at the Black Horse, Wigginton, York. First public gig since 2019 and with a new guitarist and drummer. We enjoyed ourselves and the punters seemed to like it too.

It's a funny one and as I understand it, it's to make the 12 0'clock setting on the knobs sound nicer - especially in the case of older amplifiers where speaker cabinets were way less capable than the type of high spec PA drivers we have today. All knobs facing upward would give you a nice bit of bass and treble boost and a mid cut. Classic "smiley face" EQ on three knobs! The actually circuit itself is what's known as a passive tone stack and requires few components. There are different types but most are like or based on the Fender tone stack circuit. Alembic, Trace Eliot and many other brands have utilised this layout too. Interestingly this is one of the reasons that I think some folk find D Class amplifiers "bland" and "sterile". Obviously the whole signal path of a D Class amplifier is cleaner anyway, but all controls at 12 O'Clock is pretty much a flat response from start to finish. All controls at 12 O'Clock on other amplifiers like valve types have a response with colourful EQ bumps and troughs making the sound more exciting. More "heft-y". Oh gosh, I used that word.

Never got Elbow, and Guy Garvey just winds me up.

Just a quick note to say thank you Phil and all the other contributors to this thought-inducing discussion

My question to your colleague (were I in your position) is why has his friend taken these gigs if he isn't going to fly with his bass? My father in law owns an electrical installation company and he wouldn't dream of turning up on a job without his tools, so why do musicians feel they can turn up with no gear? I can understand needing to borrow/hire a rig if you're in another country, but a bass can be flown easily enough (I would get another seat on the plane if I were flying anywhere in Europe via budget airline). If he doesn't want to, then that's his choice and he should be looking into hiring one. As for lending gear....I've seen what happens when people lend gear in good faith to people they don't know. Hard no from me, for my rig or any of my basses.

Rush have certainly written about fast cars, doing drugs and s**gg**g. Not sure about the sh**gg**g in fast cars while doing drugs, but probably cars that were stationary at the time, which is obviously much more responsible.

Please, let me explain ! I had a somewhat grandiose idea. First I would find a numerical value for the colours of the spectrum, (yeah right). Then, I would convert those numerical values into musical notes that would base themselves around my given value of middle C. I would then play the colours in the picture as notes. Well let me tell you, I ended so far up myself that it got painfull !!! Lpk25 keyboard used to play Spitfire BBC Orchestra, Kontakt sounds and incidentals. Mustang bass and squire guitar, both with amplitude. Ez drums and Mt drums do their bit and t'is all scrambled together in Reaper.

Oh trust me, this was not a situation of my choosing. Last time I was in the UK was 2016 and then we opened a service based business that couldn't function without me and that basically screwed any chances of coming back to the UK until COVID struck...and the rest is history. I never took the batteries out of the bass before putting it into storage because I didn't think I'd be away for so long...! Any hoo some pics are below. The original pickups gave out so the previous owner sent the bass back to The Mothership and had new ones installed. The rest of it is original and honest - finish issues and all and the facings are walnut IIRC. And one of it being played live:

This would be mine actually it is mine, for the past 32 years Only mods are the Schaller 3D bridge and scratchplate. New pots in 1991

“Penis of mine” and “Prime Minister” are the same in this country.

OK, this is the one I was waiting for! Shortscale, fretless with a chambered body and piezo pickups. My wife would kill me if she could read my mind right now!

In the '50s and '60s there was much less exposure to commercial pressures, or even presence. We had no television, no music magazines, just the BBC's Home Service for radio (Listen With Mother, The Archers and the News...). I had no idea whatsoever when I bought my first guitar, no more when I bought my first bass, and still nothing when I bought my first drums. I have no childhood 'heroes', and would not associate any instrument with any player; my firm belief is that it's all in the fingers, not the instrument/amp/Fx or whatever. My 'idols' impressed me by their playing, whatever the rig, if I even knew what stuff they had. I've seen many of 'em, with many different set-ups, and they always sounded like themselves. (Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Spencer Dryden, Christian Vander, Joe Morello, Richard Thompson, Martin Lamble, Frank Zappa... to name just a few...).

I was about 11 when my Mum told me that Lennon was dead, I was confused for a while as I thought Lenin had already been dead for some time...

Such a great feeling when that happens. I am 65, and lost my dad just a couple of years ago (93). Savor those moments!!

Bankrobber. The Clash

Tylenol is basically paracetamol and generally considered ineffective against arthritis, however my partner believes in it and says it helps. She recently had a real problem with sciatica and was diagnosed Gabapentin. That made her sciatica a lot better but almost took the pain of her arthritis. However I believe this is a class A drug so not a long term solution.

The 80s rock power ballad snare drum sound is man's greatest achievement 👉😖👈

Hit me with your rhythm stick - trad.

Just played in my first concert since 2019 due to Covid. Mix of Grieg - Peer Gynt- and Gershwin.

Decent progress in a couple of hours I found spare this morning. First, I did the razor saw cut down to the neck line to protect the headstock veneer: Then heated the back of the board for 15-20 minutes, easing the razor blade in until I could feel the glue softening enough for me to push the edge of a thin sheet steel (actually an acoustic guitar side bending sheet)into the gap. Moving the iron up around an inch every 10 minutes or so, eased the sheet carefully up the board: Until an hour and a half or so later, it was off: The capping strip is still in place over the rod, but you can see that it does have a couple of carbon rods. Getting the capping strip off took some doing but, eventually: And yes, @Woodinblack is right - for some reason, best known to Maurszczyk, the rod is reverse to most. Fair enough if the user/care guides clearly state that is the case but, if not, isn't that just asking for trouble? And so the set bow, and the subsequent failure of the rod was because it was being inadvertently - but reasonably, in my view - being adjusted the wrong way. I will see if Maurszczyk will sell me a reasonably priced replacement and if not, on either count, then just fit a modern £15-ish 'righty tighty' two way rod. There is no damage to the timber edges of either the neck or the fretboard and so, once the board is reglued, it should be just a case of tidying up the finish at the join itself. Fingers crossed, it should be pretty well unnoticeable to the eye or playing hand.

Well… currently… A musicman stingray 5, but as a 4…I like the contours and pickguard with bongo hh electronics. that’d do it. in this colour.

I'm afraid my contribution has vocalisations... The picture reminded me of the Moody Blues' Malapropic misquote of Milton, which further reminded me of a schoolmate who swore his dad had just bought a new Austin Fandango. Hence a song about cars ending in "O", which obviously meant a weird jazzy ambient bit sandwiched between 2 slabs of Funky Cockney and Groovy Scouse... And for those interested, tis all recorded in Ableton. It started as a first-and-only-take bass noodle to click track, with guitar noodles (Strat, btw), funky and otherwise added after as were the drums (mix of EZ Jabo Sparks, Addictive and programmed vis Impulse keys pads). Guitar has some Bias Amp, Bass has a touch of Objeq Chorus. Vox double tracked, smeared in Raum reverb and Vocal Splitter with 25ms delay between them. Everything had a light sheen of Ozone 9 Greg Colibri mastering preset, and all slightly saturated using Devastor...

Here's my entry for the May comp. In the picture I saw the light.... so theme of song is 'seeing the light'. Musically it is a nod to the various spiritually-tinged songs on the Velvet Underground's 3rd album. Technical details: DAW: Studio One; Drums: Programmed piano-roll with a 'Led-Zep' kit, plus live shaker, tambourine and wooden-scrapey -thing; Bass: Vantage Avenger; Guitars: Squire Tele and Vox Standard 25; Keys: Studio one piano and organ; Vocals via Behringer condenser mic. Lyrics in spoiler: