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Had a nice visit from @Bunion today and somehow I ended up with this trifecta of basses. Not gonna lie, they’re pretty killer 😍 Never had a Wal before but I guess everyone’s fave with be the Modulus 🤟

The majority of the Basschatters on here are men of a certain age (between 45 and 65). They wake up grumpy and go to bed grumpy and then wake up two, or three times in the night for a pee, and are grumpy then as well. So feel free to ignore their attempts at humour 😊

It's rare that I feel strongly enough to share my experiences of retailers etc, but I am compelled to sing the praises of Will at Bassbros. He helped me out with what should have been a straightforward commission sale, but which turned complicated and potentially very costly to me and him as the bass had made it to the US, but the buyer having received it, experienced a change of heart. Will went totally above and beyond to get this sorted to everyone's satisfaction, was professional, calm and friendly with great with comm's throughout. By some miracle of coordination he found another buyer in the US who thankfully is very pleased with the bass. I look forward to supporting Bassbros going forward, as well as visiting the showroom again now it has a little more stock in it!

He could write a good choon, but like with Bob Dylan, covers are better! 👌😁

No, i only learned the english at school.

I have one of those Beringer BDI21 preamps/DI boxes in my bag in case of amp/cab failure. Tested it in rehearsal but never had to use it in action.

You don’t have to like them, but the songwriting and construction is a thing of beauty and some of those bass lines are so good to play.

Hi Martin, I run the Basses I'd Like To Pluck Facebook page. Sorry to hear about your father. I recently posted this at https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02mnqoWNFNQ2DSdMt3gsmpHaMtB7E4S1Vpi6qTwSZKQ4Pt2RLwYiUNDsa14iHJjSCjl&id=575916252449764 Although I no longer have complete copies of the magazine I do an extensive archive of bass articles. Transcribed from Making Music March 1997 The first bass guitar in Britain. Canty struck a match. He knew that somewhere out there in the dark lay the truth. The real story of the electric bass guitar's first appearance in Britain. He also knew he'd come too far to give up now... BY 1930, speakers and valves (which made electrical recording and repro duction possible) had arrived. This produced a huge increase in bass response on domestic systems and created an expectation of a similar sound from live bands. By the late 1930s, some guitarists were already using amplification; soon (with a slight interruption for a World War) Leo Fender introduced his electric guitar and, in 1951, his Precision bass in the USA. But post-war import restrictions excluded US instruments from the UK, and so delayed the arrival of bass guitars here. British musicians' first exposure to this new-fangled instrument would have been either through American rock & roll films or from such bands as The Treniers or Freddie Bell & The Bell Boys who toured here. But even though you might have seen and heard a bass guitar, you couldn't actually buy one. While researching an article on Jet Harris (original bassist with the Shadows) I learnt he'd switched from double bass in early 1958 and claimed to be one of the first three UK bass guitarists. It got me wondering : who the other two were, and who was first. Various suspects were suggested, and it was clear that sometime in 1957 someone had taken the plunge. Then, last April, Channel 4's late-night film The Six-Five Special featured, among others, the John Barry Seven, with Fred Kirk on bass guitar. Checking the date of the film revealed it was made in late 1957 and Fred became a strong contender for the coveted title. Only pausing to collect my deerstalker hat, pipe and magnifying glass, I was back on the phone to my network of sources and the story began to emerge. John Barry (of 007 fame) had assembled a band with other ex-RAF musicians for a 1956 Scarborough summer season. Then, in October, Lionel Hampton's band - featuring a Fender bass - toured. (John Dankworth walked out of their London gig because it "wasn't jazz", possibly a reference to the bass guitar.) However, when Hampton's band performed at a York theatre owned by Barry's father, the Fender obviously impressed Barry and his band. Shortly afterwards, while on business in the US, his father bought a Hofner Violin bass. I'm not sure what the Hofner bass was doing in the US in 1956 - perhaps an American serviceman had brought it back from Germany. Even our own esteemed Guitar Guru can't offer a better explanation. On March 17th 1957 - exactly 40 years ago this month at the Rialto Theatre in York, history was made when the band made its debut. The bass guitar had finally arrived in Britain. Fred, like many of the early converts to bass guitar, had to be persuaded to switch from double bass. Unlike most, though, who used picks, he played finger style because that's how he'd seen Hampton's bassist do it. He couldn't ask anyone for technical tips because he never saw another bass guitarist. After a 1957 Blackpool summer season, the band got a recording deal with EMI. But the Abbey Road engineers were not familiar with bass guitar and Fred had to revert to double bass - which suggests there weren't, as has been claimed, any session players with bass guitars at that time. In November 1957, though, the band recorded its next single, "Every Which Way"/"You've Got A Way", with the bass guitar - probably the first British bass guitar tracks. In 1958, having set a musical precedent, Fred, then 31, retired from music and returned to his original, and more lucrative career as a pilot. He was replaced by bassist Mike Peters, who'd never touched a bass guitar before. He was handed the Hofner and started gigging immediately. Meanwhile, back in London in early 1957 - probably unaware that Fred had got in first- Selmer sold their first Hofner bass to Barney (any offers on his surname?) of Rory Blackwell's Blackjacks. He'd already been playing bass guitar by detuning the bottom strings of a guitar. As soon as Selmer received a second delivery it was snapped up by Brian Gregg - who in 1960 was to play bass on Johnny Kidd & The Pirates' rock classic, "Shakin' All Over". Later in 1957, Framus bass guitars went on sale, and at least a couple - one to Don Wilson of the skiffle group Dickie Bishop & The Sidekicks - were bought before Jet got his. (Don Wilson's career was ended abruptly by a traffic accident in 1964 when he was with the Artwoods, whose line up included Jon Lord on keyboards - hence the missing link between skiffle and heavy metal... "Smoke On The Water" may have started out on wash board and tea-chest bass. But maybe not.) At the beginning of 1959, bass guitars were still the exception but, probably inspired by Jet Harris, come 1960 every band had to have one. The sound of pop music as we know it had been established. Laurence Canty

Introduction I've been playing at playing bass for a few years, but recently kicked it up a notch and moved from UBASS to my current MCR-1 Short Scale. I really like it ... but ... there are some things I would like to be different ... none of them can be achieved by modding Ponty so I started looking for a bass that ticked my boxes; which are: Short overall length (33 inches or less). I play in a ukulele band and I do not want my bass to appear out of place (Does my bass look big in this band?) Plus a smaller bass is lighter (I've a bad back), easier to handle/transport and probably less dangerous to my band mates ... 5 Strings - Specifically a BEADG tuning. Hmmm ... to avoid the low B feeling/sounding like a piece of wet spaghetti it seems that a scale scale length of 31 inches or more is needed (Looking at various high quality short scale bass makers e.g. Birdsong) ... but how to fit that in a 33 inch bass? Headless 0 fret Having searched a lot I could not find anyone brilliant (insane!?) enough to be making this kind of thing and so the EBB5 Eclectic - design draws on ideas from all over Bespoke - custom build B - bass guitar 5 - 5 strings She shall be called Flo (It's a tide thing). And this will be her story ... S'manth edit: Building Flo turned into a building protoype build of Twiggy (5 string, fretless made from a 2x4 I happened to have lying around). After a delightful outcome I'm about to embark on Flo, learning from my mistakes and some successes with Twiggy ... new build diary here Flo - A second generation EBB5 bass

Aye, and hence the smiley, but I hadn't expected them to even be mentioned, so the last pages brought a smile to my face. As for unpopular opinions, I remain of the opinion that Vivaldi was a hack (for want of a better word), and that Bach was one of the greatest composers ever ... ... greater even than people who get singles in the Top 40. 😄

That was Bill Cosby's bass.

The speaker connections are done and I have tried to tidy them up with some cable ties. The cable is quite heavy duty as it carries the most current. The mains cable carries more power but you need thicker cable to higher currents. You might notice that the RED Speakon connector has two red cables. That is for Bridged operation where the +ve connection from both amps are used to drive the speaker. Neutrik recommend that the 1+ and 2+ Terminals are used for bridged connection. This is to ensure that normal Speakon leads cannot connect to the amp in bridge mode. The thinking is that you have to know what cable to connect to get bridged operation but that installing a conventional Speakon cable would do no damage. The speaker cables should be twisted if possible but these are quite stiff and I can only get a couple of turns on them. Next to with up the inputs and switches.

I'm showing my Jaco ignorance here, but why is it called 'The Bass of Doom'? Wouldn't 'The Bass of Bibbidy BipBip Burp, Ber Diddle Diddle Dup' be a better name?

As far as I'm concerned, Midi was a fashionable dress length when I was a young man.

After sanding the headstock, it was time to cut the blank of maple constructional veneer (constructional veneer at around 2mm is quite a bit thicker than standard veneer, which is generally 0.6mm). Whereas the standard veneer will bend round the curve running up to the nut without any problem, this thicker variety needs to be pre-bent, especially as it is being bent across the grain. So out comes the bending iron I use for acoustic guitar sides: After a decent soaking, the nut end of the blank was carefully bent. It has a tendency to spring back when drying and so, while still damp, it is clamped to the curve (below) and will stay there until fully dry. I will be gluing on the plate when it is fully dry in the morning and by when that curve should be pretty much set.

If I’m getting paid then I absolutely take a 2nd bass and a 2nd head and/or a suitable di unit to go direct and get through it. A wedding gig would be the worst gig to have a catastrophic gear failure. It’s just a gig to us, but it’s supposed to be the best day of their lives for the happy couple. Backup gear doesn’t have to be as expensive as main gear. A Harley Benton bass and a di unit will let the gig continue.

For weddings gigs, which are very well paid and in general you’re the only band I think it’s better to have the gear to hand and never need it than the other way and potentially ruin someone’s big day. As well as for the playing ability they’re paying for professionalism. I’ve only ever needed a backup once in 40 years gigging. Quite typically I didn’t have one with me, but it was a multi band bill where we mostly all knew each other so things went ok.

Love Evan Parker. He does his thing so well and a lovely guy too.

I play Jazz. fusions, smooth jazz & funk, I like to play fast so I need a lower action for this & slightly lighter string (100-40). I also have a fender Jazz with heavy strings and high action for my Jaco sound. Mark King also stated in the Guitarist interview that you need to get the lowest action possible & he's an amazing finger style funk player as well. If you're a metal or rock play then a lower action probably isn't your bag, i have no idea as i am not a rock / metal bassist. For example, this is me playing on a jazz with low action and 100-40 strings:

Some of his stuff is a little bit out there... But this is a gateway drug to it!

Hot For Teacher - Van Halen

Pretty much all done now. Looking forward to our first practice in here next week. 😁

Some small progress this week. I laminated an ash veneer to the headstock, I decided that I wanted a similar grain and finish to the body. I stained the veneer before gluing and scraped the edge to get a fairly clean separation of the red and the maple. I'm pretty pleased with that. The picture doesn't really do the colour justice, it's a bit more vivid in the flesh. I stained black, sanded it back then stained with two slightly different shades of red and a metallic grain filler. On a test piece I found that neither red stain on it's own looked as good as the combination. Wipe on lacquer completes the neck. (Apart from fingerboard final sanding, nut and TRC) The last thing that has been bugging me about the body is the way the jack socket sits proud of the body curve, it just looks wrong. I spent 5 minutes putting together a stupidly complicated jig and routed a flat around the drilled hole. It's a small thing but it makes me happy. The body got sanded and stained with black. I must admit I stopped once the stain was on and seriously thought about just lacquering it in the black. The moment passed and I will be sanding most of the black off tomorrow. If I have a productive day I may get it hanging up and curing tomorrow. On a less positive note I managed to snap my ziricote cover in two. I didn't take a picture of that. I may just repair that one and give it a noble battle scar, I may cut another, all part of the learnings I guess. I am now thinking about an ash p-bass stained black . . .

Oi! It's only once per night, thankyouverymuch. I think I'm the original grumpy, snarky bugger in this thread, and I apologise to you @nilorius for being that grumpy, snarky bugger in your thread.

Amazing how many times you hear folks saying "in 1000 years time, folks will still be playing The Beatles songs... Funnily enough, Bach himself was largely forgotten until re-popularised by Mendelsohn nearly 80 years after JS's death. So I don't hold out much hope for JohnPaulGeorgeandRingo (at least I hope not to 😁)

Oddly though Bach was a huge Vivaldi fan, hence the Italian Concerto. They were as different as possible religiously and personally but both had to produce a lot of music in their (religious) working musician context. Bach towers over all of his contemporaries, if you want a prolific "hack" of the same period Telemann sure churned music out

As much as I like Jaco and his contribution to the world of Music and Bass, I've no interest in blowing money on the 'Bass of Doom'. However, owning 'Triggers Broom of Doom' is another matter altogether.

It now seems like loving Derek Bailey and Evan Parker is the popular opinion! Does this thread quickly develop us? Good, good. 🙂

I originally played rock and metal and always preferred as low an action as possible, although I do generally play very lightly. Flea uses pretty low action considering how hard he plays: 3/64ths 12th fret E string 2/64ths 12th fret G string 5thou relief centre of neck when string fretted at both ends And then of course there’s Entwistle and his famous “I like my strings on the other side of the frets” quote. And this one I read recently- “When a bass mag interviewer asked if, because of his super low action, if it bothered him if he got fret buzz in a few spots, John said "Yes. I want them all to buzz evenly."😂

Jaco Pastorious and the “Bass of Doom.” ...

I'd pay asking then sell it for loads more to a 'fan'

That's a gateway drug in the same sense as taking crack for a mild headache. 😂

Definetly not a 'Top 40' chart topper, but I'd offer a bit of air time for this meritous solo piece, from the first record I ever bought...

There we go 😉

I have an Elf and quite like it. But, in true Basschat fashion, I'd choose none of the stated options and put forward the Tecamp Puma. It wouldn't struggle and sounds glorious. They come up secondhand from time to time.

Here you go, Stew. The run down... ABBA Voyage Virtual Live Show Premiere: How It Got Made – Billboard

When you're at the airport waiting to check in, decide to have a quick browse on Farcebook while you're waiting, and the first pic that pops up on your screen is this. The algorithms are taking the pish.

Green Unions ～ Booker T & the MsGs

Barefaced Super Twin or a One10 depending on the gig.

I doubt that a YouTube video of Jim Lill reading a book wood get many views though!

Love a big fat J. 🔥

Mine just arrived. Must admit, I was shocked at how compact it is! Hoping to get it recorded and demo out by Friday next week for it. Happy to share if it would be useful 🙂

Here's a couple of finished guitar builds....... 👍🏻