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Over the years, I've had every form of P bass, from starting years ago on a cheapo Vox White Shadow, through to Fender custom shops, CIJ, AV models, a couple of Shukers, several Laklands, and finally my current ones (a 73 and 75). The last two are the closest to P bass perfection for me. I've played another couple I really loved (Steve Amadeo's 68 P bass, and the one that Horace Panter played & recorded Ghost Town on), but thought I'd got as close to my ideal bass as I was ever going to. Rewind two weeks, and I buy Paul's (Shepster8316) Yamaha BB1200 for a very good price, as I've been wanting to try one of these for years. I get it home, plug it in, and....... it's bloody amazing!! Not only does it sound great (like a good P bass should), but the neck is superb - absolutely perfect for me, and has made me realise that its profile (wide, narrow) is exactly what I like playing. I find myself picking this one up ahead of all of my others, and keep sneaking off to play it "just for a few minutes"! Weird that after a journey of a thousand (or at least several dozen) Fenders, my ideal P bass turns out to be a Yamaha. A few of Paul's pics attached (hope you don't mind Paul).... Now I just need to find another one, to string with flats. Anyone looking to move one on, let me know 😊

The neck made by @Andyjr1515is now on. It looks very handsome. Great job Andy! Fitted with inserts and bolts to match how Wal do it, though I’m still not convinced it makes a huge difference. I’m still playing with it and getting used to it. It feels much stiffer than the Fender neck. The strings have that taut feel I get on the Wal. The notes seem to have a slightly compressed quality/pop a bit more. I assume this is something altered in the attack of the instrument. Playing this and a Wal side by side - I think it’s very close now. I need more time without family in house to crank it up and compare. Since I have both the Fender neck and Andy’s neck fitted with inserts/bolts, it would be pretty easy to swap necks over in a video and do a direct video comparison. Then a direct comparison to this Wal.

Here's my new baby, bought from Bernard (BCH) on here complete with John East 3-band active mod 😊

Well…after a bit of tidying up, it’s all together - last job is to solder and guess who’s lent out the soldering iron 🙄🤬

I played a gig years ago (1999) where i'd badly hurt my right ankle to the point of not being able to stand. We had a gig booked to support swedish metal band Psycore ( who went on to become Swedens Finest ) at a well known Glagow rock / indie venue. Rather than cancel and/or miss the chance to meet them and get our copies of I'm not one of Us signed, my band mates collected me, lifted me into a car and drove me to the gig. Just before positioning me on stage they filled me up with pain killers, anti inflamatory's and fixed a splint to my right leg. I played an hour set rooted to the spot while swaying dangerously to the left on occasion and don't remember a great deal about it at all. I did meet Hansi Baumgartner in the backstage dressing rooms as ours and Psycore's were next door to each other. He let me use his rig which consisted of two Marshall DBS heads through a DBS 4x12 and a DBS 2x15. This the only photo I have of the gig that night and I don't look deleriously in pain or about to fall over, but I was.

Just back from a gig at a fairly local working men's club where the band were scheduled to play mid way through the evening between two other bands. Some short notice personnel issues meant we had to call in a dep drummer who I'd played with once before and knew was a solid player. That wasn't so bad. The vocalist was also a dep and none of us had jammed with him before or even met him. Totally unrehearsed and a set list exchanged by email was basically the only prep we did. The gig went well and all backline and PA was provided. I just showed with my Jazz, a strap, a clip on tuner and a lead. The provided backline was a Genz Benz Contour 500 2x10 with the matching Contour 1x15 extension cab. It was fairly loud but a bit dry sounding and I could hear it struggling ( the class-d cough I call it ) a little with the range of 60s, 70s and 80s rock and blues covers we played which need a lot of big heavy low end of the type my ABM can do with ease. The PA was fairly substantial and covered the out front bass well. Someone came up to us at the end of the show and said they enjoyed the bands set and asked how long we'd all been together. Our dep singer piped up that he'd only just met us 15 mins before the show in the car park. Which was correct. Sandwiches and pork pies were supplied in abundance on the night for all courtesy of the working mens club. All in, a very enjoyable old school club gig considering half the usual band were deps, barely knew the set list and we all played with no previous rehearsal.

I was just getting pics of my 32” scales for that thread and decided I needed an updated family shot for my shorties. Left to right: ACG Mule fretless ACG TKO Classic Conway Instruments Taranis fretless 5

My entry to the club - expect I'll end up swapping pickups out at some point as well as adding phase/parallel switching but enjoying it so far. Neck feels lovely!

I’ve had Crohns Disease forever, so I’ve felt bad for most of my gigs. I found that when you start from a low point the shot of adrenalin is more profound. Being in a band long term runs down my reserves of physical and (particularly) mental energy, so two years at a time is about my limit. I’ve given up gigging completely now… next time the phone rings with an enticing prospect it will be “thanks but no thanks”. PS… a full year without a band and I’m feeling great.

Oh bu99er it! I've just ordered a GSRM25 from Thomann ... it is the best price and I have had great experience with them. If I can find one online earlier than their quoted 9-12 weeks (or locate a used one) then I can cancel ... otherwise I've got one queued up ... I'll just have to be patient! And in the meantime, I've popped a capo on the third fret of my Hohner B2V (which gives me a scale length about the the same as the Ibby) so I'm not totally having to chomp on the bit! lol S'manth x

There were a lot of European drivers here who chose to move on for better pay and a more friendly atmosphere elsewhere.

This picture may, to some degree, illustrate the issue I have with some of these single-pickup basses that are supposed to emulate the Stingray sound. I am always first drawn to look at the position of the bottom of the pickup relative to the bridge. Quite often the pickup appears to be too close to the neck. Not quite in the Precision position but it certainly looks further forward than on a Stingray. The Warwick Streamer Pro M on the other hand had the pickup in the right place, see below: Indeed, I love the sound of the 'Musicman sweet spot' and the looks, feel and playability of a Stingray was always my least favourite thing about it, so having options on that front is a great thing. There is still a gap for a really credible Stingray alternative since the ATK seems to have disappeared.

A few years back I broke my shoulder quite badly, and couldn’t play bass guitar for a while. (A worrying time for me as I play for a living and my partner was struggling with her job too.) My band at the time allowed me to play our gigs for about a 3 month period using a Roland keyboard (which I purchased on here) for bass duties and could manage with my good arm/hand. As I also couldn’t drive it was quite a nice change, being able to enjoy the hospitality on gigs and all without a bass round my neck, strangely liberating. Then gradually moved on to a light short scale bass for a while before getting back to my Stingray, and being sober again!

Home stretch now. I chickened out of visiting the guitar shops when I was in Glasgow yesterday and today

Brexit has been a massive success - for those who planned and orchestrated it, they have made billions and don’t give a damn about ordinary people.

It’s about time I updated this. I now have two sets of non-identical twins plus a cousin for one set of twins… Zoot Funkmeisters: ACG Finns: ACG Skelf:

Just been added by the official account (But not Zeppelin, Obvs.). Starting here...

So my new tools arrived. And from exploring the info & links shared, I stumbled across https://theelectricluthier.com/ which appears a great resource. One of his videos describes how to route the truss rod & graphite rod channels using a hand trimmer near identical to the one I've got! I've also discovered that my electric drill and palm sander are in the items salvaged from my flat and appear to be operational (Tho I'll need to get a new battery/charger) ... I guess that all I need now is a saw (or two) and a design and I can start shaping. S'manth x

Yamaha better than Fender?? Yamaha owners knew that all along.

If you stack those 2x10s on their ends for a vertical 4x10 you'd be better off.

You are a bad, bad man! Great score; congrats.

Just to put a bit more meat on the bone of my previous reply, I have lots of fun gigging, rehearsing and songwriting without having to be chums with my band mates. I fully subscribe to the ‘the most fun you can have with your clothes on’ school of thought about playing live music. For me, a bit of social distancing makes for better music. I’m fully committed to the bands I’m in. I’m told I’m easy to work with, affable and I hardly ever miss a gig or band meet. But, outside those musical activities I’m not interested. I’ve got more than enough friends and family I struggle to find time for already. It depends on what you want to get out of it, and probably where you are in terms of family, job, age etc. But my stance is that if you only want to play music with people you are friends with your horizons will be limited. A case in point, I play with a guy who’s a committed Christian of the Evangelical Holy Spirit type. I find a lot of his beliefs totally barking and he thinks I’m doomed but, it’s not an issue. We only meet to play music, and he’s a great guitarist. But we’re all different. Which is great.

Slightly above your budget but a bloody good cab by all accounts:

Hi gang Just part-way through Trevor Horn's new autobiog, and it's blummin' marvellous. He's a humble, likeable bloke, and his journey from the pit villages of County Durham to the global pinnacle of polished pop via dancehall bands and Yes is remarkable. There's a reasonable amount of bass content in there too. Well recommended.

No one knows- Queens Of The Stone Age

Rehearsal and gigging is my social life! Like you, I have to enjoy the company of the other members. If rehearsing and gigging isn't fun, it's time for me to move on....

I picked up a Gallien Kreuger 2x10 (think it's an MB?) quite a while back. Feather light, literally a 1 finger lift, and sounds really good with my Tecamp Black Jag 500 head. I really bought it for rehearsals and stuff but have gigged it pretty much all of the time last year. Think I paid around £150 for it.

We are all, in our own ways, somewhat asocial, but we do indulge, sporadically, in a group event. One such event tomorrow evening, where we are all (five of us in the group...) invited to 2nd Guitar's cottage for an evening. We'll (drums, bass, 1st guitar...) do the main course, another (singist..?) will bring starters, and our host will provide dessert and drinks. It's a modest get-together, with some singing and guitar-playing; no party hats or crackers, though. These little occasions are all the more enjoyable for being spontaneous and rare. Edit : I should maybe have mentioned that I'm the drummer, Bass and 1st Guitar are our two sons; we all share the same cottage. Despite this, we have little social interactivity, having each our 'quarters' and occupations. Odd meals, a few (very few...) TV programmes, crossed paths in the kitchen area, or for shopping, is our daily/weekly modus operandi. As I wrote at the start : somewhat asocial.

I've missed a few of the replies to this; pleased to report that the screws went into the heel with no issues. When I was looking at the screw holes, I thought they looked far too narrow, but on doing some further research, they were standard size, so I went for it the screws went straight in.

He’s very germ phobic- he might have to leave it in the garage for a few days of decontamination….

I might send you a bass just to wipe the smug grin off your face. 😄 Will that count?

If it were me and I had to create the samples you’ve shared, I’d dive straight into illustrator and use a notation font for the various symbols such as the free google font “Noto Music”. The glyphs palette will let you choose which symbols you require. Then just copy, paste and manipulate as necessary. https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Music It won’t be a quick process. You’re creating art, not just sheet music.

In keeping with the "Mini Board" theme, I took a few off the big board to make a small one for my NYE gig 😁

If they start sectioning vocalists there won't be too many bands left

I just got home. Survived. Slept most of the day and arrived just before start. Sat down for a few songs and didn’t sing. So glad that’s over!!

Lobster has just posted the first of his mod videos for the new Harley Benton PJ Mustang style bass, this mod allows you to solo the P pickup without needing to undertake any major surgery, just adding a new pot that a quick look online suggests will cost you around £15.

Too much HP Lovecraft, I'd say.