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On the off chance that anyone reading this is wondering what SNSSBDTW is supposed to mean, it stands for second new short scale bass day this week. I was enjoying playing my new Squier Mustang bass (bought new on Tuesday) so much that I decided to buy another Mustang yesterday. Back to Oxford PMT and left 30 minutes later with a Fender Player Mustang with P/J pick ups and a lovely natural finish. I haven't set it up yet, but hopefully will be rehearsing with my band tomorrow. I failed to post a picture of Tuesday's acquisition, but to make up for it, here is the one I bought yesterday:

So I decided to divest myself of some gear I had lying around that I wasn't using. This (surprisingly for me) included my 75 P Bass. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it, in fact it was gorgeous. The problem was every time I picked it up I just felt really underwhelmed with it. I changed the strings from rounds to flats and back again but it really wasn't doing it for me sadly. Anyway, long story short, I took it in to see Will at Bass Bros with a few other bits, left with a good wedge of money and made the mistake of turning my head to glance around the shop and my gaze happened to rest on this Masterpiece VS4. After a few plays on it and a lot of (not much really) humming and hawing I decided to buy it. It plays like a dream and feels like an old friend. The ageing is borderline vandalism but for me it works. The pickup was replaced with a Dimarzio (original included) and it just does that P Bass thing in spades. It's light too at around 8lb 4oz and I can't put it down. It matches my other Sandberg too which is nice. I wasn't meant to leave with another bass but these things happen I guess....

First of 3 gigs this week for us. Again, one of my favourites last night - Newcastle City Hall, or as it’s now known 02 City Hall. Wonderful venue with great staff, and special for me as have been to many great gigs there in the last few decades. ( One of the crew showed me some of the tickets they’ve had framed, see below. ) We had around 800 people in, and from the massive welcome as we walked onstage they were in good voice. Something about the people in the north which always makes for a memorable gig. We were a touch rusty after a 5 week break but no big c*ck ups, and a great house PA meant the sound was ace. ( band pic at soundcheck ). We have two sold out gigs tonight and tomorrow in Bridlington and York, so hopefully the good northern vibes will continue.

Some time ago, I bought a handmade 6-string headless bass off Ebay after somebody mentioned it in the marketplace. It had generic Chinese pickups in it, with two volume controls with pull to switch between serial and parallel coils on each and one rotary switch to select bridge, neck, or both. As someone slightly unkindly remarked, the knobs looked as if they belonged on a cooker rather than a bass. After getting an Ibanez EHB1265 with upgraded Aguilar DCB pickups, and having seen a pair of DCBs the right size for this bass in the marketplace, I decided to upgrade it with the DCBs and an Aguilar OBP2 with stacked bass and treble (just hoping that the OBP2 isn't too overwhelming). This allowed me to keep the three-knob setup. The pickup holes were marginally undersized for the Aguilars so I had to do some filing to get them in. Obviously I didn't want to start drilling other holes in the front so I was rather constrained by the positions of the holes already drilled. This did present a problem as the position of the barrel jack socket would interfere with the bass/treble pot, so I took a different approach. My initial thought was to put the jack socket on a plate mounted on the outside like a Les Paul, but the flat section of the perimeter was too narrow and I didn't want to start carving flat bits out. So instead I got an oval metal jack mounting plate and bent it to match the inside of the control cavity, then enlarged the jack socket hole slightly and mounted the plate on the inside. Next stage was wiring everything up. I wired up the tone control to the OBP-2 (ran the wires for the tone control through some heat shrink to try and keep things neat), then the volume control, and finally wired the blend control, jack socket, and PP3 battery holder in. Initially the volume control didn't work - that was because I'd connected the grey pickup wires to the volume pot body and the black wires to ground, but the two weren't connected. A short bridging wire on the volume pot sorted that out. There was just room for the 9V battery holder - I didn't want to put the battery in loose. Volume is at the top, blend to the left of the battery, OBP2 is nect to the jack socket, the oval plate holding the jack socket is visible, and the stacked bass/treble pot is the other side of the jack socket. As can be seen, there's not a lot of room. The last remaining piece of the puzzle was the rear cover, which I wanted to change to magnetic closing. The control cavity has a very narrow margin which wasn't very satisfactory as the screws that were holding the cover on were barely gripping and they were also really tiny. I took a couple of short lengths of wood and glued neodymium magnets to them, then glued them in position inside the control cavity. Then I glued a matching pair of magnets to the cover, and all was well.

Added something different to the herd last week, I bought a lovely Korean made De Armond (Guild) Jet Star short scale bass. Two piece mahogany body with bound maple neck and rosewood fret board, balances perfectly and a joy to play. It was fitted with USA De Armond single coil Pups which were lacking in all departments so combining my love for my G&L Fallout and EB3 I fitted an Artec EBC4 Mud Bucker and a G&L MFD L1000 Pup. Sadly the DeArmond single coil Pups were quite long so after routing the cavities for the new Humbuckers I obtained some excellent perfectly fitting bezels to cover up the old cavities from Brian at Earlpilanz. Swapped the tone cap but left the VVT arrangement as it was, maybe a later upgrade?? Anyhow what do you think? I`m sure it`s not to everyones taste but I do enjoy basses that are a bit different.

Taking the Custom Shop out for its first spin tonight. Can't wait.

In case anyone is wondering how I sneaked this one past my wife - I took her to the shop with me and she said I should buy it. She's a good one!

You might say.. they shouldn't have Dundee gig? There's my coat, see you later!

We played at a 40th wedding anniversary last night, conveniently held in the local hall where we rehearse. First half was a bit subdued as there had been a bereavement in the family who were celebrating, (they had asked us to keep the set up-beat regardless) and they had a short 'celebration of life' during our break. The second set was like playing to a different audience - dancing, singing and general running about from the kids (and our singer, who is very good at running around). We must have played the longest version of 'Hey Jude' ever as everyone wanted to sing along at the end. One of those gigs that, in the Great Scheme of Things wouldn't have registered, but was immensely fun to play. P Bass into front of house, with a feed to my little TCE BAM 200 and Warwick 1x12 cab for the drummer, while I was using in ears from the desk.

And probably very irritating that it goes on much longer than expected

My lot excluding my DB

I was born in 1950(!) and was brought up on the Ann Shelton/Vera Lynn/Jimmy Young style of popular music played on the BBC Light Programme. In the early 60s we found Radio Luxemburg at night with sponsored shows by Helen Shapiro and Co and then the pirate radio stations dropped anchor and everything changed. The records being played on Radio Caroline (North) were amazing to a 13 year old lad and some of my favourite artists and songs still come from that decade. The Beatles (of course), The Hollies, The Searchers, Cliff and the Shadows plus female singers like Dusty, Cilla and Sandi were my top home grown picks. From the USA we had The Association, The Rascals, The Lovin' Spoonful, Beach Boys, Mamas & Papas, Tamla Motown and soul singers like Aretha and Wilson Pickett and a host of one hit wonders. Carnaby Street fashions hit the headlines with mini-skirts to the fore and there were many Pop Music magazines to scour through. It was the perfect storm for teenagers and I don't think a revolution like that will happen again.

Really enjoying my modded De Armond Jet Star short scale.

For my dep gig tomorrow night playing with a Bob Marley & The Wailers tribute band im taking this setup.

There are hundred (if not thousands) of bands that would give anything to have an opportunity for a gig like that. If Royal Blood can't make the most of it, then they should probably pack it all in and give those opportunities to bands that will.

I liked the cooker knobs!

I got a few pics and video snippets from Saturday night, and one of them was filmed from right by my head, capturing the sound of my Headrush 112 on stage, which someone may find of interest. VIDEO-2023-05-31-12-24-05.mp4 5be173a8-57fe-4a51-8518-2144aff27cf6.mp4

I acquired a Spector 6er recently - plays OK but really needs a makeover. The original Holoflash finish was sprayed over in a non- descript grey, has mismatched machine heads and needs a general tidy up. I've damaged my hand so I'm limited to how much I can play - no time like the present, especially as the weather is improving so I can work outside - I took it upon myself to strip the bass down and take the body back to natural. Alder, I believe - please correct me if I'm wrong. Before: I've also taken it upon myself to soften the curves on the body and get rid of those right angles. Currently: Plan is to replace the pvc scratchplate with a leather one. I've managed to grab some leather scraps from ebay for a fiver - more than enough to make mistakes without worrying too much. May need to glue the leather to something to prevent it curling off - trip to craft shop when the leather arrives. Still much more to do - more sanding tomorrow. More photos as it progresses.

If you had to pick one, what would it be? Not necessarily 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s specifically - just a 10 year period that you’d pick for really good music. I’d say mine was 75 to 85. You’ve got punk/post, the birth of rap, new wave, some really good 70s rock, stuff like The Blockheads, electro, roots reggae…the list goes on. Pretty interesting times.

Firstly, it’s the ergonomics. The Mustang feels bigger than the ‘Ray and despite the more limited upper access, this doesn’t seem to be a problem, in fact I find the ‘Ray a bit cramped up there, as my body gets in the way. The ‘Ray is a great instrument bit, by comparison, feels a little toy like compared to the JMJ, probably due in no small part to me being a slightly bigger bloke (6’) and I really like the JMJ’s slab body to rest my forearm on, whereas the ‘Ray is much slimmer and doesn’t work quite as well (it’s absolutely fine really, it’s just me but the Mustang feels right). Then there’s the tone, whilst at home there doesn’t appear to be an awful lot different tonal difference with the ‘Ray set to single coil mode, but live and at volume the Mustang has more fundamental and pronounced low end, that you could describe as vintage, which is perfect for my current band and gives me confidence because I can both hear and feel it. The ‘Ray wins the weight battle easily, being lighter and better balanced, has more tonal options and is better suited to more modern production styles. However, the tonal limitations of the JMJ make me work harder to achieve the required tones with the tone control and hand position and I like that aspect.

There we go…. all up to date, including the Thunderbird and all the modifications done to the others. All that’s missing is an incoming set of Newtone strings for the Embassy.

I’ll take back a little of what I said, in that I’ve spent all morning on the bass in question and I’m really enjoying it a lot. The pickups are actually really great in terms of tone, very very nice indeed, however ….. the rest, in terms of the presentation of the pickups I stand by. One of the wires had come off when I opened the package, so I had to re-solder it. Not ideal for a brand new pickup, and really, I’d like to see professional packaging…. it looked like a used item from eBay. Nitpicking maybe, and at the end, they sound really good, so in terms of the point of the pickups I’m happy.

Please send pics of what you're offering 🤪

That or some metal scene comprising of maths teachers in tweed sports jackets 🤷‍♂️

I told you they were addictive.

Stick those knobs on a boutique effects pedal and people will be raving about their looks.

A difficult choice for me - born in the late 50’s so the 1960’s were my formative years. Beatles / Stones / Motown / Soul and probably the best pop music ever. However, the 70’s and in my teens was when I seriously got into music. Springsteen, Faces, Bowie and Stones again, and then the arrival of more great soul stuff, Disco, Punk and New Wave. Such a great decade for me, forming my first band and going to every gig I could on my pittance earned in a record shop. Great times.

I’m on the fence with this. This all seems to be more like a Fender, or an another brand, when saying it’s a custom. The specs are defined rather than truly being a hand made instrument. I’ll always be a Spector fan, but now one is just ordering a limited spec’d bass at simply ridiculous prices. Go 2nd hand and buy something unique, or go Euro and save a fortune. Just my opinion, as an owner of 2 US Spector beauties, with another incoming ☺️

I love fuzz but was super impressed with a new cheap fuzz i got decided to compare!

It’s definitely a gloss neck. I often don’t get on with nitro finished necks due to the potential stickiness (yes, I’m looking at you Gibson ES335, PRS Swamp Ash Special and Fender Roadworn 50s P Bass) but the JMJ is very well cured and reminds me of my old ‘63 P Bass and I don’t find it any more sticky than a poly finished, gloss neck.

Exactly. Its like a soap opera. Maybe it'll all be explained in the Christmas special 🤔

We've had a couple of disinterested audiences in the past, at a couple of function things where we were just the hired background music. Best thing to do -- the only thing to do -- is shrug your shoulders and treat it as a paid rehearsal (and in the case of a Brighton gig we had, a free weekend away). Anything except slag off your audience, because no matter how good a band you are, a toy-throwing will end up going viral on social meeja, you'll look like a prize knob, and your hard-won reputation is in the toilet. Suddenly you're no longer "this really good tight band, you need to see them", you're "meh, don't bother, bunch of primadonnas". I can pretty much guarantee that the first thing Wayne Kerr's manager said was "what the fck did you think you were doing?? Have you lost your mind??"

Some of the greatest rap...

From 77 to around 84 was a big time for the reggae and dub scene , not just for me but the whole genre , I was still at school in 77 , so many great tunes were recorded then and are still being mixed and covered today, good times ☝️

By your definition ours was a video shoot. I had no idea what I was doing . All those cameras pointed at me from different angles one take after the other. I wonder how much of me will be in the finished product ? Blue

Is this why some bassists refer to their collection as "The Herd"? Also does it mean that you selectively breed your basses, selecting for low end rumble, big upper horns, or milk yield?

Obviously that's the time to break in to the material from your experimental jazz side project. They're not in to it anyway.

No, all my basses are used interchangably at home, in rehearsals and at gigs with wild abandon and lack of consideration for the sonic consequences.

The entire family (excluding my double bass)