Leaderboard

Say hello to my midlife crisis bass - the Epiphone Korina Explorer. I spied it in a photo someone took of the Gallery during their visit and it caught my eye. I caved when they told me it came with the hard case. I think the black pickguard makes all the difference - all of the natural ones I've seen up until now have white and I think that looks a bit naff. Haven't had a war volume play yet but it sounds good in headphones and at low amp levels. Ergonomics are better than expected - balances really well on a proper strap (so take that, Mr. Dibble). It's long, it's ridiculous and I love it. Also has the biggest hard case I've ever seen! That last pic is the hard case of my G&L next to the Explorer's case, with the left sides aligned.

Off The Tracks Festival on Saturday night. We were on at 7:15 and the tent looked pretty packed to me. I'm loving my ridiculous drum kit but need to get a Headsticks head for the bass drum. Loads of compliments after the set and apparently we sold plenty of merch. Ace gig! I personally feel the addition of the cowbell for a tasteful 23 hits during the hour long set is a game-changer. I asked everyone who came up to tell me how great the set was if they liked the cowbell, but not a single person had noticed.

A few gigs from the past weeks... Wigfest cancer charity, Somerset, backing a great new young artist, Ruby Polli, Weston super mare, a bohemian birthday party for 'Ian in wonderland!', Burnham on sea, party in the park... A lot of fun had by all... glad to be involved 😊 The day after each.. made them all 'last nights gig!' 🤔

My second bluegrass gig, one set on Saturday and another on Sunday. I used my Yamaha SLB 200 again, this is a "liberal" festival where EUB's are allowed for bluegrass but all the other instruments are strictly acoustic the sound guys mic each one and really know their job, excellent sound. Both sets were around noon so the crowd was a bit thin but they have speakers all throughout the campground/trailer park so you can hear the bands anywhere on the property. This festival has been running for years and features a mix of country and bluegrass bands with 8-10 bands each day over the four day Labour Day long weekend. Two different players from the last gig so we had a quick rehearsal beside the leader's motorhome before we hit the stage. Perfect weather and a great atmosphere at the festival and I did my first bluegrass vocals and my rather thin nasal voice fit right in, at least it's good for bluegrass.😊 Lots of fun!

You know when those negative folk say 'Why have you got two basses when you can only play one at a time?'... wrong!

Two gigs ago, a pub regular filmed our gig and put it on the pub's Facebook page. This is one song from the set, near the end:

Good gig,small but appreciative crowd. Four piece Acoustic gig. Jenny was great with the crowd. Great low stage volume and I could hear my signal loud and clear. We provided sound and lights. I was happy with my playing. A little over a hundred bucks in tips. Not the best pics, but it's all I got. Blue

Finally, I get my hands on another awesome Warwick. A ‘94 Fortess One, to partner my Streamer. I love these things, I had one maybe 10 years s ago, and regretted selling instantly. So comfortable to play, love it. I’ve already got my eye on a Corvette too…. 🤦🏻‍♂️

I was sitting in bed one Sunday morning, perusing Reverend basses on Glasgow's Merchant City Music website and Mrs BillyBass, sat next to me, started talking about going on a spa break. After a quick online search I suggested a spa hotel near Glasgow and she liked the idea. I then came clean and told her why, this was followed by a short negotiation and she agreed on a deal, she gets the spa break, and I get a new bass. On the first day in Glasgow I went to Merchant City Music and GuitarGuitar, which is just up the road from it. Both shops have a decent selection of basses; Glasgow puts London to shame on that point. In Merchant City Music I tried the Decision P and the Reverend Mercalli 4 and 5 strings. Lovely basses all of them, I picked the 'Venetian Pearl' Decision P due to its appearance, it didn't sound better than the Mercallis. They also have a couple of Reverend Thunderguns there too, these have set necks, which are glossy. The bass cost £879, which is a bargain. Reverend don't seem to have hiked their prices like Fender and most other brands. I've had the bass one week now so I've got over the initial 'wow'. This is a keeper, the pick ups sound right for the music we play, the neck is lovely, the string spacing/nut width is comfortable, and enables me to play root-octave-root-octave with a pick comfortably (my previous main basses-Charvels-have Jazz sized nuts)...and I love the look! Venetian Pearl, is actually a gold burst, going to a cream sparkle and the pickguard is a lemon yellow. It looks like a yellow burst in the website photos but it isn't.

How long have you got..? Late '60s, we ( a younger brother and I...) were looking for guitars and/or amps, but with a budget of... Well even less than that. We had heard of a second-hand shop in Hampton Wick; it turned out be be rather the front parlour of a terraced house, stuffed full of all sorts of 'tat', and hosted by one Mrs Nichols (spelling..?). Despite the ... er... 'low quality' of the offerings piled around, the asking prices were rather more than we had in mind. I did manage to unearth a slightly-less-battered guitar case, in which resided a Hofner E2 Florentine President, which, after much haggling and starting to leave, became mine. I can't remember the price now, but it was expensive to me at the time. It has its own story for another time; back to the bass. On a wall hung a Hofner Verithin bass, which intrigued me until, upon closer inspection, it could be seen that the belly of the bass was not convex, but concave..! Probably due to water damage at some point, and a very difficult thing to repair; the poor thing's fate was sealed by a price akin to a new bass..! We left, with me clutching my new find, but the vision of that bass has stayed with me ever since. Fast forward a few decades; I was now in France, and had acquired a Hofner Verithin 6-string (another boyhood dream guitar, and very excellent too...). I came across an ad for a Verithin bass (they are quite rare, especially in good condition...) in Nottingham. I contacted the Seller (this is pre-interwebs daze; postal correspondance was the thing...). I reserved it, and came to the UK as a foot passenger on the ferry. Another younger brother picked me up from the coast, and drove me up country to see this bass. The Seller wanted only cash, so we went to a local bank for me to draw out £500, and the bass was mine. Back to the coast the next day, with the bass in a very lightweight gig bag. I couldn't resist playing it on the deck of the ferry as we crossed the Channel, to the amusement of other passengers. After a few months I renewed the black nylon 'Trubass' strings, which are still on it now. The bass is currently hanging on the wall just behind my head as I type this; I only have to reach up to get it down and play. It has done its fair share of gigs in past years, but I only use it now for playing at home and recording (I'm a drummer...). I have other basses (and guitars...), but this bass, for me, is 'the One'. Douglas

My number 1 bass (the '66). I bought it at a time when headless basses were the thing and it had languished in the shop for ages. As soon as I picked it up it was like pulling on a sock, it just felt right. It always has. It doesn't go to gigs much these days (too valuable) but it's the one material possession I won't ever part with, in life. Just to add, I bought it around 1983.

The Mustang Sally of punk !

Cheat Trick's view from the stage... open act, day 1. Stormin' the Castle

A trip out for Fine Lines to the Moseley Folk and Arts festival. It was a lovely setup, with two stages set next to each other, with acts palying at alternate times. The back stage area was lovely, with everyone being very friendly and helpful. The stage crew were great and they put a lot of effort into making us feel relaxed and worked hard to give us a good front of house sound. The on-stage monitoring was a bit compromised, as they were using a single desk to cover both FOH and stage, so a lot of the eq-ing was set for what sounded good out front. Also, having to line check whilst another band was playing meant we couldn't fully judge what we needed. I decided to reinforce my (self-proclaimed) position of coolest looking member of the band by wearing sunglasses whilst playing. However, almostvas soon as we started playimg, I realised what a fatal mistake this was, as I struggled to see the fretboard, meaning I spent the majority of the first song with them in my mouth 🤣 There were a couple of minor niggles with our playing, which obviously were annoying for us, but overall the crowd seemed to enjoy our set and we avoided any stray bottles. One big plus, was that they seemed to have dedicated a caravan backstage entirely for my use...

More Cowbell!!!!

Lovely couple of gigs this weekend. Yesterday A very friendly village pub in Suffolk who laid on a marquee and barbecue and very sensibly scheduled us to play between and 5 and 7pm. It was like finishing work at lunchtime and going home early. Which was nice. Flattering comments about both band and bass player from the very receptive crowd. Today was Bnatural Festival in Bildeston. Band on top form, plug in and play and another early finish. I’d forgotten how good an SVT sounds (so long as someone else carries it) on stage The sound engineer says he also has an 8X10 but it was a bit much for the stage today. With 4 subs out front, and the SVT and 1x15 classic cab my bass sounded huge.

The one there is not, the chase only there is.

If you pick up some Barefaced cabs you will be amazed at what you’ve been missing. A single 12 would probably cover most of your needs.

Duvet Know It's Christmas? ～ Bänd Aïd

I giggled my Jack Cassady on Saturday night as a "make or break" gig for it. I hadn't played it live for ages and though I love the look and the sound I just wasn't feeling like using it live.... Saturday night was bl00dy awesome and I got loads of people saying the bass sound was great and now I can't see me using anything else for the next month. When it comes to basses I like to change things around a bit to stop me getting bored of myself doing the same things over and over. I have one bass I'll never sell because it was my 18th birthday present (not just because I'd be lucky to get £100 for it) and some others that are "keepers" for now but as time moves on and circumstances change.... You never know!

Like this one? Excellent bass. Takes a while to realise that EQ adjustments need only be very subtle to make quite big changes to the sound.

Good morning ! I am following up in relation to this topic: the project has taken a few nice turns and has accelerated a bit. For instance, I did not have to square the heel of the neck as I found a nice Telecaster like neck on Ebay for around 100 euros, second hand, but in very good conditions and it has exactly the measurements of the telecaster like body I had, so, I changed those two elements and proceeding to the assembly with quite some good satisfaction. I can send some preliminary pictures here below. I have changed the pickup as well cause, while excercising with the hand router, I was only able to makde some abstract- sculptures out of the wood I was training on; and since Wi-Fi has gifted me with one more body, so that I can use my neck above, then I will have a second project for Q4 2023 - Q1 2024, where I will ise the warman pickup. I got into some issues when mounting the pickup, meaning that since the body is spruce, is quite soft compared to other types of wood, so when carefully drilling the mini holes for the pickup screws ... I screwed the bottom ... so: wood refill, and I installed also a wood patch in the pickup as the cavity was made very deep. The pickup I used here is a mini humbucker and it is from a small producer in Italy: IUSO pickups. It is nice, and sound quite warm anmd rounded for my taste. I am happy with that. Strings are the adagio of the previous pictures. The bass has been painted rustic red with some black drizzle around to give more road worn kind of look. It has been called Tele Ferrari in honour to my hometown car manufacturer which is performing s**** in F1 🙂, but mainly because the body was painted acrylic red already! The machine head gear is silver colored, so I will change the tone and volume knobs and the bridge to be silver as the head pegs. I installed strings and everything to test the pickup and make sure the volume and tone work properly. Please, point out any mistake I am making or anything you do not like, any critique is welcome as a lesson learnt! Thanks!

Before buying my first 4003, I'd bought, played & sold any number of basses. Been after a Ric for many years, but never quite took the plunge. When I finally did get one, it was more than I expected, and became "The One". Cue one Economic Down-Turn, and a few other financial priorities, and "The One" had to become the one on sale. Thankfully, a few years ago, I lucked out in finding a relatively cheap "player grade" one, so bought it. Yup, that's now "The One".

The obsession with chasing "the one" applies to a lot more than basses. There is no ultimate "one", just our current unattainable ideal. The minute we have it, we hanker after something else. It probably stems from our tendency to become bored once a desire is satisfied. As soon as what was previously a pipe dream becomes reality, it gets absorbed into our everyday existence. I guess continuing dissatisfaction is the reason humans no longer live in caves and hit things with wooden clubs. So it's not all bad. My old '72 J that I've had since the early 1980s is the instrument I always come back to, so I guess that's my "one".

I don't really subscribe to the whole "the one" idea. The way I see it, I've got two hands, so I get to save two from a burning building. Those two would be the Epiphone Jack Casady and my wunkay. Make of that what you will.

I guess you must be too young to remember the Faces and his early solo albums etc. These are what his career is built on (Suggest you have a listen). The reason he could do the stuff you mention (where I tend to agree with your opinion) is because he already had a career as a serious, distinctive and talented rock singer. Personally I'd say that the low point of his career was the" Baby Jane"/"Do you think I'm sexy" era. and I think he tends to agree.

OK, done.

Me and my ‘murder face’. Recently parted with the Fender Elite Jazz 5. Note the double strap. It was 11lbs+ and 2 hour gigs and 3 hour rehearsals got a bit uncomfortable!

Yes, and I can ...

Always typically late to the party but i got a mid 80's BB1100 at the weekend in a part trade. This is my first venture into the world of vintage BB1100's and am really impressed so far, weight's not too bad either at 8.5lbs - i was expecting it to weigh more for some reason. Took it do a 'Dad rock' rehearsal yesterday and it played really well, more so on the P pickup in passive, cut through really nicely - think this may make a great work horse until i get bored. A few Q's - i'm assuming it's a Taiwan model but how do you tell if it's Jap or Taiwan? i can't see any serial numbers externally, Also mine has a schaller 3d bridge and tuners - assuming these must be upgrades? although can't see any extra holes and they do look quite old - functions great. Looks a like a BT1 Hipshop d-tuner as the tuners do look very similar to that of past MM Stingrays that i've owned - anyone ever fitted a D-tuner to theirs? .

I still love this song, so simple yet a great crowd pleaser in pubs etc

I don't know the weight, I'll have to get it on the scales but it's a very comfortable bass to play. The tuners are hipshots and the body wood is quite light, it balances perfectly, no dive at all, unlike Happy Jack's Wattplower, mentioned above, which was quite divey. I tried a Reverend a few years ago at Peach Guitars and found it to be very light, which put me off. I commented on Talkbass that it felt like a toy (that was me @sPiKi, I confess, but I've seen the light now). This feels just right, to me at least. I've used it for one 3 hour rehearsal and our next gig is in a couple of weeks, so it will get its christening then.

That eBay bloke in Germany probably has it.

Last night was at the Dog Inn in Water Orton. As I pointed out to the others, we can boast something that the top rock bands can't - we know everyone in the audience by name. There was a small group of (I assume) locals who were dancing around in the first half and then went into the other room. I wandered in there when we were most of the way through the second half and tried to get them in, but unfortunately one of them thought I was inviting him to sing. Oh well.

Another gig in the Huddersfield locale for the glam lads last night. Great stage and boozer but the crowd was on the thin side. Fortunately the sound was great, we had a bit more time than usual to perfect the foh sound. Due to this it was a pleasure being able to nail the backing vox as the monitor feed was great. The land persons were happy despite the lowish turnout and look forward to a return. More local gigs for us over the next few weeks and trying out some new PA which should be a bonus.

Reading all the above, I'm counting my blessings ...

I owned a 66 Hofner bass. Struggled to play it . Struggled to sell it . Certainly don’t want it back .

Thanks @Reggaebass @taunton-hobbit if you go here you should be able to delete them. https://www.basschat.co.uk/attachments/

I honestly thought you were going to say you were amazed to find the back of the bass was concave.