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Christmas Day has come early for me today. I have been extremely lucky enough to acquire an absolute beauty of a bass from the master Alan Cringean of ACG. The piece is an absolute dream to play and the tone from it is exquisite. This one is the Finn version, 5 string with a 33 inch scale. Incredibly smooth, comfortable and a joy to play. The body core is black limba with the top wood being ebony with a blood wood accent. Headstock is ebony matched. The neck is 3 piece maple with a bloodwood fingerboard with ebony blocks. Stunning! Hardware is a Hipshot bridge with Gotoh tuners. The pickups are ACG SB70 single coils paired with a John East Uni-Pre 4 preamp. It plays incredible and the pics don’t do it justice. One tasty bass. Alan as usual was excellent and a gent as always. The craftsmanship is second to none. If you’ve ever been in two minds about committing to an ACG build then don’t. Have a good look at the website and the various options available to you and contact Alan. Now for the pics Cheers Stuart

Merry Christmas to me. Picked it up before work, now am at work for an agonising 8 hours, more later. Also, good to be back in BB land, been a few years!

I've wanted a Yamaha BB1200 ever since I learned what Yamaha BBs were. Well now I have one. A 1978 model in natural, it has honest wear and bumps on it being 45 years old but it's sound as a pound and an absolute joy to play - thin frets on an ebony board, wide but not too chunky neck, it feels lovely. Sounds great too, reverse P be reversin'. This makes me feel fancy, in a similar way that my Wunkay does. I truly feel like I own one of the cornerstone basses of history. It weighs 9 and a half pounds, not too shabby for a late 70s bass. Enough chat, I'm off to play it some more!

so, after searching the internet for inspiration and missing out on a couple of choices for something different to stretch me a bit from my usual Fender J/P 4 string choices I was about to buy a Gibson Thunderbird, I like to look of them, I play like Nikki Sixx, and my back is fragile… so it all made perfect sense to me. Then I spotted the obvious… long scale, 4 strings, somewhat traditional….. urgh…. I had failed my main brief of “something to stretch me a bit”. Like a 5er/fanfret/shorty etc.. I had looked at so many basses that I was starting to fosters myself off. So. My plan was simple. 1. Drink some beers. 2. Open the iPad. 3. Don’t pretend to be deep, be your shallow self and look at things you think look nice. 4. buy it within 60minutes. narrowly skirting a mustang shorty (which I still might buy) and an Ibanez with 5 strings, fan frets, 7 knobs and an equal number of random letters and numbers for a name, I bumped back into a Sire I’d seen a couple of weeks ago locally. From what I can gather, there’s a “spread” of opinions here on Sire basses. So, I ignored them, and tried one myself… liked it. But it was a 4 string. Back home I browsed for a one second hand, then moved to new ones… and found one for a good price. Initially looking for a blue Sire Version 2 Updated M7 Alder 5 String but found one in Brown Sunburst that caught my eye. So bought it. It arrives Friday. 😬 looks like this….

I have finally got the guitar into a reasonable state. This week I've: 1. Redesigned the middle pickguard three times to make it fit 2. Discovered I missed two pickguard nuts to hold the middle pickguard on. As the guitar is glued together now I can't fix it easily. 3. Had the wiring loom redone as it was 50mm too short. Big shout out to James at Home of Tone for being a superstar to help me out. 4. Discovered that I need to leave more gaps in the cavities as stuff was shorting out. My multimeter has been working overtime. After all that, managed to string it and play it into Garageband. It works and there is zero hum. Very pleased about that. I need to play about with the pick height, with the nut height and the bridge height. I need to paint the plywood backbone but ignored it for this week as I wasn't sure how long it would take to dry. The guitar is bascially there, I'm no Jimi Hendrix but it sounds great, it certainly growels Its a playable guitar, I'm not sure I want to change the pickups, but I will investigate painting it with epoxy resin. Thanks Rob

Dear people who care about bass effects, I haven't visited here in a while, since I live on the wrong side of the pond, in TalkBass land. I'm happy to report that I managed to put together a one-knob compressor that I consider worthy of installing onboard a bass and thus becoming part of its sound. It's a miniature, 9V battery-powered offspring of the classic dbx 163 "Over Easy" one-slider half-rack compressor. I just thought I should inform the other five bassists on the planet who think an onboard compressor is a good idea 😊 Just for you, here's where you can find out more: jtex.ca/okc From frozen Canada with love, Jerry

Well done Jack

OMG thank you so much guys. I wasn't expecting such a response. I will PM you all.. The legend that is Happy Jack has offered to loan me a bass. Thanks Mick. Im in Worcestershire btw.

I'm sorry for your loss. The times I have not had an instrument to scrap around on were difficult. When I was in one rehab, I found a pink acoustic guitar with five strings. They let me play it after I was not on suicide watch. Good thing too, I was tired of drawing pictures with crayons. This is not a joke. I hope you can get your hands on something soon!

I'm very sorry that you are now without a bass. If it is solely because of financial hardship then that's even more upsetting to hear, because selling your gear will only give temporary respite from your money problems. Salvation lies in changing your financial situation, not cashing in your assets. That's much easier said than done, though. Trust me, my friend, I know all about being poor and it's a seemingly never-ending cycle of misfortune and exclusion. It's very easy to feel despondent and think that there is no end to it, but that's not really true. Hang on in there and things will change for the better sooner or later. They always do.

Private function for us, the lady of the hour insisting on a pic with the band. You can tell how live the room is just from looking at the pics 🤣

Yep, happy to help out with a long term loan or a contribution for a collection. After all it is the season of good will and if we can't help out a brother in need....

Whereabouts are you ? You might be surprised how helpful folks nearby can be...

Been there too my friend, when we were struggling I sold all my kit. Built up again some years later. If you want to borrow a bass give me a shout, or others on here I’m sure would help a bass brother/sister/other out 😎

Yes. I sold up all my gear when I had a breakdown in my 30’s and fell out of love with EVERYTHING I found enjoyable. It came back though. Keep moving forward. You’ll be back on track at some point.

I finally indulged myself in the last 4 months by building a board that is over the top and entirely unnecessary, but I love it! Particularly when I'm in an experimental mood. Bottom right to top left signal flow, but upper row is designed so that I can either run it all into the front of the amp, or run the tremolo,delay,verb and slicer through the FX loop on the amp, and the bottom row into the preamp. Pedal choice? Peterson tuner, anniversary edition picked up mint off eBay, into Walrus Mira compressor, then DOD Meatbox (guilty pleasure pedal) into the amazing Fallout Cloud fuzz from Thorpyfx (it sounds soooo good on bass!). Then Jam Waterfall bass chorus and Walrus Polychrome Flanger. Modulation goodness all round! Top row starts with JHS 3 Series Harmonic Trem - for me this is a bit of a one trick pony, I have a particular trem effect I like and that's where it stays! Historically I like the Boss TR-2, but the JHS gives you volume control, which is the clincher for me. Then comes the delay to end all delays - the Rose! Oh boy, I've barely scratched the surface! Many future voyages of discovery to be enjoyed... After this the Catalinbread Talisman Plate Reverb. I don't use it alot, but it sometimes adds some ambient 'sauce' and the HPF means my 5 string doesn't play havoc with it. Finally another purely fun choice - the SL-2 slicer. One additional feature that is fun to play with is that the Slicer has a creditable tremolo setting, so with a trem pedal either side of the verb, I can, without changing the board, play tremolo into verb and vice versa. Point to note - its a purely mono signal path that I don't intend to record with, it's just for fun and noodling into the Laney Nexus head and PJB compact 4 at home. I'm having a ball this Christmas...neighbours are not so sure 😂

You have no idea how much that sentence has cheered me up, knowing it's not just me. Half an inch out isn't a big deal on laying a lawn - it sure is on a fretboard 😁

I also think Sterling by Music Man should reach out to Sting and offer him a Ray 34 as a signature bass. Would then be the Sting Ray 34. 😜 Ok, ok, I better go 😉

Great - played my new bass at war volume for the first time, and made some good progress on a new song we're writing/finessing.

Had a proper go with it last night at band jam. I can confirm that it's a great sounding bass, was using neck pickup in series mostly and it had plenty oomph, cut through and had no bother hearing myself. I am happy with this purchase and I would be happy to gig it any time.

We're giving our son a g****r for Christmas, does that count? If it helps, I just "had" to get a finish matching bass to go with it, so I am giving myself a present of a bass.......

No, no, hang on... if you lie on the floor... on your back... and you play the guitar bit... and the bassist lies on top of you... no.... hang on... if you're on a hammock, face down... you play the guitar underneath the hammock and the bassist lies on the grass... no... hang on...

Nothing fancy. Just thought it was time for me to wish each and every person on the forum a fine Christmas. "God bless us, every one." Transmission ends.

I saw this and thought of Basschat.... Utterly insane (safe for workplace) https://flip.it/TkuznH

Yes, I've been there and regularly get hit the same way. Down to one and just scrambled a second. Its the way it goes at the moment, get yourself a giggable, cheap second hand bass that's good enough to gig (Harley benton spring to mind) and you'll be fine. I'm gigging in a wedding band and 2 tributes with really cheap bass and it works just fine. Once youre back on your feet then the basses will come rolling back in.

I’m in the Forest of Dean tomorrow if you can get there to collect one. Long term loan, it’s a beauty.

Been there too. Sold all my gear to pay the rent. Things did get better later in life so hang on in there. It will get better.

I went from 5 or 6 basses to no basses a few years ago. I was desperate for funds, gig money wasn’t quite enough and I didn’t have much else I could sell. I think I was without a bass at all for maybe 6 or 7 months when I found a half-size kids Tanglewood Precision copy in a charity shop which I bought for less than a fiver. I was so grateful to have a bass again, even a little 25.5” scale kids one. I hope things turn around for you really quickly and you can get another bass again soon. Best of luck 👍

Thankyou for the positivity. Ill get back to it.

Here you are. Depending on the light some things look worse or better. For instance the edge in the picture below looks like the dogs chewed it. Barely noticable when you look at it normally. You can also see the two unused screw holes in the middle pickguard. As the pickguard is strong enough with the screws it currently has, I'll reprint it without the holes. here you can just see the copper tape creating the Faraday cage. I may reprint the pickguards to cover it up. The light highlights blemishes quite well, which is a bit annoying. I am very picky, which is why I might still sand it, spray it and epxoy resin it so it's a good finish. Rob

Too posh to push? I'll get my coat.

Close up, its very industrial looking. As its made up of seven parts, they need to be joined together, so there are lines. Also as I use two printers to speed things up, there are slight variations. I have the original one which is now surplus, so after the new year, I'll fill, sand that one down, then paint it and try the epoxy resin as a finish. Not sure if I make a V3 or try a bass next. I've started collecting the bass bits as I have an idea for a headless but need to think about it some more before I commit. I've used an awful lot of black PETG on V1 and V2. I didn;t really count but suspect 5-7 rolls getting things right. I have an idea to use less filament but it needs to simmer for a few weeks as I think about it. Rob

43.2mm C-section neck, feels pretty chunky to me. The weak point is the 'clay' markers on the side of the neck are pretty much invisible under some stage lighting with the yellow lacquer. "Why do I suddenly sound out of tune? Oh..."

If the Pod Go is too complex for you then the Stomp will be too (it has more going on with fewer hardware controls). But a couple of hours with either of them should be enough to understand them to set up the patches you want and just be able to scroll between them. I'm interested in the Mooer Prime P2 . I'm not sure I'd gig with it, but for home practice and band practice it seems decent: Pocket sized (and can work for 5hrs from it's internal rechargable battery), Tuner, drum machine/metronome, looper, bluetooth in and headphone out, lots of effects, 80 presets, touchscreen to go between presets, or can use a phone app for control and more in-depth editing. I'm mostly considering it as I carry a big flightcase with pedalboard/pedals/power supply to practice sessions and all it usually gets used for it tuner/mute, drive, EQ (although can do that on the Amp)....seems overkill when the Mooer would fit in my pocket and do very similar. For gigs I do like the tough/simple/stompable/what you see is what you get of individual Boss pedals though.

I realise the HX Stomp has much more than you need but it is a very good option that'll do exactly what you are after and there is also huge potential in it should you need it in the future. I had 'scenes' for each song that I simply moved through as per the set. I used a fraction of it's spec, slight variations in EQ, and amp models, very subtle effects here and there. What I'm saying is don't rule it out because it can do loads of things you don't currently need when it will do exactly what you want now extremely well. Also it is great fun to just muck about with and you have lots of users/experts on here who are willing to help out when/if you get stuck with something.

Monday with the alt Country band. Very productive and enjoyable. Went for a booze after. Great guys, was just like hanging out with mates.

Happy Rush Day (21/12)!

As a young kid I played the recorder at school. Two of my classmates did too, and it was fun for a while. I really wanted to play the guitar though, but my parents wouldn't let me as they thought it was just a phase and I would lose interest quickly. I didn't. When I was 16 I finally bought one myself. I went electric straight away, and got a Squier Affinity Strat with a small 10 watt Kustom amp. Then I started listening to Dutch band The Gathering, who I've been following ever since. Back then they were a very influential metal band as they were one of the first that mixed very dark and heavy metal with angelic clean female vocals. They released a record called "How to measure a planet?" which was a departure from their dark metal sound, but still had the beautiful vocals of Anneke van Giersbergen. What really stood out to me though was the bass! There is a lot of heavy, overdriven bass on that album. The track that really stands out is "Probably built in the fifties" where there's a quiet bit during the bridge that ends with the bass playing a big palmmuted riff with an incredibly heavy distortion. I wanted to sound like that! So I bought my first bass soon after. And eventually joined my own female-fronted metal band Eve's Fall

I went with this for now…..

Well, here's a guy that doesn't play a "bass", but plays an instrument that has a bass register, strings, fretboard, pickups...just no "body". And it has those "skinny strings", too. AND. It has two courses, one in 4ths, one in 5ths. I play the Stick every day (almost). The basses are in storage, for now, because I have no room for them, but they were hanging on the wall just a year ago. I play my own music, and I still want to record - myself, and with other like-minded dudes. Just having back issues now that drain the energy (and ambition) outa me, but... If I didn't play music I would be in a padded cell or dead.

Sounds like something my dominatrix was trying to teach me! 😉

The photo is of the IH I missed buying (still on reverb as sold) The Classic I'm eyeing is this: To match this (shameless plug of a live pic of mine instead of generic stock photo - at least shows I actually use the thing 🙂 )

Just pondering how many 'bass-journeys' will begin next Monday morning and how many will remember this in the years/decades to come. Is that a tear that's making the screen go blurry? Probably a bit of grit in my eye. If anyone out there is planning on giving a loved one a present of a bass this Christmas, may I say a sincere, 'good for you', and wish the recipient a lifetime of pleasure from your gift.

As of earlier today, just scored me this beaut that i didn't need. Why oh why oh why do i keep shovelling money at basses. Time to see a mind mechanic. It is stunning though.

I'd be hard pushed to decide if Warwick or Musicman had the most baffling range of basses but it just goes to demonstrate you can be a huge multi-million Euro/$ company and still fail to employ someone in marketing with 1 iota of common/musical sense.

It's amazing how many players believe that going from Thomastik flats to heavy gauge drop tuning rounds won't have much effect on the neck. I find even switching brands, still the same gauge, will require a truss rod tweak.