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An hour ago courier delivered 2004.Yamaha TRB 5p ii - Bubinga. Sounds superb. Bought from reverb, Australia.

I played my BB1200 at rehearsal last night, and I had a ruddy good time! Yes, there are fancier BBs, with active electronics, more pickups and sometimes even more frets, but the BB1200 is pure, distilled BB. You know you've got a good 'un when playing just seems effortless, the bass is doing what you ask without question or grumble and you can focus on other things (like giving the new singer the nods because they're getting up to speed with the cues). The BB1200 is a cornerstone of bass history IMO - it deserves to stand alongside the P, J, Ray and T-bird in those type of conversations.

After a lot of thinking about how to simplify things, I think I've got the design finished. I've been trying to work out how to simplify the printing and print at a higher resolution so it looks good. The issue was and still is, printing at a higher resolution takes a lot longer, a hell of a lot longer and when you have to do things like embed nuts to allow the pickguard to attach, you find that this needs to be done at 03:30 in the morning which is not conducive to a good nights sleep. So I have experimented with gluing nuts and similar in AFTER the guitar has been printed. This means that I focus on getting the nuts embedded early in the guitar print and then, let it print for the next 26 hours. You can see this with the twelve large circular holes below. Ignore the large number of M3 holes, they still stay there. I've now split the model to make each piece as big as possible so the bits only just fit on the printing bed. Before I had nine pieces, I'm now down to five (plus the neck adaptor). I have most of the rest the pieces as well, neck, lightweight tuners, bridge, pickups (though I may wind my own), control knobs and tone controls. So I've about 7-10 days of printing but I have six 1Kg rolls of black so should be OK.

My P8 five is a superb instrument. It's strung with La Bella through-body flats and is an absolute tone machine. If you want a P shaped 5 string I would say it's the best option out there are the moment. I've swapped out the tuners for Gotoh Res-O-Lites, which makes the bass bang on 9 lbs. Also fitted Dunlop straplocks and filed the edges of the nut to take off the sharp corners, but other than that it's stock. Tempted to swap the scratchplate to tort though...

It's rather nice being in a 'power trio' with some licence to improvise and the space to jmp around while the 'main attraction' is largely tied to his mike 😁 We enjoy some coordinated instrument wagging too!

Purple Maize - Jimi H

Is this the way to a Merino? Tony Christie

2004 Fender American Standard Jazz bass with S1 switch.

Two gigs with the seven piece swing/trad band. Last Tuesday was a Jazz at the Junction gig at a Legion hall where we have played several times, the place was full and they were right into the music, no dancing though, the place is too small. I was in some sort of weird place mentally(age and/or long Covid fog ?) but as front man I managed to say what I needed to say and played reasonably well if the recording was accurate. I came home frustrated and depressed with the whole night's performance even though the audience liked it. On Sunday we played a charity gig at a large (for our part of the world) church to raise money for roof repairs. Lots of stairs and twisty corridors to navigate for load in and out but great acoustics once the audience of about 300 came in and we played well and I was back in the real world and was happy with my performance. It was a strange set up with the band on several levels with a large immovable altar right in the middle and the band spread out with the Bose PA set up behind us, and since only the bass and keyboard use the PA it was hard to hear the horns on "stage" but it was great for the audience and they loved it. My bass teacher and another DB player were in the audience and that made me a bit nervous but after the concert he was complimentary, I'll find out what he really thinks at my lesson on Friday.

Rye of the beholder - Metallica

Long Grain Running - Doobie Brothers

Sheaves In Parties ～ Bauhaus

I had my eye on that over at Bass Bros, let me know if you don’t get on with it they are an acquired taste. Hot af output wise, like a solid 9db louder than everything else I own. I tend to run the volume between 1/2 and 3/4 if I’m using pedals or someone elses amp. I’ve found this is the mustang I really connect best with, if the sound coming out of it is even then leave it as is, I assume the pickup has been lowered to tame the output. Mine is flat so likely running higher and hotter than yours. Anyway my three, for now and a hofner thrown in for good luck. Maybe I’ll go back to playing real basses soon.

I think that any time you remove and reinstall a string it weakens it. I don't have any scientific reasons for this gut feeling.

Hell yeah! Any serious lineup of compressor pedals should include the mighty finger, imho. I bought mine off of Reverb as a NOS one. Box was still sealed and got all the original stuff with it. Edges of the metal casing were very sharp so to not risk cutting my fingers I sanded those edges down a bit. All three these compressors are monstrously good, each in their own way. EDIT: How I use it? On the edge of breakup. It does this job better with passive basses than active ones, much in the same way my Wren & Cuff 'Phat Phuk' pedal does. Both have more dirt going on in the bottom end and less in the top end. Recently added an Origin Effects DCX Bass preamp/od pedal which manages the breakup levels better across the spectrum. If you're interested in a tone that's dirty but not too overdriven you might want to look at one of those.

Hi Have exhibited at this show for many years. The new venue is excellent and it is a really good show getting better every year. I will be there this year with only basses launching a new model and reintroducing the Graft Series.

Oi

New Fridge Day - pics or it didn't happen etc etc. 😂

Cashmere ～ Led Zeppelin

Get Your Ox Off ～ Primal Scream

Cattle Be The Day - Buddy Holly

My Coo Cashew ～ Alvin Stardust

I was reading a CuNiFe pickup thread just yesterday, on Gretsch Talk. First post was interesting as the fella pasted an email he'd got from Curtis Novak regarding magnets. "Hi Don, I use threaded rod magnets and the alloy I use is FeCrCo. The thing is an old pal of mine who was an engineer at Gibson, and was pals with Seth said that Fender had contracted with Seth to design a humbucker, that would compete with Gibson's but still sound like Fender's sound. Their whole goal was to have a humbucker, with adjustable pole pieces that still sounded like a Fender pickup with AlNiCo magnets. They choose CuNiFe, NOT b/c it had any mystical sonic properties, but rather b/c it sounded closest to AlNiCo AND could be machined into a screw. In my former life I spent 16 years working at one of our National Laboratories, and was pals and worked with a number world renowned metallurgists, and physicists. They all confirmed that in a sensor such as a guitar pickup, there is NO special sonic characteristic that the alloy CuniFe would have over AlNiCo, or FeCrCo other than their grade strength, and their orientation to the coil. All 3 alloys being equal in strength, shape and orientation to the coil would give the same sonic results. Outside of factual data there is much hype that starts putting this pickup in the same category as the Loch Ness Monster, and Bigfoot designed to create an artificial fervor and demand for it and to attempt justify an astronomical price. In my personal experience working both in high level research science and my many years with pickups, I have seen when people get way too wrapped up in their data, assumptions, goals, desires, and their egos. In the end they are only researching and accepting results that confirm their desires. They tend to lose focus and get way off track of their original goal and with pickups they start listening with their eyes, and stop using their ears. Glad you like them. Curtis" After my experiences with different single coils I'm of much the same mind as Mr Novak 👍

BBM has been in touch. Thanks guys.

I am 🥳

Wheat ‘Til Tomorrow Comes - Eurythmics

Green Flour Street — Donald Fagen

It's not a Yamaha BB but it's probably of interest here as the pickup and electrics are based on his BB1200S. Eastwood have just released the Hooky Viking Pro, based on his Eccleshall hollow body with the BB electrics. Pretty pricey when compared to the Jack Casady or similar. Definitely interesting though with a reverse P and active electrics. https://eastwoodguitars.co.uk/products/eastwood-hooky-viking?variant=40381321805909

If it was gold finish, I'd have snapped your hand off. Rare as hen's teeth, those gold finish three pointers, individually at least. The only other option is to buy a Rumblekat just so I can pinch the bridge off of it

This is a bad thing, a very bad thing, actually. Saying a string is coated is, in truth, fairly meaningless. It's like the ads for things which are "plant-based" under the guise of being healthier, but are still highly processed blobs of sugar, salt and fat. How the string is coated is the important part. As mentioned before, the design and intent of the Elixir, coating the outside surface of the wound string as a whole, is to prevent biocrud getting into the windings because that is what makes your strings sound dull and lifeless. Putting a coating on and then wrapping does absolutely nothing to prevent biocrud seepage. In fact, all you're doing is adding a greater percentage of plastic into the string as the outer wind is coated even on the side which is touching the string core and never comes in contact with the player. It's a marketing exercise only and makes a string worse, not better. This was a lesson learned the hard way, having tried Warwick and then D'Addario's "coated" strings and putting them in the bin not too long after installing them. Elixirs are worth the money because of how they are wound, which I think they still own the patent to. I should never have strayed as it was just an exercise in pi$$ing money away.

Jesus wept, it's an effing bass bridge, not a Nazi war criminal clubbing baby seals with a Stradivarius!

Block Rockin' Bleats ～ The Chemical Brothers

Thanks for the heads up. I live in Manchester, but am in London the night Vincen is in our town! What’s the chances. ☹️ In case it’s not been mentioned, I’m not particularly a jazz fusion aficionado, but thought the Cory Wong Manchester Apollo gig last year was awesome. Vincen was outstanding. The band was brilliant.

I only have the single and the guitar one at that (fits a fender mustang perfectly). I as of yesterday I was added to the Gruv Gear site following this trip from Houston to Istanbul. I travel a lot with basses and I would say so far the Kapsule is the best option but it’s not without its flaws. So firstly trying to take your bass on a plane is an absolute nightmare it’s stressful from start to finish. I did this with a Squier Mustang in a cheap gigbag going Manchester - Istanbul - Bogotá. After that I vowed never again. You’re basically stuck with a small light case where you’re begging to be let on the plane or you have something more robust like a mono m80 and you’re almost certainly going to be forced to check it whilst the case still isn’t ideal for flying. Next I used the skb bass safe, which in terms of keeping the instrument safe is great but very few gig bags fit in it these days and when they do you can get very little in the gigbag. I was shoving a gruvgear edge in there which I believe the bass one will fit and then putting extras down the side. This worked ok but had TSA or similar opened the case and pulled everything out I have no idea how they’d get it all back in and several occasions the side of the case were bulging from me overloading it. Additionally it wheels ok, but it’s got a high centre of gravity and it’s useless on uneven ground, at which point you realise how heavy it is to carry in one hand. Following the chaos of my Istanbul - Bogotá experience I picked up a Gruv Gear Kapsulite in Bogotá. This case is great, sleek, well protected, good weight and I think I made 4-5 flights with it as I bounced around South America. It has a really nice neck pocket bag which is nice to remove from the bass and have with you on stage. But you can fit very very little in it, think a thin strap, cable, di and maybe a pedal. But it’s very solid for flying with. Then the Kapsule which in the video you can see the insane amount of stuff I brought back with me. Everything arrived safe even though half way through the trip I noticed a padlock missing. The bass section has a tsa lock, the top part you need to padlock. The case was a dream to move, lower centre of gravity to the bass safe but then at the end of my journey I could sling it on my back, walk the 1km from the metro and up 3 flights of stairs. Along the way I had handles in all the right places for manoeuvring it through airports. However it was clearly dragged across the floor after its first flight, this meant the grooves where you slide the wheels in were damaged making it quite difficult to get them on and off. I solved this mostly when I landed in Istanbul by running my keys over it to remove the now excess plastic. I’ll have to file or sand these further before my next flight. My concern is if these continue to be damaged and the wheels eventually won’t slide on or stay on that it will render the case useless (I am going to investigate how replaceable these are). I’m probably overly concerned about that because I bought mine second hand and it’s now outside of warranty. Brand new of these break you’re going to get a new case I expect. This leads me on to my next point, I have the single guitar version and it is heavy, fully loaded it is very heavy so if you’re considering the double bass version you need to be fairly confident you’re only going to have to sling it on your back in an emergency. You’ll be able to get an insane amount in the case. I went this route because as great as the kapsulite was I’d still have to check a suitcase so that’s excess baggage every flight even though in combination the 2 cases could be under 20kg. This starts getting expensive if you’re travelling a lot or have additional cases you’re also checking. I absolutely love this case though and think I’ll be getting more, if only as a storage solution where I can keep everything together in one place. So I may very well end up with a bass duo for this purpose. But currently flying with shortscale basses just makes life about 10% easier. So in summary I think it’s the best case available but it is a tool, if you’re expecting it to stay nice then you shouldn’t be flying with it, I’ve flat out had suitcases ripped in half 😂 The only other considerations are Enki which if I was touring and just going in and out of a van or definitely had additional baggage whilst needing 2 basses I’d consider. Gator also make a guitar mini vault which will fit 2 shortscale basses. But neither fit anything else in them so it gets costly with excess baggage fees. I think I just like they can go straight on stage and function as stands. Final point, (assuming you have an iPhone) put an AirTag in whatever you go for, best travel purchase I’ve ever made.

There's a thread elsewhere here about LongEvo strings, I can't wholly remember how I got a set of them, but they were on a reduced introduction price. Might have been a direct purchase from Mark Bass. Anyhow, moving along. Interesting enough experiment, can't remember which bass they went on. They were OK, but given there's several manufacturers making coated strings, there just didn't seem to be anything in the product that made me think it was worth repurchasing. Just reverted to form and went back to Elixirs! You get what you pay for.

Power Windows by Rush. To me, Geddy gets the purest approximation of a Wal sound on record.

They look great but that's the strangest name for a bass model.... What's the Precision model called, Geoffrey?

I’d echo what Uk_Lefty says above. Leave it as it is and just enjoy playing it. I gig with my HB short-scale P bass left just as it came out the box. Does the job just fine. And congratulations on having some cool sisters!