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Appreciate this might not be for everyone, but if anyone fancies some bank holiday viewing, my little gothic duo recently made a short 20 minute film with a very old friend (Haunting the Atom) about growing up in a small town, discovering bands (Cure, Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division etc) and getting into bands ourselves. Months of planning went into this (complicated by my Mum passing a few days prior to filming, after a very long illness). Essentially it is a live performance in an old Saxon Church, interspersed with some talk of our roots.An album of the same name is also streaming everywhere worldwide from today. I normally play bass on the original stuff but as we swap out instrumentation, the bass doesn't appear until later. Check it out, I am sure many of you will relate to some of this - even if you like different style of music. It is beautifully shot.

Just got in from a Spacewasters gig at The Barn in Portsmouth. Went very well, the new 5-piece lineup settling in nicely. Stage sound and sound out front were good, and bonus, not too loud as not a very big place. Good crowd too, and we were asked to do 2 extra songs by the people running the gig as we had gone down so well. I used my JMJ Mustang Bass into my Ashdown RM500 v2, with that connected to the headliners Marshall VBC412. I also used my Nux wireless kit which worked a treat.

My 1982 BB2000. I got this 1st April 23 and absolutely love it. Such a stunning instrument.

Having read this thread so far I strongly recommend you guys don’t see my band…..

If you look at my avatar, you will see my Fender Aerodyne. It is one of the first ones made in 2003. I love this bass. it just looks beautiful. I have often thought about buying the P version. It is in the image below alongside another bass that I sold. I love the clean lines, no pickguard, just the front mounted jack socket and three knobs. I have made two mods, the machine heads wree changed for Goton Res-o-LItes and the pickuos were changed to a pair of Di Marzios. I am not so keen on the later models, especially the ones with the Jazz type metal control plate. So browsing on G4M as you do, I found this: Apart from the colour of the fingerboard, I love the look. Is it worth a £150 punt?

I picked up this MC-980 a couple of weeks ago to go with my 924. I’ve been after this particular bass for around 30 years after missing it by literally minutes at a local second hand music shop in the early 90s. I knew the guy who had bought it but I couldn’t prise it out of his hands. He sold it a few years later to another friend of a friend so I knew where it was again. I messaged him out the blue last week and he gave in. I spent the afternoon giving it a thorough deep clean as it hadn’t been used in years. The nut needed replacing as he swapped the strings over so the drones were under the main strings. I restrung it correctly and swapped the saddles back but had to get a nut sorted last week along with a good fret dress. I’m absolutely over the moon with it, I’ve had a Ric 4003/8s, A Spector 8 prototype and a Couple of Chinese cheap brand ones but this one kept niggling away in my head.

Spector MM5 2017 and 1992 Overwater Custom Fusion 4

@Chienmortbb took over ABBM's stock and has been supplying Basschat customers since OBBM retired. His cables are second to none.

Don’t you worry. I’m still the final boss of BB’s. 😉

Ever since selling my Alusonic Django bass I've had severe regrets, and, unfortunately, I just can't afford to get another one, so I've been looking around for a cheaper way of getting something made out of metal. I found Paul Miller of Molindar Ltd in Scotland who makes aluminium bodies for guitars and basses at a very fair price. My second thought was that I didn't wan't a Fender shaped bass (I play a Ricky 4004L and Gibson non-reverse T'bird - both converted to 5 string), so it had to fit in with these. Paul makes a Gretsch Billy Bo Thunderbird shaped guitar body, so I've asked him to make a 5 string bass this shape instead. First things first was to source the parts needed, so I found a 2002 Epiphone (Korea) thunderbird neck, an extra schaller tuner to convert to 5 string (I already had four). A 5 string Ibanez AGB2005 tun-o-matic bridge, a Lace Alumitone pickup, a Kiogan wiring loom and a couple of Gretsch metal knobs. These have all been sent up to Paul so he could fit the body to the neck and pickup. I'm not sure what finish I'm going to go with though. Should I just leave the body rough? Polish it to a shine? Get it chrome plated? Get it chrome plated then acid etched to look rusted up? Any help gratefully received. Photos below and I'll post more when it's finished.

Ive seen this band sooooooo many times I cant remember. The Jazz Cafe in London stand out to me and my sister as the best to be honest. They never disappoint as the musicians they/Bluey have are just so incredibly talented. A couple of records on this album that are just smoking imo.. Me and my sister in the late 90s used to think they were very trendy, then we realised they went way past trends. Who's doesn't like Francis Hylton on an Atelier Z jazz bass laying down a groove. Just wonderful guitar solos on both. I love alot of different music but the mighty Incognito tick so many boxes for me. But thats just me

T'other has forced me to promise not to buy any more guitars. So I'm building them, she never stated anything about making my own, I should have been a lawyer I'll look at it but I really, really shouldn't.

I see you bought @obbm one. Dave's a great guy and you'll get an awesome little head that will have been well looked after. Enjoy and let us know how you get on.

It does the opposite for me - a wonderful joyous record, that was so important for being the first time many people in the UK were aware of ska/bluebeat. Great feel, I love it.

Bloody hell, that Tears in heaven is superb. Charles is so musical, and plays with great sensitivity. He is absolutely a master of bass, if anyone chooses to dislike his stuff then fine, they have the right to that but you can't really deny that he is an incredible musician.

Looking forward to getting your thoughts on it!

I have a Sandberg basic 5 that I believe has the first maple fingerboard that Sandberg made, as I asked for it, through the (now extinct) shop that had a dealership. It was custom made... I love the shape & feel of this bass, even though the neck is quite wide ... I was used to playing a Music Man Stingray 5 before.... It was lighter and perfect for for my needs at the time, I was gigging in different countries and was flying often... I did find the stock pickup a little bland.. & swapped it for an Aguilar MM .. which is definitely warmer sounding... My tech guy thinks Sandberg are nothing special, but an obvious marketing success.. I like my basic 5 but it's not my go to bass these days.. cute though!

Here she is in all her glory. Will take some more photos tomorrow when the light is better. Stingray Classic from 2011. Lake Tahoe Blue with an ebony fretboard and birdseye maple neck. Stunning instrument. Beautiful condition. Only issue is the nut seems cut a little high on the E string. Maybe it’s just me, I’m only used to P basses. This thing is solidly built and the finish is amazing. Was thinking about a Stingray Special with blue body and ebony neck, but when this popped up at bassbros I had to have it. delighted. Plugged in to my Ampeg SGT DI and it’s sounding mighty.

No. but it is an increasingly obsolete view. He, and others like him, have musical careers. They are getting paid to play. That it is not to your taste is irrelevant. That they are getting paid by advertising revenue rather than getting 2% of physical media sales is also irrelevant. He is not releasing music on 78 speed vinyl, he's releasing it on youtube and he has built an audience over years of hard work. And it is hard work. It's coming up with 4 or 5 new vids a week. Planning it, filming it, editing it. Dealing with copyright issues, etc etc. And that ignores the investment of the time needed to be able to play as well as he does. He's probably putting in more than 40 hours a week on it. That's a lot more than most musicians do, or even attempt to do. Complaining about modern ideas is a weird thing. We are on this forum because we play an instrument that has only been around for about 70 years and was laughed at when it was invented. I suspect that when Bottesini asked for a 4 string double bass rather than the traditional 3 string one the response was "Why? What's the point?" as well. Things move on. People like him do not affect the traditionalists ability to get pub gigs, or record what a traditionalist gatekeeper has decided is valid musical expression, or any of what has gone before. It's just something new to go into the pot. And like or not - he's inspiring people to play. 99.9% of them will never reach his ability. But they are playing and increasing sales of kit and making manufacturers invest in more product ideas etc etc. For some reason I had this view that bassists were somehow more rational than guitarists - many guitar forums are filled with people complaining that many new young guitarists say they were inspired to play by Ed Sheeran! Who GAF how they decided to pick up an instrument? The important bit is that they did! As for the amazingly dim sounding "I bet he can't play in a band" type argument.... ye gods that's a poor argument to present. Loads of the flashiest players spend most of their day doing sessions for other people. Just holding down the bottom end, playing roots. Marcus Miller does it. Billy Sheehan does it. There is zero reason to think that someone who can play like CB cannot play what a song needs. I used to play Classical Thump and Colorado Bulldog etc. And I had no problem joining a 25 member jazz big band and just playing what was written. I loved it just as much.

Zombie thread… A mate got a Marathon recently and I was instantly besotted. he wouldn’t sell it to me. So I went snooping and found a 1980 sunburst So that’s his one with my ripper - it’s a late 70’s one. this arrives next week

It's an Aria STB-GT, basically a mashup of a Stingray, a P shape Aerodyne body & a Jazz neck. I managed to blag one for £99 back when it was a current model. I think list was £250-odd back in 2007 or so. The G4M 'version' looks like a steal at £150 - I'm actually relieved there isn't a PJ or JJ version - don't need any more impulse purchases!

It's in 5/4, not alternating 6/4 and 4/4, except for a few bars of 3/4 in the turn round. If you have a CCLI subscription then download the lead lines rather than the chord sheet, as it has proper sheet music a dots. It's actually pretty easy to play. It's a reflecive song so you're not trying to groove, you can put the bass notes on the stressed syllables of the lyric and just go by feel - don't get hung up on counting.

I have no particular expertise in this area, however I would be wary of a neck where the end of the truss rod is sunk in like that. My limited understanding of what might be happening makes me wonder whether there is an issue with the anchor at the other end, such as the wood holding it compressing under the tension. It might be perfectly okay, but it would irk me if it was on one of my guitars or basses.

Hope all you playing this Easter have a great time of worship!!

Yeah, saw the FB post, cheers. Have to confess I wouldn't consider myself a Goth in any way, shape or form, but I do like the music so it's a pleasure to support an endeavour like this. More power to you! 👍

🙏 Not sure if you saw the social media post but there was a small delay with the pressing. All the envelopes are done up and I should be getting CDs out as soon as they arrive. They are currently with Royal Mail. That’s really cool that you ordered one.

Just to finish off this thread - if for no other reason than to post a pedalboard pic! This is what I've ended up with. Sounds really good and overall I'm very happy (the compressor especially) - but - I can't let go of the part of me that feels this preamp/wireless tied to an HX Effects would have been the perfect hybrid rig for me. Just couldn't find a power supply to do the job. So this is the board for the Sweden tour in a few weeks!

I'm no expert, but if the rod hasn't broken and the neck isn't cracked then you're probably ok. I have the exact same bass too, also from 2003. I got mine a couple of months ago from @walshy of the Vintage Bass Room. They are lovely. Congrats. Rob

Jet - Wings

my stingray plays like butter but without the dead spots ..do you think it might be fake?

At a recent gig, the second guitarist's mic (for BVs) was feeding back rather readily. I noticed that although it was behind the FOH speaker, due to his pedalboard he'd got it angled at coming on for 45 degrees towards that side - he was quite close to the speaker too. At mid-session interval I got him to adjust the mic position so it was pointing about 45 degrees away instead (cardioid mic) and that reduced the feedback issue considerably. I'm not sure that would have come to mind as a possible cause had the issue of cardioid and hypercardioid polar patterns not come up in here recently.

For those who posted unsmiley responses to my suggestions re: Don't look back in Anger and Everybody needs somebody, its maybe not the song so much as their amazing power to cause a headlong rush to the dance floor from lagered-up lads (who normally prefer to booze rather than dance), knocking everyone aside, leaving a trail of death and destruction and lots of bro-hugging.

I agree and, he has a nice musical feel about him. He certainly knows what he is doing:

Right. Last part. I noticed when I was looking back at what I posted yesterday that the last picture doesn't quite show the body in its finished state. The upper bout inlay was missing. I now remember that it took me a week or two of procrastinating before I bit the bullet and actually carved that out. I was scared of screwing up the lovely walnut top after every other step in the process had gone so unexpectedly well. As it turned out, the process was fine. I used various sizes of drill bits to do the radiused corners, and to remove the bulk of the area that the inlay would cover. I then used small chisels and gouges to tidy up the edges. There's a wee bit of filler in one spot to cover the effect of an uncooperative bit of grain, but it otherwise went well. The inlay material itself is cut from a ~3-mm-thick offcut of ash I had lying around. Here's a picture taken during the finishing process. As with my other instruments, this is polyurethane lacquer applied with a brush and then later sanded down. I used the same lacquer on the neck, though I masked off the fingerboard. The reflective finish in this picture is actually just very hard wood that has been planed and sanded to a gloss finish. (I forgot to sand the saw marks off the bottom of the neck blank before I stuck the truss rod in, but it's not visible in the assembled bass.) Here's the finished bass. It has a pair of StewMac Golden Age jazz bass pickups (because they were on sale when I was buying some other things) and a basic vol-vol-tone control layout. The head-piece has turned out to be plenty strong enough to hold the strings in place. Here's view of the back, showing the control cover which I made from the same ash offcut as the inlay on the front. It's actually from a totally different batch of timber, but the grain matches surprisingly well. I had it set up with D'Addario half-rounds initially, but found them to be very dull-sounding. More flatwound than roundwound, I think. From the moment I first plugged it in, I knew that it blew my old Warwick Corvette fretless out of the water (not least because it was about a kilo lighter and didn't neck dive). Nicer feeling neck, lower action, clearer sound – the Warwick went straight to the Bass Gallery, who sold it on consignment a few months later. As a postscript, about a year after it was finished I was down in Brighton seeing some friends, and popped into GAK because I wanted to try out a Trace Elliot Elf. After noodling around for a while, I asked if they had a fretless I could try it with. The clerk gave me the only fretless they had in stock, which was – oddly – a Fender Custom Shop Tony Franklin signature. The neck and feel of this bass was a transcendental experience, and I realised that I'd set the bar too low by merely going for "better than my Warwick". When I got home, I removed the neck and reprofiled the fingerboard. I lacquered it with a layer of superglue (poor man's epoxy) and obsessively sanded and polished it until the neck was perfectly flat. I'm still not quite sure if I've managed to match that Tony Franklin bass, but I think I'm close enough that I don't mind the difference. Since then this has been my main at-home bass. I play my fretted bass in bands, because that's where the money notes are, but this is the one I reach for when I'm practicing and keep on a stand next to my desk. I'm considering spending some money this year on updating the electronics, just because they're not really up to the same standard of quality as the rest of the instrument. I'm tempted to go for some beefy DiMarzios or Bartolinis, and perhaps try out one of those Lusithand filter preamps, as they seem interesting. Anyone have any experience with those?

I give you Dancing in the Street - the Silent Music video. No music at all - "It's like two drunk mates making their way home from the pub. " Watch it and laugh. . . . Dancing in the Street -- Silent Music Video - YouTube.url

Wonderwall. I will go out of my way never to play that again. If it comes on the radio I will turn it off. I can’t stand it.

There ya go

for me its the line in the intro to war pigs