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A gig that seemed fated from the start. Guitarist didn’t want to do it, drummer cried off with painful wrists the day before. ‘It’s not our kind of venue, it’s too late, no one will come.’ But as so often happens we dragged victory from the jaws of defeat! The cellar bar venue rarely does ‘non original’ music but we got the nod for a Saturday two-setter. The stairs are murder with gear and the stage is compact, but the sound is very good. I played my Flea through the house Markbass CMP121. And so the Otis Jay Blues Band live to fight another day. Suspect the guitarist was going down with something - was in a foul mood anyway, playing from 10-midnight, and paid £6 for parking - but the dep drummer performed manfully. A drunken bunch of ravers, none of whom had ever seen us before (our audience don’t do late night Saturdays) took us to heart. I have never been groped on the dance floor before, but there’s a first time for everything! Arriverderci Boscombe… we will be back!

BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam gig last night at Hearts Longstone Club. Played here quite a few times now and always a wonderful reception. Its not a huge club and i reckon maybe about 60-70 folks in with many dressing up for the Glam night. We even had the boob flasher during Get It On which is new for us. No pics of that bit have appeared as yet Also a first with this band a young lady in a mini dress asked for our autographs and was so i pressed with the band said she will def be at the Xmas gig and any others in the Edinburgh area. Club brought a load of blow up guitars etc and star sunglasses and handed them out. Band played well and altho singer lost his voice during the week he did remarkably well altho our other singer Lynn was all prepared to step in as and when needed. Using my Berg VM4 into my new Mesa TT800 for the first time with my Mesa SW210/115 cabs. Sounded a lot more modern than my SVT7 Pro or Handbox WB-100 but it sounded clear and full on both channels. Boogie channel set for a more standard warm tone and the Subway channel set for a more Ric bite sound. Gonna take a bit of fiddling to get it just right but so far i'm pleased with it. I've only waited 3 yrs to get one. 1 Hrs drive home on nice quiet country roads so that was all good. Got a thumping headache this morning tho so probably not enough water during the gig. Normally drink between 1-2 litres a gig but only had 1 litre last night. I do sweat a lot with all the glam gear on. Dave

Saturday I was “Anchor Face” Al on the good ship Punk 🤪 All good fun. One rehearsal and a couple of rough play thoughs at home and I remembered/managed to busk through it all watching the guitarist’s hand and catching up quickly when a song completely escaped me. Old skool rig: Hartke LH500 into a pair of BigBaby’s, tuner in the loop and an Origin DCXBass for an extra kick when required, battered FPPR Status S1 that has seen many SEBB’s. I nearly only used one BB then remembered (a) it’s punk; and (b) the band I was depping for has a drummer who really lays in so went the whole hog. Sounded flipping marvellous where I was 😁 I’m not normally allowed to be such an hooligan and ‘twas fun 🤩

Unfortunately for us, there were a couple of larger events happening in town that reduced the size of our potential audience. However, those that were there (30ish) were appreciative, although there was the predictable too loud comment from some folk in the firing line of the drums. Speaking of whom, we had a dep drummer again, so all those little pushes and dynamics that make our set sound good and polished we’re missing . A small stage meant that I was right on top of my rig and no matter if I played pick or fingers, distortion on or off, tone rolled full or all off, or any other effect, it all sounded like mush . TBH, I’m getting a little tired of this aspect of playing live. Still, looks like we might have picked up another local venue to play in, as one of the audience is going to recommend us for his club.

It was a good gig. We played an hour slot, 3:45- 4:45. The sound on stage was fantastic. Blue

Wedding gig in the middle of nowhere, Wiltshire. Playing with some of my least favourite people never helps the evening go well. I don't know about you, if I don't like someone but have to work with them I do my best to get along with them. Or at least be polite. Ah well, never mind. I got paid and was back in bed by 2am.

One of the remaining tidying up jobs was this - the router cut from narrowing the neck heel: And I had an idea. And yes, @Happy Jack - there was always going to be at least one swift A trick I stumbled on a number of years ago was, with a 3-layer pickguard, you can rout through the top layer and expose the middle layer. Like this: And it's just the right thickness: Tidied up, it adds maybe a little je ne sais quoi?

It was a good gig. And the organisers stayed true to their word. Food & beverage was provided. Lol Daryl

I was completely unaware of this guy, (in fact, up until this thread started and I listened to the Tears in heaven cover) I hear, total mastery of an instrument and the theory to back it up. In addition, he's earning more from playing bass than 98% of the people on Basschat. Does he need to play in a band? Compose? Produce bass lines that other bassists like or want to learn? No he doesn't. He's entertaining people, that's his chosen job and he's doing it well.

Another annual week of WODYs, one of Worcester’s musical theatre youth groups at the local Swan Theatre. And another round of Addams Family and load of Englanders doing their best to read Latin rhythms and pass them off as convincing. The band are great people though, very much the opposite of Stewblack’s experience mentioned a little earlier, we have a blast. Didn’t play my absolute finest but passable. On the matinee the MD shortened a vamp during a scene change spontaneously just as I had a big leap up the neck which I had to look down for- resulting in a two bar unscheduled bass solo that I had to style out….Spent the rest of the day being ribbed mercilessly by the rest of the band.

Small changes to my latest incarnation of my board....completely changed the drive section with the megalith and MBD and added a DI as a back up/ to accompany a smaller power amp set up in the future. Input is via the origin Cali in front of the switcher, Bassrig runs from the output of the switcher. Everything else in between. Pretty happy with my attempt at cabling as well for a change.... Best I've managed I think.

All these "what's the point", and "it's a bass so technical brilliance is "showboating""!! comments are very disappointing. Bass is being progressed to new levels buy these guys, just like Mozart and JS Bach did for the piano and Paganini did for the violin. I can understand not liking what is being played but complaining that it is being played is absurd.

I think this is one of the areas Basschat excels at, we all encounter issues/problems/niggles along the way and having this forum to voice them and hear advice from others is great imo.

Kind of our audience last night, but age, not quantity .

100% agree, sometimes its just nice to share your thoughts with other like minded people. Dave

After a few hours in the garage, I now have the aluminium backbone no longer looking like a piece of stock metal I brought off the internet which of course it was. Using a combination of a finger grinder, a Dremel, a half round file and an awful lot of wet & dry from 340 down to 1,000, I took off all the sharp edges and feathered the aluminium in so it matched the curves on the bass body. I am rather pleased as it looks great, it doesn't have the precision of a CNC machine doing this, and I think it benefits from it. I've copper lined all the interior now, tidied up all the bits I wanted to, put it all together and then discovered the straplocks on the body end interfere with tuning, so redesigned the bridge to move the straplocks a little wider apart and printed it off. This is one of the advantages of 3d printing, a piece isn't quite right, redesign and print again. 3 hours to print and done. You can see the holes for the plugs to fit in the bridge adapter as they need to be glued in. It's pretty much done now, apart from set up. Its playable but I lowered the bridge by a mm as it was a little too high. I have spent the morning looking for my feeler gauge and the 3/16 Allen key for the truss rod and cannot find them. I did get a Peterson Strobostomp HD for tuning as the ones that clip on a head stock do work on my printed bass, but are a bit slow. Whilst the Peterson isn't cheap, indeed its eye wateringly expensive, its a wonderful tuner and so so fast. I may review it once I've got my head around what it can do.

And we have sound! And it sounds great!! Here's the chamber, complete with the CTS push/pull: The second set of strings that Jack had sent also sound and feel great Looks pretty cool as well as sounding pretty cool: Just a few finishing tweaks and final set up and it will be ready to pass back

OK, last few bits and bobs with this one. Setup first. I like to be able to get the action pretty low. 1.75mm for the E string at the 12th and 1.5mm for G string. That's with only a touch of relief on the truss rod. I've stopped using nuts and instead have a zero fret. The fretwire is the same for the zero fret but I don't level it when I'm doing the other frets. All this means that the action is incredibly light. Particularly the first 5 frets. My daughter's guitar teacher (who's a far better bass player than me) came round the other day and said it felt like playing a fretless! That's definitely my goal. Most people probably will want to raise the action a bit, particularly since this is an acoustic, but it's nice to know it can go low if necessary. My setup routine is probably similar to everyone. The only thing slightly unusual is that I level the frets under string tension. First step is getting it to tension (or actually a semitone below), then using a straight edge on top of the frets to get the neck as straight and flat as possible: I then use an aluminium C-shaped beam with 400 grit sandpaper on the bottom to level all the frets (as mentioned above, apart from the zero fret). More or less the final job is the pickup. I'm using a fishman matrix Infinity piezo which is under the saddle. This means I need to drill a hole in the top for the cable. After countless hours of work this was definitely a job not to do with a hangover. Or given I've got an eight year old, high on gummy-bears. Mark up the bridge location with tape, then a 2.5mm through the top, praying that my plans are accurate and I'm not about to drill through the X brace..... Phew. Done. Tomorrow I'll string it up again and plug it in for the first time.... One thing that has turned out beautifully on this build is the finish on the top. It was an epoxy seal coat then 5 or 6 wipe on/wipe off coats of tru oil. As a finish it look stunning. The last one had a french polished top which was nice, but dare I say it this one is better. It's hard to see in my rubbish photos, but the wood glows....

I always keep them short, both right and left hand. Trim every week, no exception.

Can I just ask: 1. Are you being paid £100k per gig? 2. Are you in some sort of modern slavery gang? 3. Do you lose a stag do bet and this is the forfeit? 4. Is any member of your family being held hostage by a mafia type cartel? If anybody in a band I was in behaved like that to the rest of the band, threw stuff they'd been loaned on the ground and walked off, unless there was a compelling reason to stay (see above) I'd walk away or better still, tell aforesaid prat, not to come back. If somebody came to you and told you the above story, what would you say to them? This all sounds a bit like an abusive relationship to me. If you are doubting your own ability, partly because he's gaslighting you, I'd be looking at exit options. This therapy session is worth precisely what you have paid, zilch. All the best Rob

As I get back into bass after a long injury break...here is my lovely bass, been through a lot!

The videos where he plays the fastest, most challenging and complex lines is the logical end point for someone like this. He’s incredibly talented and is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Is it musical? Possibly. Does it have any real artistic value? Probably not. Is it fun? Yes. This is his job. He doesn’t profess to be a musical genius, just a guy who’s using what talent he has to make an independent living. Good for him. I really can’t see much difference between what he’s doing and the people at the Olympics. Both pushing the boundaries of human endeavour in arbitrary and ultimately pointless activities. It’s the essence of humanity.

I'd have to walk away from someone like that. There are plenty of guitarists out there. Replace him, his attitude stinks. Appreciate that during a gig we will make a mistake or two but we generally laugh it off at the end of the night providing we know where we went wrong and the audience didn't notice it too much. To have someone throw a tantrum and walk away in a huff like that is not good for any band. Dave

Easy enough to get other guitarists, especially if you already have one. One reasonable guitarist is streets ahead of an amazing guitarist who messes everything up.

Tonight

just added this back on……..

So he’s better than you and he’s earning for playing. Try not to be so jealous. It’s unbecoming. I think he’s great and musical. WOW! Music taste is subjective! Whodathunkit???

Don't look any further @Happy Jack, here is one totally functional and at a very decent price: https://www.bassic.de/kleinanzeigen/woodhead-steampunk.53687/

Acapela Studio in (or very) near Cardiff on Friday night with Wah - great and quirky venue with homemade pizzas laid on. The journey there was horrible - about 4 minutes away from the venue I missed an exit and entered a 45 minute traffic jam... Got to use the orange P bass I bought from @Teyeplayer in anger for the first time and was very happy with it indeed. A couple of days before the show I decided to swap to roundwounds and I think it was a good decision. Until the next change of heart, obviously. Our first gig for about four months, postponed from our spring tour and I was a little rusty - a couple of clangers should be firmly laid at my door but no-one seemed to mind. Left a bloody lighting stand there but if turns out a friend of a friend lives nearby so there's hope of recovery! Photo nabbed off Twitter.

Sure it’s entirely possible. The real challenges is the cost of development, testing and global safety/EMC certification for a component that’s very low production volume.

I was recording so... it's a little over the top.

No need to apologise, you've taken nothing from anybody that they weren't happy to give. Rob

If it makes you feel any better, I am a far, far, far worse a musician than you and I know it Don't put yourself down, you're playing in a band which is more than I am, you have some things to sort out, but do what you want to do. Its never worth it to do things you don't want to do, we all go through bad patches in work, relationships and things we like to do, but most of the times we get through them, but unless you're having fun overall OR you're making a ton of money that allows you to do the other things you really want to do, what's the point? All the best and do what you think is best for you is my advice. Regards Rob

I think I’d ask what the circumstances were for him to get so annoyed, sometimes a sympathetic ear can disarm someone. I’d add into that re the gear issue acknowledging that anyone can get annoyed for whatever reasons, but that in all cases I would need my gear to be treated with respect.

Incidentally, regarding the "old way" of recording and promoting music, kids starting out in music back in the day would have killed to have Youtube, TikTok, etc, not to mention powerful recording software that works on a home computer or iPad. I was there, in a band, recording bad-sounding demos on a Tascam Portastudio, then handing out tapes with awful, dot-matrix-printed cassette inlays to anyone who'd have them and hoping they wouldn't end up in the bin. Duplicating tapes was expensive. It was even more expensive when CD-Rs came out. It was sh*t. Getting to record in a proper recording studio was expensive and out of the reach of many young people - maybe one of your band members' dads was a stockbroker and had the money to pay for that sort of thing. The closest thing to social media was the "zine scene", which kinda relied on you knowing people who could write nice things about your band in what was basically a photocopied leaflet handed out at gigs, and which would almost certainly also end up in the bin. Everyone aspired to be signed, but conveniently forgot that meant that, all of a sudden, a whole bunch of non-musicians suddenly had a say over everything you did, and your viability as a "product" was suddenly completely out of your hands. You were completely at the whims of musical fashions and the opinions of the music press. This was also sh*t. I vastly prefer things the way they are now. Music has been democratised. Yes, the pool is far bigger than it once was, but it's also far, far deeper. There's something out there for everyone, and it's ridiculously easy for a musician to become a part of that.

It's this. Above all else. This awful feeling that I've let myself down because the pig ignorance of others has got under my skin. That maybe they're right to so dislike me. Playing bass is the only thing I've ever done in my life of which I feel proud. I feel I can hold my head up in any company. And I get either ignored, or have to put up with rude comments. In the bands where people are actually lovely I get told to turn down to the point where I'm inaudible. 🤷🏻‍♂️

It took Metallica five albums to break through back in the day. Most of their contemporaries never really broke through - Exodus, Anthrax, Megadeth, Over Kill and so on. They had the odd hit, but never really went fully mainstream. These bands still headline festivals worldwide. They're still around and doing OK. Many other, younger bands who have come up in this era of Spotify and Youtube are up there with them on these festival bills, and will also do OK. The model has changed. The music has evolved. The methods of making music are much, much better now. But good songs are still being written, people are listening to them, and people are still making a living from it. Which brings me to Charles Berthoud. The man is an excellent musician, educated at Berklee (which is why he relocated to the US), plays several instruments extremely well (he also plays piano and guitar to almost as high a standard as he plays bass), is an fantastic composer and arranger, and he's found an outlet to make a living from his skills. He knows the game has changed, and he's adapted to this new reality. There's also more than a whiff of gatekeeping bass snobbery here - if you look at guitarists who do the same thing (I'm thinking the likes of Bernth, Ola Englund, Eric Calderone, Sophie Burrell, Alexandr Misko, even well-established guitar legends like Jom Gomm, Andy McKee and Tommy Emmanuel) they don't get half as much grief as Charles, Davie, Danny Sapko and so on. Is it because they're bass players playing non-traditional bass parts and daring to push the boundaries a bit? I wish him all the luck in the world, and I hope to continue to be entertained by him for many more years.

But why? Why would he move over to another instrument? Are there any regulations I'm missing? Is it prohibited by some law, to play one piece of wood strung with some wire instead of another piece of wood strung with some wire? I must be a little bit naive thinking that in the free Western world, it is up to every person to decide which instrument they play and how. No offence.

I'll post if any appear from last nights gig. Dave

Sorry to be blunt, but total pish for me! You're overlooking that the competition now is SOOO much higher than it was back when the artists you name made it. It's true, literally any silly sod can pay £30 odd and upload the sound of the cat farting to every streaming platform. But that's the tip of the iceberg. The sheer volume of music out there is incomparable to anything as recent as a couple of decades ago, and it would be really interesting to see how many of the old pioneers would break through in the modern day. The talent out there is insane and at such a high level it's silly, and even then so few break through. I'm mainly talking from a Metal player perspective, but being at 80's Metallica level now, for example, would get you absolutely nowhere without mastering the crazy world of social media and pouring all your energy into that. Even then, when you hear what some of the underground thrash bands put out now and still play tiny venues, it makes you think.

I think Charles is fab. I love his humor, particularly his 'If xxx was the hardest song in the world' theme. He had done some amusing skits on classical composers and I've sent links of them to my dad who used to play violin and enjoys classical music. None of us are young. There are a lot of bass YouTubers out there and he is the one I watch most of.

Try not to regurgitate Beato without thinking. Music is easier to record and release. There is loads more of it. That’s as right as he was. The rest of his rant was embarrassing. The good stuff is still there, you just have to sift through it a bit more. The quality of the good stuff is as high as ever. Yes there is more dross, but there’s also a lot more niche / experimental excellent stuff that “in the old days” wouldn’t have been released because of a record company gatekeeper not seeing massive profits from it. No. I won’t suggest anyone because music is subjective. You’d just use whatever I suggested to argue over even though it is just a matter of taste. As for “greats”: there’s a couple of million of people who genuinely think Taylor Swift is a great. They are right. She is a great to them and that is all that matters. I’m astonished you are only 45. You sound at least 30 years older, like a muttering octogenarian in the corner of the pub, demanding his beer is served in a proper dimpled mug with a handle because everything newer is wrong. . I’m older than you and I hope I never get so bothered about a young musician managing to earn a living from playing. I don’t like Jaco. I don’t like The Beatles, or more accurately I like the songs but cannot stand their vocals. Amazingly I am allowed to not listen to them or watch them. You could try that.

Day 2, gig 2. Rained heavily while we waited side of stage… then the sun came out as we played. Played really well, big Ashdown house rig - possibly lowest output ever - possibly ohmage issue. Couldn’t get stage volume I needed. My rig would’ve been preferable, but that’s life.

I was playing with blues band The Alligators in Bridlington last night at The Stirling Castle in the town centre. Nice pub that puts regular live music on, with great staff and manager. I love it when you are greeted with a smile and offer of a beer! Used my passive Precision Lyte into a Rumble 500 watt 2x10 combo raised off the floor due to no space - actually quite liked it a bit higher. Also utilised ear plugs as didn’t want my ears ringing - even though it’s only a 3 piece with a 15 watt Vox and a small PA the levels can be deceptively high. Playing area was quite small, even for a 3 pc band like ours. After an initial problem with the mains supply we got set up and started around 9pm to a reasonable sized crowd. During the break ( 2x45 min sets) our guitarist Tony was chatting with an old band mate of his, who it turned out is getting married today so was out with some friends for a few beers. As he is a drummer, inevitably he got up to play a song with us which was okay although he was a tad inebriated. Told us his best man today is Tenpole Tudor, who we are old enough to remember! Another of his pals we got chatting to was Jeff Rich, another drummer who was with Status Quo for over 15 years. A lovely bloke, who we got up to play as well - he wanted to do a blues shuffle sort of thing, so I sang ‘Farther up the Road’, made famous by Bobby Bland and later Eric Clapton. Jeff was an absolutely amazing player, so strong yet subtle and groovy as. Really enjoyed playing with him, and so nice to meet someone with no edge or ego, just a fabulous musician. May be some pics with him kicking around that I’ll add later. (now added!) Got home around 1am, bit knackered today though.

I teach on a Music Tech course. One of the activities is letting our DJs loose on the lunchtime crowd in the canteen. We leave the PA system up there (QSC KW122 and KW181 Sub) and part of the activity is for them to rig it, run it and de-rig it. Sometimes I wander past the canteen when they are doing a set. It is fair to say that they have not yet grasped the concept of sub not overpowering the tops

So it was a seized truss rod ..not financially viable to repair..and now discontinued..so been offered a full credit .. I have to applaud GuitarGuitar for there help ..I had pretty much destroyed the nut trying to move it ..in hindsight should have left alone when it would nt budge ..but they were top guys 🤟