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Well, that was an interesting gig tonight.... enjoyable but not what we were expecting. We've played the Canadian club many times and it's always at the back of their bar room with plenty of room for those who want to be up front and into the music. Show up this time and apparently we're playing outdoors in their BBQ area, ok so far but we get told it's a BBQ buffet and we're the background music, can't play louder than people talking. At this point I mentioned that they'd hired a punk band and Hendrix band to do background music! Not negotiable apparently and there's obviously been some missed communication although they knew what music we play. Anyway, it's a small scene here, so on with the show and don't ruffle feathers. We start the Hendrix band with some slow blues, JJ Cale and the like, then once everyone is lulled into a false sense of security we launched into Fire, just kicked it up several notches and left it there. When we finished the set, we gave them no time to gather their thoughts, got the other guys up and went straight into the Sex Pistols with barely a break. By then people were dancing so all seemed well, no recriminations from management and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Only other downside, got told no recording, no videos, no pics, so this gig lives on in memory only.

It's alive! The Brooks DDB (DoubleDuaneBird). A double-neck Thunderbird with a traditional Thunderbird 4-string neck. And a 30 1/2" scale 12-string bass neck. I can finally share another completed build with you guys. The idea had been brewing for a while but the actual build started out early july 2024. I'll share the pics of the build proces in separate posts below this opening post. Specifications: - Korina body - Korina 12-string neck 30 1/2" scale - Korina 4-string neck 34" scale - Candy Apple Red Nitrocellulose finish - Ebony fretboards - Circle position dots - Jumbo frets - Buffalo horn nuts - Three ply (vintage) white/black/white pickguard - Custom made ETS twelve string brass bridge set. Chrome - Wide travel Thunderbrid style bridge. Chrome - Spokewheel double action trussrods - Carbon reinforcement strip in 12-string neck - Gemini Dominator pickup for 4-string - Gemini Devastator pickup for 12-string - Bourns pots (volume/tone volume/tone) - Mullard capacitors - Toggle switch to choose 12- or 4-string - Gotoh GB 350 lightweight bass tuners - Gotoh ST-31 Stealth tuners - 1 x Pure Tone Multi Contact jack output - d'Addario custom set strings (12 string) - Rotosound RB 50 (4 string) - Weight: 7.9 kg

Last update.

Six months on and...

Well, tonight I actually played using all four fingers for the first time since the end of July! It hurt, my dexterity in that finger has gone to hell and I couldn't make it do anything like what I wanted it to do, really, but I played my bass... I'm feeling a bit overcome, really. Not like X-Factor "ohmygodthisissohugeeeee" overcome, but a bit of relief is definitely in evidence. I only played for five minutes as the skin is as thin as tissue paper, but I think that a few more minutes each day, or maybe every other day, should be a good start. The swelling is 90% down now and that weird hammer-head section in the second picture above is pretty much flattened out. Cheers, JRK

New pickguard

What if it was bluegrass? I would absolutely love to play bluegrass

Got insulation done this evening, and the LaVoce fitted, sounding good so far! Thanks for all your help guys 🙏

Hmm... That's as may be. ...

This American bashing stuff gets really old, and it's ironic in this case because the SpeakOn was a European design that was horribly flawed when first introduced. Everybody seems to forget the ridiculously unreliable locking ring that was changed in short order to various versions of the thumb latch... and the lack of the metal insert was part of the original Neutrik design for at least 5 years! Since Alec posted a rant thread on TalkBass which I answered, in the spirit of accuracy and honesty I provided the following information to set the record straight for those who think they know more about this subject than they actually do. ---------------------------------------- The original Neutrik part did NOT have the metal insert, they didn't start using metal inserts until a little later. Our replacement part was developed at a time when Neutrik was so backed up that they couldn't ship the NL4MP part for over 1 year when they were struggling with regulatory compliance for flame spread and their original jack series was non-compliant to the necessary safety standard under the 60065 edition 8 fire enclosure regulations (which specifically applies to amps, but using 2 different parts for amps and speakers (if we could even get the old part) made no sense. This was actually a licensed Neutrik part manufactured Neutrik's Rean division using a different glass filled Nylon (PA-66) compound that had lower flame spread. Ironically, they had to do another update to comply with the flame spread requirements for IEC 62368, where the punched opening in the sheet metal was close enough to a PIS that the part needed a lower flame spread rating, it's due to the (much) more compact nature of the newer amps. Below is the original Neutrik branded part that we used at that time, it suffered from exactly the same wear issues as well, every pro audio manufacturer of that time dealt with the same thing. You have to remember that your speaker is between 15 and 20 years old, technology and regulations change through over time. If you had really understood what you were talking about, you might have chosen your words more correctly and diplomatically. Also, you may not know this either, but the Genz Benz factory service program is still "a thing". Factory support for the products exists throughout the US, Canada, and much of Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. --- Follow-up: The glass filled PA-66 material that's used on the jacks is about the same wear as the original material, but the flame spread rating is higher on the updated part in order to comply with the newer safety standard. The metal insert was introduced by Neutrik and Rean at the same time because of wear issues, it's unrelated to perceived "quality" differences. Perhaps you are unaware, but Rean is owned by Neutrik AG and handles much of the OEM development of connectors as well as the manufacturing of Neutrik, Rean and OEM branded components and connectors for products and assemblies built in Asia and some markets in North & South America. OEM's often use customized versions of connectors for the purposes of regulatory compliance, cosmetics (color, logo, cosmetics), and in some cases to achieve things that can't be done with stock off the shelf components (like for example bonding modifications for pin 1 terminal on XLR jacks) in high volume applications. The models with R in front are marketed through the Rean channels but are identical in performance and share the same ETL safety listing certificate because they are in fact the same company:

Reggae time! Lloyd Parks - We'll get over it

This pair of nutters: John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett from a front row seat at my local venue, The Sound Lounge in Sutton. I've seen John on his own countless times, but this was the first time I've caught the two of them together and I was not disappointed.

They'll have to prize my F112 from my cold dead hands when my time is up.

Back in the day we learnt that if the grass was strong enough you didn't care if it rained or not. This is perhaps why we stopped imbibing before gigs!

I've just popped a 5 string set on one of my basses. First impressions: They don't feel as thick as you'd expect for such a heavy gauge. They are medium tension. They roll slightly under the finger. They sound great - really punchy and defined. They have a sticky feel to them, which I hope will go once they are played in a bit. They feel more like groundwounds than pressurewounds, with a slight grab to the finger when you slide. Again, that might be more the stickiness than the string construction. The headstock silks are a purple and cream swirl mix, coated in a wax finish to stop them fraying. No silks at the ball end.

Cool, but maybe time to move on to 83? 🙂

And made the unavoidable vide demo...;-)

This is ace. Full run through of his di rig for bass guitars, DB, and synth, all with playing examples. Few anecdotes about when things have gone wrong too.

That's ridiculous. Give it to me!!

Seeing as we’re on a comedian theme, I saw Amy Gledhill last week. Fabulous comedian / actor / writer from Hull, Amy won Best Show at this year’s Edinburgh Festival. She’s touring all over the UK at the moment, very funny and highly recommended.

Funny how many folk nowadays don't have (or don't admit to having!) a printer, but are quite happy for mugs like me to do all the work on sets, spend time and pay for the ink and paper. Admittedly the ink thing is so much cheaper now I've converted to an Epson ink-tank printer (first black fill has lasted over a year) compared with the HP ink cartridge rip-off...

Gig tomorrow and band still haven't agreed on what our set list will be. Why is it i'm always the one chasing up set lists for a gig. I detest it when we dispute on stage what we do next hence having a set list on stage for everyone. We've even had gigs where we had different sets on stage. Problem is we added some new songs in and removed a couple but it was done on the hoof at the last gig. Looks like i just have OCD when it comes to set lists being prepared well in hand so i'm not running about trying to print stuff out for others who don't have printers. Dave

Adding to what @Dad3353 said, please don't think I was having a pop. I've seen the thread he was talking about and the OP advocates an AI Composition Challenge, not something that I'd bother with. The AI process, taken to its nth degree, is something that I just don't fancy. To my ears, it sounds 'unsatisfactory', if that makes sense? But, each to their own. Personally, I prefer the struggle with real instruments (boy, do I struggle..!), and wish more folk would have a go in here every month.

I absolutely loved the Exh sovtek deluxe... But the size of the thing, why 🤷. Just got me a B stock Dobsky fuzz and Damn it's all that and more! What a versatile civil war style muff that does all I wanted. Highly recommend 👌 https://www.moosetwentythree.com/shop/dobsky

It can be tricky finding washers with the right inner diameter and a small enough outer diameter to fit in the hole. The size you need will depend on the type of bass/trussrod you have. If it's a Fender type then these should work - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326130182103

Dimarzio Relentless...arched tops to match the fretboard radius and adjustable pole pieces.

I came here hoping for some wine chatter! 👍

The indie band that I was in until recently went from 712 (the drummer's) to 732 (which the guitarist bought for another project) and I was skeptical that it would make much difference but actually it was quite profound. (No, this test wasn't double blind, yes, my expectations and room will affect.) You might be surprised at the upgrade. I will say though that nothing has changed my gigging life more than getting a digital mixer 8 years ago. That's where to go first IME.

I've just tried doing a few AI songs, and very easy it was, too. They were all generically awful. You may also consider my monthly efforts generically awful but I'm satisfied that at least those cliched chord changes and bum notes were crafted from my own, fair hand. I have to use artificial drums seeing as a) I don't have a drumkit and b) I can't play drums so I'll use MT Drums, Hydrogen or mess about with a loop from Looperman. I've also used the extensive library available in Ableton Live for various sounds and have done two or three tunes exclusively using it. Everything in those tunes was programmed, changed around, tweaked, moved about a bit, tweaked again and then put back where it started out by me. Same with any drum tracks I use. The idea of just choosing from a list of options and letting your laptop and AI do all the heavy lifting is anathema to me. This is all just for fun and I can't see how I'd get any enjoyment out of the process by doing things that way, although it would mean I might get my entry in a bit quicker every month. Pah! Boo to AI tomfoolery and its sweeping sheen of binary banality! I'll stick with my rudimentary skills on various stringed instruments and flat, tuneless vocals and you'll thank me for it 😁

In our swing/jazz/Dixie seven piece (sometimes eight if we have a singer) band we usually play 3x45. Almost all of our music is from charts and the horn players (4) don't get many breaks and we don't waste time between songs so they get a chance to rest their lips at the breaks. The bluegrass band mainly plays at festivals and that usually means anywhere from one to three sets of 45 minutes. We might play an afternoon and evening set on one day or the sets could be spread out over a couple of days, most bluegrass festivals work that way and only the big name bands play longer sets. Over here in Canada back in the '70's when I had full time gigs it was 4x40 sets a night (9,10,11,12) six nights a week but by the '80's it had dropped to weekends only and 2 or 3 sets. Now it is the odd weekend and one nighters or a festival.🙁

In addition to PIno and a number of big names, a fair few of decent players I know use a Cali76 and apparently it is the one to go for. However, I'm not sure that I can justify dropping a further £300 on one - just how much better will it be than the M87?

This is the way to go...

I'm really not sure whether that's a feat of engineering or a work or art, it's probably both. Wonderful 👍

Okay, so this is the earliest juncture at which I felt I could provide meaningful picture without causing anyone to lose their dinner; It's all still very delicate as well as only having a small amount of feeling in it. I tried fretting a couple of notes just now and it didn't go well - it hurt like hell and I couldn't really feel what I was doing. Now, neither of these came as a surprise, as the skin is still really thin after the whole lot was sloughed off in a oner during a dressing-change a couple of weeks back. It's improving daily, though, which is good. A week ago the finger was about 3mm thicker front to back than it is in the above pictures, and it seems to be getting less swollen every day, although any decent activity with it causes the rate to slow. It's never going to look pretty but it does appear that given plenty of time and some faux-physio it'll come right. I have a gig in December (only with a local Scout group!) so I'd like to be able to play a little at that. Cheers, JRK