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Played at The Palm Court Hotel in Scarborough last night for a NYE dinner dance. Despite horrendous weather warnings we made it there okay, the 50 mile journey affected mainly by high winds. Got set up in the hotel lounge whilst the guests were dining - took my usual Rumble 100 combo to use with a Squier SS Jag bass which has been given to me on permanent loan by a friend. Sounded fine and easy to play for the three long sets we did, starting around 8pm through to 12.30am. We were well looked after by the hotel manager - we took our partners and they were given lots of bubbly and stuff, and we had a few drinks too although as I was driving I stuck to water and coffee. 🙁 Playing wise it went okay. Had a keyboard player with us ( old mate Steve ) as well as singer guitarist Doug who is well known in the Scarborough area. Songs requested and played were the usual dance standards ( Sinatra etc) right through to slightly more recent stuff. I got a request to sing ‘Dead Flowers’ by the Stones - slightly unusual choice for a NYE do - so duly obliged , along with some other 60’s and 70’s stuff and of course ‘Auld Lang Syne’ at midnight. Got packed very quickly and then had a dreadful journey home - roads were virtually rivers in places, with biblical amounts of rainfall. My trusty Skoda didn’t miss a beat though, so back around 2.30am, absolutely knackered! Not the best of gigs I’ve done recently, (made worse by wearing dinner suit and bow tie which I despise!) but a lovely venue and being well paid made up for it. Mrs CP had great fun too, and after the terrible few years she’s endured health wise it felt like we were celebrating the start of better times. Here’s hoping. 😃 A very Happy New Year to all BC people, may 2025 be a great one for you.

Right then, happy new year to one and all, let's wrap up 2024. In total, we had 47 (known) participants 17 (36.2%) folk made it to the end - congratulations to you 30 (63.8%) folk fell by the wayside Fastest/soonest transgression - @AndyTravis on 3rd January - breathtaking! The best "almost made it" - @Mudpup bowing out on the 31st December! I hope you enjoyed the thread, whether you were participating actively, merely observing, or half and half having either not signed up but still stirring the pot, or having bowed out and still stirring the pot. I have enjoyed being your "host" for the increasingly psychotic proceedings and I hope I did a reasonable job of maintaining at least some semblance of order in "court". Enjoy the gear you bought in 2024, losers, and continue to enjoy the gear you tolerated in 2024, winners. But ultimately, the winner of the Gear Abstinence Thread 2024 is... same winner it always is - capitalism! I now hand over the reins to the esteemed @Richard R (a thread "winner" this year no less, so at the very least will be standing on a moral platform I did not have), who will guide you through 2025. May the justifications and rule interpretations submitted under their custodianship continue to be as entertaining and creative as they have been this year. Thank you, you've been a wonderful audience, good night and all the best for 2025!

I think this is one of the joys of gigging, some people you have to wonder how they basically function. We aren't a specific genre group, so in general we will play anything but so many times its 'can you play x'. 'no sorry, we don't know it', 'but its easy', and so many people try to talk to you while you are actually singing and playing. Sorry pall, my head hasn't got any spare capacity here. My bugbear is people putting drinks on my PA. Because I have the evox 8, there is a big bass box and a pole. I have two, the old one which is wood an entirely flat and a handy table, and the new one, which is plastic and shaped, with no flat area. I keep the black one near me and put things on it to stop people putting stuff on, or I can tell them not to and the white one further away because only an idiot would try and put a drink on a non flat surface that I put the bass through. Turns out the level of idiots is quite high at a gig, so a woman did just that yesterday, put a full pint glass on it. I didn't see or I would have gone over there, apparently it managed to balance almost 10 seconds before crashing to the floor, luckiy missing going in the PA. I need signs up but I guess noone would read those either. Anyway, last night, as previously mentioned, we had found out that our NYE gig had been given to soneone else without even telling us, so expected nothing, but luckily the guy in a local pub who likes us heard we weren't busy so opened the pub up, so we gigged from 10 to 12:45ish. Crowd were good, looked a bit light earlier so a bit of a concern but then people started streaming in and it was packed, also seemed up for a dance. After the countdown we had a agreed to do some version of old lang syne, so basically just written the chords down but no chance to practice - we figured the first verse and the chorus is all people know. Kicked it off straight and slowish to get the crowd going, verse and 2 choruses, then went into a punk version for a verse and chorus, then into a ska version for a verse and chorus and back to the straight version to end (basically this wasn't agreed, just what the drummer did!). Went down great, shame you can't use that song much! Finished at ¼ to 1, took a while to break down as a lot of drunk people insisted in singing into the singers mic (tried with mine, I don't have that) which was a bit pointless as I had turned the PA of straight away, but out of there by 1:20, home by 1:25! Great night, I am glad we got to gig, it has been a very quiet december!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025 everyone. Hogmanay gig for BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam band in Airdrie working mans Club. Sold Out and according to the organiser its the first time they've ever sold out for Hogmanay. Left house 3pm, got there 4pm, doors open 7pm then found out we were not going on until 9:30-10:30pm then back on 11-11:45pm and then 00:15 to 00:30am ish to allow for the DJ to play some traditional old Scottish songs for the bells at midnight. We decided to mix with the audience at midnight rather than sit in changing room which turned out good fun with many wanting hugs and kisses from the band as well as pics. Band played well, no noticeable mistooks. During the 3rd song a woman came up to me and attempted to hand me a note while i was playing the chorus of Cat Crept In so my wee fingers are up and down the neck. Not sure how she expected me to take the note mid song but luckily the singer clocked it and came over and took the note requesting a song by Fleetwood Mac. This was a sold out, fully ticketed night with advertising and posters well in advance with the band on stage in full outrageous Glam gear so why would you make a request for Fleetwood Mac. ? Sometimes there are just moments during a gig where you wonder. We've been booked same gig next Hogmanay since 2023 so that's good. Other surprise was we got paid £100 more than the agreed fee for some odd reason. That was nice. Usual gear Sandberg VM4 into Keeley comp, Shure wireless, Mesa TT800 Boogie channel, Mesa 210/115 cabs. Packed up and on the road by 01:30am and home 02:30am. Quick coffee and biccie and bed. Dave

Great night, great gig. Daryl

Bland NYE gig in Cornwall. I did think it was a tad risky doing mostly ska & new wave originals in a pub full of partying young locals, especially as the majority of the material isn’t known or released. No surprise that the covers went down well. Obligatory rig pic, loving my lightweight Sandberg - no back pain!

As a coda to my update I now have some photos forwarded to me. So here is the lesser spotted Norris in DJ and DMs The organiser decided to do the countdown to midnight, so we missed out on doing Auld Lang Syne. It's a shame because I rather enjoy playing it - we do a straight/reggae/punk version with a big rallentando at the end. Oh well, maybe next year 😃 Oh, and he also cocked up the countdown 😬. No excuse when everyone's mobile phone has the correct time these days! He's still a lovely chap though - we've known him since the 80s

I did my NYE dep gig with Backtracking at the Spreadeagle in Erpingham (in the middle of nowhere). It is a long carry from the car park, which was full when I arrived at 6pm: funny, the pub wasn’t. In fact there were only about a dozen people there? How did they manage to drive two cars each? Anyway we set up and got the soundcheck out of the way by about 7:30 by which time the place was filling up nicely. This band has a full time sound man (he knows his onions) and for the evening a lights technician as well! It was a ticketed event with a buffet, which the band were given access to and we were all allowed to bring a significant other for free! The landladies were very welcoming and concerned that we had everything we needed. I wish other venues would take notes! We kicked off at 9pm and did about 1 hour 45 for the first set. A bit of a slow response for the first few songs but then people started to dance and kept going. The room went from pretty chilly to sauna hot quite quickly. I was dripping by the end of the first set and had to go outside to cool off, where it was blowing a real gale. We started our second set a bit after 11 and went through until about 0.45 am. People were dancing all the way through, which was great. I could have gone on but I think the drummer was feeling it by then. I actually got home about 2:15 but what with unloading the car and unwinding with a large Irish whiskey, I didn’t get to bed until about 3:30. Up this morning to start the 100 press ups a day challenge: challenge being an understatement for me today! I went nuclear on gear because the drummer is quite loud: Blackstar U700 head; LFSys Monza on top of a Barefaced Two10; MB LM3 500 on hot standby; HF/LF filter pedal and Boss TU-3 tuner; Maruszczyk Elwood 4a (32”); bitsa 32” P bass as spare; DI into the PA. Not unsurprisingly I was asked to turn down a bit. I think the master was at about 9 o’clock. I was really impressed with the difference the HF/LF made to the sound. It seemed to really thicken it up, while taking out any brittle upper end. I had it set around 30 Hz HF and 4Khz LF. I made a few mistakes: worst was messing up the intro run to Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me). I’ve done it so many times and then when I do a dep gig…. doh! Picture now added. My nuclear rig 😀 I know it’s only 3 x10 but you can hear it alright. Fortunately the U700 can handle the 2.7 ohm load.

Nice little NYE dep job for a great local cover band, here in Sussex. Very slow start crowd wise for the first two sets but it all came good in the end. Pretty pleased with my performance and the stingray sounded fab through the LFsys Monza. Appy new year folks ! X😊

Just got in from our NYE gig. It was ok-ish. An Oscars theme night (🤷‍♂️) meant sweating my balls off in dinner jacket and bow tie. Doing 30 minutes on/off seemed even more tiring than the 2 hour set from last night. The night really seemed to drag. The crowd were quite hard work until they were sufficiently lubricated too. It didn't help that the stage in this village hall is about 5 feet high and very large: excellent for am-dram productions, but can disconnect the band from the crowd. I was playing the Sterling again and was initially struggling to get a nice sound. As the first set went on it got progressively worse, sounding weak, farty and distorted. Yep, the battery had run out! Luckily changing it took a couple of seconds thanks to the battery holder, and out came a "GP Cell" brand battery! Rookie error - I'd not changed it since I bought the bass, and who in their right mind would use anything but a Duracell?! Later on, my amp started distorting quite badly on certain notes, and after a song or two of a horrible sinking feeling I eventually realised it was actually the tiny plastic "Oscar" I'd been awarded, and placed on top of my Fender Rumble - phew! Anyway, ker-ching! Happy New Year. We all agreed we'd actually rather earn less and have a good night rocking out a pub next time! I forgot to take any photos, so instead here's my mini Oscar next to a rather nice bottle of Cuban rum

Not long in. A jam-packed night at this legend of a boozer in Bromsgrove. Great crowd on their feet from the start.

I think it's important to separate your opinion on Spotify and steaming in general from Ek as a person. Streaming is useful for finding things and testing the water. It's unfair in how much musicians are paid, but that won't change anytime soon if ever. Now, let's get on to Ek. He's a tech bro who though Spotify makes more money in a quarter than Paul McCartney has in his whole life being the most successful songwriter in history. In 2013, Q magazine did an article on Spotify and although they couldn't work out if it made a profit from the actual music, they did work out that they were making $73 million a month from the adverts. Okay, fair enough. Ek has come out with ludicrously tone deaf comments about how if musicians want paid more they should release more music. This is whilst he's lobbying governments to lower the royalty rate musicians get. Now, for the really insidious part. Have a read of this. https://www.honest-broker.com/p/the-ugly-truth-about-spotify-is-finally?utm_source=multiple-personal-recommendations-email&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true Basically, Spotify are paying artists flat fees to write songs then putting them out under multiple artist and song names to skew the amount they have to pay everyone else. In other words, just wait until AI becomes more of a thing. They'll become more aggressive with playlists, yet actively feed this stuff to the top to avoid paying anyone anything. In Wall Street 2 Shia LeBouf asks Josh Brolin how much it would take for him to retire, saying that most people have a very specific figure in their head for how much it would be. Brolin smiles and just says "More." That is what you're going to get with Ek. Nothing is going to be enough. The minimum stream number will only continue to rise. 1000 isn't much. How would you feel when it reaches 20,000 per song to get anything at all? How are you going to feel when he undoubtedly wins in his quest to bring the royalty rates down? Or as he quietly pushes AI or in effect "muzak" to pay musicians even less by reducing their percentage of the daily streams, by increasing the stuff he controls? Look, I'm an originals musician. I appreciate that the technology is out there and the genie can't be put back in the bottle to pre 1998, nor do I deny the usefulness of streaming as a whole. All that being said, I think Ek is a criminal who is making obscene amounts of money from ripping us all off. He has used the weakness of the record companies in the wake of Napster to build a vast fortune. It is however, being done by stooping our backs and systematically crushing us. The fact that people in reasonable arena level touring bands have to do multiple projects/businesses/teaching and whatever else just to live is wrong to me. I won't get to that level, but I object to a jumped up little tosser like Ek ripping us off, then trying to take away the merest crumbs from the table that he gives us, whilst telling us to "work harder" as he trys to reduce our amount of crumbs to atoms.

NYE gig at Scholes Cricket Club last night. Arrived at 6.30pm at the suggestion of our singist to find the car park empty apart from his car and he and the drummist setting up the PA inside. The stage was large enough for the kit, my amp and the keyboardist, and over the next half hour the keyboardist and guitarist arrived and set their stuff up around a large Christmas tree in the corner. I'd forgotten my stand, but fortunately the guitarist had brought a spare so crisis averted. Somehow our guitarist managed to get her amp set up centre stage, but somehow I managed to be heard. I used my Siredowsky through the ABM and Two10S and it sounded great. Black Converse Chuck Taylors were the footwear of choice. We'd been told that this was a ticketed event so I was expecting a reasonable crowd, but our drummist suggested we might only get about 50 people in. Ten of our regular friends and family crowd turned up, and over the next hour or so a handful of other people drifted in - and I do mean a handful. We were told to start at 9pm, but at 8.55 there were only 20 people there including our crowd, so we agreed we'd go on at 9.15 to see if anyone else would brave the weather to watch us. They did not. So we played to a peak audience of 22 people, and to their credit they all seemed to really enjoy it and a few even got up to dance for a couple of songs. We debuted Mr Brightside and that went well, and apart from a couple of minor cockups from the drummist we all played pretty well, and we still got our full fee. Our lot had even brought a picnic as the club wasn't laying on food, and given the woeful attendance that's probably a good thing. At our mid-set break I got chatting to the outgoing chair of the club committee and he complained that the committee was now largely compromised of younger members who think they know better than the more experienced hands, and decided that last night should be a ticketed event, but then made no effort to promote it or even turn up themselves. He said they usually have a bonfire night event at which they have up to 5000 ticket-buying attendees, but that's a longstanding fixture in their social calendar. I sympathised based on my own experience of committee memberships, and he announced at the end of the night that a few people would be getting an absolute bollocking today. Home for about ten past midnight, with the stroke of new year passing as I was trying not to aquaplane on the M62. Obligatory "tonight's office" photo below along with a photo showing the maximum audience size.

I certainly prefer unlined fretless, since I transitioned over from double bass. I have both lined and unlined, 4 and 5 string electric fretless basses though. There really is nothing like the sound and feel of a fretless bass.

Good gig at a retirement village tonight in Bedford. Not sure what time we will get home though.

What difference does it make if its my 199th post, or my 201st...or my 133rd? None I guess, but we all like (or maybe most of us I think?) nice round numbers. So on the momentous occasion of being a nice round number 200th post on the 1st Jan. 2025, just wanted to say that I'm hoping and praying for everyone in the BC community wherever you are in life right now, a great 2025!

Good job I saw the Dano on eBay at 9pm last night…otherwise I would’ve beaten my own record!!!

Just in from playing a Hogmanay gig in Dundee. It went well, even as just a 3 piece (keyboard player is always with family on NYE). Played a 2 band line up, with the other guys do trad music, laced with comedy (all a bit 1970’s), interspersed with the raffle and 2 bingo sections (give it a rest for Hogmanay ffs!). After our agreed 2 sets, we stripped down the gear and got ready to go, only for one of the committee to question the agreed timings, expecting more from us. This complete dick watched us break it all down and be out the door before saying a word. The BL kindly set up part of the PA and played some music for them, whilst waiting for the other band to play in the New Year. This a father a problem with the fee, which they were proved to be in the wrong. I suspect the bloke is a chancer and is going to try and pay us less. Good luck with that, our BL has a record of the comms and isn’t known for being a mug. I’ll hear the full story tomorrow, no doubt, as I had a long drive home and left. I’ll get my payment next time we meet up. I won’t play there again (I’ll name and shame once I’ve got my fee)!

I'd just leave it in BEADG and play the notes as written. Thus you have consistent patterns up, down, and across.

@knirirr you may recognise this one new ebony fingerboard gotoh bridge and wizard pickups - might add a black plate but quite like the way it looks plateless

The birth of a new Brooks bass: Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the Brooks 1.2. It's a remake of the very first bass I built (now 14 years ago). But with a few modifications. - 30 1/2" scale - Two piece mahogany body. Chambered - Flamed maple top. Bookmatched - Colour of the top: Wine red. - Colour of the back and neck: Walnut - Three piece mahogany neck - Dual action Spokewheel truss rod - Rosewood fretboard - Cream colored binding - Guyker two point bridge. - String through body ferrules - Hipshot tuners - Bone nut - Artec sidewinder humbuckers AlNiCo - 6 way rotary switch 1. Neck humbucker 2. Outer coils as humbucker 3. Both humbuckers 4. Neck humbucker + inner Bridge coil out of phase 5. Inner coils as humbucker 6. Bridge humbucker - Volume pot CTS 500k - Hidden Tone pot CTS 500k I'll post pics of the build process in several posts below.

Updated the first post in the thread with the Rules as I understand them 🙂 Currently on the starting line - plenty of space left: @neepheid @Richard R @SimonK @Franticsmurf @barkin @Velarian Tier 2 declared 14 Jan. @Phill @AndyTravis @prowla @ezbass @bass_dinger @Jono Bolton @SumOne 1st out! 5th Jan @Lozz196 @bassbiscuits @Mudpup @miles'tone @tauzero 17 Jan @Suburban Man @fretmeister @OliverBlackman @paul_5 @King Tut @Marvin @Jean-Luc Pickguard 3rd Out, 5th Jan @Shockwave Tier 2 out, 20th Jan @NJE @jimmyb625 @mr zed @wavemaker @lozkerr @Downunderwonder @BillyBass @Stub Mandrel @Quatschmacher 2nd out, but the shortest stay - in on the 3rd, out onthe 5th. @mikebass456 @Geek99 @grapefruitmoon @2pods Out 6th Jan @Maude @sprocketflup @knirirr out before he joined 15 Jan, but hoping to be good from now on. @MrDinsdale Tier 2 out on the 19th @Quilly I think.

Ek is eating steak while the people whose talent has made him obscenely rich are thrown a few scraps. The American dream in a nutshell.

Stick with it, once you get it working properly it is a revelation. Getting studio quality sound in your ears with a mix which is individual to you is just so good for your playing. Feels odd at first but you soon get adjusted and it becomes normal. The music itself becomes a bigger part of the performance once you can hear everything. You'll be much tighter as a band once you adjust. I'd never go back

There's three 'e's in December.....🤪

And breathe! Never thought I’d make it, but I’ve even impressed myself.

I don't actually own a fretted bass and find frets, dots and binding massively distracting. I don't have a pony or a tail but did have long hair and a waistcoat once.

No he’s right, they’re only permitted in Oxfordshire. I tried to play one in Sussex but was arrested for wearing a suede waistcoat in a built up area. Shame really.

New all Italian set up. I sold all my other cabs and gigging amps and downsized to something I can use at home but will cope if i decide to start gigging again. (Also wanted a 5er to try and Andertons came up with this Markbass Gloxy at a cracking price)

What I'd say is approach it with patience and allow yourself time to adjust. The benefits are massive - for your hearing health, the clarity of the mix, and how your band sounds out front without having stage absolutely blasting with noise - but it will almost certainly be "weird" at first and take some trial and error to get right, and then more time to get used to it, moreso if you don't have a dedicated sound engineer working with you who knows their way around it. Don't be immediately put off if it's not great straight away, as it's a big change and there's a lot of variables and practice to getting it right for you.

The Andertons sale and the Markbass Gloxy nailed me - I had to go for it as they were going to sell out and it was a total bargain! Thank you to @neepheid once again for being a grown up and keeping everyone in line

Shuker will do new necks starting at £400. Might be worth dropping them a line. https://shukerguitars.co.uk/our-work/draft-page/

Great vid here by Tony Franklin on why he plays unlined rather than lined. It's all good but go to 3.30 for his reasoning and demo...

Turns out to be an ETS piece. Adrian @ maruszczyk has a few lying around and came up trumps… looks stronger piece with full metal around the grub screws..

The man is a gentleman, scholar and genius. Rescued my Guild, owned for 35 years, from the scrapheap… many thanks, my friend!

I would also add that if you aren't going to go the full custom mould, you need to find an IEM that fits your ear shape. I bought the KZs and couldn't get on with the fit, moved over to Sennheiser 100s and they fit 'me' superbly (regardless of the buds used). I'm sure it's all over on the Bible thread though!

This. Keep the relative tuning consistent If you're new to 5-string give yourself a chance and immerse yourself in the experience. Don't touch your old 4-string basses for now. Keep to the E-G strings at first and just get used to having the B string there, until you can confidently hit the correct string. It will take a while. You will hit the wrong string a lot. You may well end up changing your plucking technique, especially if you tend to anchor your thumb. Eventually it will come and you will feel comfortable playing it. It will probably take months. But hey, bass playing is a journey not a destination 😃

I’ve always had lined, not always by choice, but I’m OK with it. I’m the bass player, no one else other than me cares, or probably notices, even other bass players (I kid you not. I actually had a bass player once ask me how I got ‘that sound’).

Unlined for me previously had a lined (defret) aesthetic / vanity unlined is best , looks cooler

I spent some years looking for one (this was before the internet) they simply were rare as heck in NS. Finally found one in a visit to Toronto. It was one of the later 4001 basses with the one inch spacing. The neck is gorgeous , it has that classic thing going on. I fell for it. It has the old style truss rods , they’re incredibly stable. In about 28 years I’ve adjusted them twice. The bridge was a misery , only had to set that once. Now these days I mostly play short scales , but when I pick up the Ric it instantly feels like home. Beautiful thing.

I've just got back into Spector basses. Pushed the button on a used Euro LX 4 today. I think I sold my last Spector over 10 years ago. I had a 2008 Euro LX 4 in blue that I really regret selling and I can't remember why I sold it, just one of those whims we get, I suppose. I had a 2005 NS 5, natural, oiled, more bird's-eye maple than I've ever seen before. I tried and tried but just couldn't live with those 35" G and D strings, too taught for me. What an incredible thing, though and such great tone. I also had a couple of Euro LX 5s but since they're physically the same, I gave up on the 35" necks and sold them too. I was chatting to a dear friend at a gig back in the summer and he asked (taking the p155 as ever) if I regretted selling any basses. There were just two, the blue LX 4 and another that wasn't a Spector. Anyway, I've been trawling around for a couple of months and have finally found something. I'll post some pics and some comments when it arrives at the weekend. In the meantime, Happy New Year.

Just bought a bass. still in.

Three of my fretless basses are unlined, two are lined (don't ask, I have been playing for over 50 years... one owned from 1978/9) I prefer unlined, lines are no problem, but for me, the side dots have to be at 3,5,7 etc. not in between as fretted ones are. The bass I have owned from 78/79 has a novel arrangement, there is a dot at 10, not 9. I only noticed that after about 44 years of owning it, go figure!

Neither do I, when I like an artist I buy his stuff on CD.

I can’t think of any disadvantage using a lined fretless bass until You’re blind, in that case You could possibly save few bucks by buying unlined… I have owned several fretlesses, always lined. I’ve played them hundreds of live, theatre and studio gigs so I pretty well know sometimes those lines can be real life savers. I`ve never ponytailed my hair but it was very long indeed something like 40 years ago and didn`t always wear a suit. Here is the fretless I use these days, lovely Sadowsky N.Y.C. modern 5 wich I ordered lined, of course. I wish very Happy New Year to all of You basschatters!

Here's my pedal board for the acoustic band. Basically bits that I collected over the years for various other bands, which ended up in the cupboard under the bookcase (the pedals, not the bands). It mostly serves the various uke basses I use, keeping the levels even across the strings (especially the poly strings), and am currently making g the necessary adjustments for the Martin short scale acoustic that arrived a couple of days ago. As this doesn't have its own onboard tuner, then the one on the board comes in handy! I actually use the pedal for the ukes as well, even though they have their own onboard, as it also acts as a mute pedal and seems to be more accurate than the on boards in a couple of cases!🤔

And recorded the inevitable video demo of course

I don't do Facebook . So for me , the trill is gone .