Leaderboard

Well technically NBD was last Saturday when I collected it but here she is and I haven't stopped smiling since.

Not for the first time I’ve come to the realisation that the simple P bass ticks my boxes. Some years back I built a Warmoth black korina bodied P bass that I had routed for a Blackstar pickup. It was tung oil finished. I wonder where it is now? I was browsing the Warmoth site a few months ago and saw a purpleheart and ebony P bass neck on offer. It has block moonglow (glow in the dark) markers. I bought it and then set about speccing a body to match. I bought a chambered roasted swamp ash body with a bubinga top. The 6 P rule; Prior Planning Precludes Piss Poor Performance. It was never going to balance well. The neck is seriously heavy even with graphite rods. So a rethink. I ordered a straight swamp ash body and a quarter sawn maple and maple neck. Some while later I have the purpleheart neck in the swamp ash body. Rear of neck finished with Tru Oil and headstock rear finished with Osmo Poly X gloss. Front of headstock sprayed with gold acrylic. Body finished with Osmo Poly x over a green water based tint. Gold aluminium pick guard. Fender Vintage 63 pickup and Obsidium wiring. Gotoh 201 bridge, Schaller tuners, Hipshot string tree and all black hardware. Strung with La Bella flats. It’s immense, the action is super low courtesy of Warmoth’s awesome fretwork and the neck is ultra stable. At 10.6lb it’s no lightweight and a Comfort Strapp helps with a slightly neck heavy balance. It sounds and plays superbly. Today I finished work on the maple neck. I used satin Osmo Poly x throughout. The original body has been waiting around a while for its match. Body is finished with Osmo gloss with a white pearloid pick guard, Lollar pickup, Gotoh 201 bridge, Hipshot Ultralite tuners, Hipshot string tree and a John East P Retro onboard preamp. Strung with DR Low Rider strings. It weighs 7.6lb. Exactly 3lb lighter than its sister. It was only finished today but I’m oh so pleased with how it plays and sounds. It balances perfectly. It is a lot of money to spend I guess but when one considers the quality of build and cost versus Fender it seems worthwhile. I’ve not owned a Fender built to this quality. I’ve owned many. Both necks have graphite rods. Purpleheart and quarter sawn maple are extremely stable. The nut width is 41mm and they are standard profile. A good size neck for me and certainly no baseball bat. The finish on neither bass is of a showroom standard but in an organic way it’s rather excellent. And chips/scratches can be repaired and refinished easily. Sorry for such a monologue. Peter

I'd just arrived at our gig on Sunday, loaded the kit into the pub in a wet gale, when my wife sent me this...

The scoop for this Friday. I'm concerned be cause The Anodyne only books signed national touring bands so I'm not sure how we got booked to headline there. Second our fan base is out in the sticks. We're not a Milwaukee band. Lastly it's a pay at the door show and that's not our thing either. Instructions from the top: "Hey all! Here's the scoop for Anodyne this Friday: Load in anytime 5pm or after, we'll be there by 4:30 to set the stage. Daryl you can ride with us and I will coordinate with you later in the week. Using all house gear except a few vocal mics and lights, drum kit provided as well, just needs to be brought on stage and mic'd up. There is a loading zone area at the main entrance. All sound checks need to be done before the doors open at 6:30, including the opening act, a duo of 2 vocals, guitar and electric fiddle. Big green room with a beer fridge. I think that covers it😎" Wish me luck. Daryl

Feel free to smile... https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19rEEr1jeY/

Ressurrecting this thread, here is mine.

Fresh from NAMM, it looks like Anderton's have got the Hils headless shortscale on their site. Single humbucker, passive, 5 piece neck, stainless steel frets, comes with a gigbag. Should be very light if the guitars are anything to go by, I think some of those have been around 4lbs. https://www.andertons.co.uk/hils-hnb3-headless-shortscale-bass-satin-ivory/

We (Siren) played at Tuckers Grave Inn near Bath for their annual Wassailing Ceremony. Despite the cold the campsite was booked up around a fortnight ago, suggesting it would be a busy night - it didn’t disappoint! We had people dancing to the soundcheck and to every song we played thereafter. I used my Oly White 70’s reissue P Bass for the first set and My Geddy Lee Jazz for the second, used my TT800 through my Barefaced Big Twin 2 G3 - sounded great to my ears! Loads of positive feedback afterwards which is always nice. Next up for me is a gig with Sarum’s Lot at Qudos in Salisbury - one of my favourite venues to play so really looking forward to this one.

I've just been chatting to George from Anderton's who have also struggled to contact Mooer. It's really annoying when you see Mooer bragging at NAMM saying what a great year they've had and that they are having time off for Chinese New Year when they haven't answered support calls from the middle of December( and not just for me). Anyway Anderton's have been absolutely brilliant in the end and are taking the defective guitar back and have allowed me to exchange it for something else, so I paid the difference and bought a Schecter Model T- 4 exotic so looking forward to NBD tomorrow. Definitely the last Mooer product I'll ever buy however innovative they are. You can't be a musical instrument manufacturer and completely ignore support for your customers and those selling your products.

I bet you all forgot about this, but I didn’t, and the Mystery Box arrived today. A keyring, a sticker, and just one pedal… but it’s the one at the top of my list: the Onward. Happy? Very. It will get its own NPD post once I get home after work and try it out with the Bass VI. 🤓 edit: might not do a NPD post, at least not yet. I did some tests with my active fretless directly in, but suspect I wasn't feeding it enough level. It could use some compression and other stuff in front, so I want it on my board, which will have to wait till the weekend, probably. But it is promising so far, and already stumbled on some fun settings that are very responsive to what I play.

My best buddy is a trumpet player (now there’s a sentence you don’t hear every day) from Rochester, N.Y. - as he puts it, “Those looks we would have occasionally gotten back in the day have been replaced by benevolent ones.” 🤣

First rehearsal with a brand new 'Doobie Brothers' tribute show yesterday. Big band with brass section, percussion etc..... sounded immense! Great musicians and wonderful songs made for a most rewarding day Probably won't be gigging until very late in the year as 2 hours of complicated material to work on and lots of busy musicians to herd together.... but it's very exciting!

I'm starting to appreciate the luxury of a weekend off - especially this time of year! I should go out and see more local bands, but you know what it's like when the log fire's been lit..........

It happened so fast. I use to walk into a gig as the new young shiny thing. Now, when I arrive at a gig people are placing bets on when they think I'm going to keel over. Lol Daryl

"Can rerbots play behs?"

Hi, forget the science lesson, your amp can run. . . . 1 x 8 ohm cab (8 ohms) 2 x 8 ohm cabs (4 ohms) 3 x 8 ohm cabs (2.67 ohms) 1 x 4 ohm cab (4 ohms) 2 x 4 ohm cabs (2 ohms) 1 x 8 ohm cab and 1 x 4 ohm cab (2.67ohms) That's it. You're good with these configurations.

That is exactly my thought process at about 9 pm before a late gig.

My USA Classic 44-64 and USA Series 44-60.

Oh, I hear you. We have a club gig we do about once a month. First set starts at 10:30 and we‘re usually done around 01:15. I used to look forward to it, back in the mid-90s - the club was full and they’re all there to dance. But now, around 9:00 I start thinking, “Oh man, really?”. Once we get on stage, it’s fine, but that mid-evening hump? I guess I’m not 30 anymore, huh?

Pat Badger isn't a name, it's an instruction for those who live on the razor's edge.

I'm going to " old school" it and bring my GK rig and pedals. Daryl

Big thanks to @Hellzero - leads swapped over and we're firing on all cylinders again now! Great pool of knowledge on this forum!!

Yeah, I'd still sling my gear in the trunk (hey - get me with the Americanisation!) if I could

Mep, I remember the green room fridge at our last theater gig. One member depleted the whole beer supply. It didn't go over well with the BL. Daryl

I really appreciate being driven to this one Dave. Daryl

Love these, especially the green swamp ash. That's the beauty of a P to me, so many ways to vary the recipe.

Just cruising on my YT-1300, next stop is Tatooine.

They've probably been at the NAMM exhibition so it may take a couple more days for normal service to be resumed.

I don't think the price has taken into account that a complete bass with a headstock repair will be worth less than one that has always been intact. It doesn't look like a particularly clean break, and matching the metallic finish perfectly will be impossible. If the seller believes that their pricing strategy is accurate, they have nothing to lose by getting the repair done before listing it for sale.

Now that sounds like a great project! 😎

Our drummer is turning 70 in a couple of weeks. He still plays great, in fact he’s my favourite drummer by a country mile, but after a gig he looks truly exhausted. That thing with the youngsters behind the bar resonates. It makes me smile, but I’m a spritely 58. Let’s see how funny I find it when I’m 70. I still love playing, which is a good thing considering the state of my pension 😱

I'm 71. When I arrive at these clubs and the staff are all under 25 it gets to be a little tough. Once, I'm almost sure I overheard heard a young sound lady say to another staffer " oh boy, what are we going to do with this guy" Daryl

I find some of these posts quite extraordinary - I’ve got 15 Musicman basses and only two have any semblance of strings not aligning across the centre of pole pieces. One is a 2 pick up Stingray from 2007 where the strings don’t align exactly across the centres of the poles on the neck pick up. I suspect it’s because the pick up is the same as the bridge one but as the neck one is closer to the nut than the bridge one the strings can’t align in the same way - however for the Stingray Specials they align centrally on the pole pieces on both pick ups….. excellent for the OCD bassist but frankly not making an iota of difference sonically. As noted below…. The second one is an Old Smoothy which has the strings aligned between the pole pieces as a deliberate part of the design and works fine - can still be shrill if you want it to be. My basses have generally all been bought new and have thus not had excessive tinkering!! However tinkering with things like alignment or relative height of bridge saddles, pick up heights or slants etc can have a marked effect on how the strings appear to travel across pole pieces - and make sure you view them from directly above as viewing angle makes a difference. For those of us old guys, it’s a bit like cars in the 70s and 80s - most people couldn’t afford to have them professionally maintained so did it themselves - sometimes very badly - I lost count of the number of badly adjusted pairs of carburettors I came across……. not wishing to suggest everyone is like this, but frankly people tinkering with musical instruments can result in very similar effects. As for OCD people, I find it extraordinary they can moan about design errors (which arguably are not, and in some cases are most certainly user error - to put it mildly) whilst everyone’s favourite two pick up single coil guitars and basses demonstrate that appalling hum when you turn the treble up - but no one bats an eyelid!!! Talk about design errors 😂😂😀

On-Special at Tesco... Drinking some of this... and... And having a sand... With some sounds on... Happy Monday

Sizes I use are; Fender saddle height screws (Mex + MIJ) ------------------------------------------- M3 grub screws - cone (or cup / dome) point M3 x 10mm M3 x 12mm M3 x 16mm (1.5mm allen key) Fender USA ------------ 1/16" bass (6-32) 0.050" guitar (4-40) www.modelfixings.com (or similar supplier) M3 x 12mm MF-GS37S

Ha! I actually contemplated telling the story of my former girlfriend, who picked up the bass and as her first song played ... exactly that ... 😱 Mind you, she already was an accomplished musician, nearly getting the job as second flautist in the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Since I'm here anyway, some days ago I mentioned "Games Without Frontiers" as my first song. That was before I tried to become a bass player. A buddy of mine had gone on for 15 years about how he should be playing a musical instrument, but "now" it was too late to start. Fed up with this nonsense, I taught myself said song and when this buddy visited me, I pushed the bass onto his lap and said upon him that he wasn't gonna leave the premises before being able to play the song. He abided, and some years later became the bass player in a local band. ... the irony being that I myself still can't play the bass. 😀

Meanwhile, in a little rehearsal hall in deepest Gower last night... Soundman: "Thou hast no top end upon thy bass tone, and your sound distorteth." Franticsmurf: "But I'm going through my Ampeg pre-amp pedal with the treble boost engaged, using the bridge pick-up on my Sterling HH and I have a clean tone dialed in." Soundman: "Nevertheless, thy sound is atrocious and offends my ears." Franticsmurf: "Let me apply my 35 years of experience and wiggle this lead." There follows the sound of a thousand Welsh dragons roaring and gnashing their teeth, amplified tenfold for all to hear. Soundman: "Ha! Thy socket hath demons, and they have been purged from thy instrument. Now thy sound is like nectar and ye may be accepted once more into the mix." A minor niggle of a crackly jack socket and pick-up selector has finally manifested itself as an intermittent problem that will need fixing by someone with better electronics skills than me. My Sterling is off to the doctors. The rest of the rehearsal was great - 1st week back after the New Year and we blew the cobwebs away with a random selection from the back catalogue. As usual with the Hulla band, rehearsals are a mix of frustration (there is a tendency to play a song through and move on without addressing any minor issues), tea (tea is served early on) and a lot of fun (as we don't take ourselves too seriously). The offending bass and minimalist pedal board.

Yessir, same link...it will be available to watch until I pop my clogs....and probably even after that!

40 Grit Orbital Went thru the thin veneer chasing off the photo grain. Ta-dah! My very own Knotty... still some 40 sanding to go... Plan is for a bit of tactile wood feel, not Super-Smooth. Tru-Oil with 120 using a slow and lightly applied orbital for Slurry, then Dry and Buff. Then again with 240. Thoughts?