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Another day, another NBD! First, a bit of back story... I'm Paul, and I'm a GASoholic. I've been playing for around 22 years now, and in this time can only think of two times I've truly been happy with a bass... First was an Aerodyne P around '07, which I let go for peanuts as I was convinced I needed a jazz bass in '16, and second was an EBMM Sterling 5 which developed a faulty pickup, but PMT would only refund (both pictured below) Other than this I've had premium, budget, mid range, headless, short scale, fan fret, four string, five strings from Ibanez, Yamaha, Rickenbacker, LTD, Spector, SBMM, Nordstrand, Sire, Squier, Sandberg, Fender, Charvel, Harley Benton... you name it! Every time, I find something I'm not fussed on, and either move on at a loss, or modify past the point of no return - whether it be neck profile, knob placement, active pickups, inherent mid scoop, perceived low end loss or ergonomic issues and so forth... Most recently it's been a Sire Z7 which I was convinced would push me through the mix, but I struggle with the weight and preamp and the cycle resumes... After weighing up my options I decided I'd like to try a P, but that it was time to grow up and a Sunburt P would be the way to go... no luck in the local stores (as usual) but then I spotted Greeneking's P on the FS section... After a couple of messages and an impulsive post xmas cross country drive, I arrived at Peter's house raring to give it a try. It didn't take long to decide it was for me, and off I went 1 bass heavier... And here she is! A fender Player II P... nothing fancy, and couldn't be any more opposite to the basses I've had in the past (P's are so boring, right?) But it totally clicked, and I'm in love! It plays like a dream, the neck isn't as fat as I remember Ps being, and it's light but it still roars and has that P weight to the sound. Ive played this bass EVERY night since I got it, (often into the early hours before remembering I have work tomorrow 😬). It's just so good in every way! I had a Mex Fender P back in 2010 and it was a DOG and put me off both Ps and Fender, but I've gigged this now around 6 times and each time I've been so excited to play it... For now at least, it feels like a forever bass! If you made it this far... thanks for reading!

As a guitarist and also double bass player – and like lots of folks I use eBay for some purchases. I’m also ‘trade’ and own a guitar pickup winding company – so I have loads of experience with various courier companies. I had bad experiences with Hermes before it became EVRi , but as eBay pushes its partnership with EVRi, one can’t really avoid having this company used to send purchases from eBay sellers. I NEVER use EVRi for any personal selling on eBay or indeed in my capacity as a business owner: preferring Royal Mail or at a push DPD for my business parcels. I did however need a new set of double bass strings – and as anyone who plays double bass will know these are not cheap. I was delighted to find an ‘opened but not used’ set of quite hard to find strings on eBay and proceeded to order them. After longer than the estimated delivery time I got a notification from EVRi that my parcel had been delivered. Ironically I was doing Jury service at the time but my wife was home to collect any mail. Not unexpectedly for EVRi my parcel hadn’t been delivered when I returned from a difficult day in court – neither had the doorbell been rung – my wife was listening out for it. I was provided with a ‘proof of delivery’ photograph’ which actually only showed a hand holding my parcel held in front of my next door neighbours firmly closed front door! That – to my mind - is not any ‘proof of delivery. I visited my neighbour, and they had had no mail left with them that day. So we have a delivery driver at best not bothering to even try to deliver parcels correctly and ensure their safety, and at worst a criminal driver who is faking delivery pictures and keeping other folks goods. Now I realise these delivery drivers are under-paid, rushed and over worked, but it is for EVRi to sort its house out: pay drivers properly, ensure their honesty and competence, and deliver proper service for the money they get both for their service and from their lucrative deal with eBay. I realise that it’s not just EVRi, our whole courier industry is generally poor. The courier industry’s fast expansion and lack of proper recourse and regulation has turned the industry into the ‘Wild West’ where companies like EVRi can make huge profits while short changing both their customers and their employees. Will I get my money back for my strings? Who knows. What I will do is take this as a catalyst to approach others in my industry and get them to boycott couriers that don’t clean up their act. To possibly start a petition to the UK parliament to try and get tougher controls on these companies. To ensure they don’t try to hide behind chat bots and convoluted complaints procedures to escape their duties to give value and security in their services with respect to goods entrusted to them that we have paid for!. Please share this on social media if you can, this industry needs to be cleaned up.

Thought I'd try the stripped back board again... without the slight tube compression from the Sushi Box space heater my c4 levels were a bit all over, and I'm not totally sold on the Taylor Shift. As someone in GAS recovery though, I'm fighting the urge to automatically sell off my big board, 3 Leaf Octabvre, SA Ultrawave and aforementioned Space heater to buy preamps and octavers I don't need.

Nice quality plate from NW guitar parts.

I saw one comment the other day (think it ws Phillip McKnight's video) asking if instead of saying "Squier by Fender" on the back of the headstock these would have "Fender by Squier", made me chuckle.

Di box to the RCF Sound. Daryl

The human part of this is the bit you need to address first. What are your clients expectations and are they willing to pay for it? if they are paying your usual fee then they should expect no more than your usual service. If they want a bigger PA then they need to pay the hire fee plus something for your trouble in setting things up even if that is just booking a hire company for them. The strife comes when you have different expectations. The problem with events like this is that they are often organised by people with no experience of what’s involved. Ask what the budget is and be clear about what they should expect for that. Technically it’s fairly straightforward. Your high frequencies are relatively unaffected and will go as loud as indoors. your bass will be lost without reflective surfaces so you’ll need that extra 6db Bill mentioned. Probably a couple of 15” subs to go with your tops. You might need to go even louder though because you will be trying to get the sound out over a bigger area outdoors and you will need to factor in the wind and extraneous noise. The simplest thing would be to get in a hire company. They should have the expertise to accurately assess your needs and if they get it wrong they take the blame. Also you don’t want to set up an unfamiliar system for a one off gig.

Progress...I'm onto set up. the denim is visible again one slight snag, I'd forgotten thatvthe truss rod access was covered over with resin. I filled it with blu tac so it's just a matter of careful excavation and I should have her playable very soon.

I'd go if Danny Sapko was on the billing with both: a) a skit taking the piss out of all the other players, and 2) a live performance of his band.

So it's working out better than I imagined. The far is needs a second go but you can see it has cleared up the 'residue' nicely. The bottom part needs buffed, that is just the compound dry. You can see the cloth. That is probably just a very thin layer of coating, same way you would take very thin layers of paint/laquer on car to return it's shine.

Unscrew everything and bung it in the dishwasher. If it dies, it dies.

In 1978, it was a polyester finish, so a way cheaper car polish will be perfect and better suited. @peteb It's surely something from the Meguiar's range like this compound that works perfectly well with nitro cellulosic, polyester or polyurethane finish : https://www.meguiars.co.uk/product/ultimate-compound-450ml/ It's the one I use for all instruments in need of a real cleaning/shining or to simply make them look better.

Try a mild solvent like meths, isopropyl alcohol, or white spirit. Steer clear of acetone/nail polish remover.

Don't worry, he hasn't gone to the great gig in the sky. I saw a message on Bluesky, from Stiff Little Fingers, saying that he has announced his retirement due to health concerns. Best wishes to Bruce and here's hoping that he has a long, happy retirement.

My Squier Mike Dirnt. In best ebay classifieds tradition, it's 100% original. Apart from the refinish. And the extra pickup. And the scratchplate. And the Hipshot D-tuner.

If you use any commercially-sourced product it is worth studying the ingredients/contents list on the container first. My advice would be to stay away from anything containing silicones, since they don’t always play nice with other cleansing products or in areas where painting/re-finishing might take place. Polydimthylsiloxanes (dimethicone) and aminosiloxanes (types of silicones) are pretty common in auto and household polish formulations.

Glued. I thought I'd be clever and save myself further countersinking by digging some slightly longer screws out of the Box Of Random Screws and substituting those for the ones that failed to bite well. Not a bad idea in principle except that (a) some were too long and came out of the outside of the panel - not a problem after removing them again, any holes are tiny and will be easily sanded/filled - and (b) some were too thick, so they felt like they were doing up good and solid but left a gaping crack between the panels, because they weren't turning freely in the batten in order to pull in the panel. All rectified I think. Remaining minor imperfections and gaps due to short battens were filled with wood filler / wood glue mix, which I also ran a bead of along any inside joints that didn't obviously have surplus glue squeezing out. Now dried it feels sturdy and is square. A few places still need a touch of filler but I'm going to leave that until later as I still have a couple more holes to cut and sharp corners to round off, and anything might happen. Marked out the screw positions for the speaker. To me this looks a bit marginal for putting either T-nuts straight into the back of the baffle (one positioned for reference), or self-tapping screws into the baffle alone - what do the experts think? I can easily add a piece of batten behind each hole to give more wood for the fixing to get its teeth into.

Just reminiscing. There were some crackers weren't there. I remember visiting the Bass Centre in Wapping numerous times and seeing Steinbergers, Status's and Wals. I bought a lovely Wal Pro 2E Cherry second-hand for I think... 300 quid. If I had a time machine and some funds I'd go back and get a Status S2000 in black weave preferably with the script font on the brass bridge plate. I love the look of early Status basses. All shiny and new. We were spoiled.

Thread update. The keyboard player in my band recommended a local metal fabrication workshop to me. I had a chat with the boss and he seemed keen to help me out, so I took along a side from a 400RB-I with rack ears, and a side from my 400RB-II which didn't have rack ears. The sides on the MKI and MKII are NOT interchangeable. I explained what I wanted, which was sides for the MK-II but with the addition of rack ears like the ones on the example MK-I sides. Anyway, I collected them today, and it's worked out well. Here's a few pics, and I must say they are looking rather sexy in their matching SKB Roto racks. Cheers, Rob

Been a few developments in the last 4 and half years. My monster Bloodstone is still around, had it in a custom build from last Summer. Few months later I swapped in the Herrick multi coil, nice enough but as always no drastic change. Both now reside in the parts box, replaced by the one below right. Stumbled across them on eBay/Ali-Ex while hunting for a Musicmaster pickup. Staggered pole came from eBay, seller (7th Songs) gives you various options for poles and string wrap. Cost £18 and is a very nicely built 'vintage' single coil, fibre flatwork/cloth push up wire/Alnico 5 magnets/ wax potted/ 6.8k ohm DCR and comes with foam pad, springs/tubing and both wood/machine screws. Raised pole for A threw string balance out, likely fixable by adjusting string height but the 2 saddle bridges I favour are limited in that respect. Flat pole model came from Ali-Ex (Shenzhen Finger Musical Instruments). Though I can't say for certain it and the staggered pole came from the same factory I'd take that bet, they're identical in every respect bar the poles 🙂 This one cost an astounding £10 inc VAT and shipping .

Whoa , hang on. Found it .. Its a brilliant bag for a cheap price https://musotechuk.co.uk/products/rok-sak-primo-series-bass-gig-bag?variant=48246781378841&country=GB&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gQT=1

Roksak is another padded bag i own that accommodated a rather longer than average bass, a classic Overwater 34 scale but with a long body and headstock, which the shop told me wouldnt fit in any regular cases they had, so supplied the Roksak free of charge. Sadly i dont know the model of the bag

As promised some pics. The first one shows the ZX10 Pros fully fitted to the tips. The second shows the bit that is moulded to my ear, hopefully you can see the bit that actually goes down my ear canal with the hole in the middle the other knobbly bit fits neatly into the folds in my ears and almost all of that surface is in contact with my ear achieving a better seal than non moulded tips. The third shot shows the mould of the ZX10's and the fourth the hedphone fitted. These tips are made from a moderately soft silicone which if you look carefully attracts the dust wonderfully well The zx10's are fairly bulky and the tips hold them a little further away from the ear so they do protrude 2-3mm clear of the ear and are not as discreet as proper fitted IEM's, I can't say it's much of an issue as they sit nice and comfortably. The Sennheisers being smaller sit very nicely in the ear and I don't think a punter would realise they weren't expensive fitted IEM's.

They look really nice - I don't think I've owned a HB that wasn't great value for money (although they are always the first to go in a cull !).

For those who frequent Fretboard Forum I've also started a thread there under the same title - I really want to see if I can use google algorithms to draw EVRi into a dialogue or a statement on their performance - I may take a crack at my MP about this.

The company is consistently bad, but just how bad depends a lot on the individual drivers. To say I dislike EVri is putting it mildly, but I moved to a new area about a year and a half and the driver that delivers around here is pretty good. Fingers crossed! However I've noticed a general tendency to simply leaving parcels at the door step without knocking at the door. What can possibly go wrong :rolleyes:

Legend ! A righteous decision

Intriguing. Could be a useful thing to keep in a gigbag as an emergency backup.

Yeah I've seen the Redsubs and I'm not particularly keen. I've had gear4music stuff before and the HB stuff is generally much better quality. I've seen several Red Subs on eBay with busted headstocks.

I have owned several Squiers - early on I found out that I don't like Jazz basses by owning a Squier J. I had a Squier bitsa P to which I added a humorous decal, an SD Quarter Pound and a Badass II bridge. I wonder where it is now? I also had a Squier Bronco which I modded quite extensively - full size tuners, BWB pickguard, thumbrest, lipstick pickup, Squier Vista Series Musicmaster bridge (4 saddle) and modded the bridge to accept top loading the string, then modded the bass to be strung through the body. I wonder where it is too! And here is my current Squier squeeze - a modded Squier Jaguar H with an Ibanez CAP double humbucker from an ATK810, a parallel/single/series switch, a BWB pickguard, a Guyker high mass bridge with brass, part threaded saddles, and block "inlay" stickers which I'm still in two minds about - they look OK from a distance but up close it's pretty obvious that they're stickers and I'm the one who's always seeing it up close... So it seems that any Squier which comes in the door here is unlikely to remain in stock configuration...

My direct experience is that if you don't accept card payments it will significantly affect your sales. Last year I was in two bands. One has a SumUp reader and although we still do cash sales the vast majority of our merch at gigs is paid for by card. The other band, despite me continually telling them that we need a card reader, was cash sales only and over the past 12 months our merch sales have been next to nothing. All the people I know using SumUp got them 3 or 4 years ago when the readers were cheap and there were various promotions where if you got a recommendation from existing user you got the reader for next to nothing and person who recommended you got a payment in return. Now that they are well established I don't know if that's still the case. Certainly back then it was the cheapest card reader and the smallest percentage on sales. It's also worth being able to accept PayPal, although IME it is often too much hassle. IME not everyone who uses PayPal has it on their phone. Also remember that if you are accepting cash you will need a healthy float for change as you can almost guarantee that first 5 sales will all be made with a £20 note payment. Regarding payments on card sales and PayPal, everyone takes a cut per transaction, so you will need to factor it in to your pricing, but since you ought to be making 100% mark up on each T-shirt sold, in the grand scheme of things the additional cost of card and PayPal payments should be close to negligible.

The whole live concert is pretty amazing. I always sort of got him but never really musically understood him because I don't like fusion so I got a little bored. But his playing on this and the way he outlines the chords and the notes he plays are just magic. You can hear his musical influences with the notes he chooses imo.. the more I listen the more mind bending his playing gets.

Brought my trace AH300, 4x10 + 1x18 stack in there, also my first wal which i still have today, Mach II 5 . Done an evening course up there too, used to drive up in my little minivan and you could literally park right outside, no restrictions. Bass heaven right there! Used to salivate over the Alembics and statii too. Great memories x

Go no further, see if it can loosen rightoff and see what happens. I had this gappen on a squier andcthe lwer anchor was pulling into the wood. There is a fortuitous hole at the end ofthe jnserf above the anchor (hidden in neck pocket). Saved me drilling... I loosed right off, flooded with cyanoacrylate and it's been fine for 5 years or so.

(saag) Aloo (is it me you're looking for...) - Lionel Richie

The Kubicki is the ultimate in 80s bass vibe for me. What a mad looking instrument!

All Fender and Squier guitars will probably end up only being made in the USA, and only be available in a lurid orange colour that's not seen in nature........😆😆😆

It’s all bollocks guys, really 👍

So back in Dec I had moulds made of my ears and today I received two sets of custom IEM tips back from Snugs. For those of you who haven't followed this these are custom made moulds that are made to fit your ears one side and to fit your own headphones the other side with the idea that you get all the benefits of custom IEM's and a proper seal but at a fraction of the price. In my case I've been using in-ears for monitoring with my band and no back line for a couple of years successfully and had the usual journey towards them that so many people have experienced. I now have custom tips for my KZ ZS10 Pros which is probably the most popular choice for bassists here and also my Sennheiser IE100's another popular choice. OK they have arrived today and this is an initial impression, I'll do something with a proper write up after I've gigged them, all I've done today is try them out in my studio playing bass and singing along to recorded music. Let me say I'm blown away by how good they are and for £160 for two lumps of plastic they are absolutely worth it. The sound through both headphones is improved but one now just blows me away. More later about that. So I started with my Sennheiser IE100's They have to be mounted in the tips before putting the tips in your ears, a bit fiddly but get everything lined up and the buds just snap into place. Conveniently the right tip was marked in red as is the right bud from Sennheiser. The next thing is to push the tips into your ears, that wasn't easy they are a perfect fit when in place which means nothing fits until you get them there and they feel too bulky to fit. Eventually I wiggled them into place and they felt comfortable, really comfortable, like 'I could wear these all day' comfortable. Sound isolation was good but no better than the triple flange tips I'd been using whch are great but feel like a surgeon is enthusiatically probing up to my eardrum with a metal probe. The thing was that ten minutes later (looking for something that has a headphone socket) the isolation hadn't changed and didn't change until I took the plugs out. The sound when I finally found an adaptor and connected to my mixer was just stunning, bass was full and deep but just there not artificially enhanced, vocals were gorgeous and cymbals lovely and clean but with no jarring from over-presentation. I was hearing things I only get from my £200 open backed Sennheier over ears. Having that perfect fit to my ears meant all frequencies were there in the correct balance and it sounded lovely. Singing along with the music gave me a painfully honest reflection of my voice with a little bit of a peak from my old EV microphone, bass just sits in the mix where you put it. The volume goes to painful without distortion. The real glory though is that the IEM's stay put so the bass doesn't change and outside noises never intruded because whatever i did the seal remained intact. When the time came to remove them you need a real tug and a wiggle to get the plugs out. I replaced the Sennheisers with the ZS10's, this time I read the instructions and found Snugs had provided some 'IEM Balm' to apply to the tips which made fitting a little easier. IEM balm looks ly KY-Jelly to me I didn't like the ZS10's as much Having a perfect seal underlined the exagerrated frequency resonse of the KZ's Bass was a little overpowering as was the top end and the mids have a couple of resonances which make my voice slightly more unpleasant than it actually is (honest) . I'd bought the Sennheisers to get a better vocal sound which I've never got on with from the KZ's I suppose I'd hoped that the customs would cure the midrange issues but they didn't. Nothing bad happened, the KZ's just sounded like KZ's not exagerrated or toned down. So initial conclusions, custom tips will get the best out of your off the shelf IEM's I can't see them ever coming out during a performance and you don't lose the bass as happens when the seal is imperfect. I'd hoped for exceptionl isolation and maybe expected too much, these are as good as the better ear plugs but there is some ambient noise coming through, You wont hear normal speech if any music is coming through but a loud drummer would be audible. The big difference is that it doesn't make a difference what you are doing these customs just sit there. Custom tips v's custom IEM's? I can't tell you how close the custom tips get to the real thing but Custom IEM's seem to go up from £500 plus fitting. On a special offer I paid £125 for the tips and the Sennheisers cost me £85 so that's £210 overall. On top of that I've seen people unhappy with the quality of the built in speakers in £500-1,000 IEM's, that's a lot to pay for something you might not get on with. I'll get some picsup next week

This image sums up my 1990’s time…..hoping we get to the gig!