hiram.k.hackenbacker

Nice. I have to say I think it looks better without the stickers 😎

Great to see you on Friday Mick. Shame you couldn’t stay for the gig.

My Shuker JJ Burnel Signature 'The Raven' Precision arrived on Thursday. It has now been gigged twice (Friday and Saturday) and I can report that it was definitely worth the wait. It's just an incredible piece of work. It is exactly as promised, nice and light at 8.24lbs and the neck is probably one of the nicest I've had in my hands. It has a lovely satin finish with a nice low action and the whole bass balances superbly. There was a slight change in the spec in that I was going to have Armstrong pick-up's fitted. In fact, John did fit them and then gave me the option of the new in-house pick-up's hand wound by Oz. These are the pick-up's that are in JJ's newest 'The Zenith' signature bass which he took delivery of recently. Those of you that have seen The Stranglers recently will have heard that bass. I opted for the Oz pick-up's and they're great. I still can make up my mind about the screws, knobs and plate screws. Jon supplied a full set of black and chrome so I can make my mind up at leisure. They may change, they may not 🤷‍♂️. Here are some photo's.

Agreed. Given the poor finish, one can only wonder at what lurks beneath the paint!

Yes agreed - awful video and utterly pointless. If you're going to use an effect/grit, let us hear the dry sound first. Love the description of the 5-ply binding "black/white/black/white/black/white" - that's 6-ply! I also noticed that the finish looks a bit dodgy. Very difficult to capture in a still, but it doesn't look like smooth black (sorry, ebony 🙄) to me.

@TrevorR - agreed. Bionic Santa is awful. I also have a soft spot for King of The Cops. I'm sure I still have that 7" somewhere.

Well, I did think it might be. The link made it a little confusing 😂 I’d like to try one of these, but I doubt I would buy one - certainly not at £2.5k.

I’m not sure what I find more bizarre, that Gene Simmons advertising video or your post in response to it. If anyone has been mislead by that video, they need their head checking.

I've never had an issue with it, nor thought it would be a thing of concern for others really. I usually take a short scale headless Status 5 string and a 34" scale headed Modulus 4 string to most gigs and swap between the two. I guess once you're used to swapping from one to the other, it becomes less of an issue.

Do they consider offers? Asking for a friend obvs 😎

It may have been sold out of necessity. Not everyone who sells their instrument is doing so looking to replace it with something else. It may well have been truly loved, but with the economy in such an unhealthy condition, needs must in many quarters.

I’ve actually just had a look at stopping at Jon’s on the way to Stockton on Friday. It’s just a little bit too far off track for me to justify it. It’s a 4 and a half hour trip as it is. Would be nice to meet him, but I don’t think I can do it.

Ha ha. Jon is shipping the Shuker to me.

That’s rather nice. Also very tempting.

I meant to open a topic about this the other day and got distracted. I’ve listened to the album a few times now and I really like it. Album #2 is already in the works and it’s highly unlikely we’ll see any of this live.

I played a gig last night with Robbie Blake, the guitarist from The Karma Effect (not the lead singer/guitarist - the other guitarist). I didn't know him or the band until he turned up as he was an eleventh hour dep who kindly agreed to help us out. What an incredibly humble and talented guy he is. He might not even have mentioned his band unless I'd quizzed him on what else he was doing musically. I've now had an opportunity to listen to the album which is available on all streaming platforms and I really like it (I've also bought the CD version). Being a fan of Blackberry Smoke/The Black Crowes, it's right up my street. Anyway, I just thought I would share in case anyone else liked this sort of thing. I don't know if their bassist Liam Quinn is on here, but if you are mate - nicely done 👏. This is the debut single from the album.

Well, I was having a chat with Jon about this and he mentioned that he had just sent JJ his latest version which has the new in-house Shuker P pick-up set in it. Apparently they get two very big thumbs up from both JJ and his sound engineer. Jon has offered to swap out the ones in mine for the new Shuker set, which I think I’m going to do, so that might delay things a little. All being well, I think I should have it by next Friday.

It’s finished. Before anyone says it - ‘pictures or it didn’t happen’. I’ll post them when I receive them 😂

Purple is THE Stone Temple Pilots album IMHO. In some ways a little odd that the difficult sophomore album turned out to be their best work, but I don’t think they bettered it. Tiny Music was good, but didn’t quite take the crown for me. Not a duff track on Purple though.

That struck me as a little odd too. I don't think there is a single bass that I own that I play flat, active or passive.

Balance - My tiny brain has enough to deal with whilst trying to remember what I'm supposed to be playing without having to deal with a neck I have to constantly support. Certain bridges - The old Rickenbacker ones and the three point ones on certain Gibsons. Drive me nuts. Balance again! - In respect of that occasionally I like to sit down and practice whilst at home. I've had some basses that just don't work like that. Warwick Reverso springs to mind. Pick-up covers - The bridge one on a Fender I can tolerate, but the neck cover? Useless. Rickenbacker ones doubly so. I looked at this the other day and two things really bothered me about it. Firstly the maple coloured headstock looks hideous with that fingerboard and finish. Secondly, the way the scratch plate is exactly not the same shape as the body on the lower horn. It just looks crap. It's a shame because I like the finish, the hardware colour and the fact the fretboard has no face markings.

Personally, I've not has an issue with them, although as you say, I'm sure there will be someone along soon enough to state the opposite. The biggest purchase I've made from them was a £2-2.5k bass which although advertised on their site, was not in the UK. I discovered this through a phone call with one of their online agents. They offered to get it shipped over from Germany so that I could look it over at a local store, which I did. It was a great bass which I paid for there and then and took home with me. Obviously you're not going to be able to that, but I can only speak from my experience which was positive. I've bought a lot of other stuff from them, but no where near as expensive, all without issue. Hope it works out for you.

A bit of a road trip for us this one, but to a great venue up north. Glo sticks and leg warmers at the ready.... Tickets available here.

I really don't see that as down to the guitar tech. He had finished his first song, then went straight into his 'look at my loop station' monologue and started 'Bad Habits'.