bassbiscuits

Just drove to Hessler's to pick up a lovely Yamaha TRB1005 bass. Could have happily stayed and chatted about bass all day - top bloke, easy sale and bass was fantastic. Happy to deal with him anytime.

Local country pub gig where I'm doing my solo acoustic / singing thing. Should be decent enough. But got three very different bass gigs lined up for January which involve a fair bit of learning new stuff so I'm keen to get NYE out of the way. All helps pay for Xmas tho eh.

Well done! These look like great basses. I love my MIJ Mustang. Flats sounded good on it, but the current D'addario rounds on it sound great too. Excellent basses either way, and more versatile than you'd think.

I've always found Daddario EXLs or NYXLs to be great on a P Bass. I think I've got Daddario Pro Steels on the P at the moment (they were spare from another bass and I needed them sharpish for a gig but they sound good and fresh after about a dozen gigs so far). Saying that, the P has had La Bella flats on it for the previous three years which sounded lovely. I only swapped them for some function dep gigs which demanded a bit more of a versatile sound. I may well swap back to flats tho.

I dep loads and within the function/pub band circuit there's so many songs that are common to most of the bands I play with. I also never get to rehearse with most of the bands I dep with. I just make sure I learn the stuff. If a gig came up tomorrow with a band who played similar stuff to me it would be perfectly possible to take the gig and do a decent job of it.

A MIJ Fender Mustang (3.5kg), a Fender Precision Bass (3.8kg) and a Yamaha BB604 (3.9kg). Ive had some SGC Nanyo Bass Collection basses before which were super light and comfy, and used to have a Mike Lull PJ4 which was about 3.7kg but i never really got on with the sound. It's all about the balance too - I had a Jack Casady Bass that was only about 3.6kg but the weight was all in the neck and headstock, making it feel cumbersome despite not actually being heavy.

I've got a bit of a knackered left shoulder and back, so 4kg or under for me. I had a 4.3kg jazz bass and used to end up with a bad hip at the end of gigs from trying to adjust my upper body to compensate. My current basses are 3.5kg, 3.8kg and 3.9kg and nicely balanced so I'm a happy bunny.

1. Best played was a big David Bowie tribute night back in January - i was bassist in the backing band playing Hunky Dory in full with a range of guest singers. Brilliant night, really busy and got to play with some great local musicians. 2. Worst played was a dep gig at a beer festival in the summer. I was really ill and felt like I was gonna pass out for most of the gig. It was all i could manage to stand upright and my hands felt like lead. It was a straight 90 mins and i couldn't get to the end soon enough. 3. Best attended was Ginger Wildheart at the Y Theatre in Leicester. Tiny little old Victorian theatre and a wonderful community feel to the whole thing. 4. Worst attended - none. I've only been to see two gigs this year (Ginger and Emeli Sande) and both good.

Is it still Bobby Martin on sax/keys, and Chad Wackerman on drums? I had a video of a Zappa gig in the 80s with them playing and they were brilliant. EDIT - nope, my bad, neither of them play with Zappa Plays Zappa....

Count me in for 2020. Got nowt planned. This year I've only bought replacement bits, strings etc and a bass for my son, so I may well still be on track in the 2019 challenge!

For me its been a mixture of old fashioned methods. My missus put a notice up in a music shop (wow remember those?) next to a notice from a band looking for exactly the same thing. We got in touch, went for a few drinks and I ended up playing with them for 12 years! Rest has been word of mouth from people who've played with me recommending me to others; or people who've seen me play asking me if I'm available to do stuff with them. That in turn has just led to plenty of different dep jobs with various bands, which is what keeps my diary ticking over at the moment. EDIT - my search for my first proper band about 20+years ago, again in response to an advert in a shop, led to me speaking to the singer for about an hour on the phone one night. We got on like a house on fire. Eventually, we realised that we'd actually been in school together about 10 years beforehand, and from then on it was pretty much a done deal that I was in!

Went to see Ginger Wildheart about a fortnight ago (epic gig) and for something completely different, Emeli Sande on Saturday night. Gospel/soul/pop isn't really my thing ( I went with my wife ) but the vibe was really good, and the drummer, a chap called Jermaine Whyte, was brilliant.

I'd have thought that the original neck heel position is safer, being anchored in a solid block of wood, rather than screwing into the hollow upper horn. I sympathise tho - my JC was a nightmare for tipping forward and neck diving, but i just accepted it as a quirk of the bass as best i could.

Yes i'm reaching the age of needing a belly contour too - maybe i should follow your example ha ha. It looks stunning in that blue with competition stripes I get a lot of interest taking my (plain white) Mustang to gigs - mainly from other band members who start off going: "What's that little thing?" and a few songs in go: "Wow that bass sounds great!" Gotta love a Mustang.

How do you find the real thing compares to the MIJ red Mustang? I've only got a 1970 P and a 2015 MIJ Mustang to compare, and the old P has something more resonant, deeper and perhaps softer about the tone, but there's not a huge amount in it (especially when cranked live).

I love my MIJ reissue Mustang, but that is truly a thing of beauty, plus some good vintage mojo thrown in. And undoubtedly the best Mustang colour scheme. Nicely done sir.

Cool. I just need to find a good one near me and I'll be happy.

You're right - it's about 24 kg but it is awesome. I've got my eyes peeled for another 1210L or 1212L but they're surprisingly scarce.

Good work sir - I play some if I have to while depping but in my solo stuff I have a blanket ban on Oasis. I figure people can go anywhere to hear Oasis songs. They don't need to come to see me. And yeah, a lot of punters can't fathom that I don't know any ha ha!

Surely these days Wonderwall must be among the cheesiest, most overplayed songs ever? A Brown Eyed Girl for our generation, if you like. I remember nipping out from a pub gig to a cashpoint at half time and passing a beggar playing Wonderwall in the street with his dog. I got back to the pub and our band opened the second half with it.

I've still got my Sony hifi from 1997. Works perfectly apart from one tape deck button that's broken, meaning i can't do mix tapes for any members of the opposite sex I might be trying to pull. Hasn't really been an issue...

I used to lug around an Ashdown 8x10 and only this summer sold my Aguilar GS410. Both lovely sounding cabs, but just way too much for me to move around (usually by myself). Down to a single Schroeder 1210 now, and would love to go even lighter (with the neodymium version of the same cab maybe). I love the sound of a big, trouser-flapping box but not for me these days, or my poor back. It's inevitable I'll explore the lightweight route as the years since my 40th birthday fade into distant memory...