Rayman

I [i]hated[/i] YES for years. I was a child of the NWBHM in the early 80's, Maiden Priest, Saxon etc etc, meanwhile my brother, who is 3 years older than me, was into YES, and had every record they had made, up 'till Tormato, and played them continuously in his bedroom to my annoyance. I thought it was music for hippies, and refused to even listen to it. A few years later I got into Camel, big time, a band I still adore today, and "A Live Record" is still one of my favourite albums ever. So my prog roots were now starting to grow. Forward wind many years to a couple of years ago, when I found myself buying "Fragile" on ebay for a couple for quid out of curiosity. The first track I [i]ever[/i] really listened to was "Roundabout" and loved it. Next year YES are touring, and a pal of mine who is a big fan has bought me a ticket. So at 45 I'll be going to my first YES gig, and I'm very excited about it, much to the disgust of my inner teenaged self from 30 years ago.

My twopenneth, it looks identical to the one I had, which was a 78 body, 79 neck and 79 pups I seem to remember. I know it [i]does[/i] matter to some people, but does it [i]really[/i] matter? It's a beautiful bass whatever year the parts (manufactured over a two or three year period) were put together.

Fantastic bass. I want one.

This collection never ceases to amaze me. Spectastic baby.

James Burton's a hero, I love him, and his Telecaster. I saw him with the full Elvis/Vegas band a few years back. Utterly fantastic, proper guitar playing that.

I think there's a lot of tosh spoken about neck width. For me, I prefer the [i]tone[/i] of the Jazz over the Precision. Ergonomically it makes no difference to me playing a Geddy Lee Jazz neck or a 6 string Bongo.

No matter what make and model of bass I have in my hands, I always gravitate to a similar tone. A cross between JJ Burnel, Steve Harris and Adam Nitti would sum it up I think. I like to play quite aggressively and with staccato on the Spector, but quite mild an mellow on the GWB35, and again with a lot of staccato. That's at home for fun of course, with the band it's whatever the song needs to work, but generally my tone remains the same, it's [i]my[/i] sound.

I've always loved Ibanez gear. I had an old 70's Ibanez precision that was great, and more recently a K5 which was one of the most comfortable basses I've ever had to play. Currently I have a GWB35 which, apart from some loose fret markers that are currently being replaced, is totally sublime. Once the cheap plastic fret markers have all been replaced with some nice dark resin ones, it'll be my permanent home bass.

Stunning. I want it.

Ha, that's funny. My youngest daughter watches Zingzillas, but that episode passed me by. I love Stuart, he's a big influence on me, but that Warwick bass......I dunno.......I just don't know if I could live with the shape.