martin8708

I agree with BB3000, the more you play , the more you use the " tools of the trade " and the less you think of changing them . The more free time I have , the more I drift towards the For Sale sections ( just out of curiousity , of course ) and the next thing you know, a new bass or amp arrives on your doorstep . Its definately true that the Devil finds work for idle hands .

People offering low-ball offers and even people "agreeing " to buy your amp /guitar seems to be commonplace now ,even in the hallowed halls of Basschat . An agreement by e-mail does get your hopes up , but it is meaningless until the money is in the bank and the buyer has the bass or amp in his hands . If the offer comes from a well established Basschatter , you are onto a good thing , but you can normally get a feeling from the profile of the prospective customer as to whether they are serious or not . As an internet forum , the net is cast very wide over a huge bass-playing audience , and some of them may take "window shopping " a bit too far by agreeing to buy the item without having the intention or the money to pay for it ( happens on e-bay all the time ) The clues tend to be in the language/content /attitude in the PM's sent from the prospective buyer . Sometimes other things can happen , I was set on buying a cab , until I had a accident in the kitchen where I severely burnt my hand . so I could not drive / work /play bass for weeks ,but obviously let the seller know what had happened . Playing Devils Advocate , perhaps we should all agree that to buy something we should have the funds available there and then and not rely upon the sale of our own goods to fund this purchase .

I have owned a 57 Re-issue in black for the last 10 years , and 95% of my playing /gigging/ reheasals are done on this bass . This is also my "cheapest " bass as I have a few Custom Shop + Vintage P's at home , but I always pick up the 57 RI as it just seems to feel right . It is one of the early 80's re-issues , and once I got the action/neck sorted to how I like it , I rarely play anything else . The bass is now starting to feel very worn in and comfortable , I once did 3 gigs in a day with this bass , and the only thing that hurt was my feet . I think some basses are like wine , cheap ones go off with age , where a good one with good woods and nitro finish will improve the more it is played . If it is an early model with a nice light weight , I dont think you will be dissappointed , You will have to put the hours in setting it up and playing it in , but they do just get better + better .

I have heard the hippies and flower power people stripped the finish off their guitars for a more natural look. I have three pre-CBS Fenders that have fell foul of the Nitromoors /heatgun . (bought them that way ) . Jimmy Coppolo also mentions this "hippy - era " and has started building natural finish basses . The American vintage market considers a stripped or Re-fin instrument to be approx half the value of a 100% original instrument , but I suppose it will depend if it was a rare custom colour or just a plain old TSB .

I have bought two basses of Clarky , a 74 Fender Jazz and more recently his Alleva Coppolo 5 string . Great guy to deal with and was even going to send the second bass before I had paid him , very trusting + honest guy . This HAS to be the most exotic bass on the Island ( Better than a 6 string WAL ? ) ) Many thanks again Martin.

Vague descriptions No location/ address No photos textspeak / lazy grammar No interest from me

[quote name='janmaat' timestamp='1334046853' post='1609921'] Played guitar in a punk performance band in Berlin. Chatted up a girl with big tits to do the bass part. Got up at her place went and bought a bass for her to use. Was a cool project. She moved back to Swizerland for rehab. Everyone eventually left, but the bass. This was later smashed by some arab kids in a squat in Paris, re-assembled, and sold in London. I miss it, it was a great bass. [/quote] You could sell this story to Luc Besson , it would make a great black + white film

Totally non-musical till 16 years old , I went to party where every-one was totally pissed and this knob was larking around with his dad's steel string acoustic guitar pretending to be Rick Parfitt from the Quo , he promptly fell over and snapped the headstock off the guitar , which did not please his Dad too much . I rescued the broken guitar from the rubbish bin and repaired the headstock and taught myself guitar from Russ Shiptons books . At first year Uni , met a real talented guitarist who was looking for a bass player , so I sold the battered acoustic giutar and pooled all my savings and bought a BB1200 from Yamaha Musicland ( that was the only bass in the shop , and i remember it was in the clearance sale, none of the sales assistance were really interested in it ( or me ) , I suspect they just wanted shot of it (and me ) Interestingly , the first song we learnt as a band was also " New Years Day " Thanks Adam and the Edge for getting us interested . Still play acoustic guitar for pleasure and to work out new songs , and to relax with a beer after work .

Guitarist :" Wow , I've definately found my sound !! " Other Guitarist " Oh ,man , I'm really struggling with my sound " To me , they sound exactly the same ( too loud )

The oldies are the best .

I would probably put the £100 towards a decent gigging amp or combo . I echo Dr Dave , pedals are just one more thing to go wrong and a source of constant on-stage fiddling by guitarists .

I play in a Pub / Rock band with muso's that I would count as friends . There are some songs that I really have to grin and bear it , but on the whole the songs are pretty good , there is after all three other members in the band with different styles / tastes . The need to play bass live far outweights the occasional song that I don't like , and as I am not the lead singer / frontman , I cannot dictate the entire set list , but I do try to make as many suggestions about song choice as possible , most are ignored , but some wheedle their way into the set . As far as gigs go , we take them when we can get them , some are dire , some are great , just think as the empty pubs as paid rehearsal and the packed out gigs as a bonus.

Compared to a lot of Basschatters , you actually have very little gear ! Now get thee down to the For Sale section and buy some more stuff.

I had the pleasure of possessing Jasons Fender CS Pino for about a year .Jas is now re-united with the Pino and both transactions were as smooth as the TI flats on the Pino ( same one that Clarky also ''rented '' from Jas .) Keep a tight hold on the Pino this time !! Thanks Martin

Rickenbackers - look like a cheap chrismas cracker bass -plays a bit like one too MM Bongo toilet seat ( brilliant ) Anything with a massive extended top horn ( Peavey Cirrus / Shuker type shape ) - looks like one of those cheap tin openers that never work . ( probably play brilliantly , though ? )

The Chain - Fleedwood Mac Seven Nation Army - White stripes Master Blaster - stevie wonder . Dancing in the Moonlight - Thin Lizzy - a classic !! Love will tear us apart - New Model Army Black Knight - Deep Purple Detroit Rock City - KISS I think it was " Rio " by Duran Duran that really made a big impression on me 30 years ago ,I was watching a concert recorded on some old Beta-max video tape and when I saw all the women screaming for Andy Taylor , I thought , thats what I want to do with my life !!

I have attended numerous trade shows , motor shows , bike show , photographic and Hi - fi shows , all these shows will involve a certain amount of noise , but certainly not to the same extent as the Bass show . At the NEC motorbike shows , you don't get 15 year olds starting up race prepped R1's or Fireblades and revving the [email="cr@p"]cr@p[/email] out of them just to impress there mates , even if they have paid their admission fee just like every one else . As far as Mr Rotosound man is concerned , he has a fabulous thumb technique , put him in a masterclass where we can all benefit from his talents on a more structured and informative level ( ie , tell us your secrets ! ) Hopefully next year will be brilliant , sad to have missed Yolanda Charles .

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I went last year , and was in two minds as to wether to brave it this time round . Last year I went with loads of cash and credit cards with serious intent to buy something if I found a great bass / amp , but the deafening drone of a thousand plank spankers made it nigh on impossible to try anything out . I did think the masterclasses were great , well worth the admission fee , and I would have like to have seen the BassDirect stand especially if the Mike Lull T-birds were there , but judging by the comments in the posts , I'm not too upset at missing it this time round .

Singing when you are playing guitar ( 6 string ) is a lot easier , to me it seems I am only doing a single task . Singing when playing the bass seems like two totally separate tasks , there is a strong temptation to sing every word on the beat of the bassdrum /bassnote . You need to try and lift the singing aspect away from the bassplaying , bit like rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time . Sting was a master at playing odd timings and singing smoothly over the top of the music , just give " So lonely " a good listen to. It does come with practice , it must be a lot worse for keyboard players !!