neepheid

Attending the SW bash last weekend with all 15 basses in tow (plus all the associated ironmongery and amplification) all the way from Aberdeen, whilst fun, was a right old faff (mostly the decanting of gear from the car in and out of lodgings the night before etc.). I'm not getting any younger and I've got no roadies so I vowed to be more... editorial this time. Would it be tw@tty/attention seeking of me to start a thread which lists what I have and invite people to tell me what they want to see? Or should I just make an executive decision and take what I consider to be the most interesting 5 or 6? I mean, there are so many thematic possiblities - the G&L mourning tour of the UK, the anatomically incorrect T-bird shootout (you'll enjoy that one, @NancyJohnson), LesMore Pauls (as if we didn't have enough already...), triple pickup madness, the projects I've done this year, cheapo basses with big knobs, I mean the list goes on. Got a few weeks to think about it, I guess.

Depends how much you want the money or the pickups and your levels of patience. I had an outstanding order with Bax Music when it went bust at the start of the year, honestly I had written it off but newco Bax decided to honour the old orders and I did get my stuff in the end. Took months though while all the corporate turmoil and upheaval was gone through. That's just one example - I like you are keen to hear what the official word is on the fate of G&L. After you get that, at least you'll know who to start your enquiries with. I don't know anything about chargebacks on credit cards, whether there's a time you need to wait before you can issue one, if you have to provide evidence that you're not getting your goods etc - you'll need to look that up, sorry.

And finally, my entry for "bass face of the bash" is...

I set out with the intention of photographing every bass I played, but I got sidetracked...

I have made it home in one piece, and all the basses safely stowed in the house. Thank you to all involved in organising the bash, thank you for the delicious lunch, and thank you to everyone who turned up with loads of amazing basses. Great to chat to you all, sorry to anyone I missed. I had a great time! I have photos, will post them up after a well earned cup of tea!

Preliminary rounds, you won't be missing much.

Ahh, the chrome bit is separate, I thought it was part of the pickup. Never mind then

If anyone does swap out the split pickup in their Starfire and is willing to sell me the stock one, please let me know...

Well, just to add some balance to the discussion (or maybe just stir the pot ) - I think the natural Z7 is the worst looking one of the bunch. Last year when the Z7 was introduced I got my first choice (burgundy) and my second choice would have been white - because I wanted the ebony fretboard.

How are you getting on? Any news?

Check what any prospective pickup uses for pole pieces. If it uses blades instead of individual pole pieces then it won't matter a jot if they're intended for 4 or 5 strings.

Well damn it, only 5 or 6 gigs in next year's calendar and one of them is on the 20th June. Don't rearrange it just because I can't make it - majority rules!

I'm an idiot - when I first read the sentence I thought you were going to put an amp head on the raffle table and I nearly spat my tea out, lol.

Wronger than a wrong thing - as proven by the fact that they contacted the courier for you anyway. The retailer is the courier's customer, not you, so if it goes astray, it's on them to chase it up, and on them to make things right with you if it goes wrong - that's what insurance is for. It has happened to me before, not a fake "delivery" but a Sire D5 just disappeared like a fart in the wind between Thomann and myself. I contacted Thomann about it, and to give them their due they didn't wait too long before giving it up as lost and sending another one. How the retailer deals with this will determine their competence and worth. If it goes badly, I'd like to know who this retailer is so that I can avoid them in future.

Indeed, it's now going to be a bookies, taking bets on the cage fighting.

I've got a couple of effects pedals I'm happy to chuck in.

I'd back myself to emerge victorious from that cage fight.

Yes, was going to pipe up and mention the Joyo Monomyth - it has two switches on it for a treble boost and a gain boost, so you have three possibilities to quickly go beyond the base level of drive you have set using the pot. I use mine as my one stop OD/EQ/DI shop, it's good at all these things.

I thought I'd resurrect this zombie thread to offer some positive feedback about G4M. Last Tuesday, I ordered some gigbags from them. Picked the cheapest delivery option so wasn't expecting to see them until the start of the following week. Two days later, I got an email from them telling me that my order might be delayed because they did not receive stock from the supplier. I found this odd because I went to double check and the website was still merrily proclaiming that they had heaps in stock. So I queried it. Within a few hours, they got back to me, apologising as I had received that email in error and it was an internal thing (getting stock from warehouse) which had triggered it by mistake. They assured me that the gig bags would still arrive in the agreed time (indeed, reiterated that the estimated delivery date was 06/10 - 07/10). Well, colour me surprised when the doorbell rings yesterday (yes, on a Sunday) and here are my gigbags. I wasn't pushy, I didn't ask to have my delivery upgraded, they just did it off their own backs. I don't think you get a Sunday delivery from G4M through DPD unless you specifically request it (and pay for it). So I think they fast tracked my order, I guess to make up for the admin oops? I'm going to believe that, because that was very nice of them and it made me smile.

I am weakening towards the XS-1. After finally hearing some bass usage, I think it does a better job of tone preservation than my Brainwaves.

Aye, the wind was fighting me at times on the walk home (thankfully managed to get a bus half way), and today just seen that the garden took a bit of a hiding

Last night I played Drummonds in Aberdeen with The Inevitable Teaspoons. It was a good gig, not super busy but busy enough not to feel empty - Drummonds is a tough room if it's dead. We played well, and big props to the sound engineer, John - super smooth soundcheck, great FOH sound. After we finished, we got lots of nice comments, saying that we're tight and played well. A guy came up to me after we finished playing and he said (roughly paraphrasing) "You're a wizard on bass, mate, I play bass too, and you've inspired me". I was floored, that's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me after a gig. Gear was the Greco LGB-700 and the venue's Trace Elliot backline.

It's fun to see what I had to say years ago when a thread gets reanimated like this... Pleased to say that in nearly four years my attitude hasn't changed. Only the numbers...

It's possible if you provide the goods which are actually worth the asking price. Compare and contrast with Epiphone's prices ticking upward, but giving basically the same instruments they always did, as well as creating strange anomalies like a bolt on single pickup Grabber costing more than a thru neck, two pickup Thunderbird or a hollow bodied Jack Casady (which surely *must* cost more to make than a Grabber). It makes no sense at all.

Bit early to prep for the bass bash, no?