neepheid

To be clear I wasn't worried about them physically clashing, was just considering aesthetics.

I used a pillar drill with a forstner bit. Did I cheat?

Anyone still have their Big Trak? Necessary? No, it was a toy. Relevant? Yes, it was a toy, we were kids. Benefit? Kinda - if the act of programming it in a kind of pseudo Logo got you all excited then congratulations, a childhood sparsely populated with friends followed by career in computing beckons! If it got boring after 5 mins, you probably did something else with your life.

While it would have been nice to see the tuners rotated such that their full frontal profile is parallel to the face of the headstock to gauge how close to each other they get, to be fair, that doesn't look as bad as some efforts I've seen. Are Hipshot elephant ears are a bit smaller than some? I could put up with that, nay even like that. I've seen some big eared horrors in the past but those slightly smaller buttons, coupled with the fact that they're not sticking out half a mile on long stalks and that doesn't come anywhere close to that. I thought the disconnect between the small size tuner posts and the elephant ears would have had me cringing like watching someone spread marmalade on a steak but it's not as bad as I had feared. Hell, I would go so far as to say I approve of this configuration (not that it matters what I think). Go forth and fit these machine heads with my blessing Gibson themselves have used the full gamut of possibilites for bass tuners from full on ridiculous sticking out elephant ears on long stalks (which are the ones I think look bloody awful in small headstock 2+2 configuration) through close fitting elephant ears to mini bass tuner buttons to sideways mounted minis (in the slotted headstock EB basses) to fully invisible rear facing banjo tuners. They've thrown everything at it - sometimes changing types and sizes even during a model run (for instance it's possible to see either close fitting elephant ears (Schaller BM) or mini bass buttons (Schaller M4) on a Grabber or G-3 depending upon when it was made). So I guess when the company themselves can't even settle on a style then why should you?

Yeah, yeah

Suits me, that attitude keeps me in a job, long after I predicted that a generation of computer whizzkids would come along and render me obsolete. Turns out, much like any other subject in life you have to be interested in it in order to give a hoot about it

If only the stock tuners were Grovers - sheer luxury compared to the rather uninspiring units as supplied. Having mine off the bass I can see they have the name "Marvel" stamped into the underside of them. They're lightweight by manufacture, not by design, but probably part of the reason you can score one of these for £350 new - which I still think is ludicrously good value for money. All this Embassy talk has made me decide to take mine to band rehearsal tonight and probably play it at the gig on Saturday - my G&L L-1000 has been getting all the attention recently.

Liking that one on the right - is that a metallic copper finish?

Hey, it's your bass and you don't need me to tell you that you're free to do what you want with it. I'm merely pointing out the reasons why I wouldn't, won't and don't fit full size tuners to an Epiphone Embassy (the modern remake). I also think it's different for in line tuners vs. tuners either side. You've got double the "sticky-out" effect happening. I don't mind the look of elephant ears on the likes of a Thunderbird. But sticking them on a small 2+2 headstock - well, all I see is this:

Yes, it's smaller. Here are the deets: Jack Casady headstock Length (nut to tip) - 20.5cm Width (widest part after nut - narrowest point - widest point at top) - 8.3, 7.9, 9cm Tuner centres (E&G) - 4.3cm Tuner centres (A&D) - 4.5cm Tuner centres (E&A) - 8.4cm Embassy headstock Length (nut to tip) - 18.4cm Width (widest part after nut - narrowest point - widest point at top) - 8.3, 7, 7.8cm Tuner centres (E&G) - 4.2cm Tuner centres (A&D) - 3.3cm Tuner centres (E&A) - 6.1cm Not only is the Embassy headstock visually and demonstratably smaller, it lacks the same kick out at the top (in fact it's narrower at the top than the bottom, unlike the JC). The A&D tuners are super close together compared to the JC, and top to bottom they're much closer together. You factor in widening the posts and bushes and see how close together the A and D tuners will be. You could try to bore them off centre, but then you'll be risking getting awfully close to the edge of the headstock - also looking silly, not to mention possibly structurally unsound. You could get Ultralites with the thin posts and elephant ears, but that looks out of proportion also. In my opinion, you really can't win with this one - it's going to look off whichever way you try to put what was not designed to be there, there. A bit like oversized wheels on a small car.

If I didn't say it before, I think full sized elephant ears would look bloody ridiculous on the small headstock.

I can vouch for Hipshot (Licensed) Ultralites as a direct replacement for Embassy stock tuners. No fuss replacement - drop straight in and screw holes line up with the original holes. Way smoother and direct acting, much less play in the gears.

I've got a dual footswitch, but I'm a bit too far away - would have gladly loaned it if close by - would even have posted it down if necessary. Let me know if you still need a shottie of it, happy to help. I never use it - on my amp all it triggers is mute or a single eq change (a passive tone knob in effect - which I never use).

It was the 'Spoons first post-lockdown gig last night. It was a mate's wedding - no pressure then! It was unusual circumstances all round - we are an originals band (although we do know some covers that we like to do for fun) and we've never played a wedding before! Thankfully, the drummer and I are also in a covers band so we're happy to set up PA etc. and used to doing it on a regular basis. We went to the venue the day before to set things up so as to minimise the disruption on the day (the whole shebang being in the one big room) and were a bit worried about how echo-y and boomy the room was (albeit when empty). When we got down to playing all together and with bodies in the room it turned out fine. We really weren't sure how we'd go down - sure, the bride and groom like us (that's why they asked us to play) but people who go to weddings generally expect a covers band. Thankfully we had a very generous, open-minded audience who didn't only dance to the covers but stayed on the floor for most of our songs too. The second set went great - after the post buffet mini coma had passed (around half way through) we played "Hard to Handle" and they stayed up for the rest of the set, bless 'em. Got two "one more choon"s, and we dared them to dance to "White Room" - challenge was accepted and they gave it a right good go - some quality robot moves during the 5/4 bolero bits We had a fabulous night - no major fluffs, the bride and groom were very happy (main objective, tick) and we're off and running again. I don't think we'll make a habit of playing weddings - it was a very select circumstance where we knew the bride and groom and I don't think it would have worked at any other wedding. Also, one of the guests was a fellow bass player so I got to talk shop for a bit in the break so that was cool. Next gig - this Saturday with the covers band, Dec 11th for the 'Spoons.

What amazes me about this thread is the OP not even bothering to google The Smiths to find out for themselves who the bass player is. Definitely worth a "let me Google that for you" link at the very least!

Right then, let's have an uninvited, unexpected inspection of your nether regions then. Fair's fair, if you're going to be like that.

A Squier Mini P is £130. If he doesn't stick with it you could get half your money back flogging it second hand without even trying so net it would cost you £65. How much is your time worth?

Is "we're not a f'n jukebox" the wrong answer?

He's got the thousand yard stare of bar staff to me. I love the way he just calmly escorts her away and returns the cap in one motion, smoothly done

"The National Anthem" by Radiohead springs to mind. Dunno if you class it as "best" or even "good" but it's definitely a one string wonder.

To change the subject, we lost out on a gig recently because the guy re-opening the pub we were supposed to be playing didn't get his license through in time. And we couldn't play the following weekend because of folk being on holiday. It's not just COVID and fuel availability impacting gigs - the normal BS reasons are still there also

Could be anything between £250 and £400 depending upon how far we have to travel. I know it wasn't asked for, but up here originals bands have been paid £50 for a 45 min set for as long as I can remember. Inflation is something that happens to other goods and services, it would seem

Best not bring up the "Final" Fantasy series then...

I think sales of delay pedals are going to take a hit. It sounds like we've found a way to delay (musical) output indefinitely.

Who bloody knows anymore, and they've sucked all the motivation to find out, out of me. Sorry.