neepheid

Weekend report time! On Friday night, playing with Nine Lives at O'Donoghues in Aberdeen. A late one - 11pm-2am, and just as well because it was dead when we arrived to set up, not a soul in the place. Ooft. First half had quite the "paid rehearsal" feel about it, but it did start to fill up towards the end of the first half and into the second it was a damn sight better. Curiously, at the break, this lassie came up to us, told us that she was on a work's night out, complimented us as a band (thanks!) then asked for our autographs! Only the drummer and I were around at that time, but we played along and briefly felt more important than we actually are, lol. Gear was Sire D5, then Squier Jag H (with Ibanez CAP double humbucker) into the usual Markbass ISO Standard bass player's rig... But soft! There's more! This afternoon, we played outside on the back of a lorry at the Ellon Gala. Second year we've done it, nice to be asked back. It's a freebie - for the community, innit? Makes me feel a little less mercenary. Supposed to be playing at 4pm, well did a monsoon not chuck itself at the earth around 2pm? We had to close the side tarp of the trailer, and feared the worst for the gig from a health and safety perspective. Thankfully it rained itself out and the sun eventually burned through the clouds. By the time we started, it was glorious again - god bless the Scottish weather, schizo as it is! As you can see, gear was a delectable G&L Tribute SB-2 into the most boring bass rig in human history. Noise making evidence...

My conscience is clear. I entered with the best of intentions, but when you're nearly 50 and a bass comes on the market which has been living rent free in your head for 12 or so years, you don't hesitate. Life is for living - you can't take it with you etc. But I am 100% out. Try again next year. There is no redemption - I am comfortable with the notion that I'm going straight to hell anyway

It's a cesspool out there

I know, wasn't accusing you of anything, I just thought I'd muddy the waters with a different perspective

I don't know if your aim is to basically have a cheapy version of what you already have, but if you want something 5 string, G&L, string spacing on the narrow side but a little different - there's a L-5500 for sale in Exeter on FB right now... https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1851951122259966

If I may offer a counterpoint and another data nugget, I have owned several G&L Tribute basses over the years: L-2000 L-2500 (briefly, took it in a trade - don't play 5s so I can't tell you much about it, sorry) M-2000 LB-100 SB-2 (twice - currently own a surf green one) And each one has had excellent build quality. I would have absolutely no qualms about buying one sight unseen. Experience is a personal thing, I get the whole "once bitten, twice shy" thing, but in reality it's just bad luck. I'm 6 for 6 so does that mean I have been incredibly, lottery winning levels of lucky? I think not.

My personal take is that the locking jack - in a bass/guitar context - is a solution looking for a problem.

Heh, they're almost as divisive as the barrel jacks!

This sucks. Sorry to the OP - terrible situation. I have only tangentially been affected by such shenanigans - was in a band and the band leader waited until I was on holiday to sack the drummer (my mate, who I brought to the band). Turns out my mate was fed a BS line about the band leader having tinnitus and not being able to play with a live drummer any more, except the charlatan had been tapping up a new drummer behind his back. Lovely stuff. I quit on general principle when I got back - in person. I can't deal with that kind of nonsense! Every other band has been fine. My first band dissolved amicably - the drummer and I were sidemen (which was made clear from the get-go - "if you want to write songs, go do it with another band" is a rough quote of what was said - it was curt but it was clear) and one day the band leader called a meeting, said he didn't want to do this band any more, cashed us out, shook hands, done. And no, the band didn't suddenly reappear with a new singer and rhythm section - he was true to his word and formed an entirely new band with a very different musical output! Fair play. I've been playing with my drummer in bands since 2009 - we're owners of the PA, we argue like Waldorf and Statler, we're a unit. Everyone else can be replaced (not that I want to replace you - if any of the people I'm currently in bands with read this!)

The place is about as Irish as my big toe

Absolute tripe!

Busy weekend ahead for Nine Lives - on Friday night playing at O'Donoghues in Aberdeen, then on Sunday afternoon playing on the back of a lorry at the Ellon Gala - yay, outdoor gig!

You know when you're stripping wallpaper and you find some funky 60s/70s wallpaper behind the stuff you're stripping?

You're all as bad as each other.

My strings arrived today (well, yesterday, technically - but I got the delivered to the Amazon locker at work, and they arrived after I left work). Happy to report that all are fine, look legit and all the Players Circle codes worked.

HA

All barrel jacks are the work of the devil, regardless of who made them. Neutrik make barrel jack sockets - although I think they are branded Rean these days, but it's the same company. And people love to get sloppy with the naming when they think Neutrik sounds cooler and it's not "wrong" enough to be officially called on it. https://www.rean-connectors.com/en/product/nys2203

Here we go again

Like the Lace Aluma-P I put in the G4M P bass I bought last year...

Phew, they're shorties.

Saturday night, playing with Nine Lives at Wilsons in Aberdeen. Some context for you non-football following types, Wilsons is a football bar. That afternoon, Aberdeen FC won the Scottish Cup for the first time in 35 years. So we were expecting busy times, and so it turned out to be - especially in the second half when people either came in from other bars or had made their way back from Glasgow (where the match was played). It was loud - in most breaks between songs an Aberdeen FC football chant would erupt - we politely let them complete the first few, then we kinda ignored them and just cracked on regardless of what they were singing, lol. So, the gig was going great but unfortunately, as is so often the case at these kind of affairs, one person (there's always one) had overindulged and had a massive navigation fail on the way to the bogs, stumbled over - past the front of me and taking out the singer (who ended up on her backside) and landing in amongst the drums! FFS! I grabbed his arm as he went past, but he was a hefty bloke and there wasn't much I could do versus the inevitablility of gravity So there was a break in the proceedings as we checked on our poor singer (who thankfully was OK, just a bit shaken up) and then the drummer rearranged his kit back into some semblance of order. The guy was steamin' - super apologetic, in that annoying, insistent drunk way - we politely but firmly instructed him to just go to the bog as originally intended. Thankfully, the rest of the gig went without a hitch, I played pretty well - couple of bloops when I was more concerned with protecting my pedalboard from being accidentally stood on, but decent all the same. Roastin' though! I was absolutely disgustingly damp by the end of it. Still managed to do a wireless walkabout during the last song, difficult at times though it was to get through folk - guitarist was soloing his fingers off and beginning to wonder if I was ever coming back! All in all, great night though. Bit of a bummer at the end though - it had been raining during the gig and while we were unloading stuff and packing cars, the singer, having already been poleaxed by a large, drunk guy missed the kerb outside and ended up falling on the pavement, skinning her knees! Talk about being in the wars! She's OK though, bit bruised and battered but unbowed! Gear was the Burny LSB-80 followed by the SGC Nanyo into the usual Markbass cubes.

I've put Epiphone Jack Casady basses in both the Rockbags. They offer decent padding/protection, but the geometry is a bit off - if you put it on one shoulder it can swing round on you. But in the paucity of other options, they're pretty good. I don't know how available they are but I briefly owned a Blake Bravo gigbag, it was a very impressive gigbag - loads of padding, moveable neck support. You can see it in this sale ad - I sold the gigbag with the bass it was protecting. https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/495701-harley-benton-hb-50-sold That's the best I can do for you. Good luck with finding something suitable!

Doesn't look too bad - you might want to clean up that milky looking area with some IPA (isopropyl alcohol, not india pale ale, lol). Solder joints look solid enough, so my money is on the DC jack itself having failed. I'd replace it.

Wonderful ideas, people, but I don't want to attack this bass with power tools any more than it already has - it's already had holes filled and redrilled for F pattern 5 screw bridges. My ultimate goal would be to obtain an original Fernandes BB-8 bridge and return it to how it was designed in the first place.

I'm here to ask a massive favour - I'd like to buy something small in Japan from a Japanese only site. They do not appear to offer international shipping and you can't even register for an account if you don't live in Japan. Does anyone have a contact/friend/family member in Japan who could act as go-between on my behalf? Is the site even legit? Just going by Google Translate here. It's this bridge here - https://fershop.net/product_info.php/manufacturers_id/38/products_id/1003 - I'd really like to get the original bridge for my Burny LSB-80, but as you can imagine they don't come up very often (yes, I just missed out on one recently on eBag). I would be very grateful if anyone in the BC community could help me out with this, long, convoluted shot that it is. Thanks!