neepheid

May has been a quiet month - well done to all. Main news I guess is my own downfall, all over the heads of a £40 pedal, oops. 3 more brave soldiers fell in May leaving 25 still standing. Let's see how June treats us.

I am aware. But I do not believe that SBMM would autonomously go ahead and do this without EBMM telling them to do so, hence my props going to EBMM.

Right, is that this FOMO charade over for now then? Gotta hand it to them, well played EBMM.

I'm just happy to get the correct notes in the correct places most of the time. Nor do I have a lot of effects to choose from - just varying degrees of OD and a harmoniser (which does a variety of things, but is mostly used as an auto downtuner, or as an octave doubler - we only have a single guitarist so some songs sound better with me having the octave above) For Wishing Well, it's neck pickup (if there's a choice), tone wound down, OD on, probably at its mildest setting - just want a bit of grit. I dunno how "faithful" that is to the original, but at least it sounds like I paid some attention to it The OD in question is in my Joyo Monomyth, but any appropriately set OD will do the job I reckon. I like OD pedals that have a couple of degrees of severity available at the flick of a switch, punters don't want to see me fiddling with knobs for five minutes between each song. "This is a heavy one" - flick a switch, job done.

Oh I bloody hope this becomes a real thing that I can buy.

Umm, move along, nothing to see here!

Yas, another person not afraid to use a Mojomojo with bass. I salute thee.

I always thought that Markbass were posh/fancy amps. Threads like these make me think that they're actually "world's okayest bass amps"? Well, my limited experience (having only owned five amps total) leaves me with: Tecamp Puma 900 - wonderful amp, super powerful and super easy to dial in an agreeable tone Markbass Mini CMD121P IV + New York 121 - my modular, go-to rig. I run it flat (apart from a degree of Old School), it sounds great. RedSub BT5110 + BFM Omni 10 - my rig for 10+ years, pokey sound, strong mids, great live rig.

And you have to pay tax on that when it arrives. What a con!

Bottom bank of five - standard Strat style options - N, N+M, M, M+B, B (all parallel) Top bank of five - the weird stuff - N+M (series), N+B (parallel), N+B (series), N+M+B (parallel), M+B (series) There is an alternative wiring scheme which replaces the last setting with N+M+B (series) should you prefer that.

Well, I'll play along, although I'm an awkward bugger who has a foot in both camps. I'd rather have the variety of owning many basses. They're as interchangeable as my shirts.

Why does it have to be binary? I have examples of both in my stable, and I enjoy them all, otherwise I wouldn't own them.

Here's my modded Reverend Triad. Can you spot the mod? Of course you can't, because that's the point. It's got a Freeway 10 way switch fitted. Direct replacement for the standard 5 way blade, virtually imperceptible from the outside unless you look at the switch tip being at a slight angle. Sneaky bugger, innit?

I reckon there are cesspools in every country in the world, yeah...

On Sunday we're playing at Ellon Gala, we'll be on 4-5pm...

I've had this happen to me before too, and I did feel a little taken advantage of, yes. It just felt a bit... grubby for want of a better word.

I doubt you'll easily (or cheaply) find a direct replacement. No, you can't have mine Fill, redrill, fit whatever you like.

Sidebar, but what's the rush? If you can't afford £100 now, put what you can aside a month until you can. I know that's an unfashionable way of looking at things in today's world of fast, easy credit, but if you set that aside and call it your "bass fund", then there's no guilt when it gets spent on a bass.

Neighbour test, passed! Or failed, depending upon your point of view, I suppose

Oh boy, hold my beer. In 2009 I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Standard bass. Nice, right? Except I couldn't leave it alone. My first mod was to replace the pickups with EMG-HB actives. In the beginning it was simple passive tone controls and I put some abalone topped knobs on it because I was feeling fancy (got no clear photos of that though). Then I shoehorned in an EMG-BQC 3 band EQ and changed the knobs to be black John East ones. Then, I addressed the thing which was bugging me all along - the lack of selector switch in the usual Les Paul place. I found out that all the channelling and routing is there, they just don't bother drilling and fitting the switch on the basses. So I sorted that. Then I sold it. Then I regretted it. Then I tracked it down and bought it back. On its travels, it acquired Schaller straplocks, can't take the credit for that mod. Eventually, I got a bit bored of the EMG sound. Then Squier came out with their devastatingly lovely black and gold 40th anniversary models and I got to thinking how good this bass would look if given the black and gold treatment. So it got gutted, and the following fitted instead: Wilkinson WJB750 gold tuners DiMarzio X2N-B (DP125) pickups in black bobbins with gold rails Babicz three point replacement bridge in gold (ONLY BECAUSE YOU CAN'T FIND A GOLD THREE POINTER FOR LOVE NOR MONEY - I TRIED) New pots (including two push/push knobs for series/parallel on the tone knobs) Gold bell knobs Gold knob pointers Gold jack socket, gold three way switch with black tip, black pickup rings And for the final finishing touch, I had a custom "poker chip" made which reads DO / DO NOT, which mirrors general Star Wars related geekery and an inherent dislike of bridge pickups. All mods done by me, except for the final rewire which I bodged and handed it over to a tech to salvage because my confidence took a hit and I couldn't face re-rewiring. I am delighted with how this bass looks and sounds. It is done now. End of shaggy dog story.

A Precision bass has a wider neck than a Jazz bass. Some people prefer this, some people don't care and some people (like yourself) don't like it. I wouldn't muck about with the bass you have, I'd use this information you've learned to get a bass you find comfy (sounds like you should be aiming for a nut width of 38mm - the Precision will be something like 42-45mm depending on how "vintage" the Precision in question is wanting to be), and sell the Precision on. You could bugger about with replacement necks, but IME that's a worse faff than just accepting that you bought a bass you don't get along with and moving it on. Or grin and bear it and get used to it. I think that's all the options covered.

It's not a democracy though.

The next time someone asks you "why Thunderbird?" just show them this picture.