neepheid

There is a cheese pile which we refuse to play, and SoF and Dakota are on it (along with Sweet Child of Mine). Can't kill Summer of 69 though. And why does Bad Moon Rising *always* work? Ditto on the Tainted Love - always goes down well because everyone knows it. We play it at northern soul speed and add nods to the Soft Cell version (chiefly the "*Bam* *Bam* - Get/Run away" bit)

Don't make me explain the joke Unless it wasn't funny of course, then

Bash him over the head. We all have to play songs we wouldn't necessarily listen to in order to entertain, it's the job, innit? It's not about him, it's not about what he likes, it's about the punters. Give the punters what they want, simples. He needs to get that through his thick skull, otherwise every time I've played "Don't Stop Believin'" through gritted teeth has been for naught. People have been sacked from bands because of this stick-in-the-mud attitude before, and just because he's BL simply means he could end up bandless.

Oh look, it's Oskar Schindler's pedalboard...

It's not that it doesn't mean anything, it's that it means different things to different people.

Once I get the mounting saga completed (waiting for proper screws - not Lace's fault, cheapo bass in non-standard pickup route shocker!), and I get it into a full, war volume scenario I will update.

Normally a PF500 would have to be in a rehearsal rental room for at least 5 mins to acquire such damage. These couriers are savages.

We're still officially in the hype stage.

Dinna fash yersel', fit's wrang wi' this noo?

They're pretty damn invisible in those shots. Hopefully they'll take better pics when they have the actual units.

Oh yeah, and we all look as handsome and are as strong as the guy on the box.

Thought I'd dredge this up to say Andertons has one black one left at a mere £199... https://www.andertons.co.uk/soloking-mj1-classic-4-string-bass-in-metallic-black/ Bit naughty of them to claim it used to be £299 though - they were £249 when I bought mine and it wasn't reduced IIRC.

Describing sounds in words in a universally understood way is hard.

Also, the Embassy is usually significantly cheaper than the Thunderbird, the geometry is "better" (in that the tuners are not in the next time zone), and the Embassy I had was super light - great if you like that sort of thing/have back issues.

Eh, it's a rat bass, I'm not that bothered what's on the headstock. Thanks for the info though.

Beat me to it

I would have typed this almost exactly the same thing. Especially the considering selling losses as "rental" - damn, I thought I came up with that

Fair point on the first one. In a way it's better than trying in a shop - you can take it to a band rehearsal or some such setting and try the bass in the real world application you intend to play it in going forward. Just be careful with it during transportation and the session, of course! On the second one - people* who are fortunate enough to live near such places would do well to check their privilege before telling us chancers who buy sight unseen that we're doing it wrong. * (not having a dig at you here @TimR, merely using your sentence as a jumping off point)

Fitted a little quality of life/aesthetic improvement - Sire style 3 string retainer, and thank you to whoever made this bass for putting the original string retainer in front of the A tuner, so could use existing hole and no holes to fill

No more difficult than operating a string winder, I guess. String winder's quicker though. But you knew that, you wee stirrer

I use a Planet Waves one which is also a pair of string snips. Had it for years, still works.

A rare night out for The Inevitable Teaspoons this coming Saturday at Drummonds in Aberdeen. Come down and see me mullering original tunes (most of which I had a hand in writing!) instead of mullering classic rock covers for a change

So, a Lace Aluma-P arrived and I put it in the G4M P bass. Eventually. Be warned, either Lace don't know the standard dimensions of a P bass pickup or whoever made this bass doesn't (my money is on Lace knowing what's what), because the cutout is about 5mm too wide (both halves) and I had to make a new screw hole on the right side of both halves of the pickup. Doesn't matter from an aesthetics point of view, it's a rat bass, it knows what it is. Also, the pickup cavity is deeper than normal, because the stock pickup has the bar magnet crudely glued to the underside of the bottom bobbin, so needs a deeper cavity to accommodate this. The Lace Aluma-P has no appreciable mounting lugs (unlike a regular P bass cover) so the screws sit lower relative to a regular pickup. So there's a risk that if you use the existing screws, you could screw through the back of the bass. Now Lace know this and supply short screws. Trouble with that is that then the pickup sits far too low in this extra deep cavity. To work around this, first I used the original screws with the springs above the pickup mounting lug acting as improvised spacers, but then I had a brainwave and borrowed some screws from a bridge humbucker pickup ring (being 2.5x16mm - the Lace screws are 12mm) to get the pickup up to the correct height. I've ordered some screws (2.5x18mm - which are actually intended to be string tree screws) so things will be a bit more secure and I'll be able to return the screws I borrowed to the thing I borrowed them from. Original, super janky mount with original screws and springs acting as spacers (foam pushing up from the bottom): And done properly (albeit with borrowed screws - to be replaced) Sounds great BTW - really punchy, tight sound but not sterile. Great upgrade. Looking forward to giving it a proper razz at a band rehearsal this week.

Because of my geographic location, trying before I buy is an expensive waste of time. When I buy something new at distance, if I don't like it I can just send it back - it's cheaper than a round trip to Glasgow (or further). If I buy used then I have built up enough skills to recover all but the most damaged lemons. If you don't have the setup/repair skills necessary to get yourself out of most holes, then maybe you should check basses out in person before you buy. Most basses are "fine", some need fettling, few are genuinely irredeemable. I know what I like and what I don't so I don't tend to buy things I won't at least enjoy for a while.

Played with Nine Lives at Wilsons in Aberdeen last night. No gear photos, sorry - some muppet left his phone at home, d'oh! Gig went pretty well, we're still getting used to the new PA speakers so took a couple of songs to get the levels etc. right. A few fluffs here and there but no-one seemed to mind. Plenty busy in the first half - maybe a bit too busy - had some woman grinding up behind me during one song, not so much as a cigarette paper between us but oh well, at least I didn't get groped. Grin and bear it - the perils of performing at floor level I guess. Second half was quieter, but we hardened up the rock a bit and they were digging it. Also our guest "guitarist" Gordon came up for a few songs, so that was fun. Gear was the Sire D5 followed by the Reverend Triad into the usual rig - Markbass Mini CMD121P IV + New York 121