neepheid

Well, I know some people disagree with this viewpoint, but I believe that some protection is better than none. Are generics as good as custom moulded ones? Of course not. Are they better than nothing? Absolutely! I use generics, and I seem to remember having a stand up argument with someone who was telling me how wrong I was because they used generics and got tinnitus anyway. I guess that would make you bitter, if you took what seemed like reasonable precautions and still got screwed over. Well, I just took the same entrenched position that they work fine for me. It was a really quite boringly predictable internet bun fight. That reminds me, it's probably time for me to renew my generics, had them a few years now.

What can I tell you? The only thing I know about them is that they exist - never seen one in the flesh let alone played one. Rarely come up for sale in second hand channels so I think it's fair to say it's a niche instrument.

Funny (maybe) story - I bought a Tokai Thunderbird because the guitarist in the band I was in at the time said I should be playing a Fender Precision...

Ooh, am I on it? Nah, thought not!

If it's a song that audiences dance to/sing along to - tough luck, just play the damn thing. If not, then argue for its removal from the set. Additional: if it's the former, don't make the mistake of letting your bandmates know that you despise the song. I'll swear those buggers play Don't Stop Believin' extra slow, just to eke out the torture...

Gibson win at something bassy? Does not compute, need to have a lie down...

Wires rule!

That is a fair point - to be completely honest the only time I notice the rolled edges of my Sire's fretboard is when I actively feel for them - in normal playing it doesn't even register.

Have the crime scene photos been declassified yet?

That's a creative way around the swear filter!

I tell you this for nothing - New Year's Eve (Hogmanay) is also my birthday, so you're goddamn right it is my birthday all bloomin' day from 00:00:00 to 23:59:59 on the 31st!

That's fine if it's done when the bass is made - I think the difficulty comes with retrospectively doing this to finished/lacquered maple boards.

I wasn't aware that there were rules, this was just my snarky way of saying as much

Pretty sure the whole day's called New Year's Eve...

Shoulda bought a Sire D5, then it would be done for you

Possibly the worst reason for a cover band to exist. Glad that nonsense got knocked on the head, well done!

Not this year. Plus it's my birthday. Not a significant year, happy to see it in with Jools on the telly and a dram in my hand. To everyone who's performing on Hogmanay - have a great gig!

Zoomed out, chrome hardware, but before I fitted the Supertone. Hope that helps piece the picture together.

NR Thunderbird with chrome Supertone. Sorry the image is a bit painfully cropped...

Zero Mod? Attaches with already existing screws in the pickguard and/or pickup. https://www.zero-mod.com/

I apologise, had a week off, and the week before I had to use a borrowed rig cos my amp died so I wanted the security blanket of a familiar bass. I will be taking the HB-50 out for its first live outing this weekend so I will report back soon.

No need to restrict it, was debating with myself whether or not a distinction needed to be made. Originals, I've seen it go various ways - with a songwriting duo where the drummer and I were sidemen ("if you want to write songs, go form another band" - I appreciated the honesty), to the more collaborative approach I'm used to these days with The Inevitable Teaspoons - where someone will bring in anything from the beginning of an idea to a mostly finished song and we all get to work on refining our parts and make suggestions about others. The collaborative approach is slower, but it's enjoyable, and it's a hobby so we're not exactly bothered if we only release an album once ever 6 years. In the covers band, we're all free to make suggestions, and while we all have a veto we don't tend to use it unless the song is obvious cheese, we try to think about songs from an audience point of view. I do play a couple of songs I can't abide, but it's not about me, the audiences love it and entertaining them is the primary reason for us doing it in the first place. Most suggestions get at least tried - sometimes they fall by the wayside because they sound naff in a single guitar situation, sometimes they'll get as far as a gig and fall flat on their faces, other times they'll naturally drift out of the setlist because we notice they're not doing so well or because we've got bored playing it, or replaced it with something better that does a similar job. There's no tinpot dictator or central figure - we all work together for the good of the show. We're as busy as we want to be so I'd like to think that the strategy works.

I use gigbags with decent padding, unless the bass came with a hard case, then I use that. I have experiemented with a hard foam case, but it is quite limited - can only really accept FSOs (Fender Shaped Objects).

Are you talking covers or originals? Or does it matter (other than there's an extra creative phase, licking a song idea into shape)?

At least they paid you (sounds like you got the agreed fee?)