bassace

Mariah would be worth a laugh.

Great, Bilbo. I remember when he did a lot of live TV. And before that he was pianist in the Johnny Dankworth Band. By far the standout jazz big band of its time.

Nice one, Pete. I had a little Standard 10 with a roof rack. One evening after a gig I took my girlfriend home. I can't remember why but perhaps I wanted a more comfortable car to 'say goodnight' to the girlfriend so on the way to her house I stopped off at home and swapped my car for my dad's zephyr. On the way back home after dropping off the girlfriend I was hit head on by a pissed army officer. I was hospitalised for a couple of weeks and all my mates wanted to know was if my bass was ok. Which, of course, it was.

I've got an expensive year coming up so I'd like to avoid GAS2017. I'll take my OneTen to the gig tomorrow and hope that it will do all I need. Otherwise a new BF Super Midget is in prospect. On the bright side it'll help in reducing an embarrassing profit in my year's accounts.

It happens to us all from time to time. I've been using my Kolstein Travel Bass for the past couple of months which is easy on the fingers. But I've got a heavy duty jazz gig in Oxford on Tuesday on double bass. I've been soaking my fingers in surgical spirit for the past week in the hope that they will harden. Time will tell. I've been through the blisters phase before; fingers recover.

In my early days the bass went on the roof because cars were really small back then. I wish I had some pics.

Have a good one, all you fellow Basschatters. Peace on earth.

On most gigs I do I'd get the call 'A minor/C major. The second bit is really superfluous bit it all helps with the orientation.

Thanks for that, very interesting. It's worth noting that up until about 1910 American Musicals were all founded on waltzes, two beats and polkas. Then Jerome Kern started writing songs for musicals in 4/4 time. Thus the modern American musical was born and jazz musicians hung their hats on the Great American Songbook ever since, playing mostly in 4/4.

That's very interesting. Can you enlighten me, do you know how far back this was the case?

4/4 of course. Plus whatever else comes along. To say you have a favourite, or prefer anything, above 4/4 is just plain pretentious.

Those library steps! Score as many points as hatpeg tuners.

Sorry scalpy, it's an old musicians' joke.

Wasn't there the instance of the percussionist who went to sleep during a five minute rest in a long piece. He then woke up, disoriented and hit the first thing he could find which was a large gong. Which brought the whole orchestra to a stop. So he turned to the audience, bowed and solemnly announced, 'Dinner is served'.

So how much higher do you want you riser to be.

He's very good at singing other people's (mainly Guy Cambers) songs, much like eg Susan Boyle. So no icon. But his concert last night was great, especially the drummer. So busy I was initially thinking there were two kits.

Michael Stipe's appearance on The One Show was one of those TV moments to treasure. He really didn't want to be there.

Misuse of the word 'epicentre'. Plus, what's the point of this nonsense anyway? Bah humbug.

I don't know what all the fuss is about. I thought Tapestry was very good.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1479497278' post='3177072'] I would bet there are a lot of musicians from that golden era that are all approaching 75. Some we know very well most we've never heard of. Blue [/quote] Well, I'm in the latter category, Blue. And I'm 75. So I'd better be very careful on my way to the gig tomorrow. Stratford on Avon if anyone's interested.

My T&G Martin double bass is up for sale. I've had an enquiry from a Levent Suer. Does anyone know him? All info gratefully received.

Could have been Georgie Fame's favourite uncle.

Careful. The Remic Studio mic is liked by the TB guys but this live version less so. I've no first hand experience but our friends across the pond are just that bit ahead of the curve and their opinions are worth taking seriously.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1478546609' post='3169812'] Well I've got a Schaller as has Bassace (Roger, a wiser man than me), we both like them and people have fitted them without drilling using various contraptions. I've drilled mine though [/quote] Not sure about the wise, Pete.

Yes, my Kolstein is very unbalanced across the strings - loud on the E going to quiet on the G - and this is picked up with a piezo. After I saw and heard Pete's Schiller I fitted one and it sorted the imbalance, made the rig feedback free and it cuts through the mix in the band. So much so that I get plenty of compliments from the musos - somewhat to my surprise, may I add. I still prefer a Piezo on my better basses but the mag should certainly not be discounted. And I was quite happy to drill pilot holes for the screws into the fingerboard. They're very small diameter screws.