BigRedX

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1487152536' post='3237474'] Thousands stay away as Kiss member wears the wrong watch shocker! [/quote] I'd find it hard to believe that a band so involved in their image as Kiss, would even consider wearing a watch on stage. I challenge you to find me a photo of one of them wearing one.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1487151265' post='3237460'] Surely it depends if you wear it on your right or left wrist? [/quote] If you must wear one, it goes on the wrist of your fretting hand. On the other wrist it just gets in the way of your playing.

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1487150167' post='3237448'] I get it. It's just that for [i]most[/i] bands a wrist watch wouldn't impact the style in any significant way [/quote] For me, getting the details right is just as important. In fact if your band does have an "image" the wrong details will be much more noticeable and detract from the overall picture. There's nothing wrong with wearing the right watch as part of your "look", but IME most mens watches are ugly over-sized random lumps of plastic and metal.

[quote name='radiophonic' timestamp='1487147018' post='3237409'] Didn't Mick Karn play one for years (pre-Wal)? [/quote] He didn't get his Wal until just before recording "Tin Drum" so the majority of his bass lines in Japan were recorded with the TB2000, and IMO sounded better for it.

Relicing aside, how do these basses get in such a state anyway? Up until I sold it last year, one of my main basses was an Overwater Original made in the mid 80s. From when I bought it in the early 90s until I bought my first Gus some 15 years ago it was getting played at least a hour every day, taken to rehearsals twice a week and gigged every other week. I was careful with it, but never precious. I'm also a pretty "physical" player and energetic performer on stage. It might have picked up a ding or two on the way, but nothing noticeable without a close inspection. In fact the most significant wear was that the chrome plating had started to come off a couple of the machine heads. That's for a bass that was over 30 years old and had been well used for the majority of those years.

[quote name='Sparky Mark' timestamp='1487117061' post='3237324'] I'm sure you wouldn't kick a Fender Custom Shop Pino Palladino out of bed. [/quote] I would. To me it's dull, boring and ugly in every way.

OTOH if you want to hear what the original Gizmotron was capable of in the hands of its inventors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDTzAfEow2c

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1487101990' post='3237171'] Hey, who said you could walk all over other peoples fantasies. Get your own. [/quote] I wasn't aware that I had. And if I did I'm sorry.

[quote name='GreeneKing' timestamp='1487099488' post='3237127'] I just wondered, with you being a Nottingham musician. Not everyone's cuppa for sure. Sunhouse 'Crazy on the Weekend' is one of my favourite albums but my taste in music is pretty wide:) [/quote] TBH I've been so busy just playing in my own bands that I don't get a lot of time to listen to other local musicians unless they happen to be on the same bill as us. Unfortunately when I was growing up I was forbidden to have an electric guitar by my parents, so I've got an aversion to most acoustic music.

The closest you are going to get to a TB2000 without actually buying one is something from the [url="http://www.electricalguitarcompany.com"]Electrical Guitar Company[/url]. Have a look at their EGC2000 Bass.

I don't get this tuning problems myth that seems to follow these instruments around. I've not owned a Travis Bean, but I have had (and used live) examples of pretty much all the other metal necked and bodied instruments that have come and gone over the years, and so long as you don't expect them to remain in tune after taking directly from a cold van or dressing room onto a hot and sweaty stage (and I wouldn't expect a wooden instrument to fare any better in those circumstances) then they hold their tuning perfectly well.

[quote name='GreeneKing' timestamp='1487094682' post='3237027'] Some good suggestions. A little fantasy does no harm BigRed, I'm a Gavin Clark fan, do you know the fella? Peter [/quote] Sorry, no. I'd never heard of him, and now having had a listen to a couple of his songs I know why. Not my kind of thing in the slightest.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1487094595' post='3237025'] What a ludicrous statement. I know about Jedward because of their stupid hair. Doesn't mean that they are of any music merit. If you aren't doing it for the music, aren't you just another sell out? Or is it indeed, style (if that's what it is) over substance. [/quote] No as I keep saying it is style AND substance. It seems to be a particularly male trait to pretend not to get this and IMO nothing to be proud of.

I've only ever once wanted to be a member of a band that I wasn't already in, and that was early on in my bass playing days when there was an awesome Nottingham band called "None So Blind". From early 1981 when I first discovered them to the end of 1983 when their original drummer left (unfortunately IMO it all went downhill after that), I would have given anything to have had the opportunity to be their bass player. I had to settle for being a slightly obsessive fan, roadie and occasional sound engineer.

That's the one! Did you save any of the other photos?

I've owned two basses that have had noticeable wear to them. One was the first bass I ever owned, and TBH it's tatty state meant that I could actually afford to buy it. It's too far gone to be worth restoring, but recently I have been eyeing up examples that are in better/more original condition with a view to replacing it. The other one, once I'd decided that it was worth keeping, went straight back to the person who made it for a full overhaul and refinish. When it came back, apart from a small about of wear to the fingerboard, it looked like a brand new bass.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1487080800' post='3236831'] I think I'd be more concerned about the front man wearing nothing but a fur coat and frilly panties for what looks like a fairly regular tickled trout pub gig than whether the bassist is wearing a watch or not! [/quote] Which means that his attire has done the job. You've remembered who we are and what we look like. On the other hand I know nothing about your band.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1487080259' post='3236825'] We take the piss out of drummers yet we now have a thread suggesting you should not wear a watch on stage, whatever next?! [/quote] IMO a band should present themselves properly on stage and that means attention to detail in what you wear just as much as what you play, especially if you wan to be stand out and be remembered. I really don't think that anyone actually needs a watch to tell the time while they are on stage performing. If you've done your pre-gig preparation properly then you'll know how long the set lasts and also how long each individual song is so that you can adjust as required to take account of any over-run. Maybe if it fits your band image than a suitably ostentatious watch will look the part, but otherwise, IMO it's a random piece of tat clogging up your wrist.

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1487076489' post='3236771'] <rushed off to google a Baz Extravaganza Punk Rock Bass but found nothing> [/quote] Unfortunately the Bas Extravaganza site is no more and most of the images including that of the Punk Rock Bass have gone with it. The bass itself used to be owned by someone who posted on here occasionally, but I haven't seen them about for some years now. Imagine a Fender Precision battered to within an inch of total destruction, but still (just) playable.

[quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1487075438' post='3236753'] One digital, one traditional, of course. [/quote] But why did you need to know the time while you were playing on stage? It's as bad as people who take their phones with them on stage...

That along with the Baz Extravaganza Punk Rock Bass are the only Fender-esque instruments I'd consider playing.

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1487074279' post='3236736'] That's what's attracting me - the nuances that can be achieved - it seems to make the bass almost cello-esque.... [/quote] Exactly. However before you go ordering one, I suggest that you have a read of the [url=http://www.gizmotron.com/pub/files/gizmotron_manual_rev_C_small.pdf]Installation Guide[/url] first.

From what I've seen, the Gizmotron 2 is a massive step forward from the original model. However IMO it still suffers the problem from being too inclusive when it come to the range of guitars and basses they can be fitted to. The thing that puts me off more than anything else is the complexity of the installation. The original prototype Gizmo from the 1970s was a far more elegant and much less obtrusive device, because it was built directly onto the bridge of Lol Creme's Strat and seemed to work much better than the Mk1 production model. I'm sure they could make a far better device if they built it directly onto a replacement bridge (Strat and Tune-o-matic for guitar and Fender BBOT for the bass) rather than trying to shoe-horn it onto just about any bass or guitar. Edit: And yes it has been pretty much replaced by affordable keyboard synths, but IMO there is still a use for the Gizmotron. It's a lot more "playable" than a guitar or bass driven synth.

[quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1487072965' post='3236713'] I wore two watches at my last gig. On the same wrist. What does that mean?!?!?! [/quote] Why? Who needs to know what time it is when you are on stage?

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1487000842' post='3236157'] I'm guessing that cufflinks and a tie-clip are right out then? [/quote] If they are part of the band image then a suitable matching pocket watch is going to be OK. Just no horrible wrist weight masquerading as a timepiece.