BigRedX

I've got a Burns Barracuda (Bass VI). It's as well made as anything else with a £500-600 price from the far east. There are a couple of design issues that mean it's no longer my first choice of Bass VI, but those are down to it sharing too many common parts with the Marvin guitar which really IMO should have been redesigned for a bass instrument. If it wasn't for those I would still be using it as my main instrument in one of my bands and not looking to replace it with a second Eastwood Hooky. By comparison I used to own a 1962 Burns Sonic Bass. This was no-where near as good an instrument although it did have a unique sound that I've never quite been able to duplicate on any other bass due to having the two Tri-Sonic pickups wired in series when both were on. Overall the modern Burns instruments are well made but probably not quite as unique or quirky as those from the 60s and 70s.

And just for balance... IME Ashdown are the worst. They treated me really badly when I had a problem with one of their amps due to it being badly designed. I would have put it down to experience but I then I discovered that someone else with exactly the same problem with their amp that had been bought second hand had their's fixed for free. When I called them out on it here on Basschat, their rep took the fosters. Nasty people with double standards. Personally I'll never buy or use any of their products ever again.

You still play your bass, just not with the amp switched on. I do nearly all my practice with the bass unplugged, and only have it plugged in when I am sorting out the sounds on my Helix that I am going to use for a song.

I've used Shirty Something for Terrortones T-Shirts and I believe the last In Isolation design was done by them too. However I'm not impressed with the current web site design as it makes finding print prices far too difficult. In fact AFAICS you now have to call or email them to even get a quote for anything other than unprinted items. That certainly wasn't the case when I last used them. BTW the full colour design while looking fantastic may turn out to be too expensive to print unless you are considering a print-run of thousands

When this body shape was originally released for the Thunderbird and Firebird, Gibson were threatened with legal action by Fender due to it being slightly similar to the Jazzmaster. Therefore the body shape was modified and renamed "Non-Reverse" - the original shape being "reversed" from how a guitar would be traditionally shaped. Yes, it's complicated and non-intuitive.

On Saturday I was back at The Angel this time with In Isolation supporting B-Movie. The gig was sold out and I have never seen the venue so full. There were people queuing up the stairs waiting to get in just after we had finished our sound check, and during the gig the room was rammed with the promoter turning people away who didn't have tickets. Played really well including the new songs and the audience who more mostly there to see B-Movie were very appreciative. Sold some CDs and T-Shirts. And got more gigs in 2024 from the promoter. I don't think there will be any photos to post as I didn't see anyone taking any while we were playing. New gig on Sunday 3rd at The Black Bull in Gateshead - apparently it's in the afternoon.

Deconstructing a song from a musical PoV doesn't tell you why it is great.

Which is a cover - the original is by 60s garage band The Wilde Knights.

The reissues don't have much in common with the originals other than the body and headstock shapes are similar. Different pickups in different positions and a different scale length. I used to own the limited edition 5-string which was essentially a TRB II with the "samurai" body and headstock shape.

Looks like it’s been made using a wooden body to make the mold.

In Isolation have a series of gigs to round off 2023 where we will also be selling CD copies of our new single - our version of "I Believe In Father Christmas". Saturday 25th November at The Angel in Nottingham Supporting B-Movie (sold out) Sunday 3rd December at The Black Bull in Gateshead with The Scarlet Hour (afternoon gig) Friday 8th December at Ye Olde Salutation Inn in Nottingham with Discord & Rhyme and Ombudsmen Friday 22nd December at The Fidler's Elbow in London with Discord & Rhyme and The Jan Doyle Band

In Isolation have made our version of I Believe In Father Christmas available on limited edition CD. I also includes the Matt Pop remix of the track. Copies will be on sale at our next four gigs and should also be on our Bandcamp page later today (you can already buy the downloads).

...and here I am in my 60s still playing, writing and gigging

I'll be playing the Gus on Saturday (and for the rest of the gigs this year) with In Isolation.

Anything that will hold the nut in place will do. I've owned guitars where the pressure of the strings was the only thing holding the nut in place which I didn't discover until I restrung it. If you are planning on making lots of adjustments, I'd go for something that will hold the nut in place with no strings attached but will allow you to break the bond with a single careful tap of a hammer.

A band is never "better than that venue" and even if you think you are don't say it out loud. If you don't want to do the gig politely turn down it down, saying the band are not available that night. You never know some point in the future this might become a gig worth playing and you don't want to ruin your chances now by something you'll regret later.

I take it the saddles are as low as they will go, and the action is still high? If so you'll ultimately need to re-print the neck pocket, either shallower or at an angle depending on what suits you best. I'd start by adding a shim in the body-end third of the neck pocket to see what sort of an angle or how shallower the pocket needs to be. Start with a single thickness of business card and build up in necessary until you get a decent action on the neck and the scales are no longer sitting flush with the bridge base plate. Then you can use that to calculate how much higher the neck pocket needs to be at the body end when you reprint it. You are correct about the nut, the fact side faces the fingerboard, the curved side faces the machine heads. Regarding the hum - have you earthed the bridge? If not run a wire from the bridge base plate to the earth on the output jack and see how much difference that makes. You'll probably want to shield the control cavity and maybe the pickup cavities too and bond them all to the signal earth. Otherwise that is looking good!

In Isolation will be playing our version of "I Believe In Father Christmas" at all our December gigs. There will be a CD single available to buy as well.

It's just a question of undoing the screws, carefully lifting out the panel and then shinning a torch inside to see if there's anything attached to the back of the magnets and feeling around inside for anything loose rattling about. Looking at the photos of the cab on the PJB website removing the top carry handle should also give access to the insides. However if you really don't want to do this I'd start by blocking off the additional screw holes that are letting air out and see if that makes any difference.

The easiest songs to learn are the ones where the bass part is roughly what I would have come up with had I written it. It has nothing to do with how simple or complex the actual part is. The ones I find difficult to play and/or learn are sparse lines with unusual (for me) rhythms and songs where the all the parts use the same chords but in different orders.

Photos from Hurtsfall's Wednesday night gig:

Have you had the cab open yet? I had a weird distortion/rattle sound on my Tokai Talbo Jr guitar which has a built-in amp and speaker. When I took the back off I discovered several ball ends from broken stings attached to the speaker magnet. Removing them also removed the weird sounds. It may be that something has come apart inside the cab and is causing the problem.

Rare mid-week gig for Hurtsfall last night at The Angel in Nottingham. This was actually our first proper "headlining" gig with support from Beck Stacey. Debdepan, Feather Trade all of whom were brilliant. With four bands playing, the evening over-ran slightly and there was no time left for us to do an encore even though there were requests for us to do one more. There were a couple of glitches one where it seemed like the whole PA cut out for a beat during one of the songs and our singer came in too early for the last verse of the last song, but I suspect most people didn't notice either. A decent turn out for a gig on a "school night" although not as packed as our last few. Nice to see plenty of familiar faces in the audience which means that we most definitely have a "following" now and also a lot of new ones, some of whom appeared to know the songs! Hopefully photos will appear later on Facebook that I can repost. That's it for Hurtsfall live for 2023. We'll be finishing off the "Christmas Song" this weekend for release as a single in early December, and working on other new songs for the gigs we already have arranged in 2024. On Saturday I'll be back at The Angel with my other band, In Isolation, supporting B-Movie when I'm expecting the venue to be packed as tickets sold out weeks ago!

I'm down to 4 from about 40 - a main and a spare for each band (I play 5-string in one and Bass VI in the other). If I could use the same bass for both bands I'd be down to 2.

Have you tried one? I had massive gas for one of these when I first discovered on-line bass forums. When I actually came to play one I was extremely underwhelmed.