Silvia Bluejay

What Owen really meant was that that's an offer to kill for, and that everybody would be more than interested to see the bass!

Argh, the cricket bats sound and look horrid. As far as I'm concerned they're best left in the 1980s. One way around the 'boobs getting in the way' problem is, of course, to either strap your bass so it sits round your knees (very punk!), or really high up (as Tal's does in that photo), so it simply leans against your chest rather than prodding it with its horn. My preference is a happy medium, which I find comfortable to my wrists, elbows and fingers, and I'm not going to change it for the sake of playing a bass that happens to be the wrong shape. I have a Warwick Fortress which I love, but I tend to play it mostly while sitting down - because its horn is long enough to interfere when I'm standing...

Posting on behalf of a friend. Emnibis, an Alt Rock Band from Coulsdon, Surrey / South London, are looking for a bass player in their early 20s. Check their Facebook page and look below for more details.

Only problem, Thumbs are seriously, ridiculously, excessively heavy. At least all of those I lifted at the Warwick Custom Shop, when I visited (twice), were.

I was waiting for that. I wouldn't remotely know where to start. I'd be happy to make initial suggestionsto experts, and test prototypes; then again, they'd have to be lefties, wouldn't they? More hornets being stirred as we speak... 😮

LOL LOL! I don't know about Tal - or her boobs! - but mine would really like a better-designed bass! While Warwick Corvettes and Bass Collection instruments are so far the models I find more comfortable than most, neither model is perfect: Corvettes are far too heavy and, despite that, the 5ers suffer from neck dive, while my Bass Collection is light and small but has a P pickup, whose sound I simply hate (all P-sounding basses are anathema to my ears, and I am not apologising for saying that). Having to EQ to dial in my favourite sound every time I want to play it is tedious, when I can simply plug in a Corvette and be ready to play instantly. GAS is good. I like GAS. New, female-friendly bass guitar designs welcome.

I've met her, yes she's small. And no, while she is waay cooler than I will ever be, she does look a bit swamped when she's playing some of her larger basses. The boob that hangs over the top is not the main problem, believe me. It's the one that gets crushed by the upper horn (except when I play a Warwick Corvette) that gives me pain, or at least makes me uncomfortable.

Esperanza also (wo)manhandles a double bass big enough to squish me... 😮 And no, Jazz basses are terrible for a petite person, that horrendous, big, oblong body is a complete disaster - uncomfortable and cumbersome, bass-with-two-little-legs-beneath-it kind of look. (Incidentally, a Precision is almost equally uncomfortale to me.) The only reason why those idiots in the shops were pointing me to a Jazz was because of its thin neck. Luckily being left-handed saved me from having to buy on the spot and from having to argue.

I imagine it's part of the wider attitude that we older women had to face while growing up. 'Yes, of course you can become a mechanical engineer' I was told by my mechanical engineer Dad 'and you'd be great at it, but you'd face so much hostility and discrimination it may stump your career, frustrate you on all levels and not be worth the effort.' This was Italy in the late 70s/early 80s. I didn't become a mechanical engineer.

Welcome to the forum, @BrianGrant bass! Yes, this question is more suited to our Double bass forum. You may find this thread particularly useful. If you have any more queries, ask away in the forum - we have a bunch of very helpful experts there.

I can't make up my mind on whether that's good news (i.e. Yay! More women play an instrument!) or bad news (Woman goes into guitar shop, is steered towards a Fender, buys it because she isn't geeky enough to know there are lots of better choices). (I quickly lost count of the number of times I went into a shop while first-bass-hunting, my only requirement being 'suitable to petite player with small hands', and was offered a frigging Fender Jazz! 😮 Luckily I did know better.)

Back in the room, still busy, blog to be completed asap.

Well, there are a number of us female bass players on here - one of them is even a mod, and she can reply to locked threads! While we are all very, very pretty indeed, most of us are not exactly 'young', so our reaction tends to be a weary shrug of our shoulders, before moving on to another thread or back to practising on our basses.

Um, do you mean Steve Harris? 😮 Edit: referring to MacDaddy's post.

Have a word with @Happy Jack (tomorrow morning) - he spent quite some time playing it.

Excellent! Happy to help - hope it works out for you.

Warren, if you are on Facebook you can join this group and post it there too: Dep Musicians, Vocalists & Bands Across The UK

Regarding the events in the Auditorium, may I suggest we get the speakers a microphone next time? Although the recording devices automatic levelling did a good job of making the whole of the talks and tests audible, it would be a lot easier if the speech was amplified as well as the bass playing, so we could have similar levels from the start. (Yes I know it can be remedied with software - that's not the point.)

Yesterday was one long day for @Happy Jack and me! We left the bash and drove straight to a gig in Dartford. All good - I've got audio and video recordings of the bass and heft tests and of the whole of Richard's talk. I'll probably post the videos in their entirety on youtube and link to them in my forthcoming megablog, but before that, I'll let the BC Podcast team have the audio, in case they decide to publish snippets in the next episode. I've also got loads of photos, of course. I took pics of @Marcoelwray's bass in the jam room, but didn't have the chance to sit anyone down to play it and record their impressions. I'm sure the next person who has it will do so on the forum. It was great to see you guys again, and have the chance to catch up, albeit briefly. 😎

I've tweeted it. I'll also Facebook it. Good luck.

News just in - Paul the Drums is too sick to attend the bash. He apologises for cancelling at the last minute, but his cold seems to have taken a turn for the worse late last night. If anyone knows a drummer who would be willing to attend (with their kit), please feel free to ask them! 😮

Done - thanks!