rushbo

The strap button on the butt end of my P Bass came off at the soundcheck of a gig - fortunately, I managed to catch the instrument on its way to the floor. I bodged it with a couple of matchsticks, screwed the pin back and it seemed secure enough, but I still used my spare - after tightening both the strap buttons on it!

I have the luxury of a spare bass, so it comes with me to every gig. I've broken about five strings at shows since I started gigging in 1986, so some people might think that carting another instrument about is a waste of effort. I would disagree. It takes seconds to swap basses - certainly less time than it takes to change a string. I have also had the strap button come away from the body of my bass at a gig, so the spare was pressed into service on that occasion, too. For me, it's insurance - the mild inconvenience of having one extra thing to bring to a gig is outweighed by the piece of mind. And, if I'm doing a two-set gig and I'm feeling saucy, I might give the backup a run out too.

Maintenance is one of my favourite parts of being a muso... The great thing about passive P and J basses is that they're fairly simple to fettle. The electrics can be daunting at first, but if you go slow and steady and can follow instructions, you should be OK. I've refinished basses, defretted necks, put new frets in, shimmed and straightened necks, replaced pickups and hardware and can do a reasonable set up. It's a lot of fun. Full disclosure: I've never done any active electronics and the vast majority of my instruments tend to be cheap 'n' cheerful bitsas, so there's not a huge amount of potential financial jeopardy involved!

Say what you like about ol' Donny, he's a source of great inspiration to Bassists, it seems...

Since we've resurrected this Zombie thread, I thought I'd do a quick update on my combo stand -the Millenium Mixer Stand (scroll up a few posts.) I've done over 100 gigs since my first posts about it and it's been solid as a rock. The only modification I needed to make was to remove the extendable legs, as the height of the frame was perfect without them. This makes the stand even sturdier. Unlike the tilt-back stands, the Millenium stand doesn't add to the amp's stage footprint. I bought a couple of metres of cheapo black fabric to drape over it which makes it look a bit classier and means you can store that all-important gig rucksack with all your spare leads etc under it. That said, the Mud Stand looks great. The fact that it's made out of foam makes me a little nervous, but it certainly seems to do the job and looks smart, too. I'd be tempted to get busy with some plywood and black spray paint and try replicating it in the shed. It would be heavier, but it would be a lot cheaper!

The main reason I don't do drugs is that I used to hang around with a lot of people who did.

I'll keep playing as long as: It's still fun My health holds All the important bits of me can operate well enough I can hold a bass for between 30-60 minutes at a time (with or without an "appliance") I can travel to and from gigs without needing an ambulance I can manoeuvre my kit from point a to point b somehow My bandmates are happy to have a (XX) year-old bassist in the band I can still read the chord sheets on my iPad from a reasonable distance I've been gigging since the mid 80's (I'm 61) and I still really enjoy it. If that were to have to stop for any of the reasons above, I'd hopefully still be able to play with my mates, informally. The biggest buzz for me isn't the appreciation of the crowd or the money (ha!) - it's the physical act of playing that I love. As long as I can do that, in whatever format, I'll be happy.

You are the bassist in Spygenius and I claim my £5 prize:

I've had an Ignition bass for a few years now - I think when I bought mine, the range was called "Icon." They're a lot of fun - as a few other posters have mentioned, they are very light and after decades of playing P basses, it almost felt like a ukulele! That said, they sound great, especially if you put some flats on them. The Hofner "basic" flats are surprisingly good. It's a shame that teacup knobs seem to have rocketed in price as that used to be an inexpensive mod that got you a little closer to a "real" one. I also removed the writing from the truss rod cover with a bit of Brasso. They're cool, relatively inexpensive basses that are loads of fun to play and sound great. Full disclosure: I've never played a German 500/1, but until the payment from that Nigerian prince arrives, my budget version will do just fine.

I'm a huge fan of Squier PJ basses. The Indonesian models are absolutely superb and (IMHO) are as good as any Mexi Fender equivalent. They're also great modding platforms, too.

I'd agree whole-heartedly with this. I've rescued a few sets of old/cheap/knackered machine heads with a little patience and some White Lithium Grease. I take the tuners to bits, clean off any crapola from the gears with an old toothbrush then give them a clean with some Brasso (and occasionally steel wool.) A squirt of the aforementioned grease works wonders and has saved some perfectly good tuners from the bin for a minimal financial outlay.

In almost 40 years of gigging, I've never got much further than 200-300 seater venues, but I have had a lot of fun. Some of the more noteworthy venues I've played at are: The Cavern Dingwalls Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton Digbeth Civic Hall, Birmingham The Falcon, Camden JBs, Dudley Hummingbird, Birmingham Robin II, Bilston Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Glastonbury (Town Hall!) My dream gig was always to play at the Birmingham Odeon, but sadly it was converted to a generic multiplex cinema a few years back.

Yep, it's a common tactic. As long as the seller hasn't nicked any unique details from your ad (ie witty anecdotes about Norman Watt-Roy pointing at your bass and laughing) and has just copied the way you've described the technical and generic characteristics of the instrument, I don't see a problem. Anyone who's used the "Have one to sell? Sell it yourself" function on eBay will have done a similar thing. FaceBook Marketplace should be approached with caution in my opinion. I was caught out a few months ago on a fairly cheap (sub £20) item and since then I've been more careful. The "copied text" thing is a bit of a red flag, but if you check the seller's profile you can get a rough idea if they're genuine or not. In the immortal words of Oscar Wilde [citation needed} “Talent borrows. Genius Steals!” To be fair, he was probably talking about the best way to knot a cravat rather than scamming an unsuspecting bassist out of a few quid for a Big Muff pedal that doesn't exist...

I've done a few fretted-fretless conversions and while I've never used CA glue, my favourite method is to use two-part epoxy putty. I moisten the area around the fretwire, heat the fret with a soldering iron and tease up the bottom of the fret with a craft knife. Then, I carefully remove the fret with pliers. If I had one those snazzy fret-pull dealios. I'd use that, though. On the last one I did, I used black putty to make the lines stand out. It's not a difficult job - the most labour-intensive part is masking off the slots so you don't end up spending ages sanding off rock-sold epoxy from your bass neck. When the epoxy in the slots has cured, I coat the fingerboard with 8-9 thin coats of clear epoxy, after first making a wall of masking tape on both sides of the neck to avoid drips. It's fun and actually rather therapeutic. The same cannot be said for my actual fretless playing, however...

I made a Nordy-esque mute a year or two back. The sponge was from some packing material which I glued to an offcut of wood trim. I added a couple of little magnets so I can put it on my mic stand when it's not in use.

What: "Let's Stick Together" Bryan Ferry Who: Roxy Magic Where: Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath, Brummagem When: 22 06 24 With: Bitsa PJ through my old faithful Genz Benz Contour 500

Tonight, I'm gonna party like it's 2008...

I've been using Grolschlocks* for about 15 years with no issues. However... I've bought several sets of the "rubber washer" type locks from various places (incl. Fender) and found that without fail, they go hard, brittle and tear or crack after a while. On the other hand, the Grolsch ones stay supple and resilient after years and years of use - including taking straps on and off multiple times. I bought a bag of 100 from eBay in 2009-ish. I've still got loads left. I love 'em. *TM: neepheid 2024

Audacity will do all of that - would a version of that loaded onto a tablet help? You'd need some doohickey to combine the signal from your bass and the mp3's but with a tablet, you'd get internet functionality too.

Roxy Magic, the UK's leading/only Roxy Music tribute band played a storming gig at The Hare and Hounds in Birmingham on Saturday night. It was a hometown show for half the band, so that made it extra special. It was also our guitarists' birthday, so he threw a few more shapes than usual. The room was packed with sweaty and enthusiastic punters and the band had more fun than is medically recommended. I've peeled a couple of fan-filmed videos from FaceBook to demonstrate how little shame and coordination men of a certain age can have. There's a couple of nice shots of my Squier-Fender bitsa and too many shots of my undignified mugging for the crowd. I've included "Virginia Plain" as it's one of the only tunes where I actually get to deploy the pedalboard - the gnarly fuzz at the top of the tune and the boosted cavernous reverb after the guitar solo. Blink and you'll miss 'em.

Well played sir. Well played.

The first bass I ever owned was a Hondo II Ricky copy. It was ace and I wish I still had it. I wanted to see how everything fitted together, so after peering under the scratchplate, I plucked up the courage to whip off the neck. Lo and behold, there was a 2p piece in the pocket, acting as a shim. It did the job.

I found a bunch of old band-related stuff in the loft about a year ago and amongst all the detritus was this set list with a pithy little aide-mémoire attached. I've partially redacted it for the more sensitive members of the forum...

After seeing the name on a zillion tour itineraries, I finally got to play at Dingwalls in London on Saturday with Roxy Magic. It's not a venue I associate with tribute bands and I was worried that we'd battled our way into the dark and twisted heart of the metropolis for the obligatory micro-crowd. Not so. A buzzing room, stuffed full of Roxy Music diehards, it seemed. To add a little bit of WTF-ness, the sound engineer turned out to be Phil Manzanera's guitar tech, so our poor old guitarist was nervous, to say the least. It was loads of fun, soured ever so slightly by the epic trek back to The Black Country. A cup of tea and a couple of slices of toast and marmalade and I was more than ready for bed, tired but happy.

This is just the thing for my lobster-themed Math-Rock band.