peteb

Do you mean the ones with the cream covers?? If I remember correctly, we were all putting EMGs in our Fenders at the time. I recall that the Bass Centre in Wapping used to keep a P bass in the shop that had been stripped / refinished to natural, with an EMG pickup and a badass bridge to show people how you could mod your bass. I got the Schaller as Badass bridges were not readily available in the north of England at the time. Of course, a few years later you could order one from your local music shop and I got a black one to put on the other P bass I had by then (originally as a spare). That’s the same bridge I have just put on this bass, after it appearing on a number of different basses over the years.

I've just bought a couple of bits from Thomann (replacement part of a strap, TC clip-on tuner). They had what I wanted in stock and the price was very reasonable, so great service as usual and no problems at all. Let's see how it all works from January onwards...

I've got the bass back from Jon Shuker yesterday. He's cleaned it up (a lot, it was in a bit of a state), sorted the scratchy pot, installed the badass and the bart p/up. Jon reckons that it might need a re-fret at some point, but that can wait for a while. It looks the part now, pretty unique and sounds great. Plays nicely too...

Personally I would recommend a 4x10 for the type of music the OP wants to use it for, but I would agree that a 1x15 is going to struggle

I would keep an eye on the Amps & Cabs For Sale section and look for a 410 cab and a hybrid amp (at least 400-500W). There's an old SWR SM900 on sale here for £325 (brilliant amp) and a couple of MB LM3s for £250 / £300. I'm not a bit fan of Ashdown, but you can't go far wrong with an ABM1000 and matching 410 cab for £500. If you can stretch your budget a bit, there is a Mesa Boogie Big Block for £500 and you could probably pick up a decent 410 for £300. If you're not too bothered about really lightweight gear, there is plenty of choice of great amps around for not a lot of money.

Can I ask a genuine question? This is a part I know and the song is obviously in G minor but you have transcribed it with one sharp, which I assume is G major. Is this a protocol, or is it just the way your transcribing programme (if you use one) works? I am speaking as someone who can't read beyond a very basic level and I'm just curious.

Absolutely..! I am always amazed that people are prepared to buy in into this anti-BBC agenda that is being promoted by certain parts of the right to make way for some Fox like news channel with a far-right slant to operate without any real competition. No one seems to be able to entertain the possibility that this is a band that simply got cut from the programme (as the BBC have said) and have decided to exploit the situation for publicity.

Strangely enough, I've just been contacted about this. A German specialist label is interested in licensing the finished album and want band photos and a promo video. There is some money involved, but not enough to make anyone rich! I've been asked to be in the video / pics. Surely rock stardom awaits, all be it thirty years too late...!!

it’s the other way round for me. Some guys that I play with have recorded an album that I haven’t played on at all due to lockdown, but when they have put a few tracks upon the internet the video montage featured plenty on shots of me. They are aiming to release the album – I don’t know if they will credit me or the guitar player / songwriter whose guide bass parts they have kept. I was nearly credited on an album that was released last year that the keys player and guitarist were involved with that not only didn’t I play on, but I have never heard and can’t even remember the name of the band. They wanted to credit someone who was known as a bass player and my name apparently was put forward (dunno who they credited in the end)!

I'm not quite sure how to comment on your reaction to brown 70s Fenders! As far as the bridge goes, that's the reason I immediately knew that it was my old bass! It's a Scahller (the one with the roller saddles so you can adjust string spacing) that I put on the bass in the early 80s. It's not the standard bridge replacement for a Fender, so that together with the year and unusual finish make it quite unique. The old BBOT ended up on another P bass I had when I converted it back to the original spec before selling it. The BBOT from that bass was eventually sold to a guy I know who was putting together a bitsa for someone using old Fender parts. The bass is going down to Jon Shuker tomorrow to be cleaned, set-up and to swap out the bridge for an old badass I have in my spares box. I'm also going to swap the pickup for a Bart that I had on another P bass (I'm going to switch between that and the original pickup to see which I prefer). All in the spirit of what we used to do in the 80s, getting 70s Fenders and modding them! I shall post another picture when I get it back from Jon.

But the thing is that the world has changed since Winston’s time and is changing even more rapidly these days. Capitalism has survived because it managed to evolve and change whenever it has come under threat. Hence, in the period after a major war that started partly because of a mass economic depression, a time when communism was a major threat, capitalism started to take on some of the more palatable features of socialism. America pumped billions of dollars in to the war-ravaged countries of western Europe to stop them from turning to communism. The USA pretty much underwrote the defence of Europe from the threat of Russia and nationalised health services (a socialist concept if ever there was one) were fine, as long as it didn’t catch on stateside. European nations traded together and created an organisation that bound them together, making another war among the European powers unthinkable. As people tired of wars, economic depression and a continuing ‘Game of Thrones’ among the European aristocracy they demanded higher wages and better / more liberated lifestyles and capitalism adapted to allow this to happen. However, capitalism is now facing an altogether different threat. The death of communism / socialism following the fall of the Soviet Union has coincided with the growth of China and the economies of the far-east, centuries of domination by Europeans (and Americans of European descent) is coming to an end. Don’t get me wrong, America is still the most powerful nation and the EU is still the dominant economic entity, but this will change at some point in the next twenty to thirty years. Nations such as Indonesia, the Philippines and even Bangladesh will overtake the major European states (including Germany, yet alone what’s left of the UK). This is going to happen, unless there is a major war (unlikely) or natural disaster in the far east (possible, given the regions susceptibility to climate change. Of course, the issue is how capitalism will adapt to this (if it can). The problem for those of us in the west is that these emerging powers have a much more authoritarian (or even theocratic) models of government. Whereas capitalism adapted to the challenges of the past by becoming more liberal and benign, there is a danger that it will go in the opposite direction as the more authoritarian east comes to the fore.

But Communism is dead and has been for 30 plus years - you need to find something else to blame for the shortcomings of the current system

That might well be the name they give it. To be fair, it's not the nicest colour you will ever see on a 70s precision! But then again, its the same finish as Michael Anthony's P bass in the early days of Van Halen, which makes it pretty cool in my book...!

Tempus fugit indeed - I meant 33 years...!

Just picked up a 78 P bass and not just any old Precision, it’s my first decent bass, the one that I cut my teeth on and then sold about 33 years ago. I sold it back in the 80s when I started using active basses. I had two precisions and sold the good one as it was worth a few quid more! Always wished that I had sold the other one instead. It just came up for sale by a guy who's got a studio in Leeds. The only problem is that I paid five times what I sold it for all those years ago! I remember somebody here posting about buying back their old P bass. Like him, I’ve had a couple of precisions, but they never seemed to compare to ‘my’ old P bass. To me, Fender Precisions define what an electric bass is, despite me happily using many other basses over the years. I remember that when I originally bought this bass, I knew that I was now going to be a proper bass player! You have to remember that when I started playing, virtually all of our heroes played a precision! A few played Ricks and the odd one played a jazz bass, but me finally having my own P bass was a big thing! Quite emotional to get it back...

https://www.bigbasstabs.com/lynyrd_skynyrd_bass_tabs/sweet_home_alabama.html

Van Halen supporting Black Sabbath (in 78 I think) Living Colour in a small club in Leeds when the first album came out

I'm sure that I would have done it for free, maybe Rory could have bought me a pint!

Missing the point as ever. I am in awe of these guys in lab coats, whether they be British, American or German.

I can hear those blo*dy Spitfires again! Lets not get ahead of ourselves. There are a number of potential vaccines: American, German / American and Russian as well as the Oxford AZ one. All of these have been brought through in record time at a time of crisis. We don't know at this point which one will be the most effective, although I suspect it will be a combination of all of them. Lets not get caught up in some narrative about a 'plucky nation' saving the world - its not important. The fact there are a number of potential vaccines, all with good prospects, is something to be optimistic about. It is not an excuse to concentrate on one to further a nationalist agenda...

I'm afraid that you are! To be a working musician now (even at a semi-pro level), you need to have a social media presence, be able to receive files etc and preferably be able to record tracks at home. I speak as someone older than you and a bit of a semi-technophobe myself. The COVID situation has really brought this home to me. I've seen guys who are my peers appear on all sort of Facebook collaborations and keeping a visible profile, while I can't use a DAW properly and have been left behind a bit (not to mention missing out on recording an album and having to decline the offer of an internet session for a client of a guitar player that I used to play with). This is something I need to sort out as soon as I can. If I was you, I would get a mid level laptop, open a Facebook account (even if you only use it for musical purposes) and install Reaper, which seems to be the easiest DAW to learn. Good luck...

In a nutshell - as longs as its safe and it works