Jean-Luc Pickguard

The streak - Ray Stevens

Good morning Judge - 10cc

Turd on the run - the rolling stones

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth - Spike Jones

F.I.D.O - the Dirtbombs

Rinky Dinky Doo - Roy Brown

Call ashdown on 01621 857853 - they sorted me out several years ago when I blew a tweeter in a MAG cabinet.

Subterranean homesick blues - Bob Dylan

Our House - madness

The dinky little Roland microcube bass rx is surprisingly loud for its size and can be powered from six of poundland's finest AA batteries for several hours. It works really well with a Kala ubass and with the amp modelling the tonal options are very flexible, plus there's a built in preset compressor as well as digital fx: chorus/flanger/autowah/delay/reverb. I've used mine for unplugged rehearsals and jam sessions. As long as the ukes aren't amplified and no one's playing a drumkit (a cajon would be OK) it should be all you need—even for outdoor sessions.

You'd have to be quite flush to afford that one

Some of us like to tinker. Its less risky to customise a sub-£100 instrument than something considerably more expensive.

The photo was taken with the bass at an angle that makes it look a lot worse than it is.

At my next gig I'll probably be proudly playing a Harley benton PB50 that I bought for £50. I have customised it a little, but the neck, body, and pickup are the original parts 😉

I don't really have an opinion on what Wal should do as the basses aren't really my cup of coffee*. How they're doing it at the moment must work for them and I'm sure they have made a decision not to expand based on the likely pros and cons of expanding the operation. *A wilcock kind of looks a bit like a wal, I wouldn't mind a short scale one with a single Guild BS-1 bisonic pickup.

I would love to see a series of tutorial videos outlining all of the techniques that go into making these fine instruments. These could help answer questions such as: Should you spit or swallow when gnawing at your nuts?

They were never going to recommend a Seymour Duncan! If its the shiny chrome relentless I'd put in a Kent Armstrong jazz lipstick—purely for looks, but they are great sounding pickups. I used to use a pair of 'em when a highway 1 jazz was my number one gigging bass.

A comfort strapp will make a light bass practically weightless. Gotoh res-o-lite 350 tuners are a little lighter than hipshot ultralites. Also they are better made and work smoother.

It’s pretty much useless without a pickup, and the intonation is bound to be well out with the bridge position set for skinny guitar strings

As its not a super-valuable instrument I would probably try acetone (nail polish remover from superdrug etc)—after testing on an inconspicuous area of the original finish to check it doesn't strip that off as well.

I used to use a Behringer bass limiter enhancer for this, which is a clone of the boss bass limiter enhancer. It worked very well and was easy to use. I currently use a spectracomp which doesn't have room for a 9v battery but can be powered from one with a simple converter cable

Someone should buy it and give it away at the basschat summer fete as a prize—Whoever guesses how many dead rodents are inside it gets to take it home.

His solo albums are all great