Jean-Luc Pickguard

I play covers but don't stick to the original basslines as we're not a tribute act slavishly trying to recreate a recorded version. I'm all for constructive suggestions, but I wouldn't take orders to play something in a way that doesn't work as well as my alternative.

I'm a low note wrangler

Last week I saw a castle cases mustang bass flight case on ebay for BiN for about £20 less than the cheapest price I'd seen for the fender tolex mustang case, and ebay were also running a promotion where they'd pay 10% of anything over £100 ordered via the ebay iPad app. I wasn't sure what the case would be like as the pics didn't show the interior of the case, but I took a leap of faith & ordered it. It turned up today and I'm impressed witht he sheer size and weight of it. I'm not sure I'll be able to hide it from the missus, but the firm foam inside is cut to fit a mustang bass perfectly and it looks like it would survive a nuclear blast. Very impressed with the standard of hardware & construction for the cost. I'm keeping the CIJ in the case for now as one thing I'm not sure of is whether the dense foam used in flightcases is safe for the laquer finish of the JMJ. Is it likely to react with the finish if I kept the JMJ in the case instead of the CIJ?

At the moment my favourite is the epiphone thunderbird vintage pro with ernie ball cobalt flats -> Roland microcube rx amp using the concert 810 model, compressor on, efx off & gain set to 2 o'clock.

I had one of these in shell pink. It was a nice little bass to play - nowhere near as good as my CIJ mustang though, and the body seemed to be on the heavy side.

I don't normally bother with a backup bass but if something's going to fail it is more likely to be the output socket than anything else. Most bent 1/4" sockets are too flimsy for repeated pluging & unplugging and will eventually not spring back and so lose contact, but I've never had an issue with a switchcraft socket. On any bass that can take one but does not already have one fitted (eg MIJ/CIJ Fenders, Squiers) putting in a swtichcraft is the very first upgrade I usually carry out.

there's a fine line between being an exhibitionist and a flasher 🤔

I've not used anything yet, but think teak oil would be an appropriate choice compared to other options. Tung oil would be too much of a faff.

Nice! I have the five string version of this in the same natural oiled finish.

plays like BUTT-ah

its a bit naughty using the word 'fender' in the listing title

I don't think he did that - my understanding was that Peter Cook (not Dud's mate) made the bodies.

Roxanne?

Aged white pearl or Black on a bright red such as candy apple red or darker transparent red. For a slightly lighter or more muted red like fiesta red, aged white pearl or solid off-white.

“we don’t play that song, but the next one has some of the same notes”

This is the bass which inspired the musicman bongo

Ha! I've just had a look around the room and the ones that are visible do indeed make a total of nine. There are however also a thinline tele, an eastwood warren ellis tenor guitar and four ukuleles (two nice Kala tenors & two cheap sopranos) also hanging up around the room.

I find the comfort strapp & neotech neoprene straps to be particularly comfy. I have tried a wide leather strap but it was quite stiff & was uncomfortable where the edge dug in at the shoulder. My '81 Precision is approximately the weight of an imploding star & the slight bounce of my (fender branded) neotech strap makes it feel less heavy. The extra long comfort strapp is a perfect length for a vintage pro thunderbird so I will be getting one for my other vintage pro.

Fender Precision '81 Cherry Sunburst Hohner B2A ('86) Fender Musicmaster '71 (refinished lilac) Fender Musicmaster '72 (daphne blue) Danelectro Longhorn '90s blueburst Bitzer fretless Precision Sunburst, ebony unnlined fretless Fender Highway One Jazz 2003 red with J-Retro & Kent Armstrong Jazz lipsticks Squier Jaguar SS Candy Apple Red with EMG-X PJs Kala U-bass SMHG-FS NS-Design CR5M (2007) Daisy Rock Stardust Elite Magenta Burst on Pearloid Another Daisy Rock as above Fender CIJ Mustang Olympic White with aged pearl PG 2007 Fender JMJ Mustang 2018 Daphne Blue Epiphone Thunderbird Pro-V Natural Oil finish Epiphone Vintage pro Thunderbird sunburst with cool Gotoh Res-O-Lite GB-640 tuners another Epiphone Vintage pro Thunderbird sunburst (an ebay accident!) Tanglewood Rosewood Reserve Acoustic (currently for sale at the Gallery) - unless I've forgotten any that makes the current total 18 - but at least half are stored out of sight from the missus.

I think they showed a longer edit of the bass bits on the episode of repair shop shown today & currently on iplayer the original decal would have been applied over the laquer so it wouldn't have taken much for it to have been scratched off

The thomann thunderbird bag https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_gigbag1_bass_heavy.htm is a bit oversized for both my pro-v & vintage pro epiphones - the spec lists a centre length of 127 cm - maybe that will fit?

Instrumentals?

i got my copy for a quid from a charity shop in Torquay.

Something that has made a massive change to my playing & is remarkable value for money is my much used Zoom H2n (& before that the H1) handy recorder. In the dim & distant past, recording rehearsals & gigs was a much more involved process and the sound quality was fairly hit & miss. Having a good recording of every rehearsal which can easily be shared helps a lot with practicing new songs & remembering the arrangement and fiddly bits of a song.