Jean-Luc Pickguard

A few years ago I'd have been excited about that. Now it just makes me feel queasy. I imagine being surrounded by dozens of gear stands and in each is someone slapping at volume trying to out-do those in the neighboring stands. Perhaps being skint has forced me to be gas-free or maybe I'm just getting old.

Not just hit by the ugly stick - the Ansir bass IS the ugly stick.

[quote name='jimbaby' post='995106' date='Oct 20 2010, 05:16 PM']Hi I would like to try a set of flats on my Bronco bass, the Status site offers hotwire strings for £17.99 delivered but which ones would I choose for length. The confusion has been caused by my local shop who only stock long length flats and said they would be O. K. on my bass which is shortscale. Regards Jim[/quote] The chap in your local shop is lying to you - possibly out of ignorance. Maybe he's a guitarist rather than a bass player, so has no idea of the mechanics involved. 34" flats can unravel at the tuner if the wound part goes around the peg (which it will for the E & A strings and probably the D). The effect will be even worse with a small diameter tuner like those on a bronco. You want 30" flats. My favourite strings - TI short flats are 32" so are only good for a string-thru shortie such as a mustang, not a US musicmaster, bronco or danelectro. You want 30" flats. If you can't get your brand of choice, look at LaBellas - their short flats are available in different gauges and are very nice. I even got some which were made specifically to the ideal spec for my danelectro longhorn. Most shops that actually do have short scale flats will most likely have rotosound ones. I hate those - they're terrible.

Brandoni in Wembley. Top quality Bodies & necks. In my experience comparable in quality to MIJ Fender

Here's a fairly typical o5b setlist Set 1 Six Days on the Road - Dave Dudley / Flying Burrito Brothers / Taj Mahal Up on Cripple Creek - The Band Blue Without You - o5b original From a Buick 6 - Bob Dylan Horses - o5b original Lonesome river - Bob Dylan I'm Doing Fine - o5b original Love in Vain - Robert Johnson Room Full of Blues - o5b original Move It On Over - Hank Williams Big River - Bob Dylan & the Band / Johnny Cash Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan Set 2 I'll be Your Baby Tonight - Bob Dylan The Weight - The Band To be Alone with You - Bob Dylan I still Miss Someone - Johnny Cash Take the Train (o5b original) Long Black Veil - The Band / Johnny Cash Cry Cry Cry - Johnny Cash I shall be Released - Bob Dylan & the Band Gone Gone Gone - o5b original Get Rhythm - Johnny Cash Ophelia - o5b original (not the Band song) Get out of Denver - Bob Seger Route 66 - Chuck Berry Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash Guitar Man - Elvis Presley Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On - Jerry Lee Lewis

I think the correct title is "Essential Saturday Afternoon Music Shop Bass Techniques for w@nk3rs"

Don't try to force the skin to dry out - the hard bit could dry out & fall off or just split open painfully & bleed everywhere. Much better to moisturise whenever your hands feel dry. +1 to what ChrisB said - I use a limiter, turn the amp up and play (TI flats mostly) with a very light touch.

I had a couple of these in the late 70s, but they weren't leather and I can't remember whether it had a buckle like that. Are you sure it wasn't cobbled together by someone? ie the fabric bit of a Fender Monogram sewn onto a plain leather one? I find the suede levys leather straps much more comfy, but for anything heavier than a mustang I'd get something wider. The Fender neoprene strap is supremely comfy, but not as vintage-looking.

If our harmonica player suggested that I'd dip his harps in piss.

Its a bit Frank Zappaish in a way

I wonder whether they actually made a dozen & Marcus got to pick the best two for himself leaving ten rejects?

For the drive home after a gig or rehearsal, [url="http://www.easystar.com/releases/show/2"]dub side of the moon[/url] by dub star all-stars Also Simone Felice's solo acoustic album – [url="http://simonefelice.com/?p=754"]Live From A Lonely Place[/url]

[quote name='thunderbird13' post='988862' date='Oct 15 2010, 09:24 AM']Apply for it using a different email , or get someone else to do it and see what happens.[/quote] sneaky, but that's what I'd do & if they're being two-faced give them the runaround. Then find another band & forget all about them - they're not worth fretting about if they're being Rsoles

My MIJ mustang or maybe one just like it in daphne blue or the modern equivalent - california blue

I've never seen a sunburst that's been done with a brush before

I bet the seller knows perfectly well what it is & put the decal on it himself. He's trying it on.

You want to avoid the bass player from obviously 5 believers especially when he's armed with an ashbory, LMII & Schroeder 1212L.

I've made loads of these. The most recent one was housed in a colmans mustard lid (yellow english mustard IIRC) for Pete o5b's open-backed banjo. I think I also used double sided carpet tape & a disc cut from a mousmat. It worked a treat first time he tried it at a gig - straight into his geetar amp for a couple of songs. There's a recording here: [url="http://www.o5b.co.uk/petes-banjo/"]http://www.o5b.co.uk/petes-banjo/[/url]

Any live band that enjoys playing covers has got to a million times better than the rubbish I had to endure last Saturday at Chessington World of Adventures at a Nintendo event. A blummin'g great tent with a few thousand punters, Massive video screens on each side of the stage, lightshow, lasers, smoke & pyrotechnics. On come a pair of 19 year-old twins with comedy hair, one of whom can do cartwheels, somersaults & the splits. They 'do' a set consisting of Rock DJ, Ice Ice Baby, Jump Around, All the Small Things, Ghostbusters, Teenage Kicks etc. The songs were all delivered karaoke style with no live musicians no spontaneity and no feel or groove. However it wasn't even proper karaoke - I don't think they were actually singing anything - it looked & sounded like they were miming badly to an autotuned studio track.

Its best to treat it like a separate instrument - not as weeny bass guitar that can't do everything a bass guitar can. It isn't one and canmake sounds you can't get from any other instrument. Just as you play double bass differently to how you'd play a Precision bass, you would also play an ashbory differently. There is some immediate familiarity but most people who have a ten minute go on one and ignorantly dismiss it as unplayable or a gimmick probably do so as they think it is impossible to play with good intonation. What they don't realise is that unlike a lined fretless bass guitar you don't stop the string right on or just behind the fretline, but between the lines, more like on a fretted bass. Like reading music the more you practice, the better you get.

I've got two, but probably only need one, so I'm thinking of keeping the blue one & selling the black one. An Ashbory is Good for jam nights as no one asks to borrow it. People who have never seen one often make 'fisher-price bass' jokes - until they hear it.

John East!

It's human nature to fear anything we can't understand, so I'd say "Kill it with fire"

[quote name='stevie' post='985609' date='Oct 12 2010, 12:28 PM']I've had good experience with UPS (via Interparcel)...[/quote] +1 Everything I've sent via them has arrived in one piece