Jean-Luc Pickguard

Hire and Hire — Jackie Wilson

I failed the 2025 challenge early and bought a lot of lovely guitars, basses and other gear in the last year. In 2026 my aim should be to “right size” my collection and unload anything that I no longer want/need. I managed to sneak in a last purchase at the Gibson Garage yesterday so one of first things I’ll need to list for sale in 2026 will be my amazing sunburst epiphone firebird which will be replaced with an even more amazing “inspired by Gibson custom shop” cherry epiphone firebird when that is delivered next week. Similarly my lake placid blue Squier bass VI will be added to the “to go” list due to the (Also LPB) Fender Vintera version that came about an month ago. I currently have an active basket of pedalboard upgrade stuff on the thomann website, however I will try to resist placing an order. I could probably postpone the pedalboard project for twelve months if I try really hard — maybe I can allow myself to add stuff to the basket without ever actually hitting the “Place Order” button. The biggest risk to make me lose the challenge will probably be if a secondhand boss RT-2 Rotary Speaker Pedal pops up for sale at an attractive price as I’d love to have one of these, but don’t love the £229 price tag.

Mine too — this will replace my existing firebird which is a fantastic instrument, but having grovers instead of banjo tuners has always bugged me.

Ruby Tuesday — Rolling Stones

I visited the Gibson Garage in London yesterday after touring Denmark Street. I have been to the garage a few times before so I knew not to expect to see many basses — there were probably about half a dozen on display. I ended up buying a beautiful cherry 'inspired by gibson custom' epiphone firebird and couple of t-shirts, and the branded pleckies that are offered when trying an instrument are a cool touch. I didn't want the hassle of lugging the huge firebird hard case back home on the tube & bus, so it will be delivered on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. (when the missus will be back at work.)

I want to improve on guitar for my solo recordings

Do You Like My New Car? — Frank Zappa & The Mothers

Common Exposure — Nils Frahm

Why Can't I Be You? — The Cure

Who would put up a photo of themself instead of what they're selling? https://ebay.us/m/nKtjEs He's obviously trying to make a sale outside of ebay, so I won't be surprised if the listing disappears.

On my bass pedalboard I have a Boss BC-1x compressor as an 'always on' pedal, and specific songs have distortion from a BB-1x. On one song I use an organ sound doubling the bass which I achieve with a SY-1 synth with CEB-3 chorus. I also have an AW-3 dynamic wah on the board which I like to noodle with but don't currently have a specific use for in the set.

Pig Star

Everybody's Happy Nowadays — Buzzcocks

I've had my B2A for 40 years as I bought one of the first ones to be imported. This looks like an elegant mod, however I'm not sure what problem it is fixing as I've never had any tuning issues the half-dozen or so times I've had to tune it.

My signature sound is to play everything slightly out of tune and out of time.

You're not chasing your vestigial tail are you?

Nun Of The Above — Frank Zappa

Blabber 'n Smoke — Captain Beefheart

That reminds me, I bought a TE Elf head a while ago to take to gigs as a backup to my Ashdown ABM, but I haven’t seen it for some time. I must try to remember where I put it. Younger me would never have believed that it would be possible to lose a gigable bass head.

Ain't Got Nobody To Grind My Coffee — Clara Smith

Three Of A Perfect Pear — King Crimson

The Lemon Song — Led Zeppelin

Mister Bang Bang Man — Little Hank

Playing my new(ish) Vintera bass VI, I've notived that I get a load of 'static' noise when my hand brushes against the pickguard when plugged into an amp. I don't recall ever noticing this phenomenon before on other guitars/basses. I'm planning to do a copper tape shielding job on this bass soon, like I do with most of my instruments. As part of the shielding I'll apply the tape to the back of the pickguard and ensure it is continuous with ground. Should this cure the static?

Canoe Dig It — King Floyd