bass_dinger

It's even trickier on my mobile phone, with the music the size of a postage stamp! I shall look again, when I have access to a PC - it looks like an enjoyable challenge.

Nothing bass-related (apart from the conclusion of a long term rebuild project that started in 2023). However, I am looking for an Eastman mandolin - the MD304E by Eastman impressed me a lot, more so than any other builder. So, that's what I am looking forward to exploring in the new year. But before I get a better mandolin, I need to learn some tunes on my current instrument.

I enjoyed a gig by the Colin Peters Set, at a venue in Hextable. Lots of Jazz standards, played on piano (Colin), guitar, upright bass (a chap who normally plays in West End shows), drums, trumpet and sax, topped off with a superb lady vocalist. You can be forgiven for not having heard of Colin Peters - he is my piano teacher, and in his 80s. However, he was previously the resident band leader at a venue that hosted Harry Seacombe, Shirley Bassey, Norman Wisdom. He gave it all up when he started being asked to play Led Zeppelin tunes. However, he is now playing again, and all that experience bought him where he is today - teaching me Grade 1 piano.... It was a delight to hear good musicians playing well, and so relaxed too. As for Colin, it was wonderful to hear him play in a setting that allowed him to enjoy the music - and I learnt that my piano teacher is remarkably talented!

I actually had a dream that I had purchased a 4 string steinberger-type cricket bat bass, in terrible condition, and strung with acoustic guitar strings, for about £20. I was delighted with my new dream bass - especially the fact that the mythical bass had an extendable foot that allowed me to play it like an upright. In my dream, I suddenly realised that I had failed the Gear Abstinence Challenge for 2024, and was devastated. What a nightmare! A steinberger for 20 quid, but it wasn't real....

Watching Strictly now, and wondered if that is still the case - sight reading dots? Certainly, what they do is beyond my skillset, and I am in awe of anyone who can do what they do.

What a talent! Akin to patting one's head with a mallet, and rubbing one's tummy with sandpaper - difficult to do, and painful to watch.

And in public, too. That means that everyone following the Letts YouTube channel will see how long Letts takes to fulfil an order, or even to respond to requests for information. Not good for his reputation, but excellent information for punters. If Mr Letts doesn't produce a suitable bass this time, it won't just be the ball that's in court.....

"Prompted by the need for more space, Glock moved in that year to 1b London Road, Crayford, just over a mile up the road from the Jennings works on Dartford Road. The company remained in Crayford until 1991." https://www.voxac30.org.uk/vox_ac30_cabinets.html That page shows where the factory was - near to the greyhound track, which feels right. So, the timing is right, and perhaps the place. However, the company were not just making the cabinets, but making combo amplifiers on site, which I would have needed to test. I wondered if it was a smaller operation - perhaps inspired by the success of their neighbours, and with access to local amplifier experts. However, I didn't work there because the employer told me that I had to take the role or lose my benefits. I then called my contact in the local job centre, who said that that particular company's YOP scheme had not been approved yet, and that they had jumped the gun. I was relieved not to have to work for them, and never contacted them again. I think that, after 41 years, I have forgotten the detailed events.

Shortly after leaving school in 1983, I was offered a place on a Youth Opportunities Programme, with a guitar amplifier manufacturer, based in Crayford. I didn't take the job, and can't now remember what the company was called. From memory, the amps were small combos, rather than anything high end. Does anyone know what the company might have been called? I am curious to find out who I almost worked for.

Here, a perfect example of basschatters giving me an informal lesson. In my piano lessons, I had noticed that the major third sounded out of tune, compared to the root note. However, I wasn't sure whether I was imagining the discordance. Now, @Rosie C and @Stub Mandrel have confirmed that it is indeed a real thing. And I have learnt something new.

My daughters' music teacher once told me "if you can't play it slowly, then you won't be able to play it fast."

With buyers, yes, it's popular. What other "shop" offers a full range of low-value items, and second hand obscure books and CDs? With sellers, I think that it is less popular, given the number of problems that have been shared here. I suspect that is why ebay has offered virtually free selling - they need sellers to attract buyers. Certainly it's not because of the goodness of their hearts that they are offering discounted prices for sellers!

Acoustic bass guitars are very niche, I have found. I had a Hobgoblin 5 string which I loved to play in my ukulele band. I then upgraded to a Boulder Creek 5 string, with a set of Thomastik Infeld strings. Wonderful instrument - many times I have wanted to sell it, but the tone and ease of playing made me keep it. It is a very responsive instrument, which encourages me to play better. However, I have not played it in a band in 5 years. Really, it needs the right application - a fully acoustic string band, perhaps? Maybe with violin, mandolin, and guitar too?

And their greatest hit, about a hard-boiled egg placed in the fridge - Cold 'n' Brown.

And previews from 7th April. This all feels like a very tight deadline for a very big show. I am guessing that they want a professional and experienced singer who can just parachute into an existing band.

So underrated, that I initially wondered who he was! "Didn't he play in midfield for Tottenham back in the late 90s?" Are there any tutorials, or isolated bass lines, that I can listen to? Or is it a case of slowing down the YouTube videos and learning his lines, one bar at a time? I suspect that the serious musical talent was overlooked, because of the comical lyrics.

If you can't get it to work, think of it as a very cheap cab, with the space for a Class D amplifier in the slot. You could even find space for a mini footpedal tuner in there.

Tried it once - didn't like it. More likely, I didn't understand what it was meant to do. And I realised that what I really needed was a Talent Enhancer, so I didn't bother with the Aural Enchancer after that.

I have one of those combo amps too, but mine appears to be an older model (it has a 3-digit serial number, different graphics on the front panel, and a DI out above where yours has the two ¼" jack sockets. I used it in a ukulele band, (acoustic 5 string bass, rehearsals and live) and a church band (electric 5 string bass, as my backline). I tended to run it with the tweeter off, and the tone controls all set to Flat. I was fascinated by the pointless little shelf at the front - made it look more petite and dainty. Did you get yours working?

It may be a Warwick 3d adjustable saddle. So, if I need it a new saddle, I have a choice between the Warwick and the ABM part. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325082459218?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=MTGobot6TTu&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=N6aXlrGTR5O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I have found what looks like the right Washburn custom shop headstock logo, on ebay. Genuine article, from the Washburn factory. Washburn didn't get back to me, sadly. "NEW GENUINE WASHBURN BLACK MADE IN THE USA GUITAR HEADSTOCK DECAL I picked this up from Washburn a couple years ago. This is a brand new stick on black decal. This decal is about 2 5/8th inches long and about 5/8th of an inch high. This is not a copy; I picked this up from the Washburn factory. This is over 10 years old and made for one of Washburn’s Custom Shop guitars.

Two Hiscox Lite Flite bass cases, last Friday. Am I out? Not part of the signal chain, and are currently used by my grandson to play The Floor Is Lava. So, not even bass-related, in the eyes of Small Boy #2!!

For me, a Fender P 5 string in a music shop. I realised that I didn't like it - too big, too unwieldy, for me. I realised that I prefer a smaller body and headstock. Boulder Creek 5 string acoustic. Beautiful instrument and clearly better than my previous acoustic 5 string. I bought it for a band that I left shortly after. It taught me that even a beautiful sounding bass may not be necessary. My second Washburn XB500. Compared to my first Washburn XB500, it had different pick ups and different selectors (2 single coils v two humbuckers; switch v pan pot). However, nobody in the band noticed or cared whether the basses were different. So, milestones were learning opportunities, rather than playing instruments.

This one for me too. I was drawn to the "otherness " of the bassline. It seems to follow the rhythm and inflections of the vocal line, and is very melodic - as if the bassist was singing her own tune without words.

Trace Elliott, but it isn't green!? I don't understand, but I like it. How does it sound?