molan

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='352942' date='Dec 12 2008, 05:44 PM']I was born in 1956 and I have an older brother, so I grew up listening to The Beatles (just like Mott said: [i]Well my brother's back at home with his Beatles and his Stones[/i]). When I was ready to strike out with my own musical tastes, the very first album I bought with my own money was Fragile. So by far the two most influential players in my formative days were Macca and Chris Squire. Both players of intricate and melodic bass lines, rather than 'dig in and get that thump' types. I grew up thinking that the Ric "clank" was the ideal tone. I've spent the last two weeks alternating between a Ric 4003 and a Lakland P-bass and it is truly startling (1) how difficult it is to get the Ric to sound like my heroes, and (2) how differently I find myself playing when I pick up the Ric. I hold it in a different way, play in a different position, set the knobs on my amp to a different combination. That's it really. The Ric isn't "special" but, in a world full of Fender clones and derivatives, the Ric is different. In its own way that IS special. Make mine a banana daiquiri.[/quote] Your drink is waiting for you at the pool bar, if it looks like the crushed ice is beginning to melt before you get here I'll have to drink it for you

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='352908' date='Dec 12 2008, 05:03 PM']What about Rick James? [spoiler]...Oh yes he mostly used it for photos & Oscar Alston played a musicman on Rick James tracks[/spoiler][/quote] I love that pic of Rick James with the Ricky and the huge platforms

Damn, how could I forget Lemmy! I always think of McCartney with a Hofner I guess (plus I hate the Beatles, lol). Actually, wasn't Geddy a Rick player for quite a while? I can't stand Rush either so maybe my theory is falling apart already!

So here I am sitting by the pool in Antigua (it's a tough gig but someone has to do it!) And trawling through my iPod for bass heavy tunes and I've noticed how many songs I have that feature some really great playing by Ricky users. Currently have Chris Squire on playing some really amazing stuff from earlyish Yes. What a great sound he gets by the way, not sure what amps etc he was using? Have also had some Mike Rutherford (bit of a prog fest going on today!) From early Genesis and also the ever wonderful Bruce Foxton. I'm sure there's loads of other great Ricky players that have slipped my mind as well. So what is it about the Ricky that brings out such great playing from people? Such a distinctive sound and not the easiest to bass to play - in my opinion anyway - and I've always thought they look great as well. I rarely see a 'bad' player using one. Bit like an SG amongst guitarists, so many SG players are really good and very distinctive, Zappa, Zal Cleminson, Angus Young etc. Oh well, time for a dip

I keep looking at these, lol. I imported a set of standard ultra lites very cheaply direct from the USA but went for chrome rather than black & now I have them I'm thinking black may have worked better!

Blue Flower is way prettier. Paisley works on a 6 stringer I think but not a 4?

Had my first chance to really try out the DJ this week at rehearsal at decent stage volumes & against a live drummer. Really impressed at how it seemed to come alive when played much louder and digging in a bit more. Great slap tone as well

[quote name='Thunderthumbs' post='334440' date='Nov 22 2008, 02:58 PM']I'm sure in an old book I had of them, there's a photo of Weller playing an old violin bass methinks when they were a 4 piece.[/quote] The story goes that Foxton sat on it in the back of a transit on the way to a gig and broke the neck. Weller wasn't very happy and a fight broke out which ended up with Foxton getting a black eye! There were some shots of him with the shiner on the documentary

[quote name='tombboy' post='334283' date='Nov 22 2008, 10:47 AM']This is From The Jam last year.... even though Weller isn't there I still think it's a class effort. [/quote] Sounds great, still absolutely spot on bass & unmistakeably Foxton. I got a set of signed Rotosounds from him once in Denmark Street. Refused to use them for years and then broke a string just before a gig so had to whip them out. Still kept the signed box of course

I was watching a Weller documentary this evening and listening to just how good Foxton was in his heyday. There's a period when he switched to playing the black Fender P with a maple neck live (although still sometimes using a Ricky for music vids & TV appearances) when he just had a great bass sound. Sounds a bit like a Ricky with the clanky top end but with a bit more depth. I love the sound of his bass on songs like Tube Station. I have to admit that I have no idea what he actually used on the recordings but there's quite a few live vids showing him with the P so it definitely seems to be his favourite gigging bass from this period. Sound on this vid isn't the best but gives an idea of what I'm rattling on about : [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiHv_VZFJR8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiHv_VZFJR8[/url] & from a TV show: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGsyL6DhgPU&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGsyL6DhgPU...feature=related[/url]

I know this might sound a bit dumb but if its an infection have you been to the docs to get something to cure it? Big difference between infection related issues and full on long term hearing damage that leads to permanent tinnitus.

Need to consider potential 'sell-on' value with any custom build. We all start out thinking that we can design the perfect bass and that having it custom built means we'll never need to buy anything else. However, styles and techniques change & there's good old 'grass is greener' syndrome to contend with so you may wish to sell on your custom at some point. Even a relatively standard build from a custom maker can often be tough to sell and values tend to plummet. Bit of a generalisation obviously but I have noticed the odd Shuker kicking around on the forum here and on EBay for a lot less than their original value. Obviously most new basses depreciate in value but the higher end basses from what I'd call the 'semi-custom' manufacturers like Sadowsky seem easier to sell at much closer to their original price than something like a Shuker. Even the other British builders like Overwater & GB appear to be fast moving on the used market. Could just be that Shuker haven't really built up the rep of the others yet of course but worth bearing in mind anyway.

[quote name='funkmunky' post='331004' date='Nov 17 2008, 08:31 PM']Actually, it was me who played for Led Zeppelin in their heyday [/quote] I thought I could see a resemblance

[quote name='funkmunky' post='330981' date='Nov 17 2008, 08:09 PM']Thanks for posting that, very nice indeed. There is one slight inaccuracy though. I never played for Robert Plant. That role was filled by Ian's previous drummer of 5 years ago, Andy Edwards. Steve[/quote] Don't knock it - if Pete says it's true then it must be

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My guitarist went & came back about £3.5K lighter Add a rather nice PRS Modern Eagle to his collection tho

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='325427' date='Nov 9 2008, 06:10 PM']Molan, thanks for your offer of advice, we may well take you up on it. One word about advertising as a form of income, we've found that unless we get advertisers to pay in advance for a minimum period of time then the income is too unreliable to allow us to plan anything. You're also absolutely right about the size of the UK retail market, it IS relatively small and obviously even smaller when the offering of Thomann and other online European internet traders is taken into account. We would probably need to consider more of a sponsorship deal rather than selling advertising however I'm personally uncomfortable about having a sole sponsor that because if they were unscrupulous they could then potentially dictate what happens on the forum. However I guess we could also agree in advance the extent of sponsors relationships with the forum would be.[/quote] If you can zap me some real top line site stats I can give you a very rough idea of what it might be worth to an advertiser. Simplest thing is number of page impressions per day or week & maybe number of individual users (generally referred to as 'uniques') for a matching period. I definitely wouldn't let people advertise who weren't 100% going to pay by the way! An ad network or simply taking Google contextual ads is probably easiest asthey represent some sort of guaranteed income. Google is very simple & you basically just get paid every time someone clicks on a link. Can be text only so there's no nasty banners