uk_lefty

Surely if the support act sounds good more people will want to stay for the main act? Otherwise just put an iPod on shuffle until the main band goes on, why screw someone over who is there to provide a good chunk of the entertainment. I can accept when its a festival and the sound guys are dealing with a conveyer belt of different bands they will do their best without fine tuning but to get the support act right then screw them to make the main band sound better is b.s.

I had a streamer LX bolt on, PJ, German made. Don't know if it was a special edition but it was well kitted out with bell brass frets and gold hardware. The maple body looked stunning and the neck felt amazing but there was just something not quite right for me and I lusted after a jazz bass instead. Kicking myself now for letting it go, wish I'd persevered until the price went up at least! Great basses, incredibly well made and easy to adjust, but if you're parting with a lot of money for one I'd recommend trying through your own kit first.

Looper maybe? So you can do some finger funk soloing over a nice repeating drone (meant in the good way) of notes providing a foundation. Chorus, octave, reverb... Compression.

Farmers when drunk only like heavy stuff. Like concrete blocks they can roll in to block the car park and other japes. Might invest in stand locks and inflatable instruments. I used to have a soundman who was a big chap, carried a big old lump of metal on his key chain for these incidents... For a pub gig or party where there's a chance of this I'd only ever take my beaten up Mexican jazz. Bad culprits for abusing gear are usually the DJs on after the band, can't wait to get rid of you and play their Abba stars on forty five megamix, have seen one try to kick the drummers hardware bag. I could have stopped them but thought there was a lesson they could learn.

If I get chance I might speak to a bassist to complement their tone or gear or playing. Never asked if they're members or not, though I did start to put up my bands gigs on here and if anyone wants to one along and say hi thats good

That's one of those crazy things that will be worth loads in forty years time as a novelty bass collectible.

It's a lot of money to pay, they would have to be exceptionally well made or on a huge discount for me to consider. I recognize a few hundred quid of that may be down to currency dips this year... The jazz bass in that colour was done out of fender Mexico in the mid to late 90s I think. Would be great for them to do something new in left handed, or just even something that's available in right handed, like the rascal bass. Just give us something different other than yet another black p bass, can buy that from encore!

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1480690470' post='3186465'] Above the 12th fret? It's a bass, for heaven's sake, man. Get a grip... [/quote] Oh yeah! Breaking all the rules!

I personally like the feel of a neck through for faffing about above the 12th fret. Wouldn't say it's a better sound. Seems a lot of £1000+ basses are bolt on necks, so it must have more merit than just a tip of the hat to 1950s production processes, or no less merit than neck thru

I own four, take two on stage for a full gig or just one (most likely the jazz bass) for a half set. I like having different options but live, especially playing festivals where there's a quick turnaround for loads of bands, I find it makes little difference apart from appearance, the front of house guy loses all your tone 9/10 times so you could be playing anything. Playing where my band controls the PA I get a few more of the nuances out. But I own a bass that doesn't fit with the current band so it doesn't come on to stage. Now we are doing some songs in drop D I'm tuning one bass standard and one dropped but that could be done with a tuning peg replacement rather than a whole bass swap.

Great basses, especially with the EMG pickups

Good tip! Thanks

As an end of year shin-dig my covers band One Fat Finger will play one song chosen by public vote over Facebook live, tonight Monday 28 November. Like our page on Facebook and vote for the song you want to hear! Then tune in (???) at 9pm to hear the song with the most votes played live from our secret lair. Some are better prepared than others, all just for fun to round off the year before we concentrate on family business until the New Year!

Suppose it depends what this band is building for? If they have a series of gigs you are all working towards then to drop out would be a bit crappy, but if they're just trying to get going as a band and you enjoy it and can develop your fretless playing then keep going! At worst then if it comes together but isn't for you another bassist can fill the void as they work towards planning gigs and you can be someone that shares their Facebook event notices and things as a supporter.just make it clear to them what you want to do and what your thought process is, then nobody can get upset if you leave and they can be excited if you stay!

Watched some YouTube music videos yesterday and came across a few "upside down" guitar necks, a nod to Jimi no doubt. These were all around the 80s I reckon.... But the question is are they cool or not? And why? And would you?

Enjoyed that, never really taken the time to check out Meshell. Any album recommendations of hers?

Wouldn't recommend defretting it, partly because Warwick make everything in both fretted and fretless so should be easy to get a purpose built fretless. If you're really not sure try finding a cheapo fretless five Harley Benton or SX or something to see if you get on with it then invest more or minimise losses as appropriate. I took the plunge on a fretless five for my eighteenth birthday (quite a long time ago now!) It was a massive gamble but being a lefty it was my only affordable opportunity to try a fretless, plus I'd been listening to pearl jam "ten" a lot! Never regretted it and for years it was my only bass. You can play a fretless without sliding the notes for "mwaaaah" but you can't get "mwaaaah" from a fretted...

Definitely one of the more open minded band ads

So sick of this issue cropping up on eBay, it is just stupid! I always find being polite but firm, such as offering to call the luthier myself if they can say which one it has gone to, usually gets met with silence. Had this from a guy who bought a knackered bass off me on eBay. It was knackered, I put photos up of where it was knackered and made it clear it was knackered. Guy pays eighty quid, receives bass, two weeks later says it needs twenty quid of electrics work. He didn't realise I used to live in his home town so when I asked where he was having the work done he couldn't name the shop, so I directed him to one and said I'd call them to check it out but never offered to pay. He never got back to me. A few months later he had the bass up on eBay after an awfully bad attempt at de-fretting with the description "...I have owned this bass trouble free for many years". C0ck.

The G&L website occasionally sells necks and other bits as seconds for stupidly low prices. I bought a lefty all maple tribute neck, shipped and taxed from USA for about sixty quid IIRC. It's worth a look every now and then

When my band starts to earn me more than my day job it can take priority... That will be never. Can you get more advanced notice of possible gigs to try and manage your work and leave further ahead or are they mostly coming last minute? Don't know your work schedule but if it clashes with prime gigging time might be best to use your work schedule to drive when the band can and can't gig, where possible

True. Was just trying it out to see if it worked or not. It's a technique I'd like to learn over time but not sure where to go with it in terms of note choice, etc. Agree it's not the right fit for the full length of this song in this recording

[quote name='paul_c2' timestamp='1476893099' post='3158211'] Do you have a recording with the bass isolated? [/quote] No its just a zoom mic in the middle of the room. That's also only about the second play through of the song we did together so we were all finding our way

Thanks guys, have always struggled with double-thumb but never gave it much time to get it right, will get back to that. My band want me to play slap, I'd like to be able to, but only want to do it where it adds something. In that recorded jam there's an octave run that I think works, then a breakdown where everything goes a bit quiet and I play a slap fill, I think that's enough for the song and live I have played it almost entirely finger style. Thank you for the feedback, always good to have another view on things

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1476884508' post='3158090'] Cool! [/quote] Nice one