Maude

I'm about to get flats for my Melody acoustic guitar. Can you tell I love cheap rubbish........... that isn't actually rubbish, shhh. 😉

I'd just like to add I'm in no way connected to the company/luthier, I'd like to be because then I might get a discount. I'm seriously considering selling some stuff and commissioning something. It's been a long time since I've found a company that seems to tick all my boxes. Does anyone on here own a Latourneau, or know someone who does? Here's some more pretty pictures, because we all like pictures, right? (Some are guitars, sorry.) The following one is very @Andyjr1515 The rear access covers are just sublime, so classy. Lastly, a bit of volute porn especially for @SpondonBassed 😉

Bottles of beer? These will gently tease the cork out of a fine chablis, then massage your shoulders as you quaff it in the evening sun. 😄

That's part of the beauty, you philistine. The Maben is like an ultra classy Rick. Some of their other designs are equally as nice, even without the Rick cues.

Can you stick stickers to something sticky? 🤔

I became aware of the Latourneau Maben Gold Top bass a while ago. In my opinion, a beautiful bass, taking styling cues from various iconic styles and blending them to perfection. I posted it in reply to a post on Facebook and then delved deeper into Latourneau. Oh my, do they make some beautiful basses, and other instruments. The craftsmanship looks absolutely top notch. Maben Gold Top The Maben is probably still my favourite style with its Rickenbacker top horns, Jazz offset waist and Gibson/Duesenberg-esque headstock, which is different on each bass. They all have slightly different hardware specs so I guess they're each a one off, but I don't know. Has anyone else come across them? Their website doesn't show a complete list of their basses, and I've found most through other sites and adverts, which leads me further to believe that they are built to the customers specs as and when they're ordered. I've added some links but if you do some digging it turns up some wonderful stuff. This 8 string is just stunning. I love the contrast of the walnut back and red front. I can only find this 8 string on their Facebook page, just scroll through the photos. Another beauty in a dark teal colour.

Oh I totally agree. My Hohner fretless P is plywood and one of my 'never selling' basses, as it's a far better bass than its monetary value. The only downside I've ever found with ply is that it's usually very heavy. Lots of ply basses are bad simply because they are poorly built, not because they're made of ply. Very kind of you to say. They say you can't polish a turd. Well I did, and I now have a shiny turd! 😄

This is more like it, some long overdue love for plywood Kay guitars. Once they get the recognition they truly deserve they'll be changing hands for close to £50. 😉

Die Laughing - Therapy?

I guess that's because speaker cabinets need to be as stiff as possible, ply is stiffer than normal wood. If thinner ply is used it's usually braced to add stiffness. It's a balance between stiffness and weight. For the same weight of wood, ply is normally stiffer.

Hopefully it's progressing, albeit slowly, through the legal system. Surely this can't just be allowed to fade away?

I'm completely happy with the D'Addario's to be honest but I might give them a try.

I wasn't aware there was a "hate for half rounds". So you tried one set of strings and wrote off an entire style of string? On the flip side to that I have D'Addario half rounds on all my gigging basses and love them, they do exactly what want from a string. Generalising, I like the high tension of flats but they're too dull, I like the tone of old rounds but they're too low in tension and if you fit a new set it's months before they sound how I like. Enter D'Addario half rounds, high tension and sound like an old round straight out of the packet, the tone control moves them between flats and rounds, perfection. 🙂

Totally agree @Lozz196. Musically it's his bass that drives the songs, I always feel that his bass is the songs and the guitar is the aggressive attitude. I feel privileged to be in a band that always features a handful of Jam songs in every set, add to that some Specials, Small Faces, Who, etc and it really is bass heaven, and the rest of the band realise the bass is driving things and want it loud and upfront. Oh I miss gigging.

Everything Starts With An E - E Zee Possee

Lady M already thinks I'm a "totally unique instrument", without rummaging in other people's skips. I like to think of myself as a hybrid half womble, half Stig of the Dump kind of recycler and like the idea though. 🙂👍

Don't tempt me with projects I'll never finish. 😁

Midnight Train To Georgia - Gladys Knight & the Pips

Now I'm Feeling Zombified - Alien Sex Fiend

If I had a hammer - Sam Cooke (and various others)

This bass is simply stunning. Visually everything just works perfectly, from the warmth of the colours to the modern hardware. The craftsmen ship is, from the diary, absolutely top notch and I can only imagine it'll sound superb. We all like different features but there is nothing on this bass I could imagine changing. Absolutely perfect. 🙂👍

Broken Stones - Paul Weller

But is it a maple/rosewood thing or a lacquered/unlacquered thing? I know that's kind of irrelevant as maple/lacquered, rosewood/unlacquered tend to go hand in hand. It it would be interesting to compared a lacquered rosewood to an unlacquered maple fretboard just to see if those perceptions swapped. Rick's have lacquered bubinga fretboards and maybe that adds to their sound.

I know, I'm an idiot. It ruined that gig for everyone. The audience were visibly shocked at the deterioration in sound quality.

During the first half of a gig once I noticed my top strap button had worked loose in the last song. I finished the song by holding the neck up with my left to take the weight for fear of the strap button pulling out, and sending bass tumbling groundwards. In the break I tried to tighten it but the screw wouldn't tighten properly so I went to the bar and purchased a box of matches, pushed one into the screw hole and broke it off flush. The strap button screw now did up nice and tight, great stuff, now I can enjoy the second half worry free. How wrong was I? All the way through that second set I could hear that the wood composition had changed in that bass. Like an idiot I had not asked for tone matches. What a fool I felt.