EliasMooseblaster

As luck would have it, Youtube automatically brought that one up after Burlesque had finished - I don't normally let it autoplay but it does have its advantages sometimes!

I had to double-check that was the same Family that recorded Doll's House and Song For Me - quite a change in their sound over the years! (But yeah, that John Wetton bassline is superb, isn't it?)

I will not claim any expertise on these subjects, but I did find the grain-filing method in French polishing to be quite effective: a rough coat of shellac on the wood, then powdered pumice (dissolved in a minimal amount of alcohol) on a pad to chew up that rough coat and work it into the grain. It certainly does wonders for building up a gloss finish. I don't know if you could adapt a similar technique to other finishes/oils/varnishes...?* * because, pleased as I am with the shellac finishes on two of my basses, I won't deny that the process can be a couple of weeks' worth of laborious ballache...

Perhaps we'll have to arrange a duet of Dirty Old Town via Skype! I suspected I may come a-cropper with other BCers gigging for St Paddy's - hopefully it won't be too long before the next one!

O ye of SW London and Surrey, what plans have ye made for this forthcoming St Patrick's Day? None? Good. Then you're free to come and join me for an evening in The Norbiton, where I'll be providing the evening's entertainment with my solo project, The Elephant Collective. I'll be setting up and kicking off shortly after the rugby finishes, around 7.30. The event is free, the variety of beer is wide, and the pub is comfortable. I sound an awful lot like the bloke on the recordings at http://ralphbeeby.bandcamp.com and will be fleshing out the sets with various bits of Ralph McTell, Davey Graham, Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Tom Waits, et cetera.

Try the seventh (B) - it adds unresolved tension to the C chord, but also serves tidily as the third of the following chord, so the resolution feels very natural.

I can't remember if Brian Wilson had got heavily into having two bass parts by this point, or if it was later (circa Smile) but there may also be an upright bass and/or Fender VI competing with Kaye's picked Precision for attention!

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is very similar to my experience of the older, passive Model T - when I tried it in the shop, I couldn't quite get over the amount of honking midrange it had to spare. But then, that was the kind of thing I was looking for, so I rather fell in love with it there and then. In a band setting, I did find myself rolling off the tone control quite a bit more than normal; fortunately it's one of the more responsive passive tone controls I've had on a bass. It's worth noting that the P pickup sits slightly further back than it would on a "standard" Precision, which might explain some of the extra bark - particularly as the passive Model T had Duncans instead of EMGs, and it sounds like you're describing a similar tone to the one I'm familiar with!

They certainly are beefy. I recently put one into my EB3 to replace the stock mudbucker - it's like going from braising steak to prime rib!

Nice...is that a DP120 up by the neck?

*blows dust off ancient thread* I did it. I put two more pickups in my old Frankenbass, and now I have a P-J-J.

I think I might request to be buried with mine...

I've always been astonished by how many of my colleagues seem content to eat lunch at their desks. Never found it enjoyable myself - the staggering thing is that most of them are still looking at their screens rather than their food!

Mea culpa! The greatest epiphany I ever had was realising that most of the tone I was seeking was in the mids, not the bass frequencies, and that actually it was perfectly acceptable to dial the bass back for a clearer sound. Sadly it took me years to realise this...

Perhaps not so bizarre - I think Wakeman actually toured with Sabbath, possibly circa Born Again, when they had Ian Gillan on vocals. (Allegedly hidden off to the side of the stage behind a curtain, because they didn't consider keyboards to look sufficiently rock'n'roll...)

"Yes" with an "if." If you have a good cab, a CTM-30 will be fine. If your music suits a mid-heavy, overdriven sound instead a deep, throbbing dub-reggae type tone, a CTM-30 will be fine. I did several pub gigs running my LB-30 into a not-particularly-efficient Laney 1x15, and wasn't struggling for volume. I've done some bigger pub gigs since moving up to a Berg 2x12, and I feel like I could go bigger. That said, my preferred tone is more John Entwistle than Jah Wobble, so I can see why Ashdown are hesitant to market it as a gigging amp.

I hadn't heard that version of events, but I can believe it. I know he was quite vocal about his dislike of the design...of course, I realise now that it could have been to keep up appearances in the divorce court!

See also the SG. Initially introduced as a sort of "Les Paul-lite," but it caused such a stir that even Les Paul himself demanded his name be taken off the headstock - hence the change of name to "SG." Apparently, the design was nearly axed (no pun intended) until a few prominent players took a shine to them, and they started to prove more popular with the public.

I think this is it - it does come down very much to the type of music you're playing. If I were still playing jazz, I'd be much more discreet about my drinking. As it's mainly rock and blues for me these days, having a pint in one hand while I talk to the crowd between songs is all part of the necessary swagger people expect from the show. That, and the "...if anyone's buying, mine's a bitter/stout/mild...wink ,wink" can help convince the guv'nor that you're helping him/her to shift units. Especially on the few occasions it actually works!

It's probably weird if you only know Scott Walker from his days with the Walker Brothers. If you're familiar the three or four albums he released before the Sunn O))) collaboration, then it just seems like a perfectly logical progression! I still think it's one of the best new albums I've heard in the last few years.

I haven't had the means to play VHS video tapes for a few years now; however I still have a small set of tapes that are looking for a good home. Not having any means to test them, the conditions described below were accurate the last time I was able to watch them a few years ago. I won't post photos for fear of crashing the site or people's browsers, but happy to put up a few on request, or via DM. Similiarly, feel free to ask if you'd like tracklists for any of the music ones, or any more general info. Let me know if any or all of them take your fancy - if you don't mind bunging us a couple of quid for postage, they're yours. STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - excellent condition, remastered version of original film. Also pre-dates release of Episodes I-III, when George Lucas went back and made strange edits to the original episodes IV-VI STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI - as above; so Haydn Christensen hasn't been photoshopped into the ending scene, for example. MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL - excellent condition, includes three of the songs in "sing-along" format after the end of the film THE WHO LIVE AT THE ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL 1970 - aka "Listening to You"; very good condition THE DOORS: 30 YEARS COMMEMORATIVE EDITION - three cassette box set. Contains Dance On Fire ("classic performances and greatest hits"), The Soft Parade ("a retrospective"), and Live at the Hollywood Bowl (self-explanatory). All in excellent condition; I'd prefer to shift these as one complete set rather than individually. DOCTOR WHO: DEATH TO THE DALEKS - very good condition, Jon Pertwee as The Doctor and Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith. DOCTOR WHO: DAY OF THE DALEKS - not great condition; problems with the image for the first 5-10 minutes (audio OK), but fine after that. Jon Pertwee as The Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo Grant. SANTANA: SACRED FIRE - live in Mexico, 1994. Excellent condition. PINK FLOYD LIVE IN POMPEII - excellent condition THE MASK - some superficial damage to paper insert in sleeve; tape in excellent condition. Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz. MONTE CARLO OR BUST - excellent condition. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Terry Thomas, Susan Hampshire, Tony Curtis, Gert Frobe. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND - excellent condition. Remastered edition of the original Steven Spielberg film.

They really should start making them again - every so often I see photos of fretless Grabbers and Rippers which look like they'd be superb basses (and surely they'd save a few cents on the cost of fret wire...)

I did wonder if the much more modern-looking EB they released last year was an attempt to finally move into something more modern. FinnDave ran a thread on one he'd bought recently and spoke very highly of it - I wasn't a big fan of its looks when photos first appeared, but it did sound like it was much more versatile than some of their other models. Too little too late, by the sounds of things...

My old local music shop (sadly missed now) used to have a little sign up in their guitar room, which read: "GUITARISTS: PLEASE DO NOT PLAY ANY NIRVANA ANY OASIS STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN" One day, while trying out a bass, I did furtively play the riff from Come As You Are to see if any of the staff would turn on me, but I think I got away with it...