ambient

There's a pretty good Facebook group for London bassists. I used to be a member of it when I was studying music down there. Maybe join that if you do Facebook?

I really dislike gold hardware too. The bass that I'm buying in a few weeks time has gold hardware, which will be changed straight away for black.

But what happens when you get to check in and they say no? In an earlier post you said that with a mono gig bag you’d be fine. See my post above where the instrument was wrecked in a case, albeit not what I’d call a flight case. In my opinion, if you’re going to fly then either buy a seat, or check it in and use a proper case. Or do what I do and go by train 😊

It's good for spotting and thus avoiding posture problems too, i.e slouching or playing with badly bent wrists, the kind of thing that can cause health problems, bad backs, carpel tunnel etc.

This is why I would never trust an instrument in a hold in a gig bag. https://m.facebook.com/myrna.herzog/posts/pcb.10156407588423888/?photo_id=10156407577063888&mds=%2Fphotos%2Fviewer%2F%3Fphotoset_token%3Dpcb.10156407588423888%26photo%3D10156407577063888%26profileid%3D100005948112141%26source%3D48%26refid%3D28%26_ft_%3Dqid.6507544490493731762%3Amf_story_key.1252773455737901813%3Atop_level_post_id.10212912851870424%26__tn__%3DEHH-R%26cached_data%3Dtrue%26ftid%3D&mdf=1

Well that’s good news. Just disappointing for you about the instrument.

There was a guy busking on bagpipes by where I go for my afternoon coffee a few weeks ago. It was extremely painful listening to him. It might just have been that he was cold, but it sounded awful :).

Send it back.

I sometimes use a .125 B on my instruments. It's fine. A .125, .105, .085, .065, .045 is a perfectly normal set that you'll find sold by many string companies.

Guitar bags? Someone laughed at my comment, but a friend of mine has an Alembic Stanley Clarke and uses a guitar gig bag .

I can't think of any instrument that I dislike, when played well anyway. Bagpipes when played badly can be painful to listen too, but when played well they can sound incredibly haunting.

What songs are you looking for? Someone might have a TAB or score they can give you.

I used photo booth on my MacBook for the video and recorded the sound at the same time in Logic Pro. Then just import the video into Logic, it’s quite simple to align the two, just drag the video until it aligns with the sound.

I've owned a few of the TRB basses. A TRB6, a JP1 and a TRB1006J. The TRB6 and the JP were both very old and Japanese built, they were a totally different level to the TRB1006, both being completely luthier built. The TRB1006J was though a very, very nice instrument, a lot better than the price would lead you to expect. A friend of mine who's a very, very fine solo bassist plays one, and loves it.

A couple of my students have Ibanez basses. The one has a fantastic 6 string bass that he only paid a couple of hundred for brand new.

Gloves are a good idea. Have you totally discounted everything else? I have an allergy to liquid soap, some shampoo and shower gel, as does my mom. It took years before I realised what was causing my hands to be so sore. I’d visited the doctor and spent a fortune on handcreams. It was so bad that my doctor the first time he saw me asked what I did for a living. When I said I was a musician he was totally flummoxed, he was thinking that I worked with chemicals or something. It was by chance that I read an article in a newspaper about chemicals in everyday products that can case harm. We now use tablet soap at home, when I’m out I make sure to completely rinse and dry my hands after washing. Some of the soaps I can actually feel my hands stinging. Just wondering because you say it first appeared on your foot.

They do make some really lovely and amazing basses.