Clarky

Rather not say, lol. It was hundreds though 🙃

Restored Ric 4000 that I have reacquired The story behind it

How it used to look, when I sold it:

Some of you may recall that I bought a 1973 Rick 4000-to-4001 conversion from Gunnar of this parish (aka @Studio GC) a few years back. It was cool AF, mojo'd to heck (with Crue carved crudely into the top) and seriously modded. I ended up selling it on eBay to an enthusiast who wanted to convert it back to a 4000. Well, it eventually came up for sale in 2026 and I have snaffled it back. The seller did a superb restoration job on it (only missing the original wavy Grover tuners). The work he did included: adding new old stock pickguard, original pots and pickup, Hipshot USA machineheads, filling in and making good the extensive additional routing under the pickguard, and repairing the paintwork to remove Crue and to cover the newly fixed area under the pickguard.

A few more pics

I did consider that but opted for the Golden Ratio for chorus/flange. Sounded good, though, on the video demo (think its an Australian-manufactured pedal)

Mud_Tiger_Feet_Live_TOTP_1974.mp4

If the price and animal considerations of the Doc Martens were putting you off @Happy Jack these are much cheaper and vegan 😁 https://www.tukshoes.co.uk/products/black-leopard-vlk-sneaker

Bryan bought a Trace Elf amp from me and everything was grand! Enjoy 🙂

FWIW, Jake Serek uses DR Hi-Beams as the rounds option on his short-scale basses (and you can see on some videos). When I owned a "The Grand" it came as stock with these. I'm generally not a fan of stainless steel (as opposed to nickel) but they did suit the bass

@Happy Jack I think you need to work on the footwear. Exercise/walking trainers are letting the side down. Fortunately I have done the research for you and found the perfect pair (and in the sale too). You can thank me later

Y viva Espana - Sylvia Vrethammar

This week these two Master Effects pedals arrived from Canada - the Transmission, which mimics the EQ of Hooky's early Yamaha basses, and the Golden Ratio chorus, which is based on the original 70s EHX Clone Theory circuit. The latter is a little bit noisier than I would ideally wish but Tim (Mr Master Effects) said its inherent to the original circuit and it certainly sounds authentic.

To complete the nerd/fanboi collection I bought these two Master Effects pedals - Transmission (apes the EQ of Hooky's early Yamaha basses) and Golden Ratio (chorus based on original Clone Theory circuit; little bit noisier than I would ideally wish but sounds authentic)

If it was August 1979 in Eric's then it was the Hondo (see pics in link)

New Old Joy Division Bass Day. Just received this 1977 (?) Hondo Ricken-faker, the model made famous by Peter Hook in Joy Division days (before he switched to Shergold Marathon 6 string and Yamaha basses). A few screws missing and signs of age but plays/sounds great and, importantly for me, weighs just 8.2 pounds. Sits nicely next to my Shergold Marathon bass, the Joy Division nerd that I am.

Not having done a deal on BC with the excellent Gareth since 2013, I thought it was about time! So I bought a pedal and - as was the case over a decade ago - everything was splendid!

Bass nerd question: what model is the non-66 RI Jazz lurking behind? Also, does this mark WoT becoming a Jazz afficionado rather than the dedicated Precision guy of the last umpteen years?

A complex and protracted transaction saw me buy Mike's gorgeous Wilcock Mullarkey bass. He was very patient while he waited for me to sell some bass gear to pay for it. Cheers Mike!