4000

I always wanted one of those Shergolds. Although would be perfectly happy with a Ric twin neck. 😊 One of my biggest influences on bass and 12. I see him more as a songwriter who plays bass and guitar, which is kind of what I aspire to. He’s written some fantastic tracks.

Definitely an interesting thought, but I think if I went that route I may as well go full custom. Again. Also, unless it was Rick-shaped, I don’t think I’d know what shape would work until it did (work, that is). Which could mean an awful lot of trial and error.😉

I think the issue is the entire body carve. I don’t think there’d be much left. 😉

He always says that keeping time is his biggest weakness. One of my favourite drummers. I’ll never forget as a teenager hearing my dad, who hates anything that isn’t Jazz and thinks that all non-Jazz drummers are rubbish, comment when the Police came on the car radio, “who is this drummer? He’s really good”.

Well I’ll admit I haven’t heard her making comments anything like that. I’d be interested to read them as they would very much go against my grain and it would very disappointing. I’m also rather surprised, as that doesn’t seem to marry at all with the person I’ve seen interviewed many times. Still, trust the art, not the artist, as they say. EDIT - well I’ve done a search and all I can find is that she likes Theresa May and is happy we’ve got a female Prime Minister, which isn’t a huge surprise. Whilst that in itself is mildly disappointing, that doesn’t necessarily mean she agrees with every opinion Theresa May has ever held or is in some way “far right”. Can you point me in the right - if you’ll excuse the pun - direction? BTW, links to rags like the Daily Fail don’t count.😉

Have never had a problem with people airing their views publicly. I’d probably do the same. It’s up to others to either take on board or ignore, agree or disagree. As for being self-indulgent, that’s pretty much the nature of what she does and is something that could be aimed at any artist worth their salt. Still, I come from a fine art background so it’s all perfectly normal to me.

Just goes to show. I always think she comes across as lovely, and extremely serious about her art (which I see as a positive).

One of my 2 favourite singles, and in my top 5 tracks of all time. I believe she wrote it, or the bones of it at least, when she was 13. Genius.

Nope, sadly. I find there are very few basses I can play these days. Also, I only really like the SRs. Ironically, easily the most comfortable instruments for me are my Rickenbackers, binding and all, but as I learned to play on a Ric and have been playing them reasonably consistently for nigh on 40 years, I think I've just moulded to them. I had one of the Buckeye SR5s for a while (SR5BBLtd?); lovely bass, but it just aggravated my nerve issue. I do think I may at some point I may give in and buy another Ibby for occasional use as they are great basses and outstanding value; for me easily the best value basses out there.

I always wonder about this. I owned one of the Buckeye Burl SR5s for a while (forget the model number; didn't realise it was Ltd or I'd have likely kept it, ergonomic issues or no), and have played several others with the Nordys. I think the basses can sound great, fantastic even, but I have to use the onboard eq fairly heavily to achieve something that works for me. Passive and flat I think they sound pretty weedy to be honest; for me it's only the combination of the pickups and onboard eq that works.

Yep, just you. One of my favourite artists. +1.

I so wish I found Ibanez basses more comfortable, as I love most things about them (looks, sounds, neck, weight, versatility). Unfortunately something about the body shape really doesn't agree with the nerve issues in my right arm. Although as I'd otherwise be buying a different one every few months, maybe it's God's way of keeping me out of debt. ;-)

At least you're only five basses in. Some people will go through dozens, hundreds even, finding out what bass suits them best.

I've tried different Newtone strings and love the idea of supporting them, but I prefer the Rotos and they're much cheaper, so that was that.

I’ve always got a rounder tone using thinner strings.

Love Rotos. Have used many different brands over nearly 40 years, always come back to them. Love the tone, love the feel. Have recently been trying their cheaper 35-95 Roto Bass nickel set which are a wallet-friendly £14.99; you can find them even cheaper. Love them too, and I usually dislike nickels.

Me too!

Does this mean that soldiers in blue berets are going to be dispatched to escort fat middle aged white blokes off stage for being most of UB40? Fixed.

They're all new guys so far as I'm concerned! Most of my influences were probably 2 decades before. Chris Squire, John Entwistle, Geddy Lee, Glenn Hughes, Roger Glover, Lemmy, Bruce Foxton, Jean Jacques Burnel, Mike Rutherford, Jon Camp, Geezer Butler and probably dozens of others. Unfortunately many of those play music that might not be great 'pub cover band' fare. Although a set consisting of The Gates of Delirium, the whole of Tommy, Supper's Ready and Xanadu would certainly give the audience something to think about.

That's interesting. I've only played one but I probably preferred the sound to that of either Jazz or Ray.

Although he also used other basses, Chris Squire stuck with his RM1999 as his main bass til the day he died. I think he bought it in '64/'65....

Not even Devil Woman? Cracking record!