Norris

Put masking tape on your fretboard whatever you do to protect it. Then one of the methods already described - the Stewmac tool that ezbass suggested is very good. For final polish though, a Dremel with a polishing wheel and some very fine cutting compound (Meguiars ultimate compound is my favourite) will give you a lovely professional finish

I already have a DMX controller that I've programmed with a few sequences for my lights - a slow, low, fading single-colour wash for between sets; and a brighter colourful sequence while we are playing. However I have a hankering for something that I can control with my feet. Something that is easier to program than setting each individual RGBW value for each light, for each sequence step. Something that I can control the brightness without editing the sequence. Something that might run on my android tablet - or not. What can you recommend? For reference, I have a pair of Thomann Stairville CLB 4x RGBW bar lights and a couple of small derbys (although those are not DMX controlled at the moment)

A Rumble is too heavy?! Good luck finding a light weight Ampeg

Your budget will probably cover a pair of Mackie SRM-450. Powered speakers are definitely the way to go and we've been using the Mackies for many years now and they have been great. Fabulous for vocals and kick. You'll want a mixing desk, but they are cheap enough.

I'm getting tired of keep spelling it when people keep asking about my bass that sounds so great, so for the last time it's S-I-R-E

My first bass was a Kay. The action was so high I could have probably limbo-danced under the strings

Borrow a 5er and temporarily remove the G string? You could stick a thin line of tape down the fretboard to make it look like the string is still there 🤪 I'd lend you mine but I need it for gigs

Glad you got to the bottom of it! Also glad there's nothing wrong with your Sire - I love mine

Well you didn't mention that carbuncle... 😂

Similar to Baloney's suggestion, a hair band/elastic band wound around and in between the tuners will help eliminate those as the source of the rattle

No, I feel the same to a certain extent. It's great to play when I gig though - love it! I just don't really want to touch in between gigs

I gig quite frequently, so it's nice to have a couple of weeks off. I very rarely touch a bass between gigs and really don't miss it

Our rehearsal rate is certainly less than one per year. Most stuff we just listen at home and play at the gig There's nothing more demoralising imho than rehearsing just for the sake of it - because every Wednesday is band rehearsal night or whatever

One done well. Three at most, unless they are familiar/easy songs

If you're on a tight budget it's worth checking out the classified ads on here. There are always sets of pre-loved strings available in all sorts of brands and gauges. Personally I'm another d'Addario XL user

That's the ticket! Best strap, best length 😂

You've been playing for 20 years and still need to look at the fretboard? Have a word with yourself 😛 The lower, the cooler. However I have mine kind of medium though - comfort is king

When the remote button on the smoke machine gets gummed up with old beer and sticks on, and you only notice when your bandmates are yelling you from inside the bank of fog... 🤣😂🤣

Higher grades still count towards UCAS points, certainly in classical music exams

Shhhh! Everyone - stop keep recommending Rumbles! Otherwise everyone else will sound as great as I do

I've never carried a spare bass in nearly 40 of regular gigging. Strings, yes. Batteries, yes. Spare bass, no. The only things I've ever had go wrong apart from very rare string breakages, were amp/speaker related. I don't carry a spare one of those either, for the 2 or 3 failures in 2000+ (conservative guess) gigs

"Love the idea! I'll make sure my phone is fully charged up so we can live stream it" ...should stick a nail in that coffin lid

Apologies for the pedantry but "WD" actually stands for water displacement. Yes, it lubricates. Yes, people use it to try to free up rusty parts. However you'd do much better with a dedicated penetrating fluid like Plus-Gas if your nuts are seized up

I made the last one from a piece of bone from a luthier supplier. Use hacksaw, metal files and progressively finer sandpaper for shaping. Beware - it smells while you're working it. Sticking the sandpaper to something flat will help greatly (small MDF offcut perhaps?). I find aluminium oxide sandpaper nice to work with and you can buy quite fine grits for lovely smoothness Use proper nut files (Hosco are good value). They are slightly spendy. Don't be tempted to buy cheap ones - they will be rubbish Top tip for getting the slot depths right: sand a pencil down half way, so it's as if it's sawn down the length. Place it flat on top of the frets then draw a line on your nut. Cut to just above the line, don't go too deep at first - you can take more off, it's not so easy to put it back on. Try it with strings, take them off and fettle: rinse & repeat until happy. Finally use a couple of dots of superglue to hold the nut in place - it will hold it firm for general use, but still be relatively easy and clean to take off if you ever need to