FinnDave

I always take a spare bass and spare amp plus a DI box to every gig. I have had both amp and bass failures - the amp was brand new and died on the first song, I had a spare in the car and we carried on after about one minute, the bass was on a stand which 'fell over' (I still think someone knocked it) and damaged strings and fretboard on a cymbal as it fell through the drum kit. The spare bass was put to use. Both of these happened at the same gig - still carry spares of everything but haven't need them since.

Beautiful Jazz - and great provenance.

Depends how you do it -

Assuming that blows means the same as sucks then you could leave out 'country' from that statement and still be correct.

I'll try to remember to pop into my local B&Q today! Good tip, thank you.

It's years since I listened to that - don't remember it as being especially hard to listen to, but my memory loves playing tricks on me!

I've been thinking of getting one of those gadgets as I now have three modern Fenders with this vintage 'feature'.

On my Vintera Jazz (and my very similar but older Classic 60s Jazz) I can adjust the trussrod with a fairly large flat screwdriver after removing the scratch plate if I am careful. The same applies to my Classic 50s Precision.

My Vintera Jazz and Classic 50s Precision (same as Vintera) have the original cross head screw at the body end of the neck. With care, they can be adjusted by removing the scratch plate, but that is one period feature I could happily do without.

Would I lend out my #1 bass?? No way. Would I lend out my #2 bass?? No way. Would I lend out my #3 bass?? No way. You probably got the idea by now. I worked hard to be able to afford my basses, I spend time making sure they are set up just as a I want them - I have never had to ask if I can borrow a bass for a gig - so why should anyone else?

I have three Precisions at the moment - a 2012 US Standard, a Classic 50s (MiM) and a recent Player (also MiM). They are all good instruments, but the 2012 Standard is my number one bass. I have had it for about 9 years now and it's never let me down. As far as I can tell, the current Vintera series is simply the older Classic series rebranded. I have had a Classic 60s Jazz for the last nine years and other than the finish (mine has a cellulose finish) it is very much the same as the Vintera Jazz bass I have had for a couple of months. I've also had a few Squiers over the years, one thing I found was the wood is softer, so the various parts that screw into the body & neck (bridge, tuners, strap buttons, etc.) needed to be checked and tightened fairly frequently. I have not found this to be the case with the US or Mexican built Fenders.

Two of my Precisions have these strings, one has FS and one FL. I can't hear or feel any different between them. My Jazz basses have the Fx strings - seems to suit them better. My other Precision has Rotosound flats, bought from a forum member as an unopened pack - different sound to the LBs, but basically add another option.

He looks a bit like Tim Blake, but I think he was with Gong in 1972. His history and Hawkwind's go right back to the beginning, so he might have been hanging around in 72.

Brilliant song!

I have got a splitter box - but prefer the simplest option. ABM combos are going so cheap that they are less than a spare cab - so why not treat a combo as an extra cab with an amp built in in case the first one fails. I have had two ABMs fail on me at gigs - the first was an old one and a joint failed on the input jack - used my DI box to finish the gig and resoldered the joint when I got home. The other was a brand new ABM 600 which was delivered to my house by the local PMT just as I was about to leave for a gig. The amp failed after less than 2 minutes, but I had a spare in the car. I try to take a spare of anything that could fail at a gig - but haven't found anywhere that supplies spare fingers yet!

It's just occurred to me that as I have two ABM 500 combos, I could take both to gigs and use one as an extension cab, thus giving me a small stack and a 4 ohm load. I'd also have a spare amp. The only drawback is having to carry the damn things - and as I have recently become keeper of the band's PA, might not have room for them both in the car. It's a thought, though.

I was about 6 years old when the Beatles became famous, and I first heard the news about John Lennon's death on the morning of my 23rd birthday. I had never really like the Beatles, but they were impossible to ignore in the early 60s. It was definitely a shock when he was shot.

I used to play with a guitarist who was in Van M's band - Van certainly wasn't popular the the musicians (un)fortunate enough to play with him! Love the harmonica story, not heard that before but I am inclined to believe it.

I was under the impression that Ibuprofen was more for reducing swelling than pain relief, but I think it was a doctor in Finland who told me that, so I could well have misunderstood.. One of my bands has a singer who is a GP, I'll ask her when I next see her (this weekend is the other band).

I remember when all bands looked like that. Happy daze!

Yes! He was a bit crazy, but a good drummer. They came to stay with the people I lived with in Leeds after gigs there. I met up with what's left of the band (basically, just Keith the bass player and a bunch of people from other bands from the same era) at a festival my old band were headlining. I was instantly transported back to the mid 70s and a field near Stonehenge. I had hoped not to have to talk to Keith as he was a brilliant bass player and i was in awe of him 40 something years ago. Plan didn't work as he parked next to me! Said some very positive things about my bass playing, which was a relief! They all had interesting stage names back in the day, Steffe Sharpstrings, Keith the missile bass, and so on. Saw them at Stonehenge a few times, also Deeply Vale and some other festivals I can only dimly remember.

I was just a year or two too young to make it to Watchfield. I think that was also Here & Now's first proper gig. Last time I saw Hawkwind was at the Roundhouse probably three years ago.

I agree with all of the above, except, oddly enough, the line about bagpipes. They have their place (usually somewhere far away), but I can remember a lone piper on the isle of Lindisfarne - the melancholy sound of the instrument suited the environment perfectly. I have also had the slightly unusual (certainly unusual in Oxfordshire) of having a Scottish piper in full regalia join my blues band on stage for a couple of numbers - it wasn't anything like as discordant as you might expect.