FinnDave

But when I walk to my local in half an hour so I will definitely be getting further away from my brace of Jazz Basses with every step.

All the words look the same to me. Words words wirds weirds. Maybe I should cut down on the glöggi (mulled wine to most of the rest of you)

More importantly (to me, anyway) is do they sound different when played in a band? Playing on your own at home it is easy to hear the subtle differences between basses, between strings, between picks and fingers - but when I listen to recordings of gigs I've played, I couldn't say without checking which bass I was playing, whether I was using round or flats, likewise pick or fingers. It all sounds much the same in the mix, especially when the final sound is out of your control because it all goes through the PA anyway.

Anyone suffering from P fingers should wash their hands more often...

They have to be worth trying out, in the interest of pushing the boundaries of bass playing knowledge.

Nah, fingers all sound the same….

First reasonably bass I had was a Framus Jazz Bass, so I keep going back to them. I've spent years on nothing but Precisions, tabled with Alembics and Ibanez six strings, and have bought and then sold several perfectly good Jazz Basses. My current weapon of choice is a MiM Jazz Bass deluxe which is now fitted with an East pre-amp - good bass to play on long gigs and very easy to get the sound just right. I don't need an arsenal of different sounds, just want it to sound the way I like.

We were in Pierrepoint Road initially and then moved to a flat on Horn Lane.

Acton? I moved there in 1981, stayed until the end of 85 when we moved to Hayes. (might have been 86, not sure now!).

Ours are usually £15 - but prices/values vary abroad. Our shirts are all tie-dyed by hand by a specialist in Devon, and then screen printed with the name of the band and a logo, so there's not a lot of profit in them, but they get the name out there among people who will hopefully want to find out more about the band when they see the shirts.

Three nights at one venue, and no song repeated - total of 8 or 9 hours playing, I believe. A German couple were selling tie-dye shirts there and offered to have ours on their table - but insisted that 15 euros wasn't enough so sold them for 25 each - and shifted the lot! It was hard to get them to accept some money for their work, but we managed in the end. Very good people.

Yes, it has - and all because of a casual comment about the problems of storing T shirts. Worthwhile for the band rather than for me personally, all the money is rolled back into the band. I believe we sold over £400-00 worth of T shirts when we were in Germany in June.

PM read and answered.

Oh well. If I haven't chucked them any further than the loft, then I will now.

I'll have to ask my music shop owning friend if this still applies, I might have a couple in the loft!

I've had a few Fender cloth covered non-curly leads and all have failed within a year. I didn't know there was a 'replace when fail' policy, so I just chucked them when they died.

My wife knows better than to buy me anything musical - she knows what is a must-have this month will quite probably be for sale before midsummer! She did give me a couple of waistcoats I'd admired in a Glastonbury shop recently which will be in my gig wardrobe next year, though.

Must be getting n for 35 years since I played the John Bull - not surprised it's changed! Only places I've played in London recently are the Half Moon in Putney and the Fiddler's Elbow in Camden.

The Red Lion and Pineapple was my local in Acton. I played a few gigs at the John Bull in Chiswick in the early 80s - seems a long time ago now!

I used to live there!

Just that people can only come in if they've bought a ticket, no free entry.

Certainly better than playing at Hampton Court - that's eye-watering!

That sounds rather painful!

My New Year resolutions will be to drink less (being saying that since the mid 1970s!) and to play more gigs. 2019 wasn't a record breaker in terms of number of gigs played, but they were of a much higher quality than preceding years, and that's a trend I'd like to see continue. I will start my third year with the Grateful Dudes in January, and I am finally starting to feel like a member of the band instead of an imposter! My number one resolution, however, is to stay alive long enough to think about what I want to do in 2021.

If I am someone else, I demand to know who it is. I could just be a figment of some other bass player's imagination! Let me out of here!!