FinnDave

I was in a band for several years with a harmonica player with the same problem - a complete inability to STFU. I quit in the end, couldn't stand any more out of tune honking away all the time.

You're obviously not familiar with the output of the Grateful Dead, a handful of medicocre* studio albums and and incredible 2,500 or so gigs almost all of which were recorded and are widely available. I have always found studio albums of any band dry and sterile compared to a good live recording. Recording studios seem to suck the life of any music played there as everyone strives for perfection. *I say that as a rabid fan of the band, but in my opinion the music only really comes to life played live.

Yeah, like Finland to England, pootle around the country and then back again. 6000 miles in a few weeks. That kind of long ride.

Mine always ended up blowing about after the first 50 miles or so, guess my hair is kind of lightweight these days

My hair used to get very tangled on the Harley, so my wife would plait it for me before a long ride, worked a treat.

This isn't going to end well - I have a beard and a lot of tools. Only today, I was assembling my nice new pillar drill!

Yeah what about them? I've got hair half way down my back and listen to and play nothing but the Grateful Dead. Fsking hippies!

I tend to cut the highs when I use a pick as the pick adds a lot of top end.

Probably a chance to stretch their arms, let the muscles relax for a moment

I'd just tape them on with masking tape, sticky velcro can be hard to remove. Just tape them in place and see what your right hand is trying to do to reach the strings. I think for a finger style player, they are probably more of a hindrance than for a pick player, but the inability to play in some of the most tonally varied parts of the string would be a big concern for me, as would the inability to mute at will.

Every bass I've bought that has had cover fitted, I've removed them after trying to play around them for a few minutes. Try sticking them in place with a bit of tape and see if they get in the way before drilling holes in your lovely new bass.

The covers look cool, but in my experience, make it impossible to play the damn thing!

I have owned my BF Super Twin, serial number 001, from new, it has been frequently gigged and still looks like new. Never had any issue requiring me to use their customer services, but remember them very quick to respond during the wait for mine to be built back in 2013. I also have a more recent Super Compact, but I am not using these days, so it's for sale.

That was good of him.

I'm actually ahead of the game now, as not only have I sold a couple of basses since the new year, I have also had to return a pre-amp I bought in December for a full refund as unfortunately it would not fit in the cavity in my bass. So far this year I have still bought nothing music related at all, not even a CD (I subscribed to this year's releases of the Grateful Dead's "Daves Picks") back in the autumn).

The drummer

Here's one that was popular when I lived in Finland. The title means 'Love is white as snow' or close to that.

All of my basses have come with names on them, I sometimes add a little to make them more distinctive, so we have had 'the black Precision'. 'the white Precision' 'the new Ibanez', 'the Ibanez I bought last month', etc.

In Finland no one EVER talks during a Sibelius concert. Then again they don't talk much the rest of the time either...

I practice by playing along with the originals of songs that are new to the set list until I get them right. Today I was working on Estimated Profit, a jolly little ditty in 7/8 which I am finally getting my head around. When we have a rehearsal or gig coming up, I'll play through the set list every day for a week or so and work on any weak areas I find. We only play material from one band, but they ad a vast repertoire, and I have a small memory!

I'm only a few miles down the road (the A420) from Swindon and it sure ain't sunny here right now!

I had a Thunderbird for a while, but that was fairly recent, 2011 or 12, I think. The EB4 doesn't look as cool as a T bird (what does?) but it is a more useable bass. Never played any of the 'classic' EB series as I have never got along with short scale basses.