martthebass

They lost me at Permanent Waves......

Led Zep, Houses of the Holy. Found the production lightweight. Maybe the problem was hearing most of the tracks as the live versions from The Song Remains The Same before the studio versions.

Had something similar to this recently at a verrry posh country club. Organisers were, don't worry about the level, it will be fine - we do the sound check in front of them and they give the thumbs up. The crowd starts to role in however and it's clear it won't be so we pull the volume down a few notches - on the quiet side of quiet. During the first spot despite reigning it in still further half of the crowd (the half on the top side of 75) depart to the bar lounge; at the interval we get a number of comments on the volume etc. By the second spot we had pulled the volume so far down that I could hear my singing without the PA.....

Like BRX, I always where shades on stage so if it's dimly lit then I'm buggered. I'd love some leds but don't like the uplift in price.......

Nope, we play Glam Rock. Anything as long as it's Glam, and Rock and from the 1970s. Only band I've ever been in where no one has asked for Sex on Fire!

Have a look in the Luthiers thread in repair and tech - the Guy I use is The String Surgeon - Shane Haigh. He might be able to point you in the right direction for less outlay than you expected.

Ok, no worries. What's the problem with the board, shape, colour, feel? I know that the tech I use in Wakefield can do miracles with less than perfect fretboards - he showed me a very nice 'ebonisation' job he had done on a guitar when I was there a couple of weeks back.

Why not go for a good Luthier de-fret job?

I like the look of the JMJ and seriously considered one to supplement my Squier Mustang for gigs. I felt the price is a touch pricey at the minute though and managed to get a used CIJ Mustang for about half the price. I'll probably look again when they start coming up used.

Use one of these meself as a back up. Nice silver finish, very nice neck and plenty of tone for such a lightweight package. The Agathis body is a bit on the soft side (also had to glue the strap pins) but the paint is robust so it's standing the test of time well. What's not to like for the money?

Ironically the only 'fairly expensive' gear I've had issues with at a gig was a Ric 4003 that someone tried to walk off with between spots. Apparently he was just taking it outside 'to show a mate'. Some might argue he was trying to do me a favour......

Tis done

I’m the other way around Dan....if I use a pick my BVs go to crap...go figure

These days, in the current band, I take the minimum amount of gear required to do the job to save on set up time and load in/out journeys. The expense of the gear doesn't really feature but ironically I'll be using my 2 least expensive basses fairly routinely (a Mustang and a backup Mustang). The more expensive stuff seems to be sat in HSCs other than for jams and mid-week noodling but all things change so they can stay put. In the past I have taken more of a swap around approach but I wasn't playing as frequently as now and could take more time in 'the occasion'.

I can play with both but play pick only sparingly so can't achieve as high a speed as with my finger style playing. I should work at it but tend to find I don't get the same accuracy when moving about on stage when using a pick - somehow I feel less connected with the bass, also after about half an hour my wrist hurts like buggery and I've screwed up enough joints without adding another one to the list. In the band I'm currently in, history would dictate exclusive pick playing but I rarely have a problem achieving the required tone. Leaving the nails a bit longer and hitting harder when required does help in this matter.

We'll be onto 'Stanley Unwin' next......

Shane Haigh (The String Surgeon), Wakefield. Very knowledgeable and experienced. Just performed some great remedial work on the neck of one of my Mustangs. Very reasonable rates and very quick too. I've added the details into the first post.

No Si, think it’s about a 2002, CIJ ‘66 reissue? The MW took some finding, finally tracked one down online at a little outlet in Coventry.

Through the power of BC I was fortunate for this one to come into my possession a couple of weeks ago Si. Very Tina Weymouth!

Cheers Paul, Both of the Squiers are completely stock. I've been toying with putting an hotter pup in the Squier Mustang and changing the loom (as the tone pot has very little effect on the sound) but to be honest the sound in the mix is fine as it stands so I'd be tinkering at best. The bridge is pretty good on this one, I much prefer the period correctness as opposed to the bbot that's now on the Mex Mustangs, it could do with some better tuners at some point though - I think these are the only weakness in the current Squier Indonesian offerings. The pups in the Jaguar are much hotter than both Mustangs which is part of the reason that it's been relegated from back up duty as when I switch basses on stage I just swap over the wireless dongle and don't want to be messing about with a switch/level pedal. The body wood on the Squier Mustang is basswood and lends a decent heft; the Jaguar though is Agathis which seems to be as light as helium (causing a bit of neck dive) and has the consistency of cheese (fortunately the paint job has the robustness of Kevlar so its still totally ding free); if I hang on to it I might look out for a better body for this at some point and have a wacky paint job. One thing I would note is that the necks on the Squier basses are excellent, great fretting, good adjustment and take any action you'd like. IMHO, better than the neck on the CIJ re-issue which has adjustment at the body end and can't take as low an action.