Chris Sharman

Just caught up with this. That is a very fine looking ‘instrument-in-the-making’ Looking forward to performing my test pilot duties if required...

I told you you'd be pleased with it! You also make a far better job of playing it than I do.

Afternoon All, Sorry for not being about recently, but as a quick follow up to this; Andy, it was a pleasure to assit on the fine tuning of this fine instrument. I am sure Mick will be ecstatic when he gets it. I can certainly confirm the tonal range available with the combination of external and internal controls gives a massive amount of room to play with adn I am sure he will be able to find a sound of his own personal tastes in short order. The finish on it is sublime, Matt was very taken with simply stroking it and saying "sooo smoooooth...soo smoooth..." over and over again that it did get quite worrying. Also, Jo has been to the bank and got your cash but since you published that video anyway I am going to go and spend it at the pub instead! @Mick - you have a truly fine instrument on it's way. I would love to see some video of a proper bassist playing it rather than just me.

[quote name='Marillionred' timestamp='1494699787' post='3298009'] Great event - thanks for organising again Si! Those Alembics - just wow! Talked to many lovely people who generously let me have a go on their treasures. Just what were those silky smooth flat strings on the various fretless 5s please? GAS. [/quote] For the benefit of Marillion Red, Nick A, and others who asked; Jon Shuker has confirmed that the strings on my Shuker Uberhorn fretless 5 are indeed D'Addario chromes. Feel free to release GAS at your chosen string supplier.

Definitely recommend the Yamaha mentioned above as I had one of these which I have since moved on to a member here. It was a very light, easy to play, and fairly versatile itnro to fretless and funnily enough I used it with a band I was in briefly to play black velvet. I am now on my third fretless, beware the path you are about to walk. it leads to a whole new realm of GAS...

sit down with your guitarist for a while and ask him about his gear. Focus especially on his effects pedals and why he uses "this setup for this track" etc. After two hours of listening to him drone on about that you will find it easier to ignore any other noise he makes! (it's a service I provide this - NEXT!)

Hi all! just to restate the bleedin' obvious...it was a great day yet again and thanks of course to Si for his hard work in organising the event. Thanks also to everyone that had a chat about the vaious basses on offer and was prepared to let me get my hands on them. Thanks from Mrs S for the kind words regarding cakery. It was good to catch up with you all and I look forward to seeing some of you at gigs over the coming months. (and to seeing photos of today of course) Cheers, C.

If anyone Derby-ish does have transportation issues closer to the time, I will be travelling from Belper. Give me a shout.

Ah haa! Midlands bass bash eh? Count me in for that. May bring a couple of basses down with me including the new one (courtesy of Jon Shuker, the London Bass Guitar Show, and a spectacular lack of self control). May also be able to encourage the wonderful Mrs S to flex her baking muscles again...

I didn't think Andy's work could get any better. I hate being wrong.That looks fantastic.

I have the same model as geoffbyrne (Thunder III Mk2 fretless 4) and previously owned the fretted version. This bass is the one I will be keeping hold of permanently. Others may come and go, not this one. That, and the fact I wish I had never sold the fretted one I had, probably tells you all you need to know about my thoughts on Westone basses.

Water for Dogs is err....err.... Next!

Crivens.... Andy, stop giving me ideas!!!

I use TI Jazz flats on my fretless Westone Thunder and love the sound. What it loses in top end it makes up for in slideability (is that even a word?). The 18v active boost allows me to compensate, at least in part, for the less-trebly sound of the strings and I do really like the sound I get from it. When I got the bass and handed it over to Andyjr1515 of this parish to work on it had been wearing rounds for its entire life and had sufferrred serious fretboard damage. Seeing what that has done means I would probably not put rounds on a fretless ever again just for that reason. End of the day you have to give it a try. These are my first set of flats and they work well for me. Your experience may vary.

Echo a couple of points above - one of my bands "Water for Dogs" is an original EDM/mish-mash of all sorts band of bass, guitar, and a stack of keys. Play mainly festivals but do the occasional pub gig at local music focussed venues. We have spent the last year focussing on our changeovers between tracks. Looking at [i]"if Matt needs to change a lot of his effects then what can Richard and I do to set up the next track..."[/i]etc. ... ensuring that when I change from the fretted to fretless basses it is not immediately before a track where the bass comes in early...and yes, some of those between track over the mic ad-libs are not even slightly ad-libbed... the idea is to add up to a smooth flow over the set, remove the clunkiness and keep the people interested and the dancers dancing. It needs to be fun for everyone, get out there and enjoy it (just dont expect to be giving up work on Monday...)