Happy Jack

Traffic mainly, horns honking (usually a taxi), distant sound of a siren, occasional outbursts of yelling. The New York sound hasn't changed in the 45 years that I've been going there.

Things happen fast around here ...

What are these "chords" of which you speak?

To Lazarus thread, or not to Lazarus thread ...

Good God! The last one sold here on Basschat was FIVE years ago: That was a horribly heavy example of an SB320; it had the temerity to weigh over eight pounds! Disgusting. @basskit_case sold it for £250. Aaaaaaaaaaargh!!!

A week today, and it will be 13 years old. Only it's older than that, because I originally posted it on Basstalk (one of Basschat's precursors). Hugely under-rated and under-valued basses. Personally I didn't get on with the 5-string SB325, but that turned out (over time, and a ridiculous amount of GAS) to be because I'm actually a devotee of the 35" scale when it comes to 5-stringers, not that I knew that in 2007. My own fave was and remains the SB320. If another one came up for sale tomorrow I'd probably buy it, even though I have no possible excuse for doing so, simply for old time's sake!

Get stuck in ...

Well, up to a point. Sultans Of Swing was 1978. Artificial Paradise was 1992.

Have you tried putting the wet clothes in the microwave?

A'm sure that a dinnae ken whit ye mean.

Gosh, doesn't he play a lot of notes?

Ah couldnae tell ye, mon ...

That sounds about right ... Scottish guy, very VERY retiring.

Good grief! That goes on for 17 minutes. SEVENTEEN F***ING MINUTES!!!

Hmmmmm. Some are, usually the more energetic end of the psychobilly spectrum, but any properly-constructed DB should be strong enough to support a bass player standing on the C-bout, which is (arguably) the most reinforced part of a DB anyway. And of course it helps (a lot) that rockabilly style normally keeps the end-pin all the way IN. You can buy 'strengthened' DBs and you can retrofit reinforcement to an existing DB, but it's all a bit of a waste of time (IMHO). If you're going to treat a DB badly enough to risk physically breaking it somewhere important, then for the cost of the reinforcement you could just buy a cheap Chinese knock-off. The last point is that if you or your bass or your band sound like **** then no amount of clowning about on the DB will rescue the gig. If you can play properly whilst performing crowd-pleasing tricks (I'm looking at you, @PaulKing) then well done that man ... carry on!

Do you flatpack it away after each gig? What does it look like with a DB on it?

Yup - just had to do exactly this. Or, more precisely, @Silvia Bluejay did it for me. The lower/outer ring had ridden up ever so slightly to touch the upper/central knob. She slackened off the grubscrew for the lower ring, pushed it down less than 1mm, re-tightened, and all was good.

Crinson. Note that the logo does NOT say Fender.

I have been challenged to start a random, pointless Topic every day - without explanation - just to irritate other Basschatters. Today's random Topic is, why do so many otherwise perfectly sensible people think I give a flying f*** which albums influenced them when they were growing up, or which films they have posted stills from? To make this even more irritating, I'm going to nominate named individuals to try to put them under some sort of peer group pressure to waste even more time. So here's looking at you, @Bassassin @silverfoxnik @tayste_2000 @Clarky @Beedster @Shaggy @stewblack @Rich

Game-changer, mate ...

How's your back? Feeling alright? Have a nice sit-down and a cup of tea ...

Basschat never disappoints ...

Only if they're wearing Kohl ...