NancyJohnson

We blind tested Rickenbacker's, Fenders, Gibsons, my 40 year old Aria, home builds; everyone taking part had access to the basses beforehand and had a list of the basses during the test. I think the highest score was 3/20 and about 30 people took part. The main thing demonstrated here was that some of the people taking part couldn't even recognise their own babies in a blind shoot out.

With all due respect to everyone who has posted (and no offense), the thing I have issue with is that just because someone owns a bass that looks like a Jazz Bass, this doesn't make it a Jazz Bass. Same goes Epiphone Thunderbirds, Rockingbetters etc. I've owned two Fender Jazz basses in my time (CIJ Geddy Lee and an Aerodyne), I've also played a few 60s and more copies than I can actually remember; none of them were exact replicas of each other, so where is the actual reference model? It's like all these people saying that the new Epiphone Thunderbirds are the closest thing out there to a 60s Gibson Thunderbird. Err, no. They're just saying this stuff because a) someone else has said it, b) to justify their purchase, c) it makes them feel better about paying a twentieth of the price of an original model and because d) they've never played a 60s Thunderbird. At the SE Bass Bash in 2018, Gary and I did a fairly extensive blind-test of about 20 basses and it was very clear the results just reinforced that nobody really had a clue which bass was being played - even their own - and that I still haven't been able to shake Carry On, Wayward Son from my head 18 months later. Every bass pretty much just ponks if you just plug it into an amp and play it clean and every bass will come alive if you pass it through a usable pre-stage. After 40 years of playing, I'll let you into a secret. The real tone comes from your hands, technique, string choice, pickups and whatever you're plugging into. Forget about 'tone' woods, fingerboard material, neck radius, how wide the neck is at whatever fret and so on. It's a nonsense. Just remember that your desired tone is not someone else's; find out how to achieve your tone and learn to replicate it on whatever bass you're playing. If you can play, you'll make a bass sound decent to your ears, irrespective of what it is.

To create a musical mood, over Christmas I've been listening to a lot of older music and the overriding thing is how underwhelming the bass tone is across pretty much all of it. Obviously I have no idea what basses were being used, but statistically there has to be some Precisions and Jazzes in there, not that you'd be able to identify them. Man alive, it's all just ponk ponk ponk.

It would definitely require the skills of a decent luthier!

There's a Ripper on eBay at the moment for £800. It needs work, a lot of work, but it comes with a new neck and at this price and factoring in the cost the work t required, you could get a sterling bass for well under the market value.

Ack, there are no MiJ lawsuit versions, so that'll be why they'll be as rare as wooden horse poop.

That's really quite nasty

I suppose bucking the trend somewhat, I actually like the big SUB headstock logo. It just is what it is. I'm really not a fan of people putting Fender logos on old copies (or Limelights), or putting Gibson truss rod covers on Epiphones.

Been using Dunlop Straploks for about 20 years I guess. Aside from the brief ownership of a Rickenbacker (and only because I couldn't get the stock strap buttons off), whenever I buy a bass, I'll fit Dunlops immediately.

BSSM is nearly 30 years old; it's so long ago that people hoping they'll recreate some of that magic is akin to Ace Frehley rejoining Kiss (again), so he'll be able to do Destroyer II. I liked BSSM on release, but think (despite the ongoing adoration) that they played their best hand there and then. Much like Weezer, it took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I don't really like them. I tried though.

@Andyjr1515 Just to add on here, it really doesn't seem to matter which bass I use, I know what my desired tone is, so I'll shape my outboard gear to achieve this; any perceived difference in tonal output after installation of a new bridge will be lost in a band environment, too.

There was a very attractive blonde waitress that worked there early-80s; she used to look after the raised bar area at the back near the cooking area. I remember we were all a little besotted with her. Three of us were sitting at the bar one time, the desserts arrived and she caught the bottom of the dish on said bar, it flipped over, depositing the entire dessert into my mates lap.

The two I remember were Rita and Myra. I think Rita was there when it opened in 1970. When I was at school - mid-70s - the father of a friend of mine was a commercial artist...he had little studio in a mews in Mayfair. Among his work, he was the creator of the Esso Blue Man, logos for the Open University, C&A and interestingly - keeping it local - the original Hard Rock Cafe logo. About once a month, I'd get a phone call on a Friday evening, my mate would just just say, 'Dad's working on Saturday, up for lunch at the HRC?' We'd pile into this little Mini and he'd drop us off at the HRC. He had some kind of card that got us in to the front of whatever queue there was, we always got a booth and we never paid. Down Home Doubleburger, Banana Split and even in our mid-teens, there was a beer. Myra always looked after us, 'You boys eaten enough, or can you squeeze in a second dessert?' Full bellied, we'd saunter across the city on foot , go to HMV (I don't believe the Virgin store was open at that point), then go and drool over the guitars in Denmark Street, before sprinting back to the studio for the ride home. Happy, happy times.

Basses aside, I remember when the HRC was just at the one location on Piccadilly and it was more about getting a decent burger, banana split and a few bottles of Schlitz, rather than this behemoth of a restaurant chain, hawking horribly bland food. Ne'er shall I return.

I've owned a three or four Fender basses (I still own an old Aria P) and have always swapped out the bridges. Despite all these arguments about better sustain/weight distribution/transference of tone etc.etc. I could honestly say that I failed to hear anything different tonally, so in my opinion this argument is a nonsense. So dear reader, you're asking why did I swap out the bridges, then? Initially, visual aesthetic; I prefer a big ol' chunk of bridge under my right hand. Next, as I play close to the bridge and mute a bit, it's just more comfortable (I have cut my hand on the Fender grub screws previously). That's it really. A Badass (or similar), doesn't really offer much in the way of adjustment over the BBOT. As an aside, changing the bridges on my Gibson Thunderbirds was always the first thing I'd do...the Hipshot and Babicz replacements were head and shoulders over the stock three-pointer.

After selling off all my rack kit in 2018, I bought a Darkglass AO head and a tuner. (I think the order went in in late 2018, but there was a long lead time.) A couple of months ago, I pulled the trigger on my first ever Spector, a Euro LT. Accessory wise, I put a Hipshot BT2 D-Tuner on one of my basses, bought a Planet Waves headstock tuner and one set of Fender flats (loving these!). I'm happy with all this. Now if only I could find a series one Hamer Cruisebass...

I'd certainly say Gary's Spectorbird is a beautiful thing, but if there's one that I just adore it's this. The LEDs are insane and I don't even like Fenderesque basses.

Here's my band's Soundcloud page. Some of this is about a year old, but there's some newer material filtering through now. Our guitarist/producer was involved in a motorbike accident that broke his arm in two places and shattered his collarbone, so he's been a bit poorly. Anyhow, this is where we're at. We'll be adding more in the next few weeks.

Years ago The Tube did an Irish special, I think they went north and south of the border. They featured two bands Cruella de Ville (playing Gypsy Girl) and The Bankrobbers (playing Jenny). How neither of these bands went on to have long and illustrious careers is beyond me.

Well, just in case it's of any help in the future, I bought the Hipshot BT2 from Jose, the holes match up with the Schaller, so it was a straight off/on. Five minutes. The Schaller ferrule won't accommodate the shaft of the Hipshot (radius too narrow), so you need to fit the Hipshot one. All in all, very pleased. Took a couple of minutes to set up the drop.

@Ting Is that you Wai? I recognise the Sandberg. Say hey to Amelie.

While there may be some here that would argue for strings being fit for purpose (ie short scale ones for short scale basses, long scale for longer scale basses), honestly it makes no difference at all whether you're using long scale strings on a short scale bass; the only issue you may have is whether the machine head post is able to comfortably accept an untapered string that's just been cut to length.

@lemonstar If you love the Brian Setzer stuff, I would wholeheartedly recommend the Christmas Extravaganza edition with the Live DVD. It's a joy. We'd been promising ourselves a last minute type of trip to the west coast to catch one of his Christmas shows; it was destined to be this year, but (luckily for us at least as we hadn't booked), he pulled out of the tour with severe tinnitus. Here's hoping a recovery of sorts and maybe 2020 will be the year.

It's OK, Trev, I know there's a plate under the riveted one!