NancyJohnson

I'm knocked out that my band (Lutz) have had our album listed on a couple of these top ten releases of 2018 things; I'm assuming this came out of the New Music Saturday podcast and a few people have just picked up on it. At the very least, it affords me a little smile after what has been a fairly traumatic year in which I lost my father-in-law, my mother and my job. [Edit: I also emerged from the wreckage of losing my band, the band I formed eight years ago, to a bunch of fairly unpleasant interlopers.] 2019 has got to be better, eh?

I was looking at this on a very small phone. I'd concur with this not being a Fender neck from that period as well. At that point Fender joints were a standard rectangular four or triangular (to accommodate their micro-tilt system. Too many laminations and the fingerboard wouldn't overhang at the dusty end.

Whaaaat? This doesnt compute.

If it were me, I'd bolt everything together first to see whether it intonates properly, which would obviate the necessity of filling holes in the neck and neck pocket. If they're both genuine Fender parts, the holes should match up. Beyond that, you're simply making good on filling the gaps in the neck pocket, sanding and staining. Borrow some clamps. Any decent woodshop should have a decent stock of veneers; I'd take the bolted together bass along and see what fits. This would save you sanding time.

Aside from the Hamer Cruise Bass, the Ex-Factor was the only other bass that gave me an instant wobble from the first time I saw it. John Taylor at Live Aid. It was a, 'What the feck is he playing?' moment. Never played one, I doubt I've ever even been close to one, but it's always been there in my mind. Had my inheritance money come through, I might have taken a cheeky punt at this one, but right now, noooo.

The awful thing with the 6-stringers is that frankly horrific headstock!

The only one I bought new was a NR Thunderbird reissue; that was five or six years ago. Every other Gibson I've owned was a used purchase. I've seen plenty of people playing Epiphone and (strangely) Tokai Thunderbirds, but it's a pretty decent observation that in the main you don't see a lot of Gibson basses out in the field. Only thing I can think of is that they're possibly seen as more of a vanity purchase and not so much the type of bass you actually want to take out to a lot of the old rat holes a lot of us play regularly.

Shielding or otherwise, there's an inevitability of noise when you're in the vicinity of dimmer switches etc. Played a few venues where thus has been the case. Ultimately, and if there is an upside to nit making changes to the bass, once you're up and running, no one will hear the buzz.

Years ago, I gigged with the Johnsons a couple of days before Christmas and we did it straight, but I donned a Santa hat for the last song (Christmastime Has Come To Town). We were an originals band and it was great to see 100+ punks moshing about to the last song. Interestingly, the band on after us were 'equine surf punkers' Horse Rock. Their gimmick was that they dressed the same and wore Mexican wrestling masks. Keep reading. Their drummer is great; quite a chunky guy, big beard, very energetic, plays a tiny drum kit. He was in his clothes, with a Santa suit, his mask, a Santa beard and a Santa hat. After he finished his set he was literally steaming.

I don't understand the desire for <insert year here> reissues or Signature models.

Because Gibson are asshats and they're only interested in Les Paul models.

I'll pm you here.

Aah, just spotted this. Because it's apparent the GED has developed a bit of a fault - it's at Rocky Road at the moment being looked at.

I'd been a subscriber to the US magazine Alternative Press for a very long time; my sub stopped a few months back. I doubt I'm going to start rereading these, so wondered whether anyone would just like them; they form a comprehensive journalistic collection of alternative/indie/noise but from a US perspective. Decent journalism, album reviews etc. Seems a shame to just put them into the recycling. There's an awful lot, certainly ten years+ of copies, plus some special editions. This isn't a collection that can be mailed, so if you want them, you'll need to drop by and collect (Crowthorne, Berkshire). Don't want anything for them (maybe a nice bottle of red).

While not strictly bass related, I was just reading a short piece about Joe Strummer's Fender Telecaster; 1966, black over grey primer over sunburst. He used it pre-Clash through to the last gig he played prior to his death. My wife remarked (while I was regaling her with the information), that I would never have kept anything for that long and just stuck with it, because betterment of gear is in my nature (viz. GAS) and I see little gain in vintage kit. Aside from Brian May, I really struggled at that point to come up with more than one or two people (see below) who've used the same instrument night in, night out, for pretty much their entire (long) career. I wasn't even certain that the Hofner Macca plays once in a while is from his time with the Beatles. Joan Jett (the white Gibson Melody Maker): Francis Rossi (the Telecaster with the hole in it), Anyone care to add? Not people who just play Jazz basses (ie Geddy Lee)...anyone who is still using the same gear now as they did 40/50 years ago.

In non-musical purchases, I bought a television. Been doing up the lounge for a while and have been tracking the specific model for a few weeks, John Lewis price dropped overnight, so pulled the trigger about 6.30am today. Musically there's nothing I want/need that's actually readily available from any retailer.

Going for the hat trick here, I have Hamer FBIV, a model that at last estimate accounted for 'about 25' models. Elsewhere, my Lulls...the JAXT4 ('a few') and my oversized NRT5 ('one of two'). I suppose Lull can just keep making the latter two, but the Hamer, while more prodigious, won't be made any more.

I'm actually tempted to say I'd go for that. Nice.

There's a little subjectivity on the word outshone; there's the implication that the artiste's sales have blitzed that of the original band or whether creatively (from a personal perspective) the solo material is somehow better than that of the original. A handful of names came to mind immediately; Rod Stewart, Donald Fagen, Paul Weller, but the main one for me was David Sylvian. The guy's output since ending Japan/Rain Tree Crow has been pretty stellar. Expansive, exploratory, but lest we forget, patchy in places. I adore early Japan, those first three albums, but it was very much diminishing returns for me, I fell more out of love with every album, but the bulk of what Sylvian has done is completely different from that croony sub-Roxy type of thing that was happening at the end. Large instrumental pieces, straight pop songs and installation material. He's certainly outshone Japan from that perspective, but I doubt he's outshone from a sales/unit/££ perspective.

Paul Young, AKA Ol' Wheezy.

I went a long, long time ago, some time before it became the fashionable and rowdy stag weekender destination of choice. From memory, it was hideously cheap to get completely off your face that we actually came back with money.