NancyJohnson

I've been playing regular basses for 30+ years and I've been thinking about dipping into the EUB market for a little while - I'm drawn to NS Design basses (WAV or NXT), from a value for money point along and general design aesthetic they tick my boxes and as I'm a kind of in at the deep end type I'd go the whole hog and pull for a five string from the outset. The primary question here is that if I went with a double bass, I'm looking at a scale length of 40" or thereabouts, the NS OMNI only comes in at 34" (so comparable with a regular bass)...if I went with an Omni, it's not really going to give me much more than playing a fretless bass is it? Hell, you can play them on a strap. Size aside, is there any real disadvantage in going with a 40" over a 34"?

I saw something very similar with a guy rack mounting a Darkglass head. Rubber feet off, longer screws to reattach. Seemed to work well.

I picked up a Hamer FBIV on eBay for £375...it was a buy-it-now thing. Seller clearly didn't know what he was selling. The best though was an Aria Primary bass; it was a Gumtree thing, job lot of three guitars and a practice amp for under £50.00. It needed a bit of work and I've upgraded the pick up and bridge, but it's a belter.

Right handed, don't like Les Paul guitars. Feel free to hit him up with an offer.

Ooh, conjecture. I'd been in love with that bass since the first time clapped eyes on it, but I'd have been just as happy owning that bass irrespective of the provenance.

I've never quite understood why anyone would want to pay over the odds for an instrument with provenance attached; so what if JE owned it? It's not like it's going to turn you into him once you play it.

It's difficult to quantify shock, that feeling you get so infrequently it's difficult to describe. Not a royalist, I was genuinely shocked when Princess Diana died, or watching the second plane hit the World Trade Center. I was genuinely saddened/borderline upset when Joe Strummer passed away; the circumstances of hearing the news weren't best either (Robert Elms/BBC London, playing a load of Clash stuff while I was driving back from the bank. I was thinking, 'Well, this is odd.'). I frequently think of Mick Karn (Cancer/expected) and Stuart Adamson too, he was such a lovely bloke. The flipside here is how staggered I am that certain musicians are still actually here, considering the quantities of drugs they took back in the day.

After the top of the headstock on my Mustang sheared off when I was enlarging the machinehead holes, I really struggled to find a replacement neck, eventually purchasing a neck from The Stratosphear in the US. If the make of the neck is unimportant, try Brandoni in Wembley (http://www.brandoniguitars.co.uk/), they offer a decent selection of quirky replacement parts. You might get lucky.

Ooooooh! I shall look forward to putting a ding in it treating it with the care and attention it deserves at the SE Bash.

I used an old fishing trolley for years. Saw me in and out of gigs and rehearsals. Got it from Argos. The Hartke cabinets I had utilised castors. They were these locking ones that were easily removable, but they eventually failed and I just installed some regular ones. If I were starting over now, I think I'd just get a bit of ply cut the size of my cabinet, cover it in heavy duty black felt and screw in some of those bigger nylon/polypropylene wheels. Portability and the luxury of being able to dispense with them after use.

Lee Anderton and Rob Chapman do similar blind tests - I've seen them for variously flavoured Les Pauls and Stratocasters; those who saw last years blind test will bear witness as to how long it took to run through just 15-20 different basses with me hosting and Gary noodling through Carry On Wayward Son. We could certainly set up something with Precisions (or Jazzes) - Fender/Squire/Marysiccysarious/Tokai/Aria etc. - but to ensure we had a level playing field we'd need to ensure hands were kept away from the giveaway stuff (knobs/machines/body condition), entrants limited to 60 seconds per bass (or less). How about another thing. Choosing 'Best In Show'?

Updated Attendance & Gear List: 01. Silverfoxnik - BC Rich Eagle, Ander van der End JB5, RBV5, Ampeg V4BH head and matching cabs. 02. Hamster - Tea, Coffee, Pastries, the Wife - might bring a bass! 03. @Frank Blank's Acoustic Corner - Rob Allen Mouse, Godin A4, FRFR setup (QSC K12.2 and Fishman preamp). 04. RodFunnell - '78 Stingray, Assorted Warwicks, Vanderkley Spartan, Mesa Prodigy 4:88, Barefaced Big Twin T and it's still a few months away so maybe more! 05. obbm - Sadowsky Metros, Handbox WB100, Bergantino cabs. 06. Cetera - Spector NS2, Spector Euro LT, Hamer Impact, Dingwall DBird Standard, Hagstrom Super Swede, Italia Imola GP, Fender FSR PJ, GK800RB, GenzBenz Neox 2x12 07. @NancyJohnson Lull JAXT4 & Lull JAX/NRT5, Darkglass A/O Head, 2xAguilar SL112s Barefaced Big One (the #000) 08. Rumblefish - Rumblefish bass,Wal Bass, MB Mpulse 600,Berg CN212 09. Steve Browning - SVL & Fender Precisions, Mesa Walkabout 15 10. @Stingray5 - MM and Tune basses, Trace Elliot or Eden combos, Boss GT-6B. 11. ChunkyMunky - Builds of mine (P5, J5 etc), SWR SM900, a Greenboy/Fearful build or two and some other assorted goodies. 12. samcrabtree00 - Warwick Streamer Stage II, USA MM Sub, Genzler Magallen 800, Barefaced BB2, Various effects 13. TrevorR - Wal Custom and Pro, Aria SB700, MarkBass LMII & Traveler 2x10 14. @Graemeross 4 Ps, 3 Js, 2 Aria SBs , Darkglass MT900, 2x Barefaced BB2, HX Effects with Line 6 G75 wireless. 15. prowla - Rics, Warwicks, Statii (whatever I chuck in the car!), Markbass EVO 1 & 1x12. Maybe a Minitaur & 12-step (if I've got 'round to figuring out the 12-step by then). 16. OrangeFriday - Third build - J bass - may contain LEDs...

Oh, well. I'm certainly not paying $4K for one. Maybe next year. Or maybe I could buy one of the cheapo ones and fine a decent luthier to sort it out.

24kg? I knew Gibsons were heavy...

I'm just hoping that there'll be a Les Paul Junior DC guitar in there (and not one of those horrific tribute models).

A while back I started a thread about trying to get Eastwood Custom to build us a Basschat bass...only design criteria was to avoid the usuals (P/J etc) or lifting designs from currently available models available new elsewhere; the ethic was to create something sparkly/odd/different. Eastwood were pretty accommodating; good comms, low build numbers, reasonable pricing etc., but needless to say the chance of doing something original went out the window as members saw this as more of an opportunity to obtain a cheap Serek copy with loads of mods, rather than entering into the spirit of the project and getting behind something that say, looked like it could have been on an episode of The Jetsons, which is pretty much what Eastwood do.

What about side by side?

A 45 minute set would have been 15+ songs with the Johnsons. Singer wasn't big on talking between songs.

Back in the day, a load of bands I played with had notebooks full of people who would happily put bands up overnight. Let 'em in free, buy them a beer, sleep on their sofa. It wasnt something I adhere to, I prefer my own bed to be honest, but in those dreamy pre-internet days, there's a certain charm now to this being a thing.

While I don't know these were big names in the true sense, I believe that the US and Canada largely passed on Lewisham/Catford's own Japan and Swindon's XTC. Japan did 'less than a dozen' dates in the US and Canada, apparently they were being courted by Bill Aucoin (Kiss management) at one point; apparently UK management favoured Europe and the far east as easier markets to sell the band into. XTC toured the US & Canada extensively, but musically they seemed to be college radio darlings rather than breaking it big. Clearly two factors that didn't help seemed to be Andy Partridge's on stage breakdown in Paris (and their subsequent withdrawal from touring) along with the anti-religious content of the single Dear God couldn't have helped. Coincidentally, as a vanity thing, I asked whether Dear God could be played at my mother's funeral, just as a personal dig against religion. The vicar, clearly ahead of the curve, said he didn't feel it would be appropriate.