NancyJohnson

Well, it arrived a couple of hours ago. It is a thing of beauty...neck profile is great (I have no idea of the radius), very shallow/flat. It was set up pretty much how I like it straight out of the case, nice low action, a bit rattly but not unplayable. It sounds fantastic, but my fantastic would be another person's meh I suppose; I had about fifteen minutes at volume while the wife was out, but then work intervened. I've done a side-by-side with the JAXT4 for comparison. Just as an aside, I love the knobs on the new one, I'm going to hit up Lull for a set of three for the JAX. More later.

It'll be in my grubby mitts tomorrow...28th. Woop.

Nice!

I would say I've done about 40, but I left the band I started six years ago a few weeks back, so that total isn't going up. There were a few high-points, Dublin Castle, Camden, an insane show at The Fighting C*cks, Kingston and two Italian gigs (in Milan and Turin) despite the Italian shows being the grounds for my subsequent departure; spending a few days with people you honestly don't really like just sped things along a bit. A lot of those gigs were good, but there was direct correlation to how the enjoyment waned and how playing became a chore as the year went on. It just wasn't fun [with them] any more and I believe the throwing of my bass across the stage at the end of the last gig I did with them reflected just how unhappy I was. Anyhoo, moving along, new band is up and running, initial home demos are promising, a little different to the old act, so we'll see where things go.

I've been on an XTC thing for a while now. I'd wholeheartedly recommend the new Steven Wilson remixed stuff, especially Drums & Wires.

Japan - Obscure Alternatives This is the one for me. After a teen dalliance with a lot if US and Canuck rock, things did an about face and Mick Karn bought things home. The album is so varied; rock, cod-reggae, Satie, top 40...what he played launched a brace if copyists and opened my eyes to what could be done on the instrument. Sure other great albums followed by different artistes, but this us the one for me.

This. Resonance? Are you holding a note for ten or fifteen seconds and expecting the note not to deteriorate? Nah.

That Hofner is lovely. Now I have GAS. Damn you.

With all due respect, this type of comment kills me.

These lists are so subjective. 'Best players...' says who? It's not very encompassing; no Geddy, no Macca. It's more populist than anything else...as I was running through it, I was wondering whether Adam Clayton would come up. I wouldn't qualify Mike Kerr or the dude from QotSA inside anyone's top 17.

Always up for a challenge, I had a good old internet trawl on this one; scant evidence online does lean toward Gallon Drunk. Funny is it? It was only 1993 and it seems like the dark ages. If you were to fast forward 25 years to 2043 and ask who were third on the bill when <insert band name here> played <insert venue here>, you'd have zero problem finding out what you want to know.

And it's finished...holy fecking crap!

I've got a Jeff Ament in black as well.

The back of the neck is finished the same as the body. Fingerboard is ebony.

A couple more.

Well, seeing as how nearly a year has passed. Only really achieved #1 off that list. Mind you, a lot of gear has come, gone and is anticipated before the new year bells toll.

Butterflies are a kind of a diminishing return; older you get, less excitement you feel, but yep, when that pic dropped there was a bit of fluttering! All chrome!

I got another message and they're going to be building it today (13th). It seems strange that it'll only take a matter of hours to build it, but I suppose now that they have all the parts it should be fairly quick. More photos to follow (well, hopefully).

Now then. Some of you may recall the Smitten Kitten thread from a while back. I fell in love with a five-string Mike Lull NRT5, sold a bunch of basses and put in an order. Six months on, the photo below dropped into my inbox today with a brief message saying Mike Lull will be building it this week, so hopefully I'll see it before Christmas. I guess it's pretty rare to see his work like this, so posting here. I am heartedly excited. P

When I was working in jewellery, it wasn't uncommon for retailers to buy overstocks at a discount or if they were carrying stock that wasn't moving, reach agreement with us to reduce the selling price in turn being paid a contribution (credit or stock) against every unit sold. I'd hope that they had something like the latter in place here. At the end of the day, GAK are probably selling enough Les Pauls and SGs for them to negotiate this kind of deal.

Just as an addendum to this, despite Elixirs being on both basses for so long, they still retain a distinct brightness; they've never really gone off. I'd say there's a slight dropoff in zing that you get from any string really, but once that happens they remain stable for a very long time.

Someone else can pull the trigger on this one, my credit card is staying firmly in my pocket here (I've got a huge bass bill incoming soon); I'd rather put £399 against that! Hmm. Why not for me? I just didn't like it in the slightest from the first time I saw it really. I think it was over on the LBO; a photo of some bloke in his back yard...I seem to remember comments over there being along the lines that it was just a mocked-up joke on Gibson as they weren't really making anything decent at the time. I'd say at the time I was more disappointed with the design than anything else and (while I'm unsure which model came first now), it now reminds me of a Fender Dimension bass, but with a boxy headstock. Strangely, the lack of colour combination options for body/pickguard was also a negative point (black on black would look good better) . They should have gone the whole hog and put clover-leaf machines on it too, like a Ripper. Ultimately though, I'm a Thunderbird bloke; reverse and non-reverse.

I'd used D'Addario's for a looong time and had gradually migrated to Elixirs on all my basses. Honestly have nothing bad to say about D'Addario, but for me longevity is a major thing and claims the Elixirs lasted up to six times longer than conventional strings was the thinking behind moving to them. I don't feel any coating when I'm playing and the sets on my main two basses that have been on for 10 and 9 months. I might give EXPs a go...£35 for a set EXP170-5SL is worth a punt.

All Gibsons are built in the USA. Looking at the price, it would be tempting to buy and get it refinished in a nice matt/satin black. Clover leaf machines, black scratchplate.