NancyJohnson

As some of you know, I play a Waterstone 12-string bass once in a while. It's a rough Les Paul shape and I suffer from a bit of neck dive. The strap point is on the side of the body about an inch north of the neck joint. I'm curious...does anyone know of a bracket that can be retro-fitted (screwed!) into the neck-position strap point that could extend the strap button position towards a more Jazz/Precision friendly position? I'm sure Steinberger had a bracket like this. Cheers P x

Am I too late to recommend a SD Basslines Quarterpounder? When the original failed on my 79, I thought active EMGs would be the best option, so ran it on a 19v circuit. Awful. Pulled that out and put a passive Quarterpounder in. I get everything from a great full-on Rickenbackeresque clank to lovely dubby 60s sound. You can pick these up for about £40 shipped from the USA on eBay. P

[quote name='NancyJohnson' post='32134' date='Jul 15 2007, 06:10 PM']I lurve bass slolos. P[/quote] Awww, come on Nik, play the game mate. P

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='31675' date='Jul 14 2007, 09:40 AM']Most people are left or right handed. I guess the acid test is which hand do you masturbate with?[/quote] Right now, I really can't think of anything quite sharp enough as a reply to this question. I've been married over twenty years you know. Much love P x

I lurve bass slolos. P

This is mine: I'm waiting for a tortoiseshell scratchplate to come from the US (and it's taking a while) as mine shipped without one. The US retail is c.$1,400 and you'd have to factor in shipping and import duties on top of that. I run this through a POD with a little bit of distortion then through the POD's lo-cut filter which lets the octaves ring and most of the regular bass string signal through. One note: it suffers horribly from neck-dive, but a decent leather strap (with an untreated underside) helped. P

Forget Dean and buy a Waterstone Tom Petersson 12-string. I was going to sell mine on a couple of months ago, but it's kind of gotten a new lease of life in the last few weeks. It's a great bass and yards better than those Dean models. Yards I tell you! [url="http://www.waterstoneguitars.com"]www.waterstoneguitars.com[/url] Cheers P x

[quote name='NancyJohnson' post='31871' date='Jul 14 2007, 06:43 PM']Now this might be all wrong but... In the late 70s one of the guitarists I played with had a WEM/Watkins/Wilson? guitar...I think it was called a Rapier. He bought it in kit form from WEM in Chertsey, Surrey, and assembled it himself. I'd always thought that that was from where Watkins operated from, they always had loads of WEM stuff there and you could buy spares, valves, speaker grills, cloth etc. from there. Perhaps someone can confirm or deny whether they operated out of Chertsey...it would be nice to know a little more. Coincidentally, several of the older guys in our musical circle back then had WEM amps as well; I used to borrow a Dominator model ffrom one of them and he used to have a really nice white Watkins bass (a solid body, in a Les Paul style). Cheers P x[/quote] Just followed the link from above and read through the history...Caxton House in Chertsey. That was the place! My dad used to get his fishing bait just over the road from there, that's the only reason I knoew about the place. Fantastic! P

Now this might be all wrong but... In the late 70s one of the guitarists I played with had a WEM/Watkins/Wilson? guitar...I think it was called a Rapier. He bought it in kit form from WEM in Chertsey, Surrey, and assembled it himself. I'd always thought that that was from where Watkins operated from, they always had loads of WEM stuff there and you could buy spares, valves, speaker grills, cloth etc. from there. Perhaps someone can confirm or deny whether they operated out of Chertsey...it would be nice to know a little more. Coincidentally, several of the older guys in our musical circle back then had WEM amps as well; I used to borrow a Dominator model from one of them and he used to have a really nice white Watkins bass (a solid body, in a Les Paul style*). Cheers P x EDIT *There's one of these on the Basses link from higher up this thread. It was a Wilson Type-W.

I don't want to be a fly in the ointment here...I mean, they look nice enough, some of the pickup configurations look interesting, but a quick glance at the price list (plus the option of a preamp for 200 additional euros) made my heart sink somewhat. Q. Why aren't people just getting a little tired of paying vintage prices for what are essentially a bunch of Fender copies? Sure, if they want to offer me an endorsement, I'll take a JMBass Custom 4-string, natural finish, with an additional MM pickup in the neck position too. No, make that a 5 string. I am on the cover of Bass Player after all. I deserve something free after all these years playing!! Much love P x

Here's another (oh, I've got a ton of 'em). I played in a punk covers band when I was about sixteen and supported a band at a college Valentine Day disco. The main act had a drum riser about four or five feet high, which had this huge kit on it, that our drummer used. Primed with cheap cider, we're pogoing our way through our set, dodging the phlegm and plastic glasses, when someone in the crowd throws a Party-Seven up towards the stage (for you youngsters, a party seven was a big can of beer that held seven pints). On it's way up, the can is spinning like a catherine wheel and the contents are squirting out...I arch my back, it misses my face by inches although I am wetted from the contents (sadly not beer, but wee-wee). It continues on its journey, before hitting our drummer full in the chest, knocking him off the drum riser mid-song. We were just falling about and in an instant that single event becomes local folklore. That drummer was Dick Beetham, who now owns 360 Mastering in London. Go check your CDs! Much love P x

I don't know whether this counts as a bad gig or not... Quite a few years back I got roped into playing a short Sunday residency at a pub in Hackney. We got paid a pittance but on the upside we had access to unlimited beer and a nice Sunday roast. On the very last Sunday (and mid-set), there was some handbags over near the bar and then two fat guys started fighting, I swear I heard this guy's nose crack from the first punch (it still makes me wince thinking about it). Within seconds the whole place went off and there were maybe thirty people all beating the crap out of each other...it was like a scene from a Western, glasses were flying, someone was swinging a pool-cue around. I reckon it lasted under a minute and amazingly we kept playing. In hindsight it was hilarious, but at the time I was cacking my pants. Much love P X

...a rough and cheap Highway One Jazz is what I'm looking for...red too. Keep me in mind. P [quote name='dave_bass5' post='29858' date='Jul 10 2007, 04:45 PM']Its Red with a Rosewood board but im not thinking of getting rid of it just yet as its the only 4 string i have and i would like to hang on to it. Plus it looks a bit rough in certain places so i wouldnt get much for it even though i have looked after it.[/quote]

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='29801' date='Jul 10 2007, 03:14 PM']I love my HW1 jazz although i dont use it at the moment as im in to 5 strings. I have one of the early ones but have put a BAII on it. Not sure it was for the better tone wise but the original bridge was very loose on a couple of strings. Its the only Jazz i have played so cant compare it to the MIA's but it does have a very nice jazz sound. plenty of growl. I also have TI flats on it and it does motown very well. As pointed out the finish leaves a lot to be desired. Mine looks like ui have had it since the 60's but its only about two years old. The pait seems to just fall off. I did read that this was meant to happen to make it look vintage but i dont believe its true.[/quote] What finish colour/board is it? Are you interested in getting shot of it at some stage as I just need something as a back up. P

I saw this on eBay a couple of weeks ago. It's a Fernandes Thunderbird - it's a lot like the old Spector Thunderbirds Nikki Sixx played in the late 80s. Link: [url="http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k129/mustang_axeslinger/lot17/mc14sixx/2.jpg"]http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k129/mus.../mc14sixx/2.jpg[/url] Don't know about you guys, but this really popped my cork when I saw it. I loved the old Spectors that Sixx played...the Spector headstock on a T-bird body was something lovely...this milks that design. Much love P x

There's a review of one of these over at bassplayer.tv. Movin' pictures and everything! P

I used a product years ago called [b]Finger Ease[/b] - front and back of the neck. A couple of squirts and it worked fine until I got a sweat going and sticking wasn't a problem. No chemical smell or anything. It came in a little aerosol bottle and lasted for ages...no evidence of it damaging the fingerboard (or a polyurethane neck finish), although you might want to find out whether it would damage a nitro or oiled finished neck. Digital Village are doing it for £9.99 a can, but you can get it on eBay from the US a lot cheaper than buying it in the UK. Personally, I would avoid Fast Fret. It wasn't as 'thin' as Finger Ease and (roundwound) strings would collect muck after a session. Incidentally, my old guitarist used baby-wipes to get a little moisture on his strings before we started playing. P

Tim I only just came across this forum post and I'm amazed no one has even bothered to respond. This is a great link. I started out on Rotosound Swing bass strings (too long ago), then moved to Elites maybe ten years ago for a while and moved to D'Addarios five or six years back. While I've been pretty happy with the D'Adds, they sound great, last a while and boil up pretty well when near deado, I will probably source out some Elricks, Spectors or Mike Lull strings on t'bay within a few days. Good one, thanks P

[quote name='slaphappygarry' post='26998' date='Jul 4 2007, 02:38 PM']Vox - Mike Patton Guitar - Tom Morello Bass - Chris Wolstenholme Drums - Mike Portnoy Can you imagine that line up?! G[/quote] When we were discussing this last week, our drummer suggested Portnoy and Patton in one such line up. Mike Patton is/was a great talent. Faith No More were great, but I dare say Mr Bungle were better. P

We've all contributed to threads about who our influences and favourite players are...but what about if you could put together a dream line-up of your all time favourite artists? This came up at a jam I had last week. For instance, would it work if Nikki Sixx, Nuno Bettencourt, Dave Abbruzzese and Dave Grohl all got in a room together? Much love P

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='26346' date='Jul 3 2007, 08:14 AM']If I play by the rules and choose one only... Cheap Trick - Tom Petersson However, I really dislike virtually everything that they've done since Dream Police![/quote] All Shook Up (which followed Dream Police) was OK...it's certainly better now than it was in 1980...TP left after this one and it also coincided with the band losing their way a little, but you should check out the Silver and Metro live albums and more importantly the current Rockford CD. It's a real return to [early] form. P

TPOH? Jeepers, I haven't thought about them in a long long time. Just downloaded 'I'm an Adult Now'. We used to cover this years ago! Thanks for nudging my memory! P [quote name='Alien' post='26273' date='Jul 2 2007, 10:56 PM']And the best two, for my money. Mine would probably be The Pursuit of Happiness - Johnny Sinclair (nothing special basswise, just really well written songs with intelligent lyrics) Morphine - the late Mark Sandman. Two strings and a slide, and one of the most amazing sounds ever. Andy[/quote]

Stuart Hill...go look him up. P

It's difficult to quantify my favourite band...I can follow my musical routes from The Sweet, Kiss, Rush, The Alarm, Living Colour, through to Shudder To Think, Jellyfish, Fountains Of Wayne and Counting Crows, but I have no definitive favourite. Showing my age here (and probably of more relevancy), I regularly go back to listening to four or five albums from my teens: Japan - Adolescent Sex and Obscure Alternatives (these are the first two Japan albums), bass player Mick Karn, Rich Kids - Ghosts Of Princes In Towers (Glen Matlock) Queen - Sheer Heart Attack (John Deacon) Aerosmith - Rocks (Tom Hamilton) Rocks was the album I used to play along with when I was starting out, waiting for Joe Perry to call me. Only recently have I come around to the feeling that I am not immortal and these albums are now all around thirty years old. To me these albums are like comfort food (Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey, or a cinnamon and raisin bagel with peanut-butter and banana). Hopefully, I'll still be around in thirty years... P