NancyJohnson

How did I settle on my string choice? The destination following a long journey; I use Elixir Nanowebs on most of my basses, I have a set of Markbass Long Evos on one. For me, it got to a ridiculous point where I could be spending £60-80 a month changing strings once they became too ponky. I'd be using D'Addario or Dunlop (or whatever was in my box of stuff) at £20 a pop and these lasted about as long as the shelf life of a Boots prawn sandwich. Yes, Elixirs are expensive, maybe double+ that of budget brands, but they last for ages and retain their zing. (Likewise goes Long Evos.) I don't think I've changed any strings this year.

When these bridges came out (about ten years ago), I swapped out three or four on my Thunderbirds. The Hipshot was a country mile ahead of the stock three-pointer. Moving slightly forward, give some consideration to the Babicz replacement, which in my opinion is a country mile better than the Hipshot. Interestingly, the design kind of apes the old three-pointer as well, so it looks a bit more in keeping with what it's there to replace.

You're not John Berry, are you?

My Vitriol

There was a big rumour going round that they were supposed to playing the Legends slot at Glastonbury this year. Sadly not. I suppose he's earning so much swag off Merry Xmas Everybody, there's little need for him to go out and do it live. Noddy has just recorded something with Brian Eno.

My 2 cents. We are just too obsessed with these upgrades. I'll admit that I've swapped out plenty of bridges over the years this was more to do with comfort and adjustability rather than whether I was going to get more or less ponk from the stock bridge. I've actually cut myself on high grub screws from a BBOT, so it was a no brainer to upgrade to a Hipshot Kicka$$. Swapping out Thunderbird bridges to Babicz units was also more about the bridge (literally) falling apart when you took the strings off and the general lack of adjustability. We only seem to think about tone in isolation; once you're playing in a band context you simply will not be able to hear any difference.

I know what I've got, even though when I was totting them up in my head, I did forget about one two. Interestingly, at one point I had so many Gibson Thunderbirds it was a little difficult to keep track of what I had; I had 10+ at one point. All gone. There'd be a gap in the rack and I wouldn't know whether one was missing or not.

Can anyone give me a quick process for getting audio up on streaming services?

Blimey! I have no idea what year this was, early 90s? Nothing on the internet. Saw this show with a couple of mates - we were all Sweet fans as kids - it was just a truly harrowing freak show; Connolly got through it somehow, he was being heckled by a group of people. It was just awful.

Tourtech stuff is great, I have a couple. Great value and to be honest probably not so different from manufacturers OHSCs.

A generalism for plywood basses always seems to allude to the body being manufactured from sheets of material akin to that with which you'd use for roofing a house; that said, moving to the neck construction, Kubicki Factor basses (both the Key and Ex models) both utilised a plywood-neck of 32 strips of maple. I've never heard anyone moan about these.

Nope. These were part of the Fender Fotoflame series. The top is a print. On paper. Not even a veneer.

Well here we are; eleven months of living with this bass. I think I made reasonably decent progress for the first four months. We had builders in in April, so all musical activities were put on hold, then I damaged my knee, had an operation to fix things and I'm still recovering from that - it's just uncomfortable to stand for long periods. If there's an upside, I put in a lot of hours early on and I don't believe my recent lack of playing has been a negative. My competency on regular bass translated across reasonably easy, I mean that element was more about playing vertically that horizontally. I've not bothered with the stand thing, but I will at some point, even if I need to get to a garage and get someone to weld metal for me.

I've got a NS NXT5 - my wife and mother-in-law palled up and got it for my birthday last December. I'd only played an upright on a couple of occasions prior to this; it's a curious thing, there was this desire to explore upright basses at some point and I went with the 5-string, because hell, why not? I played it a lot for the first few months - then April time we had the builders in, so it got difficult to play, then I tore something in my knee (operation) and standing for long periods is still painful, so it's been a bit neglected of late. Had a noodle this morning and don't think I've really lost anything from the first few months experience with it (except maybe the callouses on my fingers). It's the only bass or any sort that I have out at the moment.

Quite a few years back, I witnessed a double header of Brian Connolly's Sweet and Les Gray's Mud at the old Guildford Civic hall. Brereft of any of their old bandmates, Messrs Connolly and Gray stumbled through greatest hits sets backed by musicians half their age; Gray was like the leery old uncle that parents warn you to avoid at family gatherings and Connolly was body ravaged and in the throws of Parkinsons, led on and off stage and glued to spot in front of his mic-stand. These two aside, I suppose the other bands I think should have retired with dignity are Kiss, who are probably 20 years into their farewell tour and Motley Crue, who tore up their Cessation of Touring contract pre-pandemic. I suppose everyone wants to remember their favourite bands when they were young, lithe, thin and not bloated, grey, middle-aged and not being able to hit the notes (viz. Vince Neil). Reckon Noddy Holder got it right. And probably a few of the old punk bands bailed before their time. Keep 'en hungry.

Italian powerpop:

There's a rare as hen's teeth Yamano Thunderbird on eBay. Sapphire blue. Price is great (£1,600), but obviously you'd need to factor in shipping/taxes). There's another one on Reverb, but about £700 more. Gibson made 200 of these for Yamano, Japan back in 2000, other than the colour it's all stock. I borrowed one of these when I gigged in Italy a few years ago. The colur was stunning. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325400316009?hash=item4bc35ec869:g:KFAAAOSwdrljWeZd&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4PbGzdc%2B9mQV5zdiT77barzyinwl52LSe1SeqCugxl75nZNxfzoKGakoi26Drh4kKro46hZWMLBaMcM9X30pJDf%2B6%2BSE3LXfhRvi2yRkxAhJKOWZfUBxJuw0wRPWmBIItrpLhpbGxOhUDyd9QerBsyjMAPA%2FJeIAa5xy87g9Js7BVdxn67dW%2F9Iv9TNUKLyq4yDuTzakjGFEn6Mtan5aa8xEQcxtQ8mofqbWVtKdWxvp7e%2FD9TD1AGIREMuAqjmX3imzwdfrDraVCdhBKrVZAxggoe3Vhq%2BUOi0RnR9%2FaJ%2Fh|tkp%3ABk9SR6CUwqCMYQ

Brief update. I just installed a Tonerider Generator humbucker in the bridge position on an Epiphone Phantomatic...there just wasn't the space for two Wago connectors in the cavity, so I ended up going the old route and using the same connectors I'd used to install the John East preamps. They're on Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06WGM9W7S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1). They're like £7 for 20 pairs.

I used some little push/pull connectors when I hardwired my East preamps, way easier than screwing into a Lego style block. Wago connectors are fantastic, it has to be said. I've never considered using them in a guitar application. I've got to put a humbucker into a guitar later this week. Top tip!

I have an LT with Bart'sv(unused/surplus/for sale kids). It's got a Darkglass tone circuit. Don't read this as being Darkglass=dirty mush (like the Stingray/Darkray); it's just an active circuit AFAIC, cut/boost. I know people get all wound up about what's under the cover, but the Darkglass circuit works fine and is perfectly functional; it is just one facet in the entire signal chain. I've got John East circuits in a handful of basses and don't really see much difference in what each circuit gives over another, my desired tone comes from outboard gear (GED/dUg stomps).

Never had issue on any strap depth (so far)...the only ballache is where the strap hole is too small.

IMO the European Spector basses are great quality for a production line made instrument. Fantastic fit, finish, workmanship. Can't really fault them. I think you get an awful lot for your £££ compared to Fender/Gibson stuff.

If it's a like for like swap, do it yourself! It's pretty easy.

I've got some old boards here...