Dan Dare

Feedback? You were lucky. We used to have to pay someone to stand in the wings and scream at us.

Usual patronising tone... I've re-listened to it and you are partly correct. The first note of the phrase actually varies. It is G# at the start, but once the song begins, it is sometimes G natural.

I've told this on here previously, so apologies if you've read it before. I used to play the fiddle (still do, butrarely do gigs these days) and frequently played for ceili bands. One Burns night, my band was booked to play at a Burn's Supper in a banqueting hall in London. It was quite a grand occasion - men in DJs and kilts, women in ball gowns. A tradition at the opening of Burns Suppers is that the haggis is carried ceremonially into the hall, accompanied by a bagpiper. It is placed on the top table, the MC will recite Burns's "Address to a Haggis" and then cut into it with his dagger, which signifies the start of dinner itself. The band will often play background music before and during dinner and then play for dancing once the meal is finished. We were sat on stage, playing, when the bagpiper arrived (we didn't know him. He had been booked by the organisers). He was completely plastered. Pipers on Burns Nights can often clean up - they play at a series of events (they are only needed for a few minutes), accept a dram (or two) and their fee and move on to the next one. Our hero had obviously fulfilled a number of prior engagements. He could still walk in a straight line and play, so he was sent into the hall, followed by the chef carrying the haggis and the MC. The procession arrived at the table, which was on stage on front of the band. They climbed the steps, the chef placed the haggis on the table and the MC stepped forward to read the address. The piper stood to one side and, no doubt due to the quantity of booze he had consumed, lost control of his bowels for a moment. He was wearing his kilt in the traditional manner, so there was nothing to catch the product of his lapse, which plopped onto the stage between his feet. He shifted to one side, stepped on it, slipped and his foot shot up, flinging pieces of it over the diners sitting at the front tables. The band rushed off stage and howled with laughter in the dressing room whilst the cleaning staff hastily did their stuff. The evening did carry on, but it took some time to sort things out.

Papa was a Rolling Stone comes to mind. Just 3 notes but a belter.

There were fewer replacement pickups around in the 80s than there are now. A Di Marzio is a good shout and they were known for cream casings. I don't think that's copper foil, but the windings themselves. The wire gauge is very fine and can look like a sheet of copper at a distance.

Many maple boards are lacquered, so that would need to be stripped if you want to stain it, which wouldn't do a lot for its resistance to wear. Removing every bit of it from around the frets will be time consuming and tricky. Paint will look horrible and will soon wear through in spots where you play most often. If you stain it, you will need to be very careful to prevent the stain from bleeding into the neck itself. All in all, I'd just embrace the maple look.

Is it the deluxe active V version? If so, your battery may need replacement.

I had one made quite a few years back, when Zilla were still in Surrey/SW London. They were very helpful, their workmanship was very good and their prices were fair. I sold it when I went lightweight. Their cabs were more traditional in construction - solid and a bit weighty. I don't know if they offer lightweight options these days. No gripes about the quality, though and they do an enormous range of finishes.

Welcome. Is the new bass to replace or add to your Sire? If it's going to be one bass to rule them all, any of those you mention could be a good choice. I like the Cort Rithimic. They're versatile instruments. A pal has one and I like it a lot. However, you're the person who will be playing it, so head for a few shops and try stuff out. It's best not to choose or buy on the basis of recommendations and reviews. One man's meat is another's poison and all that.

I love a proper traditional pork pie. I'm partial to a spot of Dijon on mine.

This. If it sounds right to you and the other musicians, it's fine, provided you are in sync with the other instruments and drums. Music is an audible, not a visual experience. Are the drums real or from the computer?

I think it depends how good the people you are having "hobby rehearsals" with are. If they aren't just trying to get their own parts right and you can concentrate on the arrangement and push yourself (and them) musically, it can be a rewarding experience in itself. However, if you teach music all day, you may well be more advanced than many who do it for a hobby. My musical life has been a mixture of playing for a living and doing it as a sideline that helped supplement the salary from my "proper" job. Since I retired, I've tried on a few occasions to play with bands that were primarily social ventures with people who play as a hobby. Socially, they were enjoyable, but, no matter how much I told myself I was just doing it for the enjoyment and that I shouldn't expect too much, I would find myself champing at the bit at the lack of progress or improvement. I realised it wouldn't have been fair for me to be too demanding of my band mates, so decided to bow out. At the same time, I want/need to play music (and with others - practicing/playing along with backing tracks, etc in solitary splendour doesn't cut it for me). Not an easy situation to resolve. I'm still answering ad's, etc and hoping to find a bunch of older players or ex pro's in a similar position to me who are looking to play for the satisfaction of it and do a few gigs. Fingers crossed.

Have you checked your strings closely? Could be a loose winding or sharp edge that is causing the problem.

ERS's website has many gems - apparently, they have "the very best recording equipment in the world & the largest guitar collection in the country" (some members on here own more instruments than are shown on ESR's website), "the finest microphone & mic-pre collection in the UK" and "real music industry connections" (I assume that means they know people, rather than just having a few XLRs lying around). Wot a larf, eh.

Might it be worth checking out a double bass player's high stool? They have some back support. They're not cheap, but will probably cost less than changing your instruments.

My AG700 fans only cut in when the amp warms up a bit. It's thermally activated, as Bill points out. I should imagine Aguilar uses the same system on all its amps.

Or pee on them. Saves money. As far as calluses are concerned, you shouldn't be developing thick crusts on the fingers (which will then fall off, leaving a new, soft layer of skin exposed, as you have found. My fingertips - admittedly, I've been playing for 50 plus years - have slightly hardened pads, but they don't show obvious calluses. The skin remains elastic. As Dad observes, it takes time and you should ease off if it hurts. I'd be looking at the way you play, as suggested by others above. If you are aggressive and hook your fingers round the strings, pulling outwards as you pluck, you are more likely to damage the fingertips. Roundwound strings will likely make this worse, especially if they are high tension. You mention you are new to bass. It's a common beginner's error to employ too much force. Try to use more of a classical guitar player's rest stroke, where the finger pushes the string aside and comes to rest on the next string down.

Go outside London and the choice widens considerably. You need to check for ULEZ compliance, obvs. When I lived in the Smoke, I always bought vehicles from out of town and preferably those that had spent their lives in rural locations. Cars that have been predominantly driven in cities have a much harder life. A vehicle showing 50k miles that has spent its life sitting in jams with the engine running will have a lot more engine wear than one showing 50k that has been driven mainly at normal speeds on regular roads. The transmission won't have worked as hard out of town, either. And most people change oil/have servicing done at set mileage intervals - every 10k or whatever - which exacerbates the problem. Wear from highway driving is reckoned to only be about 10% as bad as that from urban driving. You should change the engine oil every 5k miles or less on a vehicle that spends its life in slow moving traffic, but very few people do that.

If you make modifications reversible, you shouldn't affect the resale value of an instrument. You're unlikely to add value to it, either, unless a buyer particularly likes what you've done. But that isn't really the point. I modify something for my benefit - playability, appearance or just because I prefer it. I don't really care what anyone else thinks. Had I kept my childhood toys in their original boxes and never played with or scratched them, they'd probably be worth a lot of money nowadays, but that does rather defeat the object of having them in the first place.

My '72 J bass is on its second set (i.e. the first replacement of the originals), so not very often. I do use flats and am not heavy handed.

I just keep them clean and have them replaced when the wear starts to be a problem. Obviously, you want them level, properly crowned, etc to begin with. It's often worth treating a new instrument to a fret level and polish, so you start out on the right foot. Unless you're spending serious money, the factory fret job will probably be adequate, rather than first class. If you tend to play in first position all the time, you'll find the lower 4 or five will wear faster, so they may need replacing more frequently. I reckon it's best to replace just those, rather than have the lot levelled down to match them (which will mean you need a full re-fret sooner). The only thing you really need to worry about is that when frets get very low, it can accelerate wear of the board itself because you have to press the strings more firmly to get them to note cleanly.

If you can suggest a better way to convey my meaning, I'm all ears.

You could have someone's eye out with that.

Don't listen to us (or anyone else). We, naturally, will tend to point you in the direction of what we like or own. Reviews can be helpful, but remember reviewers tend to like the king's new clothes. Not surprising, given that they spend much of their time reviewing variations on the same theme and are probably a bit bored by it. Some may even be constrained by commercial pressures. Go to a few decent shops and try things. Most important, take your time. It's helpful to go during the daytime in the week when they aren't busy. I ended up buying an amp that I hadn't considered because I tried a lot of things with my speaker cabs and instrument. I'm still happy with it several years later.