spectoremg

[quote name='40hz' timestamp='1450262329' post='2931029'] It's my understanding that sorting out a truss on a neck through bass isn't impossible, it can just be a lot of work. I'm sure I've seen a video of Stuart Spector talking about this very thing on my youtube travels. At either rate, Martin Simms has a great reputation so fingers crossed it'll be ok! [/quote]Ah, somebody said the 'S' word! How about cutting your losses and buying from a company that offers peerless after sales service.

[quote name='Naetharu' timestamp='1451048634' post='2938006'] The only total dog I have come across was made by Stagg. I've no idea what the model was - it was a bland looking 'modern' bass. (1) There was no shielding at all - the pickups were microphonic. Amusingly it also pickup up the wireless mic signal from the singer in the studio next door. (2) The neck was about as stable as a slinky spring (3) The nut was cut so that the strings were 3-4mm above the board making lower notes almost impossible to fret with speed (4) The pots crackled and hissed something terrible (5) The machine-heads were so loose there was no way it could hold tune through a whole song The only good point was that it balanced on the strap quite nicely and was reasonably light. [/quote]I had a look at a Stagg Jazz once and I agree with most of your observations.

Does anyone else remember pre single cut when neck stability and sustain was an absolute nightmare? No, me neither. If you like the look of 'em then that's fine but I don't believe the waffle about the technical advantages either.

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1451083673' post='2938239'] That's what he's been saying recently. It's charted 8 times apparently, was a million seller first time out and is on every compilation going. He was saying it was half a million a few years ago so I wouldn't be surprised. I was also told Quiet Riot's version of Cum On Feel The Noize in '83 made them £3m in royalties from the hit single and then the GH album it was on too. [url="http://www.nme.com/news/slade/74322"]http://www.nme.com/news/slade/74322[/url] Course he'll get hammered with tax, but he has a very good accountant. The same one that handles the Osbournes and Motorhead. [/quote]Cheers for that. All those lovely compilations every year. It probably goes some way to explaining why he's refused reunions all these years. Good on him.

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1451070009' post='2938142'] Funny you should put them both together....... he's said that just now it's about £800k a year, but I'm not sure if that's just his alone or half, split between him & Jimmy Lea. In a recent pub chat (with me, yes, really) he actually rated Mariah Carey's above MXE, reckoned it had it all for a Xmas record. [/quote]£800,000. Seriously?!

[quote name='sbrag' timestamp='1450963094' post='2937413'] I think he's a great player and nice to hear he's a nice guy too. I do think he needs a bigger pedal board though! [/quote]I was thinking that - the only man who's pedal board is heavier than his (two) Trace rigs!

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1450949591' post='2937233'] Fixed [/quote]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1450819386' post='2936237'] I was brought up in the 70's to an alcoholic father and a mentally unstable mother. Eventually my Grandparents legally adopted us kids. I left school at 15 with no qualifications and no trade, drifting from unskilled job to unskilled job, getting my girlfriend pregnant and ending up in a B&B waiting for a council flat. I applied for a job with the then, London Transport as a Guard on the tube trains in late 1988, and am now one of Londons most hated. [url="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11729222/I-pointed-out-how-much-tube-drivers-earn.-Some-people-werent-happy.html"]http://www.telegraph...rent-happy.html[/url] Even this year, i was thinking about getting a new USA Fender Precision, but still felt a pang of guilt even though I could now afford it. And a nice house and car. I suppose you never really lose your roots. [/quote]I have a colleague who adopted his grandson - total respect!

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1450818151' post='2936212'] I seem to remember reading somewhere that the guys in Genesis and Pink Floyd started their working lives down the pit. [/quote]The coalfields of Surrey and Cambridge!

Check this loser out [attachment=207874:Geddy Lee.jpg]

Have a great time everyone. I've no doubt BC will be full of seasonal cheer. And spare a thought for folk less fortunate - the ones with Precisions!

This is a damn good thread, but I think you'd have to ask a lot more than four questions to cover all bases. Having just played a first gig with a new covers band two would spring to mind: Are we seriously gonna play that craphole three times next year and; Does the female singer pick all the songs and does her dad the guitarist back up all her choices?* *And a third of myself: why oh why did you seriously consider a band with two family members in it?

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1450741628' post='2935496'] Generally what I'd like to know from potential bandmates is "how long do you practice for individually in-between rehearsals?" that gives me a good indication of how committed everyone else is, and how seriously they take the project. Another way to phrase this would be "how much time should I put in/do you expect of me between rehearsals?" [/quote]This! New covers band has a distant guitard (he works away a lot). First gig he right royally screwed up the intro to She Sells Sanctuary* which was excruciating. *I know what you're thinking - we do Sex On Fire too

Scott Devine isn't crazy about slap and therefore gets my vote!

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1450488177' post='2933379'] Nice thought but likely wrong or inaccurate (or he was joking). This was one of their first recorded tracks featuring lead vocals over a fingerstyle bass part. And slap bass was increasingly one if the features of R and B and jazz fusion from the mid 70s on (although Larry Graham played it even earlier). [media]http://youtu.be/oHGcPWnJZtM[/media] [/quote]And it ain't about the playing, slap or not, it's about the different rhythms of the vocal and the bass line.

This! [attachment=207581:Ninja.jpg] Could someone please buy one, get fed up with it and email me

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1450438903' post='2932795'] And he played a mean P Bass as leader of the house band for Danny Baker's BBC chat show many moons ago... [/quote] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPdlGl38s0s And harmonica at the same time!

[quote name='Doctor J' timestamp='1450426223' post='2932589'] I have to get me some 80's suits. Amazing. [/quote]Ha ha, I was gonna mention those suits. Nice JD. Nice boogie-woogie piano too.

[quote name='Doctor J' timestamp='1450426016' post='2932586'] I, too, wish to subscribe to your newsletter. I don't mind slap in small doses when done well and when it adds something to the music - the likes of King, Graham, Flea etc have many examples showing it's possible. What turns me off the sound of it is overuse and when it gets shoehorned in just so the bassist can stroke his ego a bit, rather than it suiting the song. I see a parallel between it and drummers who really, really love Neal Peart. Peart himself plays with a fair bit of restraint and definitely plays for the song, even if it doesn't appear that way initially. His acolytes, however, commit grave atrocities in his name, using every opportunity to overplay and show off. There's nothing wrong with a bit of taste and decorum, I find. A part of me dies inside when a youtube video turns into a slapw*** as, sadly, most of them do. So it's thumbs down from me. [/quote]Thumbs down, I see what you did there

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1450380185' post='2932287'] The concert I mentioned from a few years back was notable for fabulous vocals - the whole band sang backing as well as MK and ML and they'd really enhanced the vocals on that string of 80s hits. Also, the sax and guitar arrangements had been filled out very tastefully to reflect the fullness of the recorded sounds. The result was overall really good and though you can't get away from the MK elements, the overall group sound and dynamics was great. The drummer was also awesome - highly recommended. I've seen them three times - 1981, 1990 and circa 2008. The last time it was a complete and very enjoyable show. Everyone up dancing etc [/quote]Was it the 2012 tour? I was staggered and I mean STAGGERED by the quality of the vocals.

Flight cased - cos they ain't heavy enough!

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1450378064' post='2932255'] Ha! For me too, in that much of the stuff to me has an element of being inside the house, warming oneself close to the fireplace, drinking hot cocoa, whilst outside, cold winds terrorize the icy landscape. I've always just presumed the band's sound and folk inspirations had something to do with that, but today I see I may also have been manipulated by all the song and album titles, like all the different Christmas songs, the Christmas album, Skating Away... , Solstice Bells, Stormwatch, etc. Maybe even the snot running down his nose! [/quote]Subliminal! Get it on the conspiracy thread!

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1450373320' post='2932186'] Ah! It has been said. Also, it has been said better than I could've. Here it is then, and I feel it's only one of many good Jethro Tull songs with elements of Christmas and/or winter, one other being Swimming Away in the Shallow Water of the New Summer Day ... er... orwhatsitscalled. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2mh5zPj7Lc[/media] [/quote]Funny you should say that - Tull are a winter band for me. Yes are spring (first time I heard Fragile).

I really like all the finger style playing on World Machine and the bass sounds on it. Did I see him also using all four fingers? I can't even use three.

Mark mate, before the session starts we just need to weld your thumb to your neck pickup...