Frank Blank

I am hugely excited at the prospect of owning this @Jabba_the_gut bass, not least so I can start hassling him to make me a fretless, but also I realise that a) it’s a thing he does (brilliantly) in his spare time and b) you cannot hurry quality. I’m only too happy to wait for something so perfect. I thought having the money just sitting in the bank waiting would make me look at other basses but I’m so into the Jabba basses I’m not looking elsewhere. I think he may have found a patient life-long customer. Good news on the gig/bass sound, but then you do have the best fretless I’ve ever played!

Yay! That neck just looks perfect. The Godin is just too heavy and l o n g for me, I can’t wait to replace it with a Jabba original, too excited.

What’s that atop the amp, the History Eraser Button?

Guitar Technical Services - 13 miles south west of Coventry. It’s a 300 mile round trip for me but worth every mile/penny.

Exactly. I bumbled around for years trying to get my instruments set up starting with guitar/bass techs from various bands who had invariably picked up their ‘skills’ from other ill informed techs, disasters ensued. Then I tried music shops, disasters ensued. I tried a few amateur instrument enthusiasts (years and years before Basschat obviously, disasters ensued. Usually the instrument would be returned with, at best, the same problem I left it there with, sometimes with the same problem but worse and in a couple of cases significant extra problems too. One ‘expert’ would contradict every other and I’d be left with less money and a badly set up bass or guitar. Had I been younger I think I would learn how to maintain my own instruments but a) I’m an old dog with no inclination towards such work and b) how do I know that the information one person gives me is correct over what another person says or does? (Again this is where the ‘hive-mind’ of Basschat comes in so useful with its consensus replies.) I could never understand why so-called ‘luthiers’ or ‘guitar tech’ couldn’t just treat instruments like the physics/engineering problems that they are. This is one of the reasons I go to Peter at Guitar Technical Services, he explains everything he is doing in terms of the physics and/or engineering and in many cases you can stand in his workshop with him and watch what he’s doing. He does a Pro Setup, asks to see the instrument to tweak after a six month ‘settling in’ period which he doesn’t charge for. I take all my instruments to him every six months and he has never charged me for tweaks, only if I want modifications. I have received invaluable advice and have built up a really good relationship with him over the years. It took me almost forty years to find someone who actually knows what they are doing rather than saying they do and then messing it up!

Exactly this ^ I don’t get why anyone would even be involved with, let alone married to, someone who told them what they could or couldn’t buy. Obviously one has to be responsible and adult, but then we are responsible adults aren’t we? If anyone patronisingly suggested I didn’t need another bass I’d rather less patronisingly suggest they fvck3d off.

Just played four songs at the Monday night Open Mic at The Railway in Southend, sat back down in my seat only to be unceremoniously dragged into conversation with a very drunk man who a) complained about the lack of good electronic bands in Essex, b) went on and on and on about how good Squarepusher is and finally, c) tried to get me to drink his pint which, after ignoring my gentle ‘sorry, I don’t drink’ refusals he finally tipped all over me, great.

You aren’t far from Guitar Technical Services in Warwick. His Pro Setup is the best imho. I drive up from Southend to get my guitars set up and serviced. Sure it’s more expensive than most but in my experience you get what you pay for.

Samsara and Easy Stars All-Stars doing Dub Side Of The Moon at Concord 2 Brighton last night. Samsara were, as always, superb, brilliant reggae/ska with lovely brass Klezmer influences. Dub Side Of The Moon was hilarious and excellent but a shade too polished for me, Samsara won big in my book but then they always do.

I remember FGTH rehearsing at Nomis Studios for their TOTP debut, I had to restrain the bass player from the band I was working with so he didn’t stagger in to drunkenly berate Holly & Co for their bad playing, which, tbh, wasn’t that bad, or perhaps we were both rather drunk, not sure.

Oh my days, that looks beautiful...

First line of my CV, there.

You, Sir, are a born librarian and that’s a compliment.

Yes, definitely.

Cool beans.

Just be aware of the narrow string spacing on the SRC6. You are welcome to try mine before you make your mind up.

I think most (not all) people, like me, just assume certain gauges are for certain styles of music but as @Dazed absolutely correctly suggests your playing style in combination with the string gauge will ultimately define the final sound. Only way to really find out is to try ‘em.

I know this sounds whack but I used to have really light gauge strings (don’t know the exact sizes but they were the lightest they had in stock at The Bass Centre when I bought the bass) on a Jaydee Supernatural. I used this inappropriate bass with it’s inappropriately light gauge strings to play in a heavy goth band and subsequently a really heavy and fast thrash metal band. It sounded great though, drop D in the thrash band, real clarity but still plenty of depth. I find the lighter gauges easier to play (small fingers here). Latterly I was convinced to use a different bass with heavier strings but I was never really happy, that initial setup was ideal for me. No doubt my experience is a freaky outlier but there you go.

Don’t stop being picky! It’s what makes your basses superb and me a customer.

You just haven’t found the correct style as yet, try on everything, even Tupperware, after all, look at Devo.

If you want to get ahead, get a hat.

Because we are being left behind by a world that we no longer understand nor like, it's the same, generation after generation. I no longer understand nor like the things that the youth dig, why interact with it? It’s not for us. We are no longer ‘cutting edge’, I’d venture we’re not even relevant. I’m content doing my own thing, very little of which would be understood nor appreciated by young people, that’s ok, it’s the natural order of things.

Nick Cave Q&A gig at The Dome Brighton. During the questions someone said they lived in Nick Cave’s old flat and could he tell them where the stopcock was, which he duly did. Splendid.