Frank Blank

As one or two of you may already know @Jabba_the_gut is currently building me a matching pair of basses (build diary here), a fretted and a fretless, which already means they don't match, but frets aside, they will otherwise be the same. Anyway, before I bog myself down in semantics, I was eager to acquire a Jabba bass essentially to see me through until my two were built. Luckily Jabba had one very similar (in shape at least) to the two he's building for me already finished, so I bought it from him back in September last year at the Midlands Bass Bash. Incredibly rudely I bowled into the Bash as soon as it opened, bought the bass, shook Jabba's hand and left! I barely had time to laugh at @Stub Mandrel's (actually excellent) rig. Like the impetuous idiot that I clearly am, I invariably acquire a bass, play it for ten minutes, rush on to Basschat and in a gushing eulogy tell anyone who cares to read that I've found the 'gas-killer bass' and that I am totally satisfied only to then sell it on again within a fortnight after I've had a word with myself. However, I've now been the owner of a @Jabba_the_gut bass for ten months and I can, in a far more sober, thoughtful and considered manner, tell you that I think the Jabba bass actually does fit the bill, or certainly my bill, to a tee. The other basses in the rack now have a layer of dust over them, that's the one or two I haven't yet sold. I have a lovely ACG Recurve SS 4 that I was lucky enough to buy from @Clarky (thanks Sir) and then stupidly sold but, thank Bog, was able to buy back. That's a definite keeper as it fills the electric solid-body roundwound bass corners that the Jabba bass doesn't, but then the Jabba bass is semi-hollow with flatwounds, it isn't supposed to twang and clank, it has too much class. Anyway, I'm wittering. I play in an acoustic duo and I've been through a gazillion basses trying to get just the right balance of sounds as we play quite a variety of songs, from kind of mellow jazz to much more angular abrasive stuff. The Jabba bass sits in the middle of that brief coping easily with the demands I make of it. If I were a technically minded man I'd tell you technical things about it but I'm not so I can't but it is an incredibly beautifully built bass and it sounds amazing. Whenever anyone sees it, be it musician or civilian, they always admire it, usually with the words "It's a work of art..." which it most definitely is. Blimey, I'm still at wittering, I best get off the train otherwise I'll end up in prattling and no one wants that. In summary. @Jabba_the_gut makes exceedingly good basses and my aim is to own several and play them exclusively. The tone is gorgeous, the build is exquisite... extraordinary. If you get the chance to own one then jump on it, you won't regret it.

Awful news RIP Kelly Joe Phelps…

Is this a misplaced DOI post?

This thread in summary… Horses for courses.

Welcome @robiredale

Pleasure I’m far to busy drifting about on Laputa.

Brilliant. Technical proficiency is just damn sexy, I can barely get the top off a boiled egg without calling the RAC (Royal Albumen Club).

😉

No idea but something popped up somewhere, probably behind the potting shed or in the orangery.

John Thomas? Edna Thomas’s boy? The luthier, harpsichord wrangler and world renowned expert in oyster cultivation? Last I heard he was doing six months in Wandsworth for embezzlement with menaces.

Well. I have had further pm conversations with Jabba and I think we have settled on shape C. but with a top wood that matches the body. However, I cannot get D. out of my mind so I have asked him to make me a pair like D. as well, that way I can try both out. There is something about D. that really has a hook in me, it triggers all sorts of 70s styling memories and that, as we all know is a good thing. I just know that if I simply settle on C. then D. will claw at me in my dreams until I take up heroin and drive off a cliff.

I believe I'm right in saying I discussed this with Jabba and it is possible but I specifically requested the aluminium lines to kind of match the fret markers.

Exactly what I said to Jabba last night but having slept on it I think I share his concerns about how the square top will look on such an otherwise curvaceous body. I think I've settled on knob A. with an aluminium marker line like C. but no veneer line. But he more I look at D., again, the more I like it but I am really not sure about the square top. Gah, why does he have to do such an excellent job? Because they are all lovely it's difficult to decide!

…and out of the blue this morning I awoke with what is, Shirley, one of the lowest points in the entire history of music running around my brain totally uninvited. That’s right, the Bowie/Jagger version of Dancing in the Street *shudder*. How did it get in there? Why can’t I erase it? I’m off out for a spin in the car with Reign In Blood on at high volume.

FTFY

Well I’ve messaged Jez yet again this morning about the choice of controls. I’ll be amazed if he’s still talking to me let alone working on the bass. I went from choice A. through choices… 7. Q. Ovaltine. A keep left sign. Borneo. ♾️. 🆙. Wantage …before essentially settling with A. again.

I’m all discombobulated now, so many knobs to choose between.

I have to say that no one has ever emailed me knob pictures before and then, like busses, three at once! It was like Knob Xmas 🎅

You’ll be hearing from Cynthia Dente’s solicitors and yes, where are my pills?

Al Dente was a Jazz musician who played the double bass, although he was never involved in any particularly famous recordings he was notable for being one of the first players to boil his strings. He was also known for his intricate macramé portraits of the Jazz greats and his detailed knowledge of the baroque harpsichord.

Likewise. Loving this track!

I can build a 6 skinner on a toothbrush, mind you, I am currently doing six months in Wandsworth for fraud.

As an old 70s punk can I just say we didn’t mind.

Thanks @prowla I’d forgotten this important facet of Bass Bashes. Another point worth mentioning is that we are also mostly masons so we tend to drink pints of Crème de menthe.