Meatbag

Oh my! Will the God of analogue synthesizers ever stop laughing at me? My first Saturday job as a 16 year old yoof was in 1979 at Chase Music in Manchester who were the ARP dealers. I vaguely paid some attention to the products as I sweat my teenage nads off humping those massive boxes around and setting gear up at various roadshows. And Poly/ Mini Moogs, and Oberheims....I was more interested in girls and "proper" rock and roll.....

I'm not a vastly talented or experienced muso, but the last band I played in was a house band where we did all kinds of "hit songs" I would NEVER either a) choose or b... have the slightest interest in. But it payed the bills and got me gigging in a huge naff off sports stadium in Germany to 3500 people who danced and had a damn good time for 2 and a half hours. They were happy, I was happy, result.

Blimey: here I go over 35 years.. 1966 Rick 4001 Blonde, Bought/sold in 1979 checkerboard binding, toaster pickups. Wreck. Had been damp in a loft or somewhere. Moved it on 1979 Rick 4003. Bought in 1980. Tobacco sunburst. Loved that bass but had to flog it when I got married in 1985 to pay for carpets or some other tripe. 1984 Rick in deep blue. Bought in 1999 Still own and play it to this day. Status Graphite Mark King. No,I am not Mark King. Moved it on. USA Jazz. Another "Damn, why did I sell that". Black body, maple neck. Just, well, you know? Just ahhhhhh Twin pickup MusicMan Stingray. Lovely but just could not gel with it. Music Man Sub 5. Adequate for the band I was in but soul less. Washburn XB600 6 string. What was I smoking at that time? Wal Pro Bass in about 2002. What a badly abused old lass. Sold it on to some geezer in the states. Fernandes short scale "Lawsuit" copy of the Alembic bass complete with outboard PSU. Weighed a ton and sounded crap. Also went stateside. The only ever Erlewine bass made. Except it isn't. Turns out it was an apprentice piece. Best of everything, hand made on board pre amp that eventually died. Turns out some cretin had over tightened the truss rod and it had stripped inside the neck. Shame as it is now quite twisted but ggood for the kids to play on in my son's studio. I think that's it.

Doh! First mistake, It's Andy :-) And thanks for the welcome Allie

Evenin' all. I've been playing bass on and off (mostly off) for the last 35 years. ( Whisper it...I've been playing the g**tar for the last few) but have pulled my '84 Rickenbacker ( yes, a real one!) out of its case and fallen in love with all things bass again. I've had all sorts, a Wal Pro, Status Mark King, a Music Man Stingray, various Jazz/P-Basses, even a foray into 5 and 6 string territory, but always came back to the Rick growl and sold everything else to fund my 6 string habit. it's good to be back. A