project_c

Yeah that’s the nicest version for me, but I’m a sucker for black/maple. I thought these were sold in the US only, weren’t they a CME exclusive?

I don’t get how sites like this don’t get shut down. The internet is littered with fake chinese shops now, it’s not just musical instruments, it’s clothes, tech, everything, and it all shows up on the first page of a google search. The whole of China should just be blocked from the internet until they sort out their laws, which are nonexistent when it comes to this stuff. An entire economy built on theft and the production of endless fake counterfeit plastic garbage.

No problem, glad you’re enjoying them!

Oh no.. Maple neck Mustang, I’ve been harping on about the need for these for ages. My gear abstinence oath is in serious danger.

Opposite end of the scale I think from what I remember about Chromes. Daddario Tapes are low tension and snappy, they have a similar tension to slightly thinner gauge nickel rounds. Great if you like low action and a bit of snap when you dig in - but nowhere near as low tension as TI Jazz flats. If you're used to Chromes, you might find them too low tension. Most people tend to love the feel, but the tone is not for everyone. Motown, old funk, jazz - they're perfect. Slap, metal, anything involving zingy brightness and mid-scoop - not so much. If anyone wants to try a set, either you or @CameronJ, drop me a PM, I have a set here which is knackered (about 2 years old so they sound pretty lifeless, and the E string got bashed on a cymbal so it has a little snag on it), I can post them to you. They're cut to fit a Precision.

I normally just google it to see who’s doing deals, they’re not cheap and they seem to have gone up recently too. Wunjo sell them for £45 if you need them urgently and you happen to be in central london. They last forever though, I only change them when they get damaged, the nylon wrap doesn’t like getting bashed against hard surfaces.

Daddario tapes on P’s, J’s and PJ’s all the way for me. I don’t slap but I don’t think tapes would be ideal for slap, they have a very dark and juicy tone for finger style, and they’re great for digging in, but they don’t have that metallic sound at all, it’s a much more subtle tone than that. I love them though, if it wasn’t for tapes I don’t think I’d be able to play the music I like playing, I swear by them.

That looks a whole lot nicer than the mesh ergonomic chair I bought recently from John Lewis. They sell one for about £250, I took a chance on it, it’s ok for back support but that mesh stuff is deeply uncomfortable. I can’t find a price on that link, can I ask how much you paid? I know decent chairs can cost well over a grand so I won’t be shocked. The only thing that would concern me with these is the height adjustability, at the minimum 490mm it’s still quite high. I’m short and a lot of these types of specialized chairs don’t tend to go low enough.

I play gigs sitting down regularly. We almost always play small bar / coffee shop style gigs without a stage or PA.

Does such a thing exist? What chair do you use for practice? Is anyone actually happy with what they’re sitting on when they’re in the woodshed, or are we all quietly suffering with sore àrses and lower back pain?

You don’t really need a mixer, just bass - audio interface - mac. Headphones plug into the audio interface, all audio is routed through it, it’s effortless. I have a Focusrite 2 Pre, sounds nice, has 2 inputs, does everything I need. (It also has some annoying habits but that’s another story.) The MOTU Microbook interface I had before that was way more reliable but didn’t sound quite as good.

This is definitely true, but there are still many artists - especially grime artists - getting relatively rich through music. The difference is they're not doing it solely through the established route of gigs and record sales, they're getting paid through social media, licensing, guest appearances and cameos etc. They're having to work harder and have a more consistent output for less cash than the old bands, which also explains why the music - especially grime - is made and recorded using the most basic equipment, usually by 2 people rather than a whole band in an expensive studio full of engineers followed by pressing plants / managers etc - and released for no cost in next to no time, but still attracting an audience of millions in a matter of days. Basically to make money in the current environment, you have to have minimum personnel, simple equipment that gives you instant results, zero production cost, zero manufacturing costs and endless confidence, energy and enthusiasm. Genres like grime fit into that format perfectly.

I’m not saying it’s dead at all, my point earlier was that it doesn’t matter. Music culture isn’t quite as linear as it used to be prior to the internet. Statistics will tell you that more young people listen to hip-hop / rap than anything else. In the US, amongst young people black ‘urban’ music is way more popular than rock / indie, it’s something like 48% vs 31% (can’t remember exact numbers but google will tell you), which suggests rock is certainly not as popular as it used to be. The difference is that today it doesn’t matter as much as it used to, as long as you find your music and it’s followers, what’s ‘in’ and ‘out’ has no real significance any more.

Perhaps, but maybe it’s your perception that’s skewed in favour of it, and you’re not noticing the sea of terrible rock music that’s been sloshing around on the planet for decades. For every exciting new rock band there are 18 thousand leathery beer-stained tragic disasters. For every Nirvana, there are a thousand cheesy Pearl Jams and much worse. This doesn’t mean ‘rock is dead’, it’s just a result of it having been around for such a long time that it’s unavoidable that statistically most of it is old or crap or both old and crap. Same thing applies to most other forms of popular music that have been around for a while. Electronic music has the same problem. Feel free to educate me though, I have nothing against rock. Let’s see some rock bands that are bringing something new to the table, *and* having the kind of impact that the big rock bands had 40/50 years ago.

Drill and grime are as close as we can get to a modern day version of punk. It’s made by angry kids, often from poor areas, with no musical training, and on a low budget. Old people hate it and ridicule it, and they don’t get it. Just like punk, it’s a generational thing. Rock music for the most part sounds tired and full of cheesy clichès, and it reminds most people of fat old guys in leather. Doesn’t mean it’s dead, but it’s definitely boring and lifeless compared to music that’s made by angry 19 year olds. Ultimately it really doesn’t matter, if you’re in a rock band and you have fans, don’t worry about it. I play jazz, which is the deadest genre ever, but it’s not dead to me, I like it. Whether it has social relevance is another argument, but if you’re a 58 year old guy in a classic rock pub band, social relevance is not going to be high on your list of priorities anyway. Enjoy playing the music you like and let the kids invent their own entertainment.

They should supply you with a template and specs, if they can’t do that (ie they’re crap) just google ‘cd jewel case templates’.

Fender has also discontinued the Dimension series, just a speculation but I don’t think that’s a coincidence. I thought these were a response to the Dimensions, but neither series did particularly well. It’s possible the 2 companies had a chat with each other and decided to stop stepping on each other’s toes. Who knows. I tried a Cutlass a while ago, I loved the look but it definitely felt different to a Precision.

Advice needed: how does the following fit in with the rules? I've just been sent a substantial cheque for an insurance claim for a basement in our old house that got flooded a while ago. The basement contained some music stuff amongst all the other bits that got damaged: an old electric guitar, cables, a music stand, some music books etc. No bass was lost as such, but general music stuff was definitely lost. So, let's say for the sake of argument, I used the insurance money to buy a new bass, let's say, I don't know, a JMJ Mustang which I may or may not have been eyeing up for the past few months, for example. Strictly as a replacement for all the items which were lost in the flood damage, of course. Kind of. Would that mean I broke the abstinence rules?

‘Obscure guitar, only has 4 strings, salvaged from above ground - will trade for food, medicine or water.’

That’s just how you set up a bass with nice low action, gotta get those strings behind the fretboard to get that authentic snappy tone.

Procreate on iPad, Adobe Illustrator definitely but in both cases you will need the drawings to be done digitally. Personally I would just tidy them up a bit in Photoshop and leave them wonky, nothing wrong with some good old honest hands-on graphics.

Getting this for a few days now too

First gas attack of the year for me, and I’m only 3 months in. I keep wanting to buy a shortie, either a USA Mustang or a Marusczyk jazz. Buying new house / making house liveable / buying new car has kept gas at bay until now, but finances are returning to normal and gas is creeping back in.. Must resist. Spent a fortune on the deposit for the house, then 10k on new windows, 8k on a new bathroom, 5k on loft repairs, thousands on the car, thousands on built-in wardrobes, paid a giant tax bill etc etc, bank account takes giant hammering, yes that’s all fine, shrug it off, nothing to worry about. Want a £900 bass, nope, guilt trip sets in immediately. Love it.

Thanks, I found some NYXL’s in the end so just stayed with them. They’re kind of similar to HiBeams in tone and feel when they’re new, but when they die they really do die. HiBeams have a nice character even when they’re dead, I can keep them on for months past their prime. (also if you’re having building work done, remember to put your basses away.. the excessive dust destroys roundwound strings real quick, I made the mistake of leaving a bass out for a night when we were having a bathroom re-built, the next day it sounded like a rusty tin can..).