Cato

Eurovision winners Maneskin have recently come to my attention. Not my usual thing at all but I'm enjoying the energy of what I'm hearing. Whole lot of diverse influences in their music from cheesy europop to The Strokes. The first track here has picked up quite a lot of airplay on Radio 1 recently and I suspect it's going to be on quite a few set lists before the year is out.

I never really saw the point until I had a go on my brother in law's Harley Benton AB and found myself really enjoying it. I'd never have one as my main bass but I think they're just a fun thing to have around the house for picking up and noodling on. I too found the thick uncontoured body a bit uncomfy for playing finger style and I'm not a huge fan of the very bright tone from the phosphor bronze strings but the OP has already addressed that issue.

The old boy network might get you access to opportunities that are harder to come by for musicians that aren't part of it. But ultimately it's the music buying public who decides who gets to make a living out of music.

Arctic Monkeys released their debut in 2006 and have gone on to sell out arenas and headline festivals all over the world. I can't really think of any more recent acts that have forced their way into the big boys club though.

Best wishes mate.

You should go full soap opera. Keep the current setup but start seeing the old band on the sly. Eventually both bands will end up with bookings on the same night and you'll have to tell one that you're leaving them for the other....

Because of the general shortage of new gear coming into the UK at the moment I wouldn’t be surprised if they only have a very limited stock, possibly at a store the other end of the country from you. Still, if they're asking for a deposit which they would keep if you didn't turn up to try it out after they had it sent to your local store that would be highly unusual but just about understandable, and pretty much up to you whether you lose the deposit by not turning up. If they're asking for 20% deposit which they keep even if you turn up but decide not to buy the amp then I wouldn't touch their conditions with a bargepole.

Another vote for O'Keefe's. I have a mild form of psoriasis which mainly affects my hands and the soles of my feet. O'Keefes has been more effective at preventing and healing cracks in my fingertips and feet than anything I've ever been prescribed by a doctor. Trick is to start using it when you start feeling the warning signs of your skin cracking, rather than wait for the cracks to appear.

Might be worth mentioning in on the build diaries forum There's a few guys on there that you don't really see much on other parts of the site.

That's a lovely bit of rosewood on the fretboard, unusually actractive grain.

Given the finger stretches involved in forming some chords towards the headstock end of the bass then a shortscale bass has to be a big advantage.

Not particularly glamorous but the Ford Fiesta is by far Britain's most common car. Got to be a shoo in for the Precision.

Always good to see more quality bass content online. I look forwards to chaecking it out.

The price of a new US Professional ii Strat has risen by £250 at Andertons since January. I've not been watching basses but I'd be surprise if they've not had similar hike. It's gone up a bit more at some smaller stores. I suspect it's probably mainly down to the shipping container shortage which must be affecting every part of the production and supply process by now, from shipping electronic components to the factory to sending out finished instruments across the world. There's got to be various other pandemic related cost increases throughout the chain too.

This might be a bit controversial but personally I think the tonal differences between single coils and humbuckers have been greatly exaggerated. There is definitely a slightly 'thicker' tone to humbuckers and back in the day the higher output from the twin coil design might have made a significant difference to the amount of distortion you could get out of an amp. But these days most amps are designed for much higher gain at much lower volumes. I can get close enough to the maxed out marshall tone + Les Paul of the 'Sweet Child O'Mine intro' using the neck pickup of a telecaster through my Boss Katana that most punters wouldn't notice I'm using the 'wrong' guitar and I can do it with the master volume set to 1.

I'm not sure it counts as a fad because a lot of people including me have held onto theirs, but there were a lot of people getting Sire V7s when they first came out.

Most UK retailers seem to be struggling to get stock of a lot of stuff at the moment. It seems to be a combination of the pandemic and a shipping container shortage making it unpredictable as to when new stock will actually arrive in the UK.

I always meant to get round to Bowie. I know and like the 'greatest hits' very much but I know there's a whole treasure trove of less well known material that I've never heard.

Pretty sure Fender don't have any kind of copyright over that style of writing. There are complete 'Fender' fonts available online that people have extrapolated from the 5 different letters of the Fender logo. I reckon you could use one in a decal saying anything you like (apart from 'Fender' of course) without breaching anyone's copyright or being accused of deliberately misleading people.

I've always thought the Limelight thing was pretty dodgy. I understand they're doing it for 'complete authenticity' rather than with the intention of deceiving but at the end of the day they're still badging the instrument as something it's not. And a few buyers and sellers down the line who knows what it's being sold as?

The two bass player thing kicks in at about 0.50.

As a teenage Zep fan in the late 1980s buying and watching the video of Song Remains the Same was a huge disappointment, especially as I'd already seen this which IMO is an infinitely more exciting live performance. The seeds of what came later with extended live versions of album tracks are there but at least Dazed and Confused is limited to a mere 10 minutes rather than the 29 minute live version on TSRS. That excess was very much of it's era though, by the time I finally got to see Page and Plant together at Glastonbury in 1995 the songs were much closer to the original album lengths.

Barring the Immigrant Song the whole of Led Zep iii doesn't seem to get the attention it deserves. It' s definitely my favourite Zep album. 'Going to California' and 'Misty Mountain Hop' on Led Zep iv get a bit neglected next to the album's more famous tracks. Personally I think 'No Quarter' from Houses of the Holy is just about the most interesting thing they ever did. Way ahead of it's time..

One of Dee Dee Ramone's basses came up on Four Rooms on Channel 4 a few years back. That's about the only time I remember thinking it would be cool to own a 'celebrity' instrument. Although now I think about it Nile Rodger's strat has a certain appeal just because it's been part of so many hit records.

I had a similar thing with Stratocasters. Apart from a couple of brief try outs in music shops as a teenager I didn't go near them for about 25 years because I thought they were boring, possibly because I associated them with middle of the road 80s dad rock. Last year something changed and I started gassing for one, finally bought one at the start of this year and now it's my favourite skinny stringer. I suppose the moral is 'you'll never know until you try it'.