Cato

I suspect that we'd end up listing bad experiences in every music shop in the country and, eventually, the world. Every shop is going to have a bad day at some point and ,given the amount of gear that basschatters seem to get through, we've got to be statistically more likely to be dealing with that shop when the bad day occurs than most.

Kings of Leon at the old Birmingham Academy on what ever tour it was before 'Sex on Fire' propelled them to arena and stadium status. The old academy was a smallish, partially underground venue, either it didn't have air con or it wasn't able to cope. Every packed gig i went to there was usually a pretty sweaty affair but that Kings of Leon gig, on what turned out to be the hottest day of that year, was ridiculous. The atmosphere was so humid that the walls were wet and the staff were handing out water, not just to those at the front but to everyone they could reach. When I came out of that gig my clothes were so drenched that they were stuck to me.

I've got the fender hi mass on my p bass deluxe special. It's absolutely rock solid, the saddles sit on tracks on the bridge plate, no chance of sideways movement. No protruding screws or sharp edges either. I've also got a Babicz fitted to my squier jazz. Fantastically engineered bit of kit, it's very quick and easy to set up and the cam system for adjusting the action is surprisingly satisfying. Again no sharp edges or protruding screws.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US is a bit different from bankruptcy in the UK. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_11,_Title_11,_United_States_Code It basically gives a financially struggling company a period of protection from their creditors while they try to get their house in order. In Gibson's case my guess would be that they will try to sell off the plethora of non musical instrument related companies that they've acquired over the last 20 years. There may also be some commercial value in the intellectual property of some of the music tech companies that they have bought and subsequently let fold. They might also try to sell or remortgage physical assets such as land and manufacturing equipment. Only if this fails to raise enough revenue to appease their creditors will proceedings begin to transfer all Gibson assets, including the brand itself, to their creditors who will then be free to either keep the brand tnemselves or auction it off to the highest bidder. Whatever happens it's extremely unlikely that the Gibson brand will disappear although it may well change hands.

I'm also finding it difficult to answer this. I learnt by playing along to Ramones albums. I used to be able to play every song on every album up to and including Brain Drain and although I haven't tried it for 20 years I suspect I still can. That's close to 100 songs not counting all the other stuff I've learnt. None of which makes me a particularly outstanding player. I haven't cast a vote because I really don't know.

If you took a straw poll of people in the average UK street I'd bet the mortgage that very few will have heard of Rush. Yes would be recognised by a few more but using either band as a yardstick to measure global success is probably pushing it. If you were to ask people about the Beatles or Justin Bieber on the other hand...

I normally go for steel rounds but I was quite impressed with the stock Fender nickel plated rounds that came on a new p bass last year. I got about 6 months out of those and I like my strings zingy. Other than that I generally go for Hi Beams on everything except the fretless. Again I reckon they're good for 6 months or more before they lose their exceptional brightness. Someone who likes a less zingy sound would probably be good with them for a lot longer than that. I suppose an additional question would be 'At what point do you consider that your strings need changing?' There are people on here who play the flats they inherited from their great grandad.

Have you had a look at Dingwall or other multiscale basses?

They've overdone it in on the cheap prices. Just about everything is half the usual retail or far less. That immediately triggers the 'if something seems to good to be true...' alarm bells.

That has been 'reliced' via a couple of minor crashes.

Everyone loves a bit of ABBA.

Brilliant cheers. I never thought I'd end today gassing for two thirds of a Stratocaster.

I actually really like that. Is that photoshopped or is it something that someone has actually made? I'm rubbish at spotting the difference.

You lucky git.

I don't know what it is, but I want to stamp on it.

Satellites would have have been a good album from anyone who's previous effort hadn't been so exceptional, as it was I felt incredibly disappointed the first time I heard it. I tried to let it grow on me, but despite a couple of brilliant moments it never did. I will check out Wonderland on your recommendation though.

Absolutely.

I've always thought of 'August' as one of those rare perfect albums. There's not a weak song on it. It was impossible to follow up of course and in my opinion none of Counting Crow's subsequent recordings came close.

That sounds like something worth hearing at least once. To be fair it's a role I know nothing about but I'm guessing that all orchestral triangle players are skilled in other percussion type instruments which they use in that orchestra?

Did he drop it down a flight of concrete steps?

Yep 70s aesthetics combined with top end electrics and build quality. If I was speccing a custom bass it would be just about identical to one of these.

I was browsing Bass Direct earlier and came across this. http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Atelier_Z.html If I had a spare £2000 my order would already be in.

Above and beyond the call of duty. Every string I've ever broken has been entirely down to my own ham fistedness. Apart from that one time the the E broke whilst the bass was leaning against the wall. I think it had probably just had enough of my abuse and decided it wanted out.

He's a better player than I'll ever be, but I'll never like his ripped speaker tone.

From a bass playing perspective that's the easiest bit. Although in my first band when I was about 16 that's exactly what we did. Our lead guitarist could barely handle the intro, he couldn't get close to the main solo.