skankdelvar

Worked my way through the Hawkmoon books just a couple of months ago. First time in about 20 years. I always preferred Hawkmoon to Elric, Corum and Erekose

When I first listened to the second Led Zep album, I accidentally played side 2 before I played side 1. The first song I heard was Heartbreaker. Around that time (early 70's) I'd been reading a Michael Moorcock book entitled The Land Leviathan a sci-fi fantasy about an alternate history where warlords with gigantic armoured vehicles dominated the Earth. Jones' sound immediately made me think of a huge, city-sized tank and the impression has always stayed with me.

I PM'd @discreet about this a few weeks back. Seems he's knee deep in a new, all-consuming musical project. Well, that's what he said. It's probably because he just hates us all with a savage passion.

We all know that ex-Bananarama-ista Siobhan Fahey was half of Shakespeare's sister. But who knew that 'the other one', Miss Marcella Detroit, co-wrote Lay Down Sally when she was a backing singer for Eric Clapton and performing under the name Marcy Yaxley-Lennon?

I suppose it depends what 'doing the job as well or better' entails. It's unlikely that anything that isn't a Ric will do the job of being a Ric as well a Ric would do it. In terms of looking like a Ric there are fakers out there that could do the job of looking like a Ric as well as a Ric but not better than a Ric In terms of sounding like a Ric one could perform a spectral analysis of a Rick's output and tweak one's tone with a graphic EQ to resemble that of a Ric, or retrofit a Variax unit. This might get one very close to the sound of a Ric and - depending on one's rig, modeller or plug-ins - might sound like a Ric. So, yes, there are alternatives that might adequately simulate a Ric's appearance and sound without necessarily doing a better job. But they couldn't reproduce a Ric's inherency of being a Ric. Too much information. Going now.

Yes. The circumstances surrounding their deaths were very similar. Petty was 67, which is no age, really and Prince was only 56.

^ That. Because it was avoidable and it wasn't his time.

For the moment, just tune to your 12th fret harmonics rather than a fretted note at the 12th. That way, your open strings should be in tune which is the most important thing at this stage. It sounds as if your intonation is slightly sharp. No biggie. If you're otherwise generally happy with how the bass is sounding then just leave it alone. If you're not happy, wait till it needs a re-string then take it to a tech or post here for advice. If your guitards are tuning their instruments by fretting at the 12th then they'd be best advised not to do so. Open strings are fine, 12th fret harmonics are fine.

A nice little restored TE20 ("Grey Fergie") would only set you back £2,000-3000. Hook a trailer on the back for the fambly...

It's not one of their finest visual designs but the above was one of only a few pix of Chris Martin since he shaved off his moustache, an initiative for which we should all be profoundly grateful.

Could be a neck relief issue. You might try loosening the truss rod a quarter turn and see if there's any improvement

TBPH, there's been nothing much for me at Glastonbury since 1971: Melanie Quintessence The Edgar Broughton Band Pink Fairies Terry Reid Gong David Bowie Hawkwind Arthur Brown Brinsley Schwartz Fairport Convention Family Traffic A well-lubricated Marc Bolan put in non-musical appearance, fell offstage and totally wrecked the bong I'd spent weeks making. Luckily Steve Hillage was around to dole out some privet and keep everything cosmically smooth. Great times.

Wasn't the Van Den Plas schtick basically about welding bad copies of Rolls Royce radiator grilles onto Morris Marinas or something? Asking for a friend.

^ A perfectly reasonable point of view and very well expressed ^ You may therefore wish to avoid the various Gibson threads on BC where for years some of us have been whaling on Mr Henry Juskiewiecz's ar$e like it was a dinner gong. By comparison, Mr Hall's had it easy.

Good point well made. Then, so do Del McCoury, Tommy Emmanuel, Martin Carthy, also Elvis, George Jones and Hank Williams, Dylan, Neil Young, Willie Nelson and Kurt Cobain, Lennon and McCartney, the combined mightiness of these artists (and hundreds of other luminaries) sufficing to erase the little puke from collective memory

Chris Martin IV is passionate about Martin guitars and everyone agrees he's the nicest man in the biz.

Hank's finishing up his time in a back office behind the photocopier room, staring at his executive desk toy (one of those dipping bird things) and thumbing through the sits vac pages, his lips moving as he reads the words. The new management are a squad of neo-millennial hedge fund wonks headed up by the bloke who used to run a jeans company, possibly Levis. The musical instrument world holds its breath.

Ex-cuse me. That's the original Electric Xii headstock. It's known by many as a Smurf Hat headstock but 'droopy' sock works just as well. I love Electric Xiis

Also marketed as the Arrow and the Musiclander and using spare parts and hacked- up Bass V bodies. I'd have one of these quirky little mofo's in a shot. Then there was the Maverick which was basically derived from the Electric XII. CBS must have had a thing for band-sawing perfectly good guitar bodies. The bastards. Of course, Bass V's and Electric XII's go for mad money these days.

If you mean Fender has a murderous boardroom culture, was accustomed to provide prostitutes for trade union officials and has falsified environmental testing then I'd have to agree. Until such time as recent changes may take effect Gibson have been more like British Leyland in its day. Living off old triumphs*, madly unpopular new designs, lamentable QC and a workforce terrified and resentful of a mad boss. *Badum-tish

Oh nice work, Sir

Knickers knackers knockers!

I shall reverentially place this review in the bijou enamelled casket wherein repose my most treasured possessions. (Stifles a manly sob, puts kettle on).

I like to think of myself as the A E Housman of my generation. Reviews 'Charbing, utterdy charbing' - Melvyn Bragg 'Perfervid but in a good way' - JK Rowling 'Gripping stuff' - Lee Child