Doctor J

It wasn't the saddle which was the problem, it was the tailpiece. The slot for the B string wasn't wide enough to take a B sized wrapped string going right up to the ball end.

No, if he hasn’t bothered to prepare for an audition and has found excuses, move on. I’d also be scribbling out #2’s name. It’s too early to settle for less.

Nuclear Assault supporting Slayer on their South of Heaven tour in 1988. Slayer were alright but NA were like an explosion. Cynic supporting Opeth in 2008. I had waited 15 years to see Cynic and, by comparison, Opeth were so dull I left a gig early for the first time in my life.

First concert - Megadeth/Sanctuary - Olympic Ballroom, Dublin, May 1988 Last concert - Acid Reign - Grand Social, Dublin, December 2019 Best concert - Either Death, McGonagles, Dublin 1992 or Therapy? - Hamburg, October 2018 Worst concert - Limp Bizkit, Dublin Loudest concert - Sleep, Button Factory, Dublin, May 2012. Stupidly loud and I would have left had I not brought good earplugs. Seen the most - Chic Most surprising - Ondt Blod, I felt like Joliet Jake seeing the light Next concert - Zakk Sabbath, Birmingham, February 2020 then Cory Wong, Cork, February 2020 Wish I would have seen - Living Colour and Fisbone are the last on that list after finally seeing Coroner last year

Ah ok, I wasn’t aware Warwick coloured the ball ends.

E to G are D’Addarios and the B is a different brand? Never a great idea. Personally, I think tapered strings make for better low strings. The tapered B you get in a set of Dean Markley SR2000s is mighty.

I was actually looking for something exactly like this an hour ago, btw, so this is perfect timing 😁

Some batteries have larger terminal rings which causes this. The hole at the far end of each receptacle is just a little bit too small for them. You would be ok with a different brand of batteries, I suspect.

I'd invite you all over here to stay in Ireland but... you know... well... wow, this is awkward... 😳

Would love to do it but am in Ireland. If you’re properly stuck, though, perhaps... 🙂

Sex Bob-Omb and The Clash at Demonhead from Scott Pilgrim vs the World are very listenable.

I think it's in a format I can't open.

Milli 2 da Vanilli

No difference at all.

That looks great, you should be pleased. Well done.

I got the bass for peanuts so I could handle the shipping. The actual cost on the shipping label was about €90 but, of course, the seller charged a bit more. Going on ebay postage rates I have seen, the most is about €160 but it varies per seller. There is import duty payable, which works out at about 25% all in. Again, this was factored into what I was prepared to bid for the bass in the first place.

A couple of ebay finds arrived recently. I bought the Aria before xmas but it took a while to get here from Japan. I thought it was an IGB-600 but it turns out to be an IGB-CST with a carved sen body. I can now understand where Billy Gould got that tone from, the output is outrageously high and it’s really easy to overdrive the amp. The EQ is very usable, particularly the low end. It might be the most musical low frequency control I have ever played. While waiting for the Aria to arrive and checking the tracking I saw the ESP. It desperately needs some love, particularly the frets, and it’s the only bass I’ve ever had which arrived with the truss rod completely loose. The truss rod nut doesn’t look like it has ever been touched. I’ve already stripped it, cleaned it (very badly needed), shielded it, replaced the bridge, shimmed the neck and set it up properly. I think this one has been around the block a few times and now I know why. Even with plenty of work left to do, though, it farts like an olde-time P should and I’m going to make it real nice, real nice.

Simply incredible

Desperately sad news. He was my version of Neil Peart - i.e. the drummer who changed what you thought was possible. While being technically astonishing, he was a very musical player. What he did lifted the music, he was never just flash because he could. I was a massive Death fan back in the day and was so disappointed when it all fell to pieces, only finding out when the Chuck-less Death took to the stage before me on the ill-fated Kreator tour - the beauty of the pre-internet age. When, months later, I read an interview in Metal Forces that he was working on a new album with the best musicians he could find which would be more aggressive and more technical, I was very excited. When Human was finally released, I bought it straight away (along with Unquestionable Presence because if these Cynic guys were good enough for Chuck then they were good enough for me and I had to hear more). It is a bus journey home which I still remember vividly. Human is an album which lived in my walkman for a long, long time, largely because of the drumming. Revolutionary does not do it justice. I saw Death on the following tour in McGonagles in Dublin, after queueing for hours to ensure I would be up front. Reinert’s brief warm-up remains one of the most impressive things I have ever seen and thinking of that gig still gives me goosebumps. It showed what great musicians could do with songs I thought I knew inside-out. What they did to the old songs was mind-blowing, as well as getting to see what went into making Human so special from touching distance. I got one of his sticks at the end, still have it, and when I was threatened with a knifing by some scumbags after who moved swiftly from “Are you lookin’ ar me?” to “Give me your jacket or I’ll knife ye!”, I was thinking “How do I get out of this while keeping this stick?” When ITP came out without the Cynic guys, it took some time to get over. I like that album but never loved it. Luckily, Focus came shortly afterwards and remains a milestone in my life. As metal got replaced by the dreary nu-metal, it was one of the albums which stayed in constant rotation through the 90’s, part of the ultimate trinity with Human and Unquestionable Presence. When the internet arrived and one could check to see what happened to musicians who seemed to just vanish, I was so happy to find the likes of Portal, Gordian Knot, Aeon Spoke and Aghora. The Cynical Sphere forum (RIP) had contributions from Tony Teegarden, recalling how he lived in their rehearsal room leading up to the recording of Focus and how Reinert would relentlessly practice the songs, determined that there would be no overdubs on the album. There I also discovered that he lead with his left foot when double-bass drumming, allowing him to incorporate hi-hat, which was a massive “Ah-haaaaaaaaaaah!” moment explaining how he could perform things I couldn’t believe were not overdubs. I saw Cynic three times as they toured Traced in Air, finally able to bring mates to actually see the drummer I had raved about for so many years. He had matured and gotten even better. For my mates who accompanied me to the Dublin gig and then on to Belfast for the next gig, this has hit hard. I last saw him play as part of DTA, going full circle and see him play the songs which introduced me to his incredible skills and musical ability. For me, he was the best of the best. This one is tough to digest and 48 is no age to leave at.

Oh no, that is awful news.

Also, this should be the forum motto.

Nice. That looks like a right goer.

Livin’ on a Prayer is far from being crap. It’s a masterclass in commercial Rock songwriting, structure, performance and production.