Doctor J

It's Ishibashi's second hand store, big Japanese retailer and very trustworthy in my experience. The price in brackets is what you'd pay, being outside Japan. Last time I bought from them it was just over €100 for postage and then the usual import duty fun when it arrived.

24 of them up there at the moment

Don't know of a dealer but there are usually a few second hand ones knocking around on the u-box. Ishibashi are great to deal with. Import it yourself, easy peasy. http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/u_box/e/ And, yes, Jerry Barnes is responsible for Z gas here too

Is the idea there for a reason? Do you have other basses you enjoy more? If so, move it on, I say.

I much prefer composing and recording to gigging. I still gig regularly but it has never been the be-all and end-all and never will. That being said, I've no real interest in cover music where gigs are pretty much the sole purpose of existence. I've done stints in mate's cover bands when they've been down a member but it wasn't my thing at all and my stints were relatively brief. The creative side is where I get my kicks. I can see the market for covers shrinking but not disappearing. There are so many entertainment alternatives these days which don't involve punters going out in the rain, etc, and even pubs don't have the allure they used to. Youth culture isn't built around pubs and bands anymore.

Yeah, I read a lot of the negative comments, mostly on talkbass, before buying it and I just don't get the hostility. As a few chunks of wood shaped into an instrument, it's near flawless - light, resonant, balances well and takes a setup very well. As a passive bass, it's a great J bass. Ok, the active system is different to the norm but, once you get how it works and that everything up full is bad, it's easy to get a variety of great meaty tones out of it. They're priced very reasonably at the moment, too. A lost classic, IMO.

Necrobump. Just sharing the love for these quite underrated beasts. I picked this one up last year and it really is a very nice bass in every aspect. Although it is just a V-V-T setup with a switchable preset EQ curve, it really responds well to minor tweaks of the controls. There are a whole load of sweet tones in there and it plays like the proverbial b*****d..

Two very distinctive and very attractive guitars there, nice one.

I thought Fender had gone as far as they could with their design team having no ideas left other than to jumble up bits and pieces of various guitars and come out with something new, but I suppose they're more resourceful than I give them credit for. Fender Tele Offset really is the twang of the bottom of the barrel being scraped. No, wait, they can still drag it out for another few years by offering "new" colours. I can't help but imagine a FA Cup style draw, complete with numbered balls and black velvet bag. "22 - that's a Jazzmaster body" "14 - that's a Telecaster neck, drawn away for the first time in three seasons" "15 - is the cupset on? That's the telecaster electronics package" "INTERN! Whip that up in Photoshop, stat! Good work, team. See you next September"

That GG is stunning, genuinely stunning.

Very kind words. Thanks, Douglas, for taking the time to go through all the tracks so thoroughly.

Likewise. There's such an impressive diversity between all the music submitted, considering the inspiration came from the same pair of pictures.

4. I've spent lots of time on and every now and then still play 5's and, for a while, had a 6 as my main player, but 4 is what my hands feel happiest on.

I've only recently started visiting here more freqiently again. There were a couple of regular posters who I just couldn't get along with and I drifted off perhaps a couple of years ago but they seem to have gone... so I love everyone again!

The guy clearly has a lot of talent, some stellar work there.

Ah right, I was going on the info on this page, which is pretty thorough http://www.musicmanbass.org/mycustompage0019.htm [quote][b]Although the Treble and Bass controls have no centre detent position, the pre-amps appear to be [u]CUT and BOOST[/u] with respect to [u]the treble control[/u] . On the other hand, the pre-amp is [u]boost only[/u] with respect to the [u]bass control[/quote][/u][/b]

Yes, have done all my life. I'm not big on streaming and don't go for downloading, so it's usually in the form of buying CDs. I think, having invested a little, it means you perhaps give things a little longer to sink in, everything gets a few full spins at least.

On the 2-band the bass is boost only, the treble is cut and boost.

Very true. I would expect it from sellers in some countries but when it's someone about 50 miles away trying to rip you off, it's a genuine disappointment.

That deadline doesn't be long coming around Here's my first crack at this comp and start as you mean to go on, I reckon, so here's a power ballad. I've tried to get both images into the theme of the lyrics so, without further ado, "Exit Splashtown" [url="https://soundcloud.com/doctor_j_bass/exit-splashtown"]https://soundcloud.c...exit-splashtown[/url]

I bought a couple of sets of "Elixir" strings of a local online retailer and they arrived today. I opened them up and right away knew they weren't the real thing, I've been playing Elixirs for a long time now. I'm so disappointed, not just because the scumbag is ripping people off, but also because I was really, really looking forward to some new strings. I like a bit of zing, you see. Anyway, I've contacted Elixir to give me an email address I can send some pics to, just to confirm, and then I'm off to paypal to file a claim. Then it's back to the seller. Not sure what to say there, to be honest. It's put a real dampener on the evening.

Speaking of damaged Stingrays, I picked this up a few years ago from a lad who explained that he had upset his then missus who had taken it out on his bass. Doesn't look too bad from the front... but it looks like she tried a Simonon special from the back. She also scratched "Thank you!" into what was left of the paint on the back. I didn't ask what she was so thanful for It's a great player though and the neck survived intact, so no real harm done. I've thought about having it refinished but it brings a smile to my face thinkong about what the guy did to get that reaction. It's part of the charm of that instrument, now. There isn't another Stingray quite like it. To be honest, I find it quit funny that a drummer could travel three feet across a floor by drumming alone to damage your bass. It's a story for a few laughs over a beer in the future.

Really digging the Chic-like breakdown in the middle

Get over it. These things happen. It was an accident with a guy who hits things with sticks. While not advocating needless destruction, there is something a little sad about instruments years old without any kind of battle scars or signs of life experience. It's a bit of wood you use to express yourself with. Play the crap out of it and stop worrying about it looking like it should still be in a shop.

I'm pretty much done with the music, now just need to magic up some lyrics and sing them. It's actually quite a daunting task when you haven't done it before.