Doctor J

Another one that springs to mind is an audition I did on bass about ten years ago. The way the ad was worded and the way the guy spoke on the phone it sounded like everything was in place and things were starting to move so I decided to give it a go. He was holding the audition the next day so I went in without hearing any of their songs, or any preparation at all. Once I arrived, I noticed two drum kits and four guitarists, it turned out everyone was auditioning. We started off and the main guy taught everyone the songs which were very formulaic, excruciatingly basic and easy to pick up, quite crap actually. He clearly saw himself as a star though, his opinion of himself far greater then his mediocre musical ability. We took a break after a couple of hours and he then had a quick chat with everyone individually outside which is when the fun really started. He liked my bass playing, which was nice, and he wanted me to stick around permanently. I wasn't so sure. Then he said he wanted everyone to wear masks or make-up on any [i]official[/i] band business, but we were free to come up with our own designs, which I thought was kind of him. I didn't dig that kind of gimmickery when I was a teenager and I was well past that stage in my life so was already walking the plank, mentally. Then came the clincher, with a straght face he told me he wanted me to come up with a new name for myself because "[i]you don't want journalists finding out where you live[/i]" Like a good journalist, I made my excuses and left.

It's probably just cheaper to have one neck manufacturing program, skunk stripe it regardless and lop on a rosewood or maple fretboard as required at the end, you know Fender.

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' timestamp='1337090539' post='1655224'] How does it differ from a P-bass that you despise all aspects of? [/quote]Hush up, you, he's clearly a man of exquisite taste Although in seriousness, it's a slightly downsized body to the Fender standard, perhaps that's what's ticking the boxes

My 2000 rosewood fretboarded strat had a skunk stripe. That make-a no sense-a.

I'm with everyone else, kids belong on the end of a leash, not in a van on the way to a gig. Nothing good can come of this (The Kelly Family), get out now.

Hi Mick, the 80's Tokais are generally held in high regard. Whether it's worth it is really down to your judgement. Is it convenient to try the Tokai out? If it feels right then do it, if not, don't. It's hard to say yes or no based on other peoples valuations of each. If the Tokai is a dog, it's not worth the trade. If it's a good one, you might get the best deal of your life.

My last band were looking for a bassist for ages and, after fruitless searching, I suggested going back to bass and us trying out some proper guitarists - which none of us were really keen on which is why I was on guitar in the first place. We picked three interested parties and set up auditions, giving them one hour each with a 20 minute break between each one. The first guy came in, nothing special, but not crap, but not the right guy for the gig. The second guy I thought would have worked, but kept asking about how I did the solos on the demo. I told him that 99% of what we were doing was nothing to do with solos and not to worry too much about it but he kept asking about this lick and that, quite neurotic about it and the other lads weren't keen. The third guy had sent us some mp3's of some Vai style sweep picking and six string pyrotechnics so we were expecting great things. But there was no sign of him. Eventually, with about 30 minutes of the session left he called, he got lost and was looking for directions. He arrived with about 15 minutes left, but certainly looked the part, apart from a very, very cheap guitar and a pod, which he plugged into the PA. Now you need to imagine how a Marshall stack would sound if it was deep, deep in a cave and you were at the cave entrance, several miles away. It's as close as I can depict his reverb and echo drenched tone. Now imagine the guitar is slightly out of tune too. There you go. He had a couple of weeks to learn the songs we sent him so we asked him which song he wanted to play. He didn't know the names, so the first one. Ok, we said, it starts with a guitar riff so off you go. He asked if I could show it to him again, just to refresh his memory. It was a very simple riff and he was having trouble with it. We started the song and, after four bars, switched to the verse, except Vai was still butchering the intro riff. Eight bars later we head to the chorus, he's still playing the same riff. I noticed the drums start to get a little sloppy and then stop. I looked over and the drummer was hunched over behind his bass drum in what appeared to be a convulsion but managed to squeak that his bass drum skin had split. The singer was crying and bent over behind the bass drum too to see if he could help, their shoulders shaking in unison. I was the only one who could speak, so I had to say that it was time to stop and pack up since the bass drum skin was broken. The guy asked if he should come back next week. I said we'd have to get the drum fixed first and that we'd call him. Nice fella, not a guitarist though.

RIP Duck. What a great player. He really did have a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.

A Thumb is on [i]"The LIst"[/i] My eyes were opened to Warwick only in the last few years, I never really considered them for a long time but I dearly love the sound out of my Streamer. I seem to remember Terence Trent D'Arby's bassist had a pink one way, way back, it always stuck in my mind.

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1336665977' post='1649205'] I'd say from the pics that it looks fairly normal. [/quote]This. That looks pretty good for a lot of Fenders but it wouldn't bother me in the slightest once it played and sounded well. If you look at the price of 70's Fenders in particular and check the neck pockets in some of the ads, you'll find this isn't an issue for a lot of people Quite a lot of your favourite records were played on instruments with bigger gaps than that. If you're looking for attention to detail then mass-produced isn't the way. Still, if it irks you send it back. Personally, once I liked how it played and sounded, I'd just play it and not worry about it.

Why get a new pickguard? Cut out a black piece of paper to shape. Next week you can do another colour

Overpriced at 1/8th the price, IMO

Not sure they're the same, the Texascustoms ones look quite decent, that one above has a different logo, different headstock too. No Texas state icon after the logo either.

It certainly looks cheap. That's the nastiest sunburst I've seen in a long time.

Some blends are more useful than others. The Bacchus 24 I picked up recently has got the most effective blend I've ever played. Even slight movements result in a very noticable change in sound where I've played ones which are almost like a switch, you need to make big adjustments to get any kind of significant change.

Join the line at the back

Good name for a nightclub

That's in incredible condition! A mate of mine has a 77 Electra 335, it's a superb guitar. I see yours has the tort fretboard binding too, I'm amazed these aren't even more popular on talkbass as a result

That's a Wave, not a Mockingbird It does sound lovely though

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1336319775' post='1643947'] I've got a six year old nephew if you need someone to shape the body for you. [/quote]Surely it would be easier to use a chisel?

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1336319134' post='1643936'] Other than the price, what's the big deal? [/quote]It's 54 years old.

[quote name='Stacker' timestamp='1336319062' post='1643935'] Yeh, I know; I've bought several basses offa them. Just think they shouls offer a bit more of a pitch. [/quote]They clearly don't need to with this one

They'll tell you everything you want to know if you mail them and ask

Have a look at this, it's for a Bartolini preamp but should be very similar to what you're looking for The other wires from the pickups aren't mentioned but they'd be soldered to one of the pots and routed to earth Don't get too caught up on the colours from the preamp to the bass and treble pots, yours probably has different colours

That looks like a proper break rather than a crack. If I were you I would detune it asap, take the tension off it, and get it to a luthier before it gets any worse.