TrevorR

Can’t be worse than the vids of me...

Hope it was a fab day. Looking forward to your report!

That's OK, he probably doesn't listen to much of your either! 😁😁😁

Have (literally) just handed the bass over to @Bridgehouse in a Westminster coffee shop so it is winging its way up to his neck of the woods in time for his big jam session at the weekend as we speak. Really enjoyed having the bass. I've got a number of CD reviews to write by the end of the week so I will sit down and gather my thoughts next week and post up a review. Really nice to meet up with another top Basschat bass bod in real life!

The cutaway looks horrible but it allowed him to do some astounding bass playing! Absolute “stunt bass” but with great taste and melodic content. Sounded great too!

Way back in about 2001 I saw the late Randy Coven playing in a prog metal band, Ark. They were supporting the UK band Threshold at a little rock club in Belgium called Biebob. Wonder if @Hellzero knows it? Not so far from his neck of the woods! For the whole gig he was playing his Zimmer Silly fretless Bass. What an amazing player! Was doing some amazing stuff on the bass. Nice guy too. Ended up chatting to him in the bar later on in the evening.

Fun to think about. For me, I’ve got a day job don’t need the money (though gig cash is always a nice thought) so it has to be musically and socially appealing to me. Those will probably be the key deciders... I’d definitely be auditioning them if invited to an audition. There are start-ups and start-ups (every established band was a start-up at one point) so that’s not a killer but would be part of the appraisal. Here are my thoughts on how they sit for me... 1. 70'S HARD ROCK/EARLY METAL COVER BAND SEEKS BASS If I had been sitting at home thinking “Oh I never get to play any Rainbow, Uriah Heap, Whitesnake, Nazareth and pre-Bruce Iron Maiden, sob sob sob!” I might shoot them an email with lots of questions. I haven’t so I wouldn’t. 2. BAND SEEKING BASS PLAYER Commuting from London to Milwaukee for gigs might be a drag... but I’ve played in covers, corporate and weddings bands before and really enjoyed it. Yes, I am the person who actually likes playing Mustang Sally. So this one quite appeals. The “no drink” thing isn’t an issue for me. It just says “We will be looking for gigs where we will be offering a professional service (at a premium price) so the band will act with complete professionalism.” In my old band my average booze intake was usually, at most, a single bottle of Budvar at the start of the night and water or soft drinks from then on. Our old BL always negotiated free soft drinks for the band as part of our “rider”. The venue always thought they were getting one over on the band. We just thought “free J2Os and Diet Coke all evening...result!” 3. BASSIS NEEDED FOR ORIGINAL BAND If I was a huge fan of the Cure, the Stranglers and Fields of the Nephelim maybe... I’m not. I’m so very not. 4. SINGING BASSIST FOR POWER TRIO I’m much more of a BV singer but this sounds like a bit of fun. It would certainly would be an interesting challenge to push the edges of my comfort zone a bit. I might give it a go depending on what the other two guys were like to play and hang with. But for all these bands there many many questions to be satisfactorily answered before I’d consider an audition.

Does this count?

This was my fave restaurant... the Blue Duck (in English) https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g274707-d694895-Reviews-Restaurant_U_Modre_kachnicky-Prague_Bohemia.html http://www.umodrekachnicky.cz/en/ Delicious take on Czech cuisine and they seem to have hoovered up all the best Czech domestic wines too. Also find a nice cheap restaurant somewhere and try some knedliky (traditional Czech dumplings) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/foodandwineholidays/4838849/Where-to-eat-Czech-dumplings-in-Prague.html https://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz=1C1GGRV_enGB793GB794&ei=IKTtW8WrGcmGgQbAw6igDA&q=where+to+eat+knedliky+in+prague&oq=where+to+eat+knedliky+in+prague&gs_l=psy-ab.3...31854.40410.0.41184.27.21.0.0.0.0.170.1537.10j6.16.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..13.5.445...0i13i30k1j35i304i39k1j33i10k1.0.KNEHngWnC3M The Christmas market... yes, that's always fun to mooch around. I enjoyed wandering around the castle/palace on the top of the hill too.

No need to be rude, we were just asking a question! 😂

You need @obbm to wire you up an xlr cable of the correct length! It could start a whole “fashion”range for Dave!

A Merry jingle by The Greedies!

Will play it at the services on Sunday morning and evening then it’s off to @Bridgehouse next week. On the mix I suspect it’s partly proximity to the amp but we do like a rock band type mix at church, though not loud, but with plenty of bass in it. The Hartke 12 is the bass monitor so I set that to balance against the acoustic volume of the drums then my floor monitor is forvocals, keys and guitar. No bass in the floor monitor. we have some nice subs under the stage though!

Will see it I can send it off to you this Thursday. Can you PM me your address and a contact phone number for the courier. Thanks.

OK, so here are some vids of last night's practice. You'll need headphones to be able to hear what the bass sounds like. The various songs were using a variety of settings on the bass so hopefully you'll hear a difference. Just TBA, these were mostly running through some new songs to start pulling them together so apologies that the performances aren't so polished. Also, we had some of our teenagers having a go on drums and keys so, again, give them the benefit of the doubt - it was the first time Emma, for instance, had ever sat behind a drum kit with a band!!!! Here's where I managed to switch the bass off at the start of the song... Same song with a pick and Emma on drums... First time running through this tune... Finally, noodling with the pick around the Owner of a Lonely Heart main riff and running through all the various settings...

How about a medley of Mistletoe and Wine/The Millennium Prayer? That’ll clear the dance floor and no mistaking!

Purely a case of dodgy “wrap the hand around and hold it like a baseball bat” technique at a couple of points... with thumb behind it was fine! 🤣

Well that was fun! Took the bass along to rehearsal at church tonight to put it through it’s paces. Sounds great. First impressions... the body sits really well agains the body. Nice and light. Those pickups... crumbs. They are loud, the output must be about the same as my Wal... and they’re passive... Ker-umbs! Really enjoyed using the bass. Don’t think it’s a neck profile I would ever grow to love. Too deep and square and the volute at the end butted against my hand at low fret positions in a slightly uncomfortable manner. But all just personal preference. The sound was really versatile but I really don’t like the switching. I still think you could get the same functionality from a 3 way pickup switch and a 3 position coil switch. Plus, with the set up the pickup switches should be up for off and down for on. And yes, I did manage to switch the bass off... at the start of a song! Lol! All that said I really enjoyed playing it and everyone loved the design. I’ll probably use it for the Remembrance Day services on Sunday- I rather like the idea of marking that day with a bass created not so far from Flanders’ Fields. I took some vids so I’ll see if I can compile and post those some time soon.

Just spotted the hollow headstock... interesting. Weight/neck-dive reduction? Headstock design is one of the hardest bits of a guitar to get right aesthetically. And we all have a personal list of the brands we reckon have failed!

The guitars look amazing but I hate that headstock. Given the very high level of design and organic shaping everywhere else on the guitar the squared off shape looks undesigned and an after(un)thought. Can’t wait to see how the bass looks!

I use Italia Leathers 4” straps on all my basses. Those would be far too thin for my Aria or Wals. Happily use one on an acoustic guitar though...

As Esther Rantzen used to say onThat’s Life, “If it looks too good to be true it probably is!”

I’ll nominate “Love Is An Open Door” from Disney’s Frozen. Cheesy, cheesy ditty but in the background Abe Laboriel Sr is laying down some amazing, tight bass playing! Exquisite fills being thrown in here and there and the slap line on the second verse and prechorus is simply sublime! Really! Frozen!

Well I thought I should do an unboxing video... and then I thought “No, no SBL-style ‘Look at this bad boy’ shenanigans” from me. I will try post some playing videos later as I’m planning to take it along to our church Worship Team practice on Thursday. It seemed unscathed by the journey all save the E string needs raised a bit for my tastes - it’s just too growly and snarly for me. I will need a touch more string height. Just on the E. Instead here are a few unboxing photos - it was certainly well wrapped. I’ve stowed the packing away for next time. In the flesh the bass is a lovely as I remember from the SE Bass Bash. There are things I would change, some places where there could be improvements but those are more or less polishing rather than problems. Anyone would be proud to have this bass slung around their necks.

Look what was waiting for me when I got home from the office!!!