BrunoBass

Years ago my old band were playing a gig when a bunch of people who’d been traveling round the pubs after a funeral walked in, one of their friends had died in a road accident. We had just started playing The Smiths ‘There is a Light That Never Goes Out’ complete with the line about being hit by a double decker bus when the singer cottoned on, luckily in time to change the words. Awkward.

We play ‘American Idiot’ and like you if it’s an all ages festival crowd we replace ‘fcuk’ with something else but for a pub crowd it stays, likewise with ‘Psycho’ by Muse which we sometimes play. To be honest we were more conscious of the word ‘faggot’ in the same song, which might be considered more offensive than a good old fashioned swear word. But owing to the satirical context it’s intended to occupy we leave it in. No one’s ever complained; if they did we’d probably reconsider.

Ok I think I’ve figured this out...

We’re playing at the Fairport Convention Fringe in Cropredy, Oxfordshire next weekend. Most of you will know about the annual Fairport festival, and the Fringe (which takes place the same week) is an established part of the festival. Cropredy village is just outside our hometown of Banbury, and we’re looking forward to playing with a bunch of other bands we’re friendly with - can’t wait!

I recently got myself a Focusrite iTrack Dock, for recording song sketches onto my iPad mini. Everything works well and the Dock does exactly what I hoped it would do, ie allow me to get ideas down quickly. I like GarageBand for this kind of thing; it’s compatible with the Dock and I’ve managed to be very productive in the week or two I’ve had it. The problem I have though occurs on playback. The recordings sound, I’m not sure quite how to describe it, wobbly. The closest thing I can compare it to is when a vinyl record is slightly off centre, and the oval as opposed to circular rotation causes the sound to vary slightly in pitch. The effect is almost imperceptible on playing back my recordings but it’s there nonetheless and it’s very annoying! I tried recording with Focusrite’s ‘Tape’ app using the Dock and it plays back with no problem. Recording on Garageband without the Dock and using the iPad’s internal mic or line in via a Tascam USB interface is fine too. So I’m assuming it’s some kind of compatibility issue between the Dock and GarageBand. The iPad incidentally is running the most recent IOS. Any ideas?

+1 for this ⬆️

That, almost word for word, is my story too. The only difference being she is all grown up now and gigging more than me! You can always go back to gigging but you can’t go back to your kids childhood. Wise choice mate, best of luck to you and your family.

The Stingray was one of the basses that I lusted after as a kid and as soon as was in the position to buy one I did. Beautiful bass, excellent build quality and that wonderful tone... mine was all black with a rosewood board and looked the absolute business. I loved it. But I just couldn’t get it to work for me. I struggled to get it to sit properly in the mix of my band. It always sounded good but there was just something missing. It sat in it’s case doing nothing whilst various P and J models came my way and fulfilled my requirements more satisfactorily. After a couple of years I decided to move it on. Pity, because it’s a lovely bass, just not for me.

Thanks @prowla and @Bassassin 👍🏻

His work looks very impressive.

Thanks. I’m guessing Greco, Ibanez, Shaftesbury etc are all worth considering?

No. If one came up that worked with my budget I’d be interested.

Sounds great!

One of my favourite venues, seen a few bands there. It’s everything a music venue should be.

Looks great, very smart. I’m a sucker for black binding against white (my favourite 4001/4003 colour).

Busy weekend for us; on Friday evening we played at Banbury Music Mix, a new mini festival in our hometown organised by the town council. Five bands, full on stage in the market place, a beautiful sunny night. I love playing these kind of events, the FOH sound and on stage sound was great, big crowd of all ages and a real effort made by everyone to put on a good show for the local community. We played a forty minute set which went down really well, despite a bit of nerves. On Saturday we travelled up to Kelbrook near Burnley to play a wedding. We were very well looked after with food, drink and yurts provided for the overnight stay. We played for an hour, were paid very well and had a blast. Brilliant crowd, really up for it. We followed a Commitments-style soul band who warmed up the crowd well. We had the floor full from the word go and we were absolutely on fire. One of the best gigs we’ve ever done, probably top three. It was great to have a drink and join in the fun after we’d finished, we ended up outside around a fire pit with some of the more hard core guests drinking and laughing well into the small hours. I’m absolutely shattered today but it was totally worth it; one of those nights where everything falls into place and reminds me why I do this. Next stop for us is the Fairport Convention Fringe in neighbouring Cropredy the weekend after next. We’ve been trying to get on this for a while, can’t wait!

Nice one Dave, that’s what it’s all about!

The Wine Vaults in Banbury. It’s my local anyway (not so local now since I’ve moved out to the edge of town) but still my favourite pub. We play there regularly (we’ll play five times this year, plus their summer outdoor festival). Great team running it, they’re really into putting bands on, they promote everything well and really get behind it. It’s a big enough pub to get a good vibe going, small enough to be intimate. Always a great crowd, always a great gig. Love it.

Love it, looks awesome! 🍊 I like the black hardware, and how the neck pickup blends into the chequered scratchplate. Is it a player?

I don’t listen to much classical music, mainly due to my own lack of knowledge. I like what I like, but it’s such a broad umbrella covering so many genres and sub-genres it’s difficult to know where to start. I feel the same about jazz to some extent too. So I’ve been exploring and last week I came across Vaughn Williams’ ‘The Lark Ascending’, which I think must be one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard. Hearing it led me back to Górecki’s Symphony No.3, which I am familiar with and is similarly enthralling.

I used an electric jigsaw and sanded by hand. I was quite pleased with the result. I got a Mike Dirnt template off the internet. Little tip, I found it easier to place the template on the back of the headstock as it’s flatter and the template sits better. Also i could line up the printed machine head holes through the drilled holes of the headstock.

It’s very simple for me. I would absolutely love one, more than any other bass guitar. I’ll never own one though, because I refuse to pay the money they sell for. I used to own a 360, and as lovely as the paint finish was, the fit and finish of the scratchplate and some of the hardware was disappointingly poor. It was a nightmare to tune. It was, in my opinion, a £800 guitar with a £1700 price tag (then). From experience I see no reason why a 4003 wouldn’t be the same? If RIC made a far eastern ‘Squier / Epiphone’ version I’d be first in the queue, but I’m not prepared to spend two and a half grand on an American one.

I’m a Jazz player predominantly and as @discreet says the PB50 neck is very chunky; it’s very different to what I’m used to, but I find it coaxes a different playing style out of me. It’s almost as if the bass wants to be played in a way that suits the neck, especially with flatwounds, if you see what I mean.

I’d be interested to know how many PB-50s are sold not with the intention of modifying?

I just came across this picture of Nicky Wire from Manic Street Preachers with a three pickup Jazz Bass. It’s a grainy photo but I’m pretty sure it has a Fender decal. The photo dates from early 1995. Did Fender ever make a J with a third pickup, or is this more likely a modification? I’ve never seen one like this before.