BrunoBass

I’m still waiting for someone to actually adopt ‘Pink Torpedo’ as a username...

I’ll give you a vote dude, I was talking to your mum at the weekend, she was at The Swan on Sunday where we were playing and came over to say hello, she told me all about your band, good luck with the Truck vote 👍🏻

‘Murmur’ by R.E.M. for probably the first time this century. I was a massive fan and from the mid eighties until the early nineties was obsessed with them. I think ‘Murmur’ is one of the strongest, most self assured debuts by any band. I think I’ll be revisiting the rest of their back catalogue now.

Thanks, looks great. It looks a lot less conspicuous than I thought it might. If you could send me a PM with the scan as mentioned I’d be very grateful - thanks.

Crass?

I’m currently enjoying a bit of a Precision bass renaissance, having recently built one after several years playing Stingrays and Jazz Basses. Trouble is, I’ve got very accustomed to playing with my thumb anchored on the back, or in the Stingray’s case the only, pickup. I find this playing position very natural and comfortable. Anchoring my thumb on the Precision pickup which is obviously further forward feels wrong, and ideally I’d like to some kind of thumbrest situated further back. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don’t really want to put a tug bar there. I’ve seen clear plastic zero mod thumb rests for Rickenbackers that fit onto existing screw holes; obviously the Precision doesn’t have screw holes in that position but I’m thinking something that attaches to and extends from the bridge. Does such a thing exist? Do I need to invent one?

I put down a few coats of nitro, and once dry sand very lightly until it feels smooth. Apply the waterslide decal, which I cut very carefully as close the print as possible, keeping the cuts as rounded as possible. When the decal is totally dry and set (a few hours is best) I put another fine layer of nitro over it and the edges of the decal disappear. The photo below is a decal applied exactly as described above, with no sanding necessary. I’ve done the above process with poly and acrylic too, and I found that the edges of the decal don’t disappear completely, there is still a faint but noticeable edge, which as @Grangur says above will need to be sanded away. It’s as if the nitro melts the decal edges, but I don’t know if that is genuinely the case.

That commune sounds very like somewhere I played a few years ago - it wasn’t in north Devon was it?

😳

What effect will prolonged exposure to direct sunlight have on the finish of a bass? I’m guessing it depends on whether the finish is nitro or poly, and what the original colour is as to whether it darkens or fades?

Depends how far you want to travel but Blue Moon just outside Banbury and RAH in Byfield (between Banbury and Daventry) are both very good and worth a look. http://www.bluemoonstudio.co.uk/ http://www.rahstudio.co.uk/

^Same. Definitely worth doing.

Is that a Midtown? Looks great!

Always by car. In my youth I had a succession of hatchbacks which made transporting ‘90s weight combos and the associated gear a challenge, although I gigged less frequently then. For the last twenty or so years I’ve had company cars which invariably have been hatchbacks too. Changed jobs last year, company car is an estate! For the first time ever I can lug my stuff around with relative ease.

Knowledge Reigns Supreme

Don’t get me started...

Band members deciding to take a swig of water just as we’re about to start a song where said individual leads off; cue everyone waiting till they’ve finished. Wait until it’s a song where you don’t come in straight away and have a drink during the guitar intro. Said individual then, on a song he leads off on looking round at everyone before he starts, going ‘ready?’, ‘ready?’ Yes I am funking ready, because I had a drink, tuned etc when there was an opportunity to do so in a section before the bass comes in, I’ve honestly lost count of the times I’ve raised this most moot of points; it really gets on my thrupennybits.

Just in from tonight’s gig in Banbury, unfortunately one of those nights that you get sometimes. We had the option to play outside with a strict 11pm finish, which appealed to me - early finish and 80% of the pubgoers were outside. Unfortunately I got out-voted on the strength of the ‘early’ finish and so we played for two and a half hours in a hot, stifling room until five past eleven with about five people watching us, who didn’t give us anything back at all despite our best efforts. One of those nights when I wonder why I bother. Our next gig is a new venue for us with completely the wrong clientele, I fully expect that one to tank as well... Oh well, Summer festival season is nearly upon us and we’ve got three well attended outdoor shows coming up to look forward to.

There’s a lot of love for orange round these parts 😁

They both look great, nice project- well done 😁

I took the new bass to rehearsal last night to see how it sounded through my gig rig. It sounds amazing at home; I spent a long time thumping around with the tone rolled off when I should’ve been working, but at gig volume with the tone up and the band in full flow it didn’t really cut it. I know it’s not really a ‘rock’ bass but despite a bit of eq’ing I couldn’t really get it to poke through the mix like my Jazz does. I’d really like to gig it (despite it’s not inconsiderable weight - 9.5lb) so I’m thinking of maybe putting something like a Quarter Pounder in. I’m not sure if this would help. I’ve got to get the terrible wiring sorted too... Here she is with her big brother - aah.

The problem persisted with the output jack cutting out, despite me thinking I’d remedied it by lifting the scratchplate slightly and adjusting the contact strip. So I decided to unscrew the whole scratchplate and have a good look inside to see what was going on. What had happened was that the shielding foil had lifted away from the cavity side right next to the jack socket. It the tip of the jack plug moved slightly it just touched the foil, cutting the signal. Some kind of circuit being made I guess? Anyway I tidied up the foil and Bob’s yer uncle, sorted!

That looks really nice, very elegant looking. Good call on the matching headstock, works a treat!

We were invited to play the main stage at the Mandeville Motorcycle Meet last summer; it’s a great event that’s gradually becoming very popular locally. We spent a good bit of time there admiring the machines and chatting to the bikers; what a great bunch of people, very friendly and very cool. Very few people younger than forty I’d say though, and no youngsters whatsoever. Is there a lack of interest or disposable income for the next generation to get into bikes? Changing times I guess.

Yes, in fact I used to, before I joined! I’d seen them a few times in various pubs around town (they were a quartet then and had a different name) and liked what they did. When I heard their bass player was quitting I applied. We’re much better now than they were then, and that’s not me saying that because I’m in the band now. The sound is tighter, punchier (we’re now a trio), the set list is much more appealing to a Saturday night crowd (which I will take a lot of the credit for), and we have a lot more confidence and stage presence than before I joined. We’ve built a good local following, and I think if I were a punter I’d be looking out to see where we were playing next.