BrunoBass

Thanks - it’s a beauty!

Leave it to rest overnight he says... well, the nitro feels solid so let’s just sand it lightly, yeah all good. Maybe I’ll just put the tuners on, it’s getting late but well you know... Oh I may as well do the string tree too... oh sod it lets just assemble the thing!! I’ll put a better photo up tomorrow in natural light, but oh my god it’s gorgeous! I’m super delighted with it and can’t stop looking at it. I did wonder at the outset if I was going to bugger up a perfectly good Harley Benton bass guitar with my lack of experience in performing the modifications I envisaged, but I’m thrilled and so glad I did it. Like my Bruno Bass build I've learnt heaps and loved every minute of the process. Bring on the next project!

Cheers Andy 👍🏻

The decal arrived today, so I applied that this afternoon. Rothko & Frost have again supplied a high quality product at a fair price and with good service. I know others have had less successful experiences with them but I have no complaints, perhaps I’ve been lucky or they’ve been unlucky? Anyway, it looks great. I chose silver for the main part of the logo as I knew I’d be putting a mist coat of amber tint on it which would golden it up a bit. I signed and numbered the back of the headstock again too, as with the Bruno bass I recently completed. My little daughter Dulcie for whom the bass is named didn’t sign it, like her big brother did on his namesake instrument; she can’t hold a pen yet! I don’t think I’m going to bother clear coating or polishing, the nitro has buried the decal and hidden the edges well and looks nice and vintage, so I think I’ll just leave it as it is and see how it wears / ages naturally. In retrospect it’s just slightly darker than I’d have preferred; next time I’ll do fewer coats of tint before adding the decal, or use clear nitro for the final coats. I’ll let it rest overnight, give it a very light sanding tomorrow, reassemble the bass and hopefully give it a go at band rehearsals tomorrow.

I’d play the gig, don’t let down the people who are coming to see you, and then avoid the promoter like the plague for ever.

Boom tish!

It never fails to amaze me how many pubs book bands and then do zero promotion.

Working in Clerkenwell today so I popped in for a mooch. Nice friendly greeting. Disappointingly compact bass section compared to the acoustic section but what they did have looked good, in particular two tasty roadworn Precisions. In fact most of the range was Fender, with a couple of Sandbergs and a bunch of SUB Stingrays, amongst others.

I used to check my gear rarely. Until one day I had a strap button pull out of the bass mid gig. If I’d have checked I’d probably have felt it was loose. I always check it now!

The Clash Live at Shea Stadium. I’m not a fan of live albums generally but this is one of the best I’ve heard, from one of my all time favourite bands. Kosmo Vinyl’s introduction makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, and the energy throughout is palpable. I feel like there’s been a lot of post overdubs done, but so what, it’s a great album that crackles with excitement and serves as a mini ‘Best Of...’ too. Awesome stuff.

+1!

Bit of a Paul Simonon vibe on that!

I’m going to try this on a future build, looks great.

I think I’m lucky where I live, there are at least five pubs in town with full bands on every weekend, Friday and Saturday, and another three or four pubs that have full bands on a roughly monthly basis. There’s only pub that did have full bands that’s gone down the acoustic duo route, but that’s cool - it’s another option for punters.

We got asked to do a similar show at Christmas last year. The idea was that it was lots of local bands ‘unplugged’, which is ridiculous in itself as everyone plugs in their acoustic instruments instead of electric instruments. Singer/guitarist played acoustic, drummer played snare and hi-hat with brushes, and not possessing an ‘acoustic’ bass I played acoustic guitar. I quite enjoyed it; alongside the band I do my own singer-songwriter thing and regularly play solo gigs with my acoustic guitar. The rest of the band weren’t so keen, so I don’t think we’ll do it again. Bands being asked to do duo / acoustic shows don’t seem to be especially prevalent around our area, there are plenty of acts like that around to fill that particular gap it would appear.

Interesting thread, which I’ve only just seen. I take gig preparation seriously, as I find it crucial to get in the zone before I play. Particularly if it’s a Friday gig and I’ve been at work. Recently I had to drive to Manchester and then on to Bradford (from my home in Oxfordshire) on a Friday. I got home at six and we were meeting at the venue at seven to load in. I was knackered and had to really psych myself up to get in the right frame of mind when in all honesty I’d have been happy to spend the night on the sofa with a few cans. I don’t ever want to be half-arsed at a gig so I need to get my head in the game. Luckily Friday gigs aren’t the norm. The preparation starts for me when we rehearse, usually a couple of days before the gig. If we have a good rehearsal I always feel motivated, if we have a bad rehearsal I feel even more motivated! I don’t get nervous for a pub gig (I might do for larger gigs), we’ve been doing this for too long to worry unduly about making any mistakes. I have a Spotify playlist of all the songs we play, which I play loud in the car the day of the gig, which psychs me up. That adds a bit of excitement to the prospect of playing which helps get the adrenaline and expectation going. I want to enjoy playing a gig; if not then it’s pointless doing it, and it reflects in a bad performance. At the gig I don’t drink. Mainly because I feel that even one pint takes the edge off, also I’m usually driving, although I might sometimes allow myself a celebratory pint and a rare cigarette for a treat if all’s gone well. I’ve never felt that gigging is a chore, but on the occasions I’ve found myself feeling less than enthusiastic about it I just remind myself that I’m in a band, playing gigs - I’m lucky.

Yes Billy Joel seems to be perennially overlooked as a songwriter, particularly in the UK where the general public only really know him for Uptown Girl and Just The Way You Are. A pity really, when songs like Captain Jack, Allentown and Scenes From An Italian Restaurant are so well observed lyrically and brilliantly realised musically - everything I want in a song. He’ll probably only be reappraised and appreciated once he’s gone, unfortunately.

True. I once popped into PMT to get a cable and left with a Music Man Stingray. That took some explaining when I got home haha.

I always feel like a fraud though, visiting guitar shops when I have no intention of buying anything, like I’m wasting their time. Anyone else feel that? I’m guessing not many! 😁

I really must pop in, I only live twenty minutes away and I’ve never visited.

The two guitarists in my last band couldn’t stand each other, forced smiles and nice to each other’s faces but behind each other backs it was contrast slagging off, nasty criticism which eventually spilled over into all out antipathy. Most of it was down to ego; both were great musicians but it was definitely a case of two many dogs in the pen, decidedly unhealthy rivalry. Eventually it all imploded; I’m told in spectacular style. I wasn’t there to witness it, I’d jumped ship sometime before. My current band all get on very well. Any issues get aired and usually resolved quickly.

No worries, great post!

I like the convenience of streaming and the fact that I can listen to pretty anything that’s ever been commercially available at the click of a mouse, but I too miss the pre-Amazon thrill of unearthing some long deleted album I’d been seeking for a long time. Same with books.

There’s a lot more affection for CDs now than I remember in the past. I remember many people saying how they sounded rubbish, hated the fact that the artwork was shrunk down, that they weren’t the indestructible medium they’d first been sold as.

I had thousands of CDs, and about three years ago I realised that I hadn’t physically played a CD in a very long time. Every CD I had was on my Mac, backed up on a couple of hard drives and shared to my iPhone, iPad etc. So, with the exception of a handful of CDs that have sentimental value I sold the lot on Music Magpie. I had no use for them and don’t miss them at all. I do have all the vinyl from my teenage years though, and one of these days I might get round to buying a turntable to actually play them on.