Russ

Yep, Richlite is basically layered paper infused with resin. So is ebonol. They're very stable though, and do sound suitably "woody".

I'm not going to be able to make it, alas. Too much going on around here to be able to take off (literally) for a weekend back in Blighty. Maybe next year.

Well, our very own @Kiwi is doing his graphite neck thing, there's Klos, who are making Modulus-esque basses and replacement necks, Modulus and Zon are still going in the US, and the Germans like Bogart and Clover are still offering graphite necks on their instruments. Supposedly Mike from Zoot will soon be joining the graphite club. In terms of using alternative materials, there's also Aristides out of the Netherlands, who make guitars and basses out of something they call Arium. No idea what's in it, it's some kind of reinforced resin.

On the skinny-stringed side of things, Matteo Mancuso has been a pretty visible Yamaha user over the past couple of years. If you've never checked him out, he's astonishing. Probably the best young guitarist out there today.

I dunno. The Ibanez ATK and, more recently, the Sire Z series are/were strong sellers. And they both sound more like an actual Stingray than any of the Sterling By Music Man stuff. I'd liked to have seen them make this. They can make a bass that has that sound - the TRB John Myung Mk2 had a single MM pickup and it absolutely sounded the part.

I see quite a few of them in the hands of fairly prolific YouTubers too - Benni Jud from Germany (plays with Martin Miller) has been using a BB recently instead of the Marleaux he always used to be seen with. Constantine Delo of the Hindley Street Country Club (prolific Aussie cover band with a big YouTube presence) is rarely seen without his BB 5-string.

They’re brilliant instruments with some serious pedigree, and mostly pretty inexpensive, unless you’re going for a high-end TRB or something. Plenty of used ones out there too, and they’re almost all excellent. You don’t hear about too many big-name players using them these days - they’ve got the same people they’ve had for years, like Nathan East, Patitucci, Sheehan, Hooky, etc but never really seem to add anyone new to their roster of endorsees. I guess they go for quality over quantity. You do seem to see quite a lot of them in the hands of session guys though. Those who know, know.

The newer BTBs are more sculpted around the horns and edges than the old ones were. I've never found them uncomfortable, but I've always found them to hang off the strap a little strangely - whenever I've played one, it feels like the neck is being pushed away from me. Maybe it's the contouring on the rear of the body or something that's doing it. The nicest modern Ibby I've ever played was the singlecut SR, the SRSC805. Felt more substantial than a regular SR, had no neck dive (unlike some other SRs), fit the body nicely, and was actually very lightweight.

They probably cleared it out in order to recreate it in Fender's Corona facility. I'm imagining something a bit like what they did with Francis Bacon's art studio when they moved it from his old home in London to the Hugh Lane gallery in Dublin.

The headline tax rates in Sweden are pretty high. Their overall tax burden is pretty similar to the UK though, when you tot everything up. For instance, they have no council taxes - their municipal taxes are part of their income tax. There’s nothing like stamp duty or anything like that. Overall, they have fewer things that are taxed, the UK has more “stealth taxes”. My point of view is that, if I must pay tax, which I must, I want to see that I’m getting good value for what I’m paying - over there, the value is far more obvious, with free uni, good primary/secondary education, very cheap subsidised childcare, stuff like the “kulturskolan” system I mentioned above, excellent maternity/paternity benefits and so on. And people are glad, and, in some cases, consider it their patriotic duty, to pay it. It’s a different mindset. Ironically though, they have more stuff that’s part of the private sector than the UK - hospitals, doctors, etc are all private entities there, they’re just paid by the government, unlike most of the NHS. They have no minimum wage, but they have very strong unions for basically every work sector, even for people right at the bottom of the pyramid. The UK seems to have the mindset that we want all those sorts of benefits, but we want to pay US-level taxes (which, take it from me, aren’t as low as people seem to think).

Sweden has had the “kulturskolan” system forever, where people can go to learn music for free, and use their rehearsal and recording facilities, also for free. Musicians there can also take advantage of government subsidies to put gigs on, record albums, do promotion, etc. This is probably the single biggest reason why Sweden punches so far above its weight in terms of music. Last time I was there, I had a nice conversation with a girl who is the lead guitarist in a successful Swedish all-female AC/DC-style rock band, who organised the gig I was playing that night, and she told me about how it all works and how their system helped her band. Ireland has also just made a form of UBI for artists permanent after a successful pilot programme. There’s more qualifications required than the Swedish system and the degree of support isn’t as extensive, but it’s a big step in the right direction. These systems seem to enjoy significant public support too - they consider it tax money well spent because they value culture. I’ve always said you can judge a country based on how it treats its artists.

I would be disappointed if that turns out to be the case, mostly because I've not encountered anything like that from them. But I've never found them difficult to deal with, other than the language barrier (mein Deutsch ist nicht ser gut) and I've not seen any of their stuff with these sorts of problems before.

Nope, the hardware looks wrong to me. Besides, I've played quite a few Ooshyks and I've never seen any with these sorts of problems. Besides, N64Lover said he requested a Jazzmaster-style bass and they hadn't done one like that, and Maruszczyk do the Mopped, which is very much a Jazzmaster/Jaguar shape (albeit with the controls in a more conventional place). The colour looks a lot like their Green Valley metallic finish, though. (disclaimer - I own two Maruszczyks )

If you have the official Rootmaster gig bag, with the woolly lining, the headphone switch almost inevitably gets pressed when you put it in there. So that's the first thing I check whenever I take it out!

Er… someone needs to tell ChatGPT that a Yamaha BB2000 is a bass, not an amp! I think Rourke used pretty much whatever was available in terms of amps, I don’t think he has a preferred brand. Back then, if you were northern and played any kind of rock, you probably had a Laney, Hiwatt or Carlsbro rather than the American brands or “boutique” stuff like Trace. But that sunburst P-Bass was ever-present.