josie

The Fender Jazz Aerodyne is lighter than a standard Jazz, and a joy to play. J/P pickups so a good tone range. https://shop.fender.com/en-GB/electric-basses/jazz-bass/aerodyne-jazz-bass/0254505506.html#start=1 Over £1k new, but worth looking out for second hand. Johnny Roadhouse have one listed online at £800 but it's actually in the window at £650. http://www.johnnyroadhouse.co.uk/guitars/bass-guitars/pre-owned-basses/fender-aerodyne-bass.html

Johnny Roadhouse had my dream MarkBass rig in the window for a while. But second-hand at not much less than list price, and I can't justify spending that much money or having that much output power for anyplace I'm likely to play any time soon. Settled on upgrading my Peavey 15 to a Peavey 110. That will do for now :-)

I have two Michael Kelly acoustic 5s, fretted and fretless, and love both of them. Well made, playable, good tone, and ridiculously good-looking. The Fishman electronics on the Dragonfly are excellent - much better than what's on the equally pretty and playable Club. Not the easiest to find, but there is this (in the US, so you'd have to add import duty - total around £680): https://reverb.com/item/6393030-michael-kelly-mkdf5skb-dragonfly-5-bass-guitar-smoke-burst Probably more a case of if you see one second hand, grab it.

A friend's band - after weeks of discussions much like the above - settled on "None of the Above".

I have occasionally been accosted by attractive inebriated young women gushing about how well I play. Unfortunately I think this has more to do with being the only woman on stage than with how well I actually play :-)

If you had just a minute to breathe And they granted you one final wish Would you ask for something like another chance Traffic, "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys"

Correct. 62.

Eric Burdon and the Animals. Brought up on classical music, sort of got into the early Beatles a bit because all my friends were, but the thunderbolt that changed my taste in music forever was House of the Rising Sun, and the first record I bought was the 1966 "The Best of the Animals" (to my mother's horror. I was probably 12 at the time.) I never really got into the Rolling Stones - there was something raw and harsh and powerfully real about the Animals that just took me by the scruff of the neck and blew my musical world open. I still love that stuff.

My first, and still "go-to" is a GMR 5. I do sometimes play a 4, just because my Jazz Aerodyne is too beautiful not to play, and the only GMR fretless I've found is a 4.

I'm keeping this one (1966) at my son's house in Nashville - admittedly a somewhat extreme way of making sure Mr Josie never finds out.

I had a striking demonstration of how different two individual basses can be earlier this year when I decided I [b]needed[/b] a Gibson EB2 (as you do :-) Full story and pics here: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/242658-show-off-your-short-scales/page__view__findpost__p__3361861 Summary: the first one I tried was completely dull and lifeless. The second - same year (1966), same condition and set-up - sang in my arms and came home with me. Nothing to do with the weight or the neck or anything else you could point to, they were identical. Except that they so, so were not.

1992 Fender Jazz Plus 5. Fairly rare top-quality beast in lovely condition and well set up - I knew it would be challenging, but it was just too challenging. Heavy, with a slabby telecaster-like body which just refused to feel comfortable, and well balanced but hangs two frets to the left of any of my other basses, so I was forever playing a full tone too high. I should really get around to trying to sell it.

2 x fretted 5 (GMR) 1 x fretted 4 (Jazz Aerodyne) 1 x fretless 4 (GMR) 1 x fretted 5 acoustic (Michael Kelly) 1 x fretless 5 acoustic (Michael Kelly) All get played, in one situation or another. I'd upgrade the fretless 4 to a GMR fretless 5 if I could find one. Much prefer to play 5s, but not likely to be gigging them for a while, as the band I've just joined has an ambient streak which calls for the electric fretless, and the best contrast for the other songs is the Aerodyne.

Have any of you ever put tape-wounds on a Jazz? and if so, why? I was handed one last night at a jam, and found it a nightmare to play. No punch, no sustain, just a dull rubbery thud, and the strings seemed to stick to the fretboard so I could only play half as many notes as I would have done on any of my own basses. I have chrome flats on my fretless, so the smoothness of the strings wasn't a problem, just the whole overall feel and sound. Am I missing something? Is this really a good idea which I should get to grips with? The owner of said tape-wound-strung Jazz is actually a very good bass player...

[quote name='Dandelion' timestamp='1504730935' post='3367002'] Buy a carpeted bass cab, a veritable cat magnet. [/quote] Indeed. My metal-cased Marshal and Peavey amps attract much attention with no damage. A foam-cased wedge donated by a friend now has only a thin fluffy halo.

Monty (now sadly lost to cancer) - a very large, strong, heavy (not overweight) cat - never tried to climb into my lap, but he would leap on my guitar teacher and persistently head-butt him under the left arm while he was trying to play. Monty's true love, though, was my used-to-be duo partner, a lovely lady and fine singer with an "ample bosom" and fondness for low-cut tops. At any possible chance he would jump up and knead his front paws in her cleavage. Our best moment was when we were working on "Romeo and Juliet" and she improvised spoof "Monty" lyrics which I so wish I could remember - all I can remember is that we were both laughing so hard we literally cried. Good times. We never liked each other that much, to be honest, but I miss him.

I still love full length necks, so I didn't think about short scale until I saw and heard a couple of Gibson EB2s back in June and Wanted One. You know how it is sometimes. As it happened I was about to visit family in Nashville and decided this was an excuse (as if I needed one) for a guitar store crawl. I figured EB2s are rare enough that it was safe to look for one. The first place I went had a 1966 sunburst in good condition. Ouch. But when I tried it it felt very dull and unresponsive. Ok, I'm safe. Then went to Gruhns and the first thing I saw was this. [attachment=252262:P1030925.jpg] [attachment=252263:P1030929.jpg] 1966, faded cherry, very slight wear, and most importantly when I picked her up she just sang. A bit of neck-dive, but little enough that a suede strap controls it. She actually has a very light crisp sound for such a big bass - until you kick in the bass/baritone boost (the little red push-button) and get a rich deep thumping growl. They were apparently favoured by reggae players at the time. I've left her in Nashville, at least for now - my son also plays bass and loves her, so she's in good hands, and after paying for her I can't afford the import duty! And Mr Josie will never know :-)

Nice idea, thank you - in fact I gave him one a while back, and he loved it at first, but he's lost interest - it's too small, he wants a "real guitar" and prefers his 3/4 acoustic. He's trying to play along to Bruce Springsteen videos!

Picking up on "southern American pride". Look at The Cadillac Three - now flying high, rightly, with "proud to be southern" songs. They use the Tennessee state three-star emblem as their logo. I know (I've known them for years) they would never, even 15 years ago as Nashville teenagers, have used the Confederate flag. And they would be horrified to see anyone else doing so not understanding what it really means on its home ground.

My 4yo grandson is obsessed with guitars - especially his Dad's Fender Strat (and my Jazz bass - the lad has good taste!) They're talking about getting him a 3/4 electric guitar, but all the ones I've seen seem to be pretty cheap "for children", and I want him to have a good instrument. I'm thinking of getting him a short scale guitar instead. (I've just spotted what looks like a nice one cheap second hand.) I think he'll be able to get his arms around the body well enough, and the shorter neck should be all he needs to be able to play it. The only possible problem I can see is that heavy gauge strings might be hard for his little fingers, but I could re-string it with a lighter gauge for him. Any experience / advice welcome!

I've just seriously over-indulged myself in a 1966 Gibson EB2. Short scale, but the neck is pretty much the same length as a standard P - the bridge is roughly where it would be on a "normal" guitar. Semi-hollow body. The sound is quite crisp and light until you hit the bass/ baritone pushbutton which switches it to a seriously deep punchy growl. Much loved by reggae players in its day apparently.

This was my birthday present to myself this year, re-strung with Daddario chrome flats, and it's a serious challenge to play well but I love it: https://www.michaelkellyguitars.com/en/products/view/dragonfly-fretless-5 Yes it's hard to play, but worth it. As said above, you have to play an acoustic bass hard. The Fishman electronics on this are superb, give you real control and subtlety in your tone, even a "notch" which can tune out the exact frequency which gives you feedback from the body cavity, so you don't need a soundhole cover when you're plugged in. I can take it out to play with friends who don't have amps (!?) which is important, but also it's a joy to play and really does pull its weight in the small venue, blues / folk I do.

Cornbury 2014 only because I wanted to see Tift Merritt, but the highlight was Wilko Johnson, who was still alive and gigging after he'd been told he'd be dead, before he got the re-diagnosis. Every front man always says "We're so glad to be here in ... tonight" but when Wilko said "I cannot tell you how glad I am to be here right now" we knew exactly what he meant and collectively went ballistic. Most recently "Buckle and Boots" Americana festival - not my choice of genre but walking distance from home, and fun watching how much everyone was enjoying it, children in little cowboy boots and hats climbing over hay bales with big smiles. Funny thing, Saturday almost all the bass guitars were sunburst Jazzes and Sunday it was almost all white Fender Ps.

You didn't walk out through an arch of raised bass guitars? Very best wishes for very many good years together. "Music is our one salvation" - share music, share life.

Has anyone here used - or seen a bass player using - a capo? There's a fairly naff trio local to me whose bass player uses a capo for almost every song. Often on a different fret to the two guitarists, which makes it even more peculiar. I understand that, on a standard 6-string guitar, there's an offset from the G to B string, which makes it hard to transpose, so the capo effectively shifts the nut. And that that's why a 5-string bass player who wants to go higher rather than lower tunes to high C rather than to B. But on a standard 4-string bass, why not just learn where the notes are on the fret board and play them? Or am I missing something???