Steve Browning

Well, when pressed! I know it wasn't grape, but a vine attempt nonetheless.

If it's any consolation. I've looked at all of the pictures and liked the two fretless Precisions, 'cos they're the only ones I actually liked. Each to their own.

In fairness, he's got #2 covered. Helped design the microdrives in set top boxes, too.

I used to work with a guy who midi'd everything and had all the settings saved with the song title so it was a simple scroll for him to be ready. Way beyond my ability but certainly made for no gaps betweeen songs (maybe 2 seconds).

If I'm using a crib sheet, it's on the floor and in big letters.

I guess my milestone basses (as in personal milestones) would be: 1. Columbus Jazz - the bass that started me on this whole journey. 2. First Fender Precision (#S749320) - I've said before how I spent an entire month's salary on this bass and had to walk to and from work for the rest of the month. A Precision is what I always wanted and this was my first. 3. My current #1 bass - 1966 Precision - it was the best Precision I'd ever played when I saw it in Tiger Music (in Brighton), and it still is (getting on for 40 years later). I've owned and played a vast number over the years, but this is head and shoulders above all of them. It killed off my pre-CBS snobbery at a stroke and opened the exit door for all the old basses I had then.

Absolutely. Honest feedback is important.

I take two identical basses. Possibly a different colour, but the same pickup in order to keep levels the same. Whether anyone does is down to them and I wouldn't criticise them for not doing so. Generally never used the spare but did break a machine head in France in 1995.

Just back from playing my fretless one tonight. Great basses.

Not if they're perfect for the owner. We're all different, after all.

Absolutely. For me, the best patch is 66 to 73/4. Wonderful B profile necks and tort plates. No silly pre-CBS price tag either.

Beautiful.

I've done the vintage Fender thing. Owned a 1953 and an original 1966 slab, as well as a bunch of others. My conclusion? Just don't bother. If you want an investment then fine, but I own instruments (now) that would cost you 10% of a pre-CBS Precision, and are every bit as good (IMHO, obviously).

We play a couple of pubs where you invoice and payment follows. Bit of a hassle first time around but dead easy now. In one of them we actually got the payment before we even played. I've not paid to play, that I recall. Bands paying for support slots certainly was the norm once.

On the basis of cheapest options first, I'd plump for a set of rounds. I would also ask what are you aiming for? You are satisfied with your sound using your own gear? I am presuming the valve amp you mention is yours? Using 'foreign' gear is always a lottery. It may be a pedal is what you want (a valve pre I suppose). I'd explore the strings first. I certainly wouldn't be adding pickups/buying different basses.

Thanks for the update and many congratulations on getting that far.

The Southsea shop closed and Steve moved to Cosham. The shop is on the roundabout just south of PMA. Glad it turned out well.

A transaction that is everything Basschat is all about. A fellow BC'er who puts himself out to deliver a really good bargain, to a meeting at a motorway service station. A very pleasant chat (over a coffee and a calorific snack) with a knowledgeable and thoreoughly decent chap and a warm handshake (no, he'd not just been to the gents) before a parting of the ways. Thank you, Steve. Delighted to have met you. A real credit to this community.

I'm the same. I also have a tab on the spreadsheet that records when I restring them and with which strings.

I am hoping the answer's no, because - apart from a single puff on a joint in 1978 - I've never taken any form of recreational drug in my life.

I've just been to Steve's Guitar Centre and they no longer do tuition. Just up the road is the Portsmouth Music Academy. A rather grand title for a medium sized detached house along the main road. Have a chat with them, maybe.

If you contact Steve at the Guitar Centre on the roundabout at Cosham. I am sure they do lessons there.

Dreadfully sad news.