OutToPlayJazz

Nope, never had anything like that said to me. I'm lucky because all the bands I play with hold me in reverence. Are there really that many bad bass players out there?? In my rock trio the guitarist introduces me as, "possibly the greatest bass player to walk the planet." Obviously it's not true, but let him think it, anyway

He means the bass bit before the vocals come in

Hey Chuck, good to see you on here! 1. Jazz is cool, as is every other form of music. 2. You play Fodera? You're a God in my view just because of that!

Nice jazz, Andy. Possibly a few months older than me, too! Rich.

[quote name='thebeat' post='337833' date='Nov 26 2008, 10:48 PM']Thank f*** i decided to be a drug dealer [/quote] Really?? Giz a loan, mate!

It's interesting that some of you have mentioned luthiers in this thread. I always remember Dawn at Status-Graphite telling me that Rob Green promised her he'd be a millionaire by the time he was 40. He's now in his 50's & she's still waiting

That looks really nice! Both retro & individual at the same time. I was listening to the recordings of the new inhouse pickups on the Lakland site this morning. They sound excellent! Rich.

Ped, I was getting the impression you're writing "library" music for radio/tv, etc. Is this correct? If so, keep at it. A friend of mine has been writing it for some years now & has a contract with Chappel music & Sony BMG. He's getting about £20k every quarter in royalties now! Rich.

LOL! I usually have one week of serious flu & chest infection a year. That's this week, actually! I've been off work since Monday, but really need to be at school tomorrow & have a rehearsal tomorrow evening. There's no pension, nope. But then again pensions are worthless these days. I opted out of the local council one as it would've been worth less than I paid in by the time I got to it, LOL! Rich.

Just to clarify a little... Yes, I work VERY hard. Usually 80 hours per week or more, but I am very happy We all think the grass is greener on the other side & a nice big salary and good hours would be nice, but the truth is I work as hard as I do in the so-called "music business" because I love it. Given a choice I wouldn't do anything else Rich.

It's not as easy as you think Being as I have a mortgage, I have to have a regular job so I do a lot of teaching. That's as head of music at a primary school, several "wider opportunities" music classes in other schools as well as instrumental teaching in a couple of very good independent schools around me. I also see a lot of private instrumental students. As for the playing. It's basically anything that comes through the door. Currently I run my own jazz band for functions, etc., play in a big band & with two other jazz bands, play in shows as a bass player, play in a rock trio (topping the bill at biker rallies, etc.) and I've just joined a very good Blondie Tribute act with a full diary next year. I also play on the classical circuit as a cellist & double bass player which comes in handy. But remember the playing is never constant. So you've either got to be in serious demand or very good at harvesting your money while you have it. I'm not very good at the latter, so I have the teaching to back me up. Location has a lot to do with it as well. If you're London based, there's a lot of playing work, although competition is fierce. I'm out in the sticks, so I have to deal with mega mileage as well! Take for instance this coming weekend... Leave school on Friday @ 5pm (near Cleethorpes.) Go to Pontefract for jazz function job. Get home early hours. Be up at a reasonable hour on Saturday becuase private pupils start knocking at the door at 10am. Taking the choir out to a local stately home on Saturday lunchtime as well, in between pupils! Leave for Milton Keynes at about 4.30 for evening rock trio gig. Get home before dawn if I'm lucky! Sunday private pupils begin at 9am, then gig in Gainsborough at lunchtime, more private pupils in the afternoon, then gig in Newark on Sunday evening. This is all before I start teaching again on Monday morning. 9-5 job? YES PLEASE!!! Ability to sight read is a massive bonus as well. If you're dropping in as a dep or on a session, people want you to play things straight off. Time is money, as it were! So all in all, yes it's fun and for me very varied, but it's hard and having a constant amount of money each month guaranteed is a lot easier. Rich.

Thanks, Silent Fly! It arrived today & oh what fun!!! Absolutely amazing. I did an 8-track overlay funky jingle bells amongst other things for a bit of a laugh. Should be really easy to use on stage as well. Will give it a try this coming weekend. Rich.

Lovely natural G&L you have there

[quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='337286' date='Nov 26 2008, 02:24 PM']I want your Yamaha to have my babies :blush:[/quote] Here's a little more for you...

Some new pics of the graphite fleet... My no.1 bass. 2007 Status S2-Classic in walnut & mahogany. 1990 Status Series II in cocobolo & cherry. Now with it's original 2-band preamp reinstalled. 2008 Status KingBass Artist in walnut & mahogany. 2008 Status S2-Classic bolt-on 5-string in cocobolo/mahogany with phenowood maple board.

First up, my no.1 bass. 2007 Status S2-Classic in walnut & mahogany. 1990 Status Series II in cocobolo & cherry. Now with it's original 2-band preamp reinstalled. 2008 Status KingBass Artist in walnut & mahogany. 2008 Status S2-Classic bolt-on 5-string in cocobolo/mahogany with phenowood maple board. Yamaha TRB-6 II Warwick Corvette $$

Red tort, of course! What else??

It's a good job! You really don't want to go to the factory, LOL! It's the ultimate GAS factory. To see 60 stock basses there in the racks is just too much! I go on a little pilgrimage down there 2-3 times a year. Absolutely love it! I actually found the ultimate jazz sound this year, but I traded against my 08 S2-Classic 5-er like yours. I had found a very good Fender CIJ Marcus Miller bass with the most beautiful quality control you've ever seen, added a Sadowsky outboard pre pedal & slapped on some 40-100 Marcus Miller DR FatBeams. Wow! I'd have kept that if the Status hadn't come up. The exact jazz tone I was looking for as well! I may get another one soon as well. We'll see. Maybe you could get a Miller bass & keep the Status?

Remember that Status-Graphite is a very small outfit, so it sometimes takes some time for Rob to get around to doing things on the technical/servicing side. I had the same problem & in the end it was easier to take the instrument to Colchester to get the original preamp rewired by someone who knew what they were doing. Ie., Mr.Green himself. Yes, it took me three months to get the bass back, but at least I know that it'll go for another 20 years now with no problems. Don't forget that they have to keep their attention on production, which is their main bread & butter, so you have to accept that servicing work will take a little time with so few employees & especially when Rob's doing all the technical work himself. Rob did have someone else trained up doing the technical work at one point, but quality control suffered. Brings us back to the old addage of, "If you want a job doing right, do it yourself!" Rich.

LOL! Did you go to the factory when you got your S2, zigmondo?

Did all my research into looprers today & ordered the Digitech so I should have it on Wednesday. I was very taken by the new Line 6 model, apart from the fact that it is blatantly aimed at guitarists with all the same sounds and controls as my Line 6 spider III guitar amp. That and of course the price of the L6! So all you people out there with the stolid DigiTech, what do you think of them? I was thinking it'd be a great recording device with the 2GB flash card added. Rich.

[quote]Being a Status,ANYTHING would be an improvement. This post has been edited by ARGH: Today, 02:59 PM[/quote] And what did Status-Graphite ever do to you, Mr.ARGH??