Stub Mandrel

I have an Epiphone jumbo acoustic, FT140, MIJ. The serial number slip makes it between 1970 and 75. Bolt on neck(!) Plays really well and is very loud. The tuners are three-in-a-strip, but still work perfectly after about half a century.

I've got a remastered version of Space Ritual on CD. On Monday night, heading along the M4 (largely unlit) at 11pm it was not difficult to feel like I was entering hyperspace... Lemmy's bass on the album is really clear on this version. It is utterly unlike his music with Motorhead, and is essentially the glue that holds the entire songs together and even the dominant melodic element on many of them. Solid as a rock, massively powerful and then throwing in little runs and walking excursions with loads of improvisation. It's easy to see why Space Ritual inspired so many people to start playing bass.

I certainly find it easier fingerstyle, I tend to trill two or three fingers depending on whether it's fast triplets or 16ths. Ace of Spades is a doddle with fingers, at my absolute limit with a plecccy!

I have no idea how some people play pick faster than fingerstyle. My speed record is Joy Joy by Kinga Glyk, I got halfway but now I need to relearn most of it.

That's how I feel about my basses.

But I suppose I am a snob. I have Fender straps on my Squiers as well as my Fenders. I would put the Squier Jaguar SS in the same class playability/finish wise as the Fenders, but I had to pimp the bridge pickup.

Last night took a Squier Jazz to rehearsal. Guitarist: "That looks great".

Set neck, not through, but the same 'Probucker' pickups as the Vintage Pro Thunderbird.

Which onel was it? If it was the bolt on neck model, they are terrible and feel nothing like a Thunderbird. If it wasn't the vintage pro, it was the lesser bolt-on version. I've decided to get an Embassy when the next batch eventually arrives in the UK.

Just downloaded the GDI21 manual -= it even has the 'slap bass example', so my pedal has the wrong back page. How odd.

Just got a Bheringer DI box, back of the leaflet shows example emulation of several amps, using three switches which aren't on the box! Presumably this is from some past iteration, or something. Does anyone know and is it possible to'retro fit' these to the pedal? A

I see an Epiphone Embassy in my future...

My Dad was reminiscing about the change from valve to solid state rectifiers. My grandad blew a few when fitting them to replace HT rectifiers because he didn't realise they needed a resistor to limit inrush current. When a selenium rectifier went on someone's TV, he said you could diagnose the fault as soon as they opened the front door and you smelt it.

The design means that when changing valves the HT is inaccessible - unless you poke something into the valve base.

In my experience, this style either fail quickly or last decades. The biggest problem is when they have a too-large diameter hole, causing the jack to move around causing noise, rather than the spring losing its mojo.

A Carling drinker, eh?

Just ordered one. £20 for an insurance policy if I have an amp problem and have to go straight into the PA?

I have a Behringer Tremolo pedal which does what it says on the tin. My 'Vintage Tube Overdrive' is supposed to be an exact clone of the Ibanez Tube Screamer, obviously anyone neurotic about having a first-gen op amp chip would disagree.* *Strange how when manufacturers change a product it ALWAYS sounds worse...

Can you put a bleed resistor (say 100K - 1M) across the standby switch so that the filter cap can partially charge?

The mains plug fuse will be quick blow. Perhaps you should be using a 5A there? 3A is more what you use for a bedside lamp. Is it possible that you have a shorted turn or winding on your transformer, easy to do if you have a toroidal mounted by a central screw.

It was the weight of all those knobs.

Sad to lose one of the fold. 😞

As bought: As mutilated:

I paid £180 in a shop for mine (Squier Standard Jazz, Indonesia, Serial number says 2001, built by Cort so a decent quality build). Over the odds, but it is a particularly nice example as the neck has darkened so it looks nearer 60 than 20 years old. I've tarted it up with pickup cover, vintage knobs, mutes and a thumb rest so it feels vintage and it sounds and plays well. 2004 model is supposed to have thicker body, but mine has the same thickness body as my Flea Jazz... But not worth a great deal.

I'm sure my waist isn't 32cm... and I don't weigh 12kg 13g.