Stub Mandrel

There was a time when I wasn't sure which band I had seen most often - Hawkwind or the Stranglers 🙂 Still with Berxit I suppose it will be Euroman Go-eth...

Hawkwind at Glasgow 02 for my birthday on Friday.

I used to work with a guy who had lived in the house with black and white tiles on the bathroom walls that inspired the Two Tone logo, some time after Jerry Dammers had moved on.

No, you're never too old to Rock'n'Roll if you're too young to die After a 23-year gap for the purpose of generating a family and getting into debt, I'm back in a band again. And it's great. And my playing has transformed over this year.

Sorry, I think it's just introducing more faff for minimal benefit. Plus, in a live context there are times when you want to change the tempo to suit the way the gig is going; if everyone's up and dancing but you still want to play that ballad, pep up the tempo a bit 🙂 If someone can't count accurately maybe they need help, but I've never been in a band where we couldn't judge tempo accurately enough.

And one of mine.

It's the drummers who can't count at all you want to worry about...

Only if the other band members can't be relied on to get the right tempo. We all make mistakes but we all ought to be able to get the tempo right 99 times out of 100?

<SOB> I confess, I've bought a Stagg Uke. It cost £13(!) for an all-wood one, less than the cost of my clip tuner. Sounds tinny and thin compared to my bro's £30 plastic bodied Makala (which sounds almost as good as his Gretsch Uke), needed lots of work on the nut and the strings won't settle down. He says get decent strings.

My mistake - I know the origins of the name, but I was under the mistaken impression the first JV guitars were branded "Fender" with a small "Squire Series" decal, but apparently it was spelled "Squier" on those too.

Interesting question. In practice 99% of the time it's 'transparent' and you wouldn't notice it's there. What does notice is that low frequency handling noise, like placing your palm over the strings or thumping the body is drastically reduced or eliminated. So it definitely protects the rig against those low transients. I don't know if it gives much extra headroom as at home the master volume on the Trace doesn't get above 1.5 and the Ashdown 500 at the rehearsal studio doesn't even get to 12 because we are old farts who don't want to damage our hearing (further).

Also Fenders being produced at that time had dire quality control issues so there's a real chance that any random contemporary Fender made in America won't be as good... <edit> A bit more detail... it seems that QC problems in the USA led to major factory changes which meant supply couldn't meet demand. The manufacturing in Japan wasn't originally aimed at producing inferior 'copies' but rather making up up for the shortage of US-made instruments while they sorted things out, which took several years. Follow the links above for more details.

Handy suggestion, although the slope wont be as steep as it's only a 2-pole instead of 4-pole filter, could have other related uses or be cascaded with a 2-pole filter. Also, it's a passive filter followed by a boost stage rather than an active filter, but that probably wouldn't make a big difference.

In this case you are correct but I think the first batch of MIJ guitars were branded 'Squire'...

Saw Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons last night, the Tramshed in Cardiff. Well, they did play three Motorhead songs, but the crowd sang along from start to finish for a set crammed with their own material - including two songs from his new solo Album that's only been out for about a fortnight. Probably one of the most enthusiastic and joyous crowds I've ever been in, and a complete and balanced age range too. Funnily enough the song that went down best was probably Silver Machine though! They completely avoid the trap of just being a backdrop for Phil showcasing as a solo guitarist - all solos were short and too the point, and equally shared with Todd Campbell whose grimacing was as entertaining as his playing (he doesn't half look like the late lamented Maartin Allcock too!) Support was King Creature, who describe themselves as old-school metal but have a touch of thrash about them. They were bloody good too, very confident and polished, really know what they are doing. In another thread there was much discussion of headliners giving support bands a less favourable sound/lights etc. King Creature not only got an excellent mix, but the full lightshow (although it was fairly unsophisticated for either band) and although maybe not quite as loud in the round their kick drum was definitely the loudest thing all night. A definite case of letting the support give their best paying off with a totally pumped crowd when PC&TBS came on. One thing I did notice was that Neil Starr was a lot less sweary than when I saw them in Glasgow. Probably explained by his mum (and I suspect Mrs Phil and others) being in the audience! I don't think I've bounced around like last night since I was in my early 20s and I woke up feeling like I'd been beaten up. Interesting that few years ago some 'rock journos' were suggesting that Phil was destined to spend the rest of his days as a Motorhead tribute/novelty act - definitely not! End of the night I went to the Merch stand and who should sell me a t-shirt other than Tim Atkinson, bass player with leader of Down, who were support on the previous tour 🙂 & King Creature:

Almost K-like, although the bridge looks a bit too well made...

I see no evidence of a thin-lipped, grey estuarine pescid...

That's fascinating - from the horse's mouth that Fujigen were knocking the spots off Fullerton. Also some more interesting background on the Performer; I reckon it is going to get either copied or re-issued at some point.

Solid spruce may not be expensive per se, but it adds a premium that's better directed to better tuners or other aspects of playability. It's a long way down the list of what I would prioritise in a first guitar and when a salesman is using it as a way to push someone think is uninformed towards £400+ guitars rather than ~£150 ones I question their ethics. What matters for a beginner is a guitar that is comfortable, well sized, easy to fret and pleasant sounding. The Fender fills all these categories, certainly doesn't sound like a toy; lack of bass is more down to body size than a laminated soundboard. If someone asked you what to look for in a beginner's guitar would the first thing you recommend be a solid spruce top? I doubt it, it's like telling someone looking for their first bass that a through neck is essential. That said, there are some nice, affordable solid spruce parlour guitars - the Gretsch Jim Dandy is my favourite, even if it looks like the lining was painted by a three-year-old. Could be a good beginner guitar although they generally aren't as well set up as Fenders, and the look can put off people who want a 'traditional' guitar.

My valve addicted brother has an AC4 as his 'living room amp' it is very nice.

I have three Squiers. The guitar is mediocre, the two basses, both Indonesian, are very good. Wheh I bought the Jaguar SS I tried it out immediately after a Warwick which had a price tag seven times as high. The Jag's pickups aren't the worlds best, but playability wise it made the Warwick feel rough (and I like long scale 24-fret basses). Is that a histrionic response?

And like Clarkson, his opinions are delivered in a cartoonish, exaggerated way but do contain a genuine opinion underneath. We have to accept that if your YouTube channel is going to be followed by more than five people (your mate, you cat and three bots trying to get you to subscribe to a service to get more followers) it has to be ENTERTAINMENT front and centre. As I think i said earlier my brother has a similar opinion of my Vox Valvetronix emulating amp. If I was a guitarist in a band, I'd be looking for one decent amp to give me 'my' sound on stage. But I'm not, I just want something to have fun with in the living room - small modelling combos are ideal for this. That said, I am regularly tempted to add a speaker out to it and put it through a 2x12...

Then that's what must be done!

Well heavy Weather was one of the albums that convinced me jazz wasn't a complete waste of time (along with Birds of Fire). If you think Jaco only did crazy chops, listen to this for some of the most lyrical bass playing I've ever heard: I love Hejira too 🙂

I've got a 1987 Japanese Fender Performer. The Performer is absolutely without fault and IMOH has the edge on tonal flexibility and attention to detail (which is at the sort of level associated with custom-shop Fenders - full shielding, quality jack socket, rubber insets on controls, micro-tilt neck, lovely tuners, neck profile that makes most jazz basses seem chunky, TBX tone control). Playability is better than any American Fenders I've played (OK, any bass I've ever played). Its only fault is that it is fairly low output (it won't do a Precision growl) and back in the day sound engineers preferred the earth-shaking output from my Hohner B2. Presumably it came out of the same factory as the 80s MIJ Squiers and while they don't share the same level of attention to detail it certainly demonstrates that they would work to the highest standards.