Stub Mandrel

Never come across that. I'm a member of two and used to rehearse regularly in a third. Perhsps it's a regional thing.

Bought a Spectracomp from Simon,rapidly despatch and well packaged. Many thanks!

Peter Noble now in Whitchurch and closing I got my first bass amp from the Llanishen store about 86.

Quad electrostatic speakers!

Music Exchange and Bass Centre in Birmingham, unused to go there with bandmates in the late 80s/early 90s.

Last Thursday I saw Hawkwind at Chepstow Castle... epic. A local band had a great extended spot in the crowded beer garden of the pub next to the Castle for the 2 ½ hours before the doors opened. Onebof my bands had that spot booked for next Thursday with Terrorvision at the Castle. Our bl got a new job and neither of my other bands could make the afternoon setup time. 😭😭😭😭😭

If Fender would release a Squier strap in the same designs, I would swap the straps on my Squiers.

I took off the battery cover and screwed the four screws int the body recess until flush. Then I glued four neodymium magnets into the sfrew holes in the cover. Simples!

Adam and the Anus

Turdburst... but you know that!

I've found that joining an originals project is opening up some real learning for me. Another dep gig has got me learning several new tunes and transposing a few I know which is interesting! Finally, the odd jam or guest spot where you get thrown in at the deep end and have to come up with something with no prep is great ear training.

Antigua. Edit: Actually, that's not irrational.

New strawberry flavour! The Italians seem to he getting upset over Cheesy Pasta. They should show some respect, it's Crawley's signature dish!

Pickplates.

Don't know about redundant screws, but my bass with such an 'extra bit' has it so the neck can have room for more relief behind the fretted part of the neck and five mounting screws.

If I ever had an Alembic, I'd saw it off.

Pretending that "graphite/carbon fibre" necks aren't actually reinforced plastic. Because yes, they are plastic.

Basses with decorative 'ornate' points like Alembics and G&L.

If I had the courage I'd attack a few of the dents to get a wider range of shapes...

This shows where I used the edge of a knife to scrape some of the marks together and make them look a bit more 'natural'. Also you can see the 'checking' which I highlighted by rubbing in oily dirt from my lathe's chip tray... Obviously this is a very much a matter personal taste.

No.

But it often is cheaper to buy off the shelf.

It goes up to a final Eb.

Pipe freezing spray sold by Wikes, Screwfix etc. For temporarily blocking water pipes. Judiciously applied to a nitro finish it causes the same cracking of the finish as decades of less dramatic temperature changes.

Our drummer evaporated after last week's rehearsal due to back issues. We have a new one on board for the originals as of last night. A bit more oomph but not too loud. Interestingly we started with a song that has an awkward stop with a five-beat bar. This used to cause the previous drummer to slow down, the new chap was rushing it. I took my Epiphone Embassy, I think I've found the right bass for this band. It has a growly sound but the blend and tone controls are effective. Not loud last night but even the singer described my sound as having 'girth'. Working on originals is fascinating. I had two competing basslines for the next song, the one originally on fretless is now the chorus. The chords don't change but what we all play changes. my line is a harmony line up an octave and not following the roots. I've also come up with a really unusual intro. We finished with a third song that demands a JJ Burnell style plectrum line, with some jagged rhythm and lots of clanky growl. Working on this one is improving my plectrum skills. Very different from sitting alone learning songs then just getting together to polish arrangements.