chris_b

The wife would have one in a heartbeat, but I refuse to pick up dog shite so we plumped for an another cat.

I own 2 precisions and a fecking Volvo, my 5th in 36 years! I also have several fleeces which probably count as the 21st century equivalent of cardigans. . . . . . . no hope for me then!

I'd be doing 10 gigs a week if they were there to be played, but at the moment I'm quite enjoying the time off.

Playing in the dark was suggested to me when I started.

ATM I'd happily play cheesy shite, with an extra helping of cheesy shite on the side.

ACS. Get the moulds done in a Boots and ACS does the rest.

Of course you can't and that's not what I said. As I said in my first post the man isn't half as interesting as his music. Ignore the man, which is what I do, and listen to the music, or not, it's your choice.

EC was an out of control alcoholic and people in that state can say and do anything. I don't wish to make excuses for anything that he has said or done. If you want to judge him as an alcoholic, so be it. If you want to judge him as a person, let it be on his behaviour since he sobered up.

This. One finger per fret is not a good bass technique, even on short scale basses.

Many years ago I played several very expensive Fodera's at Bass Gear. They were wonderful. You could feel the quality and the tone just oozed out of the speakers. I was very impressed. In spite of being the best I'd ever picked up, the feeling I got after playing those basses, impressive as they were, was that my music and playing was Fender shaped, so my souped up "Fenders" were the best choice for me. Reading reports from Carl Thompson players he builds basses that are unique, very idiosyncratic and of very high quality.

That's more than my first house cost!!

I just use the traditional 2 fingers. A 3 finger technique is capable of playing notes faster than my brain can think of them.

Try this thread for packaging ideas. . . . . .

I get a lift from the likes of James Brown, Jon Cleary and Delbert McClinton, so I guess I'm plumping for Blues, Soul and Funk.

A few years ago I bought a 55-01 with a plan to upgrade. I was going to replace the pickups, remove the preamp and make it passive. I liked the bass but in the end, at nearly 10lbs, common sense took over. I'm never going to gig a bass that heavy again.

Hubert Sumlin's guitar solo on Spoonful. Only 6 bars but a perfect solo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0aIjyX7vwI Hubert Sumlin again on Smokestack Lightening. No solo to speak of but 3 minutes of riffing that launched a million bands. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ri7TcukAJ8

The Bass Centre told me that the Mesa Boogie RR210 EV I bought in the early 90's had been part of Mark King's Mesa rig. That couldn't have been true, because it never made me sound anything like him!

You beat me by 10 months. I bought my Fender Precision in March 1969. I still have it although I can't remember when I last took it out of it's case. It was very modded in the 80's, which has hit it's value as a vintage instrument, but with it's replaced pickups, J pickup and preamp it's a far better bass than when I bought it. Within 2 years the nut broke and was replaced. A few years later the frets were almost down to the fretboard and had to be replaced, so it was never going to be an original. That was Fenders in the early CBS era for you!

All my basses were owned by me. That's all I got.

That's an easy decision. Keep the one you play the most.

A lot of people say this. I guess it depends on what you want to play. In Boys Of Summer I wanted a strong sustain for 4 bars, to hold on and not die in the middle of bar 3 and leave me looking like I've fallen asleep or forgotten to play. I've had basses that could do that and basses that couldn't. Most basses can hold a note for a bar and many for 2 bars. 4 bars sorts the men from the boys. My old US Lakland was the best. You could go shopping and when you came back the note would still be ringing. If you don't need that facility, fine, but if you do you'll be thankful for the guys who make basses that can do that.

So exactly what exhaustive scientific test are we talking about?

How about the new Warwick/Sadowsky MetroExpress basses. They are guaranteed to weigh less than 9lbs, and on a dark stage they won't look like a Fender at all.

Forgetting stuff. . . . . . . . I've left a wardrobe's worth of clothes behind on so many gigs, starting when I was in my first band! Anyone had to stop by the side of the road to work out how to get to the gig and if they were going in the right direction?

I worked with someone who had a photographic memory. He had memorised every relevant IBM manual and had instant recall, but somehow couldn't remember to wash!