chris_b

No. I played the same bass for 26 years and I've owned my current 2 for 12 and 8 years. I played the bass before these for 14 years. I need to be a better bassist and owning more basses won't achieve that.

Back in the 70's John Wayne bar room brawls were pretty common. The advice we always got was, keep playing and they'll ignore you. . . . we did, and they ignored us. The only punch up I've seen on a gig in the last 20 years was a fight in a pub in Dove and that was pretty tame in comparison.

I'll gig anywhere. In the last 10 years I've played in Largs, Belfast, Cardiff, Prague and all over England. Many times I've driven for 2 hours to get across London for a Friday night gig. I had a band leader call me at 10 am on a Saturday and ask if I could be in Devon by 4 pm for a wedding gig. Of course I could. Travel to gigs is what it is but what's with this weekly rehearsal business? I really don't get that.

Sounds like the old days.

Many years ago I did a great gig on a boat in the Thames. Easy parking, easy load in. Load out was an issue, though. The tide had gone out and I had to carry a 90lb cab up the gang plank at an angle that was close to being a ladder. I hurt for days after that.

ACS every time. I have PRO17's and PRO26's. Which one depends on the band but I never gig without them.

No. He's a ignorant foul mouthed moron. That's it.

Call Paul Herman in Leatherhead. He makes them. If you can't get to him directly, go through Charlie Chandler in Hampton Wick.

I'm always inspired by the bass players who have worked with Keb Mo: Hutch Hutchinson Reggie McBride Freddie Washington

But success, which is the whole point, is not.

A pat on the back for a successful career in music seems like a good idea to me. If we're taking about pointless things, calling something crap, just because you don't like it, is right up there.

Another hack, told to me by a Jazz db player, if it's a walking bass line and you don't know the changes, just play a different note every time. You'll either hit the right note, a harmony or a passing note. Turn the bass up the volume down. . . . and it works.

I put a set of NYXL's on my Sadowsky Jazz in 2019. I was going to change them but Covid came along and the gigs stopped. I have a new set of NYXL's ready to go, but there is still enough top end in the old set to give good definition and the mids and lows are now sounding nice and mellow. I currently have no plans to change these strings, even after 6 years!

My Sadowsky RV5 Metro, from 2006, is just about the best playing and sounding bass I've picked up. I have a bad back and the 9 3/4lbs (I know that's not heavy) is an issue so I stopped playing it for awhile. I've just started bringing it to gigs again, because it sounds so much better than the basses that I bought to replace it. A few years ago I compared it to several chambered NYC basses they had in Guitar Guitar and I preferred the sound of my Metro by a mile.

Everything is a package: you, your sound, what you play and how you play it. Some bands don't care but the better bands will notice all these things and will care.

If someone can damp 4 strings they should have no difficulty damping 1 extra.

There are plenty of YouTube videos about this subject.

The US and UK are poles apart when it comes to enthusiastic audiences,. The US has them and we don't.

My musical tastes, playing style, instruments and records put me squarely on the other side of the Atlantic.

When was the wiring changed? About 25 years ago, after hearing the fantastic tone from a JG Wal (with the leather pickguard), I asked Pete Stephens about the sound of the old basses. He told me there was a slight change to the sound when they had to switch from imperial wire sizes to metric. I can't comment on the OP's question, but differences are always possible when changing suppliers etc. Why don't you give Paul Herman a call.

We all have our budgets and preferences, but if someone thinks their Fender Custom Shop instrument is worth £5000, then it is.

Cheers Dave. The band have provided the dots so I'm working my way through the set.

What kind of bad back? Problems with posture, muscles or discs? What weight is your bass? If you have lumber disc issues the strap will matter less. We should always use good supportive straps, but a lighter bass could also be the right solution.

This. I once played a Pino and it was one of the best Precisions I've touched. These days £5k is beyond my budget by a mile, but it is within the budgets of many and they are the intended audience for these instruments. Good luck to them.

February has been an unusually busy month. I have worked up about 60 songs for 4 bands. That's for a 50's rock n roll, r&b and ska band, a blues, r&b, funk and soul band, a soul and smooth jazz gig and a reunion with the 3 surviving members from my school band. About 50% of these songs I've played before, 30% I kinda know but have never played and the rest were originals or I've never heard. There are about 4 which are a stretch and pushing me beyond my comfort zone and 2 are a worry, but I have 10 days to get them right. Fingers crossed.