Paul S

My sister has bad rheumatoid arthritis and used them for a spell when she had to go off her usual meds. She said they helped but only a bit.

I am currently tempted by this Danelectro - the single cut 56 bass, which is short scale and very lightweight. Not as, ahem, 'distinctive' as the Longhorn. At the moment Amazon have it listed for pre-order, currently out of stock, at a stupid low price of £232.40 compared to the rest of the bunch at c£450.

A casa mia

I absolutely love this idea. Might well do it.

The 'one hit wonder' band Stretch had an excellent track on their album Elastique called 'Navy Blues' which is an undisguised song about an adult man lusting after a schoolgirl. The vocal has been double-tracked with a kind of breathless, dirty phone call effect (especially at the end) so I am guessing it was a swipe at paedos* (especially in the context of 'Why Did You Do it' being an angry song directed at Mick Fleetwood - the reason the band got together iirc). But even though I think it is an exceptionally fine song (bass tone to die for and superb guitar solo) I do feel slightly uncomfortable listening to it. Mind you it is so obscure I don't suppose many people would have heard it anyway *yes, I know, paedos don't always talk like that. Be a bit of a giveaway if they did.

How about some nylon tapewounds?

Hiscox are very good. I prefer the fitted SKB ones as they fit a P bass quite snugly inside and the latches seem tougher but that's just my preference. I am by no means lightweight (100kg +/-) and have been known to stand on both cases, with basses inside, to prove a point about how tough they are.

I live on the edge, me. I write cheques. I cross the road, too, sometimes. I just don't care.

I absolutely love these old ones with the split coil pickup. Sadly they are too heavy for me. The later models (version III?) with the Magnabass pickups were lighter in weight but don't have the same dark quality about them that those beefy old basses have.

I've had a bank account since I was 17. So that is nearly 45 years. For the first 42 or more of those years I paid for stuff - like the rest of the world - by writing cheques, which have my name, sort code and bank account details quite clearly written on them. No one has cleared me out of money or set up hooky DDs. I think you must be mistaken.

So they started off chrome? 🤢

I've been watching them live since they started, not necessarily the MK factor but just because I like the music. Always highly energetic. I think the current live line up is my favourite (the Alan Murphy era was shaping up nicely but sadly cut short) and the recording from a couple of years back, Sirens, saw what I believed to be a return to form of the purer jazz funk style rather than the poppier stuff. On their touring years I try to see them at least twice, generally three times if the itinerary allows and am looking forward to 2020! So I see this as a pointless cover of a dreary tune. Better than the original - they have managed to instill it with a semblance of life - but, well, just why? IMO, YMMV etc etc.

Fixed.

I don't suppose you've got a music stand tucked away out of shot? Might as well go for the full hand of faux-pas.

Off on a tangent, I know, but - pizza. If I am ever in shouting distance of Herne Bay I will try to manufacture a reason to stay for dinner. Bizarrely, given its location and demographic, Herne Bay has the best Italian restaurant I have ever been to in England. Run by a family of Italians, a wood fired pizza oven in the middle of the ground floor so you can see your pizza being made and cooked. I thanked the owner for making me the best pizza I had tasted in England and he proudly boasted that they had been awarded an accolade by a visiting deputation of pizza cognoscenti from Naples - the pizza equivalent of a Michelin star - the only pizza restaurant in England to receive such a thing.

Damnation.

Rewind the A string but force it downwards so that it wraps around the lower part of the tuner pole. That will increase the break angle at the nut and stop it popping out.

A couple or so years back I found and bought, for very little money, an early 70s Yamaha SB-35. A straightforward but superb quality, single pup, vol/tone, double cutaway 32" scale beast that simply sang. The neck was amazing, the tone even better. Not sure you ever saw it? But I shifted to 5 string basses, mainly courtesy of Just Jovi, it has to be said. So, believing i would never use another 4 string bass, I stupidly sold all but one of the 4 string basses (a JV P), including the SB-35. Just a few months later I have started with this rather fun blues power trio which is the perfect vehicle for 4 string basses - the SB-35 would have been absolutely perfect. I'm unlikely to ever see another and certainly not for the amount I paid for it. The buyer is, quite rightly, ignoring my requests to buy it back This grief is somewhat offset by my new Gibson Les Paul Jnr DC which looks and sounds rather 'similar' but when all said and done it isn't quite the same.

The third question is 'do you want to sell them'. Regardless of the answer to the first 2 questions, if the third answer is 'no' then absolutely and categorically don't. Seller's remorse is a particularly painful thing, isn't it, because when all said and done the only person you can blame for no longer owing that fantastic bass is yourself. And there are few feelings worse than being the architect of your own misery. However compelling the reason for selling seems at the time it does nothing to mitigate that hollow pit of the stomach, kick yourself until bruised emptiness that is seller's remorse. I am currently wallowing in a pool of self pity over some serious sellers remorse at the moment.

I had my first outing with mine - a full bodied rehearsal with the 3 piece blues/rock band. The bass sat in its own space in the mix just perfectly - amp set so that it was just breaking up. Absolutely fabulous. A very different vibe to my P bass adjusted in the same way. And a joy to wear - 7.5lbs, perfectly balanced on the strap and short scale makes Life so very simple. Will need to change the bridge for a Hipshot Supertone, though - I rest my hand where the corners are when using a pick. Anyone got one they don't use?

Ah, with you. Not seen an oldie in the flesh so can't help there.

If that is the case I am not sure I understand what you mean. The body outline looks the same to me - you must be talking about something else?

One of out cats has decided that it is perfectly acceptable to pee in front of the fireplace. The trouble is once they decide it is ok they keep doing it. The smell of the stuff inside the pee attracts them back even when it is washed off. At first it was on the rug but after trying to wash and remove the scent she carried on so we chucked that out and bought a plastic rug that could be washed more effectively. That didn't help so we chucked that out but she still pees on the floorboards in front of it from time to time. I read an online tip that cats don't care for the smell of certain essential oils and it suggested that the citrus oil contained in lemon or orange peel could be extracted by boiling it for 10 mins then after it was cool spraying it around. Since I tried that she hasn't peed there. Might be worth putting lemon oil on your bass? Otherwise your cat might believe it is OK to do it again.

They do now! These new ones are like this. 6 string and 4 string.

Pleased to add a line to Rich's feedback thread - bought a hard case for my Stagg EUB - great nick, good price, good comms etc. Nice friendly chap, shame I couldn't stay to natter but I had a long drive home. Long enough to look admiringly at his rather nice Precision, mind you. Many thanks, Rich.