Paul S

CCR with 2 chart entries! I was 12 for most of 1969 but could probably hum or sing most of these. My sister is 5 years older than me and used to listen to the charts constantly so I was exposed to this stuff from quite young.

Hammond player of some repute. Toured with Bill Wyman as one of the Rhythm Kings for a while. I love this one

I have a Harley Benton Shorty which is effectively a short scale P Bass with a scaled down body. I had intended to use it as a modding platform but straight out of the box it was a case of tune up then gig with it. I've since changed the pickup and pickguard, both of which are choice things as there was nowt wrong with the bass stock, which had a lovely vintage tone - I wanted more balls. But I can't recommend it highly enough. It is a good bass at any price point. At £88 it is a miracle (it was under £70 when I bought mine, astonishing).

I'm liking the look of this. At the moment we use one of the X shaped keyboard stands and I've squashed my fingers in it twice!

So was I - I don't remember seeing you there? I vividly remember the prison looming out of the mist, a dark shape with the yellow-lit windows. The prsion museum in town had pictures of early inmates which, of course, the 12 yr old me imagined were roaming around the moors at night. Scared the life out of me, although I didn't admit it at the time.

About my playing and musical 'career' I am OK with the path I have taken. A few blind alleys, plenty of room for improvement but, on the balance, there is nothing much I would change and certainly nothing that keeps me awake at night. The band I am in at the moment is the most enjoyable I have ever been in and most likely my last hurrah, so a great way to finish it all off, whenever and however that happens. One fairly serious bout of seller's remorse is the main thing. Despite plenty of advice against it I sold my especially lightweight example of a Yamaha SB-35 when I 'moved permanently' to 5 strings. Which lasted about a year.😂

What about one of these? I've never tried one but it seems to tick a lot of your boxes on paper. https://chownybass.com/product/swb-1-scott-whitley-signature/ Or the Sterling Stingray shortie?

Free to anyone who cares to pop round to pick it up. Excellent nick. One of these: https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_gigbag1_bass_heavy.htm Can't be bothered to post.

I was way off the mark then

Interesting name. I am curious about the derivation, although I have an idea or three.

Totally. I fiddled with mine - I had a pair of ACS custom molds that I wasn't using, removed the attenuators and stuck these IEMs to them with clear mastic. Wow.

Sue Ryder, Unicef, Cats Protection etc. I always hit the charity shops when looking for something like this. I recently got a Samsonite holdall for leads etc for £5.

I've been in a couple of bands where the dynamic changes and instead of us all being The Band, the singer somehow believes we have become His Band and starts treating the rest of us like minions. That's the time to go. Yet most other times, absolutely no issues at all. Clearly it is nothing to do with ability, just a state of mind. Case in point - I was in a band with a guy who is a genuinely fantastic singer and front man, the best I have ever had the pleasure of playing with, and he is the nicest fellow - team player, got time to help technophobes like me, helps with load in/out etc. @hiram.k.hackenbacker is in bands with him and would say the same I am sure. Funny old world.

Looks like I am the first! Sold a Faker to Paul in the easiest of transactions, great comms throughout. Met up for a hand over. A pleasure doing business!

They are all good, just different. Take the one you fancy playing. No need to over think it IMO.

That old battle was lost years ago. I try to keep my weight under control these days to squeeze a few more years out of my knees.

I've changed this to suit my circumstances. I often think python skin kecks would look cool, but not if my legs resemble a pair of pythons that had just swallowed a pair of hippos. I may be mixing my continents here but the principle remains. Edit, no, there are African pythons.

Nice, a long lost twin! That'll scrub up beautifully. No idea regarding wood, I'm afraid.

Played a support slot for Dr Feelgood at the Adrian Flux Waterfront, Norwich. It is a long way for us to travel - especially me - and not a particularly good payer but the promoter, Stephen 'Foz' Foster, asked us especially and, as he puts a lot of gigs our way, we couldn't say no. I believe it has been a music venue for a while but there has been some recent redevelopment of some old buildings along the river there, a fancy new footbridge over the river to a sparkling new cinema and eateries complex. Anyhoo. It is a very good venue. Downstairs is the big hall that will hold 700: we were in the studio upstairs that will hold 200. In the event, 150 tickets were sold so the place felt full. Dedicated parking, through a few chicanes and double doors, gear in the lift to the room. Nice stage. The Feelgood boys had long set up and gone, leaving us about 2 sq ft each in which to set up. As it turned out that was fine. Set up and sound checked in about 30 mins, which was good. Sound man was great, knew exactly what he was doing. Drummer and I headed off over the water for a Nandos, got back about 10 mins before kickoff. We were given a great introduction from Foz and off we went. Absolutely brilliant, everyone was with us from the first bar. A room full of people who had come to hear some good old fashioned RnB and thgat's what they got from us as a prelude to the Feelgoods. Really enjoyable and we went down really well - went over time to play an encore. Sold some CDs, too, and hopefully picked up some new followers. My SG continues to impress. Because of the long drive home we left just a few songs into the Dr Feelgood set. I had driven up to the guitarist's place in Ipswich and he drove us to Norwich. On the return leg he took a wrong turn and added 20 mins getting lost. Then, for final leg of me driving from Ipswich to home, A12 was shut, adding another 20 mins. Over 3 hrs in total 😒 So, travelling wasn't good. not much money. Would I do it again? You bet Obligatory pic, courtesy of Foz.

My gig rig used to be an old Trace Elliot lump paired with a BF Supercompact. Or two, if the occasion demanded or I just felt decadent.

I love a western-style shirt, me. My current fave is this one with rather fetching skulls embroidered on it. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10231950403119411&set=pcb.10231950409199563 Won't embed, only link, for some reason.

The whole notion of 'Greatest' anything is complete nonsense. How can anybody make meaningful comparisons of virtuosity/influence in one genre over another? One decade from another? Impossible.