Paul S

Retrovibe have some vaguely Rick-ish shorty basses in stock. I got in touch with David and he is currently knocking me up a slightly more Rick-ish version. Short scale. Although we recently went off plan for a more blingy black stain, no pickguard, gold hardware look. Not entirely sure what it will end up like but it should be fun. This was the last mock up but things seem to be fluid

Now gone

I was once sacked after having a nose to nose with the singer immediately before a gig. The band had a few bassist-less months then the singer left and I was asked back. We carried on for a bit with a new name but it wasn't quite the same. Old singer was impossible but a good front man, new guy not so much.

Looks like that bridge had a troll living under it!

Marvellous 😂

Isn't it. I've never seen that before but what a wonderful piece of lateral thinking.

I always thought it was spelled 'Squier'?

I had one of these - the body was too heavy for me to manage but I liked the neck so much I kept it and had it transplanted into a lighter bass. The medium scale is great, also the neck width and profile just seem to be right for my hands. Lovely thing

Absolute bargain. Necks on these are simply fantastic.

And poignant that it is in a thread about shorties. Well, perhaps. You know.

Tuesday just gone. A very productive rehearsal. Drummer got a mate of his over, who is a very busy soundman/rehearsal/recording studio owner to come along. First hour was spent tuning the drums then micing them up/eqing etc to get the best from them. Wow. What a difference having someone who knows what he is doing. We fired up when he was done and played something, just to see how the drums sat - awesome was the verdict. Really fat and tight. We then asked him if he thought our sound could be improved in other ways and he said, purely from a flexibilty/dispersal point of view, having the guitar through the pa would be a bonus. This is something I have been suggesting for ages but guitarist seemed reluctant, saying he couldn't get 'his' tone if it went through the pa. But coming from this guy he seemed more open to the idea and we have finally got it sorted. Massive result. Neck pickup in my SG had been feeding back - it was a bit microphonic. I had taken it over to my usual chap to be potted but when he had a look the pickup was quite loose inside the cover. A new bit of harder foam should sort it out, said my chap. And it has. Another result! Plus we nailed 2 new songs, which is always good. And there was no traffic there or back! Marvellous.

I guess I am fortunate that switching between different scale lengths has never been a problem for me, so no help there. I have a few shorties now and would say, straight out of the box, the Harley Benton PB Shorty sounded 'exactly' like a P bass with the stock pickup giving a nice old school vintage tone. I've since swapped the pup for a Tonerider, which has a bit more edge and fatness. Slight neck dive but easily cured with a suede-backed strap. I would heartily recommend getting one of these are a toe-dipping exercise into the realm of shorties, if P basses are your thing. As I always say of them, they are good basses at any price point. At £85 new they are a miracle.

Sounds like some sort of euphemism - following the court case, he expressed regret at flogging his lionel in Sainsbury's.

Awfully sad. RIP Nick.

Does this one count?

After a recommendation on here I bought a set of 4 of these (and at £45 they are cheaper now!): https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196277545605?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338749393&toolid=20006&customid=GB_159912_196277545605.142099703759~1870851639525-g_Cj0KCQjw-r-vBhC-ARIsAGgUO2AFi_7aw8qg5ekEYgudJCI6_wHPQqq2NflIlZEduwTzLl_ciEo7neMaAoi3EALw_wcB They are quite frankly astonishing for the money. They somehow remember their last settings so I have them paired two at the front together (I numbered them so I wouldn't get them mixed up), two at the back together, just doing a slow colour wash change. Doesn't matter what order or how slowly you plug them in, they catch up and soon sync with each other. Chuck them on the floor so they shine up the wall. But they will chase or do the school disco flashing if you want them to - all controlled via an app. Can't recommend them highly enough.

That was the edited version?

It's really not worth it. Could you buy a new neck?

I've always loved this bass tone, although never tried to achieve it. Chap named Paul Martinez, who has sessions with the great and good in his CV.

The bridge is rare - Schaller 460. Drop in replacement for the 2 point Gibson but they didn't make them for long. Has to be worth close to the asking price on its own.

Mine too. I'll say 'I'm thinking of buying another bass' and she might go 'hmm' or 'good'. The only time she is more vocal is if I announce I am going to sell one. 'Are you sure? You'll only regret it' and then proceed to try and talk me out of it. 'Gotta spend it on something' is her phrase. When I hear all these tales of subterfuge to smuggle new basses into the house I do feel incredibly lucky.

Yikes.

A couple of incidents spring to mind, none in the same league as the above tales, but this one always makes me grin. One going back a while, my first 'proper' band. After about a year of trouble brewing I'd eventually fallen out with the singer. We had a bit of a nose to nose just before the start of one gig, in fact, whereupon I'd threatened to throw him off the fire escape. Unsurprisingly I got sacked as the singer got all the gigs. A few bass player less months later the singer decided to quit so I was back in and we were auditioning. In my early 50s at the time, I was the youngster in the band (!) and we played pretty pedestrian dad rock in a pretty pedestrian kind of way to pedestrian crowds in pedestrian pubs. We kissed a lot of frogs, never really found our prince but the guy who stood out was like the 'drummer at the wrong gig' video. He strode in and immediately dominated the room - he was in his late 20s and HUGE - 6'5? Quite overweight dressed entirely in black leather - trousers, biker boots, frock coat, bush hat. Some kind of jagged death metal logo T shirt. For sure he could sing and was a totally lovely guy but clearly our expectations didn't match. He'd have terrified our usual crowds

You are going to miss it, Pete.

A sad irony that Nilo starts these increasingly bizarre posts in a desperate bid to be popular and/or amusing yet can't help slagging people off when they don't answer as requested, thereby defeating the purpose. And ever will it be so.