Paul S

I like to tinker and fettle but am very much aware of the edge of my abilities. Usually when I get a new bass I'll take it to bits, clean it, put it back together again - adjusting the action, neck tension, intonation etc if necessary to get it how I like it. Anything beyond that I leave to the guy I use now who is both brilliant and reasonably priced. I used to dabble with a bit of soldering and fiddled with the electrics but my hands shake too much these days and represent something of a fire hazard

I like this one of his. A man is up before the magistrate for shooting a golden eagle. 'It was a terrible accident, your honour. I was shooting pheasant,had one in my sights and pulled the trigger just as the eagle swooped down from nowhere and took the bullet. It was never my intention to shoot the eagle' 'Sounds reasonable' said the magistrate 'case dismissed. But before you go tell me, please, what happened to the eagle?' 'I ate it, your honour' 'Really. And what did it taste like?' 'Rather like swan'

After a try-out in the local PMT I bought 2 x Evox 8 for my band - thought anything bigger was too much - and and they handle the low stuff really well. Also not short of volume. For the loudest gig we've had to do we had the amp volume on the back of the unit at around 1/2, on the desk if the sliders for the channel and master are around 0 I only need to turn up the gain to around 1/4. Plenty of headroom all round.

They are a whole lot easier to set up, too, as the heavy bit is on the floor not perched on to of a tripod.

That was pretty much what I believed. Sadly my max usable weight has gone from around 9lbs to 8.5 tops over the last couple of years which filters out a large range. But, there again, there's plenty of good lightweight basses. 😊

No backline, just into the pa. Due to some magic I don't understand these units sit behind us without any feedback issues and so I can hear what goes through without extra monitoring. Great kit imo.

All thanks to you, Davie.

That is bloomin' lovely. How much does it weigh, do you know?

I can maybe stop looking at your one now.

Got it back this morning. I couldn't be happier! Looks amazing - Leighton Jennings made a fabulous job of the modding - and actually sounds great, too. I thought at first it was a touch too mellow in the clank department but then changed the eq from my P bass setting to a slight push on the upper mids (I normally cut these) and a bit more treble and now have a passable Rick-type tone. With all the new innards it works out at 3.4kg, which is a whisker under 7.5lbs. A little neck dive, cured by a grippy strap. Happy chap Big question - do I bother with some black triangle 'inlay' markers? I invested a whole 99p in getting a sheet to make some but am now thinking it looks fab without. Maybe I'll do it and see. Someone who knows Ricks would know but I have a feeling the unbound bodies are more likely to have dot markers anyway?

I quite like your posts. Gives me a direction - when you write your usual disparaging ranty diatribe about something it means I should check it out as I will probably like it 😂

Bet they get a lot of disappointed male tourists.

The bridge pup was a drop in, the neck Maxon was a different size to the Artec, which needed some fettling to fit into the rout and a new pickguard - but by all accounts the Artec mudbucker is a drop in for Epiphone and Gibson. The dimensions are there on the Artec site somewhere.

This one still hurts Yamaha SB-35.

I have an old '71 Antoria short scale EB-3 and swapped both stock Maxon pickups for Artec ones. Stupidly cheap but a massively more mudbuckery.

Best I can come up with isn't even a Sabbath song but Ozzie's 'Mamma Mia I'm Coming Home'

That's got legs, I'd say.

My fave track from that album. Great stuff!

Don't know her but saw her live and enjoyed it very much. Great voice, loads of character. Great gig to get Blue.

What is an 'FSO' please?

Well, all the bits have arrived and been handed over to the guy who does my bits and pieces and he is going to make a start on it next week. Going to treat it to a new pickguard and 4 of these Ric-style jaunty, labelled knobs - treble/bass and volume/tone so I don't forget which one does what Plus a fat toggle pickup selector switch. It won't look exactly like a Ric and I don't suppose it will sound exactly like a Ric but near enough to keep me happy - plus it is going to cost me under £375 all in, which isn't exactly like a Ric, either. I'm allowing myself to get a bit excited about this Pics will be posted when done.

Laser-like logic, Mr Del-Var, with an unequivocal solution. Well done.

This is exactly the sort of thing I'm doing with my lot, too, and I absolutely love it. I like the way it kind of falls between a cover and an original as for every song there is room to go somewhere within the structure. Learning Hendrix's 'Stone Free' for Friday There's a Gary Moore 'Blues For Jimi' version with Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox that we are going to align with, except maybe we'll work out an ending

That's fine, it is your opinion. I like it. That's my opinion. The world still turns.

2 pickup set neck one on eBay at the moment. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275119800421?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160811114145%26meid%3D7dadb398869443bb8a8eeee1e7fb2fb4%26pid%3D100667%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D125104697088%26itm%3D275119800421%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2334524%26brand%3DDeArmond&_trksid=p2334524.c100667.m2042&LH_ItemCondition=3000