Shaggy

I must be naïve, as I've only ever known "growler" as slang for a pork pie.....

Really underrated cabs IMO: the Ashdown mini 4x8 and 1x15 cabs became part of my "compact" gigging rig several years ago, but were just so darn convenient to gig with that it inevitably became my main rig. The 1x15 had had its driver upgraded with a 400W Celestion neo when I had it, and I replaced the blueline drivers in the 4x8 with kevlar-coned 200W RMS non-neo units (so now 800W) They do seem to pop up FS now and again

Don't mind an f-hole personally, but I'd have to agree that there are more stylish variants

I bought a Tech 21 pedal off Dave - smooth easy deal, great communications, pedal sent swiftly and well packaged. Thanks mate!

Not as hard as you might think, certainly no harder than classical guitar. It was always an ambition of mine as I love both the instrument and that era of music. When I happened to see an old 7-course tenor lute at a local instrument dealers stall at Pontardawe Festival one summer I had to have it (turned out to be a nice one; a 1966 Harwood & Isaacs), and I just worked through Diana Poulton's "Tutor for the Renaissance lute" which is excellent, and there must be so much more teaching available on the internet these days. Good thing is most lute music is written in tablature form, and many of the loveliest pieces are very simple ones; Renaissance music was in many ways just an evolution of folk dances and songs. You should try again! The Early Music Shop does self-build lute kits. Mandolin is lovely too, mind - I have far too many of those as well.......

I think this thread has now simply morphed into "Daily annoyances" / Off Topic

Beautiful bass - looks so right with the big Hagstrom-type single pickup . The recent ones with P pickups may be very worthy, but just don't look right IMHO. One of the few semi's I've never owned - maybe one day.....

I guess one guy's hell is another guys heaven; I remember when in Liverpool Uni around 1980, seeing one of the NWOBHM bands (Saxon maybe?) playing the student union; predictably loud but not crazy loud. I saw one guy in the audience spend most of the gig with his head inserted fully into the sub cab of the speaker stack - I doubt that he had a functioning brain by the end of it, let alone his hearing. As posted here; modern gear is so much more adaptable for playing at a range of volumes; both guitarists in my band play through smallish all valve combos and get a great sound at comfortable volume level. We recently auditioned for a drummer - an eye-opener for me, as it's been a while. One guy turned up with a kit that would have put Cozy Powell's to shame for sheer size, plus his own PA. He mic-ed himself up to it, and before playing put on a pair of big industrial type ear defenders. Sure enough he was shockingly loud; nothing could be heard except drums, and though the guy clearly had technical ability, he totally overplayed absolutely everything. Spot eventually went to a guy from the Charlie Watts school of drumming; tight, precise as a Swiss watch, and able to play reasonably quietly when needed......

A few pics of my archlute (Austrian, 1973); sometimes referred to as a theorbo, but a theorbo is more usually a shorter baritone instrument, whereas this is the full bass daddy, an inch under 6 ft long. I do play Renaissance 8-course tenor lute (included in last 2 pics) for scale) but I've had the archlute lying around for years without getting to grips with it. Actually not an insurmountable step, as it's essentially a standard fretted tenor lute with a set of unfretted bass drone strings on the bass side, like a harp. It was mainly used for continuo playing to accompany voice and/or other instruments, but there was solo music written for it mainly in late Renaissance / early baroque Italy by composers such as Kapsberger . A few regrets with this as I traded my favourite mandolin for it (a 1975 Mike Vanden F5), but if / when I finally hang up the bass guitar I'll hopefully have the time and motivation be able to tackle learning it. Also the 5-string banjo sitting idle in its case.....

Just received the Tech 21 Leeds pedal that I bought off @Gareth Hughes - I can really only reiterate Nik's comments in the previous post (who has a way with words.....) - a really smooth deal with Gareth with great communications throughout, pedal sent promptly and very well packaged. Definitely one of the good guys on BC! (he even has a Welsh name....) Thanks mate!

I loved Hessey's - bought my one and only brand new bass there in 1979: an Ibanez Musician MC900 (because Sting had one.....) I still have loads of LP's that I bought at Probe records too, it was a great place to hang out. Only a vague memory of Curley's though. Growing up in Cambridge; the only shop for secondhand band gear was Cambridge Rock, on Newnham Rd; (Millers in the city centre did a very limited range of new gear). Run by a Jeff Lynne lookalike with a very dry sense of humour. I remember drooling over the stock of mainly 1960's Fenders, Gibsons and Rics - nothing costing more than a couple of hundred, but still way outside my pocket money budget. When I first saw an Ovation Magnum I vowed I'd have one one day, and 25 years later on I did.... All that vintage exotica, and all I actually managed to buy there was my first "proper" amp - a Carlsbro Stingray 100 head and a 4x12" cab DIY kit.

Thanks @ricksterphil, slightly embarrassingly - as a long term social media hater - I've joined....

The rear body point on series 1 Alembics were supposedly to make their owners use guitar stands, as the guy who started the company (I'm too lazy too Google...) was fed up of doing neck / headstock repairs on basses that had been typically just leaned against the amp and fallen over (as they do). Obviously this was ineffective with my '76 S1, as it's got a headstock repair (albeit a neat one) Have to say I personally like the "point" and "omega" body designs though I can live with most body designs, other than the truly fugly Warwick Buzzard.

Baked beans can be sexy too......

Had a think about this, and really just comes down to 2: Black blocks on a maple board. Ugh. Jam nights with no proper song list plan. Inevitably just drifts into the guitarist(s) widdling endless blues solos (suffered this torture earlier this week.....) All eye of the beholder I know, but re some earlier posts I'd have to say that IMHO baked beans, sunburst with tort, and Wal basses are 3 of mankind's greatest achievements. Probably in that order

As a big fan of Ovation basses, I foolishly clicked on this and now can't unsee the truly fugly bridge, manky neck, and ludicrously oversized and garish pickguard. No way that's an original Ovation body either. Listing description is entertaining though (in a bad way)........ https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/357084855391?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D777008%26algo%3DPERSONAL.TOPIC%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20250324084321%26meid%3Df29f6e8b07d74cb187fb636f1baec04f%26pid%3D101949%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26itm%3D357084855391%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D4375194%26algv%3DRecentlyViewedItemsV2WithMLRPboosterAndUpdatedFeatures_BP%26brand%3DOvation&_trksid=p4375194.c101949.m162918&_trkparms=parentrq%3Ac6be4a5f1970a2c1838a6dccfffcf258|pageci%3A7cce5cfc-5695-11f0-8fcd-72e0a1cc61bd|iid%3A1|vlpname%3Avlp_homepage

Dunc bought a bass off me via an old FS thread of mine that I'd thought long buried and forgotten, but then it was actually his old bass, that we'd traded several years ago! Good to see friends reunited.... Top BC-er as above posts bear out -prompt payment, Dunc sorted the courier, and great communications Thanks mate, and enjoy!