NJE

I always use a broker like P4D and call them to make sure that their cover will cover musical instruments and accidental damage while in transit. Get it confirmed in email and make sure you photograph how well you packed it and the state it was in when it left you. It all helps prove your point if anything goes wrong. £100 is a little expensive but I have not shipped a bass worth over £1000 for a long time so rates may have changed a lot. To be fair I have gambled on some lower priced packages but all bigger stuff has been covered and it has been worth it on the odd occasion of a breakage. I claimed the full new value of a cab once because it got damaged, and afterwards it tuned out it was only a £60 repair.

Basically the same as the other comments from me, listen to the songs on repeat in the car and at home first, it will be a lot easier learning songs that you can recognise the structure to and know when the changes are coming etc. Nothing worse than trying to play bass along to songs you have never heard before. Even if your band does a lot of headline slots and play for 2 hours, you are only ever going to be playing 25 ish songs a night. If your doing 45 minute slots at festivals etc, you will probably be lucky to get through 10. Get the band to give you the last 5 set lists from gigs and then learn those to start with. As has already been said, they will probably only play the 'better' songs from those albums and EP's, even big acts don't play a lot of the dross on their albums, some songs never see the light of day live. Write chord changes out, but don't get too used to looking at them, try and learn them through memory and I would say only try and do a couple of songs a day/night unless you find a couple are just 3 chord wonders. I learnt 32 songs in 10 days for a gig the other week, most were simple chord structures and very familiar so I could learn 6-7 a day. Good luck.....

Yeah no problem, I think I got a domain name, their package with loads of bandwidth etc I think its their 'Unlimited' package for about £55 for the year. I guess if you went with wordpress and got independent hosting etc it might be a bit cheaper, but for what you get I think WIX is a bargain.

I am just doing ours with WIX, great mobile friendly platform with great modern templates and its all drag and drop. Also you can buy mailboxes and domain names with them. I signed up for a free account and two days later was offered 50% off their packages, it is ridiculously cheap per year.

I can only offer a 'if it was me' opinion rather than experience of replacing the preamp in a Spector myself. I always think that if you cant get the sound right from the bass, you arent going to sort things out with pedals, but that is just my experience. I presume your Spector had the Tonepump preamp? If so I have heard that the Tonepump is not that great and is often the only thing worth upgrading on these basses. I notice Spector are putting the Aguilar preamp in a lot of their USA basses as well as their own HAZ preamp? so I would go for a new internal preamp, easily done, easily reversible if it doesn't work and you can always sell the preamp if you don't like it for reasonable money.

The classics are lovely basses but honestly if you already have a 90s 2 band I really cant see you getting anything different tone wise. The classics are very expensive unless you go secondhand (I think I saw one yesterday for £1200) but I do understand the desire for the lovely birdseye neck and some of the lovely colours they used to do. If it was me and I had the money for a Classic, I would be hunting around for a late 80's stingray with a highly figured neck (they come up surprisingly often, heres one https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/ernie-ball-musicman-stingray-bass-1988/1243906413) and save yourself a chunk of money. Andy Baxter Bass has a nice red mid 90's in stock with some nice grain, but I have seen more OTT neck wood. You can always send it to Dave Wilson guitars for good finish to be applied to the neck if you want the figuring to pop and like a gloss neck. he does loads of stingrays and they look amazing, I'm toying with having mine done.

I love Ernie Ball Strings but I kill them in no time unfortunately. Boiling them did seem to help a fair bit when I was younger and I would get maybe a few weeks more out of them. I wish I liked D'Addario, they seem like a cool company but again I murder their strings in no time plus I don't get on with the feel and tension. I am yet to try all of their range though so I realise they may offer something that would work well for me. (if your reading D'Addario and want to send me some free ones to try ) Dunlop Super Brights were a real surprise for me, I got a few sets on a 2 for 1 deal when they first came out, they lasted me a lot longer than other non coated strings, and I loved the smooth feel and tension. For me though Elixirs have been my go to string for most of the past 10 years. The coatings have got stronger and more resilient, they are silky smooth to play and I love the tone from them. They are not quite as bright as others straight out of the packet but I don't like that super 'clanky' top end anyway, however the tone they have lasts ages for me and stay consistent. I once worked out the cost of how many sets of Ernie Balls I would need to get me through a year of practice and gigging and compared that to elixirs and I was saving 1/3. I cant remember exactly but I think it was £120 of EB strings a year against £80 of Elixirs. I could just about keep EB stirngs for two months at a push but Elixirs easily last me 6 months. Big initial outlay but worth it for me at least.

I spoke to Strings and Things and apparently the order has gone in for a new white cover, but they said it will come in the next shipment of basses which could take a few weeks because of the rosewood issues. Said they would call when it arrived and let me know a stockist to call to put the order in as they don't sell direct any more. Let's see if it turns up.....

Roqsolid are superb, I bought a cover recently and their customer service and quality is amazing. They don't just make dust cover type covers either, I think they have 3 options of different padding, each gets a little more expensive and more protective as you go up. I went for middle weight and it's superb, takes the edge off any brushes against doorways and bumps in cars etc.

That is a lovely Dingwall and I know the shop you are on about. I think the price will somewhat reflect the sentimental value of it to the family, and their price will without doubt be higher than what you could expect to sell it for on here, much like any other retailer.

This is one of the bands I play with: https://www.facebook.com/TheFabulousGrooveGarden/ lots of pop stuff, not so much soul but we do a pretty tasty 90s dance medley Unfortunately we are in the process of building a new site and putting new content up so there isn't much to see. We have done loads of weddings and are used to the whole situation with loading in and leaving music on after we finish etc. Weddings and functions are what we mainly do rather than pub gigs. If its of any interest tell your friend to message through facebook or contact me on here. All the best.

Firstly how many songs do they want to record and are they planning on doing a 'live recording' or will you be playing your parts individually? If your looking at say 4 songs for a demo and its individual tracking, then I really cant see the issue. You can easily learn 4 songs in time and you may well have ample opportunity to do several takes of each song to get it right. If its a live situation then I do understand your trepidation. I don't see that you have much choice, if you enjoy the band and want to continue, then explain once more to everyone why you are concerned and that with other commitments and learning their set you are not confident with the songs so they may have to give you some leeway. I think saying you wont do it will come across that your being a bit awkward and throwing your toys out of the pram. For what its worth I don't think that, I understand completely about wanting to be fully prepared, but they might see it that way, especially if the guitarists cant play the bass lines and cover you. I say go with it, get 100% confirmation of the tunes you are going to be recording, just rehearse those at next band practice and focus on them at home. You will still have time to prep for the gig.

There shouldn't be any issue with using a BEAD tuning on a 4 string unless you plan on using monster thick B string. I know Stuart Zender tunes his precision this way, I quite fancy a Mexican 50s (big fat strong maple neck) to do this with. As another option, the Squier PV is a great bass.

Had anyone tried strings and things? I have just pinged them an email to see, I want one so much for my ray.

In 2002 I was in a pawn shop in Cardiff and there were two early seventies precisions on the wall, fretted and fretless. They were marked as sold but were originally £450 and £500 I think. I asked the guy running the shop what situation was and he told me that someone was coming in and paying about £5 a week for them. I offered him £1000 cash for both if he called the guy up and said they weren't for sale and refunded him. He said he couldn't do it with a very gutted look on his face.

That looks great but I am not surprised by the comments. Last year I needed a fretless for a gig and knew it wouldn't get a lot of use so I bought the fretless jazz they make. It is incredibly good and the body wood has an amazing grain and one of the best sunburst spray jobs I have ever seen. I make every guitarist/bass playing friend of mine check it out and their jaws it the floor when I tell them it was £120 delivered from Germany. Enjoy the bass, I enjoy mine that much more because I know how little it costs and it just makes me smile.

love the green one and actually really like the whole aesthetic with the headstock and off white pick guard. I am really keen to see the prices, I really want/need a PJ bass.

My wife encourages what I do but has little interest in coming out to hear It. To be honest if I am out or at a wedding I usually walk out of the room when a band starts up so I can't blame her. She does come to the big gigs if she has friends to come with her or other band member partners are there. In honesty I like it that way, music is something I do to socialise with pals and earn some money, and as I work from home it is my 'out of the house time'. Each to their own but I never understood musician friends of mine who's wives/girlfriends sat at a table in a pub at every gig. It might be the trust issue that was mentioned earlier.

I play in three bands at the moment with approx 30 songs for each band. I can honestly say I wouldn't listen to more than 6 of the songs in total if I didn't play in those bands. Most of the material is in genres I don't particularly like but nearly all of it is well known. Playing it at home and at rehearsals is mostly a bore but sometimes fun to work out the trickier tunes. However those songs take on a whole new life when I play them at busy venues with people who don't leave the dancefloor for 2 hours and go particularly nuts for the big tunes like the dreaded sex on fire. If I played songs I liked, I wouldn't ever play a gig, no one would want to listen to the random nonsense I like.

I have Aguilar kit, I really like it and it has been good for me but the new prices are ridiculously high. One part of it could also be that (as far as I know) all of it is still made in the US, New York I think? That has to make productions costs high to start with. Look out for a secondhand head on here, they always pop up as do the cabs. When I looked at getting a TH500 secondhand they were very good value, but in the end I really didn't need anything that the TH350 didn't have, its plenty powerful for me but I always use it at 4ohm.

Yeah Ed as well as many others, does co-writing sessions with people, one of the big writers at the moment is Ryan Tedder? Who also fronts One Republic. Apparently Ed wrote 12 songs with him, one got used in the album. I used to have a bit of an issue with these pop stars 'not writing their own material' but in reality they do most of the time, and I don't see how it's any different to having two members in a band write songs together. For the record I'm not a fan of Ed, I think from what I have seen of him in interviews and read about him that he's a decent chap, but I have never listened to one of his albums.

Just found out Pino played bass on Eds new song Castle on the hill, I knew I liked something about that song. Ed also put Pino in his fantasy band for an article for the Independant a few years ago. He's got good taste, well done Ed.

PMT still have these 'cheaper' Stingrays in stock, I tried one recently and it was 100% USA Stingray. As others have mentioned, a few years ago they got the cost down on USA Stingrays by only offering Blue, Black and Red I believe, with a gig bag and 2 band EQ. I have never read anything about a different body wood being used but that is not to say that that information is not correct. When I looked online only PMT and Mansons still had theses in stock at that price. I was tempted but found mint condition used ones with hard cases and 3 band EQ for similar money. Oh and I am sure the chap i spoke to in PMT said they had maple necked versions not just rosewood if that's what you are after.

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1488188467' post='3246523'] [url="http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/paul_510/media/WirebrushDettol_zpsca6bc862.jpg.html"][/url] [/quote] There is an old Billy Connoly joke there.....

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Muddy and boomy, I thought that was the main reason for buying a P bass. Im kidding.....[/font][/color] [font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"]I used to have one of these and I have to say I found it very similar tone wise to every other P bass I have had. As mentioned new wiring will probably help, but I did a huge amount of reading on Talkbass about these and the upgrades people have done and the consensus seemed to be that a pickup change made little difference.[/color][/font] [font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"]One chap had some Nordstrands made in casings to fit the Squier and said they made very little difference, the Nordstrand wasn't worth the upgrade cost. I put Elixirs on mine over the stock ones and that helped me loads but then I realised for the third time that I just don't like the sound of P-Basses.[/color][/font]