NJE

Really enjoyed this, Pino is obviously a quiet guy but you got a real sense for his passion and skill. To walk into the Who gig with a couple of charts and a 24 hours to learn it all without a full band rehearsal is quite amazing. Immediately started googling precisions and flatwounds 😄

I completely agree with you, I have a Harley Benton that plays great because I set it up and put good strings on it, but I mentioned picking the best one as well. Given some of the relatively expensive basses I have played and owned with bad finishing issues, misaligned bridges, bad neck pockets, and shocking fretwork, I still think it would be an interesting idea to review an instrument where someone hasn’t had the opportunity to cherry pick a prime specimen from several identical basses, and in addition, potentially do some additional setting up.

I always thought ‘off the rack’ gear reviews would be good, i.e go to a big shop and try a bass that came from the factory and no one has had opportunity to pick the best one or tweak it before sending to be reviewed. I bought bass magazines for decades and the reviews were always very positive to keep advertisers and sponsors happy I’d guess. I would love for someone to do a review and say it was an absolute mess of an instrument, give it a good slating if it deserved it, and hold the companies accountable for poor QC. As it’s stands we soon hear about crap basses on here or other forums. Look at the slating the budget Sadowsky’s got.

Guitar Guitar have them up on the site. The analog 112 is £929.

I have been fortunate enough to have owned and gigged expensive custom made basses like Overwater, Fenders, Stingrays, Squiers and a Harley Benton Jazz I got for free. With some small amounts of adjustment almost all of them have been great sounding and playing instruments. At no point has a member of the public commented on my basses, how good or bad they sounded, and none of them made a significant difference to the sound of my band. Yes some fitted better with different genres or tunes but none sounded bad. Two basses stand out over the years. First was a Fender American Standard bass that was total horse-poop and should have been picked out and burned before it left the factory, and it cost over 1k new. The second was a Squier Vintage modified Precision V that I got for under £300 new. That bass was sublime, so much fun to play, looked quite striking in white with a tort guard. I gigged that and smiled all night long while I was playing it. Can’t remember why I sold it to be honest but I have looked for another since. Moral of the story from my perspective; most people don’t give a monkeys about your gear, you can get inspiring and fun instruments at any price point, buy what makes you happy if you can afford it. Losing people had taught me life’s too short to not enjoy the fruits of your labour as long as you can take care of yourself and the people around you.

Two summers ago, my then 2 year old daughter became very attached to a pink Uke (and matching pink sunglasses) at a jumble sale at my sons school, I think we paid £1.50 for both. I tuned it up and started figuring out a few basic chords and found myself picking it up all the time but the bloomin thing would not stay in tune. I can get a bit obsessive so I went down the rabbit hole of researching Ukulele’s and just obsessed for ages. The following Christmas I bought a very nice Tenor one and play it a lot. I thought I wouldn’t struggle with my sausage fingers but it’s not too bad. I bought and aNueNue tenor which is really well made and even came with a lovely gig bag. I love it, it’s loads of fun and I am hoping my son or daughter might have enough patience to give it a go at some point.

I have band practice on average every two weeks, a few gigs and apart from that the bass stays away unless I have to make a little effort to learn something new. I have little to interest in playing outside of gigs and band practice. That’s my full of bass and I quite like having some time off. If I pick up anything around the house it’s my acoustic guitar or Ukulele.

I had the same concern when I got married a few years ago as I had never worn rings before. I have no sharp edges on mine, so it tapers nicely into my finger and minimises snagging. I guess like others have said, it depends on technique and how you play. Mine doesn’t get in the way but I have a bit more of a classical guitar technique, thumb in the middle of the neck and some arch to my fingers so it almost never touches the neck and it’s quite narrow so doesn’t hinder my finger movement. maybe stick it on a chain or leather chord around your neck when your playing if it does cause you issues.

Elixirs all the way for me. Never found another coated strings that feels and sounds as good over a longer period. Had my current set on over 2 years and still sound good and no sign of fraying/flaking, but I don’t use a plectrum. The only other strings I really liked were Dunlop super brights, not marketed as a long lasting string and not coated, but they lasted for ages. Also D’Addario NYXL strings were amazing and lasted a really long time compared to other uncoated strings I have used. I love Ernie Ball strings but I kill them after 2 gigs so not worth it for me.

According to my parents I had a fascination with music from a young age and used to listen to my parents tapes and fall asleep next to the hifi. As I got older I had a strong love of music and it resonated with me a lot stronger than other kids my age. When I was about 10 my dad started playing guitar with a friend of his in the kitchen every now and again. Neither me or mum knew that he had been a very talented musician when he was younger and mingled/crossed paths with some incredibly famous musicians (pre fame) who were similar ages to him. He gave it all up for decades and then the jamming turned into him forming a duo with his friend and they started playing gigs. I will come to why this is relevant in a bit… I remember getting Extreme II Pornograffitti on tape and when I was 15 I made a conscious decision that if I ever wanted to make music that had such a huge impact on me like that album and many others did, I needed to learn an instrument before it was too late. I think there were so many guitarists around that I decided bass would be a good idea, so my dad bought me a bass for my birthday, probably excited about me becoming interested in an instrument like him. I picked it up really quickly and also dabbled with acoustic guitar at the same time. Within a year I was playing in my dads band and gigging regularly after recruiting a drummer and sax player. I gigged from 16 - 21 with my dads band and I earned enough to not have to get a regular job while I was at uni. So it was probably a combination of living and being really moved by music when I was very young and then seeing my dad play that tipped the balance and made me play.

I saw a few Instagram posts about these and got very excited until I remembered how much MusicMan basses costs these days. £3199 at GuitarGuitar, which I am sure is fair for a USA made instrument these days and I know the quality will be ace, but I just can’t wrap my head around it. You could get a vintage original stingray for that money, or go and get a late 80’s early 90’s for a lot less, and get a forearm and belly contour thrown in for good measure.

I have probably been gigging less than a lot of seasoned players on here, but it feels like bands are asking for/venues are paying the same as they were when I started gigging 22 years ago! I started out in my dads 5 piece, and we did pub gigs and functions, and were frequently picking £60-£100 a night for pubs and a lot more for weddings and functions. New Year’s Eve was always a decent earner, £200 a head or it wasn’t worth it to us. I struggle to get that now. Pubs don’t pay that much but I guess you have to factor in the cost of beer, number of punters etc, and not everyone turns out for live music like they used to. We get around £55-£65 a head by there are seven of us. Again functions would be more but only equivalent of what I would get 20 years ago. A friend of mine runs a wedding venue and they have bands coming from all over. The bands have been getting 2k for a three piece and one soul band was charging 5k for the night but travelled about 3 hours each way. So some bands are getting good money but not mine 😄.

Sign me up (for a free trial), that looks great, thanks for sharing.

Just over two years ago I was done, I had no interest in playing at home or joining a band and my bass didn’t come out of the case for about a year. An old band mate kept hassling me to help him out with his band, and after a few months I caved in and went along to help out with vocals (I sing lead on occasion) as they had a new bass player. Long story short bass player left and I have been practicing and gigging a little bit as they are a good bunch to play with. The weird bit for me is that, I would not care in the slightest if it folded. There was a slight disagreement a few weeks back and I was even hoping that was the end of the band and I wouldn’t have to do it anymore. Not because it’s a bad band, but just the general stress and pressure and I have plenty of other things going on, two kids and work and a business project with a friend. I have my main bass, I use a cheap Trace amp which my sax player owns, a few pedals which probably need to be sold and I am good. Not bought any equipment in years, but still like popping on here and window shopping. I probably have more interest in my tenor guitar and ukulele these days.

I have very complex feelings about owning multiple expensive instruments and amps. I battle the guilt of owning expensive things that don’t get used very often, which is why at one point my two main basses were worth a total of £350. Also after having some pretty expensive basses over the years, when I switched to cheaper gear I felt a strange sense of liberation and relief. I don’t know if it was just because I was less worried about minor issues or damaging them, but I was always finding fault with more expensive basses. Now I am down to a MusicMan Stingray (which was insanely cheap) which I use all the time, a 5 string Squier which I don’t really play but it was a gift, and my backup is a Harley Benton which a good friend gave me, so I probably won’t sell that either. I also wasted a lot of money on amps over the years, EBS, MarkBass and Aguilar but now use an old Trace combo that was £120 and sounds as good if not better than those other brands. I play a few gigs and have a solid main bass I have owned for 7 years, so I don’t really look at bass gear anymore.

Overrated for me would be: Markbass LMII - bombproof and very reliable, but I could not get a good sound out of it, dull and lifeless like my cab had a big quilt over it. Aguilar Tonehammer amp and DB/GS cabs - again so so solid and reliable, gigged them for a while but the sound was just very dull and I was always fiddling with the amp and never happy. Underrated: EBS Reidmar - bought to replace my Markbass which was stolen. Worlds apart tone wise, clear, massive headroom, way more volume and just so tight and punchy. I didn’t care for the design of the casing but I barely ever fiddled with it at gigs. Designacable - I am so surprised more people aren’t buying custom cables from these guys. I used them a few times for custom coloured cables at a time when most people just offered black. I have used coloured cables for years so no one can ever “accidentally” pick mine up and put them in their gig bag. Way cheaper than a lot of branded cables from bigger companies as well.

I have had mine 10 years and it’s probably the best but of kit I have bought. No zips, clips, seams or anything have broken and I will be honest I really haven’t taken care of it. It is starting to look a little scruffy and some of the piping looks rough now, but it’s been amazing. I don’t know if the design has been updated, but no issue with the neck cradle on mine, it does the job and despite being loaded into vans, dropped and knocked over, all my basses have been perfectly protected in it. I only ever use one strap and carry it on one shoulder a bit like a golf club bag, and leave the other strap tucked I. The back pocket.

My guess is that they will be around combustion and DRoc standard prices so roughly £1700. The NGs are over 2k now but they have the Darkglass preamp and matching headstock, so probably a bit more labour and cost in those. If the quality and consistency is like the other Far East made Dingwalls I have played I think they will do well.

I have just watched a short video on Dingwall’s Instagram showing some models from guitar summit. Sheldon shows two prototype Super PJ basses which he says are new models maybe coming out next year. I am hoping they are going to be far east made versions. I have commented a couple of times on their posts that they should do a far east Super P or J model and always had a cryptic reply or a like, so hopefully one is on the way.

My sax player can’t play in tune so why should I 😄 I may just use a clip on tuner, when the pedals make it to practice they usually just sit on the amp as the microtubes stays on all the time and I don’t use anything else really.

Here’s my mini board, all powered with a One Spot Pro underneath. I put this together for some fun at home after watching some of Ian Allison’s videos creating synthy type tones. I only really use the chorus and Microtubes in the band so it’s farewell to the rest soon, but I do like looking at them 😄

I don’t think I have been particularly into the music I have played in any of the bands I have been in, so I wouldn’t go and see them live. We play some fun stuff in my current band but that’s as far as it goes, it’s fun to play but I would never choose to listen to any of the songs at home. I guess I just like playing music as long as it’s done to the best of everyone’s abilities.

My oldest friend makes a very good living from music, but it took being open to any opportunity, flexible musically, and some clever ideas to find opportunities to make money in the less glamorous side of music. He has worked in a lot of library music for tv etc, done recording session work for musical artists and also composers. He wrote guitar backing tracks, did dressage music, lots of things that meant he could write music and play guitar. Through being professional and nice and easy guy to work with, he has now got movie credits to his name and is now getting into recording bands and producing, but that is not where the money has been for him. He is a guitarist first and foremost, but he’s a talented multi instrumentalist now, just down to necessity. He jokes with me that he’s made more money playing ukulele than guitar. So basically there is good money to be made, but be prepared to find a niche or make money from music in less obvious ways than being in a band, or recording bands, or even playing live at all.