RhysP

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1494255600' post='3294383'] Steve Lukather played bass on Michael Jackson's beat it. [/quote] And all of the guitar stuff apart from the solo.

[quote name='Jenny_Innie' timestamp='1494267716' post='3294561'] That's the other way 'round though! [/quote] I thought you might say that...

I play mandolin, don't use flats though. The strings are quite long but they wouldn't be long enough to use on a bass. Mandola or bouzouki strings might be a better choice.

Sweet!

[quote name='bassjim' timestamp='1494258940' post='3294445'] But I wonder...if I just left it alone, how far out it might be at the end of a set. [/quote] Unless you hammer the sh*t out of your strings when you play, or the headstock gets bashed or whatever, it'll most probably be in tune. It might show as being a few cents out on a tuner, but to everyones ears it will be fine.

When I was gigging I would check the tuning before we started & that would be it.

Use lighter and/or low tension acoustic strings. I recommend Newtone Heritage strings, been using them for a few years now & they are great.

Jimi Hendrix. Apparently he played a lot of the bass stuff on the "Experience" recordings.

Sting. Very good at both.

[quote name='bassjim' timestamp='1494237235' post='3294141'] It was when I finally split with my ex wife some years ago, that I realised why I was doing all the running around organising the gigs, moving the PA, putting up with muso based grief ect. It was so I could get out and away from her! [/quote] I know a few people who have been in similar situations. As soon as their relationship finally fell apart their willingness to get out of the house at every available opportunity vanished. Thinking about I actually did the majority of my gigging when I was in a really terrible relationship too.

If you don't want to spend too much the Vintage Paul Brett signature 12 string is a really nice guitar. I had one for a while & was very impressed with it.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1494168773' post='3293743'] Yes, as per the cab being connected to the footswitch input rather than the speaker input - would this damage it that quickly though? [/quote] Quite probably. If he's lucky it will just be a fuse or something but I've seen valve amps completely f***ed after a few seconds of being switched on without a speaker load. Also, if it was used without a speaker load I'd be very surprised if the warranty will cover it.

Acoustic or electric? Depends how much you want to spend but if I was to buy any acoustic 12 string then it would probably have to be a high end Guild, they just seem to do 12 strings better than anybody else.

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1494153302' post='3293636'] It's good that you keep in touch anyway. I wanted to stay on my old Triumph motorcycle forum but it was in the Yahoo groups domain. All of the consequent fluff and nonsense made visiting the bit I wanted such a chore after I had no 'bike to speak of that I dropped it. [/quote] I'm still very interested in basses & guitars, I can spend hours reading about them & tinkering with them & it gives me enormous pleasure. I've also got a lot of accumulated knowledge from 38 years of playing, gigging, recording & other stuff that hopefully can still be of use to somebody on here every now & then.

If you're having the scratchplate custom made anyway then just get it reliced how you want it.

I realised in the last 18 months that a lot of the reason I still owned gear & would give myself a hard time for not playing was more down to a perceived identity than any real desire to play. I'd been playing since I was 14 & pretty much all my friends are musicians. Even though I have hardly played for years I still kept hanging onto the "musician" tag for some reason. When I made the mental adjustment & finally stopped thinking of myself as a musician about six months ago not playing anymore stopped being a source of unhappiness for me.

I stopped gigging years ago as I just didn't enjoy it. I hung onto my gear for years until I finally sold it all (apart from one bass that I hang onto purely for "investment purposes") a year or so ago. Any playing I've done over the past few years has been on acoustic guitar but I don't even do that anymore so I'll probably sell my guitars soon too.

Use a keyboard like they did on "Black Velvet".

Vocals sound painfully out of tune to me, which is a shame as the rest of it is really well played.

Think how you would feel if it was happening next door to you.

[quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1493913866' post='3291817'] Often thought of this as a nice to have... I'm an 84 man so suppose that's Aria SB? And it would have to be lefty also... Not a lot of choice. [/quote] Some nice Ibanez basses around that time too.

"No Roses" - Shirley Collins & The Albion Country Band.

[quote name='BassApprentice' timestamp='1493885486' post='3291472'] Just to buck the current trend of dates....1991, anybody think of a particularly special bass from that era? [/quote] I'd say you're spoilt for choice there, It would be much easier to find a YOB bass I'd want to own from 1991 than from my actual birth year (1965).

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1493841912' post='3291248'] I was born in 1962 but my birthday is 28th December which, I suspect, means that most factories would have been closed for the rest of the year. [/quote] Not necessarily. America make more of a thing of Thanksgiving than they do of Christmas. I have friends in the US who only have a half day off on Christmas Day. Chances are the factories would have been working.

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1493844048' post='3291274'] I didn't have a problem with DH's voice, she just looks a bit has-been sad these days. [/quote] She's 72! A friend of mine is seeing Blondie at the Roundhouse tonight. He's put a few short live clips on Facebook & to be fair they're sounding pretty damn good.