RhysP

[quote name='Shaggy' timestamp='1471764418' post='3115571'] Lol - he still isn't! Singer / rhythm guitarist was though; a guy called Boo Hewerdine [/quote] You were in a band with Boo? Was it The Great Divide by any chance? Boo's a great guy & one of the best songwriters this country has ever produced IMO. Great voice too. Here's a picture of me & Boo in Scotland last year: [url="http://s86.photobucket.com/user/RhysP/media/IMG_0131_zpsv5kt6vks.jpg.html"][/url]

I think £400 is a bit hopeful.

Received two parcels this morning (many thanks Tredders & Paul S!) & there were, as usual, no problems whatsoever.

Mark gave, yes GAVE, a Steinberger Spirit bass to me as a donation for the Autism Support Centre I attend as they are in the process of setting up a music group. A great guy to deal with. Thank you very much once again for your incredibly generous donation Mark.

[quote name='Burns-bass' timestamp='1471938386' post='3117025'] I've got loads of guitar books and stuff you can have if you want them? DM and I'll chuck it in the post. [/quote] That would be awesome! Thank you ever so much.

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1471881517' post='3116669'] Well, I'm 50:50 on the band's output but I find tedious minutiae like this [i]horribly[/i] fascinating. It is weird, though. At one moment he's recording with the rarest kit imaginable, the next he's using a Marshall Lead 12 solid state practice amp and making it sound like the seven trumpets of doom. [/quote] More proof, I guess, that the old 'the tone is in the fingers" cliche is true. Steve Lukather did a similar thing on a Toto album a while back, went from using his custom Bradshaw rack & whatever boutique valve amp set-up he was using that week to using a little stock Marshall combo & he still sounded superb.

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1471879901' post='3116643'] There's been a fair bit of heated debate about this, in part because Gibbons [url="http://www.woodytone.com/2010/09/28/gibbons-eliminatorafterburner-the-rockman/"]once claimed they'd[/url] 'combined that direct (Rockman) signal with a number of other traditional setups – amplifiers in the studio'. Terry Manning the engineer on Eliminator offers a different view: "There was absolutely no Rockman used on this recording. Not a little bit, not a tiny bit, not any. I don’t know how these stories get started". Manning goes on to [url="http://www.woodytone.com/2010/09/30/engineer-billy-gibbons-eliminator-gear/"]say[/url]: “The amp used, almost exclusively, on Eliminator was a Legend. This was about a 50w hybrid unit, employing a tube/valve preamp and a transistor power amp. “Legend were later bought by, or at least distributed by, Gibson, but they were independent when we started using them. I still have this amp – it is almost new. A couple of years ago I plugged one of the Eliminator guitars into it, just to see…there was the sound!" It is agreed that a Rockman was used as [i]part[/i] of the signal chain on Afterburner but as a component of a much bigger rig. [url="http://www.woodytone.com/2010/09/28/gibbons-eliminatorafterburner-the-rockman/"]Gibbons[/url]: "We built this thing that was nicknamed the Amp Cabin. This was a pile of Fenders and Marshalls that were stacked up on top of each other and then supported to provide a roof and four walls, and we just stuck a big microphone in the middle of it and turned them all up as loud as we could get them". Perhaps the most significant thing about Eliminator and Afterburner was Messrs Beard and Hill's almost complete absence from the sessions. In a strange foreshadowing of recent events Gibbons played some of the bass parts on a Moog. [color=#ffffe0].[/color] [/quote] Oh well. I'm couldn't care either way to be honest, I can't stand them.

Awesome! Thanks again to everyone who's been so very generous.

[quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1463591692' post='3052681'] Never fancied CAR. Just doesn't do it for me. No idea why. [/quote] I'm the same. CAR & any sunburst finish are total no-no's for me.

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1471793667' post='3115912'] Perhaps the world's greatest tone-hound is Mr Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. For studio work the hirsute Texan assembles a breathtaking variety of vintage and custom guitars designed to afford the widest possible sonic palette. He runs these Holy Grail guitars through a carefully honed combination of rare, gorgeous valve amps with highly distinctive tones. In concert every one of his many guitars is EQ'd to sound [i]exactly[/i] like his '59 Les Paul and shoved through a JMP1 MIDI pre-amp and a Valvestate SS (!) power amp. I think he probably knows something most of us don't. [/quote] On "Eliminator" his guitar tone was almost entirely due to using Rockman gear, not a valve in sight.

I've owned & played basses & other instruments for over 37 years but I have never thought of myself as a musician as I have no theoretical knowledge of music.

Hanging around waiting to play was the worst part of gigging for me. I didn't get nervous or anything (never had a problem with stage nerves) but I just found it so boring & such a waste of time. By the time it came to actually play I was already wanting to pack up & go home.

I saw The Sweet many years ago (I was still in school) when they were touring as a three piece without Brian Connolly. They were absolutely brilliant.

I want it.

I've got loads of gig T-Shirts that I've bought over the years, so many that most of them are stored in boxes in the loft. The oldest one I've got is from the first Asia gig at Wembley in 1982. Got a few different Rick Neilson plectrums from various Cheap Trick gigs. A couple of backstage passes & a plectrum from David Gilmour. The plectrum I used when I played with Todd Rundgren in London in 1994, and also a couple of teabags that he gave me. I also had a condom that Todd gave me that I swore I'd never use but needs must... Got quite a lot of signed stuff too, my favourite of which is probably a Talas album that Billy Sheehan signed "To Rhys from William"

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1471611944' post='3114451'] He's amazing isn't he ? Now that's professionalism to me, being able to cope like that, having a rack of spare gear doesn't come into it, just my opinion of course. [/quote] For me he's the consummate professional, I don't think there's anyone better. Whether he's on an arena tour with Gabriel or playing a little club with one of his many side projects he's just superb. A very humble & lovely guy to speak to too.

I saw an ad for an electric guitar the other day that had classical guitar neck width & string spacing. Can't remember what it was though. Sorry, that's not much help, is it?

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1471551088' post='3113975'] I don't think I've ever seen anyone do it either. [/quote] The only famous bassist I've seen break a string was Tony Levin on one of the Peter Gabriel tours. His E string broke, he stomped on his octaver & carried on playing the bass line an octave higher, all without missing a beat. That impressed me.

I'd just like to thank everyone for their incredible generosity - I've now got a few instruments winging their way to the Autism Support Centre as a result of this thread. I told Craig, the guy that co-ordinates & runs the music group about this earlier & he is as overwhelmed as I am & has asked me to pass on his profound thanks to everyone & to assure everyone that the instruments will be put to good use. What a great bunch you lot are.

Never ever broken a bass string in 37 years of playing, and only broken one acoustic guitar string but that was when I was putting the guitar into a non standard tuning & got it wrong. I buggered a few up putting them on though.

[quote name='Skinnyman' timestamp='1471557791' post='3114071'] I have the Steinberger Spirit 6 string to match the bass. I never use it so I'll add that to the pile if you want it RhysP? PM me with the address and a name and I'll put it in the post [/quote] That's awesome, thank you so much! I'll PM you my details in the morning.

[quote name='Les' timestamp='1471554939' post='3114040'] Rhys, what else would be useful for the centre ? [/quote] I'm not sure really, it's a bit of an on-going project that's still in it's early stages. I'll ask the guy that co-ordinates it next time I'm in there. (I guess anything really - I've given them an acoustic guitar that used to belong to my father, and a guitar stand & bits & pieces like that).

[quote name='tredders' timestamp='1471550650' post='3113970'] I know I said I'd leave it until Sunday, but my best friends son is autistic, so I have an affinity here. RhysP, drop me a PM with your address, and I'll happily send it over to you mate. Hope it'll be useful to you. [/quote] That's awesome, thank you so much. I've PM'd you.

I put white stripes on one of my black Rickenbackers many years ago. I just used white electrical insulation tape & it looked fine.