Cat Burrito

The new ones on sale measure 160cm as I asked an EBay seller & are now padded to take the weight of a P-bass more easily Needless to say that seller got a sale!

[url="http://www.fender.com/uk/products/search.php?partno=0990689000"]http://www.fender.com/uk/products/search.p...rtno=0990689000[/url] They look great edited to give answer - 142cm - should anyone want to know & search this thread

I thought it might have been a Jazz bass

I'm a massive Fender fan but the quality control can be a bit shocking on occasions. I agree with walbassist here. You could complain but it's probably going to be ok to be fair.

I like The Beatles but they are not my favourites. Paul McCartney is a great bassist & I have always said this. I reckon most members of the public think he plays guitar though.

Could it be a refinished 62 RI Precision bass? That'd be my first thought. Got any more pics?

I see myself as a bassist but it is a bass *guitar* I'm afraid. I too play a bit of upright, now that isn't a guitar. However I have to admit I'm much more of a bass guitarist. To use an earlier quote, who cares? It doesn't really matter

Welcome to Basschat... your english is certainly better than my French - I can just about manage Je joue la basse dans un groupe de Americana & I bet that's wrong!

I have both maple & rosewood P-basses (yeah, I know you said J - I've owned both types too) and I have to say the difference is minimal. I prefer rosewood on a bass & do like maple on telecasters but there are great examples of the opposite on both. You are more likely to get obvious tonal differences by changing pickups, trying different strings or playing different ways (ie pick vs fingers) then frpm what your fretboard is made of. There is a difference but it really is slight

It does look a bit like a Hagstrom although I've only ever seen them in that cherry red finish. The configuartion of volume / tone knobs is wrong though. Hagstrom did a Fender type headstock on the 604 though - see below Can I have half marks for spotting the guitarists were using a Gibson les Paul and a Fender Telecaster? edited for laughing symbol in case anyone thought I was being serious!

Last weekend was fairly sedate with people reading The Independant and we had fresh fruit in the van... rewind 15yrs & I remember our roadie urinating out the back of the van as we drove down the motorway! I must be getting old, I prefer life now

Considering the huge amount of time I spend on here I can't believe I missed the excitement... must have been reading up on string trees!?

Pleased to see it is still being played

Ampeg SVT & make sure you're using flats or Rotosound Trubass strings for extra thump

[quote name='luckman67' post='897531' date='Jul 17 2010, 07:46 PM']you can't beat the sound of a Ric with new strings.[/quote] You might want to sit down for this but mine has La Bella flats on it!

[quote name='renniks' post='898450' date='Jul 18 2010, 10:38 PM']Burrito is the book you mentioned generally transferable to other basses (with a bit of common sense and know how) or should a more general book be acquired for non fender set ups (sounds like I believe fenders are different to other basses, but thought I'd ask)[/quote] Really Fender & Fender type basses only.

I appreciate you haven't mentioned spending money but [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fender-Bass-Manual-Maintain-Guitar/dp/1844258173/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1279488851&sr=1-1"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fender-Bass-Manual...8851&sr=1-1[/url] is a really useful & easy book

[quote name='guyl' post='898389' date='Jul 18 2010, 09:25 PM']Showman or Plonker ...... what's wrong with being both. As long as the audience are entertained![/quote] Good point actually. What nobody has pointed out is that there are no rules to do with hair, weight or age. I saw Crosby, Stills & Nash earlier this month. Stephen Stills has very little of his own hair left now, seemed to have the dress sense of Jockey Wilson these days and is certainly punching above his weight [b]but[/b] still managed to be cool. Granted he was cooler in 1971 but I wasn't put off. Some people just look awkward playing and some people elude cool. The average age of my band is 43 (I'm the baby at 37) and we do original material which is a bit unusual for our age. I think certain genres like country, jazz, folk and blues are age free. If anything it can look better to be older. If we were a Glam band people might view us differently. A lot of it is down to confidence and just being yourself. If you are a rocker (of which I am not particularly) why should you stop just because your hair is a little greyer and thinner then what it used to be? I think I'm more confident / relaxed on stage (& indeed in life) now I'm older. I certainly have toned down my look since I was 19 but I still look like I probably play music.

Thanks Pete, that seems more realistic at my level. My other question for anyone in the know is that most of my gigs are cash (if we get paid!) & no receipts / full details (ie Pete from the Red Lion paid me £30 for example). Surely such casualness isn't going to go down well?

I have a mix of flats and nylons on my basses. There is a subtle difference but it depends on a number of factors. I mostly play fingerstyle but we're recording an album this month and I tried some playing with a pick - the nylons gave a very interesting sound with the note bowing almost like a bassy banjo. I actually went into the project assuming the nylons would give me my tone but the majority of the album will be flats. As I said there isn't much in it really but I find flats slightly more versatile

[quote name='dan670844' post='898163' date='Jul 18 2010, 04:25 PM']Get an accountant a good one! its worth it.[/quote] Do people generally think this is a good idea for £300 per year take home? Seems a bit OTT to me. I already spend a fair bit on insurance, petrol etc and this all seems to be another step towards sapping the fun out of what effectively is a hobby