TrypF

This is my experience. I don’t have the money to buy a £1,000+ bass, but I can buy an instrument, give it a proper setup (learnt through many years of trial and error) and I’d be happy to gig it. Add a few hundred quid of upgrades (over a number of months, usually) and I have a roadworthy Instrument I can really rely on - it helps that they’re always Fender-shaped, cause I know where I am and have all the tools. That’ll do me.

I’m big on modding, but only on cheap basses and guitars. My number 1 (in my picture) is a 1999 Mexican Precision, and over the years I’ve changed everything but the wood and the frets. It’s loud as hell and pretty bomb proof. I recently bought a Squier Strat in a Cash Converters for £45, added about £250 of parts, month by month and now have a really nice looking and playing guitar. I wouldn’t change anything but the strings on my Ricky!

The whole of Stop Making Sense is a masterclass as far as I’m concerned. Cities and Found A Job especially.

Bandcds.co.uk are reasonably priced and have a wide range of formats. Have used them quite a few times,

My last band got so sick of being ripped off by promoters, playing in between completely different genre acts, we took the plunge and became our own promoters. Hire a function room in a place with a music license, ideally with its own bar, and pay a trusted mate to staff the door. With a couple of other acts on the same page, this can be a money spinner, especially if you add merch. It doesn’t work if any of the acts treat it like a free rehearsal and don’t promote it properly, though.

I read about this feller Steve White in Guitarist. The notion of learning McCartney basslines the wrong way round, while singing those parts, blows my mind.

Dutch band The Analogues have a ‘no outfits, original gear’ approach to playing the Fabs, usually albums in full. They come over to the UK once in a while.

The O’Jays For the Love of Money used to be mine. Gets the picking hand limbered up nicely.

470

Absolutely. My long lead has really helped out in the past - I have also been the 'responsible adult' for the other band members' sound. Curiously, I've played in two bands where the lead guitarist has to be told to turn UP.

For this kind of thing I'd do the work myself as the stress of repackaging, shipping it and waiting for a replacement would be too much of a faff. Like the other posters wrote, I'd check neck relief, string height, neck pocket, then the nut itself. I recently bought a Squier CV fretless Jazz that had control knobs that didn't grip properly. A new set ordered from AllParts cost a tenner or so - for the great deal I got on the bass, I didn't want to hassle the shop over something like that. If it is a nut problem, a GraphTech one is a great upgrade for very little cost anyway.

There's great playing on her 99.9 F album by the amazing Bruce Thomas. I think her main audience didn't go for its more experimental vibes but I love it.

The Pretenders. First line up or current one. Great song after great song, playing alongside some badass musicians.

That's a beauty, Cat. As a fellow mandolin/bass player I am very envious!

Many bands I follow or am friends with have a 'shell' site with one, or at most a few basic pages - but these display, front and centre, the social media people favour these days. For example, here's Silvertwin's site: https://www.wearesilvertwin.com They have a young-ish audience (plus old farts like me who liked their sound before it was retro) but I'd guess they want to make sure there is some standard web presence. If you can get a cheap domain and someone to put together simple pages, that's how I'd go.