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Holy sweet lord lifting Jesus. I picked up a lightly used Squier VI and have spent much more time goofing around on it than I ever expected. I found the stock strings lacking and put on the heavier set Fender make. I had to re-intonate , and file the nut. All good. It did become a little more expensive than I expected. First was a Fender TreVerb pedal , and then decided some gain might be useful. Than echo , chorus , and octaver … and then picked up a Gretsch baritone. Be careful.

They’re surprisingly heavy to move around , and don’t carry much power , but they are beautiful sounding amps. There are many tube preamps around today that mimic the B15.

My gigging rig has been constant for a while now. Monique tube pre into a Bergantino Forte. Simply a beauty. but for the others… Mesa tt800 Aguilar TH I’m curious about Darkglass Microtubes and Trickfish. and for the classics GenzBenz Streamliner 900 GK RB400 edit and for a versatile little practice amp Darkglass Exxponent or the classic little GK MB200

We recently lost a great friend and piano player , unexpectedly. He had played a gig the night he died. We’re doing a memorial for him Saturday night. His regular band had the gig booked and decided to keep the night and pay tribute. We’re expecting quite the crowd of characters. Here’s the poster. And a link showing some of the characters.

My condolences WalMan.

I have a fairly light touch , my hands don’t sweat a lot , I wipe them down every once in a while. Intonation is good on them. And they have a nice woody thump , not a lot of sustain. I plan to leave them on until I lose or break one. Could be years. I’ve occasionally cleaned the gunk off with some alcohol. Maybe every 2-3 years or so … When the bass was new it could be pretty zingy. And I found that with more playing time the strings lost that high end and sounded better. It just sounded better , and better , so I didn’t change them. Today , with the hollow body , wooden bridge and 25 year old strings it’s just got a rich thump. But it does that really well. I do run it through a nice amp.

Single Coil Precision Bass , the original style before the split pickup in 57.

I’ve got rounds on my Longhorn , but they are still the factory strings from 98 or so. I have a set of LaBello Dano flats if I lose a winding or break a string. They’ve long lost the top end … they just thump. They still sound great for an old school thump. I kept thinking that they were sounding better and better as they got older. And never changed them. I have two other Dano shortscale basses , they both have Flats on them.

It wasn’t just a trinity. Between the SCPBs and the L2500 there was quite a pile of basses. You’ve got the greatest hits of the middle section.

I love the later 4001 basses with the one inch neck pickup spacing. The necks are beautiful , I bypassed the .0047 capacitor on the bridge pickup. They do have the older style rods and you have to adjust them properly , I’ve only tweaked mine twice in the last 25 years. They’re incredibly stable. But before you buy look at the truss rods. Check if they’re turning down , or if there are any cracks or separation around the first three frets of the fingerboard. That’s where the damage will be from rods that were not properly set. Look for the tiny capacitor on the bridge tone pot , check if it’s been bypassed or removed. If there are no signs of abuse , I’d recommend the 4001.

I was telling a friend I was feeling guilty about having twenty something basses , but there were only a couple I’d sell just now. I do appreciate the ones I’ve acquired. He told me he had seventy six guitars , including thirteen Les Pauls. I felt much better.

Great night in the old dive we call the Land of Dreams , the long weekend made for a packed house , and a ton of players for the jam. There is a guy I’ve been trying to get up for ages , serious funk guy , and I finally convinced him to get up. He brought the funk. I’ve never really mastered the slap and pop approach and it was a joy to hear him just nail it. With authority. Good to be schooled. He can also sing like Sam Cooke. I’m hoping he’ll sing some next time.

definitely got that post apocalyptic thing going

Set neck? There’s a lot to be said for the two knob simplicity of the 4000. Great basses.

People today are not drinking the way they used to. I’m driving home , and have to expect I might well be tested. One beer is my limit. It’s simple. I’m more likely to just have ginger ale. But I do remember a time when most musicians were as bombed as the audience at the end of the night. Those days are gone. And everybody would hop in their car and head home. Frightening.

I had been an old Pbass guy that started playing Rics. Then I bought a Longhorn about 25 years ago. At first I did not care for the short scale. But it was incredibly light , and very easy to play. It took some time but it eventually became my primary bass , and today I prefer short scaled basses. And I’ve dragged a fair number home. The Danos are not high end boutique instruments. But the beauty is that they are very playable. And despite the light weight , are tough as nails. It completely changed my thoughts on just what it was that made a bass good. Turned all that completely upside down. I’m ok with all that. And today , if you see a local blues band downtown you’re as likely to see a Longhorn as you are a Pbass. It seems most of the local blues guys have picked one up.

Here they’ve just announced that if you are stopped at night , you will be breathalyzed. The level here is .05 so two beers will put you over. I was tested over Christmas , driving home after a gig. It only took a few minutes to be tested and released.

I have an early Shinko Korean Longhorn , a Chinese Dolphin nose and a recent Korean short scale DC with the truss rod cover. I’ve only had to adjust the Longhorn twice in over twenty years. It does not require seasonal adjustments like Fender style instruments. I picked up the Dolphin nose about seven or eight years ago , I adjusted things when I bought it , that’s been it. I’ve adjusted the DC just once. I did change the adjustable metal bridge to a wooden one. The wood sounds better and there is a sweet spot for it.

I played (and still play) a weekly blues jam , so if somebody was doing blues material and needed somebody at the last minute , I’d often get a call simply because I knew so many players. And over the years had been in a lot of varied lineups. These days I try and get a song list in advance and give everything a listen. Sometimes I just have to listen hard and trust the instincts. My odds are pretty good at nailing the groove , but there are times the inevitable is inevitable.

On the originals that were made in Neptune NJ , the tape hid a very unsightly seam around the body. The reissues did not have a seam to hide , just the tradition to continue.

At first the Chinese ones looked the same , but they quickly changed the knob layout and had a toggle switch with two single knobs. And then later returned to the two stack knob approach. For a while the Chinese instruments had a matt finish on the metal parts , especially the pickup covers. The recent Chinese ones had the truss rod cover on the headstock, like the recent Korean ones.

I’ve heard that a hair dryer and a little rubber cement will take care of the tape lift.

I picked up an older PhilJones BigHead for a good price. Great headphone amp with an aux in.