Delberthot

Can't believe that I've never heard of LTD before. I'm off to have a good listen now

most guitarists I know don't even use a stand

If I remember correctly the 1020 series has the same spline jointed 3 piece body, nickel silver nut and pickups of the 2020 series. In fact I think my reasoning for getting the BB1025 that I had was that it had almost everything that the BB2025 had but was a fraction of the price.

I too used Chromes for a number of years until I got my Sterling and they sounded pants compared to every other bass they've been on. I had a good look round but went with D'addario EXL165 nickel plated rounds with the consensus being they were one of, if not the smoothest, roundwound string you can buy. Handy really as I really like the tension and feel of D'addario strings

I do addition calculations from left to right instead of starting with the numbers on the right hand side like normal people do eg 13465 + 12354 I would start by adding the 1s on the left hand followed by 3+2 side rather than adding the 5 + 4 then working along to 6 + 5

I'm with Vinny on this one. After years of turning the strap the wrong way I just unclip the strap lock at the bridge end of the body and let it unfankle itself then clip it back on. Saves getting annoyed at an inanimate object when it doesn't do what you want it to 😀

Myself, our guitarist and singer are all left handed. According to the web 10% of people are left handed but as a band we're 60% left handed. Incidentally both myself and guitarist play right handed. I did try left handed like fleabag said above, it felt like I was using someone else's hands it was just so alien

So to summarise - the golden era was somewhere between 1976 and today 🤔 I think that as with most basses it's the luck of the draw. Someone could pick up a bass and it it becomes the best bass they've ever played yet could be a complete POS to someone else. I love Stingrays but the only Musicman basses I've ever got on with have been SR5s from the ceramic pickup era and my current Sterling

We do Voulez Vous and the more I listen to it, the more I'm convinced that it's a synth playing the bass. Unless the synth is doubling the bass line?

This pretty much sums it up - look at your main bass (or basses) was it once all shiny and new but now either you or your band mates have added all sorts of chips, dings, dongs and scratches to it? If the answer is yes then you'd be safer going for the steel grill, if it still looks relatively new then go for whatever you find the most attractive I am careful with my gear and my band mates are the same so I went for the , IMHO, cooler looking cloth grill

The ban thing just doesn't work. It's like any addiction, you have to actually want to stop doing something or have some sort of epiphany before you can actually truthfully say to yourself that that's it, I'm finished. It is an addiction whether it be cigarettes, alcohol, driving fast cars too fast, coffee or basses and these 5 all applied to me at one point or another. You get a buzz from it, the elevated heart rate at the end of an Ebay auction wondering if you will be the highest bidder or manically trying to type in a higher price at the last moment.

After 140 odd basses, 70+ cabs and 30+ amps I am completely GAS free and enjoying it. No more chasing the dragon as it were to get the next new thing that will be better than what I already have. The reason being that I am perfectly happy with what I already have. If I buy another bass then I need to go on the strings roundabout to get the best feeling brand, then the best gauge, then nickel/flatwound/stainless steel/etc. Then there's adjusting the strap to the correct length, adjusting the action. In fact I liken it to getting a new car: you spend ages faffing around with the seat, steering wheel angle and distance, wing mirror adjustment etc etc but when you get it just how you like it then you don't touch it again and travel in comfort with everything adjusted perfectly well to your liking. As soon as you step into another car then you have to start again. So for me the perfect combination is: Musicman Sterling with D'addario EXL165 strings but using a 110 gauge E string so I can drop the E to B, Hipshot Ultralites with the Drop tuner on the E, Schaller straplocks and Line6 wireless straight into my QSC K12.2

I know I've said it before but I would use my Sterling in any band I was asked to play in regardless of genre. I'm at the stage now after owning christ knows how many basses (140+ I think) that the most important thing is how it plays. If it feels wrong then you're not going to get the best out of the bass or yourself. You can worry about the sound later by changing the pickups, strings, eq etc if needs be. It's the reason that the Rickenbacker is no longer in my sig because no matter how much I tried to love it and get it to feel right it just wasn't quite there so is up for sale (not here obviously) 10 years ago this bass may not have been what I wanted in terms of how it plays. In fact, looking back at the pictures i have of my basses, in 2009 I had 2 Warmoth 54 single coil precisions, 2 12 strings, a Harmony Gibson Grabber copy, Squier precision with the big tele humbucker at the neck, Warwick Corvette $$ 5 string, Squier Jazz fretless, E series Fender Japan Precision, G&L L2000 and a Fender MIM Phil Lynott replica. I forget where I'm going with this but erm something, bibble, time for bed

I struggle to play the slower original version of What Is Hip but find it a lot a easier to play this much faster version for some reason

The other thing as well is how strings feel. I've experimented with various strings gauges from extremely light to extremely heavy and prefer the feel of a particular set. I wouldn't be interested in a set of heavy or light strings if they didn't feel right, even if they were perceived to sound better

I had a couple of Trace V-type 1248H cabs years ago. They sounded incredible but at 46kgs each were just too much for regular gigging

My wife sometimes doesn't like me being out every weekend but accepts that it is my hobby, my enjoyment and my release. I don't smoke, drink or take drugs. I don't spend my weekends watching football. We still have plenty of time together and I always book time out of the band diary for holidays as it can become a pain when you book a week off at work only for gigs to appear in the diary and we can't go anywhere. My work-life balance is just as important when it comes to the band as it is when it comes to my day job

Gigging is the only reason I am in a band. I get no pleasure from rehearsals or being in the studio but realise that they are both necessary. I couldn't be in a band that didn't gig. I don't even play in the house unless it's to learn a new song before a rehearsal