DF Shortscale

That’s literally down the road from me, I’m gonna go have a look at the weekend. Quite surprised to see a bass of that calibre in that shop, it does seem like a bit of a novelty market shop but I suppose with Trinity, Greenwich uni and Ravensbourne in the local area there are a lot musicians and music / art students hanging out around there. Not that any of them will be able to afford that bass. (Although you never know, there are still lots of international billionaire trust fund kids coming to London to study).

This album has some beautiful bass playing on it, pretty much all the way through. One of my all time favourites.

Good to know, thanks. It's odd that the individual saddles cost more than some entire bridges, I've seen a Wilkinson one for about the same price as the one above, although a legit Fender one with slotted screw heads (instead of hex screws) is closer to £60..

If I want to replace the saddles on a P bass with threaded ones, is it just a case of buying the threaded saddles and putting them on my existing bridge, or is it better to replace the whole bridge with a bridge that comes with threaded saddles pre-installed? The current bridge is just a standard USA Fender, but I know screw shapes / sizes can vary, some threaded saddles don't come with screws etc, and I'd like to make sure it all fits as it should.

I feel like genres like ska and even jazz are much less problematic. (I personally find reggae a little more tricky but it depends on context).

I don't know if age has that much to do with it. Younger millennials and gen z don't tend to use forums at all, outside of maybe Reddit (which doesn't really qualify as much of a forum any more), but from what I know about under 40's (I spend most of my working life amongst them), their opinions would probably be surprisingly similar to the variety of opinions expressed here. Some would say it's not ok, some would say it's ok if it's handled carefully, others wouldn't care. The only real difference would be that not many under 40s musicians would be outraged that they were being asked a question like this, and pretty much none of them use Facebook / tabloid terms like 'virtue signalling' or 'woke'. But their opinions would be equally varied.

I can confirm I am not a Russian bot, but I do find it interesting that there is still no clear consensus this many pages in. It shows that the answer is clearly not as straightforward as you might hope. It’s good to discuss these things.

Lots of good comments everyone, some I agree with some I don’t, but interesting to read all the different opinions.

That will be the ’ology’ that also applies to this no longer being something that sane people do:

I think you've hit the nail on the head there - playing stuff influenced by styles / genres is the right way to tackle this, it's very different to playing direct covers. Jamming on an afro-beat inspired groove feels much less cringe worthy than doing a Fela Kuti impression.

Can you really separate the music from its meaning and purpose though? That's kind of what I'm asking. If that's ok in music, is it ok everywhere else? Should you wear a swastika t-shirt because you enjoy the shapes and colours, and ignore the meaning? I don't think this is an easy question to answer btw, music is different to visual media and meaning and purpose are multi-layered and change over time, as others have pointed out, but it's interesting that there is no clear consensus. Some people suggest that the meaning doesn't matter, others say it does matter but as long as it's approached with care it's ok, and a few think it really matters and it can't be ignored. Lots of grey areas.

That’s probably the nicest way to handle it, I agree. Although one big issue that sticks out is that the song will potentially be played to an international audience who are at least in part going to be from those lands far away. Doesn’t sit right with me at all..

Lots of interesting viewpoints! Let's leave the 'woke / reform' stuff out of it if possible, it's not a political conversation, it's more about whether the meaning of things matters. If you want to expand this beyond music: Can we detach meaning from something we like the aesthetics of? You could ask, as a white British man, is it political correctness gone mad if I can't wear a t-shirt with a giant swastika on it just because it's a pretty shape and red and black looks good on me? Or, can I go to Millwall and wear a claret / sky blue t-shirt without getting my face punched in? Should I understand what those shapes and colours mean before wearing them? Does a piece of music symbolise and stand for something, or is it just a series of sounds that happen to make us feel good?

Yep, this 100% nails why I have some anxiety about it. Context matters (to me anyway). I think the lines and boundaries around this can be blurry, and I'm genuinely curious what people see as a line they won't cross. Is it ok to play a cover of Sunday Bloody Sunday? Is it ok to do it if you're from Surrey and have never been to Ireland? What if you're playing it to an Irish audience in an Irish pub? What about a Bob Marley cover? How about if it's to a black audience? Should a 52 year old white guy ever do a rap cover of Fight the Power by Public Enemy - at a street party in Brixton?

The issue is more about playing it as a tune to dance to without being aware of the context. And potentially to an audience that is more aware of the context than members of the band are. That’s the part that gives me Partridge vibes.