Midland Bass Bash 4 13/05/2017

[jazzyvee]

Looks like I can make it today. I'm coming along and bringing a couple of my Alembic basses.
This one an Elan 4 with all maple body two P-style pickups low pass filter Q-switch and bass and treble boost & cut switches. master volume and pan.


And this one a black maple bodied Alembic Europa 5 string that has signature electronics. Two low pass filters with q switches master volume and pan.

This is pretty hard for me to do as all of my friends will tell you, I never ever let anyone play my basses so if you decide you want to try it out please understand my nervousness and no belt buckles or other hardware that could damage the finish and no plectrums.



[url="http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=7237.0"]http://club.alembic....hp?topic=7237.0[/url]

Other than that, see you guys in a bit and it will be nice to put faces to basses.

Edited May 13, 2017 by jazzyvee

[tauzero]

Annoyed I couldn't make it as I had to do some work which was supposed to have been done last weekend, and decided as it was rather important that it was safer to do it from home than from the bash. I miss cake.

[Si600]

Thank you all for coming. It's nice that there are so many repeat customers/offenders!

Thank you to Jo, Mrs. Norris and whoever made the chocolate chip biscuits for making cake and biscuits and to those who also brought cake, this is rapidly becoming the custom bass builder and cake bash

Raffling Andy's amazing prize of an acoustic bass raised £49 that will go to BC towers to keep Ped and Kiwi in Jaffa Cakes!

Pictures later when I can be bothered to get up from the sofa

Thank you all once again, another one next year?

Edited May 13, 2017 by Si600

[T-Bay]

Just got back......



From taking my daughter to her Brownie event, hope everyone had a good time and I hope to make next years one.

[Harryburke14]

great day, great cake, great basses, and now great GAS for a status-necked Jazz.

The joys

[Norris]

Thanks for arranging it again Si. Lovely to meet everyone too and to play on some pretty amazing basses!

[Joebethell]

Great day! Thanks for the hard work Si!
Lovely people and great basses in attendance glad I could finally make it to a bash.

[Andyjr1515]

Yup - great, great day. Thanks, Si....I know how much effort these things are. You're a superstar, mate

But completely eclipsed, I'm afraid by MrsChis_Sharman's (Jo's) macaroons......

[Marillionred]

Great event - thanks for organising again Si!

Those Alembics - just wow!

Talked to many lovely people who generously let me have a go on their treasures.

Just what were those silky smooth flat strings on the various fretless 5s please? GAS.

[converse320]

Thanks for organising, we learned a lot. Loved the Victoria Sponge.

[markstuk]

Great day.. really enjoyed it ..

[Harryburke14]

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1494697742' post='3297988']
Yup - great, great day. Thanks, Si....I know how much effort these things are. You're a superstar, mate

But completely eclipsed, I'm afraid by MrsChis_Sharman's (Jo's) macaroons......
[/quote]

absolutely the best thing there

[Andyjr1515]

I'll post some photos when work out how to get them off the iPhone but a few highlights among many that spring to mind:
- Mrs Sharman's and Mrs Norris's cakes
- Jabba-the-gut's builds...all of them
- Norris's sublime blue wonder
- the Letts and Warwicks and Westones and so many other utterly wonderful basses
- the sounds of people who clearly know how to play bass
- Chris's electric upright....and the acoustic double bass taking up 3/4 of the floor space
- seeing so many of my past and future customers
- and that Seashell could make it again this year
- and that Harry's red veneered Harley Benton still looks good
- and putting a face to Joe's PM's
- and did I mention the cakes?

Great stuff

[Chris Sharman]

Hi all!

just to restate the bleedin' obvious...it was a great day yet again and thanks of course to Si for his hard work in organising the event. Thanks also to everyone that had a chat about the vaious basses on offer and was prepared to let me get my hands on them.

Thanks from Mrs S for the kind words regarding cakery.

It was good to catch up with you all and I look forward to seeing some of you at gigs over the coming months. (and to seeing photos of today of course)

Cheers,

C.

[NickA]

yup thanks all for a great and friendly afternoon.

... and given [color=#0000cd][i]"..... I never ever let anyone play my basses ..." [/i][/color][color=#000000]Extra thanks to JazzyVee for letting me not only see, but touch and EVEN PLAY both the alembics (that black Europa is pretty much the only fretted bass anyone would ever need... ever... tho it weighs even more than my Wal). [/color]

[color=#000000]..confusion over five strings, three pickups and fanned frets on that Dingwall !!!! For a fretless 4 stringer of 35 yrs this one did my head in.[/color]

[color=#000000].. excellent Mesa amp and cab (as I found they should be when I got home and checked the book price!!)[/color]

[color=#000000]Even got a go on one of these http://www.innerviews.org/inner/tacuma/tacumaheader.jpg (the Steinberger, not Mr Tacuma):[/color]


[color=#000000]And what WERE those nice flat round strings on the shiny Shuker?[/color]

[color=#000000]Thanks for organising. Now have to learn some new tunes for next year![/color]

[color=#000000]Cheers all.[/color]

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='Si600' timestamp='1494695501' post='3297958']
...and whoever made the chocolate chip biscuits...


...Thank you all once again, another one next year?
[/quote]

I only brought the choc chips. My house mate made them using the ALDI cookie dough packs that you find in the chiller. They're slightly better than packet biscuits because they are freshly baked. I will pass your message on.

Another Bash? Pencil me in for that please.

Many thanks Si and regards to everyone I met, Laters.
John

[cytania]

Thanks to Si and everyone for a wonderful afternoon. For four hours I could forget the election, work woes, band woes and lose myself in bass land 😀

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='NickA' timestamp='1494713488' post='3298134']
...[color=#000000]Even got a go on one of these [url="http://www.innerviews.org/inner/tacuma/tacumaheader.jpg"]http://www.innerview...acumaheader.jpg[/url] (the Steinberger...[/color]
[/quote]

Gosh I wish. The one shown with Jamaaladeen Tacuma in your image looks like a composite jobbie - the L2;

"The more famous Steinberger design was the L-Series bass guitar. Steinberg came up with a proprietary graphite and carbon fiber mix that comprised the main body and a face plate."
[url="http://steinberger.com/history.html"]http://steinberger.com/history.html[/url]

In 1979, three prototypes were "sold at The Guitarman to John Entwistle (The Who), Tony Levin (King Crimson) and Andy West (The Dregs)"

Mine has a wooden neck and body. It is from the more recent production run of Spirit guitars that Steinberger procuced from 1999 on. It cost me about £260 from Digital Village (Now DV247) when they price matched the one advertised on Thomann's site at the time. I shudder to think how much the composite L series would have cost new in the eighties. Today there is a black one on EB that is over £1500 with 20 hours left in which to bid.

Thanks for posting that image. I enjoyed looking it up.

I might get onto Ned and see if he'll knit me a carbon monofilament version for Christmas.

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='jazzyvee' timestamp='1494679499' post='3297804']
Looks like I can make it today. I'm coming along and bringing a couple of my Alembic basses.
This one an Elan 4 with all maple body two P-style pickups low pass filter Q-switch and bass and treble boost & cut switches. master volume and pan.


And this one a black maple bodied Alembic Europa 5 string that has signature electronics. Two low pass filters with q switches master volume and pan.

This is pretty hard for me to do as all of my friends will tell you, I never ever let anyone play my basses so if you decide you want to try it out please understand my nervousness and no belt buckles or other hardware that could damage the finish and no plectrums.



[url="http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=7237.0"]http://club.alembic....hp?topic=7237.0[/url]

Other than that, see you guys in a bit and it will be nice to put faces to basses.
[/quote]

Those were two of the most nicely finished basses I think I've ever seen. No wonder you had to wear orange shoes. You'd have been "upstaged" otherwise. Heeheehee.

You are rightly cautious about letting others handle your basses my friend. Thanks for taking them out for us all to admire.

[Andyjr1515]

These are stupendously rubbish photos, but hey....

Norris's fantastic 'First Build':



Some of Chris Sharman's basses - just look at that beauty on the left!!!:



A cupboard hinge (I told you they weren't great photos):


Some absolutely beautiful Warwicks and a sublime Letts (not that you can see any of them!):


A couple of Harry's beasts:



Talking of beasts, Jez with his raffle winnings :



Mick's new build on Norris's custom hanging system next to Norris's build and Ric:


Did anyone else take any [i]proper[/i] photos?

[markstuk]

I took some (not sure they're any better) I'll upload a link later

[markstuk]

I took some (not sure they're any better) I'll upload a link later

[seashell]

A lovely afternoon. Great to talk bass to a few like minded people.

[seashell]

And the lemon sponge was delish!

Thanks for organising it all again, Si.

[markstuk]

more pictures here... Let me know if the link does not work..

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B6oFnWtRjlTpMk9TOVhWNkdmV3c?usp=sharing