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Different shop, alas. Some of the founders of Musical Exchanges from left; Dave ( the owner), Stu and Gary Chapman who recently worked in PMT in Birmingham and latterly Fairdeal.

Couple of gigs for me this week. Regular Wednesday evening at the rock and roll club - busier than the last few weeks and we played tighter too, we’re really starting to gel now. I’m thinking of trying my Danelectro Longhorn out down there at some point, may fit in nicely. Last night saw our acoustic duo playing at a birthday party for a farmer a couple of villages from where I live. He sells sunflowers from one of his fields, so the marquee was suitably decorated. I took my Fender Kingman bass, and we used his PA - RCF tops with Mackie bass bins, a throwback to his previous life as a DJ. The initial brief was 3 x 40 min sets - first one background stuff as the guests arrived, second one taking requests as they ate ( gourmet burger van, excellent!) and then the last set playing stuff for dancing. However, largely due to the free bar people got up to dance early on in set 2, so we had to keep it going. Really pleased we had the large PA, as it needed to kick a bit and it did! Last set was full on, lots of the audience on the makeshift dance floor. We finished around 11pm, absolutely knackered though. We packed away and left the party which remained in full swing. Still, we were paid handsomely, well fed and watered and also gave out a few business cards so overall a good gig. Just glad I have today to recover. 😆

I saw The Undead last night at Rebellion. Bobby Steele's band (ex Misfits guitarist) They were great but the sound was a bit dodgy. Miffed there were no xxl shirts but never mind... adding his autograph to my misfits signature tattoo today.

Congrats WoT. Looks lovely. I like those vintage Jazz necks too - just that extra little bit of depth to them, making them really comfortable. Having a look around, these come in some lovely colour combinations. Is it Will at BassBros bringing these in?

Too Hot To Handle - UFO

Your line of questioning was a bit odd and if you read any of my posts elsewhere you'll see I frequently use the word 'subjective' when making comparisons, simply because I know what may appeal to me would be abhorrent to others. Simply because I say the Bongo was fantastic (it ticked so many boxes), I shouldn't need to have to justify that to you by providing a list of instruments by way of validation.

Fire - Jimi Hendrix

Is this list still up to date, I wonder? I wanted to share the list with someone based in Belgium, but @marcoelwray can't be found. Pilot error on my part? Or has this member left the forum?

Buzz from top 4 frets is one of two things. 1, the nut is cut too low (nut needs replacing or there is a superglue and baking soda trick, do a Google search for this). 2, neck has too much back bow (turn truss rod 1/4 turn from left to right facing the bass in upright position to resolve). The other option is to change the strings to some higher in tension then your current ones.

Welcome to the club !

Beauty!

Sleep That Burns - BeBop Deluxe

First gig back for 7 months for various reasons….. Good warm up, bit rusty, but a fun one.. Then the following night, a hot one, but I had a great on stage sound, full Ashdown rig on full tilt, a lot of fun…..

If anyone wants to reduce the amount of choices, choosing these parametres could lessen the amount of basses available: 1) scale length 30 - 36" 2) string spacing at the bridge 14 - 21.5 mm 3) headed/headless 4) pickups: JJ/PJ/humbuckers... After these there would be quite many excluded. The most common has probably a 34" scale, 17 mm spacing, is headed, and pickups are PJ. After purchasing whichever instrument, a pro setup, and a test of several string sets is in need. I really don't get the idea, that someone uses over £1000 and then says the bass isn't good only because different string sets weren't tried. Especially B needs extra testing.

Had our first gig with the new lineup last night to a packed venue with close to 150 people in this tiny room. And we absolutely smashed it. I went DI for the bass - Tonex One into cheap generic passive DI box into FOH, and wired IEM packs. Struggled to sleep overnight from the adrenaline, but that's about normal for me after a gig.

Jack bought some strings from me and was absolutely brilliant from start to finish. Payment was made immediately and he took the time to let me know when they arrived safely. Perfect, thank you!

I'm Only Sleeping - Same Guys