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No, Steve Robinson (Manchester Guitar Tech). He was only half a mile from home too. I think he packed in quite a while back, but I haven't had anything in need of a setup for a bit so didn't notice until recently.

Well, I can't please everyone

Grey Matter - Oingo Boingo

My vote would be for the body end of the fretboard- not seen one like it and it sits nicely.

A tribute to Jaco with Jeff Andrews on bass. Bob Mintzer - Three Views of a Secret

I want to ask for some help in identifying stuff. So, on Friday I picked up a Jazz bass from the Gallery. I've been interested for a while in acquiring a really good '70s Jazz and tried out various basses from different shops. This is the one I picked: https://thebassgallery.com/collections/bass/products/fender-72-77 It's a complete mutt and it weighs a frankly ridiculous amount, but it sounds so good. The only close competitor was a walnut '77 at Wunjo, but it was twice the price so I went for this one. Anyway, on getting it home, I had a good look and thought that the neck does not seem right for a '77. No bullet truss rod, the older Fender rather than Schaller tuners, and 4 bolt. It looks very much like a '74 neck - the only thing '77 on there looks like the decal, which could of course be a fake. On removing the neck, I saw the 8 number code - it reads as 0203 0974. I looked this up on various Fender reference pages. Basically; 02- Jazz bass 03 - fretted maple neck/fingerboard 09 - 9th week 7- 1977 4-Thursday So this code also indicates 1977. Can this be right? I'm generally very skeptical of the idea of old parts lying around in the parts bin making their way onto later basses - it generally just means Frankenbass/partscaster. I mean, 1977 was not even a transition year like '75/76 could be considered to be. I've never seen any bass post 1975 without the three bolt/bullet truss rod. Perhaps the received wisdom is wrong - could the 74 mean 1974 rather than 1977 and Thursday? If its a fake, why would someone who has the knowledge to fake a date stamp get the year so wrong (perhaps a guitarist without much knowledge of basses)? Has anyone ever seen something like this before? I really don't care either way as I bought it for the sound rather than any kind of originality, but I was thinking of replacing the decal with a more appropriate 67-1975 TV logo, and if there's any chance it somehow is a '77 I would of course not do this. It will be receiving a new pickguard and pickups though - DiMarzios are interesting but a bit too dark for me - I have some '66 Pure Vintages to try out. And modern tort is just nasty. For now I'll probably go with a black one to match the logo. If it's somehow verified as a 1974 neck I might consider Lavaguard/Spitfire to make something nicer.

What a great name for a tribute band! 😆

Ged Green?

Playing ten miles out of Bournemouth in Ringwood. We (Otis Jay BluesBand) are beginning to hit our stride now with our new girl, and the social media reviews have been kind. Playing my Sandberg VM4 through Galien Krueger MB200 and Barefaced One10. Perfectly adequate for the acoustics, though I did need active bass boost for a couple of numbers. Notable milestone - played our first band original last night, which was happily video’d by an audience member. Slight gripe - 34 paying punters is probably our lowest attendance at the venue (we split ticket money 50-50). Are people finding the new year hangover is now lasting through February? Three gigs in March, so here’s hoping things pick up a bit. The band are now ignoring my request to wear dark colours (like proper blues people) so I’m retaliating with the b/w pic!

Bit of a minefield. There's no 'regulation' just because someone is teaching bass doesn't necessarily mean they know about good technique. Plenty of teachers are great players who are passing on their own bad habits 😆 If i was paying someone to teach me some bass, minimum requirements would be theory, improvisation, and Alexander technique. YMMV.

Great venue for us last night with BLOCKBUSTARZ at The Ferry in Glasgow. Our first time there. The original band that was booked had to cancel and asked if we could fill in for them. Initially said no as they get paid half off what we normally charge. Venue got in touch and we settled on a compromise of a decent fee plus free food and first drink. Venue set aside a table for 6 just off the bar area which was the highlight for me. It was good sitting down for a meal and a blether with my bandmates. All very civilised. Food was excellent too. Anyways back to the gig. Load in 3pm sound check to be completed for 5pm to allow the support band time to do theirs. We set up and finished sound check by 4:30pm. Have to say the SE Stewart from Greenroom Studios in Glasgow was exceptionally good and even told the drummer to retune his snare and how to set the snare for optimum effect as drums sit in an alcove type thing below the upper deck of what was the old Renfrew Ferry. He really was top notch and sound both on stage and off was probably the best i've ever had. I could hear everything clearly across the stage and thru monitors. A perfect balance. Support band was GlasQuo who were all good guys too and easy to work with. Nice listening to a bit of Quo. Bass player was using my rig altho the bass was DI'd to desk and split to my amp as a stage monitor only. Normally i wouldn't do that but the guy replicated my on stage sound to FOH so all good. We don't normally play with support acts because of our costumes and getting ready for the show takes 30mins. Again SE sorted out the full stage when they finished. Two drum kits on stage so that meant dismantle one and pull our drummers kit forward to the front. Fair bit of work but he did a fantastic seemless change-over for us. This guy really knows what he's doing. He literally made our life so easy on the night. Huge respect where deserved. Gig went exceptionally well only a few mistooks (not by me of course 😉) Originally asked to do 2x45min sets or extend it if we need to depending on how change-over went. We opted to play right thru rather than take a break for a costume change from 10:15pm to 11:45pm but we had to cut a few songs out to fit it all in. SE told us we were first class and that the owners were very impressed by us and expect to ask us back. He said even the staff thought it was a great night and apparently they mentioned that the band were all very nice, pleasant and helpful with them. Fun taking the gear out at night as tide was out a bit and ramp was quite steep. Big downside was the parking in Glasgow. We could park on the esplanade area at The Ferry only to unload for approx 20-30 mins however on street parking only allows for max 2hrs stay then you need to move outside that zone so we stretched the venue parking to 4pm and then parked across from the venue on a side street. On street parking was £1:80 /15mins so we found a car park that was only £3/hr so £6 for 2hrs then free street parking after 6pm. Its only £10/day so that's not too bad and that's what i'll do next time. Come April this year on street parking restriction will change from 6pm to 10pm so street parking won't be an option if we return as we would need to move the cars every 2 hrs until 10pm. Its a bit of a joke and not good for the staff that work there. The council are also planning to double the fee for parking. This could kill off the many city centre venues that host live music. Nice we 1hr drive home with clear motorways and very little traffic. Usual gear :- Sandberg VM4 with MarloweDK back up. Shure wireless, Keeley Bassist comp, Handbox WB-100, BF 212 cab, Platform boots being the footwear for the night. SE sent me some pics he took. Dave

Andy sent me an orphaned cable. thoroughly decent fella to deal with. cheers mate.

My first conversation with Dave was similar, but I knew I was talking to an expert and a passionate one so not a problem. But we get so used to corporate waffle from PR departments these days that the occasional bit of straight talking from the coal face can be quite refreshing

The wood in the top, back and head face plate is quite difficult to work with, as it is very old and a bit brittle in structure. This makes it difficult to work with, so the luthier must be very careful and light-handed to avoid splintering the material. But - my trust in Christian is complete. The wood, which is around 3000 years old, has been dried and stored for a very long time. This means that the softest particles in the wood kind of have weathered away. It almost feels as if it were fossilized, but it is just plain old beautiful wood. ❤️

Trip at the brain - suicidal tendencies