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Great name for a band!

The Venture is an all new Yamaha, much as Peavey revitalized Trace Elliot, minus bass player enthusiasm.

I've been meaning to write this up for ages. @The Guitar Weasel's recent thread has finally given me the nudge I needed to start collecting pictures and writing notes. Conveniently, this nudge has come on a weekend when my wife is out of town visiting friends, which was also the circumstance under which I did this project back in 2018. First. A little background on my bass, cast your mind back to the early 2010s – I genuinely don't remember exactly when, I think perhaps 2012? Definitely either 2011 or 2012. The weekend after my birthday, which is a few weeks before Christmas, my mum popped round to have a cup of tea and drop off a present for me. Over tea, I was presented with a bunch of small wrapped boxes that held – in no particular order – a roll of 120-grit sandpaper, a metal scraper and a bunch of scouring pads. The whole time I'm unwrapping these, my mum was just grinning at me. I stammered some appreciative noises and probably did a poor job of hiding my complete bafflement. She wiggled her eyebrows and said, "for instruments, you know. Fixing stuff". I nodded and smiled as if this explained everything. A few weeks later, and it's Christmas day – my wife and I, along with my siblings, are sitting around at the family home, exchanging gifts and listening to music. My parents then jump up, say something about getting my present, and scamper out of the room. We all hear an odd hollow thumping noise, and the giggling to-me-to-you's of two people manoeuvring something very large down a flight of stairs. I turn to my brother and say, "has, er... mum seemed odd to you lately?", but before he can answer they push open the door to reveal a full size double bass. It turns out that one of my mum's colleagues (primary school teachers all) had been clearing out her late father's house earlier in the year, and had found a double bass in the attic. The old man had been a school music teacher, but never played bass and his daughter didn't remember ever seeing one around. Her best guess was that it was a damaged instrument he'd brought home to fix (probably some time in the 1980s), as he apparently did that sometimes. The following day, this teacher mentioned her predicament in the staffroom, and said it was a shame it would have to go in the skip. Thinking of her bass-player son, my mum volunteered to go round after work and shove the bass into her Skoda Fabia. So why the sandpaper, scourers and scraper? Well, in the 15–25 years it had spent in an uninsulated attic, the gig bag it had originally been stored in – lined with some sort of neoprene-like material, I think – had completely broken down, and the whole instrument was coated in a crust of crumbly, sticky, rubber-like chunks. Annoyingly I didn't take any before pictures, but believe me when I say it was gnarly. I got it cleaned up (it mostly just needed a scrub), replaced the frayed mismatched strings with a set of rotosound RS4000s and set about learning to play it. My wife christened the bass "Marylou", because she (as in my wife) is from the deep south and felt something person-sized needed a person-like name. Marylou has no maker's marks or labels, just the sticker pictured above. The typeface of the school board that presumably originally owned it (below) says early-to-mid 1960s to me. The low-profile BC'er and double bass player who visited me last year to take my old bass cab off my hands reckoned she was probably a Boosey student model from the 1950s or 1960s.

i love the drummer and drum sound on this . . . .

I've owned some Aria Pros and Stingrays. Have tried loads of basses over the years. This one is very special!

Year started playing: 2024 Number of basses: 8 Music theory: 2 Technique: 2 Groove: 4

Wd40 also does the same thing. Obviously only works on non lacquered headstocks.

Love this! Great job. Although I didn’t immediately think Doom machine. 😂

I feel the same about my JV P. I’ve not tried loads of basses, but definitely the best and most “me”.

I just bought some wireless kit from Chris. Everything went smoothly and he was a pleasure to deal with. Thanks again Chris.

It's the same distance from me as the SW Bass Bash, so it seems silly not to go. Put me on the list, please.

Last night we were back at The Burton in Brixham. We were offered tge gig with a weeks notice and took it, as we owed them a gig during to a cancelation earlier this year. Our last gig was 2 months ago and we didn't hsve time for a rehearsal, so just a bit od personal practice. The gig went really well. There were plenty of people, including a party group. We played well and gave a good show. I chatted to a couple who were visiting and came along with some local friends. She said we made her night playing songs from her youth, and he said War Pigs was the song of the night. A guy was videoing is on his phone and we caught up with him afterwards. Hopefully we'll get some of the footage soon. He lives upstairs from the pub and was drawn down by the band and my bass sound. The best gig we've had there, and we were payed a bit extra too. My usual rig, Stingray into RM500 and BF210. One of my photos of the stage.

Yes. Charlie Chandlers pleked a jazz bass many years ago. I bought the instrument 2nd hand and couldn't get the action right despite my best efforts. I was underwhelmed. It was a great fret job, but didn't improve the playability. Can't remember why, but I removed the neck and found someone had stuck a bit of a payment card underneath as a shim. Removed that and was able to sort action in a matter of minutes. If only tech had bothered it would have been a very different experience. If it were me, I'd spend my money on a local luthier/tech to do the job by hand.

Stray Kids at White Hart Lane last night accompanying my granddaughter. Felt louder than Dream Theater but that may have just been that we were in direct line to one of the side arrays. Tight band wheeled out in parts and they even got their own section to wig out with in what I presume was the first major costume change with guitar and bass heading out down the runway, and the whole band getting introductions and a brief solo on the big screens later on. A large proportion of the crowd had LED light sticks (£65 a pop on the merch stand) but pretty cool in that they had Bluetooth and connected to the light show automatically so were all running in sync to colour and pulsing with the main lights. Very polished show, but some interminable crowd interaction sections where each member of the Kids spoke at length with the fans. But good lord the screaming … I really should apologise to those nearby for that 🤣

I have now fitted a nice chrome 'spaghetti' Fender logo which I made using my cricut machine.

Slapped this board together in a hurry as I wanted a battery-powered utility board for a small gig. Slightly miffed I needed to use 2x USB converters to eliminate noise, but it worked well and sounded good in the end! Apologies if the messiness offends anyone!

I have to admit that if I was in need of a 100W amp and had to buy one it would be the V4B. I have never had the pleasure of using an Ashdown product. In reality though, I would just go to my workshop and build such an amplifier from the parts stored there. LOL

Thank you for correcting me. I did look online for the tube complement and got the wrong information.

Booo! Maybe an email to them is needed along with some gut shots?

I was looking to build a bitsa with a Status neck just before they stopped producing. I have looked at Klos necks that BassDirect have on occasion, though since in managed to get the Geddy Jazz with a Status neck out of @Beedster’s hands the itch is temporarily satisfied, but I’m sure it’ll be back sometime. something that is a straight drop in for Fender or MM would probably be a preference (itch starting for a P) and I do like the black and graphite weave showing through on my Status necks so would prefer not to lose that

I was never too keen on the original Barefaced cabs, but I quite like the cabs with the 10" speakers. As I'm getting older, I can see myself getting the 310 cab sometime in the next few years.