All Activity

The Cost Of Living - Don Henley

Over the years I've commissioned a number of custom builds. My three drivers have been: Light weight Unusual materials Distinctive body shape and/or configuration Effectively that list translates into the single concept: Not Easily Found Elsewhere. There is also recognition there that this is not about price, or about being able to recover my "investment" later. If that was a significant issue for me (and of course it is for most people, I do realise that) then I'd just stick to buying pre-CBS Fenders ... boring, but reliable. Back when I bought a series of basses from @Prosebass (who I believe no longer does custom builds) I actually did OK on resale and I recovered most of the money, but in my head at the time it was money spent, not money invested. I've never bought one of @Beedster's bitsas, nice as I know them to be, nor anyone else's, simply because Fender clones are very easily found at every possible price point, every possible quality level, and in every possible configuration. I don't need to have one custom-made just for me; the one I want is already out there and available on Basschat, Reverb, eBay or somewhere in Guang-Zhou. But if I want an uber-lightweight active 5-string fretless then I call up @Andyjr1515, which is exactly what I did. If I were to want (yet another) aluminium bass, or a cheap(er) copy of something by an exotic, high-end luthier then I'd consider commissioning a build. Otherwise, no.

Starting a project is more likely. I've found interesting bands are harder to come by as you get older. Unless you know a large network of likeminded people already. Sites like Bandmix haven't cut it. I'm just not sure it's even possible at my age. This is uncharted territory for me. But I appreciate all the suggestions!

Yes, I have loads of experiences in the workplace from the corporate centre of a FTSE100. I spent a lot of time with HR supporting reports and team members on incidents of racism, transphobia, homophobia, sexism, anti-tattoo views, general bullying. I call it out and fight all the way. One particular director managed to tick all the boxes but was defended because he was Chinese and "it's part of their culture" even though the company policy was that anyone's culture didn't override policy. I acknowledge that when you're doing anything for a living, have limited choices and need the remuneration, it influences decisions. Although prolonged exposure to those sort of environments takes an emotional toll.

We had a keyboard player once who was always on about "workshy dolies", and was very conservative in his views... So long as he hadn't been on the Stella he tended not to shout very much about looney lefties or whatever, but never ever appeared racist. However, he also bought the Daily Star every day, and after he'd left the band started going on about how we'd all be under Sharia Law soon. And this ranting rose as he came more under the Spell of Stella - soon he was unable to work anymore and could only afford White Lightning. At about this time he also informed me that he'd been playing with Lily Allen, but as he wasn't very handsome they kept him behind a curtain (though I knew for a fact that he hadn't left Swansea, and wasn't very good as a keyboard player either!). And he was also thrown out of the covers band he was in for unreliability, drunken-ness and being too aggressive. However, he'd always been quite unhappy and blamed others for his self-inflicted misfortunes. So while I wouldn't have played with him in a band again, I sympathised with how his life had completely gone down the toilet. He died aged 62 as a result of his booze'n'fags regime.

This. Exactly. These days, if you have an opinion opposite to 'the herd' [no matter how considered and well thought out], you're automatically labelled a racist, bigot, or some kind of fringe lunatic. Back to the point at hand though, our beliefs, no matter how extreme or otherwise, have nothing to do with the music we play together. We're there to entertain either ourselves, each other or an audience. Politics should never come into it. If people can't separate their beliefs from what's truly important, they need to get over themselves and get a life. It's good to have principles, but please, keep them to yourselves. The music is more important.

I knew someone very similar. All was well once his very religious parents died. Now he lives in another country and spends a lot of time on Grindr

I must admit, when it comes to music, I care not a jot for anything beyond the music itself. I don't really listen to the lyrics or care what a song is about, and have no interest in the band member's affiliations or predilections beyond their stage and studio gear.

I worked in a team of two doing manual work - which meant a lot of time in a Transit van, at cafes, or just chatting while working. The guy who was my boss turned out to be racist, but given the situation I didn't directly confront him right from the start - I didn't agree with him or encourage him but gradually questioned his thinking, over time he admitted that it was how he was bought up, is the news he consumes, and for him it basically came from a place of fear of 'different' and angry about his lot in life - it wasn't actually due to anything that had specifically happened to him by different races. More time passed, more discussions, long-shot was that over the course of a year he pretty much completely changed his views and went from voting BNP to being a strong Corbyn supporter. I dunno, in some ways it seemed he swung from one extreme to the other rather than just chilling out! I've known another racist, a relative. She seems genuinely scared of 'small boats' and all those sort of stories, add to that from Covid for about 4 years she didn't leave the house and barely does now - not for any specific medical reason, just that she is scared of the world. There's no reasoning with her, it's difficult not to feel sorry for her though. And I know a guy that is almost the definition of a homophobe, he jokes but is literally scared 'I'm not going in the toilet while he's in there' sort of stuff. I don't confront him that forcefully other than poking fun at his irrational fear 'he'd never fancy you' sort of stuff. I now mostly feel pity for people having those sort of views - they seem to live quite irrationally fearful and angry lives, so I don't know about potential band mates - I'm not sure someone being fearful/ill-informed/stupid is reason to not play music with them. And most of the time these attitudes are only a very small part of a personality.

sorry wrong section please delete🙂

So recently i bought my first bass from a friend and after some playing i found out that turning neck pickup knob lower makes bass sound louder while bridge pickup is on max. What do i do?

Yeah, nah, wouldn't want to associate anyone with any vile views. Bad enough at work, even the nice old lady who runs the canteen has started sharing the "usual" shut the borders etc memes. Certainly don't want that crap in my personal / social life. I do see members of bands / bands called out on such things too, so I've seen it happen, a drummer from some band was pictured at a far right rally, which was picked up on and shared about. Needless to say, I don't think he'll get much gig work now

The only answer I can give you is that the headphones is independent of the master, so you can use both at the same time, just like with a soundcard with independent volumes. The frequencies below are a guess, but I can say that they are very well chosen, the deep should be around 40 Hz, the bright around 6.5 kHz, the bass around 80 Hz and the treble around 10 kHz, but it's a guess only.