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420 miles from South Wales to Manchester and back for an ampeg 8x10 back in the day, with a terrible hangover.

Could it just be that the headstock has been banged very hard on something which has sheered a section off along the grain?

Agree I never heard him speak before and he’s exactly what I expected

Older Ric basses had a Tune-o-Matic style bridge sitting on a large tailpiece/baseplate which many didn't like. It was recently replaced with a newer V2 model which is a different design and provides full adjustment; that's what's on the mapleglo one in @tvickey's post. So my comment was a bit of a joke because that issue is resolved on that bass. The bridge issue is a matter of opinion; it appeared in 1963 and persisted for 50 years, during which time Rickenbacker sold a lot of instruments. Some people just complain that the Ric isn't a Fender, but if it was then it woudn't be a Ric! Back to the bridges... The older ones were made with a curvature to match the fingerboard, so that never needed adjusting and there was just a screw at each end for the overall action. The intonation is a little more finicky to adjust because: i. the trailing ends of the strings sit directly above the adjusters, making them difficult to access, ii. the bridge height adjustment sinks into the tailpiece and the curvature of the tailpiece casting can further block access, and iii. there is limited lengthwise travel in the saddles on a tune-o-matic, and it can be necessary to disassemble it and turn individial ones arround so the asymmetric "V" is orientated in the opposite direction. Some folks also don't like the older Ric "hair-pin" truss-rods, but they're generally fine and virtually never need adjusting. Plus there were two of them! If you are an incessant tweaker then they the important message is that they didn't work like Fender ones and you could damage the bass by assuming they did. This led to them having a bit of a bad name as people would find out the hard way. The instructions said not to use the truss-rod to shift the neck, but rather to flex the neck to position (by holding it over your knee and pressing against the 1st fret) (or you can use clamps on a workbench of you want to be more professional about it) and using the truss-rod adjustment to hold it in place. Actually I've seen that recommended as a general approach for older instruments (even Fenders). Rics have moved with the times and now they have the V2 bridge (I think it's based on a Schaller 3D, which was used on a couple of Ric models anyway) and they've shifted to a single dual-action truss-rod, so folks can adjust to their hearts content. But there are a heck of a lot of older RIcs about, soldiering on, doing their job and generally they don't need tweaking: just get them set up once and keep buying the same strings. So, it's not a running joke that nobody adjusts them; it's rather that they generally don't need a lot of adjusting.

@Victor Cox Emails can bounce back due to problems with your own email service, not the receiving end. There are technical reasons for this which I'm just learning coincidentally as part of my job. Do you have another email service you can send from like GMail or Hotmail? Edit: just seen from main thread on bassday europe that others have had problems with bounce back, but probably still worth a try with another email service, unless you're already using GMail in which case the problem is definitely at the receiving end.

Psychologically, you already have.

Hi folks. I'm looking to buy an ultra-cheap 4-string for teaching on and found a neat Duff McKagen clone on DH Gate. My plan is to get one (a cheapy bass), make it serviceable and probably stick some kind of Hipshop rip-off tuner on it for laughs. Does anyone have experience of buying from there and am I going to totally regret it?

My shrink says I have to write all these awful memories to be at peace with myself and then burn them, but I still haven't clearly understood if I have to burn you... 🤔 🤪

Gary Barlow on fine form last night in Manchester. Lee Pomeroy (just in shot on the right) appeared to have a ball. Also Milton McDonald on guitar left-front making a second Yes-related band member as he played with ABWH way back when they toured. Add to that Gary himself chose 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' on 'Desert Island Discs' as his wake-up call to step up the production for his music. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001h1p) However no prog last night, just Gary's solo and Take That bangers. Great show.

Took some new pictures of my Epiphone Jack Casady Signature. I modified this bass about 20(!) years ago with a Gibson lo-z humbucker from a Les Paul Bass that I had bought on Ebay at the time. I was not so impressed by the Electar element that Epiphone had developed in collaboration with Jack Casady himself. I never believed the marketing story that Casady didn't think the Gibson element of the Les Paul Signature was good enough. Knowing Gibson, they just had no idea how the original element was put together and then made a brave attempt to come up with something as close as they could to the real thing. Anyway, I took the plunge at the time and put the saw in the gold top to be able to mount the large oval Gibson humbucker in it. Thanks to CTS I managed to get hold of the right potentiometers that match the low impedance of the element. And the three-position rotary switch does not operate an impedance converter, (as with the original Epi JCS), but chooses from the three coil-taps that come out of this majestic Gibson pickup with no less than 8 wires. The head of the bass also got an overhaul. Every JCS suffers a major neck dive. So I replaced the tuners with much lighter Gotoh Res-o-lites. And I also adjusted the shape of the head slightly. Makes a huge difference I also fitted the bass with silver cap reflector potentiometer knobs. I modified the pickguard to match the shape of the chrome pickup ring. I placed a chrome bridge cover. And behind the bridge hangs a so-called Modbar to keep the double windings at the ball end of the strings away from the bridge saddles. I replaced the plastic nut with a bone nut. I've used the bass many times since. Live and in the studio.

Bought a VT Bass off Joel for a reallY great price, fantastic pedal (although I probably need to give Tech21 some credit for that too 😁). Superb comms/packaging/delivery, couldn’t be happier!

True, I forgot about that awful journey! I think I purged it from my memory... 😆

Not sure if this is permitted, but I have a Reverend Sentinel short scale for sale in the classifieds. Really superb shortie, both in terms of tone and build. I'm surprised I haven't had any offers, even though there has been a good deal of interest. Branding perhaps? I'm only selling since I have gone back to playing my 34 inch basses but happy to share my experiences playing it .

Very true. Zhang Weiyi gets by building around 170 guitars per year. One, built for an American, was priced at $53k. Craftsmen of his standing don't look for work, it comes to them 🙂 Ali-Ex is mostly middleman traders posting the same stock images, when/if they get an order they shop-around for a supplier.

And you also took a bus to Brussels to meet me for a trade. 😉

I haven’t read the replies, just the OP’s post so it’s likely already been said, but Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats are definitely the brightest flats I’ve played. Chromes can be pretty bright to start with, but they get pretty thumpy before long and they’re also quite stiff IMO, whereas the Cobalts are relatively low tension for flats

That's the one! Brilliant!! Going to find me a cheap epiphone.........🤪👍

The Weight - The Band

No nothing like heavy metal,more jazz,blues r'n'b vibe I would say. We sometimes play established songs in major keys that utilise the 7th scale degree chord and vamp on it using notes from the Locrian mode until we decide to hit the (usually) home chord.

Do JHS DIY pedals count? A thread on their NotaDumble:

I'm trying to work out if this is actually an issue or not. I know nothing about Rickenbackers apart from Macca and Lemmy played them. I keep hearing that the bridge is difficult but surely after all these years they must have fixed this problem? Or is it just a running joke that nobody does adjust them? Thanks Rob