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During my formative bass playing years I had a dislike of big bodied basses with a 4 in line headstock. Being relatively short (5'7") most bases look too big on me. I remember seeing a band where the bassist was shorter than me and he was playing a Jazz. To my eyes it didn't look good on him, and I went down the route of headless and short scale basses for a few years. I still don't like that slightly large jazz bass body and have a preference for 3+1 or 2+2 headstocks but I think it's more aesthetic than irrational prejudice these days.

New strings. I mean - WTF?

Make the neck straight (using truss rod adjustment) - confirm with a notched straight edge. Adjust saddle height screws to get desired action at 12th fret (1.5 - 2.0mm ?). If the saddle heights are way out of range (too high or too low) then shim the neck for correct neck angle... Check nut slot height is good. Should now be in the ball park - any problems? If individual frets are causing buzz then a level, crown and polish (partial or full fretboard) is indicated.

A P Bass. I had basses that I was happy with but I felt (though the BC collective and others) that I 'needed' a P bass. I managed to secure a deal on a 'B' stock American Fender P and after a few days of dialing it in, I fell in love. My go to is still my Sterling HH but the P works in situations where I'm not 100% sure what's needed - I've been fortunate enough to pick up some depping work recently and it's handy to have for the initial rehearsal and/or until I know what the sound is. Plus my main band often does some laid back gigs where the HH is a bit too forward in the mix and the P sits nicely. I also record, and it's great for that too.

Exactly the same, but in the first try, you'll have tightened the truss rod and in the second you'll have untightened it, or the opposite if it's a left thread. In my first message to the OP, I wrote "unscrewing" instead of anything else to release the tension on the truss rod, as, to me, for a beginner, it was the most obvious explanation. But I know some people don't know in which direction to go to screw or unscrew, then they should let a professional do the job...

I put a set of kala / galli ubass flatwounds on mine several years ago. These are chrome steel over a nylon core. The nut needed to be recut but I think these strings will last forever.

I’m still not 100% certain I can attend but I was going to bring my Livetrack-12, NUX MG-30 & Stomp so people can have an idea of what ‘no amp’ can sound like. And be able to play as loud as they like without annoying anyone else. I have a few spare earbud tips and wet wipes but remember to stick your own headphones/earbuds in! Also if anyone is thinking of travelling from Bromley/Orpington area I have space in the car!

I was on holiday in Crete on the day he died, the next day the entertainment team played Paranoid and Crazy Train during the pool aerobics 😄

Yeah, those two in the Nux work really well. The Nux is the first time ive been happy with using IR's. I only want the IR for home use, but I have used it with a rig and it sounded great.

Thanks - the SGT tone without the IR was exactly what I was after. But hearing the NUX IR 810 Ampeg and Aguilar presets sound great. Also the drive seems subtle

Thanks! The headphone amp (MA400) is to provide my Pre bass signal to my IEMs, which I use wirelessly now. With bands that have an IEM mixer I get a stereo band feed (Inc bass) back into the TRS input into the MA400, adjust the volume level then mix in as much of my bass as desired into my IEMs. To recap: I send Pre to the band IEM mixer, get mixed Pre back, add extra DI'd Pre to my IEMs, send Post to my stage amp and to FOH. This is the signal path...

I kind of like using it but I guess I own a P bass partly because I feel I ought to, as a keen bassist... But I don't really need it. To be fair I don't need most of my gear at all. I am probably going to go back round the loop of shedding basses and other gear down to a minimum just to build it all back up again. "Stuff that needs repairing" is something I've been inspired to acquire but I have not the time, skills or tools to do this. I have just felt the need to buy an 80s Aria Pro ii with a broken neck, all the components of a bitsa that ended up looking great but costing more than a Sire that would be a much better instrument, and some weird kit bass I bought and tinkered with. All completely unnecessary and almost a total waste of time.

Funny enough I got the SGT-DI to replace the Nux, but after 30mins I decided it wasn't for me. I had a noise issue with my wireless system and at the time put it down to the SGT-DI being faulty (its wasn't), but also wasn't too keen on the tone. The Nux was almost perfect for me, but I wanted more control over the drive side. IT works well but its a blend and its a bit tricky getting the drive to not increase the overall level by much when engaged. I got the MB3 on a whim, it's not one id thought of before, but ive been very happy with it. No noise issue at all for me, and I do all my home practising with headphones at home so would notice it. I still think for home/headphone use the Nux is better for me, as it has the IR's, so that's when I use it. It's small so sits on my desk. Id be happy to use the MB3 for this as well though. I thought the MB3 looked quite boring before getting it, im used to using a BDDI which is quite coloured, but with the Nux and MB3 I can finally hear my bass properly. The MB3 isn't clean to my ears, it's still got a bit of roughness to the clean channel although that might be the bass. Ether way, very pleased with it.

The Personal Trainer that takes one of my classes decided to have an hours worth of Ozzy / Black Sabbath songs playing during his class as a tribute to Ozzy. It went down really well. Its great to hear decent music in the gym instead of the usual pop drivel you normally hear. He generally plays decent music. Dave

Burning Down The House - Talking Heads

Its surprising what folks have used to raise pick up heights. TBH i was expecting everyone to be using the same thing but bass players are very resourceful by looks of it. 😂 Dave

Nothing, packed it in 8 yrs ago, my ears just couldn't take it anymore....even wearing plugs. And to be honest, there's very little 'modern' music that inspires me to want to play anyway.