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In my ongoing quest for the perfect shortie strings I stuck a set of La Bella IMA signatures on my Lionel. I really like the feel of these on my 34 scale Sandberg but the tension of the set is a bit high in regular tuning, but on a shortie they feel perfect. The Lionel has full sized machinehead posts so there's been no string damage winding them - the strings are groundwound rather than a flat and still very round feeling to me, but with much lower string noise than most others. Very reasonably priced at Bass Direct as well - I will be getting more of them. I asked IMA himself on IG about other options and he tells me that there won't be other gauges coming (boo!) but short scale versions are expected (yay!). So for basses with smaller string posts it looks like some will become available.

I saw that No Treble featured one of G. Gould (founder of Modulus) basses as their "Bass of the Week", intrigued by the graphite composite neck I googled them.... I was met with some genuine early 2000s internet nostalgia in the form of their website - https://www.ggould.com/home.html In this day and age of fancy websites filled with Ads and banners. This hard to read, picture heavy website is a fun change and reminds me of the "good old days". Nice basses too.

It does and thanks 👍👌😊

I play my SL Lionel a lot more than my SL TT4 these days. Sometimes I wonder about selling the TT4 and maybe getting the TT Lionel version instead so I still have P and J options. Or just another P Lionel. I seem to be moving away from J sounds in general.

I just glanced at that as I scrolled past and for all the world it looked like a teeny tiny Sandberg bass in Lozz’s HUGE hand!!!! 🤦‍♂️

The Limiñanas, Bristol. Great live band and The Fleece is probably my favourite Bristol venue.

In the diary…

We're getting a separate room for you!

He has his own signature version made by Eastwood. When I saw him last he was using the Eastwood, although judging from recent gig photos he's gone back to the Shergold Back in the early 80s there were plenty of bass players influenced by him. Have a listen to early Section 25, the first Modern English album, Modern Eon and some Dancing Did to name but four. Nowadays? Me:

My pedal riser board currently: Schu-Tone Ramparts (Green Muffin w/mids) -> Mooer Envelope -> MXR Vintage Octave -> TC Corona Chorus -> TC PolyTune Mini 3 There’s room for another 1590a sized something above the two TC pedals, so I think that might have to be an MXR or Mooer micro power, as it’s all running on a daisychain at the mo, which I suspect the two digital pedals will eventually not agree with if I gig this setup. Si

Severn Nation Army - White Stripes

River Of Dreams - Billy Joel

For myself I have managed with a small Ashdown Acoustic Radiator - very powerful for the size. There are a few on eBay for around £130 right now, and Ashdown happily service them. Avoid anything with damaged speakers, as replacements were no longer available when I last contacted Ashdown. Some Acoustic Radiators have a DI out, so your guitarist could just turn down the amplifier and use the DI out and stage monitors if he is feeling bold. However, given his lack of on-stage experience, I would not recommend it. He can also use the Acoustic Radiator at home, to get used to the concept of stage volume, of adjusting the sound of the amplifier, and of identifying and removing feedback. Add to that a tilt-back amplifier stand to point the sound at his ears, and a chorus pedal to soften the sound a little. Cables in various colours (so that your guitarist can easily set up: "the long orange one from the guitar, into the chorus pedal; the short green one from chorus to the amplifier.") Maybe a breakfast-bar stool, if he wants to sit down. A guitar stand for the guitar, because it's important to set it down without laying it on the floor, or for when he swaps out instruments. As for which guitar to use, let him test them all with the band first. It may be that (for example) his hand-made custom shop twin neck acoustic is less stage-friendly than a cheaper Tanglewood. He will also want to learn that the rich bass and soaring trebles of his guitars when played solo, may not be necessary in a band setting. Let us know how he gets on! Robert Edit. He will require a footpedal tuner, even if he has a tuner in his guitars. That's because the footpedal tuner can act as a mute switch, to ensure that the guitar's sound can be switched off to the PA, not just when tuning but to kill sudden feedback, or to swap out guitars.

All this stuff behind people's backs is toxic. Some leadership is needed from the rest of the band. If A has concernes, he should take responsibility for setting a clear expectation. Or B could also just tell him to foxtrot oscar and highlight some of A's own failings. After the clearing of the air, hopefully both might be a little more aware of their own short comings and perhaps more inclined to work on their own performances rather than criticise the others and perhaps...PERHAP each could OFFER to improve an aspect of their playing if there are valid concerns from the rest of the band.

Hadn't realised there'd been such a long hiatus... We've arrived at that time of year when if you're in various types of music groups you end up running around like an idiot. Back when I sang with my first singing teacher's choir, I'd have about six gigs just with his choir, on top of whatever I was doing with other groups. When I played with the big wind band, they'd do about six as well. During that time, I sang with two other choirs, to which you coudl add about another four or five events, making about ten or eleven in total. It's not quite that bad now. The local community choir I sing in has three gigs lined up but I can only do two of them as I'm in London for the first one, which is this week. The choral society has one main concert plus a couple of charity events, the latter requiring some volunteers for carol singing. I'm only doing the main concert for that group, which is next week. The brass band has lots of little gigs - at least half a dozen - which vary in requirements from a handful of players to larger groups, plus a main concert. Due to the travel involved, I've limited myself to just the main concert. There is various news to report, so I will write some more posts shortly.