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Fog On The Tyne - Lindisfarne

Well, I might be getting old in years but I still understand how the world works, for young people as much as myself. I suppose the critical difference is how much credibility and importance the individual places on whatever respective media. You see Russ, I would beg to differ that most of the manufacturers you mention are adequate replacements for those that are effectively gone now. Dingwall would be the exception. Shuker, Sei, Overwater and GB all build fine basses but I wouldn't give them house room. They just have never appealed to me. None of them can hold a candle to a Wal, or Status or Jaydee for that matter, in terms of being what I want. I'm sure plenty of other folks feel the same. It's naive to think that what most people want when they are buying a bass is merely an adequate (or even superb) instrument. More than anything they are buying an idea combined with association, and the feelings that combination gives them. Very few bass builders appeal to me nowadays. It's not just a generational thing or me hankering for my youth, basses just aren't as interesting or diverse as they once were, fanned frets ect. not withstanding.

My old club band played at one social club NYE gig. We were in an upstairs room, children were only allowed downstairs. The room was half-empty. The consolation was that of the three raffle prizes, we won two (I got whisky, the guitarist got vodka). I've played at weddings - only a couple with rock bands, rather more were with the ceilidh band. For the ceilidh band, we used to use sashes[1] for same-sex dancing pairs to determine which was "man" and which was "woman", but when we did one for a wedding between a gay vicar and his partner, we decided that we could finish up overthinking things. [1] Against my advice, orange. And our dulcimer player wore a bowler hat. Fortunately we never played any Irish gigs.

As for a 32” scale, there is only one !!!

Thank you my good man, I owe you a fondant fancy next time I see you. 👍

That's fair enough.

I bought a pedal from Tom - it arrived super quickly and really well packed. Top bloke - thanks Tom!

There's probably more custom bass luthiers out there now than there has ever been, but most of them are pretty small scale operations. Yes, the majority of the market is still FSOs, but you're starting to see more interesting instruments working their way into the limelight - the rise of Dingwall has been a big deal in that regard. Ibanez continue to be pretty brave with their designs, considering they're a mass-market manufacturer. You're not seeing so much of the alternative-material instruments, although you've got the likes of Klos picking up the baton dropped by Status when they stopped making aftermarket graphite necks, and it seems there's quite a big market out there for carbon-fibre acoustic guitars from the likes of Enya and Lava. At least, in the UK, we've got the likes of Shuker, Sei, Overwater and GB still making great custom instruments, although it's very sad (but understandable, given Rob's desire to retire) that Status have had to downsize so much.

The Pirate Midi Polar Max is based on this open source project https://github.com/Builty/TonexOneController/tree/main I thought I'd seen something similar to this. 10% of sales go to the person who manages the code, which is good. If you wanted to save money, you could (if you were so inclined): Buy this https://github.com/Builty/TonexOneController/blob/main/HardwarePlatform_Waveshare4.3B.md Buy 2-16 pedal switches plus this board https://www.sparkfun.com/sparkfun-16-output-i-o-expander-breakout-sx1509.html Buy this for Midi https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Reciprocal-Hardware-Automatic-Converter/dp/B082Y19KV9 Build yourself a case Download the firmware and test it works though I'm not sure how much money you'd save TBH as all of this takes time and I would value my time at more than it costs to build this, but it's neat and you can still plug in extra pedal switches such as the Chocolate. I did have one question for any Chocolate owners, I didn't think that the Chocolate supported switching through pressing C & D together. I will have to look again and perhaps there is a firmware upgrade. Rob

Not wanting to labour the point - but the print/insta generation thing applies to us buyers too…

This is true. I’m in a covers and original band. The former is mostly booked by the set list (we play blue note jazz stuff). The originals band is done by an agent.

Imo the tonex is worth ten times what it costs. It's outstanding value. But one before everyone sussed and buys them and prices go up.

Also need to change those knobs. Maybe cream ones?

For me, the whole boutique passive Fender but not made by Fender fetish is getting a bit out of hand. Thousands of dollars for a bass sounds like...a Fender but I suppose with a bit of a story to it and some snake oil thrown in, if that's what you're really after. That's fair enough, let the buyer beware, but what I can't take is the guys who think they would be doing me a favour selling me one of their basses for mere money in return. Trust me, there are some out there. At least G&L were honest about what they were offering and Leo's heritage. They actually did have some worthwhile innovations on the Fender designs and they could and should have been a lot more successful with them.

Nearly there - just need to find some bolts to hold the amp in. Got feet on the side opposite the handle so it can stand on end, too. This B&Q plywood is shit, though - not using that again!

I'll light the blue touch paper....we've all done them...grim NYE gigs at social clubs to families! Tired kids up too late, families sick of the sight of each other having spent a fortnight together. The band has agreed to 3 sets, involving dredging up seldom played songs. The attendance issue being; who will last until Auld Lang Syne, despite the cheap beer?