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It's something we encounter in bands, however as I've grown older and been on both sides of this situation, I maintain, "be nice". Here's the current situation, I will use alias' so not to reveal anything personal. Band member A thinks band member B isn't good enough, insisting B has to go. Interestingly A has "found" a replacement in C showing us videos of their performance selling C to us. The current band plan is to auditon C without telling B about it. This leaves me feeling bad because B now becomes treated differently in online chats, as if he has an infectious disease. The band plans to try out C in the new year, so that's 6 weeks B is frozen out. I've already said - so we get C onboard, a few weeks later he announces his "other band is getting busy so needs to leave" - Obviously B has now gone with no replacement. The band stalls. C will leave if he thinks the band isn't good enough anyway. Personally I don't think A is that good. I had a quiet moment with B before this situation arose and B has said A isn't that good. Any ideas? I need to be nice to everyone, bands should be enjoyable, it's the bitching that makes it all sour. I suspect B has "a lot on his plate" and doesn't need anymore 💩- so I'm wondering if to phone him for a quiet update, he could then tell the band "sorry guys, I have a lot of 💩on my plate and need to drop out" it's better the exit is done by B rather than be "fired".

I'm a big fan of the Sennheiser E935 and completely agree about the E835 which I found really thin sounding. I really find super/hypercardioids demanding when singing, you have to get your position on the mic spot on and when you are playing an instrument it's just one more thng to worry about. I'm pretty loud so feedback isn't an issue for me. I've a couple of AKG D5's I used for other singers and in the hand of someone with good mic technique they are crazily good for the price but when I use them myself they have such a tight pickup pattern I had to find something else. There really aren't a lot of cardioids round now so the E935 was a big step up in cost. I had an interesting experience last night at rehearsal though, I have an old EV ND757 super cardioid but this one has a trick, it has some sort of filter which removes the bass/proximity effect it's a nice mic too with a really clean vocal sound. I don't think I've ever sounded better. They don't make this any more but the EV ND96 seems to have the same switch and to be the modern equivalent. My experience is that your mic is a much more personal choice than any other part of the chain. There isn't such a thing as a flat response mic so that makes sense. It's not just response though, there's pickup pattern, handling noise and feedback rejection if your voice is quiet. Then once you have your mic there is a learning curve on how to work with it. The ND757 has got me thinking though, it was damaged and didn't go out of the house but should I change from my E935?

Yes, obviously the graphite necks are the most stable and are usually 'fit it and forget it' spec where seasonal changes are concerned. I've never had any issues with my Status bass necks over the years. I haven't seen any real difference in stability between roasted and natural maple. It seems to vary from bass to bass. My 30 year old natural ash/maple Stingray seems totally oblivious to seasonal change and just stays set up exactly as it always has been. Whereas my GB Spitfire does increase it's action by about 1mm when it gets cold, but otherwise it's super stable. Maybe the one teller is the Cort Space 5, which has the roasted maple fingerboard on top of a 7-piece maple/walnut/purple heart neck. That thing lives in the boot of the car and never even needs tuning, whatever the weather outside, but that consistency seems to occur with most headless basses equipped with monorail tuners. I definitely see a small movement on my natural ash/maple Fender Elite Jazz (with the posiflex rods in the neck) which does display a small rise in the action, but only around 1mm difference, whereas my American Original Jazz (with no graphite rods) never seems to change at all, but it did arrive brand new seven years ago with plenty of relief in the neck from the factory and I've never needed to change it. I really don't know if it's down to the cut of the wood or the seasoning etc, but it may just be down to luck of the draw with maple necks in general.

You may have something there. My Sandberg is lacquered and the neck is pretty stable, more so than the 2 oil/waxed EBMM basses.

The answer is always Torte! Especially if that's preceded by the words Schwarz, Walder and Kirsch...

With a multimeter or continuity tester. TBH, If you don't have at least one of those you probably shouldn't be doing your own wiring as you have no way of checking what you have done wrong if it's not working properly.

In One Ear - Cage the Elephant

This is really hard. I want to cast a vote on them all. So many great contributions this month. I'll have to ponder more and come back and listen again to every one of them again, before giving it my final decision.

Edgar Meyer's recordings of Bach's cello suites are sublime as well! I also enjoy David Friesen's modern approach, and Glen Moore's bass compositions.

I'd love that pdf, if you don't mind sharing!

Is this where nut width matters?

I'd also point out that a higher string action will make your instrument project better and also let you dig in more. Of course, you might have a high action already... I'm sure the riser will help. When I got my first bass guitar, I haven't had an amp for a while. Practicing, sitting on my bed, I've noticed that the bass was amplified by the one-piece headboard that I pushed the bass' body onto by accident. I played in that spot all the time. 🙂

Vincent - Don McLean

Definitely have it professionally appraised before proceeding down any route to sell it. There's a few luthiers and sellers in the uk that are specialized and/or knowledgeable with basses.

this is one of those subjects that you have lost before you have even started ...everyone has their favourites ...currently listening to visions of you by jah wobble.

No, It Wasn't Him - Stacy