All Activity

… and tonight’s build (whilst listening to The Tanifesto by the Tanhai Collective, and Meta-Music by The Funky Knuckles) is this Nano build. Similar to my last one, tuner-comp-preamp-DI, but with daisy chain power and no HPF: … and I’ve got a couple more to be done over the coming few days, below is a mock up of a Fretless board on a Nano +, hopefully a 5 way daisy chain will work well to power this one.

Bought Waynesworld's Doug Wilkes off him at the weekend. Sound, feel and playability are top notch. Been taking it to rehearsals and the Sadowsky Metroline stayed in its bag the whole time. Bodywork is tulipwood/poplar and the 24 fret neck is birdseye maple. I think the pickups are Bartolini MMC and the preamp is a Bartolini NTMB+F.

Last one before Friday’s prog extravaganza. I made a load of silly mistakes so hopefully they’re out of my system. As it’s prog I took the kitchen sink: - two basses (Wal and FrankenJazz) - pedalboard - acoustic guitar and stand up player stand - BB2 and power amp that was going to be for the bass pedals but in the end was an expensive, but rather nice sounding monitor for the acoustic through a TwoNotes Opus - Alesis Strikepad loaded with two kits for the drummer, one with rototoms and a pad for the clocks at the beginning of time, and a second with two pairs of timpani, one tuned for Fanfare for the Common Man and the other for Life on Mars - I had the McMillen 12Step and bits to connect to soft synths on my iPad for bass pedals, but that was the straw that broke the camel’s back and I shan’t use those. I can get by with the Source Audio C4 on the pedalboard. Friday we have a non proggy support who I don’t know (our guitarist does and I found a couple of videos) but have been asked to share kit and amps. I was going to take both BB2’s to run separate rigs for bass and basspedals/acoustic and I always carry a spare amp so I’ll probably just run up both rigs and he can tweak the spare then I’ll swap it out for the power amp. Had a bizarre “cheese dream” about it last night where we soundchecked in a wooden shack scout hut then I went out to sort out sharing my gear only to come back and find the drums and bass gear stripped from the stage, taken outside and unceremoniously dumped in a deep crater. I woke up as my WTAF rant started 😳 I’m sure it’ll be fine 🤣 Used the FrankenJazz that’s my current main squeeze most of the night, but swapped to the Wal at the end of the first set and first couple of the second. Both sounded great and I’d have used the Wal more but didn’t have my Duo strap and my shoulder started complaining. I love the Wal dearly, it was my only bass for a good 20 years but damn she’s a heavy old girl.

Why Squier hasn't come out with a Sonic Jazz bass is beyond me. I'm betting they'd sell even more than the P bass.

It's not just Gotoh. I've had the same with quite expensive Kluson tuners too. The screws are made of Chinesium and shear at the slightest resistance, despite pilot holes and wax lubrication. Quite annoying when you're trying to install a set of them in a couple of neat butt-joined lines

In two gauges: https://www.ernieball.com/guitar-strings/bass-strings/pino-palladino-smoothie-flats-electric-bass-strings

Take it Caerphilly...

If you ever come to the UK I'm sure I could get you a gig or two. Not big money though

I cut two tuners up. 🔝

https://support.fender.com/en-us/knowledgebase/article/KA-01903

I don’t cut them.

An offcut of high density foam

I'm sure he'll cover expenses, what with being a rock star.

Glory Daisies - Bruce Springsteen

Well that's sorted. 😁

I came out of the rehearsal studio and saw the sky... dark night!

Just got back. Was asked to help out a band I know whose bassist is planning to move to keyboards, after their keys player left for health reasons. We had fun going through the eleven songs I'd learned, then jammed a whole load of others. I already knew I was invited to join them for a drink and a discussion on the future of the band... Long story short, I want more gigs but not too many. They want a similar amount of gigs and are happy to go out as a four piece (keys move back to bass) if I can't make a gig. The great thing is, every time I've seen them I've really enjoyed it and felt that it was songs I'd enjoy playing. About 25% CCR, the rest is music in a similar vein.

I haven’t seen many / any with a combination of plates. Always matching.

Lily of the Valley - Queen

As in cheese bored?🥱

I have one on a Precision I bought but it’s the wrong era for the Headstock logo

Thanks @wateroftyne, we can see that step going through the whole tuner thickness here more clearly on a 1960 Precision Bass: As I said earlier, Leo's philosophy was to use all the remaining parts, so it's not that uncommon to see such a thing. That said, even if it's linked to the early 60's, you will find loads of P's and J's with only 1 or 2 miscrafted tuners from that period and rarely with the 4 tuners. Kluson must have owned one defaulted cutting press back then, but not all of them. Anyway thanks for having enlightened me (us?). 😊

Sounds like you didn't give e-dam about it!