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Just as well you're not a Trace Elliott fan.

My dad, who died less than a year ago at 92, used to tell a story. When his brother was a baby and he was about 12, a minister who was visiting the parish called round. My grandmother offered him the baby to hold, and while he was holding my uncle, he started crying. It was the first time he'd ever been offered to hold a white baby. Old people grew up in a time of casual racism, but not all old people are racists.

I played on the country music club circuit for a few years, and the target audience was mainly 70+ with the kind of outlook that you might predict. I joined a band where it became apparent that the drummer was very much of the persuasion (how can I put this?) ‘Stop the boats’. Now and then we’d work with another musician - let’s call him ‘Ken’ - who got frozen off Facebook for a month for his unsavoury comments about the adherents of a certain religion prevalent in North Africa and the Middle East. The band and WAGs were around a table in a break discussing an upcoming gig, and Mrs Axe asked, ‘Will racist Ken be playing?’ The drummer’s face was something to behold! I’m aware that some musicians that I play with hold political opinions far removed from my own. The same goes for some members of my extended family. I didn’t know the musicians’ views before I started playing with them, and my family are my family come what may. Online, it’s easy to end up in a bubble where we only hear our own views reflected back at us. In the real world I prefer to avoid that. But if a band is looking for players on the basis of a particular world view that jars with me - for example conspiracy theories, which I’ve seen more than once - I’ll give it a miss.

I've not heard that term before - every day's an education (to someone with an open mind).

But an open mind shouldn't be an empty mind.

So long as it's not Uncle Ernie!

"An open mind is all very well in its way, but it ought not to be so open that there is no keeping anything in or out of it." - Samuel Butler, author of "Erewhon".

The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths

Vistaprint

I can see the sense in this. Unfortunately the oft-misunderstood adage that "wisdom comes with age" leads a lot of people to calcify their views and positions and expect people to respect their "wisdom" just because they're older. I much prefer Frank Zappa's adage that "your mind is like a parachute. It's no good if you don't open it."

killer queen - Queen

Cognac Queen - Megan Thee Stallion

No we can't! You definitely do NOT need more than 4 strings!

There's an interesting theory about young intelligence verses old intelligence, the former is a fluid, changeable and learning form and the latter is a crystallised, change resistant and learns slowly if at all. The theory posits that the longer you can remain in the fluid form by learning and challenging yourself, the better your mind and health will be in old age. Given the number of old musicians I know who are still inquisitive and keen to learn I think this is close to the truth.

Hopefully not, but sometimes it happens. Discussion from opposing viewpoints in good faith is not a bad thing, provided the arguments are engaged with honestly. We can agree to disagree about almost anything, given good faith, bigotry and more especially fascism does not operate in good faith.

Old people can't change their minds? My 85 year old mother, a lifelong unquestioning Tory voter, will never vote for them again after seeing the mess they've made of the county. Being old is no excuse, neither is being young or uneducated or poor or rich, Bigotry is born in ignorance and grows in darkness, it poisons young and old alike. Drag it into the light and kill it.

I grew up in a political household, grandad was leader of the council and charged debates at gatherings was the norm. Fall-outs were regular and (usually) temporary. My folks voted for Brexit. They voted against the interests of themselves, their children and their own grandchildren despite myriad warnings and bundles of evidence telling them that was the case. That’s not something that should be brushed off IMO. Mayhap i have unusual views on ‘family’ as I don’t buy this thing that ‘there’s nothing more important than family’ - it’s a mindless trope IMO

Ghoat (sic)

Ideally I'd like to try this out before buying. I hope they are not just for sale online. Anyone near Louth, Lincolnshire with one? I'd be prepared to travel to a guitar shop, if not too far, that has one.

I had a ATK405 about 15 years back. The 400-series were a bit different from the 300-series, and it wasn't just down to the extra pickup - they were a little downsized (the body and headstock were noticeably smaller), and the one I had was quite a reasonable weight. In terms of tone, it sounded great, and it recorded particularly well, and really benefitted from the presence of that neck pickup. They're missing a trick not offering the ATK electronics in any of their other basses - I know there was an Ergodyne model a while back that had the big ATK humbucker in it, but that's the only time they've done it. I think a BTB with the ATK405 pickups would be a monster instrument.