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Well, that took way longer than I anticipated.

THE SONS OF ILLINOIS operates out of Chelmsford, Essex. We play exciting, crowd-pleasing Chicago Blues and we very urgently need a bassist who plays both upright and bass guitar. We have a good book of decent gigs for 2026. We have a strong social media following, with more than 2000 followers on Facebook. Band line-up is: Vocals/Harmonica Lead/Slide Guitar Lead/Rhythm Guitar Upright/Bass Guitar - CAN THIS BE YOU? Drums/Percussion Please call Mark on 07885 858158 if you're up for this

That is one sentence we can definitely agree on. I do remember working with a pantomime dame who insisted on using his own costumes he had built up over the years. He had a Christmas tree dress that would be lit up when he walked on stage, then turn off. I assumed it was some sort of battery thing until half of the lights stopped working and he asked me to take a look at it. There were fully mains 240V bulbs wrapped around him on 2 circuits. He would walk out with himself connected to mains, then he would disconnect it by pulling an in-line 2 prong connector apart with one hand and getting the crew to pull the cable back off stage. The two prong plug looked like it was made of bakelite and the socket side could have easily been bridged with a finger when pulling them apart. When I started going through the dress cabling, I could see where bulb holders had been removed, the wires twisted back together and wrapped (badly) in dried out electrician's tape. He was a heavy smoker, so a coughing fit and slapping his chest would have probably killed him! I condemned it there and then and forbid him from using it, which he wasn't very happy about, but I slept better during the run!

Wrong, Chris, it was the opposite, the frets were getting back and forth in the neck/fretboard thanks to a lever. There's was also the Neuser NFS with switchable sitar like saddles allowing for a fretless tone. And the two custom orders Leducs basses, half fretless / half fretted vertically for one and horizontally for the other.

Not wishing to 'Hi-Jack' the thread - see what i did there?.. 🤣 I got a B2 Basket Case for £Low on a whim... Strip Down and Clean Up of the bridge, Tuner Thrust Washers fitted, pots were seized, so simple Vol and 3 way selector. If you have the file and are about to press Play, how much for a pair in Black? Ta Muchly

Hi Tim, I think we are kind of agreeing in different ways. If the amp was faulty, or causing a PD to its own earth, then yes it would need looking at before it caused itself or the guitarist any damage. Remember, it is the current that kills, not the voltage, so in some schools of electrical thought, what you read on your meter may have been inside some sort of tolerance (although I doubt it). Did you get it fixed, or just leave it as was? Yes. The earth wire had been removed from the 13amp plug. I rewired the plug. I also had an incident at a gig where the keys kept cutting out. The keys player realised it was everytime he tapped his foot. Said it would be ok, he'd just keep his foot on the mains plug. I stopped the sound check and insisted on opening it up, and found a very worrying nest of loose wires. Musicians in general are very cavalier with inspecting cables. "If it works, it must be ok."

Here’s that amp he built for me. Simple straightforward power amp. It suites me preamp perfectly. He has built quite a few preamps based on the classic B-15.

Guild Pilot bass was available with interchangeable fretboards, Novatone. Magnetic attachment. A short lived idea. talkbass.com/threads/crazy-project-still-in-the-works.482904/

Yes, listened to some Magellan 350 demos earlier, could possibly make a an exception on the fan if it’s as quiet as people say as it sounds promising and has the right features.. so far I’m also zeroing in on the Eich T300 and the GR Bass One 350

IIRC the board was levered and could be raised a few mm to make a fretless and lowered the same amount to allow the frets to engage. I may have got that wrong though

Cools sound too

Hi Tim, I think we are kind of agreeing in different ways. If the amp was faulty, or causing a PD to its own earth, then yes it would need looking at before it caused itself or the guitarist any damage. Remember, it is the current that kills, not the voltage, so in some schools of electrical thought, what you read on your meter may have been inside some sort of tolerance (although I doubt it). Did you get it fixed, or just leave it as was? What I did with the mic cable in my case isolated the guitarist/amp from the PA. so I think, especially as we had a rubber floor on our stage, isolated him enough to stop it hurting his lips or grounding himself in any other way. I only guessed it was his amp as we didn't have that problem again in the same venue. However, as I said I vaguely remember him coming the next year with the same amp, so assume he either had it fixed or wasn't faulty either.

Wow, a promo video that turned me off a bass I'd always wanted

Just had a quick look and the 10 sticker would concern me that it didn’t leave a mark when removed , depending on how long it’s been there, not the original case either , but it does look nice

Impressed that you built your own 👍 Like you I've sold most of my gear, and it's been a refreshing and cleansing process; very very few boxes coming into the house these days, a lot going out

That sounds very interesting. Would love to know how he did it. Dave