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It's been a minute, sorry. I dug up a transcription I did years ago of John Patitucci demonstrating walking bass on Stella by Starlight and synced it with the clip. Some very useful vocabulary in there that can be stolen for your own purposes: You can download the transcription PDF here: John Patitucci - Stella by Starlight

Are they? That's new, quartersawn used to be the default on US G&Ls. In which case, I agree with you. They're not doing themselves any favours if they're cheaping out on what are supposed to be their prestige products. I wonder if a merger with Ernie Ball could be on the cards? It'd make sense to consolidate all of Leo Fender's post-FMC instruments into one company.

Quarter sawn necks are an extra-cost option on current USA G&L basses. A very worthwhile upgrade, in my opinion. There's also some confusion about the hardware in so much as I read on Talkbass that the Tribute basses were no longer using the same hardware as the USA models, and indeed that the USA models were now using the imported hardware previously for the Tribute series. If that's true then G&L have been trying to keep prices down by cutting corners on costs. That's never a good strategy, and smacks of desperation. If you want to be a prestige brand, once you degrade your own product it's very hard to recover from that.

I'm sure the djent crowd will lap these up. And I like the idea of the flip-out "wings" so a regular guitar stand or hanger can be used. Only problem is, to my eyes, the aesthetics look wrong. The body shape is the same as the Combustion shape, and the proportions look wrong without a headstock. The body should have been downsized to compensate.

Tread carefully. He's the one in a crisis and has tried to help out. If you make him feel like you're having an even bigger one as a result, it adds to his burden and retreating from the situation may be all he's up to.

For me the main problem with ear plugs is they compress any earwax you might have right down on top of you eardrum when you insert them.

I suppose 'I’ve got a lot going on and I’m not in a good place' can partly explain his non communication. To be fair I think I would have got annoyed as well, but without knowing what his issue's are it might be a bit of an over reaction. The world is a global place, you could still do a zoom or group call from anywhere.

Played a gig at the Glaven Bistro at Glandford near Holt yesterday evening with Bandwidth (covers and originals). This is our third gig there. Unfortunately our keyboard player had a lurgie and couldn’t make it. TBH I don’t know how we managed to fit all 5 of us into the available space before. It felt cramped last night. Essentially we get the space against the wall half way down a very long converted barn. Hard walls and floor, straight up to the roof. Acoustics are tricky and I wasn’t happy with my sound all evening but apparently the overall band sound was good out front. It is very intimate, with the dinners literally a couple of feet away and I always wonder if we are an appropriate act. Smooth jazz or lounge music might be more appropriate but we always get a great reception. I guess we are people of a certain age, playing music for people of a certain age 😏. We got lots of praise from the punters and another invitation to return early next year, plus the possibility of playing for a Christmas party to celebrate their 2 year anniversary. Lovely people who looked after us as always. Free coffees to start and bowls of chips during our break. Home by 10pm (result)! Sorry no pics yet. Gear: Guild Starfire 1 and Sire U5 fretless, Bass Flyrig 2 into Harley-Benton GPA-100 power amp (and the PA), LFSys Monza sitting on Auralex isolator. Black suede desert boots.

Also, take a look at the Retrovibe webpage.

I've not found any problems without a finger rest... I like to pluck from different places to get different tones.. right up the neck end is quite upright sounding...

US G&Ls use better wood (usually lighter wood too), have quartersawn necks (as opposed to flatsawn like the Tributes) and are available with a much wider range of finishes and various custom options are available. Other than that, the hardware is the same and the pickups and electronics are the same. Tonally, they're very similar. Compared to a Sterling By MM bass, a G&L Tribute is a much closer facsimile of its US-made sibling.

Eat The Rich - Aerosmith

Went to the SireUSA sight and found this... (copyright SIre obviously)

Yeah knew to do that, but neither switch position deactivates a coil..

Yeah, and if you don't need a tool to do a quick string change, it seems like a better alternative.

Check for yourself - while plugged into an amp of any kind but not turned up too loud, tap the pickups with something metal like a small screwdriver in the various switch positions - it will be obvious if you're missing a coil.

Played my M6 last night. Certainly garnered postive comment both from sound and visuals. Firstly I went in 'cold', in that i'd literally took it straight to the gig following unboxing. Caveat: I own two dingwalls so pretty much know what to expect. Sits well on the strap, not too heavy. The heritage pre amp is well known, but I am used to the V series applications, so with single coils. This has dual coil humbuckers and on the detent it bassy enough. Wind in some bass and you are dealing with some serious heft to the point of overdrive. I cant see any personal applications for that much bass, but then again i like an articulate sound. Might work for others tho so not a minus. Also its 18v so punchy... The fan is milder than the dingwall, so fairly straightforwards to navigate. Things to look out for: The Neck is excellent. One thing I noticed though was diving for lower register notes on the B, say C or C# i caught my index finger on the nut on the G side a couple of times. Might have been boyish enthusiasm, or hand angle...one thing to watch out for. The passive/active switch is right next to the pickup switches, same orientation, same size. Looks great but when is wanted try out a different config on the bridge pickup during the soundcheck and switched from active to passive instead, and a great big lump of volume disappeared. Much confusion ensued. Might just be a case of getting into the groove with it a bit and remebering that . Although i haven't looked took hard i still havent found a reliable description of the switch function for the pickups. Down is definately series. Coin flip one the middle amd up positions, between single coil and parallel modes.

musicians for you.

I've been considering selling my Status S2 Classic 4-string because I only ever play my 5-string ever since adding that to the herd, but I'm still undecided. It would not be an easy bass to replace if I ever come to regret it. And with the whole B-word stuff it would end up more expensive too. I need to buy another car and need to free up some funds, but it's hard to decide what I want to let go.

I might have simply muted the group rather than outright left, but nonetheless your ire is justified. Try to put it to the back of your mind and enjoy your hols. Really not cool for the singer to drop a bomb then rebuff all attempts to sort it out before you leave. I get that he's having problems, but you can't pull the emergency cord like that, then sit on your hands.