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My first thought after reading the thread title was ‘defecate in the corner’. I think I need to speak my therapist 🤭

I've told this before. . . . A friend was looking for a guitar as a 50th birthday present to himself. The guy in the shop got down a US Strat and Rob, who was mightily impressed, said, "But this is only for playing in my bedroom." The shop guy said, "Mate, 90% of the guitars we sell are to people who play in their bedrooms, and the other 10% should do."

Whenever I buy a car, I test drive it by first revving it as hard & long as I can, hoping that people notice me. Once I have their attention I attempt a doughnut manoeuvre I saw on YouTube (I stall quite a lot, but I think I look cool). It never occurs to me to check if the breaks, clutch, gears, lights work, or if the cars structure is sound...or, heaven forbid, it fits any practical needs. OK, so my cars never leave my garage (but no one in the showroom knows that, they all think I'm the Stig maaaaan)

I'm part-way through a big long epic of a day today - more of the stars have arrived, so we're working though the tunes with them at various allotted time-slots. It's a huge production and logistical operation, with a massive crew - the band are just one cog in the wheel. Every song has to be rehearsed for lighting, camera positions, VT cues, walk-on choreography... if one part isn't right, we do it again! Like I say, I can't give anything away, but I've had a couple of OMG moments today... and I get to do it again - for real - tomorrow. Get in :-) Here's some arty shots I took during stolen moments...

This fella is 1st go to, somewhere between 200/300 gigs. It's seen SEI's, Sadowskys, Alembics, Ricks, Status, Am Deluxes all come & go. But obviously, as many tell us, it's a crap Mex

My favourite was a guy who bought an Epi 335 and a lead to go with it. Came back in complaining his new electric guitar didn’t work. he’d gone home and somehow wired a household plug onto the end of his newly acquired cable... he’d been plugging it into the mains. how he didn’t die I’ll never know.

Don't let your wife/girlfriend/ significant other know that you just bought another. Safeguards the bass and your nads.

Typical bass player doing it up the corner, come on why not right by the front door near the till!

Specific measurements are all well and good, but action is subjective. If you're getting buzzes and rattles then it's too low, if you can't play properly because it's too much effort to press the strings to the board then it's too high. If your bass is sounding good and is comfortable, it intonates properly and it feels right to you, then it is right.

Happy Christmas 😟

They probably assumed it was Eighties and gave you the benefit of the doubt.

If it’s bespoke stuff you want,you need to try Stagewear Unlimited. Based near Rotherham, you can get pretty much anything made to order, and the boss Neil Crossland has a mass of experience making stuff for all sorts of bands as well as theatrical costumes for televison and theatre. Tel. 01709 892893 www.stagewearunlimited.com

So long story short. My band (State of Ember) entered a competition last year as an easy way to gain more fans. The prize was top 10 bands end up on Wreckfest by THQNORDIC. We only went and finished 2nd and now we're being featured on their official trailer! Oh and they are giving us 1000 Dollars. Madness Facebook link below should work! https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=617813701889412&id=369063106512335

F*cking slap. It's so boring to hear the same thing in any shop...

I've noticed that the only time I get GAS is when I'm not playing or practicing as much as normal, or if i'm stressed with some other part of life. I'm sure this doesn't just happen to me. Usually happens if I'm tired from work overload, so my playing is either uninspired or lacking energy, and my brain tries to blame the instrument. It's difficult to feel excited when you've not had a day off work for weeks or you're short on sleep. Also happens if you keep playing the same stuff rather than learning something new. It's just boredom and lack of inspiration. I find that GAS completely goes away if I get a good night's sleep and focus on learning something new. But it took me quite a few years to work this out.

Hi guys, Just wanted to say hi and thanks so much for the kind words, I'm humbled.. I feel really lucky to have been asked to play in some great shows and don't take it for granted.. I played in 'The Book of Mormon' for 3 and 1/2 years and the MD of that show was leaving to start 'Dreamgirls' and he kindly asked if I wanted to move across with him.. I'm glad I did as it's turning out to be a really fun show, and a great play for a bass player.. It hasn't been done for 35 years but still sounds fresh in my opinion.. In Amber Riley's defence, we appeared on the Graham Norton show before the musical had even opened.. We had just met her and read the chart down that morning.. She had zero experience singing with a band at that point and was extremely nervous I think.. She's quickly settled into the show and sounds amazing I have to say, and with that confidence comes a bit of light and shade in her performance.. I think if you saw her live now you'd be really impressed, she brings the house down every night! Regarding gear, I exclusively use Overwater basses now. I have two Jazz 5's and a hybrid Jazz 5 fretless.. They're all wonderful and I highly recommend them, Chris May and the guys at Overwater have been honing their art for many years now and the results are there to see.. A lot of West End players use them as they're reliable, extremely playable and free of hum/buzz/interference which is important in theatres.. I'm particularly impressed with the John East Uni-Pre at the moment and that's in the black bass in the clip above.. Check their basses out at http://overwaterbasses.com (and no I don't get a tenner for saying that!). Well thanks again, all the best....

If the low pass filter is fully (or almost) fully closed then you’re only letting frequencies probably around 20-40Hz through (bass A string is 55Hz). Those close to 20Hz are around the limit of human hearing so if their amplitude (volume) is low, as were ALL frequencies in Down signal of the V1, then you’ll struggle to hear them. (Volume can be also thought of as proportional to the back-and-forth distance your speaker cone moves; small back-and-forth movement equals lower volume as the air isn’t being pushed as hard. Frequency is how many of those back-and-forth motions happen per second.) Can you shoot a video clip of this happening? The volume (amplitude) of ALL frequencies in the Down signal has been boosted, hence when you roll in the filter, thus stripping out the higher frequencies, the remaining lower frequencies are at a louder and more audible level (ie have a bigger amplitude) than they were on the V1. In simple terms, the Down signal is louder/hotter. Low frequencies at the edge of human hearing are difficult to hear unless they are given a bigger amplitude.

I don't think so. I play a lot but I have no problem with touch screens... I think some people just have thicker skins and adding a callus may just take them over the edge of sensitivity?

For reference:

Just sold a very special USA Lakland to Marcus. Great communications, super quick payment, no fuss. Definitely gets my recommendation. Thank you 😊👍🏼

Welcome Romain.

I’ve put a video on, but I’m not ultra sold on the sound of 8 string acoustic slapping

Quite so. The most majestic of ST TV themes, imo.

Yes, in theory more relief would solve this problem but then the neck will be quite concave leading to higher action in the middle. Amazon delivery of new strings has just arrived so will put them on and see if the problem goes away.

What kind of band do you play in? If it’s loud rock with a loud drummer you may struggle.

Don’t feed them after midnight???

I’ve just ordered a Squaver P1 and will report my findings.

The height of the bridge should be taken in to account when choosing the neck angle, a decent plan to begin with and 'high bridge' problems can be avoided. This makes me question the whole construction process.

Obviously the worst bass player in the world ... or not.

Very good.

Is the only bass that I had since I started to play ! I will never sell it! Great instrument

I've got a 2016 Deluxe Special in white/rosewood. I love it to bits, it's pretty much all I play these days. I've not tried the US Elite, I'm guessing it has upgraded pickups and preamp, but other than that I have trouble thinking what improvements they could make for it to be £1000 better. I've got the MIM Deluxe PJ and two Mexi Telecasters, all three of them are superb instruments.

I think Ash from this very forum has a JV Jazz. I would imagine that he would be a good contact for any advice.

I was there too and the world was immensely changed and immensely changing but you don’t need to have been there to understand that. It’s quite possible to grasp the enormity of the changes and something of The Beatles role if it’s approached with an open mind - it has very little to do with what one personally likes. There are people who were there who didn’t or don’t get it; being there is neither necessary nor sufficent. They did many things but The Beatles didn’t invent the electric bass guitar.

I recall getting asked..well the singer... getting asked if we did Call me Al by Paul Simon.The same woman asked after every song for a bout 6 songs in a row. Every time she asked I played the bass line and she never once noticed what I was playing. I was very tickled indeed! So in conclusion, and my final contribution to this thread... Sometimes the punter doesn't even recognise the SONG they have just requested let alone our tone! We've had people request a song, then play it only to have them come back and ask for it! Drunks eh! Now to start a new thread Do punters even know what music is?

Tom Robinson, Bruce Foxton and JJ Burnel

I suspect that you're mischaracterising what's happening here. I've played with loads of guitarists who would find THE guitar only to trade it in a few months later for the new THE guitar. And they were ALL, every single one of the, THE guitar. On the other hand I've played with people who have found one or two or three guitars over their playing lifetime and that's it. In both of the above cases the cost of the guitar was irrelevant. For the guitar flippers, it was the belief that each new guitar would bring guitar nirvana, the post purchase realisation that they all had flaws (real or merely perceived) and a belief that the grass would really be greener the other side of the music shop. The internet and forums like this only makes this worse through ease and availability - and group think. The OP seems to single out the boutique basses for this phenomenon. I've not done a statistical study of this but I'd bet that there are as many Sires and Squiers being flipped as Foderas and F Basses - although maybe not. However, more on the grounds that having a couple of £200 resale value basses kicking around unloved "in case" isn't as economically painful. And to fund the new Ken Smith the Alembic has to go, which replaced the Dingwall that was funded by selling the Fodera which... It would also be interesting to compare a list of those who flip the most expensive basses with those who flip the most mid/lower range basses. I wonder how many names would be common to both and how the number of basses flipped per year would compare... Maybe it's more about being addicted to the new bass buzz? Rather than finding the bass that really suits you and sticking with it - how many "Oh why did I ever sell that XXXXXXXXX. I now realise that my new YYYYYYY isn't have the bass it was..." threads do we see? And how often are they followed by "I've seen these ZZZZZZZZZ basses online, what do you all think?" threads... Anyway, there are a minority of us who provide the Ying to that Yang - me included. I've got a number of relatively expensive, hand built guitars and basses, at least three, possibly four or five, of which count as "boutique" - only a few of which were bought full price, mind you, or back when you could get a good night out, a fish supper and change from a three bob note. My Aria SB700 was my first ever bass back in 1982 - still play it. My Mk 1 Wal was bought in 1992 and it's still my No 1 bass. My Tony Revell custom acoustic bass was bought in 1992. My Brook acoustic was bought in 1999 and still gets played regularly. My Pro Series Wal was bought in 2002 and is more than my No 2 bass, more like my No 1.5. I won my Fylde Gordon Giltrap Signature acoustic (I know, what a lucky so and so) in 2005 and I still love it. I've only ever sold three instruments in 35 years playing (a Squier Jazzerstein project bass, a Yamaha starter electric, and a mid range Washburn acoustic to fund my Brook). I can confidently say that the boutique instruments I've got now aren't going anywhere!!!

10 years for that reply... that's some thought process.

Steve is a great guy to deal with, trustworthy and everything was there as he said it would be, don't hesitate to buy or sell to him Thanks again Steve catch up with you soon

I've done a deal or two on Basschat (!) and I'd put mine with Steve in the top 1%. Lovely guy, patient and understanding, and a gent when confronted with the Beedster kids! He also has very good taste in gear! Hughly recommended seller/buyer. C

Bought Steve's Tecamp Puma 1000, absolutely no hassles, nice guy to deal with, cheers Steve

You could only wish that Steve got what you want! You will recieve top notch stuff( according to what he says he is selling), no bullsh*t. Perfectly honest man! As a buyer... Well there goes the same. Buy/sell/trade with utmost confidence. Thanks Steve, Rok

Steve bought my Zoom MS60-B. Smooth and easy as it could be. Thank you, I hope you enjoy it!

Top bloke - bought my GK amp and EBS cab from me. Great communication, unfailingly polite and courteous. A pleasure to deal with.

[size="3"][color="#000000"]Sold my 3leaf Enabler to Steve and he was a pleasure to deal with – instant payment and great comms. Thanks![/color][/size]

Sold my Demeter amp to Steve. Lovely bloke. Easy transaction.

[size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Wanna deal with someone who is very communicative, great guy and honest... HERE IS MUSASHIMONKEY I sold him PJB Bass Buddy, all went smooth, highly recommend dealing with him! thanks mate![/font][/size]

Steve is another of the honourable and reliable forum users. Very happy to recommend him as one of the good guys to deal with.

I've just bought an Aguilar AGRO from Steve and it really was a pleasure doing business, excellent communication, really helpful and came and met me to hand over the pedal. Thanks Steve!

Pleasure doing business and enjoy the cab!