Leaderboard

Wind back five years and you’ll hopefully understand why this bass is as special to me as it is.... In Feb 2013 I was diagnosed with a massive tumour on my right kidney. It was at Stage 3 due to the size (an unbelievable 9.5kgs!) and I was told by the surgeon that it they didn’t operate soon it would kill me one way or another. On Thursday last week, I was given the good news that I had no signs of recurrence and that they were leaving it to me whether I wanted to continue under observation; in short they were happy for me to be discharged. To get to the 5 year milestone was something I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to, so to say I’m relieved is an understatement! After a few tears (something in my eye) my wife told me to treat myself and knew I’d been hankering after one of these: who was I to refuse! After an early morning start I picked this up from Bass Direct on Saturday. The guys kindly restrung it with TI Flats and it really is the best Fretless I have owned. It is more special to me than words can adequately convey. Here it is:

Gibson: how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways. Here's the new 'Modern V' - apparently a new take on the 1967 V OK, not all bad, you think. You look closer and see a list price of $4499. Ouch! But - still - there's something about it that intrigues you. Then you discover it's got a richlite (compressed paper and resin) fingerboard. Alright, Martin use richlite on their cheaper (but still nice) acoustics. And you know that at least one reasonably well-known luthier's refretted a richlite board and pronounced it acceptable. But Richlite on a four-and-a-half grand guitar? Even so, the look still tugs at you. It's one of the less butt-ugly models Gibson have put out recently. Unique, almost. Then - being of a certain age - you dimly remember the Jackson Roswell Rhoads which first came out in the 1990's. Wow, must be worth a fortune, right. Secondhand Roswell went for just under £700 on Reverb just before Xmas. Another one went on the bay for £1500. So, $4499 for a slightly less-than-unique V mash-up with a richlite board. Thanks, Gibson. Thank you so very f**king much.

The problem I had gigging with Hitler was he was always booking shows hundreds of miles from home, usually in the dead of winter. Getting back was often a nightmare; we'd be on the road, up to our nuts in snow and he'd just swan off on the train with his mates. It all started well enough; touring the continent, big crowds, good money. Then we took on too much work and the quality began to slide; eventually he'd call band meetings then just ramble on about 'the future' even though we weren't getting the gigs anymore. It all collapsed when he suddenly told us he didn't want to carry on and that he was more interested in marrying his girlfriend. I'd do it all again, mind you.

Of course mate, especially in the jazz venues ;-)

Still my favourite looking bass. A super rare Hamer Impact neck through, from the 90's..

Unfortunately nowadays "Made In America" for mass produced instruments mostly means overpriced, for the build quality.

Oh my, they are lovely. Very nice @ped As soon as the new bass arrives, I will certainly post a few pics. I'm super excited and have always wanted a purple bass and like you, I have never seen an EXCESS 5 in purple but I have seen an ARPEGE V 5 string. I have attached the picture below. It is stunning

Hmm. I can see one of those in my future soon. I don't think I've seen a purple one, so look forward to pics of that... Inspired by your picture, I just opened a bottle of '65 and gave mine a polish!!

That is beautiful @Snarf I love that finish and colour. I have attached a picture of my no.1 and when my new Excess 5 arrives in purple this time, I'll post it then. Enjoy and this has turned in to my new fave BC thread ha ha ha ha ha ha

I play very lightly, I can play very fast too. It's just practice, ergonomics. I find that if you're 'digging in', then where can you go when you need to move up a gear?

Excellent - I'm tempted to bring one of my old Arpege basses to the show after I missed the chance of showing it to Patrice himself a few years ago. I showed him a picture of it and he said 'Thank you for looking after it' which I thought was pretty legendary.

Before anyone else mentions it: Scott Walker and Sunn 0)))

As I said up top - EQ pedal. Gain reduction.. with buffer in front of first pedal...

I didn't vote because it makes little difference. Go with the one that is lighter and/or the one you most like the look of. Then make sure your electrics and hardware are top-notch and the neck is a premium product. PS: Go with the maple board.

Generally have a beer or two on stage. Our last gig was at a bar with a huge number of TV screens and I was caught watching the cricket at one point - in my defence it might have been during Sex on Fire.

I find a Pot Noodle fits nicely into my drinks holder on my microphone stand....

My admiration for the organisers of any Bass Bash in the country is immense. Its a big task & you guys have my gratitude. I will always try to attend & support as it is the best fun to be a Bass Basher! The South West Bashes (my local) have been great & very well organised by members Yorks5stringer, then Jimrs2k & now taken on by Scrumpymike. Last years was the biggest yet that I have attended, onward to this years Big Fat South West Bass Bash on 8th April 2018!

Remember this? David Paton on the bass we don't mention....

Looks to me like a supreme level of skilled craftsmanship and incredible attention to detail was needed to create that instrument. Shame really then that to me it also looks bleedin orrible! A bit like if you'd gotten Leonardo Davinci to paint you a picture of a Ann Widdecombe in a string bikini.

Bass Heaven - Finally bringing home from the shop the bass you've been dreaming of for months and plugging it in for the first time Bass Hell- The following day when you're bored of it and already looking for something else.

A few years ago in the course of my work, I went into the loft of Ronnie Lane's former flat in Kentish Town. Amongst the clutter was an old nondescript semi acoustic type bass. I remember it had a dealers sticker from somewhere in east London and no bridge. There was also an old Zemaitis case which I asked the owner - who was his partner up to his death - if I could look inside. Sadly the bass was long gone, taken by a relative, if I remember correctly. An interesting afternoon at work.

Yes, there it is - on Shaggy's head.

Our audience would be very suspicious of any gig we did without drinking. It's not unusual for us to have a 30L box of cider on stage. We don't drink it all on stage of course, there's usually enough left to share on the drive home.

Me too - I've only just got/tried the second one but not had chance to try both yet.

I'm far too ham fisted, I think I've come to terms with that just being how it is now.

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...people always mention Yoko in this context, but Eva was far worse!

I think you may have misspelt that!

Haha, or clothes! Maybe I'll flog the lot, this is all I need in my life now. Great stuff, well we will have some guitars as well, I'm not sure which models we'll have yet but there's always an Excalibur kicking about somewhere so you can always have a fumble with that as well. We'll be on stage Saturday at 10.46 if you want to see it in action! See you there!

Maybe next time I'll iron my sheets

How dare you Sir! I'll be playing them on my upcoming album: whale and dolphin noises in the key of F minor. Coming soon to an elevator near you....

But were they 'real friends'....?

I'm on my second one of these: https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_guitar_stool.htm Works well for me. The first one eventually suffered a failure when the welds holding the footrest bar gave way (I had been using it to push myself up with many, many times) - just meant it became a bit wobbly and I didn't have a footrest, and I decided to replace it.

I don't think that John Deacon did a lead vocal on anything and he was quoted as saying his voice was not that great for backing vocals either and that he felt awkward miming them in videos.

Oh, I forgot to mention - The Script are in the Arena today, and needed the hall to be clear by 2am this morning. Our gig finished at 11pm, giving the crew - who'd basically worked non-stop all weekend - about three hours to strike the hall. Three hours to get all that out, including the backstage village and the huge amounts of kit you can't see in the photos. And they managed it. Those lads and lasses are total legends.

Looks like an acoustic guitar thing. I see it has a notch filter but it lacks all the parametrica you need to tame a piezo on stage and make it sound half decent. Never say never, it may be great, but I’d be sticking to my usual preamp options.

I’ve decided to go for this configuration coil tapped with push/pull pots......

Good luck for tomorrow!

Always fancied one of these...

Hi! I'm thinking about sawing this in half as It's too big for my needs these days, and this prompted me to look to see if I still had any in progress photos, and found a few. Basically, I am totally rubbish at doing things with drills, saws, or anything else that requires any sort of co-ordination (not including Bass-depending on who you ask). I found this to be such as easy project, that I'm amazed I don't see more around. I'm sure there are several on here that are way better than mine but I was hoping that this might inspire someone to have a go that is like me..the sort of person that says..'that will do' a lot! This will be very basic to most people here, but it's just to show that anyone can have a go at stuff really. Did this ages ago and the pictures aren't exactly step by step, but hopefully you can see what I did. Here's a very rough plan : 1) Got the wood and cut to size. On mine, I used four strips of wood cut to the length I thought I wanted, then measured and cut two smaller pieces as the side supports. 2) Sanded and primed the wood. 3) Screwed it all together. I believe I used wood glue first. (see the 2nd pic for how it fits together, pretty self explanatory). 4) 'Paint it Black'. Choose an appropriate song to listen to while completing this step. 5) Screwed on finishing touches such as cast iron carrying handles, and two little rubber feet at the rear (as you're looking at it). 6) Got some Velcro tape and stuck strips across. 7) Found a guard dog to protect the finished product. Sorry there are not more detailed steps. I think I originally saw something similar on Pinterest and took my inspiration from that, so I'm sure if you need more detailed instructions, or plans for something more ambitious, they can be easily found on there. I believe the whole thing cost around £15. Basically save the pedaltrain money for a pedal or two. Hope this helps someone decide to have a go.

New chart just added to the site: Queen - 'Killer Queen' bass transcription

Bass heaven: Tight grooves with the rest of the band (whether other bands or my own) Bass hell: YouTube soloists

I'm interested to know how long it had been building up for. I've only ever quit two bands, and on both occasions it followed a long period of really not looking forward to rehearsals or gigs because of the guitarist's behaviour (different guitarists, similar behaviour), And both times it was with the same drummer who quit with me, after a long period of us complaining to each other about how unhappy we were with the guitarist. I'd compare it quite closely to dumping as girlfriend - a long period of unhappiness and wanting to split up but not really wanting to actually do it, and then regardless of how uncomfortable the actual quitting/dumping was, immense relief that you don't have another unhappy weekend ahead of you and you can move on YMMV