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I found a couple of photos recently which I thought I’d share, I don’t know if they might be of interest to any of you. It’s my dad, Martyn Gibson, who played bass in the early sixties, before marriage and fatherhood took over. Dad played in a band in Stafford from 1963 to 1965, initially they were called The Countdowns, later The Sneakers, and they played originals and covers, a bit of RnB (Ray Charles etc). They played all around the Midlands. They supported Johnny Kidd and The Pirates, and often played with a band from Leicester who went one to become some of Showaddywaddy. My dad’s first bass was (possibly) a Hagstrom PB-24-G; from my research they were also branded Kent and Selmer but he can’t remember and the headstock isn’t visible in order to identify it properly, but as The Beatles became popular he splashed out on a Hofner 500/1. The shop in Stafford (H.E.Parkes & Sons of St Marys Gate, Stafford) ordered it direct from Hofner in Germany with a hard case for forty pounds (or guineas, he can’t remember). How I wish he’d kept it! He had a Vox amp (didn’t everyone then?) but he can’t remember exactly which model.

He always struck me as a colossal bell end.

Local music shops where I live are more like this. Me: Hi. Him: Arr. What be ‘ee looking forr? We ‘as a nice range of galoubets, serpents and lutes. Or a dulcimer if ‘ee want summat new-fangled? Me: Errm, actually I’m more interested in bass guitars..? Him: Guitars? Arr right, well we’ve got a very nice baroque guitar over ‘ere… Me: No no, a bass guitar. Him: {confused} Well it don’t come with no base, but… Me: No, a bass. An electric b… Him: {recoils in horror} Elastictrickery?? Why, 'tiz the work of beelzebub! Are you in league with the dark one? {yells out to the back of the shop} Perpetua! Assemble the townsfolk and loight the bonfire! We ‘as one of satan’s imps in ‘ere! {exit Rich, pursued by pitchfork-waving mob of very closely related locals}

OK guys (and gals) - that's the hall booked for Sunday 7th April 2019!! We'll make sure there's a group photo or two - and Mrs Scrumpy is already thinking about next year's menu (I've told her she needs to get out more) Look forward to seeing/hearing the lighter self-build cab.

He Always Struck Me As A Colossal Bell End - The second of today's entries on my list of potential autobiography titles.

You'd think - given this particular forum's pathological obsession with weight - that this'd be quite popular. No pleasing some people.

Probably speakers in the audience facing back at the band so you can hear yourselves. Or something equally as daft.

@Hellzero @dannyboy @Jimothey you don't need to do this if you use the copper tape with conductive adhesive. I just use a multimeter to check there is connectivity between each piece and the jack socket, and then switch to the resistance setting to check that resistance is low.

You can always join the pieces with solder

I came across this on Talkbass (im spending too much time there lately) Its a free program for Windows/Mac that allows us to go deep in to pedals like the 60B and edit the tones in real time. Looks pretty cool. I should say ive not yet tried it myself, but will do at the weekend. http://tonelib.net/ Original TB thread here https://www.talkbass.com/threads/free-editor-for-zoom-pedals-b1on-b1xon-ms-60b.1334064/

Well that’s quite lucky that I can solder (Also I can Arc/Spot, TIG, MIG and braze weld) and have a decent soldering iron so it shouldn’t really be a problem

Did he mention that he’s rich? I can’t remember whether he’s rich or not.

Ok so @Jimothey might be interested to see this. Capri Orange, or BS557 Light Orange, which is close enough for me 🍊 It looks a bit dull in the photo, but it’s more vibrant in the flesh. I’m pleased with it, it’s very close to the colour I visualised so I’m happy. I’ll just have to be patient now while it settles for a while...

I think Gene forgot a R in his pick....

It IS all in the fingers. Except when I'm playing with a pick. Then it's all in the pick.

sorry, I like it. Not enough to buy it, but I like it. Whip it, whip it good.....

Apparently mines been delivered. Being the loose cannon I am, I’m going to dive straight in and live test it at a wedding this evening. Ill let you know how it performs with an upright tomorrow.

The wet and dry paper arrived yesterday so I had a bit of time this morning to flat the headstock and apply the decal (I love working from home!) I’d never used Rothko and Frost before but the decal I ordered from them is excellent, quick delivery too, I’m impressed! I didn’t want to put a Fender logo on this build; I don’t have a problem with people using Fender logos on their builds but I wanted to name this one something different whilst maintaining the Fender aesthetic with a 70s style font. As my little boy Bruno has been interested in this build, and wants to help me with the assembly (I’ve kept the nasty nitro paint well away from him!) we decided to call it the Bruno Bass No.1 (same as my username too). We also signed the back of the headstock together for posterity too. So, I’ll give the decal 24 hours or so to fully set and then I’ll start the layers of clear coat over the top.

The pickup in my Retrovibe Evo is pretty good, and passive too, I believe he sells them as an aftermarket part.

A bit unfair though, chucking teak into the equation when everyone knows the question is rosewood or maple.

Unfortunately Alan Spenner didn't. He was one of the best bassists I saw on a stage, in the early days of Kokomo.

Three coats on, it’s only a small piece of scrap to see how it looks and I am impressed. What has surprised me the most is even me almost throwing it on it’s produced an incredibly even colour. I though it may need a lot of care to get a good coverage but I have just put a bit of ink on a cloth and wiped it over as per Andy’s instruction. The difference compared to the ‘proper’ wood dye could not be more striking. And being so cheap I will try some other colours on my next build (that word next again....). More bits have arrived in the post as well so now only waiting on the screws for the pick guard and I will have everything.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/dingwall-combustion-bass/1294571430

I just got an SA Aftershock... what a beast! I just wanted it for one fairly high gain kind of sound, and liked that I can probably tweak it until I'm satisfied exactly with the amount of low end and everything... but this pedal can do so many things! So... presets and an external switch, eh? Interesting...

Isn't that's just being PICK-y!

Not sure on that exact problem, but as an emergency stick some blu tak to the bass. That way when you lead starts playing up at least you can secure it to start with.

That title has already been used for Steve Wright's biography.

Some of those cheesy rock anthems have good bass lines, if they don't, its time they did!

It's when forming a new band and the guitarist plays all those cheesy eighties rock anthems at full blast makes me cringe , everyone else say's oh I remember that one , lets play it , and the bass parts are just plain rubbish , just holding one note four beats to the bar stuff throughout ,while the guitar has all the fun . I left , not to return !

I actually quite like gene. He says precisely what he means to say with no apologies. It's good to have people with an opinion, rather than someone that is worried that they are going to offend someone. His opinions may be wrong, but they are his opinions

(Yells over shoulder to assembly of other Mods... "Quick, get the grappling irons..! There's one here admitting to be in league with Ye Who Must Not Be Named..! Prepare the furnace, and a few bottles of Holy Water..! He may even be an adept of [Gasp..!] Hall..! I always knew we had one in our midst; well here he is..! Don't let him wriggle away..!")

Imagine if they knew you'd driven there in a car...... and not a horse and cart?

Great memories there BrunoBass.

I knew what one you meant, but still not seeing it. Closer to the Fender Rumble v3 heads IMO, or the Peavey Minimax... or something Markbass. But I think it's a stretch to say they've copied the look of anything else - there are only so many ways you can arrange that number of controls on a small surface area like that.

Nice....thankfully I don't need one as everyone in my band is great (and some of them are cute)

I've got a Wilkinson in one of my basses, sounds great to me and is cheap as they come.

My Dingwall Super P5 and Super J5 are two of the finest fivers I’ve ever played. The Super P5 is completely passive with a Tone-Fusion control, the Super J5 has recently been fitted with a Sadowsky preamp but still sounds good passive.

The Mike Lull 5 strings are very comfy and nice to play. My PJ5 had a lovely classic sound to it, and the B was very integrated into the sound of the instrument.

My vote goes for bright Orange!!!! Proper Tango style!!! I buy most of my pickguards off Amazon or EBay for less than a £10er I don’t see the point in spending £30-40 on a proper fender one that looks exactly the same......

There was a point in the early 90s when I joined a band with a keys player who had a proper top end synth. When I first heard the bass patches I found myself wondering if the bass guitar had a future when it seemed like the synth could do it all. It turned out that whilst the keyboard player could make authentic sounding bass guitar noises he couldn't make the instrument sound like it was an actual bass guitar. He couldn't replicate basic techniques like hammer ons or slides and he couldn't imitate the fundamental dynamics of fingers interacting with strings. Mind you, that was nearly 25 years ago, I imagine the technology has moved on quite a bit by now.

One could also say the same of Roger’s post-Roger albums...

Interesting. In which case, any considering the comments above, the so-called classic Yes line-up of Anderson/Howe/Wakeman/Squire/White must also be no more than a classy tribute to the original band?

That was my very first bass shop experience as a young teen 32 years ago. After being handed the slapped bass, I think I played each open string slowly twice whilst wishing the earth would open. I've often thought I'd like to walk back in with a Wal and a Ken Smith, point out to the shop assistants that they make commission on sales, and that they made a HUGE mistake not being nicer to me decades before...and then I remember that I'm not Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.

You do know that all this could be avoided if you played properly... with your fingers...?

Ever tried to adjust your trussrod and found it to be tightened up to the maximum with no adjustment left? I just did, so I thought I would post my attempt to get round it. First thing I did was take the strings off, and then removed the neck, which is not strictly necessary, but I find it easier to handle. I then gingerly unscrewed the trussrod nut and removed it, exposing the threaded end of the rod (sorry for the poor quality, havent figured out how to work the camera properly yet!) [attachment=55799:S6300075.JPG] Here's the trussrod nut [attachment=55800:S6300077.JPG] Now I need to find a spacer, after a rummage through my odds'n'sods drawer all I could find was this [attachment=55801:S6300082.JPG] Its gotta fit down the trussrod hole and over the threaded end of the rod so the hole in the middle has to be bigger than the threaded end and I'm gonna have to round the corners off a bit to fit [attachment=55802:S6300083.JPG] That was too much like hard work, so I devised a cunning plan, I screwed it on to a bolt, stuck it in a drill clamped to my workmate and held the file on it while it rotated. [attachment=55803:S6300088.JPG] [attachment=55804:S6300087.JPG] Which soon whittled it down to a similar diameter to the nut, enabling it to fit down the hole and over the rod [attachment=55805:S6300089.JPG] [attachment=55810:S6300090.JPG] You can just see it in situ, over the trussrod, with some of the threads still exposed [attachment=55806:S6300096.JPG] Trussrod nut screwed back on, after a smidgen of vaseline applied to the threads [attachment=55807:S6300101.JPG] Back on with the neck, [attachment=55808:S6300103.JPG] string up to tension and check relief. After loosening the tension and adjusting the trussrod a few times I now have a nice low action and plenty of adjustment left. Job done! [attachment=55809:S6300106.JPG]