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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.

VOCALIST REQUIRED FOR TERRIBLE BAND Unreliable egotistical diva required to sing badly before their voice fails half way through the second song of each two hour set. The ability to come up with various poor excuses and not turn up for gigs and practices less than half an hour before they need to be there is a must. Must also be able to argue equally with ALL other band members and have tantrums on and off stage whilst maintaining a drunken and/or stoned condition. The ideal applicant won't even turn up to their own audition and preference will be given to applicants who have extremely poor personal hygiene. If you think you can live up to these high expectations you probably won't be arsed to respond to this advert, if not please feel free to message me here.

An empty guitar case will often get you into a gig for free.

Another useful little idea. I’m going away to London for the weekend. Packed a bag and noticed that the zip has come off. Don’t worry though, a pedaltrain nano+ bag can hold a shaving bag and all your weekend essentials.

I guess if your musical palette is as one dimensional as Gene Simmonds he has a point. However, to make such a sweeping statements shows an enormous amount of ignorance of music genres and fellow musicians. Alternatively, he's being a bellend. In fact, either way he's a bellend.

As above. I've never picked up a guitar. Never played one. Never been interested. Went from a percussionist (the classical variety) to a bass player and never regretted it. The only significant downside is that guitarist show me chord shapes and the answer is, "you're wasting your time there mate". I was wondering how many other people here are bassists without the seemingly obligatory intermediate step of playing guitar? And how do you feel about it?

Tone bends for the win: (You don't have to watch the whole video, just a wee bit of noodling at the start!)

Such as the following: *******, *****, ******** and of course *******.

I put my vote on the Shift Line Olympic Tube Preamp. It’s a great unit and sounds really awesome. It does the pushed tube amp unbelievably good but it doesn’t do overdriven sounds. It’s the best “clean” preamp I’ve ever tried, and I own a bunch. Le Bass, Tonehammer, SCR-DI, Vintage Ultra & A/O, Hartke Bass Attack I &II, MXR M-80, 3Leaf the Enabler, Verellen Meatsmoke, Noble, Rusty box and probably a couple more. It takes dirt really good and the cab sim, especially the 8x10, is fantastic. And the headphones is dead silent, perfect for silent practice. And the whole unit breathes quality. I wouldn’t hesitate buying another if something happened to this.

Simplified things a little but very happy with this.

I think you've saved yourself a lot of pain. I first picked up a guitar nearly half a century ago and I'm still no better at it. I discovered I was much better playing one note at a time and picked up bass after a decades-long sojourn on sax. Some things just suit you more than others. In my last band I used to catch the rhythm guitarist squinting at the notes I was playing... he squinted a lot as I usually played fretless.

I read the brand name initially as "Firewood" - probably wasn't far off the mark

!!!!! Look what arrived

Even a gorilla couldn't bend the gauge of strings I use.

My name is Walbassist and I am a string bender.

I am sure the Gene Simmons supporters would approve - better clarity and definition to your cake eating that way.

I've decided to find this whole thread offensive, even though my pampered first-world life is pretty sweet. Anyway, I'm going to get on the internet and moan about it endlessly, just see if I don't! Or maybe tomorrow - Bargain Hunt is on soon and I must prepare tea and biscuits...

My personal opinion about this Grade A douche aside, I also 100% disagree with what he's saying. I've never seen any funk players live using a plectrum. If he said that to Larry Graham or Bootsy they'd laff in his faces (both the monster one and his stage make-up)

Anybody else think he looked less creepy WITH the makeup?

If that's what clean living does to you I'm off to find my next vat of toxins.

The bass is a Cold War-era East German Musima copy - the irony is that the original hardware on these was decent - the original tuners would have been torque-adjustable Gotohs. Wonder if the seller binned the old bits just because they were old, & "upgraded" it?

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

Wow, just come across this thread....what a total blast that must have been It's very unlikely I'll ever get to do anything that massive so thanks for sharing - I'll be thinking of this when playing at The Dog and Duck squashed up against the PA!

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}

Chinese copy of the real thing. Usually have fake serial numbers too but this one doesn't.

Mine was in a band called 25 Views of Worthing. He played the bass.

My Dad played tea chest bass in the Coney Island Skiffle Group. They were on the bill at The Cavern on its opening night. No connection with Coney Island. They were from The Wirral.

Not indescribable....it's just the filter will catch most words that describe this

I never could get on with picks Great for getting stray pieces of beef out of your teeth though

Zach Rizer is very good, especially if you're into effects.

It's usually me pushing the cheesey 80's anthems! And there are some nice bass parts in a lot of them, depends what you want the band to do I guess. The cheesy 80's anthems suit our core audience perfectly

Variation on the theme of the OP: dep guitarist in one of my covers bands is using a Helix and wants a transparent monitor / speaker to put it through rather than getting a guitar amp as he feels that an amp will colour what's coming out of his Helix (all the other guitarists I'm working with have gone for the Roland Blues Cube) . He's insisting on 10" rather than 8" (probably correctly?), though. Anyway, we're off to PMT Romford tomorrow to check out Yammy, QSC and RCFs; I may try out the odd bass guitar while I'm up there...

Didn't think I'd be posting the words 'I AM A BENDER' today, yet here we are.

Doesn't matter, at least one person will still moan about it! Some wanted it to be routed through the main output so much that it seemed to be a deal breaker, others (as above) would have preferred the aux in to be headphones only.

I think that we're all missing the point discussing Gene's views on pick vs fingers. After all, Gene isn't a professional bass player - he's an (extremely successful) merchandise salesman. I'm not sure how many takers he's going to get for the 'Home Experience Package', where he personally delivers a load of old demos and out-takes to you for $50,000. Personally, I'd be be more likely to pay $50 grand just to get him to flip off out of my house!

I've just looked at the Newtone website in more detail & can now see that the Platinum strings have a finer outer core than the Diamond ones I bought. That might explain the slight 'tackiness' I mentioned above. To be fair that is probably by design then, & I'll order Platinum next time to see the difference.

Great pictures. I regret not keeping more of my own.

I've checked the specs, your bass is supposed to be passive with single coil pickups, so the only series possibility is to put both pickups in series, which is absolutely useless. If you still want to do it, then the push-pull should be a logarithmic 250 KOhms.

Got a new strip of wood to do the vertical sides and mitered the existing horizontal ones. Then dug out some mitre bond to hold in place and stapled them as well for good measure. I filed down the sawn ends to try to make them as flat as possible, what with my terrible sawing skills, even with a mitre box. Before I got too involved, offered it up to the amp to check. Oh dear, good thing I did because it's 'shorter' on one side, when it was chopped off the amp and had a new bottom put on. Didn't expect that. Had to pull it apart and 'trim' the vertical lengths. Put it together and check again and all is good. Then did the angled bit on the left where the Fender badge is going to go and put a diagonal brace on the other side. Sprayed it black with general purpose black spray paint.

I think you're going to have to forget the "inexpensive" bit...

Surely they’ve hit their peak though, can’t keep going up?

Aren’t those Simms pickups passive? I thought I’d read the battery was just for the leds? What preamp was in it?

ok to get you started https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Focusrite-scarlett-2i2-1st-gen-10/282909728923?hash=item41debbe09b:g:4E4AAOSwxa9auqme https://www.amazon.co.uk/AKG-Dynamic-Handheld-Vocal-Microphone/dp/B000S5JKRQ https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M-Audio-Oxygen-25-Midi-Keyboard-3rd-Gen/302699082898?hash=item467a457492:g:tbwAAOSwElpaoQ2T https://www.studiospares.com/Headphones-and-Speakers/Headphones-Studio/Studiospares-M1000-Studio-Headphones_448760.htm?gclid=Cj0KCQjwh7zWBRCiARIsAId9b4r2C3stcoRrjDnONDcSdzyfLJzhR5B9ed-Xu1Q56Uctksizw-jh8fUaAt7GEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds Scarlett 2i2 AU interface decent vocal mike (we use em on stage), midi keyboard with full size keys, and pukka headphones (as recommended on here), everything to get you started and then some for the princely outlay of about 200 quid

I suppose both have their merits, but I'm not sure I approve of either. ...

Welcome Hazza, I'd recommend you look at @Jabba_the_gut's build. I saw it at a Bass Bash last year and it's a beaut! Old Front Door and a Shelf... Your budget should allow you get a decent starter kit though. I echo the suggestion that you modify a kit body rather than make one from ply. I spent about £350 building my Ibanez tribute bass. The link is in my signature. I liked it so much I had to buy the real thing after so beware. Well done for jumping right in though. Respect.