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I've just completed another bass part ex / sale with Martin from Wales - we had lots of communication both ways throughout the process and have been exchanging a few texts since about the basses we swapped. And it got me thinking as I was writing his feedback and looking at the three pages of feedback I've got....basically (bar one specific example - exception that proves the rule?!) I've had nothing but overwhelmingly positive experiences ( a LOT of them!) with people I've never met. Often involving quite a lot of money / expensive instruments and therefore trust of this unknown person. It's a great community of people who really do give bass players an excellent name. I'm sure other forums for different instruments may be the same (I'm not on any so can't really comment) but this really is a lovely group of people on here and I"m chuffed to call myself a bass player knowing that there's a lot of lovely people out there who also call themselves bassplayers! All good!

Nice to hear this, glad you all like our little community. It’s been a pleasure to run and has been a massive part of my life.

I used to get grief many years ago when I lived with my ex girlfriend about the combo amp that lived in the corner of the living room of our small one bedroom flat. I had nowhere else to put it really but eventually managed to find room to accommodate it in the cupboard under the stairs (which involved building a shoe rack to put on the triangular shaped wall above it). Imagine my joy when I came home one night to find a running machine occupying the space in the living room where my amp had been...

If you're going to talk like that, at least have the decency to use 'your' rather than you're and put EVERYTHING IN SHOUTY BLOCK CAPS. Looks far more comically unhinged that way.

Bought and sold stuff here for years, never had a bad exchange, everyone's polite and the couple of people I've met have been friendly and honest fellows to a man. Only problem I've encountered is the lack of interest in some of the dodgy kit I've advertised sometimes...!

Watching The Selector on the BBC Iplayer at the Biggest Weekend in Coventry. The bassist is playing a Squier Classic Vibe Precision, how cool is that! No gear snobbery there. Good bassist too, although I think Pauline Black is the only original member.

Phew it's been a hot one today! Not happy I have a blister on my thumb! How you ask? I'll tell you how Started off routing a shoulder at the level of the top of the binding to give myself a clean edge to work to while shaping the tops, yes shaping at last WOOHOO!! After that I drew a rough contour map of the general curves I expected to get, after that well it was shaping time. I used a thing called an Arbourtech, a rather nasty carving attachment that fits onto a grinder, this is a method I do not recommend, it can reduce your guitar body to firewood in less time than it takes to blink. So why am I using one, I've had a lot of practice with it but even then it's a worrying procedure. After rough carving I used some small thumb planes (blister!! ) to just get it somewhere like a shape at the back, the front couldn't be done until the angle for the neck/fretboard had been cut. For that I just made a jig, basically a sloping bit of MDF at 4.5 degrees with a hole in it to access the top of the body. There was some spare wood the jig didn't reach so I whipped those off with a drawknife, a bit like a massive spokeshave then took a bench plane to flatten it. Finally I took the thumb planes and some tiny spokeshaves and tuned the shape to something that looked right, it's sort of an intuitive process, try it you'll see. After that I was tired so I still need to tune the shape on the second body but I'm happy with the first, that just needs the neck fitting and sorting any snags before sanding etc. Oh and I also checked the neck blanks for any movement, admittedly they are still blanks and any movement would be unlikely but if there is any movement at this stage then the blank is firewood. There was none but some of you may be interested to know how I checked. To see if there is any twist on a narrow board you used a gadget called a pair of winding sticks, these are basically two parallel wooden straight edges with two inlays on each one with a pair of black (Ebony) and one with a pair of white (in my case Ivory veneers from a piano), as luck would have it I couldn't find them so I used a pair of 12" rules one balanced at either end from which you can sight down to see any twist (wind) exaggerated by the length of the winding sticks. Handy thing to know

I'm a lifetime member of Scott's Bass Academy. Yes, some of the people in the forum ("Campus" as they call it) are a PITA. Much of the chat is all very... well... But I don't regret having open access to an incredible and growing number of lessons FAR out stripping ANYTHING on Youtube. The SBL paid-for lessons are much better than any Scott ever gave for free. You also have opportunity, once a month (?) to be at a live video-chat session with guest speakers, who are often teachers of bass at the Berkeley School of Music. No, no regrets here. Go grab a 14-day trial membership and try it for yourself. You have nothing to lose. If you don't like it Scott WILL give you your money back. https://scottsbasslessons.com/ IIRC the first year was about £100. Topping up, at the 12 month stage, to "LIfetime" was another £200. Compare that to 1-to-1 lessons with a mediocre teacher at £26 an hour? 10 lessons inc travel costs?

I personally prefer having the jack on the front for the very reason that it gives me the option of sitting or standing. I don't have an issue with the look of it either actually. I've just commissioned my first Fodera build - it's costing a fair amount but I'm obviously comfortable otherwise I wouldn't have proceeded. I play 6ers and my tastes are generally quite conservative/boring - I find they're one of the few builders who make extended range basses that I like the look of - I've gone for an Emperor 6 by the way.

Did a bass cover, first time for everything. John Mayer's 'Still Feel Like Your Man' (Pino):

aging hasbeen getting some publicity.* nothing to see here, move along. * I say this as a fan of The Who

Mooer'd right up mate...😊

Or marry another bass player! 😄

Have you tried offering to help carry the stuff to the car, you know, don't leave it all for her to do? I mean, don't strain yourself, obviously ...

Just having a little fun here.

Oh god. That’s a serious rabbit hole. Not sure I’d be going for the Roland system but I guess it would make it the ultimate synth bass...🤔 food for thought. Still, I reckon I’ll be ordering a standard “analogue” Wingbass and can retrofit the GK at a later date like you did, if my desires lean in that direction...

I've said that I'm only a lodger too! Maybe I should give her the going rate for a lodger and stop tipping up it all!

Yup, schoolboys do most of their thinking below their waists. Or, put another way - eat first, then check ingredients later...................

Fair point, and I’m not that great

Saw spinoff band from Selecter back in the day when they split into 2; can't remember their name but they we're good. ( Just googled - the People). Founder member Neol Davies is a really interesting fella with a book in him. A shame his group has been taken from him. And, slightly off topic, Dexys post-split band the Bureau were fantastic and better than what Rowland's lot became.

Awaiting velcro and appropriate length leads...

Have you tried growing a pair. I did and now sing with a very high voice. I guess sacrifice is part of being in a band. I'm lucky as we have 4 bedrooms too. The smaller being my bass cave and any other hobbies i might have. She has the 2nd largest spare room for her "stuff" and like you even the 4 cats have a spare room that is bigger than mine. Conservatory is common ground tho. I like the view that everything else in the house is hers. I tried that approach once and stated that everything was hers and i was just a lodger. In fact there was no evidence i even lived there. No pics with me in them and all more feminine artifacts and ornaments around the house. Over next few months i noted pics with me in them appearing. Harley Davidson ornaments that had been in a box started appearing in corners and even a small Warwick Thumb copy bass was eventually put on display so that might work a bit...........or she could ask you to leave altogether. 50/50 on how that goes Dave

For me.. and it seems a lot of us...it comes down to set up. I bought a Mexican jazz off here which I completely overhauled to Candy tangerine (its in build diaries) thanks to a great initial..and subsequent set up by me...Its superb. Based on my experience of how good this is I went to Dawsons to try US 5 strings to match...tried 5...hated 5. Sticky necks...too much Poly...poor quality and totally uninspiring ...i was actually quite upset!!... I also have a 4003 Rickenbacker which I want to love so much as my wife bought it for me as one of those bucket list things..i waited 20 years to own one. But every bit of finish is sharp...the C shape baseball bat neck was unplayable until I stripped all the laquor off the back... It is a blue one and all of the paint bled into the laquor over the white bindings...then the laquor started flaking off...so have removed it from the neck..the whole thing is soooo poor we even took it in to get it verified as real (internet purchase....never ever again) where it was confirmed as real and then I was blamed for the laquor for not cleaning my hands when playing...sweat thing apparently...what BS! The neckshapes are better on the new ones imo...problem is..using Ric o sound bi amped it sounds bloody amazing...but will never gig it. Too much like hard work. They say never meet your heroes...

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Sounds good, where can I sign up?! 😄

Walking bass lines are indeed a great way to start playing jazz. Ed Friesland's book has been mentioned, and while it is a great book, personally I think it's best to delve into it as a follow up to the book below. For a complete beginner to walking bass I much prefer "Walking Jazz Lines for Bass" by Jay Hungerford. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-Jazz-Lines-Bass-Hungerford/dp/0786659963 Also here is a complete set of lessons on WB by Dave Marks. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dave+marks+walking+bass+lesson

Roger is a great front man, but an utter berk who talks a load of rubbish on many subjects. Best just to ignore what he says and listen to the music.

Yep that would make for an interesting read McNach. For me it would be Rush, Arjen Luccassen, Deep Purple and Bowie if he can be classed as Rock which i would think yes. Dave

I love the pre amp in the Sire basses.

Pleased to say Iris came home after 6 weeks in hospital and 5 operations (the first of which at 2 days old was a gruelling 9 1/2 hours). She’s doing great and it’s lovely to have her home.

Went browsing the Warwick website and ended up watching a number of videos about this lovely Thumb SC Macassar Ebony top.

I'd definitely agree with that summing up...... You have to respect Roger Daltry for his status in the genre and role in one of rocks greatest bands, but it was a very subjective and sweeping statement for him to make. On the basis that Led Zeppelin are generally regarded as the greatest rock band ever, probably most of their fans would say they had peaked by 1971 - though my personal favourite album of theirs is Presence (1976). And you'd have to say that Robert Plant has evolved as a musician more successfully over recent decades than Roger D

This pattern is so well known that linguists have a technical term for it, which I can't remember, but basically, any neutral or technical clinical term for a condition thought of negatively will become used as an insult, so the clinicians will come up with a new neutral term, which in turn becomes used as an insult... I'm old enough to remember "spastic" and "moron" as playground insults which were recognisably still used as clinical labels. I'm now, studying for a degree in mental health care, seeing leading professional bodies like the British Psychological Society advising us not to use technical terms like "psychosis" or "bipolar disorder" with our clients because the popular media have created such intensely negative disinformed stereotypes around these labels that our clients will think worse of themselves, rather than better because their condition is known and understood and we know how to help them. </rant>

A folding four-panel screen/room divider, cunningly papered over on one side with a full-sized photo of the hallway wall. Open it up around the junk PA stacked up there and it'll all 'disappear'; she'll be none the wiser. Either that or a Harry Potter cloak.

I have some sympathy becasue I'd like to think I rarely if ever listen to 'rock' but four of that list I would listen to thinking it not to be 'rock'. 'Rock' is pretty much a contested yet meaningless concept until someone defines or explains what they mean by 'rock'. And then one finds that the definition or explanation given includes examples which one feels have very little to do with 'rock'.

I’m still waiting for someone to actually adopt ‘Pink Torpedo’ as a username...

John Paul Jones?

Can confirm - I fully agree to all. I play two 5 strings (both Passion) and two 6-strings (passion, arpege) , stunning basses with unique playing feel, sound, response.

I've never heard a bad word about the older Eden gear in fact I had a WT550 for quite a while and it is the best amp I have ever owned. Plug it in, switch it on and "Boom", it was all there, tone in spades. Only sold it as it was a bit heavy. I then bought a WTX500 and was a bit underwhelmed. The tone was there but it just didn't have the "welly" of the WT500. I don't know much about the later gear but Eden is now owned by Marshall and I don't know what influence they have on the product line. Comparing old school watts with present day Class D watts is like chalk and cheese. An old 150W Trace Elliot or Peavey etc. is likely to sound much louder than the Eden. To get double the loudness of a particular setup you need 10 times the power output. Even if you were comparing like with like the difference between 150 and 225 Watts is inaudible. I don't know about the deal you have been offered but a quick look seems to suggest they are around £600 which is £100 dearer than a Fender Rumble 500. The Rumble is in a different league and has a massive following on here and you can hook up an additional speaker to it, (albeit an 8 Ohm one). The other alternative, if you like the Eden sound is buy one of the new Terra Nova heads and use your 4 Ohm cab. At the end of the day it is your money and you can spend it as you like but the Eden Combo will not do what you outlined above.

So basically the other guy's made a £60 profit on a voided transaction, the 'justification' being a couple of vanilla set-ups. Nice work if you can get it. Really, everyone needs to learn how to fettle their own guitars. It's not difficult; the basic tools are dirt cheap; forums like BC are full of helpful people with bundles of experience; there's tons of information and vids out there; and even a little practical knowledge helps when trying out prospective purchases.

It is all a ruse. You don't need books, CDs, hifi system, magazines, videos, DVDs or TV...all you need is your laptop and a subscription to lots of things at only £9.99 per month each. Oh, and cloud storage for all your backups at £9.99 a month for when your laptop breaks. "Why am I so poor?" the junior office worker mused, listening to Spotify though bluetooth headphones on his iPhone X while clicking away at his laptop. His £4.20 large coffee with cream from Starbucks cooled next to him.

Or a chrome bridge and knobs. The “all black” look is a bit too rawk for me...