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Now's the time to spring like a panther: send your drummer down to audition. When he gets the gig he can tell them he'll only join if he can bring his friend (you) in on bass. Then you both turn up for the rehearsal and sack the other band members. Then book some gigs in this band's name; leave it a while then cancel them at the last minute while savagely insulting the bookers down the phone. Then announce the band is folding. Arm long, vengeance total. Proper job.

*walks around the Happy Jack-Bluejay household, looking at the ceilings, and whistles* Nice light fittings we have here...

True dat. But that envelope filter has got to be used sometime, right?

Wow.... I thought I had issues with 7... I’ve now showed the missus how our spare room is going to look based on your photos..... apparently that’s where I’m now sleeping! 😩

I look at all those basses and think, "You could have bought a really great bass with what you spent on that lot!"

I’ve been listening to a lot of Crowded House this week in the car. I’ve been a fan since the eighties (before that, if you include Split Enz); they’re one of those bands I always go back to, Neil Finn is one of my favourite songwriters. I like Nick Seymour’s bass playing too, very understated, plays for the song first and foremost. He also does this thing where he sometimes holds the root note even after the chord has changed, or shifts to the root note of the coming chord in anticipation of it’s arrival. I like it, it adds a tension or an urgency which is very pleasing.

I've got a (welcome) gap between commissioned full builds. I probably have a rebody of a Cort Curbow coming up (more of which later) but, in the scheme of things, that isn't a major undertaking on a par with a full build. So, as some of you know, one of the things I've been doing in the extra time is sorting out a better arrangement with routing - I've invested in a self-assembled foldaway router table and am currently building a thicknessing rig. But I've also been looking at the crazy amount of 'oooh that looks nice' wood that I've acquired over the past few years. In amongst it is this - some of which isn't faring well in my far-from-perfect wood storage: On the left is a sister set of back and sides lacewood and mahogany/walnut neck offcut from Chris's (our band's vocalist) dreadnought acoustic that I built him back in 2015: Next to that is another neck offcut - maple /walnut and lastly an offcut of Macassar ebony fretboard from my recent 6-string electric build. Well....that's most of the wood for another dreadnought - with a choice of neck to boot! And I've got a bit of time on my hands And I've got a few new things in the workshop that need testing out. And I've always wanted, and never had, a dreadnought. Hmmmm….it's tempting!

Well it turns out it’s never too late to give up on your dreams. This is my band from the 80s with yours truly on bass!

OK, good news is that all components are usable, size-wise - even the macassar ebony fretboard offcut It also gives me a choice of two neck wood combinations - maple/walnut /maple or mahogany/ walnut / mahogany. I'm tempted to use the maple...harder to work but might add a touch of brightness for the fingerpicking side of things...

Things were cramped in the old house so wall hangers and racks were used,the new place is much bigger 🙂 4 x racks of 7 + 10 tripod stands in the living room, 2 are kept propped against the couch within arm's reach. Spare room hosts another 4 x 7 racks,basses unused for ages like my Curbow,Dano and Bass Collection live in gigbags in the wee cupboard. Only 51 Peaveys in this photo. I blame the double bass 😄 Happened at Xmas, Wunjos kindly swapped the Sub by SBMM for a GK Plex instead.

My one and only bass, always wanted one and have zero interest in any other. Teal green and does everything I want for the bands I have played in, never fiddle with the EQ, everything just set flat out, may just knock the tone pot back a bit on some numbers.

Fairly sure i’ve not even played 43 basses, let alone owned (4 at separate times)

The black pickguard looks ok too

Have a Bergantino HDN 2x12. Imported from Germany excellent sound But I do have it paired with the Bamp using its 2x12 profile Well pleased with the sound my other choice was going to to be the vandercleys

My wife is out shopping and I'm enjoying Humble Pie, Rockin' the Fillmore

I'm absolutely sure there's a clever link here to 50 Shades Of Grey ...

Hurt his feelings. Tell him to stop or he's fired.

Surely something "offensive" is something which is defined as contravening the overarching social/legal/personal/sexual norms of the day/region/person. So, I suppose, yes nothing is intrinsically offensive in a way that you might be able to apply a physical test to it - but only in the same way that nothing is intrinsically "red": that is simply a word which we use to describe a phenomenon that satisfies certain criteria. I'm not sure how useful it is focus on this point. Two thoughts occurred to me while reading through this thread, as a white male of just less than 40 with a very foreign name and 50% Asian parents: 1) As a youngster on holiday, the wee chap who came up to me and announced "you're a Paki" was using that language deliberately to offend, intimidate and injure. The word may not be intrinsically offensive but his use of it was deliberately so. Ditto the woman who came up to my mum in a shop, pointed at my dad and said "my father was killed by one of them in the war" (one of what? - no epithet was used but the insult is explicit.) 2) A more trite example. There are probably over 30 of us at work who share the communal milk. There are no rules applied to its use but if someone came in and used all of it to themselves every day, it would not make them a champion of libertarian values: it would make them a selfish oaf, unwilling or unable to see the consequences of their actions on others. Which is my long-winded way of saying that while I would in no way support a ban on any language that pub covers bands might choose to use, it has to be acknowledged that language is a phenomenally powerful tool, even a weapon, and those that use it indiscriminately (or childishly seek to offend simply for the sake of doing so) must be prepared to accept to the opprobrium of those with a broader scope of experience.

I often wonder if drummers do that because they think they sound boring, and want to seem skilful. Sorta like guitarists and, who knows, maybe even bass players sometimes. I know that I sometimes feel that I’m just playing boring repetitive crap, and stick in some pops or something, and o& course it falls apart. Other times, when I am feeling confident and in the groove, it works a treat.

I think that my musical training (A-level + grade 8 bass trombone) has certainly helped my bass playing. However I do use only a tiny fraction of that knowledge when playing most of the time. My guitarist is self-taught, he can't read music. He probably doesn't know if he's playing a first or second inversion of a chord - because that's not the way he thinks. He certainly knows exactly what he is doing though. He learnt by copying his favourite guitarists. Now, if he's heard a song, he can play it - with all the correct chords, solos and little nuances. I didn't particularly enjoy my A-level music. I found that analysing and deconstructing music took away some its "magic". Similarly, "unconscious competence" can be a beautiful quality in a musician. Look at how many bands had cracking a first album or two, and then went off the boil once they "knew what they were doing". Having said that, I'd still recommend that bass players learn some theory. Not every player is a savant, and may need to make an effort at playing. A good understanding of time signatures can help you nail a groove. Knowledge of arpeggios and chord structure can help you come up with interesting bass lines.

I don’t agree that people choose to be offended. People do however choose to offend. I can think of many words that are offensive in their use; it would depend of course on your gender, sexuality, race, religion or appearance whether or not you do find a particular word offensive. Of course if you’re a straight white male without any disability then you probably wouldn’t have encountered a problem.

Is it wrong that I don't actually know? They are in various places, some in our rehearsal room, some in my man cave, some in pieces awaiting fun projects, some in the living room and some in the dining room. From where I'm sat I can see nine. The thing is two are ukes, fretted and fretless, two are full sizes acoustics, fretted and fretless, acoustic db, eub, fours, a five, short scale long scale, bass vi and so on, all very different from each other. The silly thing is my main gigging electric bass is a Variax which has most of my other basses included in it My family don't go without, all the bills get paid and we don't particularly want or need anything we haven't got, so it's no biggy keeping them all, it's my hobby. If hard times came knocking I'd just sell most of them.

As I understand it the words ar$e, junk and slut have also prompted nervous broadcasters to whip out the bleep button around Christmas time. And just as well; these are words that could quite clearly bring society to its knees. So let's just substitute 'sit-upon', 'dangerous drugs' and 'a person exercising their right to (either sequentially or simultaneously) engage in coition with multiple partners. It's for the best.

The free use of language doesn't oppress, controlled or compelled use of language oppresses. Please expand if I'm misunderstanding you.

Well, I can understand, to a degree, but anyone who is into The Blues will know the song and understand you are not speaking from a personal point of view but merely covering an old classic. I am a married man, so should I avoid covering any song that mentions attraction to a woman who is patently not my wife? I think things can be taken too far. It didnt stop old blue eyes singing "Something stupid" as a duet with his own daughter. Its a love song by the way.

I'd never change an "offensive" lyric if I was covering a song. The composer wrote those words for a reason and I think it's a greater offence to bastardise someone's art than to offend someone who deams their language to be inappropriate. It's your God given right to be offended and it's my God given right to offend you. Words are not and will never be violence; "Sticks and stones... Etc." to equate "offence" with "assault" is a very dangerous road to tread in my eyes.

The trouble is , is that all of the double Stingray pickup'd basses , all have the rear pickup way too far back - so not getting that 'Stingray sweetspot' . The only mainstream maker that I've seen 'dong it right' (subjective, I know) , is Warwick, with the Doublebuck

I’ve had to bow to the inevitable and accept that I’m playing more and more 9th and 13th chords and gettin*dangerously close to playing jazz. As a result, I’ve been hankering after a jazz box for a while and had pretty much settled on an Epi Joe Pass Emperor as being the right sort of blend of money, quality and value at about £475. And then I spotted a black Epi ES175 in Sixty Sixty on Denmark St at nearer £600 and that gave me a bit of a dilemma....nice guitar but a bit more than I’d planned on spending....which was then solved when I spotted this beauty in Peach Guitars in Colchester. £499 including a Hiscox case for a four year old Epi 175 Premium (that’s the one with the Gibson pickups). It came beautifully set up and sounds fantastic. I love it. Just needed to share....

Thank you. It looks even better in the flesh. I was a bit unsure because I wasn’t sure whether I’d get on with the neck - but I needn’t have worried. It’s like playing butter...

The P has a string-through bridge I really like - a kind of Gotoh knock-off - so I picked up a couple via Northwest Guitars on eBay along with some ferrules and set to drilling the body. The jury is out on whether through-body stringing makes any real difference but, for me at least, is does seem to add a certain something and quite honestly I just like the look of it. I have a rudimentary drill press of sorts so should be able to drill reasonably accurate vertical holes. Time to give it a try! The bridges are a direct Fender BBOT replacement, so once I’d banged the ferrules in there was no further drilling required. I also started shielding the cavities but then ran out of copper tape *sigh*

I'll leave it to the pros ! I live 2 floors up in the air, so trying to do what you're doing would mean working in the kitchen, without proper tooling. No thanks

100% fully sympathise with El_JimBob on his situation - none of us would like any issues like that with our basses. Out of curiosity I Googled how can a guitar neck warp ('cos I'm clueless on such things!), & there are factors such as storage location, humidity, heat & strings that can cause a neck twist & nothing to do with manufacturing or age it seems. From his posts, EJB has had his bass for a few months & if Adrian has had no other similar issues with other basses & has looked this one over, he might genuinely believe he is not at fault. After all, a bit odd to agree to take it back in the first place for a look if he wasn't prepared to fix it if he was at fault. I'm not saying who's right or wrong here (totally impossible to tell which is why I wouldn't be signing above mooted petition). EJB - has Adrian explained why he feels he doesn't need to fix it? An awkward situation for sure & I hope it gets resolved in some way to everyone's satisfaction.

@LewisK1975 meant to say if you want to know any more PM me cheers

Sound like you’re looking for another drummer. I would be.

Actually, John, the one I showed you was my smaller OM size: This is great for what I built it for - fingerpicking styles - but the king of strumming acoustics is the bigger dreadnought model and the OM is noticeably more limited. This is my own (look how much the top has darkened!) next to my dreadnought build for Chris, our band's vocalist: The reason I never made a dreadnought for myself before is that they are great for strumming (which Chris mainly does) but usually not so good for fingerpicking (which I mainly do). But - probably by pure luck - Chris's dreadnought just as good for fingerpicking as my smaller OM. If I can replicate that, then I have the best of both worlds

I think it's fairly safe to assume what would cause offence, yes it's still the choice of the person to take offence but would you give a talk about how the holocaust was a hoax outside a synagogue? Walk around a mosque with dirty shoes on eating a sausage roll? Unless you are either trying to incite hatred or a total moron it's safe to assume the 'hit rate' of offended people in those scenarios would be 100% Playing killing in the name in a rock bar, far less likely.

That trans white and ebony board looks so nice 👍

Gallien Krueger are certainly renowned for having an aggressive, present mid-range. I suspect that it's partly down to having a four band EQ so you can cut the lower mids, whilst pushing the upper.

I had a Norlin era Les Paul Custom, as black as a very black thing. Beautiful it was. A friend said it looked like a weapon. Those two guitars above look da biz.

Just as an off-topic aside, I replaced the four-position switch in my ABZ4 with a John East U-Retro preamp. Works a treat, but then I'm a big fan of East preamps... 🙂

After weeks and weeks of sunny weather the day I want to spray starts off misty It was forecast sunny later on so lets go for it Started the day off sanding the tops again after the grain filler, just went over it with 240 and it looked fine. I had a close inspection and all looked well (I thought). I masked the binding with the tape @Gilmourisgod recommended and masked the edges with normal masking tape and waited for the sun to come out and dry the air up. Had a cup of tea... and another cup of tea, some lunch, another cup of tea and then low and behold, the sun came out, yey!! I set the spray gun up, it's a DeVilbis SRI if anyone is interested, it's been a while since I last used it, I was a it nervous about using it again, especially with black nitro as I only ever use it with clear as a rule. I thinned the black nitro with anti bloom thinners, it was getting warm and I was a little worried about any moisture in the air given the weather this morning. I no longer have a spray booth so I sprayed outside with a 3M mist, dust and vapour mask on. I put 4 thin coats on and left it at that. It seems that my grain filling job wasn't quite as good as I thought, there is a tiny it of grain showing but it is only tiny but made worse by the finish being black gloss, by the time the clear goes over the top it will flatten off nicely, I've sprayed lumpier orange peel than that in the past LOL. I'm a little disappointed the surface wasn't quite as flat as I hoped but at least it doesn't need refilling and it will be fine after a few top coats of clear. I stripped the masking tape off after cleaning the gun and there were a couple of little patches where the regular tape had peeled off and some over spray got it, it's got sanding sealer under there so no problem, there's a couple of tiny patches too where the paint got under the 3M tape and that will need scraping tomorrow perhaps, I'll see how it looks after the finish has settled overnight. After one coat Waiting for paint to dry!

I don’t see anything oppressive in using language that doesn’t offend. Quite the contrary, words like n***** or faggot have been and continue to be used to offend, belittle, oppress and insult. It annoys me when people bring up the freedom of speech thing or decry political correctness, it’s down to having respect for people. The language of respect; which I prefer to the term politically correct, the latter implies that we're choosing terms merely to be politic in order to placate certain interest groups rather than from any interest in actually ridding our language of terminology that reflects bias and prejudice, and choosing language that reflects a certain level of respect for everyone. Like I said earlier, I would always opt to change the words.

Used to have 3... Now I only own 2, lost the Sterling and made my own HS from a Ray35... Can't say enough good things about them. No 5er plays like it, no bass holds its ground in a mix llike it, the low B is better than that of many 35" instruments, fit&finish is like boutique quality but with a tone that's full of personality (a feat many boutique instruments lacking, a sound of their own).

Ocean turquoise with matching headstock... Parchment pickguard...

I vote sparkle!

Ah Justin is with Trickfish now? Love Mr Huth! Been a while Si

You'd think a company that had kept Black Sabbath in amps for several decades would enjoy a better reputation! I've been quite staunchly loyal to Laney for most of my time as a bass player - partly because they were among the best-sounding bass amps I could afford for a long time. I always thought they sounded good and were pretty solidly built, and I probably would have stayed with them if not for the temptation to drift towards all-valve heads.