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Just had the second practice with my new band and I have to say I'm absolutely loving it. Don't get me wrong, it's as rough as a badgers @rse and would make most "professional" musicians ears bleed. But, having tried to get something together for years with loads of different people, it's fantastic to be in a room with like minded people where it just flows. I think it probably works because we're primarily a bunch of mates who go out drinking together and happen to play instruments. Were all in our 40's and 50's and have no delusions of being rock stars. Isn't it great when it just gels. No egos. No agenda. Just playing for the love of it. Do gigging, paid musicians still get that?

Last night was the second of five dep gigs that I'm doing with a Rolling Stones Covers band this month. The first one had gone well - just a couple of little stumbles where they play things a bit differently to how I'm used to, but on the whole very good. Last night was really brilliant. Great venue in Brum. Very small stage, but plenty of room for the punters to dance. All ages, really nice atmosphere. Very helpful sound guy. But near disaster struck as I was loading in. Managed to trap my finger in the door of my boot! First finger right hand - my main plucking finger so to speak!!! 😮 So quickly got a glass of ice from behind the bar and stuck finger in that for a long time. Skin broken just under the nail, but luckily pad of finger OK although very tender. So I soldiered on and didn't even notice the pain during the first half (despite Paint it Black and Sympathy for the Devil!) but afterwards it was really throbbing. So spent the break with my finger in a glass of ice again and it was OK for the second half. It went so well - people smiling, dancing cheering. Some bloke wanted his picture taken with me during the break. He kept going on about what a great guitarist I was, and I suspect that he thought the guitar solos were coming from me, haha! I didn't disabuse him of the fact 😄Also, most of the members of the other two band I was in had come along as well and they all really enjoyed it. And I'm getting paid - which all helps to eke out the pension. Feel like a proper musician at last. Very happy bunny this morning, despite throbbing finger 😎☝️

Only four years ago so not so interesting a story - my still most loved GMR 5, in easy arm's reach right now. I went into Promenade Music in Morecambe knowing only that I wanted to play bass and wanted a 5. Gary spent two hours helping me choose, and wouldn't let me buy until he was sure I would be happy with it - which I am more than. Still grateful to him! My grandson - just turned 5 - is obsessed with guitars, and most loves my Aerodyne. I kind of hope he'll think of it as his first bass (he was not quite 4 when this pic was taken). Anyone else would have to prise it out of my dead hands, but if he does grow into a bass player it will be his 🙂

A few recent additions to my board has inspired me to give a bit more thought on better ordering my chain and I've reset my board as follows: 2 inputs (AB-Y) [allows easy switch e.g. between electric bass and EUB] -> Compressor [Cali 76CB] -> Octaver [Valeton OC-10] -> Synths [Matryoshka & MB SS] -> Gated Fuzz & Drive [Mastotron & SA Aftershock] -> Filter [SA Manta] -> Modulation, EQ & HPF [Zoom MS-60B] -> output / amp Somehow managed to get them all onto my Metro 24, which was a relief!

Last update for a while, here's the twins upright on stands just to get a better look at how they look. They are now hanging in an old wardrobe until they have hardened enough to be safe to handle without risk of marking the lacquer, somewhere between a week and eight weeks, I really don't know until they get there.

The MTV Unplugged version of this song/intro is amazing on the album, (which is available) as is the bass playing.But its not available on YT. This is very cool though.

STICK! My Mk 1 Custom Series Wal is going nowhere!

If I have any trouble remembering my first bass I only need to pop upstairs and get it out of its case! 1981 Aria SB700. Lovely bass!

Yep, we`ve been together for almost 5 years now, have released 3 albums, 3 eps/singles, played festivals, done overseas gigs/tours, and it`s all still incredibly good fun. I think a lot of it is to do with age, similarly we are all 40s/50s with no illusions of being stars. As such with the ego malarkey out of the way this is the most successful any of us have ever been, probably due to it being a hobby, albeit a very time-consuming one, and primarily done for fun/the love of it. We don`t take any money from the band, it all goes back in to the pot to pay for recording, flights, ferries, hotels, more merch etc. This coming week we`ll rehearse Mon, then got gigs on Tue/Wed/Thu in Bristol, Manchester and London respectively. Later on this month we have another 3 gigs in 3 days, Stockton On Tees, Edinburgh & Doncaster. That`s off the back of releasing an EP at the start of this month, at The Rebellion Festival in Blackpool. Were I to be in my 20s doing this I don`t think I would have appreciated it at all, probably would have just got riotously drunk at all the gigs (which is what I did in fact do at the smaller gigs I did back then) whereas I realise now that I`m incredibly fortunate to have my hobby enabling me to do all of the above. I reckon being able to do all of this in my 50s has made me appreciate it all the more.

I'm not that experienced or knowledgeable so perhaps shouldn't be sticking my head over the parapet. But strikes me you must be playing Wembley if you need those size cabs and amp power. I play a Markbass 500w head into a 1x12 cab 8 ohm (so giving me only 350w) and playing quite large pub gigs I've never had the gain over midday on the dial. Also, how young are you and your back? You'll find it a lot easier to carry a couple of light but quality small cabs than a 410/12 or 1x15 dinosaur.

My 63 P-bass. Originally belonged to a great friend and bandmate who tragically lost his life in road accident. I acquired the bass from his widow, who had unfortunately stored it in her loft, causing all the paint to peel off the body, and the frets turn green. I had it restored by Paulman in Huddersfield some 30 years ago, and it remains my Number One to this day.

And in the meantime, the first length of kerfing strip goes on. This is the strip that the top and back will glue onto. It is set a mm or so higher than the sides because the top and back will be dished - the kerfing will be sanded down in the radius dish so that is ends as a close fit to the dished top and back before gluing - I'll explain that better when I have some photos to illustrate it!

There are various ways of thicknessing an acoustic top. In the end, I used a similar method to one or two classical guitar builders I've seen in various places. Sounds surprising, but it uses a block plane! First cross grain, then diagonal and then with the grain: I did sharpen the blade before I started, and these are SUPER thin shavings, but this is the best surface I've ever managed with a block plane! This is straight off the plane: When I was about 3.6mm, I moved onto the scrapers. This is now down to 3.3mm and I will move to a large sanding block to drop it down to about 2.9mm. I say about, because I am using the tap tone approach (great video on one of Robert O'Brian's 'Luthier Tips du Jour' videos, although he uses a thicknesser sander) rather than aiming for a specific thickness. I will not, however, drop below 2.7mm tap tone or not!

Utter pish - I play what I want because I enjoy it and don't feel sad in the slightest. I've enjoyed playing a lot of good music over the past 31 years - other people's music. So to reiterate; utter pish

Have you got an Arno Carbur2 (?) burnishing tool? They are in a class of their own for sharpening cabinet scrapers

Patronising nonsense. I guess you're not a fan of Oscar Wilde, then, who rightly said: "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness". +1^^ Very well put. Couldn't agree more!

Well my main gigging bass is a 2015 US Precision, and I`ve found that that series are the best ones for me, so I have four of them, as such it`s unlikely I would trade in for anything different as simple-tastes me has already found the ideal.

So would I. But that's mainly because I don't like jazz basses.

To give it a more “classic” look I have decided to create a Fortress Flashback type pickguard in 3 ply black. I’ve always liked the Flashback pickguard look. See pic for an example. Also need to install new side dots (nothing special, but some of the old one have sunk a little), so another small task to add. The benefit of going fuller size pickguard is also that I can go with more exact pickup placement and can place control knobs wherever I choose if it improves esthetics. I will be creating a pickguard template in cardboard, then transferring onto 12mm MDF and I will use the MDF template as the template for the pickguard AND as the pickup route template, it just makes sense. So next installment, template time...

We did both at that age. At the time being in a band was the only way I could get sh@##ed. Blue

My first bass was a Westone 1A Thunder ⚡ , bought from a friend in Newcastle in December 1993. It became "The Tiger Bass" shortly after. This was my main gigging & recording bass 'til I stopped gigging in the mid-2000's. It also featured on the band's album cover. I love this bass, I have never played a bass that is so comfortable (I did learn to play on it tho). Westones are not boutique or desirable, but this bass is the reason I still play.

This is going in the same direction as "what direction should I place my bass knobs" thread. There is a reason why you have never thought about it before. Because it is totally irrelevant.

Hello friends. Inspired by recent builds, I’ve purchased a Warman Musicman style pickup, and need some other stuff to put around it. I had a Musicman copy I (orchestrated rather than) built around 20 years ago. The neck was a slight disappointment as the “luthier” wot made it was a scoundrel. As I understand it, he has now moved cities to shed his poor reputation. So, this time around, I’d like to do a Jaguar body, p width neck, with the MM pup. Lightweight tuners to keep good balance. A nice dark stain/finish, like what @Bridgehouse did. This will be mega slow going - probably going to buy one thing per month, as not to alarm the Mrs or flamingo the household budget. So, my next item after the pup will be the body. Jaguar bodies aren’t that common, so I had thought about buying a Jazz body and cutting it down. Does a Jaguar body dimension fit in a Jazz outline? Or am I better off manning up and getting a blank?

I went to Gruhn's place, proper shop or what?!! Always had a thing for 60's Gibson cherry stuff, have had GAS for a 335 for longer than I care to remember. Some of the reissues have come close, but nothing quite captures that colour of an original. Nice story too Josie.

it sounds luvly Christine even though it has no tone control, but my black output socket has arrived so I will fit that and check out the wiring and tone pot, I put a set of cheap flat wound strings on it too, I am digging a new pond in the garden and its taking a lot of my time but the next wet day we have ill be out doing it.

Here's mine still going strong. 🙂

Still pretty much get that feeling..

I thought the OP was bracing themselves for a visit to that special clinic

I thought this topic was going to be about GAS.

For anyone interested but for whom the above made no sense, I've 'borrowed' this shot from someone's YouTube video: Basically, the left hand fence is brought forward a mm or so (using a shim or similar) Then the fence is positioned so that the router bit is EXACTLY in line with the left hand fence So as the board is pulled across - flush with the right hand fence - the cutter takes that mm or so off and the board remains in contact with now both left hand and right hand fence sides. Works a treat!

I had a similar vintage tint neck. I used a heat gun judiciously to get the poly finish off, and then refinished it with a couple of coats of Liberon Finishing Oil. Looks much better and feels great.

Looking lovely!

That was his custom shop bass... that Yamaha gave him before his appearance with the Smashing pumpkins... I'm hoping this will be his signature bass

Got a tort scratchpad made by the bass doc for my black Lakland 5502....looks great, I think it depends on the quality of the tort!!

Read 2 posts earlier. I would go the PA path for all the band and keep your actual combo used at stage volume and if you don't hear what you are all playing, don't play louder, do the opposite. Always start with the drummer playing first, then add your bass to create a clear and audible mix, then the guitar(s), the keyboard(s) and the vocal(s) and never try to compete, but to complement the frequencies of all instruments. Doing this way, you'll be amazed how low you'll be playing and easily heard. It's all about compromise and ego.

My Lakland DJ5 is an incredible bass, but, I could potentially be tempted by a Spector Euro 5. I've never actually played a Spector, but I really like the tone and aethetics of them.

I haven't seen many like that. When it came up before, I thought it was a good idea especially if you are into your pedals and fx. If the pickup placement is done with a bit of extra care and it has a solid passive output, I reckon it'd work for me. Try Custom Colour as a starting place and go for hard anodising. As for the making of it, I'm a bit handy with metalwork. PM me if you like.

Have also stripped and gutted the Bogart

Ew! You weren't playing with GG Allin, were you?

Forgot a picture 1. 1 of 2 Farida Fretless prototypes but with a swapped fretted neck, Duncan classic stacks, ash, Maple - does everything well. Messed about with this, has a Pickguard and the kids put stickers on the back whenever they fancy. 2. MIM Geddy - not finished with this yet, very impressed after a week. Some bits arriving. 3. That Jazz thing (64 CS) mad figured neck as wide as a 64 Jazz, as deep as a 75 P.... 4. 2 of 2 Farida Fretless - a pipe dream when I worked for their UK distributor. Wanted to beat the Squier VM Fretless for a little more money - the spec left it at £799. Got canned. I have the only 2 made.

A cursory examination of the lyrics and of such background as is available indicates that the song Oliver's Army is a meditation upon the enlistment of young, unemployed men into the British Army. The 'Only takes one itchy trigger, one more widow, one less white n*****' line refers to such collateral damage as was sustained by Irish Catholics during the Troubles. The title plays upon the dark reputation of Oliver Cromwell and his frankly savage acts against the Irish people during his conquest of Ireland. The song was - apparently - written upon Mr Costello's return from a trip in 1978 to NI when it became apparent to him that the British soldiers serving in Ulster were both very young and from a background of poverty. It works on a lot of levels.

Dimitri does some fantastic stuff.For me his mix on MJ/ Rod Temperton's classic is one of his best. The string section is just...

I do up basses. One I had was a Warwick with a wenge fingerboard. The frets were worn out and the strings had been well ground into the wood of the neck. I guess this is what would happen to your fretless. Why not remove the fingerboard and fit a new ebony board? This would also give you the opportunity to put the side dots in the right place: in the fret-wire positions.

Going to listen to this today. I also found out yesterday that there was a bonus track on the Cog CD In Search of Better Days called Liberation Groove, it’s a killer track but for some reason doesn’t appear on my physical CD! Whilst talking about new music I listened to the album Le Chic Remix by Dimitri From Paris this week, there’s some really clever work on old tracks but they have boosted most of ‘Nards lines in the mix and you can hear them so much better. It’s awesome.

I enjoy playing Maiden songs on my sparkly blue bass more