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I married at 21 (45 years ago) so priorities changed instantly. I'd been in bands already for 6 years at that point wanting, and expecting, to be a rock god but, we needed somewhere to live and needed to eat however, still found time to see loads of bands and occasionally play. Kids arrived 7 years later so was still into earning money as even more responsibility. Now 66, two bands, loads of gigs, no mortgage, loads of guitars and basses, live in the french countryside and, with the same wife. Wouldn't change a thing.

No dispute here, but what about 'mislaid' goods..? Should the packaging be fluorescent day-glo orange..? Fitted with a GPS tracking device..? Pre-loaded with indelible die that'll stain the hands and face at any unauthorised opening of the packet..? Handcuffed to a wide-shouldered stern-faced Hire-A-Thug 'protector'..? Hmm...

Who doesn't like a bit of midnight Mingus? One of the best openers on any album! And let's not overlook what happens to be one of the best album titles/covers 🤣

There was a time when you could say if they weren't stupid they wouldn't be in that job, but now people have to take what they can get. And the truly stupid get promoted way beyond their abilities. What's that, Prime Minister? No, of course not.

From the OP's description, my reading of it is more miscommunication than a despicable plot to undermine you: you thought you were joining a band; they thought they were getting a bass player who was happy to help them out when needed. Although... I suggest that it's worth having a clear the air discussion for a couple of reasons. First, it's just not polite to be kept out of the loop of where "the band" is playing, and as a minimum they should at least be telling you of the gigs they are taking on where your services are not needed. Clearly that's a big driver in why you're not very happy at the moment. And if they are choosing when to play as a duo and when to play as a band based on maximising what the two of them get paid rather than the needs of the venue/promoter, then it's an issue. Second, it does make we wonder if they see you as part of "the band" at all. It smells very much like you are the hired hand, and if the band ever takes off and there is serious money at stake then you'll find yourself excluded from any participation in the band's profits. There's a long and dishonourable tradition of band members finding out that technically they aren't actually band members after all when there's money to be made. Perhaps there's a fundamental question at the heart of this, that if you're only ever going to be the hired hand then you should be getting paid now, not pitching in and doing festivals for nothing to help promote a band that doesn't think they'll need to share the money when it starts coming in. I'm not saying any of it is specifically wrong, more that the band needs to make it very clear what your position is, and then you can make an informed decision of whether you want to continue.

I always feel sad at the number of pompous tosspots who elect themselves to a 'position of authority' in a band. Why all the seriousness when for the majority of us it's all about the enjoyment, not a career?

Everyone -- back in January, 2018 myself and a group of musicians decided it was time to freshen up our repertoires with new jazz. We listened to about 200 songs and then, through a double blind review process, agreed that 9 of them were of sufficient quality for inclusion in a book called "Today's Jazz Book". It's a free book, and we did it all through a non-profit. The charts have been transcribed and formatted by a professional arranger, and its' all volunteer. The tunes had to meet certain criteria -- interesting chord changes, killer melodies, suitable for a typical small jazz combo, one page long, or two pages at the very outside. There are MP3's as well that are free. If you would like a copy, let me know and I'll private message it to you -- you don't have to give anything up for it -- not your email, you don't have to register anywhere, no account to set up. Just a bunch of guys trying to create an ever-expanding book of quality jazz tunes. It's a labor of love, not a commercial venture. Think of the Real Book, but legal to share, print, and perform live without royalties due -- you can even record the tunes without royalties due to their Creative Commons license -- they are quality too, so don't let "free" fool you. WE even consulted a lawyer to make sure what we were doing is legally sound. Send me a private message if interested...and I'll shoot a copy over to you. Tunes are in C and Bb, with Eb and Bb almost out of the oven...

Thanks!. Every bass I build gets assembled at least once before it's time for finishing, even then there are surprises. It's like I get a new bass about every six weeks or so for a tryout, then it flies away. Quite a few flaws need to be addressed and body has to be recontoured slightly in the heel and lower horn area. jack mounting hole is damaged, three point bridge and scratchplate holes have to be filled, etc. Plastruct rod, superglue, chisel for cutoff take care of small holes. Durham's RocK Hard Water Putty does the 3 point and original neck screw holes. Sheet balsa is glued into the deep part of the neck pocket and planed flat. Neck pocket taped, poly finish block sanded to 240, spot primed, and final sanded with 320. Standard Cataldo six bolt neck pattern drilled and counterbored for ferrules. Neck is moved into the body quite a bit more than the standard Epi neck location. Those small fills are the BACK neck screws on the stock body. Next, NIitro.

When I was a long haired 20 year old, my main, in fact pretty much only, interests were playing the bass and trying to get young women into bed. Forty years later, as a long haired 60 year old, my main, in fact pretty much only, interests are playing the bass and trying to get the bed to myself so I can get a decent night's sleep.

This popped up on FB....Custom River Guitars in Canada....hope the link works.....lots of filler! https://www.thisisinsider.com/custom-river-guitars-2018-8

.............I didn't know some cats had model numbers.

You can stick selotape over the label and bar code Gran. I do it for every printed label on every package i send, and also labels where i've written the label. Scanners can all read barcodes through seloptape

Success on the neck. eBay has come up trumps with this little number - Jazz width, rosewood board and the all important curved headstock - all for the princely sum of £32.99. Obviously delivery won’t be for a couple of weeks, but consider I was becoming resigned to paying about twice that price for a Precision-width neck, I’m pretty chuffed. These are obviously the eBay stock pics, but I’ll update when the real thing arrives. I’ll probably get the pots/jack wired up and mounted today, in anticipation of collecting the newly refinished body at rehearsal tonight.

Exactly. I'm all for not wasting time and having a pro attitude (even if it's not a pro band), but there's no need to be a total dıck about it. These people always contradict themselves at some point so can quite easily be deflated. But it's never ideal. The bottom line is, being in a band should be fun.

That situation would certainly have raised the temperature of my urine to over 100 degrees Celsius. It's astounding to me how little some 'musicians' value the input of a good bass player (and drummer). They just DON'T get it!

Have you considered a Sandberg. I got a custom VS (P bass) made for around £1,375 (including custom colour and painted h/stock. So you could get one for close to your budget. A quick play on the Sandberg Configurator produced a standard spec 5-string VS for €1,500.

At 20 I was waving my little willy about, trying to put it everywhere. My priority was smoke, drink, shag, play bass...probably in that order. I was a clueless muppet, I’d probably smack 20 year old me about if I met him now. I was a hurtful little chocolate starfish, really selfish and I lost a lot more than I gained with this behaviour. I got to 25 and became a dad. I was unhealthy, fat, skint and miserable - save for Ella, my absolute joy, love the kid with every fibre of my being. I was a single dad by 26, left in mountains of debt and working 60+ hours a week to cover my derrière and feed my kid. I inadvertently lost 4 stone (a byproduct of not eating, working, having to walk 5 miles to work and 5 miles back to save money). Bumped into an old friend at 27, married her at 28, gained a stepson. I started to like who I was around this time - I realised I was an ok kind of guy, and my wife loved me, I had value again, I was important to people I liked. Lost both Grandfathers within 18 months of each other...decided to get busy living. I’m 34 now. And there are 4 kids, not just me to think about. I think my priorities are sleep, eat, laugh, love, protect and support. Not necessarily in that order. An occasional drink, no smoking and pinching the wife’s bottom once a day whenever the schedule allows. Oh and play bass when I’m not asleep or doing something for one of my kids (rare at the minute) It’s a great life now.

1978: Lounging around, playing music for as long as I want, lounging around some more 1998: Demented wage slave scratching a few minutes on bass every couple of weeks 2018: Lounging around, playing music for as long as I want, lounging around some more

It’s a little beaten up because it’s old. I’m actually kind of just borrowing it from my father. It’s a good bass and it has active pickups.

Now there's a great name for a band

Psycho Killer - Talking Dreads.

This bass is a prototype and a chance to do some minor house cleaning. My TBird style designs are based on Peter Cook's work with John Entwistle. The ONLY FenderBird (JAE's spelling). The Gibson original body shape was slightly modded to make it compact enough to fit in a Precision sized case when mated with a Fender neck. This is my workhorse, a 35 year old overarm pin router, bought used in 2010 for $700 and a 900 mile round trip to North Carolina. Pedal actuates the hydraulics that lower the pin while simultaneously raising the cutter. Safe as milk. With it and shop made mdf templates plus some other bench and hand tools I can make consistent pickup, neck pocket, and control cavity routes with the aged 15 amp Bosch router (110 volt). This bass doesn't get one of my scratch built bodies. Instead I'm using a Korean made bolt on Epi body from a bass I bought mainly to get a TBird case for one of my Gibsons. Prototypes for me are basically proof of concept before doing production templates. I'll just give this one a respray. Wider, shallower neck pocket routed, masking tape to draw critical measurements for bridge and tailpiece. Then, semi-instant gratification before the real work begins.

I've been there too, as a London motorcycle courier, and that is it to a T. I've taken some important stuff in my time as a courier too. I've delivered to Steve Strange of Visage, and Keith Emerson of ELP, and a very unique irreplaceable 2" master tape of a film. Phew - never dropped a thing or failed a delivery * puffs out chest *

Another new bass just arrived @ chez Anderson. This is a sterling sub 4 in minty green and is in as new condition. It has been upgraded with an EMG MM TW pickup and active circuit (£100) or so and it sounds really good although not as loud as the original, but the sound is much more defined and controllable. It has a push pull volume which I haven't really explored yet, the other acts as a tone. the original pickup and circuit are in there too along with a very good hard/soft case. All for £210.

My buttocks exploded and I had to go to hospital. Big boys came and ruined everything. My Mum died and I have a bad cold. Your package was sent to the moon by mistake. A leprechaun put a spell on us. There was a bomb scare. We had a change of management. A ghost ate my homework. God made me do it. I don't know what you're talking about. I've got diarrhoea. What's your name again? I'm sorry I don't work here. A bus ran over my knob. I'm sorry, I don't speak English. Look! What's that over there!? *Points, then runs away* Good luck!

My main issue is TV commercials. I will NOT allow them in the house. Which means a lot of BBC2 and BBC4. OR I will put a channel on pause, go and do something else for a while, then fast-forward through the ads.

The bloke that's dealing with your problem is off sick & we can't touch his paperwork............

Oh dear, the cat ate it.

BASS SHOOTOUT These are the basses lined up to test against your ears: i) Rickenbacker 4003 (Chis/ezbass) ii) Wal Mk1 (Trev/TrevorR) iii) Aria SB700 (Trev/TrevorR) iv) JR Bass JM4 (Jabba_the_gut/Jez) v) Spector NS2 (Cetera/Gary) vi) Epiphone Thunderbird - one of the new ones I think (Cetera/Gary) vii) Gibson Thunderbird (SilverfoxNik/Nik) viii) ix) x) xi) xii) xiii) xiv) xv) I have provisional offers for a Sire Jazz, Fender P and a Fender J from a guy attending who doesn't post here so much. I had a coffee with prowla/Paul on Saturday, he's kindly offered to throw one of his vintage Ricks into the fray. It would be good to get a Stingray into the mix, along with a Maruszczyk or two. Dependent on how many offers we get, I may need to cull some and just keep it to the more well known basses with a couple of wildcards. Don't hate me for this. I'd like to make the list final the day before, just so I can produce a final list and something we can all fill in and mark. PLEASE BRING A PEN ON THE DAY. If you want to be included, please add your bass(es) to the list. We don't need dozens, let's try and limit it to 15 as time is limited and we're all easily bored. Just to confirm, we'll push everything through my gear (racked pre/power and the Barefaced). We'll be doing clean/dirty and pick/fingerstyle. A couple of minutes for each bass. I'll be hosting, the wonderful Gary PB will be behind the curtain picking his way through 80s AOR classics like Journey's Don't Stop Believin' or Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas. Please note, there will be no slappin' or a poppin'. Requests directed to this rock god for this abhorrent playing style may lead to a punishment of standing in a corner for 15 minutes.

Sounds like something is earthing out to screening or wires shorting, a picture of the pots/wiring might help. John

Kmise make Fender fit necks with an overhanging fingerboard and 22 frets - is that what you are looking for?

The "Hot Rods on Hampton" gig actually went well. Great Weather Lot's Of Cool Vintage Cars Well Organized Great Sponsor Lot's of people Sold a respectable anount of merch, CDs & T Shirts Good Event / Function Pay The band sounded good to me today. Blue

I do think about running an elite courier agency just for the UK, for Basschat sales only. I’d quit my day job, switch the Volvo to a transit connect... it’d be dearer but your gear would arrive in one piece. Man and Van - bass guitar department.

My four decades of gigging has taught me exactly this. And it rarely gets any better. Finding people who are on the same page as you is the quest for the holy grail. As long as you know this and accept it, you can start having fun. Well... mainly frustration, with little bits of fun in it. Good luck, everyone.

Late to the party, but so's Discreet so that's OK. I do this for fun. The money's nice and I do expect to be paid, but enjoying myself is way more important than the money. [Cue lengthy and tangential posts by pro musician Basschatters explaining why I'm undermining their market and need to change my attitude.] In the OP's situation my only real questions would be: Am I still enjoying playing this music with these bandmates? If I devoted this particular time & effort to finding another band and then playing that music with those bandmates, would it be likely to be more fun? If my limited career as a gigging musician has taught me anything, it's that every band has issues, every band has problems, every band has a list of reasons to make me want to throw my toys out of the pram and flounce. Which makes flouncing a less attractive option, since I know what I'll be walking into next ...

Yeh but... not telling the wife I'm sleeping with her sister is probably lying. If they don't see you as a full member of "their" band then it may not be. I think there's some managing expectations to be done. You do need to sit down and tell them that this arrangement is niggling you. They may act surprised. They may not care. But you definitely need to get it off your chest as it clearly IS niggling you. I'm not sleeping with the wife's sister by the way! She said 'no'! 😂

Anything by yamaha. For £300 you could get something 2nd hand that would still beat many £1000+ basses.

When you're last minute depping with a band and at the gig have a complete mental blank about the next song that you apparently ran through with them at an impromptu rehearsal that afternoon. Singer, to me : "we're going to do ' Be My Bad Move Dreamer' next" Me: Blank look.................. Singer: " It starts with the bass - remember??? Me: Errr............File not found Singer: "do-do-dar- dum-dum" (Pulls a bass face and plays imaginary bass) ..........."Remember ?" Me: 😥 Guitarist: "No, actually we never did go through that one" Me: ............🙂.....................☺️😊☺️

The worst for me is when I think ‘wow, really nailing this tonight’ 99% guarantees the next minute will be crap.

Without question saturday night is the worst on Freeview /terrestrial tv and that's saying something considering the utter bilge shown on most channels the other 6 days. It's bad enough summer being over but the misery is compounded by four months of feckin Strictly and X Factor. I am partial to reruns of tec shows on ITV3 and Drama Channel, Doc Martin, the occasional science documentary on BBC2 or Yesterday and The Durrells and that's it.

Another video of a Bowie classic. Bit of an odd song this one, but I love playing it.

Good evening, dadagoboi , and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Started with a Schaller 471-8 Functionally great, but a little overdesigned, e.g. the gronky coarse adjustment is aesthetically challenged compared to a TOM solution. Unnecessary if the saddle carriers are properly located. Four saddle (12 string ) prototype using pieces from my standard 4 string bridge/tailpiece and some .020 aluminium in situ with prototo (misdrilled) tailpiece. Then it got ugly... more Al, more butchered bridge parts and Francis, the Talking Mule. Essential for developing my 5s, 8s, 12s, and now, 10-15s. Only way to find out what pickup sounds how where. In this case ThunderBucker Fiver pups. Also helps in finding balance points and strap button locations. Now with TrembleNO™, the aspirational whanger system. Amazing what odd bits you can find in a drawer to screw into an untapped hole in .020 Next: Bring up the Body.

Join the queue; we have a backlog of candidates.

Hi, a couple of days into ownership now so I thought I’d feed back a bit. This Guild is singularly the most special acoustic bass I’ve ever played - I could tell the Tacoma was a beautiful instrument; akin to a Taylor - clinically good, a real workhorse instrument with a solid, functional existence. I found it to very like the Furch acoustic I played at a trade show - another great example of this type of instrument. The Guild is much more like a Gibson or Martin, you feel like you’re playing something with heart and soul - the bass resonates and there’s a warmth to the sound you don’t get with other ABG’s. The problem is - it’s loud. So I can only play it while the kids are awake. When I play while the kids are awake they want to watch, or join in...so I can’t enjoy it in peace. Just had an offer accepted on a new house with a separate garage - so I’ve been given the nod on an external “studio”...bloody love my wife.

Metallica's most metal album. Metallica's worst sounding album.

There was a series 2 Yamaha TRB advertised on Gumtree for 300 quid the other day. Probably should have bought it but SWMBO was growling at the very mention. Point being, if you stay away from the 'trendy' makes and do a bit of digging you can get serious, pro instruments for 300 quid used.

I got mine used off the forum for £900. I think they are around £1500 new although I don't know if they're still being made. Weber get top notch reviews from their customers though and the Mywatt is a seriously good amp.