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So, I was 50 last Saturday... treated myself.

Wasn’t sure whether this should be in here or in Repairs & Technical but here goes…. The restoration of the electrics on my '83 SB-R150 is finally complete and I'm very pleased with the result. Huge thanks go to @Prostheta for his wizardry and patience and also to Rautia Pickups for the pair of MB-1E replacement pickups. This bass was originally listed for sale on here several years ago although I subsequently found it through an ad elsewhere (EDIT - I was actually given the heads up by @Fionn of the ad on FB). Turned out that the BC ad was indeed still live. I purchased it because it was in such beautiful condition, including the original case. The big (very big) and obvious issue was that the original pickups and electronics had long since been removed and disposed of. After conversations with Prostheta as to what was or wasn't possible I decided to push on with trying to get it restored to as close to stock as possible. The first pictures show the bass as I bought it, then with everything stripped out. Note the packers that had been fitted inside the pickup cavities to take the screws for the previously installed Armstrong pickups. Fortunately after some careful chipping away I managed to clear the old glue off to reveal the original pickup screw bushings. As you can see the loom (including 6-position Varitone and preamp) that Prostheta provided is a work of art and it seemed a shame to have to try and cram it into the seemingly tiny electronics cavity in the back of the bass. It was a squeeze but it went in and it is beautifully quiet running. No humming, no buzzing, even sat directly in front of the amp with the volume up to gigging levels it is uber quiet. Finally there are a couple of pics with this now complete bass taking its place alongside my R60 and R80. I may look out for a set of black or bronze pickup screws as the silver ones do stand out a little but all in all I'm thrilled with it. It sounds great with a powerful preamp and a huge range of tones and I know it’ll be good for years. I'm a happy chappy and I hope you enjoy the pics showing the seemingly simple but oh not so simple transformation. 😀

When I say these guys are talented its an understatement. The guy on the left is just the best of the best drummers, ex session guy from London. Has to be heard to be believed as to how good he is... Far right is the lead guitarist from Dublin. Fantastic, into his Snarky Puppy etc. The guy in green is the multi talented play keys from his MacBook crazy guitar vocalist etc etc. Then there is the Bubingagroovebooster on bass with backing vocals. To be honest I was loosing faith in finding other musicians who love the same music as me. But here we are 6 months down the line. The music is all original. its latin rock jazzy funk.The thing is its just SUPER tight. We will go over a song 20 times. I told Dan that we need to go over and over it until it becomes more than perfect.. It becomes natural. I got that philosophy from Steely Dan and it works. We rehearse for 6/7 hours twice a week. Im very excited about this music/these guys. Got our own studio that we rent and are putting in a booth and PA etc. Just when I had lost hope in finding a band. Its a strange world.!

I've just dug out the debut album by The Police "Outlandos D'Amour' I havent heard it in years. Great simple bass lines by Sting before he became a monumental bellend. 😋

It almost certainly sounds better through the TV than it does there.

Second one done and I know relic is marmite but I like it. Took a bit of inspiration from a relic CS P bass but toned it down a bit. I like it and sounds epic! Nice matching/non matching pair 😁 Roll on two festivals this weekend 🤘

Played a standard pub gig on Friday in Bicester then today at a family festival in the grounds of Blenheim Palace. What a startling view! Always nice to play outside but it does test your rig when there is no FOH support for the bass. The sound guy appeared to be suffering from sunstroke, he was certainly very red, I hope he's OK. Made for an interesting afternoon/early evening. Here's a snap shot of our view as we played

Watched 57 seconds of the killers. He really isn’t a good singer is he? Oh well, that’s glasto’s TV coverage done for me again for another year.

The Glastonbury you see on TV is the one parents are happy to take their teenage kids to. Meanwhile Pilton festival carries on away from the cameras, where there is pretty much every type of entertainment one can imagine or wish for and some you've never even dreamt of!

Sheryl Crow and bass - amazing Charlatans - terrible but that Status Bass has decent crunch and was nice - definite highlight. Michael kiwanuka - always loved him. Stormzy - what a show and mixed up tracks and actually had live band sounding great. But I agree, here in TV land the bass has been great and I can’t wait for Kylie - Bassist uses Sandberg’s - so i will be happy and he is good. Bring on Glastontelly with cheap unlimited booze and habitable toilets in easy reach and a comfy bed

Actually it’s a 50/50 bass here’s a pic of what it ought to look like....

I’m hovering about signing up for the current 26 week accelerator............ Again. I think the last time an offer appeared for membership I was hovering and decided against it. I get confused by academy membership and enrolment in these specific courses. Why not have one membership and everything else is part of that? I hate choice 😂 What I have realised in my own playing is i have two modes of playing. Playing along to music - which had been my staple for many years mostly self taught with the occasional bout of lessons that I rarely kept up with. Much later on I picked up Scales, modes, arpeggios etc all from online stuff. What I've realised is I don’t play the same at all when doing these different types of practice. Most of the structure and form of my fretting hand goes out of the window when I play “music” and reappears when doing “scale” types exercises. I think it comes from years of copying whatever I’m listening to at the time. I wonder if I’m too long in the tooth to change my technique. Is it too embedded in me after all this time?

Just got my Thumpinator in the post. I don’t have a gig or rehearsal for a while to test properly, but had a play in the house. Banging all the strings lightly with the palm of my hand seems to demonstrate the inaudible effect of the Thumpinator - there is a lot less cone movement with the Thumpinator plugged in. I should think this will have a very positive effect on the compressor now too. Can’t wait for a gig now!

How old fashioned to go to a 3 day festival in a muddy or dusty (trench foot or sun stroke) field for the artists. The people I know who go to Glastonbury go for the event.

Good for him! Sadly I think the rest of the band just weren’t on it. They didn’t seem interested. I am not the biggest fan to be fair but have always liked them in a ‘ turn up the car radio’ sort of way so it was disappointing to see such a lacklustre performance. Tell him he is wasted on them 😉

Who's Tom? 😉

Boutique basses - especially multi-string are definitely out of kilter with the visual and sound aesthetic at the moment. In these days of rock, funk and jazz now all minority or specialist music forms creates a perfect storm of redundancy for these old world tools of exploration and growth. The UMG music fire, mainstream adoption of urban and dance music and the Spotify/iTunes industry shift is creating a mass extinction event for rock music and bass within that. Shorter less pretentious answer is boutique not fashionable - sell but at high price to recoup loss whilst Fender has the mojo at the moment so sell opportunistically at a high price. Any way, it's a buyers market for boutique basses...

BC marketplace comes up trumps again and sorts me out with just what I was after, thanks to Bobby D. Fancied something a bit gnarlier and more straightforward than my J and, having already tried this out at a rehearsal, I think it could be just the ticket. I’m now sold on replacing the flats on my J (which were on it when I bought it) with rounds – I really like the feel but the amount of snap I want for the sort of things I’m playing just isn’t there. I’ve always preferred a Jazz neck, but I think a combination of this one not being too hefty and me being more comfortable with playing bass than I’ve ever been before mean this isn’t too bad at all. Also, it seems like the slightly smaller body than the J puts the neck in a marginally more comfortable position to reach the lower frets – has anyone else found this, or am I being a weirdo? Next steps for the P are: flip the pickup round, and while I’m at it get a black scratchplate. Anyway, here’s a picture of it with the J and a bonus, additional beast.

Trying to be a little arty with this one.. 135 number ten by VTypeV4, on Flickr I should have had two gigs this weekend but sadly both were pulled last minute so I took a picture instead. 😀

On this video those guys from Padalka shows how he did it:

I’m not usually a fan of black precisions but something about that looks just right.

Why not indeed, it looks great 👍

Giving myself a brisk slapping for not having noticed the F-holes & not registering having seen that bridge before - which I have. Best of luck if you have a punt!

Arrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhh! No shipping and it's in France. Borrrrrrlaxxxxxx

Excellent UK album is one of my favs especially In The Dead of Night title song. John Wetton at his very best IMHO.

Instead of saying definitely I’ll stick with hopefully attending this time.

I've been using Cubase since before it was invented... If you do decide to go down the Cubase route, I would consider NickD's advice above. The UR 22 (and the mk11) are excellent. Also drivers for the device are updated regularly, quite often after a big windows update as well. For the DAW software, the upgrade path is pretty decent as well. It's a shame really, because Steinberg had a big 50% sale on all software recently (70% for Nuendo 8). It only ended a couple of weeks ago.

I liked his show; a lot of thought and planning, and he engaged well.

Leschirons I was exactly where you are now about 3 months ago in terms of recording knowledge etc. Mcgiver69 gave me some great advice, in particular to use Tracktion 7. His advice was spot on for what I (and you) will need to get results quickly and simply. I beleive Tracktion 7 has been taken over very recently, so I'm guessing it won't be available free for too long

...but Jungle is MASSIVE.

I found it really bland-sounding, with none of the grind of the original. Obviously others may have had different experiences. The reissue horseshoe sounded miles better. I did once play a ‘73 that had an SD in that was really, really thick, but again had no bite; I assume that was wired differently. Re the Grovers, I think the main issue is that all 4 look like they’re for the same side, hence why 2 are upside down. You can pick Titans up relatively cheaply, unlike the Wavy Grovers. In fact a set of Titans will set you back less than a single Wavy G. And the Wavy Gs can fall apart, although they are fixable.

@AinsleyWalker, see the first post.

And will soon be rebranded again, apparently

Just to confound my search, I see that the "Elite" name has now been re-purposed for their active P/J Precisions.

If you have an £800 budget just go direct to getting a used American Stingray from the classifieds on here. It may be a bit scruffy but they're tough basses and it should be perfectly usable. If you get a new Sterling for £800 you'll always be wondering if its the same as a 'real' Stingray. Which it isn't..... Its close but not the same. If you buy at the right price used you can always sell it on for about the same price if you don't bond with it. But you'll have scratched your itch. Re the 2 band /3 band sound - they are quite different. There isn't actually a flat setting on the 2 band as it's a boost only preamp but the 3 band is centre detented. And that isn't necessarily a flat response. The 2 band generally has a warmer bootier sound in my experience.

Not the Pyramid stage, unfortunately! Playing the Shangri-La Truth stage on Thursday night, Avalon stage on Friday afternoon and a back stage bar gig on Sunday night. Are you going?

Agnesi: (speaking in tones of hushed reverence) "The one I got in my hands. The big daddy of them all. The Les Paul." Ah, yes. A Gold Top with a visibly squint bridge pick-up. Screengrab from Agnesi video