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This morning I had a very narrow escape, and even though the tale does not paint me in the best light I feel it's my duty to share with my fellow bass brethren in the hope that others may learn from my ignorance. I had just changed the strings on my 1974 Jazz and was idly noodling and comparing it to my 1978 Jazz, which is to a casual observer identical in pretty much every respect. My wife, who rarely takes an interest in my basses, innocently asked: "If you could only keep one of your basses, which one woud it be?" I am ashamed to say, dear reader, that for whatever reason, (late night? Mind elsewhere?), I merely took this question at face value and failed to spot that it was OBVIOUSLY A TRAP!! Had I answered straight away then of course her immediate response would have been, "Then why the f**k don't you sell the others?", and rightly so. Fortunately, and this is really only down to my being blessed with a supernatural inability to decide (or is it? Not sure), I spent so long dithering over the answer and then changing it four times, that I somehow proved the point that perhaps I do need more than one bass (I probably don't) and earned a reprieve to noodle another day. With whichever bass takes my fancy. I hope that you may learn, from this cautionary tale, to always be on your guard. Even now, hours afterward, I get cold shivers just thinking how close I came to the edge of the mineshaft. I invite my fellow Chatters to offer suggestions as to the perfect (polite) response.

My wife is quite happy for me to buy basses and quite often actively encourages me to buy instruments I like. I've just bought a new G&L, with her very vocal encouragement. Your Matrimony May Vary

Not bad. My very first response was actually "I don't know, which of our children is your favourite?"

Luckily for me my bass doesn't mind me having multiple wives.

How can you NOT talk to your basses? 😳 You're cold man,.. cold.

I woke up this morning and thought...what's better than Tusq XL for a nut. Another root around in my (chaotic) bits box and I found what was just one step better - a piece of bleached bone. Life's too short to work out the 'string thickness compensated' separations so I use a commercial plastic one as a guide where I can I ground it down to height and added the dropaway and with my trusty Hosco nut files got on with it. I don't use this vice very often but for this it is perfect: And done. Ready to box up over the weekend and ship back to @Raslee first thing Monday :

Which of course is ‘I’m not sure, do you have a favourite pair of shoes or a favourite handbag?’.

My missus hates me buying instruments as she thinks they clutter the place and are money that could have been spent elsewhere. Like many here I imagine, this has always made me wary of the new purchase, particularly since I’m now down to three electric basses, 2 Rics and a replica. This makes any non-Ric purchase a bit obvious, or so I thought. So I was somewhat amused recently when I showed her a picture of a bass in the For Sale section (Hellzero’s W&T Zoid, a very visually unusual and distinctive instrument) saying how I’d really like one (sadly can’t currently afford it). She responded saying “haven’t you already got one of those?” Puzzled, I replied no, I hadn’t got anything like that. Then the penny dropped. The Zoid has a natural maple top. My Ric replica is natural maple. Apparently, that makes them the same. So all I have to do is make sure I get another bass in the same finish as one I already have and I’m ok. 😉

You may remember my NBD a week ago with the red Adam Nittie Ibanez. Well, that went back to the store. It sounded epic, but there were so many little build issues I couldn't live with. So, here's what caught my eye. Elrick Evolution Gold 5 with Buckeye Burl top. I like the fact that it has dual coil Barts and three band Bart preamp.

It's far easier if one is not so fussy about details, and with wider tastes. Fretboard..? If it's not backed with sandpaper, I say 'Whatever...'. I've never found any difference whether ebony, rosewood, maple, other... Pickups..? They make sounds I can use; that's all I ask of 'em. I can use sounds from 'P'-style, 'J'-style, 'MM'-style, 'H'-style or 'Other'. It's my ears that tell my fingers how to get whatever 'tone' I want from whatever bass I'm wearing, with, maybe, a little help from EQ, on the bass or from the amp/DAW. It's all good. Scale length..? I play long-scale fretless sixer, long-scale fretted fiver, long-scale four, medium-scale four, several six-string guitars and baritone guitars, 12-string electric, folk guitars, nylon classical... I adapt to the instrument, and play 'em accordingly. It's true I'm far from virtuoso on any of these, but it's my playing that is the issue, not the scale length, nor neck width, weight, neck profile or whatever. I enjoy the moment, or even the challenge, and am not looking for, nor expecting, perfection in any one aspect. I'm looking to get the best I can with what I have under my fingers, and, for the past half-century and more, it's my fingers that are the weak link in the equation. Disclaimer : I'm a drummer; I don't spend any time or even thought trying to get 'whatever' tone from a kit. I play to make the best I can with the kit I have. Should I use a chrome snare, or wood, or Vistalite..? Which hoops..? Nylon tip sticks, or hickory, or oak..? Which grade of metal is good for cymbales..? Should they be mirror-finish, or hand-hammered..? 16" crash..? Or 17"..? or 18"..? Don't get started on pedals... Chain..? Direct..? Webbing strap..? Felt beater or nylon..? It's all irrelevant. Choose what suits best within budget and enjoy it, whatever it is, for what it is, or don't buy it at all. Simple, really.

The thing is. If he offers a gig to others then they are likely to look up the band or Mick or Michael Mason to see what the band are like. At the moment if you type in: Mick Mason Bass: This is the first item on Google,. Sadly the bands that he manage don't rankwith this thread on Google searches unless it has his name in it, however hopefully this will raise awareness to anyone who might fall foul of playing for him. I am also one of the musicians who drove for 4 hours, did the gig, stayed in a hotel (all at my own expenses) and received nothing but abuse from Mick. He was fine on the evening, seemed a lovely guy, but as soon as he received the invoice, things changed. Hopefully he will serve a prison sentence because of this thread, it has certainly cheered me up.

I may have just put the wheels in motion to something really cool, or I'm an idiot. Time will tell. 😁 I've had a longtime love affair with the Takamine TB-10 but they are too expensive for something to noodle on. One of the main attractions is that it has a radiused board like a doublebass so forces your right hand to play it like a doublebass. I had thoughts of converting a cello or something into a 34" bass but then noticed a damaged Aria FEB on ebay. It's one of Gear4Musics casualties so is brand new but damaged. The damaged listed is cosmetic damage to the headstock, and the board lifted slightly from the body. My first thought was that the head has been whacked and bent the neck back, breaking it away from the body causing the board to lift slightly. The listing does not mention the neck having moved and the headstock damage is very minimal so it might just be the board coming unglued and the little nick in the head, as per listing. I've taken a gamble as the listing says it's returnable but not for the damage listed, a broken neck is not listed. Anyway I'll find out on Tuesday when it arrives 🙈. My plan is to remove the board and somehow fit a doublebass one from a 1/4 size or something, I'll know more when I can take some measurements and do some research. I'll probably want a longer board so I can play over the end of it like a doublebass. I'll need to add a tailpiece and a wider, higher bridge to accommodate the increased angle a tighter radiused board will give. Will it work? Who knows. Is it worth trying? Probably not. Am I going to? Hell yeah! 😃

In the middle of last year I made a decision to choose one of my basses to keep in my music room the the rest I sold or put into storage. This meant I spent all my time playing rather than deciding what bass to play. It did wonders for my mental health as I wasn't using my mental bandwidth for anything other than playing. I didn't feel anxious about having money tied up in expensive instruments, and I got to know my main bass intimately. My touch and dynamics improved massively. Just an idea.

Don’t think I’m alone in watching Sky Arts on Freeview channel 11, as don’t have (or want ) a Sky subscription.

Tbh I think ‘The One’ happens over time and naturally despite what you think it will be based on specs and price. The One is the bass you know inside out, have used live and in the studio, you’ve learned it so well that you can hear it in your head and know how it’ll sound every time.

Mostly had good experiences, 5 x high end basses and other bits and pieces, though had a couple of frustrating little wobbles. But despite threads like this, I still think our bass community is better off with a store like BD.

So what's the point, I hear you ask? Well, apart from keeping you busy in whatever spare time you may have, this project will give you the satisfaction of having made something useful with your own fair hands during this awful pandemic - because nothing beats plugging your instrument into a piece of equipment that you've built yourself. Well, not much anyway. The cab we're putting together will be small enough to use for practice at home. It will fit easily under the piano or in a spare corner of a room. And if you'd like it to be really spouse-friendly, paint it white or the same colour as the walls. It's an ideal cab for rehearsals or in your home studio - just paint it matt black and leave it where you plan to use it. No need to keep dragging your usual rig in there. If you'd like to use it on small gigs, paint it with Tuff Cab and fit some corners and feet and a handle. For bigger gigs, build a second one without the tweeter. The cosmetics and external appearance are completely in the hands of the builder. There are lots of options. Phil is building the cab we'll be working on in half-inch plywood, and that's obviously ideal, but I suggest using whatever you have to hand. If you have a sheet of chipboard or MDF in your garage, use that. You'll only need a few tools, which I'd expect most people have at home already. A jigsaw, some woodscrews, wood glue, screwdrivers, a soldering iron. If you haven't got a soldering iron, Lidl were selling one recently for under a tenner and may have some left. You can get one from Toolstation, Halfords, etc. for under ten pounds, too. Everyone should have a soldering iron.

I don’t talk to mine

Yes and yes! It is in A1 condition, including OHSC with key and tools. Guy in the USA bought it originally, just home use, kept in in his loft and sold it to a dealer a couple of months ago. Been looking for nearly a year I reckon and was fortunate to find this. First beg session on it this afternoon but with just ten minutes use it has some great tone and depth low end. More later....................

...and for the final one - Spector Euro 4 In Action: Here is the last song in our trilogy of recent recordings. Listen to this and give your neck a six pack!!!

Relax man, it's just an opinion. But it's not stereotyping, it's a generalisation with the purpose of making a point about notions of affordability and value in the boutique market. Also check out the interview with Kyle Kim of Sire basses, there is a common perception about who the boutique market is aimed at and it's not working musicians. In regards to EB, it's in context of shared experiences of the bizarre world that is the EB forum.

anybody that missed it, like me, it's on next Thursday 2am

Diagonally from the jack socket to the top horn?

This project was touched upon in another thread. We're designing a bass guitar speaker cab that literally anyone can build. Cabinet assembly is based on Phil's easy-build 12" cab, which some of you have already built. This time, we're going to show you how to build a compact bass cab that you can use at home or for smaller gigs. It uses a 10" driver plus a compression driver and horn. It will be designed to be as easy as possible to build. It will also be surprisingly inexpensive, considering that we're using good quality components. Those of you who built the BC112 Mk3 will know that Celestion were very supportive of the project. They are helping out again by providing engineering samples of the drivers. So, thanks once again to Aiden McFall, Celestion's European sales manager. And they've arrived. Edit: Drawings now added here as requested. Please note that you will need to fit an additional batten vertically between the cutouts for the horn and port. This is not shown in the drawing but proved to be needed after testing. BC 110T v1.2.pdf

Spot on! I'd answer instantly that my "keeper" is my Sadowsky Metro HPJ-RV. I'd relate it to my darling wife; my soul mate and lifelong partner. Then I'd patiently explain that my other four basses are like my girlfriends and mistresses. I could live without them, but variety is the spice of life. They give me some welcome relief and ensure that I come back to my sadowsky refreshed and all the more appreciative of it after a brief break. Most importantly, my five string does things down in the bottom area which my Sadowsky would be unwilling and unable to do. I think she'd totally understand after all that.

This my first attempt at building any sort of instrument.made plenty of mistakes but it plays and intonates fine.just waiting for warmer weather to paint it.second build underway

Just buy a decent professional instrument and forget about it. Its about the music, not the gear.

I don’t about you, but I think that Reggae has some of the grooviest bass lines there are. The bass is almost always very prominent and right in the pocket. I have made a video lesson to explore Reggae bass and to help you to start composing your own Reggae bass lines. There are a few techniques which can help you to make your lines sound more authentic. I have left a couple of backing tracks running at the end of the video and you can also download a free pdf in the video description. I hope this helps anyone wanting to start playing Reggae bass.

My wife told me "It's those instruments or me". I'm gonna miss her 😉

No gloss on this one - we're going for the slurry and buff satin And yes, you can do slurry and buff with stained wood - but there is a very specific sequence you have to do which I'll cover when I do the reveal next week

The configurator seems much less clunky than the old one. Way better to use from a mobile. Just spec’d up a VM5 in the same finish as my old Supreme. Such classy looking basses! Think my mk1 made its way to the US.

It was a lot of mucking about on my part (organising posting back the wrong items and then claiming back the money from Bass Direct) to sort out a problem that shouldn't have happened in the first place. A less scrupulous person might have simply kept the pickups and pre-amp and ordered another set of rack ears from different shop, leaving the person who had ordered the items wondering where their electronics were.

Absolutely, universal crapness is acceptable, it’s when you feel you’ve been singled out for targeted crapness that it’s really annoying

I watch it on freeview, don't have sky, way to poor value for money ymmv

Looks like I'm going to have to make some sawdust. My wife will be pleased.

@Fishman asked me if I could do a quick mock-up to see how the rest of it looks with this stain. Seems mean to keep you all from a gratuitous mock-up Going to look alright, I reckon

Yep, this is my experience. Half the time, they are really great and super helpful; the other half, they couldn't care less that I exist. For niche/uncommon items sometimes they are the only place to go, but otherwise I avoid if I possible.

I did!

Quick note to remind you gentlemen that shoes, handbags and, yes, children, are not the only interests women have. And we're not stupid. Just sayin'. 😉

Latest & last lol version .... all battery powered at the moment but looking for a decent psu

I just see it for what it is... Just a bit of fun and some 'choppy' messing around. He certainly put some work into it and had a good listen to Purdie's playing. I thought some of the verbal interaction was quite funny.

I'm a big Ashdown fan too, and this is a nice, well built, solid sounding pedal, but as you suggest £300 is possibly too much considering the competition. £129 is very good value considering what it can do, and I'll be hanging onto it for sure!

Only got Freeview and Freesat, both are DV-R so have a lot of recording potential. I dont need anything else, and certainly not a subbed package. And Frank B, same here. Holder's shouty voice and silly narrative spolit it

I've always found them extremely easy and hassle free to deal with.

I thought it was a bit of fun. Thanks for sharing.

I must admit I enjoyed the New Romantics episode. Set a series record up after that so looking forward to future episodes.

I'm having a bit of a to-and-fro with them at the moment. I ordered a Hipshot Supertone 2 point bridge. A few days later they emailed to say it was out of stock and would I wait. 2 days later they emailed to say one was on its way as they'd had a return. It arrived in a plastic bag with bits missing - unfortunately the very bits I needed, which were the larger thread bolts. I told them this, they asked for a picture of what had arrived. Being helpful, so I thought, I included a pic of the bolt thread from the original so they could see what I was missing. I then got a fairly patronising reply saying they had sent everything as the 3 bolts were there. I got a bit snippy at that point. I'm still waiting for new stock to arrive from the USA so they can send me the missing bolts. I don't get much from them but I'd say over 50% of my dealings with them have been less than great. If I wasn't such a cheapskate I'd go elsewhere but often their prices are lower. I think the daftest one was buying a secondhand MIJ Precision 'modern style with no scratchplate, pearl finish and black headstock that was 30" scale. Lovely, not seen one of those in short scale. When it arrived it was 34" scale. I mean, really?