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I read this story on FB earlier (this is a direct quote, it is someone else writing in the first person, not me): "Twenty years ago, Charlie Watts did a week at Ronnie Scott's with his tentet. A hell of a line-up. Henry Lowther, Gerard Presencer, Mark Nightingale, Peter King, Julian Arguelles, Evan Parker, Brian Lemon. EVAN PARKER AND BRIAN LEMON in the same band. That's a combination that nobody would think of booking. Except for Charlie Watts. Why? Because that's who he liked and who he wanted. And of course, always, always, his childhood mate on bass, the wonderful, endlessly versatile Dave Green. My mate Joel Taylor, who's now high up on the Metro paper, was then a junior reporter at the Camden New Journal. He rang me "Want to come to Ronnie's free with me next week? I'm reviewing Charlie Watts". My response was swift and decisive. So the following week, there we were. We ordered a bottle of wine. When it arrived, we went to pay. "That's on the house." Nice. Second bottle. Same reply. Third bottle. You get the idea. Eventually, we needed to soak some of this up. We ordered a basket of chips. "That'll be £3.50". The following week, I saw Joel for a pint and he said "I've got to the bottom of the wine thing. Cindy Hacker (one of the club management, who handled the PR side) explained that Charlie Watts had said he'd foot the drinks bill of every journalist who came to see the show. When it came to the chips, we were on our own". I should add that it was a great night. That line-up delivered, and the drummer wasn't too shabby. Joel has reminded me tonight that, touchingly, Charlie peered round the curtain just before they went on to see if anyone was in. It was a sell-out for the whole run. It's clear that was the sort of man Charlie Watts was. Someone (possibly either Pete Cater or Brian Bennett) told me that when Ronnie and Pete King were having trouble, which happened a lot, due to Soho landlords and stuff, Charlie was always there. He'd put a band in for a week, pay them out of his own pocket and let Ronnie and Pete keep the door and the bar takings. He saved the club a few times that way. He played rock for a living, but played jazz for pleasure, and his way of paying it all back was to keep the premier jazz venue in the UK afloat, and to keep his mates in well-paid work. It's a sad day. Being a drummer is to be in the finest club of all, and we've lost one of the very best of all of us." Charlie Watts, a real class act.

Don't be ridiculous. Most of us are well past the first flush of youth. Many are even OAPs like me. For me, there's not a lot to do or say apart from feel sad about the news. We don't feel the need to rush into print. Respond how you wish and leave others to do the same.

Fun fact: the original photo depicts exactly what is wrong with this young man.

I'm already loving this Sandberg VS4. Satin black, rosewood fb with abalone. Superb balance either sat or standing. Nice wide fingerboard, but not full PBass width, 22 frets with really good access, flattish radius and (for me) the perfect string spacing High output passive pickups (anyone know what they are?). 30in scale (it's the strangely named "Lionel" edition). I'm a very happy chappy.

Isn’t it incredible how many people can feel the good vibes of a single person through our little community. Buying and selling here has always been a pleasure because it takes trust, and more often than not leads to friendship. Martin’s family are truly humbled by the fantastic showing of memories and tributes posted here. What an awesome endorsement of the community and what a tribute to Martin.

@lee650 and I raised a glass tonight x

I would have paid good money to be in the room when someone told Dave Grohl about it 😂

And let’s not forget he did get paid at the time, his $1 is clearly in the shot.

Deoxit D5 is the one that I use most days. Sorts out the noisiest most crackly pots in no time. Money well spent.

So I came home today to this……. (See pics) My 1984, serial 067 Streamer headstock (it was a glued repair) has miraculously let go…. The body has a minor dent at the bottom from my guitar rack, and obviously the bass is beheaded. Like Gibsons, the early Streamers were prone to breakage due to not having a volute. The break was pretty ugly and repaired by a monkey, but the bass sounds wonderful and glue is stronger than wood. So I used it quite often, never an issue. But since it has let go and I will probable never be able to sell anyway, I have hatched a cunning plan….. I could replace a large part of the top of neck and headstock with new wood, add some splines ….. basic traditional Gibson-esque surgery. But I am going to do something else….. I am going to use the wood of the headstock, graft that in place (keeping serial number intact) and turn the bass into a (semi) headless! Will post the plan/design here soon. But the plan is to go from beheaded to headless, using mostly original wood.

Not enough credit to @upside downer for the thread title. Way to go, sir

According to another article referenced in the above, he recreated the photograph 5 years ago and allegedly suggested to the photographer that he, Elden, should be naked. "I said to the photographer, 'Let's do it naked.' But he thought that would be weird, so I wore my swim shorts," Spencer told the New York Post. Money-grabbing twot

No, you have to bring your own

We've got our first post-lockdown gigs this weekend. At the last rehearsal I decided to make sure everything I would be using at the gig is working. Extension cab - no sound coming out of it at all Overdrive pedal - has developed a fault, I think it might be the switch. I fixed the cab - a wire had come out of its internal connector. It's back up and running. I haven't got time to tinker with the OD pedal so I took the opportunity to experiment with a different one and it arrived today. Moral of the story - in the excitement to get going again don't just rock up to your first gig back without checking ALL your gear, otherwise you might end up looking like a right berk

10 months later the bass has finally arrived... Overwater J5 Contemporary Figured Maple Top Ebony Fretboard Abalone Inlays Black/Grey Burst - Comes out more purple in photos Can't wait to plug it in later!

I had a studio session just after everything opened up. Gear worked fine but when it came to pack down, I couldn't unplug the speaker cable from the cab, no matter how I twisted or pulled the plug. ....I'd forgotten that Neutrik connectors have a little slidey thing you have to pull back to unplug it.

There are 3 separate threads running simultaneously. This one, the Chatlie Watts has put in a dep thread and the notable deaths thread. However, it's not a competition about who is showing the right amount of grief.

I’m sure he gets recognised all the time from that shot…..

Talkbass has a slightly larger membership, I imagine...

I’m not the expert here but it looks like a Bb1100s

Good god that's squalid. You'd think they'd at least hose it down before taking pics. 🤢 No idea how I missed @Reggaebass' thread, this sort of thing being of interest to me - and it's a pity I did, because I think I've got a brass Kay trc at the bottom of a spares draw somewhere!

I really wouldn't use WD40 ! Servisol switch cleaner is good stuff with a good reputation, I've used that whenever I've needed to sort pots etc out.. Worked well on an old Lucas indicator switch in the motor too !

This should be on the landing page of this website, in a huge and luminous font. My band have done a couple of shows since the end of house arrest and before the first one, I dragged all my gigging gear to a local rehearsal room to make sure everything still created the appropriate noises. Just me, without the band. Fortunately, it all still worked, but I think it would be foolhardy to trust any gear that has been sitting still for eighteen months. Weird things can happen...

I've got a remastered version of Space Ritual on CD. On Monday night, heading along the M4 (largely unlit) at 11pm it was not difficult to feel like I was entering hyperspace... Lemmy's bass on the album is really clear on this version. It is utterly unlike his music with Motorhead, and is essentially the glue that holds the entire songs together and even the dominant melodic element on many of them. Solid as a rock, massively powerful and then throwing in little runs and walking excursions with loads of improvisation. It's easy to see why Space Ritual inspired so many people to start playing bass.

The Manchester to Morecambe Yamaha BB delivery service resumed duties today… @lee650 and I have promised to raise a glass to MB1😎 as it’s almost as shady as one of his car park deals… A pub next to a railway.

That's it. I'm getting one. The gas monster has been aroused once again.

People play bass with plicktrums 😳, whatever next 😂

I think that video was very fair and was at pains to attempt to temper the viewer's expectations of what an £89 guitar can be realistically expected to be - much more than I was expecting, given that they're in the selling business. They pointed out that the stock strings are the cheapest garbage and disclosed that they had restrung them for the video, they mentioned they were using amps and pedals which cost many times what the guitar did (which goes some way to explain how good it sounds in the video), they pointed out the limitations of the wraparound bridge/tailpiece, they pitched it almost exclusively at beginners and even discussed the financial of buying it to modify/upgrade and the ceiling you would hit of its basic construction and nature, they even said something like it was a 5/10 player (I think that's in the bit where they discuss the word "overwhelmed" and whether or not you can be underwhelmed or even simply whelmed). That's just what I remember from one watch through. Having watched the whole thing, I feel I'd be able to approach this guitar eyes open with a realistic expectation. I don't see how you could have gone wrong, unless you skipped all the talky bits and just listened to the playing? My point (in which I wrote far too much so no-one read it) was not that all cheap products are amazing these days - it was simply that today's cheapest instruments have never been closer to the mid/high range of the market. What would you have got for a tenner in 1975? Some Woolworths monstrosity that you didn't so much play as wrestle with? What would forty quid have got you in 1990? Not much, I'm guessing. I've never played this E1 (and I wouldn't know where to start) but I'm willing to say that it'll be better than anything you could get for the equivalent money in times past. Before I took up the bass, I owned an Epiphone Special II, early to mid nineties I think. I don't remember much about it, apart from pretty awful tuners with a lot of play in them but I do remember it put me off playing guitar for life so I thank it for (eventually) pointing me in the direction of where I am today.

Hello again, Here is my new DTC Bass🤗🤗🤗 You can't imagine how happy I'm 🤩🥳🤩 Check pictures ✌🏽 Cheers.

I’ve done three gigs so far and been very careful however despite being double jabbed since March I got tested positive and have been ill with Covid for the last couple of weeks. I’ve not had flu before but guess it’s akin to that. I am no longer officially isolating but continue to experience fatigue and some congestion I also have no sense of smell or taste so I am still being very careful. As others have said it was great playing but as soon as people started drinking the rule book was torn up. I dread to know how I would have felt if I hadn’t been vaccinated so I’d encourage those who haven’t to go and get yourselves jabbed!

Dan Reed posted that when the Network opened for the Stones in 1990, Charlie had his own sewing machine on tour and repaired his own suits on tour. That's pretty classy. RIP Charle Watts

I'm starting a breeding program.