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Card carrying bigoted gobshyte, active anti-vaxxer deliberately trying to undermine vaccination messages and all-round unpleasant Cnut like his former Cream bandmate Ginger Baker. I've never liked a single tune by him so that's saved me the hassle of having to boycott his gigs, releases etc

I see Robert Cray has cut any ties or links with Clapton after Clapton likened lockdowns etc with slavery. For someone who made a fortune from ripping off black American music, Clapton has an unenviable propensity of looking like he's either thick, nasty, a racist or all 3.

A NBD of a sort. After searching high and low for a decent late eighties fretless ray and failing miserably in my quest, I've had the fretboard replaced on one my late eighties Stingrays. A fretless ray (in my head at least) isn't rosewood or pao ferro, it's ebony; so I went for a dark (old stock) ebony with partial lines on the edge. It's been 100% successful; this is easily the perfect fretless for me and a staggeringly good bass. The ebony and the two band gives you that Levin 'ping' with the treble up, and crafty tweaking of the bass vs treble on the 2 band EQ brings out the bark in the ebony to give a passable Karn-esque honk. It also does that languorous mwah like no other fretless I've owned. That singing, Pino style is there on tap. Playability is 10/10 with the late 80s ray neck profile and world class, exquisite work from the Bass Gallery, who are the best. And it weighs 9lbs! Ahhhhh... Quick pics!

A bit of a saga this one. In 1988 I finished my playing career. I was never going to make it and the residency in a pub on Hessle Rd (Hull reference) where the audience was mainly sex workers, burglars who wanted to fence gear and Norwegian sailors. I thought it’s time to call it a day. I was playing with a guitarist and drum machine and had two basses. A Fender P to play at the pub and another which I left at the guitarist’s house for rehearsals. So, one night in April 1988 (I remember as that famous Yorkshire song Reet Petite had just been re-released) I left a rehearsal never to return. The bass was left with the guitarist. It went out of my mind as I got a proper job and career. Fast forward 33 years and whilst I’ve resumed playing (acoustic guitar – yeah I know) I met up with a friend who knew the guitarist. He’d mentioned the bass and to cut a long story short I rang the guitarist (who at 75 does lighting and PA’s) and arranged to collect it. It’s been untouched apart from moving 6 times with him. His missus kept on nagging him “when are you going to give that bass back? Why does it move with us every 6 years?” It’s moved from Hull to Lincolnshire to Sheffield. I was in my 20’s last time I saw it. I acquired it new in 1979 by swapping a jetglow 4001. I’m now 63. He put a new set of strings on it and had it set up. As you can see it needs a bit of cleaning (where there's brass there's muck) and some screws are missing. It may be me getting old but it weighs a ton, much more than my Fenders or Rick. Still sounds good. I’ll post when I’ve got it back to it’s former glory.

I just recently finished modding this 30" Schecter Banshee and I am really happy with how it turned out. I basically only ended up using the neck and body but they were both great quality and nice and light. It is very balanced and still light after completing it. Mods: Schaller tuners Hipshot B style brass bridge (chrome) w string through option Aguilar 4P-60 pickup Noble 250k pots with cloth wire & Sprague .1uf cap. Copper shielded all cavities Luminlay side dots Schaller strap locks Ernie Ball string retainer Custom Maple pickguard & Rosewood control plate Custom wood knobs Maple/Rosewood LaBella Deep Talkin Flats short scale strings

King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown (1976) is essential stuff. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3W2vBxtqk6gORb4sWWMen6?si=mGooWNjdRi-p16ejlnCYCw Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lhfaHpb7aE6t8OUlg4V3rH1l1hFhsmjXc

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without Clapton, there would not be Rock Against Racism. But not in a good way.

"He also claimed that his reaction to the vaccine almost robbed him of his ability to play guitar, and that lockdowns stopped him from being able to make money from his music. Eric Clapton is one of the wealthiest musicians in the world, with a net worth of around $300 million. " Say no more. Never liked him...

I reached tipping point with Clapton when the singer in my band snook “Wonderful Tonight” onto the set list without consulting anyone. It was the very last straw and I quit.

Side went on last night Its taking shape now! Yep - bench still an eyesore 😁

I should have known better than to invoke the DoI. It’s like I broke the pentangle and let the demon breakthrough from one reality into that other dark place, speaker building. Now it’s time for me (no one else can do it) to invoke the straight banana sending all DoI Demons back to the Den from whence they came.

Clapton has not only been extremely vocal in his anti-vax messaging but he's also funding anti-vax band Jam for Freedom. Doesn't this winker and others like him realise that it is the unvaccinated that are clogging up covid wards. Both my sisters-in-law work at general hospitals. One is in charge of a path lab and the other is a senior nurse on an ICU. Currently, well over half the patients in the ICUs at each hospital are younger and unvaccinated. The rest are mostly vaccinated and older with major co-morbidities. So you get these covidiots refusing to get vaccinated then they go to hospital when they get covid. I know this digresses from the OP but Clapout and others make my blood boil with their dangerous anti-vax messages. Rant over.

The miserable git.

Whether by extension due to an overly litigious legal team or whether directly, Clapton once again showing what a complete tube he is.

I have boycotted him for years, I don't think he has noticed yet. But you know, if you have his musical output until the mid 70s, you pretty well have everything.

Agreed. I doubt very much team C would have gone straight to Court - I mean what damages could they have realistically won from someone selling a CD? Court costs would have far outstripped and they would have been aware of the bad publicity. But they wanted to protect their IP. More likely scenario: team C contacts her to withdraw the CD. She ignores their polite request and goes ahead anyway. At which point they up the ante. She loses, but local lawyers whiff fat pay day from a celebrity plus media interviews and decide to challenge the Court ruling. Haters, enjoying their echo chamber, jump on band wagon around the planet. Sound plausible?

Anything by Scientist, especially: Heavyweight Dub Champion (1980) Big Showdown at King Tubby's (1980) – with Prince Jammy Scientist Meets the Space Invaders (1981) Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires (1981)

My wife plays oboe in the local amateur orchestra and posted part of one of their performances on Faceache. Faceache took it down as they thought it was The Royal Philharmonic! Out local orchestra carries that as a badge of honour!

Nowadays, I am a veritable riff machine, able to churn out musically appropriate basslines spontaneously. I can happily throw away melodic basslines that Bach would have turned into a fugue. Either that, or I manage to cram the bass riff from Fontella Bass's "Rescue Me" into every single song, and not care who notices it. Actually, I am much closer to the latter. One week, our young singer was at home, isolating. So, I deliberately inserted every cliché and standard line I could think of into the songs, to reach out to her as she watched us YouTube. When I next saw her, I asked her if she spotted it. "Yes! I was saying to my sister, 'listen, he is doing the riff again!', but she could not hear it." It was at that moment that I realised that musicians hear, but the rest of the congregation don't really notice what I do. So, that is the real reason why I am happy to throw stuff away. I used to very much enjoy inserting the descending octave bassline from Bach's Air on a G String, into the chorus of Jared Cooper's King of Kings, Majesty. It worked in A, but I could not transpose it to G on the fly - so, I decided to create a new bassline, which fitted better with what the others were playing that morning. Nobody noticed. Nobody complained.

If you read his autobiography. . . . sadly. . . . it's all 3 and a few more to boot. It's a shame because I've been going to Clapton gigs since 1965 and am a fan of (most) of his music!!

Spent some time working out how to secure the pickups and achieve decent height adjustment. I'm direct fixing them to the pocket bases with firm sponge underneath - a bit like bass guitar pickups tend to be done. For the positioning of the bridge, I have strung it up with a 'proper' set of electric strings and packed up the top of the roller bridge to get it to the correct action height. That way, I am able to position the optimum position and angle of the bridge, given the adjustment range of the saddles, giving plenty of further intonation adjustment for alternative string gauges or tunings. With a 6mm bradpoint through the two bridge adjuster holes, I have then marked the centre point for the bushes drill holes (11mm...that's meant a 24hr hour Amazon jobee for an 11mm bradpoint which should arrive later today) And while I'm waiting for the bradpoint for the bridge bushes, on to one of the other last scary bits - drilling holes in the top for the controls! It will be fiddly enough as it is...but thank goodness for that hatch at the back!

A company I do work for retain a company to send eBay and the like takedown notices for copyright theft. No-one seems to get sued, despite being businesses. Claptin is very capable of being a **** as he gas clesrky demonstrated in the past.

Well it seems that I didn't manage to get exactly the same pot, these have shorter legs than the ones fitted, nothing a pair of cutters, some flux and some solder can't fix though. I'm really liking the new knobs as well, different colours for input, tone and output.

Don't you just hate it when a cack handed player has to use a right handed guitar 😂

Just for a bit of positivity. I occasionally bump in to another legendary guitarist at a local dog walking (not dogging) spot and he's a thoroughly nice bloke. Alway gives a cheery greeting and strokes my lurcher (not a euphemism). Considering he probably has hundreds of millions in the bank, he drives a beat up old banger and dresses like a tramp.

Calling @Reggaebass and @taunton-hobbit

Black Uhuru... Sly 'n Robby Dub Factor Brutal Dub Positive Dub

Been NAGD... Evilbay strikes again... A jaunt round the '25 a bit to collect a cheapy Gear4Music Ovation-a-like elctro-acostic bowlback in a lovely Matt Burgandy Burst for my eldest Christmas pressie. Very similar/same as the Harley B's so should keep my Acoustic Bass company! Real nice fit 'n finish and well setup... Impressed for a budget £100 guitar... As New @ £35! Bargain...

Opinions vary, of course, and there's no 'right or wrong', but I've played the thick end of 500 gigs in the last 10 years, with multiple bands and at multiple venues, and I've never once needed PAT, insurance, or any other fine scheme designed to part me from my limited supply of money. IMHO you are dealing with risk assessment here. PAT - who is at risk of your faulty wiring causing death or serious injury? Well ... erm ... that's you, isn't it? And in whose best interests is it to ensure that your equipment is NOT badly wired? Oh yes, that's you again. Insurance - who is likely to sue you, and for what? I can imagine being sued for a trip hazard (probably a speaker cable, maybe a monitor) or for equipment falling over (almost certainly a PA speaker toppling off its stand). Has this ever happened to me? Trip hazards = No. How difficult is it to route your cables away from drunken punters and dancers? Falling PA = Yes. But that only demonstrated how things really work - a drunken dancer crashed into the PA tripod next to me and knocked it over ... onto me! Thing is, she would have had to be doing something really strange to knock it over onto herself, if you think about it. So why does this subject keep coming up? Because any serious venue must have insurance (Public Liability, maybe Third Party), probably pubs must have too. And their insurance policy will have a clause requiring them to insist on the people they engage (that's you, the band) to take out insurance too so that, in the event of a claim - no matter how unlikely - the insurance companies can have fun suing each other. None of this has anything to do with the real world of pub rock, it's all basically a scam to part you from your money. Much like almost every other form of insurance.

Tell me where I said it’s a hoax? Two of my children have had it! if you do a LFT before meeting people you are not risking their health. If you want to live in fear, that’s your choice. Please don’t label me as ‘not bothered’.

I wouldn't gig these days without Public Liability insurance. All you need is for 1 falling speaker cab to injure someone to the extent they cannot work again and you will lose your house covering that person's life time loss of earnings. Even if it's something more minor, it gets very expensive very quickly. You will get responses of "I don't care - I couldn't pay it anyway, I haven't got anything to take and I rent my house" etc Those people seemingly forgetting that the injured person actually made the effort to come out and see the band play. And not to mention not giving a crap about hurting someone is a really crappy attitude to have. The cheapest way of getting it is usually membership of the MU, or as an attachment to your equipment insurance. I'm covered by my equipment insurance and I'm also a member of Equity so I've got it there as well. Even if it is the venues fault and not the band's, the venue will try and make it the band's fault and the venue will definitely be insured and the insurers will have a well experienced legal team doing their best to shift the liability from the venue to you. Even if it is only a percentage. So have a look at your equipment insurance first - you may find that you already have it. But if not as them what it costs to add it. Then talk to the MU - there's other advantages of membership too - like if a venue fails to pay you, they will do the claim to get the money.

That is gorgeous. I get my fretless Stingray with pau ferro board back from my luthier tomorrow. I so can't wait. May I ask how much this cost to have done and how long it took? I'm not sure if I like the Pau Ferro board on mine and have been considering getting a Status neck but this may be another option.

Experts talking cr@p.... Where to start with that. I won't bother. Lucky all this covid stuff is just a hoax isn't it? And you taking your own chances is fine but you're actually risking other people's health too, is that fine? Just because you're not bothered?

55-01 all set up with some new ‘Lemon Lime Delight’ tapewounds from La Bella. US Bartolini Dual Coils and NTMB preamp give this bass a boutique sound and feel IMO. Si

You've got a poop hatch!

"The best a man can get?"

I'm half hoping this weekends (18th Dec) gig will be cancelled. But it's a pub and doesn't fall under the same rules as larger venues, so the bar manager (friend of one of our singers) says it's still going ahead. I hate cancelling gigs, even if we have a valid reason - like one of us has fallen ill. But there really ought to be clearer guidance for this sort of thing from the government, such as pubs can stay open, but no entertainment, or table service only again. As it is, once more, the advice is vague and puts the onus on the public to do what they think best. If you get sick, it's your fault and the government can't be blamed. We've had a discussion and it looks like we are going to do this gig, but in what appears to be an act of self sabotage, we are actively not promoting it. We've also said we'll take whatever precautions we can to keep ourselves safe and out of harms way. After this weekend, we don't have anything until February. Oh, and keep testing!

https://guitar.com/news/music-news/woman-sued-by-eric-clapton-bootleg-cd-for-e9-95-on-ebay-pay-his-legal-fees/

Lets hope their website doesn’t go down down

I got a Grape Phaser recently to try it out and it's a must keep pedal for me. With its feedback 'color' circuit it's really funky. A great alternative to an envelope filter and one you can use more subtly as it doesn't sound like a drowning demented duck!

I'd like - for example - a bass to only have 1 weight on the product page and not 2 very different ones. I'd also like them to get the scale length correct on all the basses. That sort of thing. Ugly website I can cope with. Incorrect product info I can't.