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Has anyone bought any items on a whim of particular ridiculousness? I bought this definitely ridiculous beast some 18 odd years ago... sold it on after maybe a year as it was just too ridiculous to keep any longer. My old man dug this ridiculous picture out last night. Anyone else guilty of ridiculous purchases? Ridiculous photos are a ridiculous bonus if you have one to share! (P.S. ridiculous...)

In 1983, when I were just a mere slip of a lad, me and my good lady saw Big Country, The Alarm and Yip Yip Coyote at the Lyceum. So taken with the band, me and a mate decided we should catch them a few months later and decided that (for logistical reasons) we should fly to Jersey and see them in the Fort Regent Centre. My brother (and my mate's dad) both worked for British Airways, so flights were arranged. We'd procured tickets through my mate's channel Island office and found two days board in what could best be described as a house straight out of The Munsters in Pontac. Gig day we pulled on our Big Country shirts, thumbed a lift to St Helier and got picked up by a very drunk man driving a Lord's Taverners Fun Bus. We arrived at the venue around midday, found a bar, had some lunch at which point Big Country just sauntered in. I doubt any of the punters in there knew who they were, but they saw us and just sat down with us. We had a couple of pints, discovered Mark Brzezicki knew my brother, that Tony Butler lived a couple of doors away from a friend of mine in Sandhurst and that Stuart was amazed and appreciative that we'd flown over for the gig from London. They invited us in for the soundcheck. We just hung around with them until 7.00pm. Post gig, we went back to Chez Munsters and were back at the airport about 7.00am for the flight back and in they strolled, saw us and just started cheering and greeting us like old friends. Stuart bought me a roll of film for my camera as I was out of money. We were on standby, so had to wait for seats on the plane, we got called at the last minute, got on the plane and they're cheering us on (again). I met Stuart a couple of times after and he remembered the whole thing. He was a lovely, lovely bloke. I miss him. He shouldn't have gone like that. [Edit] Just wanted to add something for context here. We (me, my best mate and my wife) were all mahoosive Skids fans and remember that The Crossing hadn't even been released when we did the Jersey trip. Obviously, it was an absolute joy to be two young blokes standing in the middle of the venue watching them soundcheck for an hour, it was like a private gig. (Later in the same year, I recall an occasion where me and my mate experienced something akin to absolute joy at hearing 'In A Big Country' on the radio for the first time. We were in my old Datsun 120Y coupe, driving to rehearsal down The Causeway, approaching Staines Bridge. I haven't experienced such delight since. The excitement when it came on - and the silence that descended while we listened - was just fantastic.) I can recall Stuart saying he'd bought a watch for £2.99 and kept showing it to us. 'Two, ninety nine!'. Also Kenny Dalglish (and family) was at the gig and on the same flight home. He saw us in our Country shirts and got a bit animated; I couldn't understand a word he said. Worryingly (I suppose), the drinking thing was evident with Stuart at the airport on the way back. He was knocking back shorts at 7.00am in the morning.

Rare occasion I overdid the wine last night… used to be every week. Always came with hilarious consequences. Spotted this on Facebook marketplace earlier in the day…”damn that’s nice…must behave” Anyhow: apparently at 2am this morning, just before going to bed… I bought a bass… Could've been worse. Damn PayPal interest free.

Past through his home town last week in Crossgates

When I started this over on the RIP thread I didn't know that Stuart's daughter Kirsten has today (11/4/22) released a cover of her dad's song Peace In Our Time. This is in support of the charity War Child which "works directly with children who are living through conflicts, offering them safe spaces and delivering life-changing services and support". Vocal performers include Karen Matheson (Capercaillie), Dean Owens, Jill Jackson, Dave Burn, Lisa Rigby, Dan Raza, Emily Smith, Paul Gilbody and Jason McNiff.

So after a few months with the Euro 4, I decided I would actually be happier with a Euro 5 that looks the same. My (new) band requires a 5 but really liked the feel and sound of the Euro 4. In the meantime, I actually bought a Dingwall D-Roc 5 and was going to just trade in the Euro to balance the books. This was an eBay purchase, but it was very very close to BassDirect and the journey killed 2 birds with one stone. This is a 2007 model and the TonePump (pre trim pot) was a bit of a surprise compared to the newer model I had before. It's manageable with delicate volume control use however, and does what I wanted for that sound. I managed to break a pot expanding the shaft, but a new one is on the way. It has a couple of minor dings but all very good for 15 years old. Truss rod was slack and action high, but all sorted easily. So that's 2 unplanned basses in the last 2 weeks 😳.

Indeed so. They matured beyond the bagpipe guitar thing and knocked out some amazing songs. For a brief time they were spoken of in the same breath as U2 and IMO they were the better band. Nicely enough, the Edge paid great tribute to his friend Adamson and donated a guitar to a fundraiser for Adamson's family.

Big Country were an amazing band. Saw them support Bowie at Sunderland in 80's think it was Glass Spider tour and they were better than Bowie. Fantastic live band, so much power and energy. Sad Dave

The Skids - What a band; saw them live in Liverpool Uni circa 1979. Have to say I wasn’t quite such a fan of BC, although a really unique sound, and what a golden era of Scottish music that was: Simple Minds, The Associates (with the fabulous and equally tragic Billy McKenzie), Orange Juice, Altered Images, the Blue Nile, etc etc The good die young ☹️ Listen and enjoy:

A gig in the village hall to raise money for Ukraine. We raised £1800. The local Ukrainian centre provided a choir of young ladies to sing some traditional songs and one of them is a refugee from the conflict Followed by various ditties from local acts and scratch bands, one of which I was in.... we're mulching our way through 'Sorrow' here. The chap on the left of the pic in the white shirt is Forest & Newcastle legend Frank Clark

The fretboard is not stuck to the neck and I've had a go at making an aluminium nut to match.

Agreed wholeheartedly on all counts. I loved Big Country and SA's untimely passing was a tragedy on many levels. A solemn reminder of the need to talk, to ask "are you ok?", to listen.

Remembering Stuart Adamson (Skids/ Big Country). A good man with his share of demons. Born this day in 1958, gone these 20-odd years.

We have a definitive answer, ladies and gentlemen: "Respecting"

My Sire V3

Heilung - Hamrer Hippyer

As a long term bedroom player and new to gigging I am astonished at how hard it is to get the right tone in the field. ALL the gently and carefully honed bedroom settings go out the window in a pub gig with other instruments. And as noted elsewhere a rusty Behringer or cheap Ampeg head with trashed venue Peavey cab may give a tone miles better than my poncey high end brand head and cab purchase. Case in point, I'm currently running a MB LM3 into a BF 210 and would swap it for the crap rig in my rehearsal studio in a heartbeat, if only I could carry it!

Couple of Body Shots... getting there...

Vino Palladino?

Bella Lugosi’s dead - Bauhaus

Franken P. Ignore the F decal!

I saw the current version (at least it was then) of Big Country last year. It now takes two people to cover what Stuart used to do, a testament to his talent. I remember being shocked when I heard that he’d killed himself, as I also did with Chris Cornell. Hearing them now, often makes me sad.

I was at that gig - first time I saw BC, if I remember at that point they'd only released the Harvest Home & Fields Of Fire singles. I was a massive, massive Adamson fan - he was a unique guitarist and an incredibly gifted songwriter, and probably still my single biggest influence as a composer. It's one of my great regrets that I never saw The Skids, but I saw BC many times between '83 and '96. Got to meet him briefly in 1994 (they did an acoustic set in Edinburgh HMV to promote an album release) and he seemed such a pleasant, genuine soul, appearing flattered (and a bit surprised!) when I mentioned how much I rated him as a guitarist & writer. A month or two ago I came across this on YouTube, completely by accident. BBC Radio recording of their gig at Hammersmith Palais in 1983 - the second BC gig I went to. Had no idea it existed!

Now now, stop spreading GAS I’m not listening 😂🤣

The band U2 could have been, BC always seemed a little more honest and authentic, despite the bagpipe guitars. And opening of Into The Valley is one of the great guitar moments. RIP Stuart 🙏

Yeh, all modern music is all just boom boom boom. Bloody kids get off my lawn. Back in my day we had such crafted songs as 'she loves you, yeh, yeh, yeh'

That’s a great way to put it Steve, something I found out by accident but which is so spot on.

RIP Stu.

When I was in a band it was easy, make it cut through and fit between guitars and drums. Make it sound clanky and horrible in isolation and it worked well. Now I'm just playing at home it's even easier because it just doesn't matter.

I don’t dig a lot of guitarists but he was a great player. I disliked Big County deeply but loved The Skids.

I'm not quite going to be able to top @binky_bass's purchase, especially in the necks or strings department, but here is mine (well, technically this is not mine but one just like it): It's a Longbow Bass and it's been sitting idly behind my rack of basses and guitars for the last few years. It's a surprisingly fun and good sounding instrument, but an ergonomical nightmare. It's tuned E-A, strung through-body (if you can call it a body), it's got a stacked humbucker for each string that sits roughly in the P position, and its recommended way of travel is the most American thing you can imagine: in a rifle bag (which I also bought for it, but it never leaves the house so I've yet to explain to an officer what I'm doing walking around with a rifle bag). I may consider selling it at some point, but for now it's sitting fine.

There is now a second video at the top with the Stingray preamp set to 70% on bass and treble for comparison! Someone pointed out that it would be useful to hear more of the boosted preamp sound since that is how many use the Stingray. There are of course millions of combinations but I settled for this.

And at a band saw cut rate of around a minute an inch, done While I still have a flat surface at the top, I will do some indexing in the router jig to set the accurate depth of the spine, which - when I carve the profile - will be the datum. But before that, a few more pm discussions with @fleabag in terms of the bridge that is planned so that I know whether this needs to be a flat bottomed heel like a Fender or a neck-angle-built-in like most other basses. And then the fretboard can be epoxied on

Did Bill Bailey buy it off you?

Strange little girl - The Stranglers

In vino verybass

King of New York - Fun Lovin Criminals Huey Morgan still refers to himself as the king of new York and goes on about how much he loves NY. He loves the place so much he lives quarter of a mile from me in Frome, Somerset.

The carpenters would have faded away and Karen would have ended up like stevie nicks, solo gigs, sort of music royalty but not really hitting the headlines. jimi Hendrix would have ended up acting and putting out the odd record but never touring

Oh I’ve bought some oddities in my time. think the Rollerskates were the best. done that twice now.

Oof! That sounds so good. I love the P bass aesthetic and I’m a short scale convert. I’m in a lot of trouble 😬.

Just changed the guard from white to Ivory white and a matte B/W/B

There's only one rule that can be applied to amplifying a specific double bass using a specific mic and amp. You simply won't know until you try. Do not spend any cash until you know that what you have doesn't work. And then be prepared to remortgage the house, sell some organs for medical research, and possibly become a cat burglar if the first two don't produce enough cash. I have a 4/4 that produces zero feedback using a mic that produces nothing but feedback for the guy I sold the mic to, but I have a Yamaha SLB-100 that I can get to produce monstrous feedback using a wing PUP. Explain that? All I can assume from my experience is that God long ago decided that double basses should not be amplified and that the lives of anyone who tries to do so should be made as close to hell as possible 🤔

Ok. It's time to talk about what things cost. We've put our prices up to reflect the new UK manufacturing and have already had several angry emails from potential customers. So I want to address a few things. The cost of manufacturing in the East Even if we'd kept our manufacturing in India, our prices would probably have gone up 30%. This is due to the cost of wood going up. Shipping prices skyrocketing. Import Duties (we used to get our instruments tariff free on an EU trade deal. That's now gone). And just simply the factory in India raising their price. So although our new 60% price increase seems a massive jump. It's two jumps in one. One of which we were already absorbing. The sustainability of manufacturing in the East First - it's a bit wanky - but it's not too environmentally friendly shipping guitars all over the world by ship. Ships are massive polluters. It's not a great idea. But even that aside - all the manufacturing capacity at the Indian / Indonesian / Korean manufacturers is being bought up by the big boys. Smaller manufacturers like us were being pushed to the back of the queue ALL the time. They're just not interested in manufacturing for us. A move to the UK We know that if the ONLY thing we're offering for the increased price is that it's made here - then people are going to see that for what it is. So we are taking advantage of the fact that we can now work more closely and flexibly with a UK factory to squeeze in some improvements. Chambering / Weight Relief, Boutique Woods, Better Finish, Carbon reinforcement in all necks, Blind Fretting, Rolled Edges on Fretboards, Better parts. ALL of these are included in our price increases. So you're getting a lot for our money. Come along on the journey with us. We KNOW we are going to lose sales. Spending £850 on a bass is a lot more than £530 on a bass. We are not worried however about where we sit in the market. It's a totally fair price for what you're getting. Our confidence in the market on the whole is a bigger concern. Higher bills, national insurance and inflation makes us worry that people might not have the money to buy a bass. But it is what it is. Come on a journey with us while we build a proper UK build bass brand. It's going to be fun! Thanks for letting me ramble.

There appear a lot of these fake listings on reverb. Seems like they have increased in the last month or so. Mostly Fenders, but also Rickenbacker and other popular stuff. Like said earlier in this thread, if it seems to good to be true..... Most of these listings are from a new account without feedback history; keep away.