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Just in case you weren’t following the build thread, here’s my Thunderstangbacker

Old converted church last night at Rocknrolla's in Paisley. First time there with the Glam band and wasn't sure how it would go. Turned out to be a great night with a decent sized crowd and a group of girls / women including a girl from Sweden who danced almost every song from the word go. Sound engineer Paul Thompson did a great job for us and staff were all friendly. Only downside was they didn't advertise the gig much which was a worry. We've already been asked back and everyone enjoyed the night. Xmas songs went down really well too with lots of singing along. While doodling before sound check the sound engineer asked if i was into Jaco and Jeff Berlin based on what i was doing. I am of course a fan but can't do what they do by any stretch of the imagination but a compliment is a compliment. I was already on a high now before the gig started LOL All in all a good night. And in the green room before we start.

Hurtsfall at The Lending Room in Leeds playing the Carpe Noctum night supporting Skeletal Family. Apart form some weird sound problems at the start of our set, due to technical issues for the headliners at the soundcheck which meant set up time for the other bands was somewhat truncated it went really well.The venue was pretty much sold out and there were even people dancing all the way through our set. Plenty of positive comments afterwards and we sold CDs and T-Shirts. Some photos of us on stage: Next gig on the 18th December at the "In The Black Midwinter" festival in Sheffield.

Penultimate gig of the year for us, at our home from home and secret rehearsal/recording space. Brilliant crowd, really supportive and they bought a few bits of our merchandise. I'm still feeling the love for the Warwick Sklar bass, so much so, I'm pondering whether or not to go for the German made version...

Well, having said which two I would go for, I bought this yesterday (30" scale).

I even went and had a little boogie with the punters during our Night Boat encore

Not huge numbers in last night, but a good reception and ended up doing three encores. Before we started a punter came up who recognisedme from a gig with the other band a week before ... and in spoons afterwards a few folk came up to say it was agood gig 😎 autographs anyone? 🤣

Decent little public/local gig last night, I just really felt like playing bass all day after playing a super boring solo acoustic gig the night before, so an up for it crowd and a great sound in my IEMs just made the whole night a pleasure. B0B7A6B2-0312-4F48-B12E-5BC67EFA4A19.MOV

Last gig in Huddersfield for this year, the rest of December are all local gigs for us in the Sheffield area. A small pub in on the outskirts of Huddersfield, was a fun gig, compact and bijou so to speak and plenty of dancing from the punters. We had a chance to do the drummers XMas song and amazingly the crowd were singing along with the chorus halfway in which he was well chuffed about.

Managed to glue up the other piece of walnut last night. A shot of the edge, down to 27mm at the moment, so should be around the 26mm mark after sanding. It was out of the clamps this morning and on with the initial shaping. And after getting some shape to it, gave it a quick clean with white spirit to see how it looks. Then made a quick cover for the pickup, still needs shaping, but gives a general idea. May slim down the wings a bit yet, looks a bit fat in the bottom section. Will have to see how I get on this week and whether I can do any in the evenings.

Last night was odd. First time gigging in a new town (Montrose) and a new venue (the Black Abbot). Early start at 8pm - when we arrived in the room folk were still eating their dinner. The area we were asked to set up in was made unnecessarily cosy because of various bric-a-brac left and right but we squeezed in there. Started playing and got moaned at for being too loud. We did our best to back it off a little and eventually they stopped moaning. I was barely brushing the strings! Got some folk up dancing. After the folks who were moaning left the bar staff told us just to do our thing and the second half was a lot more business as usual. After an annoying start it ended up being a pretty good gig. Got asked for one more tune at the end. Nice early finish too (11pm).

Errrr… it all got a bit Phoenix Nights.. 😝

New venue for Redonizm at the Crumpled Horn in Upminster. A little bit a squeeze, so went with a 2 3 1 diamond formation with the two singers up front, me in the middle flanked by the guitarists and drummist at the back. We had to wait for the football to finish, but our usual mix of party music with several obligatory festive songs soon got a number of people up and dancing. We had a dep singer standing in for our usual female singer who did a blinding job. Fitted in incredibly well after only a couple of rehearsals with a superb, controlled voice for only 23 years old. She’ll be helping us out again in couple of weeks time too, so looking forward to that. And she helped pack cables away and carry cases!

Been lurking around the internet trying to find one of these, my first non-budget bass purchase, after much googling and research I had decided a Sabre seemed to be a perfect match for all my wants (looks, the sound etc), I was particularly taken with the videos made by Lobster on the Sabre I wrote to Musicman and asked if they would be re-issuing the Sabre again and they replied saying "no immediate plan to reintroduce the EBMM Sabre" The bass, manufactured May 8th 2013 according to serial number, had been bought new by the owner and stored immediately and still had the shop tags, plastic wrap and stickers on when I picked it up for the first time, the strings had corrosion on them making it a bit unpleasant to play but were replaced by the seller with some nice zingy nickel ones. The seller is a professional musician and a big Stingray fan, he let me look at / try his Stingrays and tbh this has changed my pre-conceived ideas about Stingrays - was particularly taken with a blue 90's stingray he had, added to my bucket list for the future 😀 Its still early days for me and I am still getting used to the pre-amp and options, but I think its a keeper! J

Shhhhh. She's practising quietly.

Second gig of the Train To Skaville micro-tour last night... Haydon Wick Social Club in Swindon. Nice place, pleasant management and a keen crowd. It was open to the public, so a lot of the Madchat crowd turned up. We went down extremely well, quite a few club members paid us big compliments afterwards and we're guaranteed a booking or two for next year. Makes the 02:30 bedtime worthwhile

Such a weird venue last night, country pub, not too far, only have a license for 2 musicians but like groups, and pretty well set up in a corridor between the entrance and the toilet, in an area where they couldn't actually turn the lights off, with the audience down a long t section. Had to move back when someone wanted to go past to the toilet and the radiator was hot (didn't turn it down until half time). Sounded like a receipt for disaster, but turned out not so bad. Lots of people we know turned out for it and many diners (its a bit of a food pub) seemed to enjoy it. One person complained it was too loud (who'd have thunk), but then they left, so no problem!

I have been focused on scaling down my cab size lately. So.. I've got one of these little beauties coming from BC marketplace next week, and picked one up via FB market today. It's a fantastic combination. I love the way the current owners of this historic brand have maintained both quality and the original aesthetic - and put it in a package I can carry. Of course it's a wrench not to stand in front of a big stack of trouser flapping speakers but needs must. Beautifully made and finished, can't wait to get the second one and gig them.

Slash ’n’ Burn - Manic Street Preachers

Cheers Stew. Ordered. Not that I really need another amp, but can't resist at that price.

You don't see many of these about! It has Humbuster pickups. 🙂

Monkey Gone To Heaven - The Pixies

The Darkness' Christmas Time (don't let the bells end) seems to have become a Christmas fixture, released 2003. Holy holly berries Batman, is that really nearly 20 years old?!

My Old Man - Ian Dury & the Blockheads

Dunno how I missed this thread - +1 for the Danish oil which was exactly what my SR500 refin got! It did get a few more coats though, 10 or so, iirc.

Actually, just a couple of BF one10s

Thanks for asking. I'm still very happy with it from a portability and sound point of view, but the guts hanging off the back is a bit unsightly, so I may rebuild it into a slightly larger case in order to tidy that up - but keeping the same enclosure size and tuning. I took it down to the SW bass bash and it was liked by those who tried it, so I'm also happy that my enthusiasm for it is justified. As far as volume is concerned, I've been asked to turn it down on a couple of occasions outdoors, so it is plenty loud enough to keep up with acoustic guitars, vocals and electronic drums going through the PA at appropriate volumes for a street market. A 7AHr 12v battery lasts about 4 hours, so taking a spare battery means I'm set up for the day. David

A few more updates. Went for a job interview on Thursday and 15 minutes after getting home had a phone call offering me the job, so starting on Monday. So over the past couple of days I have been getting as much done as possible on the build, missed a few photos along the way but no big loss as it was just gluing on the wings. Decided to get the poplar wings in position first and then do the walnut top/bottom afterwards. I pre-cut the control cavity in the poplar before gluing and also did the same with the cavity cover in the walnut. This is after taking the clamps off from gluing the first piece of walnut in place and trimming the edges a bit, still lots of shaping to be done. Then did a fingernail access for the cover. Next up was the walnut piece on the other wing. After the glue had dried did a bit of trimming. Put an extra piece of walnut on the inside of the cavity cover to give it some extra strength. Have also glued the front piece of walnut on and put an extra piece of walnut in the cavity to give the correct thickness, just need to tidy it up a bit. Haven't taken any pics of the front yet, had to finish up for the night and get something to eat. Will get the other piece glued on tomorrow and take some pics.

I like The idea of the 2 hour gig. I like the idea of the 40 minute opener theatre gig. I do not like the idea of the 4 hour US 🇺🇸 bar gig. Blue

We played at Brown Street in Salisbury last night, I really like this venue - it’s nice to see a venue invest when so many seem to be closing, particularly the case in Salisbury. We rolled out 5 new songs and all seemed well received by the crowd - I rarely used to gig Fridays as found it was always a bit of a rush, but now feel it a good way to kick off the weekend 😊

Had a short notice depending gig with a blues band in Kidlington (near Oxford) last night. I've played with them quite a few times over the years, and it was good to play with them again. Appreciative audience (we played two one hour sets and they still wanted more as we were packing up at a quarter to midnight). Half an hour's drive each way, no complications, slid into bed at two AM. Used my 2012 US Standard Precision, Orange Little Bass Thing and Barefaced Super Compact - all worked perfectly.

Skaville gig in Bradford on Avon last night. Not quite as busy as previous years, only 2 deep at the bar rather than 3 this time we sounded good and seemed to go down well. @BreadBin came along, nice to see a familiar friendly face! Doing it all over again in Swindon tonight. The usual gear... Skabass -> Shuttle 9.2 -> Barefaced Super 12T. Sounded feckin massive.

Saw The Cure in Belfast last night and it was a great show. I found it uncanny how RS's voice hasn't seemed to have aged much and he sounded fantastic. Of course, of most interest was Simon Gallup's bass sound. It was huge...and for many songs, really grindy and dirty sounding. Like, really gnarly! The sound quality was good and for some songs like Disintegration, by design. merged into a really powerful wall of sound. The set was pretty uncompromising for the casual fan (i.e. the thousands who seemed to be there just for Friday, I'm...), with several classics from their back catalogue and a few new ones as well, some of which were more memorable than others. Too many highlights to list but At Night, Burn, A Strange Day, Push and of course, A Forest were superb. If you get a chance, check them out.

Lithium - Nirvana

If you're thinking of snapping one up, ignore the naysayers and listen to those of us who actually gig them. Really loud, powerful, versatile, reliable amplifiers, lightweight and solidly built.

An absolute beauty of a 1200S has just been posted for sale on the facebook vintage BB group. In France, €1200. Again, nothing to do with me. I need to stop looking at Yamaha's. 😁 https://www.facebook.com/groups/219406111488370/permalink/5928190130609911/

Absolute stonking value! Shame it's not the tube version or I'd snap it up. I already have the MOSFET. These are outrageously good. Never mind "at the price". They're better than many amps 5 times the price. I've been using mine for practice and gigging for over 3 years and it's never missed a beat. Sounds sublime and has a volume control that goes 2 notches past thunder.

Yes, I agree that the early days of the 00's were a great time for boutique basses. Talkbass at the time was a very frequented by some very affluent users with great taste in high end basses. Obviously internet use was nowhere near as universal then (remember all the threads that said '56k stay away' to warn of high resolution images within). There was a real buzz about amazing handmade basses then. The plague of vintage tat wasn't quite widespread then. I like Basslab instruments but I think they're maybe too niche to be considered an iconic instrument of the age. Certainly, they do appeal to me as the next step in evolution of the art over simply using carbon fibre. That isn't to take anything away from them, I own a 2001 L-Bow and it is one of the best basses I've ever played and it's the bass I play most these days along with my Spector NS-5CR.

It was, and we aren't the tidiest of bands!

Isn't there a thread about that somewhere... 🤔

I got given one by a friend of mine who was upgrading and didn’t have the space for it, and I have to say it’s an incredibly solid bass. There were two small issues with mine, the pickups were wonky and rattled around, and there was terrible buzz/hum from the pickups. Easily sorted for about £15 and some time, I put a load of conductive copper tape in the cavity and shielded it to the best of my abilities, and I put new foam and springs underneath the pickups. I have a 2001 USA Stingray but have been taking the HB to the last few practices and it sounds bloody great and plays well after a minor set up. I’m tempted by the new roasted necked ones they have just released.

Nice score! I have the Unicorn that was based on that , but headless.

Buck Rogers - Feeder

We stood in at short notice last night. Gig was local to me which was a bonus. Typical boozy Friday small town crowd. They liked the stuff they recognised and pretty much ignored the rest.

... titled 'Happy Big Red Xmas, Everybody'

Thankfully I’ve discovered that an old bass I no longer use had close enough screws, so that’s handy for now. just added some tea staining and a single coat of danish oil.