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Engaging in this thread has had a deleterious effect on my bass playing (some might say I do not actually play the bass, however I will not digress further). I started to think about my right hand technique and subsequently things that previously had automaticity have become challenging. Sartre, although in a different epistemological context, provides a transferable existentialist insight on the matter of right (and left) hand technique "No finite point has meaning without an infinite reference point". A pragmatic simpler approach may be found by paraphrasing Sartre - "Bass playing is a question of absorbing other people's techniques and adding some of your own experience". Anyway, I have had a good lunch, it is time to take my medication and lie down.

So, after Saturday's 70th birthday gig, onto last night's wedding gig. Nice pub venue, but an interesting load-in through a rabbit warren of passages (Hello Cleveland) and up two flights of stairs, with the added complication that Mr Drums is currently suffering from a severe case of L5 nerve root compression, so a) can't walk far, and b) can't lift anything. Fortunately he lives about halfway between my place and the venue, so it was easy enough for me to stop off en route and help him load his gear, then we all mucked in the other end to unload and get him set up. The room we were in is normally used as a restaurant, and while there was plenty of width, there wasn't a whole lot of depth, so the "dancefloor" occupied about the same amount of space as we did. As it was, most people at the event only seemed to be interested in pouring booze down their necks and shouting at each other, so the area available was just big enough for the few people who did actually want to do a bit of dancing. Onstage sound was a constant battle between the monitors and the cackling crowd, but out front it apparently sounded good, as did my "Baby Trace" setup of AH200 head + BLX-110 cab. As nobody seemed to be in charge of proceedings, we just made it up as we went along, kicking off at 8pm and doing an hour, then resuming at 9:45pm and doing another hour. We dropped one longish, very wordy, song towards the end of the second set as Mr Singer was flagging a bit, but apart from that and a handful of off-piste moments, everything mostly went to plan. One moment in particular stands out - as we launched into our traditional second set opener "Call Me The Breeze", the front three all stopped playing when Mr Singer realised he'd forgotten to switch his new-fangled radio mic back on, but me and Mr Drums just kept the groove going until switches were switched and normal service was resumed, amazingly at the right point! All part of the act, obvs... 😉 We also managed to get the Happy Couple onto the dancefloor for our rendition of "You Do Something To Me" which went down well, and then the night ended with the pub manager joining us to do harmonies on "Stand By Me" - very good she was too. As the pub owner has invited us back to do one of their Sunday afternoon beer garden gigs next Summer, she may well get to sing with us again. Obviously, the most fun we had all evening was loading-out through a slightly diminished crowd of folks who seemingly had no homes to go to, but everybody was very polite, and also very complimentary. Quick stop on the way home to help Mr Drums unload his gear, and that was that. Mr Drums has been told by his physio to take at least two weeks off even touching his drums, so we're now on an enforced break from rehearsing and working up a number of new songs, but I guess it couldn't have come at a better time as we don't have any more gigs currently lined up. Onwards and upwards next year then, L5 compressions permitting. Postscript: Just had the following message from Mr Rhythm Guitar:- "Out of the gigs we've done, I've never had so many people come up to me and say what a brilliant band we are, and quite a few said how refreshing it was to hear songs that other bands don't play, and we play and sing them so well." Case in point - the number which got the most people up and grooving, and got the biggest reaction at the end, was Mr Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance". So, we must be doing summat right... ☺️

Bought this about a both ago…cash converters. Had an unoriginal neck. It was lovely…but then spotted a nice 70s Reissue P neck. Game on!

Tell me about it. You get up in the morning and drive the van round to collect the guys and the gear, then you motor over to the venue and unpack and set everything up. Then there’s the sound check and when everyone is happy you wander off looking for somewhere to eat. After that it’s a matter of killing time until you are ready to go on stage. As the evening wears on the punters get more raucous. The set is due to finish at 11.00 p.m. but the crowd keep calling for encores. Then someone wants you to accompany his granny singing Ten Guitars. You finally finish and then dismantle all the equipment when there are still bodies staggering about, getting in the way. Finally you escape around 1.00 a.m. drive home, drop everyone off and unload the gear. Back at your place you creep in the door not wanting to wake the family. You slip into bed and lay there exhausted. Then the wife slides her leg over your thigh and begins to nibble your ear. What a life!

Where's the loo? Couldn't hold on if I wanted to.

I think the last bit should read, 'You slip into bed and lay there exhausted and totally unable to fall asleep as you're still buzzing, analysing the gig, and thinking about how you played, how you could of played better, how the audience reacted, how your bass sounded, what new gear you should now buy, what someone said to you, how you're never going to play there again, do I need a wee, how you're going to tell the singer what you think, the girl on the left of the stage was super cute, why does the guitarist never lug any gear unless it's his own, what time is it, why does the drummer never buy anyone a drink, I definitely need a wee, why can I never hear myself on stage, when's the next gig, why can't I fall asleep, I'm going for a wee' 😂

It's home. First impressions - exactly what I was hoping for. The output level is INCREDIBLY loud - too beefy for my practice amp. So I'll have to dig out the big rig to give it a proper shakedown (and maybe make a video). Any riff requests? Interestingly, it has a big dose of that Wal flavour (it's got that "complexity" in the upper mids), but it's also retained some of its Music Man-ness, probably because the pickups aren't in the Wal positions.

Original and Copy:

Exactly. We’ve all typed out a message on a mobile and realised it’s full of mistakes later. Not a big deal! Here’s my new strap, anyway!

Short scale MM added...enjoy!

I blame my mother for my poor sex life. All she told me was 'the man goes on top and the woman underneath.' For three years my husband and I slept in bunk beds. Joan Rivers

My love for old peavey gear is getting out of hand! this is super clean, I’m gonna be taking it out of the flight case as that adds a lot of size and weight but can’t wait to plug this in alongside my 2x215 peaveys and my custom 215 when one popped up I had to grab it!!

Fixed 😂

Raven - Buddy Holly & The Crickets

I've got a few 31.5" ACG 6ers, and a 26.5"... . I have tuned the 26.5"er B to C, and it works, but I find it cool to have something tuned a little differently around too.

It's television. None of it is real.

The Needle And The Damage Sewn ～ Neïl Young

Should have brought her in a McDonalds seeing as she’s hungry 🍔

Or a prats?

Thatis scarily accurate

Sitting in a silent, empty, shop demoing basses is not for the faint hearted. The last time I did that was in my local Guitar, Guitar on a wet Wednesday afternoon. I was playing my usual bluesy, jazzy stuff and just for a laugh started to play the sailors hornpipe (it's actually a good warm up routine). At which point all the shop assistants burst out laughing. They listen to you, you know..... Every note. They probably have score cards n all.

I'm liking playing with my thumb these days, something I started doing when trying to emulate the feel of a double bass albeit on an electric. I find it slows me down, simplifies what I'm trying to do, makes me more attentive especially to the drummist, and at times produces a tone I can't get using any other method. Of course, this opens a whole new can of worms as to the correct placement of my fingers 👍

Clean everything with contact cleaner, including the pots, tube sockets and tube pins.

Gigging on Tuesday but which behemoth do I take with which cab? 1971 P Bass with flats - Shure Wireless - Cali Big Box Comp - Russian Muff - Sansamp BDDI = Perfection 👌 *still setting up home studio so pics not up yet.

I am with the posties, and the rest of the current striking workers. There is plenty of money in the system but most of It is in the hands of a few obscenely wealthy people, and their friends. We have raging inflation but it is caused by corporate greed, not inflationary wages. Most people are worse off in real terms than they were in 2008, and it looks like they have finally decided to fight back.

Alright so after trying all the above the blow torch worked! well all apart from one saddle left over which has been stripped, so there’s was not enough leverage to free it from its gluey home. 😂 only managed to burn myself once, too!! Thanks so much guys.

Boom. This is it. My brother used to work on reality TV shows (The Apprentice being the biggest one) and they used to spend hours setting up the spontaneous stuff, waivers, etc.

Lado does look like a possibility, although the headstock is wrong, and the horns on Lados generally match - the one @AndyTravis has unearthed has top and bottom horns which both look like flaccid penises, and there are others which have sharp upper and lower horns, but there don't seem to be any with a flaccid penis top horn (well, maybe a semi) and a sharp bottom horn.

The people who bring the things in are actors. Otherwise how do they know which ‘experts’ to have in hand on a filming day, and make sure the show isn’t just people handing over DVDs?

Crow Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac

"To remove high strength Loctite thread locker you will need heat, up to 250° C. The heat will soften the thread locker, allowing the bolt to come loose. The bolt will not be damaged. A bolt fixed with medium strength thread locker (such as Loctite 243) can usually be removed with hand tools." and "Apply heat to the head of the fastener. Warm it up for 3-4 minutes while simultaneously using the wrench to slacken the fastener. The heat will soften the thermoset plastic of the threadlocker. If the fastener begins to loosen up, apply more heat and keep working the wrench side-by-side" Assuming the saddles can be removed from the bridge you might try heating them up in the oven (you need a Spinal Tap oven that goes to 11), or gas torch, cooker gas flame, large soldering iron, lighter?. When hot grab the saddle with mole grips and try to wind the adjuster screws out. It may take several goes as the saddle cools down and the thread lock hardens again. The saddles look like 'standard' BBOT saddles which will hopefully make replacement cheap if this is required.

Talking about floating thumbs and fingering techniques and the like, I remember reading an article in Ozzie Razorback hunting mag "Baconbusters" (as you do) which discussed the various ways of separating fighting pig-hunting dogs. They came to the conclusion that the best way was to distract 'em by slipping a handy digit up doggy's jacksie. I suspect one might have to wash one's hands before playing bass though.

Sounds like you might just need to hold on a little longer... from the horse's mouth: 'Musicians in Poland are also waiting for the R-400. The hold-up is the wooden box - it is difficult and time-consuming to do this. I asked the musicians what they thought about the version without a wooden box, and there was only one answer - everyone wants only in a wooden box. My plan is to finish the R-400 by mid-January.'

"Thankfully perseverance is a great substitute for talent"

OK, seems I've priced this a bit high. Minus £1 anyone?

Different world now, with crowd-sourcing and loads of freebies on that there Internet thingy. If soundmondo didn't exist then the Reface DX would be an awkward beast supplied with a wide range of fairly useless sounds as standard. A couple of hours on soundmondo and I have every sound I am ever likely to need (playing in general covers bands and a specialist soul band) and all with no need at all to learn how to 'tweak' any parameters, still less actually program anything.

Now you only need the 3620:

Yep…..totally agree. Having loads of expensive doesn’t necessarily make you a better player!

My thumb has always been rooted to the pick-up cover. Fretting hand thumb is generally on the back of the neck but not exclusively.

That bass is absolutely lovely. I love the slimmer body, it looks quite wieldy and elegant.

The tuning bridge always seems a bit exposed on conversions, like it could easily get bashed hanging off the back of the body. I had a Hohner Jack headless (damn, why did I sell that again?) that had strap buttons either side of the tuners, so you could still lean it up against an amp etc.

The cause is a combination of sky high fuel prices, that impact almost everything that needs transporting, and sky high energy prices. The fact energy companies are making record profits means the price they are charging the public is simply profiteering. Nothing to do with wages. How can any country can claim to be first World when ordinary people have to use "Warm spaces" because they cant afford to heat their homes, and working people have to rely on charity, food banks, to eat. Its a disgrace. A change is needed.

I don’t believe you. I challenge you to a chew off. Don’t try and wrigleys out of it either.

When buying new, I have them bring out half-a-dozen or so, and I try 'em each in turn, with a light touch at first, then a bit of a thrashing. However, I'm no longer welcome, apparently, at the Aston Martin works.

Or just play it 3 times in a row with an average pub band drummer. That will be 3 different tempos!