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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.

Interesting how some the commentators on here, now seem to think about the huge wave of current disputes in such a polarised 'them and us' style. As far as I am aware, apart from employees with underlying health issues, none of the Royal Mail, NHS or railway and bus drivers etc, were given the opportunity to be furloughed and they carried on working, despite the risks, to keep the economy going, look after all of us in hospital, and keep the transport system running. People died doing this. The face masks and gowns supplied to hospitals, care homes etc did not arrive there by magic. The transport system needed to get nurses and health workers into their places of work? ... likewise. These workers carried on working for the benefit of our broader society. Not them. Us. All of us. Here we are now ... and workers that are asking for a pay rise that takes into account inflation are "shooting themselves in the foot" and should go and get a job elsewhere because otherwise 11,000 of them will be made redundant. Some of us have very short memories?

Get thyself to Ishibashi and trawl the u-box for an old Bacchus Grooveline. Scaled down J body with Stingray guts, weighs about 3.5kg. Not cheap but, still, a handmade Japanese bass for less than a US Stingray. Lovely.

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.

If you can't trust it, that's that. So far, I've had zero issues, but I haven't yet fired it up in anger outside the house, so I'm quite prepared to return it if anything shows up. I guess that's why we piled in - the 180-day return option, which I'm even more grateful for, given your experience. Fingers crossed, one way or another...!

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.

"I hated that effing Columbus.. but the selmer bass twin in Croc skin I would like back now please. thank you" And in an incredible twist of fate, my original Crocbeast has been found!! Brought by my dad in ~1976 at a school auction in Knebworth for £5 earth pounds and allegedly donated by Henry Cobbold of Knebworth Festival fame, and moreover, left behind after their stint at Kfest with a bunch of other stinky poo by none other than The Pink Floyd in 1975... The Amp was rediscovered buried in a mates loft this year.. How it got there, why it was there, no one can remember. It is at the menders right now, as my mate rightly said when I went all teary eyed, "nope; you will just plug it in and kill yourself, I am going to get it checked out 1st" Now I am looking for a suitable cab to plop under her as the massive chipboard 1x18 blobjob my dad made me having been long turned to weetabix... will post pics when I have my grubby mitts on her again.

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

Work in progress!

It is a Yamaha TRB 4P from late '80s / early '90s. I think at the time he was working with the custom shop. There was an auction of some of his gear a couple of years ago, and it included a couple of TRBs, one fretted one fretless, either 4 or 5 strings, can't remember.

Indeed! I've got a mate who's head of equities for a major bank... He pulls a 7 figure salary with bonus to match and completely agrees that it's a house built on sand, though government bail-outs exist if they really c0ck it up! He takes the money happily - his justification is that if he didn't, someone else would! Each to their own, but as I say to him Come the Revolution etc!

As above, it was me, done by Feline Guitars with Nova hardware. Turned out great. It’s the bass I leave around the house.

Swords of a Thousand Men - Tenpole Tudor

One of the best, most melodic bassists I have ever seen was playing a fiesta red Squier precision. Possibly a decent Japanese one but only worth a couple of hundred pounds back then. I doubt he's on here either.

Decided not to shy away from the Chrimbo vibe and sold our souls to blatant commercialism! 🙂 "Get ready to rock Your Blues Away this Christmas at the Windsor in Penarth. Bluesfire Blues Band will be playing a red-hot mix of Blues Rock and Christmas favourites with our own twist this Christmas Eve."

So in summary, this is now a Bong, yes?

I played my final show of 2022 last night, at Water Rats in London. From Swansea to Southampton, Glasgow to Bristol, Swindon to San Antonio Bay - it's been a good year for shows. More than double the shows of 2021, which was more than double the shows of 2020. Not quite pre-pandemic levels but probably around as busy as I want to be right now. I've enjoyed reading all your gigging tales on this thread and long may it continue.

New short scale bass to the fold, been looking for one of these for a while!

Well it doesn't get much sexier than this, particularly if you're interested in Jaydee history. This has just been back to Jaydee for a service. I picked it up from there this morning. I knew it was an early example because of the serial number 51 but, when I collected it, Andrew and Michael stood grinning at me before calmly announcing that this was the second bass made by Jaydee. John recognized it as soon as he saw it. It was originally fretless which, apparently explains why it has a zero fret. John even knew who he built it for although neither of the guys could remember who he said it was !!! Number 1 is well known but is a different shape and has apparently had some modification? When I eventually managed to process what they were telling me; I asked the obvious question: "if it's the second one, why is the serial number 51" The answer is that John was originally making guitars. My Bass was the 51st instrument that he made but, only the second Bass. There was no indication that the Bass business was going to take off in the way that it did so there was no reason to number them separately. I'm told that this Bass was made before the Mark King bass (number 3) and could even have been made in the late '70s.