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Ive only just became aware of this (and spent 30 mins sobbing afterward) a few members im close too will know that after 22 years of marriage my wife asked for a divorce. At the risk of oversharing. For many years ive struggled with (for a long time undiagnosed) carpal tunnel in both wrists, which at times has hampered my playing. This is on the mend, but among other things has taken a toll. Im devastated, but ive done a lot of thinking and looking back, it cant go on Ive been harming myself mentally, and suppressed anger and frustration and sadness until it warped me into something im not, and caused her to fall out of love with me ive numbed the pain with Alcohol which has affected my physical health. She knew what was happening to me, but dealt with it by keeping busy with other things and remained focused on creating a life for herself that didnt include me, in time we were more roommates than a husband and wife. So sad, we had a beautiful relationship, and it withered and died and we both let it happen! heartbreaking, truly heartbreaking Ill always love her,she was my best friend, soulmate and the love of my life. Right now im still full of anger and resentment and need to try and let it all go and forgive, because ive tortured myself and her for years If this looks at all familiar i beg you COMMUNICATE, share your feelings and find the person you love. Im not courting sympathy or even attention, but please hug your partner and love them fiercely and with all of your heart. Ive been a nember of this forum since 2007 and it has been part of my everyday life in all that time. Ive made friends for life and brothers id never had, and many many times been a small light in my darkness. I cant thank you all enough for this, im very moved and grateful to have so many wonderful people in my lif Im going to move out and get a flat with the shirt on my back and a couple of basses, at 51 my life parallels when i left Newcastle at 19 Im on the cusp of a new start My focus will be on healing myself phyisically and mentally, i plan to throw myself into the thing thats always defined me , Music!! Time to forgive and heal

First of three gigs with this guy 😃. We have a Billy Joel tribute band in Holland and we got our stamp of approval from original drummer Liberty DeVitto. He agreed on coming over from the US to do these gigs with us. Needless to say we are over the moon with him agreeing to play with us. Had a blast on the first and looking forward to number two and three.

Just sitting at a car charger outside Cardiff (before my onward journey back to Surrey…) following a lovely little Katy Hurt gig at Acapella Studios. What a lovely venue! First gig of the tour where we’ve had Cris join us on lap steel, guitar and mandolin, and Basschat royalty @Rich in attendance. We had a blast (common theme on this run of shows I’m pleased to say!) and made a lot of new friends I think. I still can’t sing in tune for more than about 3 notes. Shoes were black leather Chelsea boots today, v comfy but a bit slippy on the stage carpet 😀

Played a great gig at the weekend, probably our best yet. The Thunderstangbacker sounded ace, and I love my little Eich combo!

You folks were in fine form. Very obvious that you were having a great time up there, and it showed in all your performances. It was particularly good to hear such a well-played pedal steel, his less is more approach was perfect. And oh my word, your ACG sounded droolworthy, especially down low. That B string is a thing of beauty. I will definitely be looking out for you lot in the future. Thanks for a great night. Apologies for the terrible photo

This one has been a long time coming. I first started to think seriously about a Deluxe/Elite/Ultra when I played one shortly after the 2010 model launched. Then the Elite launched in 2016 and that had to be the one, especially with the MM-style truss rod wheel and the pickups/preamp upgrades. My decision was cemented further when the Ultra 2 came out in the last year or so with its cost-saving 'skunk stripe' neck. Spec wise, the natural Ash Elite always seemed to be the pick of the bunch. So I recently bought Freddie's Elite from the BC Marketplace - he did a very good job of very carefully repairing the drill damage [from a previous owner where a bridge cover had been added] with wood filler, so the holes aren't nearly as visible now. Playing-wise, this Elite is a monster Jazz. The preamp only needs a slight touch over the centre detent on the treble/bass controls to be perfectly punchy and clear. It has all the tone of my 2012 FSR hand-stained American Standard with a lot more power behind it. I'm impressed. So I've set it up to my tastes and added some new 40-95 Elixirs. I'm off to turn the "Jazz Bass" preset input gain down on my RH750 before this preamp blows the patio doors off! Enjoy the pics

I actually bought this in March but have only now gotten around to posting it. Saw the ad on BassBros' socials about a collection of Fender Japan signature models they had just taken delivery of, and it immediately caught my eye. This is a Fender Japan Tomomi jazz bass in fiesta wash, with mint pickguard, CS 64 pickups and stacked knobs, amongst other distinctive features. I'll keep this brief - great specs, sounds great, plays great, and everything you have ever heard about Fender Japan's attention to detail is spot on. Really impressive bass First time buying from BassBros and it was a top-notch experience. Sam and Will were extremely helpful, the bass arrived on time, was well packaged, good comms and they are nice guys to boot.

My recently delivered JayDee Roadie II Active Bass: I received this in April, But I am just getting to posting images of it, along with the hyperlinks to the demo videos on my channel on YouTube. If you enlarge the thumbnail image attachment, the breakdown of the controls and the specs of the bass is as follows: 34" scale, set-neck design, pickup height can be adjusted from the back, JayDee custom humbuckers and eq system. The pickup selector switch has 4 positions so from back most position to front, the options should be: 1) Off (no LED) 2) On - back pickup only 3) On - both pickups 4) On - neck pickup only The top chrome control knob is volume (self explanatory really, if you give it a tweak) and the bottom is passive tone. Rotary knob is OFF-Bridge pup - Both pups - Neck pup, switch is active passive, two silver knobs are master volume and tone, black knobs are three band EQ. The unboxing video link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUXO28tjwCQ&t=42s The sound demo video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljXTI9NH0kw&t=98s

Since my last band split almost a decade ago I completely fell out of love with all things bass. I have hardly picked up a bass in that time. I’ve been getting that itch again and was hunting for a Geddy Lee Jazz as I’ve had 2 in the past and love them. BassBros had one to win in one of their competitions. I bought a ticket the day before the competition ends, and it was my first time buying a ticket. I only bloody won! Beyond chuffed! Won on Sunday and today this was waiting for me at home. 😍

We auditioned our new guitarist on the 2nd (playing 4 songs). Got another 6 off at the next jam night on the 9th. Rehearsed two sets worth of songs last night. Yes, we are having to go for some 'quick wins', but we are out again in July. This is one of them.

This has been partly brought on by the insistence of Fender/Gibson for stores to have entire walls of their product. Now, I like a good Fender as much as the next guy but I have no desire to see a wall of them so I never visit. Shops with a wide choice of brands, a good used section etc will always win out for me...... be they specialist stores with a wide range like Bass Direct, Gallery, BassBros etc or a more general music store with a decent range like RichTone or Andertons.

You really know how to make friends here, don't you..!

Just got back from playing The Pit at McCann's in Newport. An interesting night. Soundcheck was annoying. We went to go do it and one of the guitarists decided to just go to the hotel he was staying at and have a shave. Not the best timing 🙄 never mind, we eventually got it sorted. The first band had pulled out a couple of days ago, so there was plenty of time. Probably our smallest crowd yet of about 6. That might just be what happens when you play a metal gig on the same weekend as Download Festival 🤷 We played well though and were well received by the people there. The supplied cab sounds like it's on the way out though. Really didn't have a nice high end. Usual gear of Dingwall Combustion -> GX-100 -> Bass Big Muff/Mojo Mojo in the loop -> Laney Digbeth. Footwear for this evening was some Hobibear barefoot trainers. Still undecided about barefoot shoes... No photos, sorry. I'll update if anything surfaces on the socials! AQMTd9ffsrUKIQvw473CG84aAMXW5_YfPV1mCS5Yv3ZmZDz7cwMSEAAL2nHmvI0RM2jeN38zBu7K7ml6rLHzjlihBZKSa09Q5hLkWgQ.mp4

Here's another one I bought from BassBros in March. Unique bass, in terms of finish (black gold)), specs and mojo - this is the coolest looking bass I have ever owned. This is a signature model of the bassist, J, from Japanese rock band, Luna Sea. It is based on a limited edition custom shop, seen in the last photo. The custom pickups and reverse headstock combine to deliver a nice, thick p bass tone. Weighs just over 9lbs and a really comfortable neck which I believe is described as a soft v. Again, fit and finish are first class and exceeded my expectations (bought this before the red jazz I shared yesterday). Superb service from the guys at BassBros. Beware their website, serious temptation!! (I seem to have overdone the portrait effect on some of these photos!)

And they are nearly all mine

That was a brave post Lee. I feel for you, and what you must be going through at the moment. I'm just out of hospital now, and I'm on the mend but still taking it easy. I know you have a gig tomorrow, so good luck with that, but I'll say that when I was your position a few years ago, I found solace in music and playing live, and found it really helped, especially playing live. You ain't got the blues until you've lived the blues man. We'll have that meet up in the next few days hopefully, it will be good to see you and talk. Until then, stay strong. Rob

There's not an appropriate reaction icon for that. Wanna give you a hug, truth be told. Best of luck, mate.

❤️ It’s a great pic! Cris’ playing is spot on, really adds a healthy dimension to the songs and lets Gab do the guitar god thing without worrying so much about how he’s orchestrating his parts around the sparser songs. And yes the B on this ACG is quite the thing*, in fact the whole bass is quite special. Proper good craftsmanship from @skelf *(I’ve said to Alan that it’s the best B I’ve ever had on a bass - it’s so well balanced with the rest of the strings and just seems to sing better than any I’ve had before. None of the others have been *bad*, they just haven’t been *this good* 🤓

By way of an update, over halfway through treatment and can see the finishing line albeit still a bit distant. But a good friend has asked me to join him and an excellent drummer to do a 45 mins set at a BBQ. A perfect opportunity to play again, not too long a set, outdoors to help protect my immune system and it's mainly country so not too taxing (famous last words!).

Had a great chat with our man last night. i must say the urge to get in the car was huge x

So at half time are you un-Kemped? 😂 Good luck with the show!

Test … one … two … check … … it’s a miracle! I can post pictures again!

I'd give the EMGs a while, see if you like them. It's different from passive, but there is a lot to be said for them. They are active pickups which is different from an active preamp, and one of the differences is that the current draw is much lower so you don't need to swap the batteries often. Here is a pretty strong argument for the EMGs! And here is a way to boost the voltage going to the pickups (Lee has 18 volts with 2 batteries IIRC) - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192895789297?_trksid=p4375194.c101949.m162918 - check the specs on the pickups first to make sure they can handle it - most of them can handle up to 27 volts - I found it made for more headroom (as I lean in a bit too much on the strings).

You just need the URL of the JPG (the bit inside the [img][/img] tags:

I know Larry Hartke. He's from my part of New Jersey. I remember going out to diner with him once with one of my old Jersey buddies. Daryl

Well, my practice tonight was way better!

I imagine that that is height adjustment foam that has disintegrated.

Ah well. It’s been on the cards for a good while. I haven’t been in the trade for a massive 11 years. But there was always a rumble towards the 2010’s - us or them, etc. I’ve said all of this before - but unless you have a USP, it’s a race to the bottom. Crap margins, massive overheads and having to pay people who knew what they were on about a decent living wage… Fender and Gibson are retailing from their own sites. Pointless really - the days of drooling over Les Paul’s or Precision basses on a Saturday Morning…on the whole…seem to be pretty numbered. We live in a world where the next generation of guitar and bass buyers are buying online and deciding online. Best wishes to all affected. It’s shite when these things happen. I do think Andertons seem to have the podcast come shop approach pretty much nailed on. I notice BD are doing the same type of thing. Normans and Chicago Music Exchange have been doing it well for years in the US. I tried to get my lot (Dawsons) into social media early doors - but in typical fashion, they got someone totally disconnected from the punters to do it…so it flopped… After I left, there were various ham fisted attempts - too little too late

It's a total scrotum singing it and playing it because there's no obvious rhythm to the text. I am slowly getting there though, but I may have to rely on a Music Stand when we do it...

I’m interested to see that pickup in your Bronco. I just bought one from a great old chap from Liverpool who had installed one of these (I think) in it. I’m away tonight but will send a photo tomorrow 👍

Peaches is coming along surprisingly well. It's still a sod with the timing but I'm currently impressed with how well I'm learning it.

Our drummer was ill so she couldn't make it, but the keyboard/singer and I went ahead. Went over most of the existing songs and I realised I should have done more practicing while we've not been rehearsing, and also did a couple of run-throughs of two new songs, one of which he'd written years ago and the other that he'd just written. Both went pretty well, which was nice.

BBC4 are showing Brian Wilson at Glastonbury tonight at 9pm.

I'll be depping with the Spandau Ballet/Duran Duran theatre show 'From Gold To Rio' next Friday night at East Grinstead Chequer Mead Arts Centre

Struck by the number of shorties up on the For Sale section at the moment. Something for all tastes!

Everything sounds great when done reggae style IMO. If the song was great to start with, then it’s happy days. Not sure about the aesthetics of the Dean Dimebag guitar in this setting though.

I always found the staff at PMT Norwich very helpful and honest. Like others have said, they didn’t have a huge amount for experienced bassists: they mostly stocked instruments for teenagers starting their musical journey. It was slightly different for guitarists who were presented with a massive array of electrics (not so much acoustics) but a lot of that tended to be the same limited range of Fenders but in every colour under the sun. However, if you wanted to try something available from their online stock (very comprehensive) they would get it in for you very quickly and there was absolutely no pressure to buy. I did note that the selection of stock changed significantly as a result of Covid. Before lockdown they had a whole room dedicated to acoustic guitars with a good selection of Martins, Taylor’s, etc. They also had a similar stock of basses but after lockdown, the acoustic section dwindled to just a few cheaper brands, ditto the basses. The electronic music section took over a lot of that space, complimented by PA gear: a lot of overpriced Bose gear, etc. I feel very sorry for the staff who have lost their jobs. They were mostly local musicians who needed the work to support their musical endeavours. I doubt the one remaining (private) music store in town has the capacity to give them work.

Young blues hopeful (well not so young now!) Connor Selby and band in New Milton. Featuring @SonnyBass95 on a Lakland Skyline 44-51 via EBS valve head - most tasteful! Catch this lot if you can.

I should probably share the invisible bear story for new members that haven't heard it. Daryl

Bax seems to be back. For places like GAK and PMT with physical shops mostly making their £ selling mass produced new instruments then they can't compete on price with big online only shops for price, so what's their selling point? Even if people want to test the instruments, they can just do that in the shop then buy online elsewhere. And even that isn't really necessary as all online sales can be returned for refund within a month. I don't think they've adapted with the times with internet, return laws, big automated warehouses, cheap delivery. We've seen it with shops like Our Price and HMV going under while shops like Rough Trade have expanded. They do in shop signings/gigs, have cafes, have fairly obscure vinyl and merchandise that can be tricky to get online. Personally I'd try and do similar with an instrument shop - don't compete directly with online shops for shifting mass produced boxes, put some effort in to offer alternatives: In shop demos, talks from musicians and manufacturers, small gigs, product launches, lessons, good part exchange deals, second hand, servicing, in shop experts happy to help, equipment rental, practice spaces, cafe/bar, boutique brands and custom stuff. Incentives like 'buy here and get a free lesson on how to use your new keyboard/set-up your bass/pair your mixer with your Laptop' etc. really make it a 'go to' hub for musicians. I think places like PMT have dropped the ball on this.

Another Wednesday evening at my new residency playing rock and roll dance stuff. Great selection of tunes - some standards plus some deeper cuts from Elvis, Johnny Burnette and Big Joe Turner. I sang a couple of Chuck Berry songs, ( the inevitable Johnny B Goode and Roll over Beethoven), so am looking to expand my repertoire of his stuff to lesser known songs that are still immediate & danceable. Bit of a NAD for me - first time out for a recently acquired Hartke HA3500. Not much time to fiddle with it so pretty much straight in, and it sounded as well as I’d hoped. Only got it as we can leave our gear at the venue, so no heavy lifting required. Using a Fender Rumble has turned me into a right wuss….

That'll be a B-Word consequence, I imagine. One of those oh-so benefitty benefits. 👍

Not great. I loaded the car and headed to the practice place, which is luckily not particularly far. As I drove in their car park was half used for some event, they had a food truck and loads of people sat outside, there was hardly anywhere to park and I was the first there, it was going to be difficult getting the equipment past them. I went to message the guys to say that it looked like it might be an issue and to ask the singer if he had cleared it with the pub owner, then had a sudden though, and looked at my watch. Sadly my watch said Wednesday, which is unfortunate as we practice on thursdays. So I drove home!

I thought it couldn't be as simple as patting your amp and saying 'There's a good amplifier!' LOL