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Well, I'm not entirely sure what happened down at the pawn shop. I popped in to look for a passive footswitch but I now have a new (to me) Squier Active Jazz bass. I shouldn't have picked it up "just to see if it's any good". When I realised it was essentially unplayed and felt super comfortable I knew I was in trouble. After minor tweaks to intonation and action, and swapping the gleaming white pickguard for an old off-white one from the cupboard it is just the ticket. Looking forward to taking this along to a jam soon.

We played a small pub where 3 of us started playing together at the open mic. We were a little concerned that we'd not get anyone there to be honest. The heat, the pub hasn't got an outdoor area or a way of throwing the doors open and getting some air flow, and several bigger events going on. Oh and it was a Friday. However, we had a decent turnout, the crowd were great and we've been asked back. Can't be bad.

Shit journey to Sheffield - 2 hours on the M25 and then 4 on the M1. Great gig though, lovely crowd again, probably the best we’ve played on this tour. The drummer and I were very much enjoying our groove on many of the tunes. As always we are getting well into the groove as a band and the tour is nearly over! Shoes were Soul Cal & Co Converse lo top rip offs. Cheap and comfy and not too hot in this heat 🤓

So I simply HAD to pick a 31 degree Centigrade day to strip the front and back of the bass ... doh! I used the shadiest corner of my workshop yard ... but it was still stifling and VERY acetony! It was so hot the acetone was evaporating and solidifying with the lacquer almost as soon as it was tipped on ... but I persevered. Compared to the woodworking part this is a hard, unpleasant and gruelling grind. Front and back done ... only the sides to do. And stripping the back revealed some past repaired damage down at the end pin block ... it's well enough done to be left alone. I gave the front and back a light hand sand - but I think I will have to get an electric sander onto them to take away the last of the sanding sealer and remove the blotchy look prior to staining. The issue is that I don't have a sander in the workshop (hand is usually good enough for what I do day to day) ... so more tool buying required. How much easier it is to work on a bolt on neck bass ... the way forward I think.

I think you’ve hit on something there, Mick. A lot of players, especially guitarists, seem to have a preconceived idea that the structure of a blues song is always the straight 12 bars, using chords I, IV & V. The memorable songs tend to have variations and subtleties that make them stand-out. Born Under A Bad Sign being a good example. Far too many people, in my experience, have the ‘it’s just the blues, innit?’ mentality.

Great question! Maybe turn that one around - what would make you want to join a band and really commit to it and to work hard at keeping your place in it? It's going to vary for everyone, but I suspect it will include some or all of the following? Regular decently paid gigs (covers band) Love the music that the band is playing / get a say in song choices Talented musicians to work with Fun crew who you enjoy hanging out with Good band atmosphere and minimal drama Feeling valued An opportunity to be creative (maybe more for original bands?) An opportunity to grow and develop as a musician

Wasn’t in a great place when I arrived but Dr Gig helped to pull me out of the pit. Very hot last night with the windows and doors mainly shut, and a lot of people outside in the front garden of a small country pub, so it was a bit quiet but those that were inside were appreciative. All good with the IEM’s and the new better boundary mic I ordered after the old one wasn’t working last week w a marked improvement. Very tight on space and some of the videos look very static and somewhat disengaged from those in the crowd but I think that was to do with lack of space (at least I hope so)

Monogamy is for relationships PolyBandry is fine, just be open about it.

I think changing from the SD to the GZR would be a bit of a sideways move, and not the best use of money in terms of upgrading the overall bass playing experience. The GZR is a superb pickup, but the SD is just as good as the EMG, albeit with a slightly different flavour. My own personal experience has been that changing pickups can be a big upgrade if you have been using a pickup the is genuinely defective or obviously deficient in some way, but swapping one perfectly good high-end pickup for another because of notional sonic differences that you have read about is usually a disappointing waste of money. If someone is getting a custom Fodera I can understand exploring the nuances of choosing the exact right pickup, butI really don't think a Squire Classic Vibe bass warrants spending that amount of money to explore the subtleties of two high quality replacement pickups. If you've got a Seymour Duncan in there that's already a big upgrade. My advice would be experiment with strings and EQ and try and appreciate the character of the sound as it is.

I am in 3 full bands (bass) and 2 duos (guitar in one, bass in other). I learn my stuff and expect others will do likewise; if someone was patently putting in less than me 'with no genuine justifiable reason' I'd be letting them know. Lots of those band members are in other bands but when it comes to gigs, it's dead easy; EVERYONE, regardless of the band they are in, has to honour the gig that goes in first! Regardless of how good the gig is that someone subsequently gets, the first gig in the diary takes precedence.

Nice one! First of all, really take the time to set it up. True the table, get everything nice and perpendicular, watch videos about how to get the blade tension right (extremely tight is not better - it can lead to wandering when trying to cut a straight line), remember to de-tension the blade after every session (and remember to tension before turning it on the next time!) Dust collection is a necessity. As with any power tool; let the tool do the work. Don't push wood through with any force - let the gullets clear to avoid burning the woods and overheating the blade. Watch this video. The bandsaw was invented for butchers to cut through bone. Bear that in mind. A lot of people who've been maimed by a bandsaw got bit when they were pushing the piece through and, just at the end, an unexpected soft spot in the wood meant that the last centimetre or so happened way quicker than they were expecting, and the thumb followed through... Always use a push stick or sacrificial block for that last bit of the cut when the blade is about to pop out. Never cross-cut through a pipe/cylinder (eg. a log) freehand - make a jig. See YouTube. If cutting curves (like a body blank) make sure you have a blade of the right width for the job. Narrow blades are good for tight bends but less reliable for long, straight cuts - and vice versa. Snapping a bandsaw blade is a real change of underwear moment. The one time I did it, I realised in hindsight that I'd been so focused on the curve I was cutting, I lost track of where "straight" was. That is, the imaginary straight line from the front of the bandsaw, through the blade, and out the back. I had been moving the wood (MDF actually) around the table in a way that was twisting the blade. The great thing about the bandsaw, unlike the table saw, is that it's not trying to suck your fingers in or throw wood at you. If you're making a cut and you don't like how it's going, just stop pushing, leave one hand on the workpiece and turn off the saw with the other. It's a great tool, and it looks like you've got a good one. Enjoy!

So for all this, I’m gigging this tomorrow. In my defence it would be more complex if the postman knew how to knock on the neighbours door

I had an old Peavey combo I did that with. I got hold of a plastic milk crate and cut a 90⁰ angle out of it at an appropriate tilted-back angle, and set the combo in it. It was a good solution- it was very stable as it was a one-piece stand, and it lifted the amp up off the stage so it wasn't so well linked to it. You want to tilt it back just enough so its center of gravity is well inside the crate so it doesn't lean back too hard... it worked really well, I found out how really good this old tank sounded! I moved on to something a bit lighter though, of course...

Thanks for that your reply 👍 Well, it's home, very pleased with it and looking forward to the journey ahead. A setup & strings, as mentioned in the above posts are fairly imminent but I'm getting a decent noise out of it, as is.

From my experience, the bigger the band then the bigger the problems. If you’re in say a 6 piece and everyone of them are in other bands, then the chances of everyone being able to make all your gigs are significantly reduced - and then you end up with one of more deps which is hardly ideal. With my recent situation with a touring theatre band it was made clear that depping gigs out was not going to happen, and I did every gig with them that they performed in 15 years. I was fine with that to be honest. I had to turn gigs down with my duo as a result, but as my duo mate was a lot busier than me it wasn’t an issue. Since leaving the band, I’m now in a position for the duo to be my first call, and we’re getting plenty of gigs - we can book them further into the future with confidence, knowing we’ll both be there! I’m reminded of that famous Duke Ellington quote - “ There is nothing to keeping a band together - you simply have to have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is to pay them money! “ 😄

I'm in lots of bands/dep occasionally and the golden rule (as others have said) is: If you've said yes to a gig and it's in your diary, you do it. I've just had to turn down a well paid wedding gig as I'll be up in Manchester (playing for next to nothing - an old mate's originals band) next weekend. This gig was organised months ago, so I'm doing it. If you start ducking out of gigs for better paid ones, people will quickly stop asking you to gig... you're only as good as your word. Use Google calendar and encourage everyone else to - this makes everyone's life a LOT easier and cuts down the potential for oopsies in my experience. As someone above said - if someone in your band is getting offered stuff like IOW festival.... that'd be a different matter. I'd imagine they've made that pretty clear from the outset! And as someone else said - get a few deps on board! As for people turning up to gigs/rehearsals without having practiced... that's just laziness, surely?!

I have a new purchase and this paired with my Triton router means I can start making my own bodies from slabs and blanks. This opens up the world of new woods and shapes…..any tips or advice from old hands with a bandsaw?

I love these threads, guys. Apart from helping me think things through, there’s wisdom everyone can learn from. Keep it coming! Theory: being a blues band, we can attract people who want to do something different from their regular music. But, and I blame blues jams for this, they may think ‘near enough is good enough’ and practice is not as important. Thoughts?

First and foremost I hope this doesn’t discourage you from moving forward with building basses. I’ve been admiring your daphne blue jazz (but I already have two jazzes 😆). It’s bad luck to have a difficult customer experience out the gate. What I get from your post is that you want the customer to have a nice buying experience but then not have buyers remorse! Maybe you offer one free service, to be redeemed within a year, with each instrument (adjusting selling price accordingly)? Or match whatever statutory obligation for returns/refunds is common? There’s a bit of a reassurance there rather than, for the buyer, this sense of slight anxiety that they’re buying something from a builder who, as yet, is “unproven” - despite what they may feel about the instrument in person on the day. Personally I need a bit of time to warm up to an instrument and decide whether it’s for me. I think this echoes the point about selling a service, which may be far removed from your aim to enjoy building basses and cover your costs. If it were me I’d accept the instrument back irrespective of who’s right and wrong in the situation, offer a full refund, chalk it up to experience, and live to fight another day. Path of least resistance and all that, which may well be better for your heart, if not your wallet.

I did it the Eich way, screwing strong magnets under the feet and metal washers on the cab to receive the head, works flawlessly.

While we're on the subject of Hobgoblin, a shout out to their London branch. Took my Albanian cifteli there as I couldn't work out how to restring it. The setup guy went through a bunch of different strings until he found one that would hold the tension. Forty minutes of his time and half a dozen strings. He charged me a not unreasonable £1.80, the cost of the banjo string that finally did the job.

There have been so many (very good) covers of this tune I wouldn't know where to start. But Herb's version is the swinging 60's for me. Incidentally, Herb Alpert starts a short tour tonight....at the age of 90!!

I suspect (with no evidence whatsoever 😁) that as bass players, we might find a moderately high level of consensus as to what constitutes an interesting bassline, whilst disagreeing wildly on the merits of the resulting music. For example, whilst I think that Mark King is a talented and inventive bass player, you couldn't pay me to listen to Level 42 - I'd much rather listen to Dee Dee Ramone go 'dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum'! 😆 Though by horrible misfortune, I did once see Level 42 on two successive nights, and only one of them was because I was getting paid...! But I did get a large collection of discarded and largely unused bass strings at the end of the night, as all his basses were being restrung nightly, and the removed strings, used or otherwise, thrown on the floor of the hall. I didn't have to buy any strings for several years, so thanks Mark 🙂

Today I finished a good mod, fix and fettle job on my Squier Sonic P. It's now sporting a Lollar P pickup, new wiring harness and a set of Dunlop Super Bright steels. I've honestly just been laughing my head off it sounds so good now. So knarley and expressive. Sorry just had to share. I'm smitten!

We joined a new church in January this year - our local Anglican Church (or at least one of them) - and been feeling increasingly at home there. It’s not been since the before pandemic that I’ve played in a service but I’ll be playing bass at the the church for the first time tomorrow, so this should be fun. It’s at the more relaxed evening service. The tone and approach to the music is a bit more mellow than I’ve previously been used to at previous churches, though it’s all the same sort of range of writers… Bethel, Brooke Ligertwood, Elevation, Rend Collective etc. Will be keys/piano leading plus bass, acoustic guitar, drums and vocals. Will be interesting to see how it goes. Very much looking forward to it. I’ll try to report back afterwards!

In theory it should sound very like an Epiphone Embassy played fingerstyle.

In My Cher - Status Quo

Stingebag… 😂

All you have to do is avoid the high st in season. Go north of the Co-Op and it’s always quiet (we’re much closer to Moulin). As to the rain, I have a water butt that says that it really does rain. After the 3 weeks of constant sun, it was bone dry, once the wet returned, it was back to full up in 2 days or less.

Depping gig tonight at a golf club function. Less than a week's notice and one short rehearsal (boo) which was very professional (yaay) but there are songs I haven't done before (boo). Most of the set is familiar (yaay) but some of them have different arrangements (boo). The rest of the band seem cool and laid back (yaay) but they sprung one song on me at the rehearsal (boo). Really looking forward to it and to using backline for the first time in ages. 😀

Makes you work for your money on the night. 😂 I used to play in a "Friends of DP" tribute and we covered any band that was directly linked to DP which allowed us Rainbow, Whitesnake, DP and even Sabbath thru Dio. Loved playing Stargazer, that was one of my all time favs. So much energy and emotion in that song for a bassist. IMO of course. Dave

There has to be a degree of respect, and synchronisation of calendars. Whichever band books the date first, that's it - none of this "my other band got a better offer" BS. I'm in two bands, drummer's in two and a bit, singer's in two - communication is the key. So far there has only been one oopsie, and I sorted it with a gig swap with another band - but made it plain that it was a huge pain in the rear end and don't do it again

Mine too, well thought out bass lines that really add to the songs and are really interesting to play.

Aye aye, min! Also, what @Acebassmusic said.

And I think this is a bit of a cheat as a cover, but it's a marvellous version

Thank you for all the views and comments and this is going to be part of life’s journey of lessons and experiences. I always endeavour to be completely open and transparent with my adverts for anything I sell including any issues etc (Daphne blue one being a fine example) and I always treat people how I or a member of my family would expect to be treated. I am absolutely transparent in my adverts that these basses are my first efforts in bass building and again why I insist on collection so that the buyer meet me and do their due diligence. I do believe that for THIS bass for THIS issue at THIS price point at THIS stage of the dispute, my at least trying to resolve the offending fret is proportionate and fair prior to discussing a refund. From what I can research, as this was a collection on FB Marketplace then it is very much buyer beware if I wanted to be an arse (which I am not). There is a 14 day return from date of sale under Consumer Regulations for businesses for delivered items (this wasn’t) but this is outside that window anyway (again if I wanted to be an arse, I’m not Andertons lol). I have only sold 2 self built basses at this point……one buyer has messaged me numerous times saying what I fantastic bass I had made and how much they love it and then this one with both the build processes being no different in terms of the QC I did prior to sale/collection. It could be that I am doing my own legs for the basses I currently have for sale in this forum by even posting about this topic but quite frankly being open, fair and honest in my dealings with others is more important to me than any potential lost sales and part of this process is to canvass the opinions and views of others as a check and balance. If you can’t honestly reflect on things when they go well or not so well then you can never learn from them. Anyway, I’m make sure it gets resolved.

Agree with this comment. It seems that if they are 'money-driven', more gigs might be the 'carrot', but if they are not really into the music your band plays, or/and if they just can't be bothered to put more effort in (for whatever reason(s)), nothing is likely to change, unless open, honest discussion leads to a solution to a perceived problem on their part, that until now, you are unaware of. Good luck Mike, it might be a case of flogging a dead horse otherwise.

Depends on the angle

I’ve been in bands where it’s been other members only band and they still haven’t practiced between rehearsals. It’s not always about the number of bands that distracts people from preparing and rehearsing, it’s just laziness and poor attitude. It’s your time and money they're wasting Mickey. Maybe you and your guitarist should seek other opportunities with like minded musicians? Good luck.

Phenomenal work Basschat. love to you all! Just chatting with Lee now - I’ll update him x

Just worked out I have seven gigs with three bands in July. 😱

It doesn't matter if they're in other bands, however it does matter if they use this as an excuse not to be prepared when it's time to be in your band. People who think it's ok to waste other's time need to be cut loose, in my experience, even if this means short term pain.

Well for starters we’re instrumental Dave, but we do the below, a few modernish songs in there: AnimalDef Leppard Devils Bleeding CrownVolbeat This CorrosionMaryslim Holy DiverDio Out in the FieldsThin Lizzy Live and Let DieGuns n Roses RunawayBon Jovi It's my lifeBon Jovi Wayward SonKansas Highway StarDeep Purple Tarot WomanRainbow Dazed and ConfusedLed Zepplin It's so easyGuns n Roses The Gates of BabylonVolbeat Next to YouThe Police JailbreakThin Lizzy Hazy Shade of WinterThe Bangles From out of NowhereFaith No More Pump it UpElvis Costello StargazerRainbow Black NiightDeep Purple CarsNine Inch Nails Fool for your lovinWhitesnake

Sorry for late reply , been busy. I recently took the amp off and serviced it. I took an old Halfords bike carrier apart. Cut it to the desired length, swapped the locking mechanism around so it works as a stand. I put some prosecco cork stops in the tubes to protect the carpet. It hold the old school Peavey bass combo, about 31 kg. It's not a pretty stand but the combo conceals it.

Paul Carrack and his band at Scarborough Spa theatre last night. Capacity crowd in this old venue on a balmy evening. Paul was fabulous, and despite having maybe a cold (or hay fever?) his voice was still as amazing as ever. A superb band too, including his son Jack on drums and wonderful bassist Jeremy Meek playing a sunburst Precision with what sounded like flats. We were at the rear of the stalls in front of the sound engineer and apart from maybe being a touch on the quiet side the sound was spot on with the bass sounding exactly like a Precision should. They played all the songs associated with Paul from his long career, including ‘How long’, ’Over my shoulder’ ‘Tempted’ ‘Love will keep us alive’ and the inevitable ‘The living years’, along with some good covers - Springsteen’s ‘If I should fall behind’ being the standout for me. A great evening with one of my favourite singers.

No, shoving a plectrum into the scratchplate like that is bound to stress it around the neck end screw and may break it.

Hobgoblin is more your folk music shop - they do have acoustic basses (4 string, fretless and even a 5 string which they made for me). But they specialise in stuff that other shops don't stock: accordions, thumb pianos, erhu (Chinese violin), Indian lap-harmoniums, fretless banjos, marimba, chambord, bagpipes, and a couple of zebra-hides worth of African drums. If you haven't heard of it, can't play it, and don't need it, Hobgoblin stock it.

As you can see from the photos, it's a reddish brown colour. In photo 2, the sunlight coming through the window was stronger, which seemed to really make the colour brighter. I have mostly switched to Short Scale for gigging bass guitars, but the neck on this is slimmer than my P bass, and its not overly heavy at around 3.5kg. I'll hang on to this unless I come across a lightweight short scale fretless. Really enjoying playing this bass. But I promised Mrs S that I would reduce the collection. Now, someone please buy my P bass. 😀