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Step one: find a job you love Step two: become very, very good at it, to the point where you're successful, financially worry-free and world-famous Step three: sack it all off and live the quiet life. Sounds bloody marvelous to me. I don't know about you folks, but between Deacon, Taylor and May, I don't think that John is the crazy one here.

Or just teach your cat to sh!t in your neighbour's flower beds, like mine. Although in truth there wasn't much tuition involved. After he'd watched me demonstrate a couple of times he'd pretty much got the hang of it.

I saw the headline in my suggested content, saw that it was a Daily Mail article, ignored it. Hateful publication.

A picture of John in today's Daily Mail. Please leave the guy alone. I would kill for an hour with him to talk basses etc but he has no desire to delve into any aspect of his past and he deserves that privacy. Much less the fairly mocking tone of the opening lines.

Two weeks ago I was swimming in the Med, now my fingers hurt with the cold I forgot, the Lull pickup arrived while we were away so I got the pocket for that sorted, I thought I might need a slightly thicker riser under the chrome trim as the bridge is quite high but it looks like the one that came with it will be fine which saves some work. I did string the Maple one yesterday just to make sure, I was amazed how much flex there is in that neck even with the carbon rods. I was pleased with that as I was worried it might be too stiff with them but it has worked out better than I dared hope, I think the ultra thin neck will be amazing now (if you like thin necks). So I got the triplets out of the press and pulled off the masking tape, trimmed the edges quickly with a sander. I've brought them in the house overnight as it is getting too cold for them out there (poor things! Some pictures to try and show the final contouring of the backs Excuse the toaster!

Now I have to visit the Daily Moron website to view the article. Must remember to clear my browser history afterwards. If anyone looks I don't want them seeing that there amongst my other perfectly acceptable foot fetish and midget porn websites. Could you imagine the embarrassment?

As with @eude 's project, family commitments will halt progress on this for a few days but did get to finish off the rear carve. This is how it's looking: The top will be curved broadly parallel to this shape. I'll leave the neck until later because that will change from concave to convex as it approaches the heel. I'm hoping that my 'S' grain for the two wings and differing grain patterns works once the contrasting control chamber cover is there. It's something you can't do on the neck because you can get differential movement of the wood but, structurally, the wings will be fine. We'll see if I'm right or not about the visuals once the whole thing is finished

A chance photo of John Deacon used to trawl back over already known info, it’s pretty poor journalism...and I use that word loosely. I’ve got a lot of respect for John Deacon, he’s done the right thing IMO when it comes to Queen. Queen was the four of them, it doesn’t work without either of them. Taylor and May should have had some self respect, and respect for the band’s name, and known when to stop with Queen. The current incarnation is awful. And Roger Taylor needs a dictionary, sociopath? He sounds like he holds a grudge tbh that John won’t join in killing the band

Typical no news article, the quotes probably aren’t even true. Can’t blame him wanting nothing to do with Queen these days. Their forays with new singers and now this terrible film. Wrote some iconic bass lines, made huge money, happy family, golf everyday, no TV work or touring to worry about. He’s living the dream.

Got a pic of some Australian lacewood. It's my vintage Overwater Deluxe ll. It's the outside wings

Not that many Basschatter's move any of their instruments on that often 🙄, but on the rare occasion a new For Sale thread appears, the question of weight rears it's ugly head with alarming regularity. I have just purchased this for £7.59 through Amazon (along with at least £12.41 worth of other assorted ephemera in order to qualify for free shipping ) and it is rather spiffing - and accurate. It does ounces, grams, pounds and kilos and has a nice soft noose for hanging a bass from the headstock. Just thought I would share. Here is the product link.

Let's not forget the Daily Mail running paedophiliac 'look at her all grown up' articles too. I can't see how that is anything like acceptable? Shitrag is too kind.

I don’t think there’s any issue, any post about a given product will always draw comparisons with other products, very very normal. Si

I completely agree with the comments above - I've only bought 3 out of the 6 or 7 Ricks I've owned brand new and 2 of them had finish issues. Personally I think that the main reason is that the finish they use takes a while to dry properly and given the backlog of orders that RIC have for these, they just can't keep them long enough for it to set properly before sending them out and so issues are going to arise. Well, the good news is that I did get a replacement which was perfect. I also swapped the surround with the thumb rest for one without and much prefer it. The pickup on this one isn't as wonky and, again, the setup out of the case was perfect. I did have to open up the nut a little on the D string to accommodate the D'addario EXL165s (original string being a 55 and this one was a 65) but I was careful and used an old string to gently rub the nut enough (ooer missus) to open the slot so that the string sat in the channel properly. I will be gigging this for the first time tonight at a corporate gig in Edinburgh and it will also be the first gig for my Behringer BDI21. I'll try to get some pics tonight at the gig

Agreed. I'd struggle to play most of my favourite basslines on that thing.

Thanks Paul, didn`t think of on-line, doh. Just read it and far from a character assassination I think it portrays him as a fairly ordinary, genuine man, who was in one of the best/biggest bands in the world, and a man who was devastated by the death of a mate. Also seems pretty grounded and down to earth, which must have been rather hard to keep a grip of, being in Queen, the most flamboyant, over the top band ever.

Absolutely. As for the DM just don’t buy it, truly dreadful newspaper.

I have something similar. My main issue with the bathroom scales method was the constant reminders of how much I weigh.

Do not ever think you're alone Andy. Some of us have been where you are at this moment - and although you might not feel there's ever an end in sight - there will come a time, when you'll come back better.. for a rest. Music was and still is my first love. I stopped playing, being in groups and gigging (for about 10-years), because it was the right thing to do. I was fed up and started a new chapter (husbandry, fatherhood, promotion at work - and even more work..) I started up again in 2012, joined Basschat, and began writing my own stuff - which I'd never done before, and recorded an 'EP' - and learnt a ton of new things - still learning, growing and sharing the experience. This >> "My Jazz Bass would take the six of us to Portugal for a Fortnight, probably". Nope - don't even think about it. Please keep the Bass - you'll thank me for it later.. However, if there's any gear that you haven't used in the last 12-18 months, no harm in thinking about moving it on. A compact set up is how it's going these days. Good luck, and stay in touch here on the forum Andy. Best wishes, Simon.

No. No, you wouldn't. And do you know why? Because thanks to the unelected faceless bureaucratic dictatorial unelected quasi-fascist bullying faceless unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, you can't buy a GALLON of petrol. You can only buy it in euros now. And even if you could, the unelected faceless bureaucratic dictatorial unelected quasi-fascist bullying faceless unelected Health & Safety bureaucrats won't let us burn ourselves even if we want to. The sooner we are free of the EU's unelected faceless eurocratic dictatorial (cont'd p.94 of tomorrow's Daily Express, and every other day in fact)

Rock hopping a little bit on this. Carbon rods and truss rod are on order and I've got a few days of family commitment coming up (I know.... ) so thought I'd just start a fill in job - working out the best way to carve the body. Although I have one of these: ...I'm not letting that anywhere near the body. Too possible to wreck it! But the katalox is tough stuff and the ash is, well, ash. I tried a concave spokeshave, scrapers, micro-planes, Shinto rasp and sanding. And concluded that it needed all of those! Full curve not yet achieved but I think that combination is probably the way based on how it's going so far: So no more progress likely until well into next week but then I have a fairly clear stretch

Further from the seller (after pointing him in the direction of this thread): Hi, Thanks for that. Not sure I'm any the wiser but to be on the safe side I've ended the listing, and the SQ series Squier neck listing as well. As I say, I'm more interested in clearing out my studio than making a few hundred quid if it means destroying my feedback score! Best regards, Rog All part of the service, Rog...TBH though I question his sincerity in his "Thanks" and "Best Regards".

My bro and I were discussing Queen this week and how John Deacon (who was apparently born a couple of streets away from where I live) has completely retired from the public eye, probably quite content to enjoy his old age with zillions of pounds and relative anonymity. Fair play to him. He's done his bit. I won't be visiting the Daily Mail website tho. As the awesome joke goes: "I used a copy of the Daily Mail to kill a fly yesterday. I read the first three pages out loud and it shot itself."

If I ever happened to read the Daily Mail - even if by accident and only for a few seconds - I'd be so ashamed I'd literally have to apologise in writing to everyone I know. Then I'd go into town and buy a box of matches and a gallon of petrol and set myself on fire. The Daily Mail supported Hitler, you know.

From the seller: Could you tell me what problem you've identified with the bass? Obviously I'd like to get as much as possible for it but with a score of nearly 600 at 100% I don't want to risk anything. My main objective is to clear the 40-odd items in my studio now that I don't play anymore. I don't have the skills or the equipment to put a guitar or bass together but I could dismantle one, and I can get to my start price by selling the parts separately, which I would be committing myself to doing once I take it apart. Before I go down that route I'd like to know what I'm looking for! Best regards, Rog

My ex used to read it avidly - one of the (many) reasons she's 'ex' ................. 😎

He plays in those old lead diving boots.

Last night's gig. Hmmm, going to sub title this post as "How to make an emergency snare drum" First two things you need are an idiot french drummer who's left his on the kitchen table and then driven 120 kms to a gig thus, removing the possibility of going back for it. Secondly, you need British resolve. Next, remove his 14" tom whilst he's sitting outside telling everyone we can't play tonight and tighten to nearly breaking point. Look in boot of your car for anything handy. Somehow find a bathroom plug on 2ft of chain. Secure on edge of floating drum rim, drape across top head and fix with Gaffa tape on other side. Voila, one not too clever sounding but very funky gig-able makeshift snare. We were still playing at 2.30 this morning. Went down a treat. We'll see what he forgets at tonight's gig😂

I blame that picture of Blue holding that lovely, red Gibson... I picked up a slightly tatty, but generally intact semi-acoustic bass - an Eros Mark II - with a view to replacing pretty much everything except the body and neck. "All the hardware will terrible and made of either tin or cheese and the intonation will be so bad, it'll be unplayable beyond the second fret", thought I. Well, that's not the case. Once I'd scraped off the filth and given it a very quick set up, it seemed to play quite nicely. Pots were very scratchy and it had the weirdest fret buzz I had ever heard - a sort of fretless "mwah" noise, but just on three frets of the "D" string. A turn of the bridge height screw and bobs-yer-proverbial. A quick squirt of switch cleaner, followed by the dreary task of putting the thing back together (seriously... trying to put the pots back into a semi-acoustic is like trying to perform gynaecology through a letterbox) and it sounds way better than it has a right to. The action is medium low, there's no mains hum and the tone controls actually make a difference to the sound. Who'd have thought it? It took quite a bit of cleaning and there were some nasty, but shallow scratches to deal with. Out came the rubbing compound and some elbow grease and it looks the business. Well, I think so. Has anyone else had any experience with one of these? I've seen a few Eros basses, but they always seem to be generic Fender copies. The only info I could find online, was from a 1975 Rosetti catalogue, where I found out they were a bargain at £65.

1 of 100 is worth £40,000? my custom shop is 1 of 1. must be worth £4m then. excellent.

The online version is a mixture of stories from the print version, liberally interspersed with clickbait, much of it lifted directly from other websites such as Reddit or Bored Panda and even other online newspapers. The John Deacon article is classic 'clickbait', there's nothing new or newsworthy in the article, it's just a headline designed to attract traffic to the site from people searching online for info on the new Queen film.

Likewise. I completely forgot to try out the Roscoe Beck V, despite saying I would earlier in the day (possibly sensory overload, but more likely a senior moment). I had a watch of the videos and I think they convey a pretty accurate aural account of what we heard in the hall (don't you just hate it when you hear your own voice?). Top work Silvia (as always), thank you for making the effort to take the pics and record the videos.

I don't really understand why someone would want that.

Not read it, and won`t. Nothing to do with the hysterical hate the mail ethos, it`s just that I don`t buy the paper, and no-one at work today has a copy either. I`m pretty much in agreement that JD from the tv show last night seemed the most grounded, and from what I understand his reasons for slipping away from the public eye seem to be pretty sensible to me.

First of all it's the Daily Fail. I wouldn't wipe my @rse on that disgusting rag. Secondly, you have to feel for the guy. To try and reclaim some sort of normal life after being in a band reaching that level of fame has to be a nightmare. I can't say I blame the guy for shutting himself off from the world. I do the same wherever possible, and I don't even get recognised by my own Mum half the time.

I've been lurking and reading some of the interesting threads on basschat for a while now, so I feel it's time to introduce myself to you fine people. Firstly, I apologize for the unimaginative screen name / username. I could say it's actually my real name, and that '4000' is a common surname around these parts - but that would be untrue on both counts... so predictably, yes I've named myself after my bass. A mono Model 4000 (made in 1973 IIRC), in black, that I bought when it was already in in a well battered (yet playable) 2nd hand state, about 30 years ago. And I haven't really thought to buy another bass since (except a cheap Fender acoustic bass, but that doesn't count). Now, however, after all these years, I'm quite interested in choosing a Jazz (or Jazz copy) - perhaps as a nice little project to work on / upgrade / find my soldering iron in the garage. And also I'd like to buy another bass for my son (who is a lefty player)... I've been dipping in the "Reviews" section a bit, and have already stumbled on a few good ideas to follow, that I wouldn't have had a clue about on my own. So in closing, thank you for accepting my application to a great forum. I like the mix / balance you have, of older & younger players, gigging players, pros, amateurs, & those that just play at home. I do think I'll fit in well here - if you'll have me? My only (possible) fault is that I do have a habit of trying to be funny at times. ATB to you all - Phil

Looks nice, but I'm mostly enjoying the word "microtubules".

Honestly I’ve tried, she refused to go anywhere near it. She’s extremely fussy what she poos or wees on.

Speakers don't deliver watts, and Hoffman's Iron Law is immutable. That doesn't necessarily mean it's not a decent enough piece of kit, but I'd have to see some real data before making any assumptions about how well it compares to the competition.

And me - i hate this time of year. I'm a sunhine child

AWB Vibe over Steely Dan...

Great blog, Silvia Thanks for all the hard work.

She's beautiful. Very intelligent and just the right amount of naughty. Here she is with her fave 'big ted'

Just took delivery of this bass £149 free p&p from 19MUSIC.CO.UK I've always wanted a Warwick Corvette but can't afford one so when I saw this I just had to buy it and I'm glad I did!! Here's the specs: Build quality: the build quality is great lovely natural Ash body, feels like your playing a much more expensive bass Finish: The Satin finish is flawless and the finish on the neck feels really nice Playability: Straight out of the box the setup was very good, the action is nice and low. The fret ends are really smooth and only a slight buzz from the low E which a small adjustment to the saddle sorted it right out Sound: I haven't had chance to play it through an amp yet as the kids were in bed so i'll have to edit this review when I play it properly Conclusion: I absolutely love this bass the build quality, finish etc is exceptional for the price. It has instantly become my go to bass!! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a budget bass 😀

Welcome from another newbie. Great area you live in, my Father was born there and my family ran a business in Monnow St for generations.

'Quarter-sawn' refers to the way the original tree-trunk was cut, best illustrated with pictures... Wikipedia ... The resulting wood behaves differently from a warp point of view. Quarter-sawn would normally have less warping or twisting tendencies, in general. Hope this helps.

I don't mind most covers, but what I really dislike is the recent trend for adverts using dour cover versions by "quirky" female singers accompanied by melancholy piano. Usually they destroy a classic song, be it rock, dance, punk: the original genre is irrelevant. I'm looking at you Lloyds Bank especially, but perfume ads are guilty too. May they burn in whatever final destination for naughty people your chosen religion prescribes