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Well folks, the bass arrived safe and sound yesterday and it is amazing! Securely and very neatly packed up and as a result completely unscathed. My experience with UPS has been exemplary over the years with this kind of stuff, I'd recommend them to anyone shipping a bass, just make sure and insure it properly too, just in case Anyway, I digress. The bass! I could not be happier with what @Andyjr1515 has done for me. This bass had sat, in various cases, in various accommodation over the past 20 years, completely untouched and unloved. The dream bass of the 16 year old me, had never quite been realised, and although I managed to make something serviceable enough, it never quite hit the mark and got sidelined after a couple of years constant use. I always wished I had added a darker top wood. I always wished I hadn't made it a 36" scale. I always wished I'd not messed up the control cavity and covered it up with a massive piece of tortoise shell scratchplate material. I always wished I hadn't bought that weird Wilkinson bridge, although options were limited back in the mid 90's. I always wished it wasn't so bloody heavy! @Andyjr1515 has righted all those wrongs and I now have the bass I wanted way back when and still want now 😎 He took on what was really a bit of a pig of a job, and fixed everything in his signature creative way, with fantastic communication all the way and at record speed to meet my imposed deadline. The bass plays and sounds amazing, extra props for the neck carve, it's absolutely perfect and works wonderfully with my preferred choice of a flat fingerboard. Interestingly, the bass still sounds much like I remember, only a little fatter in the lows and with a sweeter upper register, much in part to the change in scale length from 36" to 31.5", but the same character is still there which is fantastic. Sadly, I didn't manage to record anything with the bass, as I couldn't really start noodling till my kids were in bed, making filming anything impossible The bass is now packed up and squirrelled away till the 27th, but I'll get some recordings done soon after that, people need to see and hear this bass. I keep going on and on about shorter scale ERBs being just as good as long scale ones when built properly and using a considered string choice, and this bass only helps to reinforce that argument, the low B is fantastic. So, in summary, I would not hesitate to recommend @Andyjr1515 for a mod project, or full build, he's a really great guy and certainly know what he's doing. Thank you Andy! Eude

Motorhead without Eddie Clark and Phil Taylor were never as good imho. The slight tongue in cheek attitude to some of their songs disappeared once they became "louder than everything else"

Caught a trailer for this on BBC4, but can find no info on the internet. Seems to be scheduled for Jan 2019. There are also programmes about drums and guitar. Here's a link to "On drums...Stewart Copeland!" https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2019/02/on-drums-stewart-copeland

Thanks for the great feedback, Ewan. One of my favourite projects Have a happy birthday on 27th!

This is... So... Good 😲

BEST: Squier Classic Vibe Precision. Had been on the lookout for one of these for a while and then this showed up 30 miles away from me. Had to pay pretty much top book for it but it was in A1 condition and I loved it straight away.. WORST: NONE - I've been very choosy this year..

I know several bands that went right down hill after I left.

Well this was unexpected! A tax rebate, a few things going well and a quick trip to Denmark street led me to acquiring a brand new, 3 EQ USA stingray! it's a bass I'd always lusted after, but like so many you see your hero's play it but you don't know if it's going to be practical for yourself. I played a Sterling by Ernie Ball a few years ago and didn't think much of it. This USA Stingray has such a punchy and rounded sound, it's like a recorded and processed bass sound but coming from your fingers. As I said to the guys in the shop you can drive yourself mad looking at a plethora of options online, sometimes you just want to play something and go "yep! That's the one". I played a USA Jazz too and really enjoyed that, but felt the Stingray was better suited to playing live in my covers band which is leaning towards becoming an 80's cover band. So here it is. I also have to say the guys in Wunjo are superb. No pressure sales, gave me a good trade in on my old jazz bass too. Top marks for customer service!

VERSION: Floor TITLE: Basic amp patches DESCRIPTION: Basic Live tones set up IN DETAIL: Here are six patches for the Floor. SVT normal, Mesa 400+ Channel 1, Mesa 400+ Channel 2, Aguilar DB 751, GK 800 and the B15 Portaflex. The 'SW' in the preset name are my initials. These are optimised for my live sound with a Fender Precision. I send XLR to FOH and the 1/4" to a Barefaced FR800 for monitoring. I reduce the XLR output by 16db and use the volume knob to control the 1/4" output only. The sounds through headphones is slightly different. I initially created them using headphones (AKG 702) but then had to tweak for live use. Also in the patch is an IR block directly after each amp block. if you load these in to your Helix the IR is missing but ping me a message and I'll let you have it, or you can just select a cab block of your choice. There are a basic set of effects too. I included the graphic at the end of the chain just in case I needed to make any room adjustments but in the presets they are currently all set to flat. For me, the inclusion of the 3 band compressor at the beginning makes a huge difference as it tames the live sound and reduces boominess. The compressor settings are the same across all patches. The SVT preset has three snapshots too - clean, drive and distortion. Steve SVT SW.hlx Mesa 400+ Ch1 SW.hlx Mesa 400+ Ch2 SW.hlx DB 751 SW.hlx GK 800 SW.hlx Flip Top SW.hlx

That'll be mine then, I will share a few photos once it arrives!

Gotta say Elvis... his first 5 Sun Records singles paved the way for modern bands. Then he went global in 56 and influenced everybody but the Sun recordings were never equalled.

The work @Andyjr1515 has carried out for you @TheGreek went a long way to convince me that Andy was the right man for the job. What to build you next? How about a short(er) scale 6 string like mine? I think Andy enjoyed having one around! As far as the wait goes, I've got far too much going on in the run up, what with prepping for Xmas with 2 kids, one of whom has a birthday just before too. I very much look forward to being selfish on the 27th and spending some time with my present though Eude

Best and only major (i.e. not peripherals) purchase is my new Franz Merak. As it's my only purchase, does that technically make it my worst as well?

Line 6 Helix. It might be expensive, but you'll never need another multi-effects unit again. I run mine in Snapshot mode with one patch per song and then 4 variations on the patch assigned to the lower 4 footswitches. I've not needed more than 4 different sounds per song so far. Anything that the Helix can't do can be patched in via one of the effects loops and turned on and off for each patch/snapshot. There's two instrument level inputs, plus a mic input and with a bit of lateral thinking you can use the effects returns as inputs too (so long as you aren't actually using them for external effects), so there would be no need to even swap cables on when you switch basses. Finally changing the set order is done by drag and drop using the computer editor in under a minute.

I don't think Big Country ever got near the masterpiece of their first album The Crossing. I think they struggled to try and be mainstream

A bit of a Greek saga already - but what else would you expect from me?? Some time ago I bought this from eBay: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/330153-heavily-customised-nanyo-bass/ For "heavily customised" read "butchered". Seller, in the Manchester area, was adamant (not the Adam Ant, obviously) he would not courier so I contacted BCer, and all round good guy, @AndyTravis to assist in the purchase and he, kindly, took possession on my behalf and held it while I tried to negotiate a new (originally planned a concave semi hollow) body with an extremely busy @Andyjr1515. Unfortunately Eude's beautiful 6er and "another Swift Lite bass" builds meant that any start would have to be delayed till the New Year. However before he could make a start another body became available from @Chimike. Basically an empty Nanyo body which had the the front and back planed off. Mike, being the top fella that he is, refused to take anything in payment and I became the owner a couple of weeks ago. In that time I managed to acquire a sheet of Rosewood veneer from eBay: In trying to remove the remaining paint from the body from @Chimike I discovered it is immune to paint stripper and put up a fight when I used the heat gun. Paint now removed but in doing so I created a couple of cracks by drying out the body in the process. Pics to follow tomorrow. Click forward to this morning when the first "heavily customised" bass arrived from Mr Travis. You know what they say.. "Forewarned is forearmed" so I set about removing the (indestructible) paint from the neck using heat gun, Stanley blade scraper and a bit more care. Considering the "customisation" of the body, the neck was in surprisingly good condition. Again pics to follow. I didn't appreciate that the quality of wood used on the SGC necks - now sanded and with a wipe-over with some Orange Oil. I'll eventually be using the same finish as @Andyjr1515 uses on most of his builds - after raiding some of his previous build threads for advice - before installing the standard SGC Gotoh machine heads. Next move is to repair the splits - need to borrow some sash clamps (in reality, will probably call in a favour from a friend) - before preparing the body for the veneer. Whilst awaiting the repaired body I'll need to salvage the electronics from the original body ready to transfer to the replacement. So the first chapter of this saga is well on it's way....more to follow. Thanks to @AndyTravis, @Chimike and @Andyjr1515 for their roles in the saga so far..

Having been messing about on my acoustic guitar for a few weeks, I picked one my basses up last night and you know what I actually enjoyed playing for me and playing stuff I enjoy it was great with a drum machine and lot of different effects

Kylie Minogue - without Jason she lacks that special something.

If you're into Sharay this is his current gig... very tasty! https://youtu.be/EsCZUqiYRRo

Because, for a joke - somebody once told John Hall that it was Fender' interlectual property. 😁 *any spelling errors in this post are deliberate, for comedic effect.

Whilst not actually a crap first album as such, for my money It Bites' debut 'The Big Lad In The Windmill' is not a patch on their masterpiece second album 'Once Around The World'. This for me was their finest hour by a long, long way. 'Eat Me In St Louis' was hmmm okay, and nothing they've done since Dunnery left has been as good either, despite the presence of the godlike John Mitchell at the front. Some of Frank Dunnery's solo stuff has been okay, but I find it hard to listen to since he turned into a complete prick on Farcebook.

Biffy Clyro.

I was trying to find a link for this too so I could post on here but couldn't find one. I saw the same trailer but BBC are not exactly going overboard in promoting it. Looks like a good series so will be watching all of them

I'd sneak in original line up Roxy Music with Brian Eno - yes they hit the big time with that line up, but were even bigger later on playing (what was for me) pretty dull AOR without Eno's originality and quirkiness

Hey @eude Nothing in your last post that surprised me...I'm one of Andy's biggest fans and have absolute faith in the quality of his work. The only issue I have is what to get him to build for me next!! 🤔 🤔 Enjoy the bass...not sure that I could wait till your birthday on the 27th though.

An oldie but this is my go to inspiration vid.....I love everything about it. The lads in the background hanging on every fill he does are brilliant. Brilliant stuff

I bought one of the bridges a few years back for £65 and sold it on with my last Rick - They're £150+ now 😳 I also have one of the tube ampology bezels but will be removing it in the next couple of days if you're still looking for one After a couple of months of ownership I realised that I don't need the neck pickup so have the pickup selector set to bridge only. I also changed the tuners for a set of ultralites which was terrifying as I had to increase the holes slightly. I have Fender flats on mine and love it. I also use a Behringer BDI21 with my one. £17 on amazon At first when I got it I thought I had made a terrible and costly mistake but after the few gigs getting used to the shape, adjusting the strap etc I've found myself using it more than my Musicman. I really love playing it and the sound. I was never going for the Geddy Lee / Chris Squire chainsaw/grindy/overdriven sound. I just wanted a Rick and it does sound really good

Loud enough to drown out The XFactor in every house in a 5 mile radius from the gig is an acceptable level I feel.

The bass is now in final assembly!! It will be ready for me on Christmas Eve!! I'm away then and not back till Boxing Day!!🙄 All going to plan then I'll be making the hour drive down to Moffatt on the 28th to pick this beauty up from ACG HQ. Better polish up my fretless chops!

I do like the last three Opeth albums, but much prefer the old sound, basically, I wish Akerfeldt would go back to listening to Morbid Angel as much as he listens to Camel

Therapy, amazing first (mini) albums Baby Teeth and pleasure death, first full album was stunner, then sign to a different label, go mainstream, drummer gets peed off at new direction and leaves and downhill from there. Glad I saw them five times while they were brilliant.

Seth Lakeman- released a couple of fantastic of folk albums, them got signed to Sony and disappeared up his own derrière. To be fare, I think it was a case of Sony trying to turn Seth into the next Mumford and Sons. Robbie

Queen have been a bit pants since their original singer and bass player left. S.P.

The Who spring to mind. There was always something special about the Moon/ Entwistle pairing, at least to my ears.

Simple Minds from 1979 to 1983 were phenomenally creative. Less so when they got big. Their early years were mighty in so many ways.

Thank god SB left Pink Floyd, otherwise we would never have had Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, two brilliant pieces of work.

I'm currently using D'Addario strings on my basses (and when I can afford them, DR Hi-Beams) but was wondering what Rotosound strings are like now? I haven't used them in years (read decades). I went from using them, to Ernie Ball Slinkys, to Bass Centre Elites and then onto D'Addario and DRs. As we approach leaving the EU I'd like to support a British firm and am contemplating using Rotosounds. Anyone use them regularly? Are they as inconsistent as they were back in the 80s? Do they still eat frets as everyone kept on telling me back then?

Earlier this year an immaculate sandberg TM4 in blueburst which i unfortunately was forced to sell - i later got a US deluxe J which i have gigged once and has stayed in its case for the last six months apart from gojng to a local luthier to have a few issues fixed which it should never have left the factory with - was so peed off with it i got a nice vmP from davesprocketflup on here and its bloody marvellous and is now my main gig bass

probably just down to my personal taste but I’d say Maroon 5 and Incubus.

Vienna - heard Midge do this acoustically to good effect.

I saw Genesis at Eel Pie Island, Twickenham, playing mostly acoustic guitars, with (I think...) Phil Collins on drums. Well before it all 'took off'; they were excellent. I saw them several times, later, with the Gabriel theatrics 'n all, too; stunning stuff. Can't say for the post-Gabriel shows, but no regrets for having missed 'em. And 'Yes, the early Floyd shows were ace, with their oil-wheel light shows..!'.

Here's my twin Stingrays....and my real twins 😍 They're my babies, all four of them.