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Update: We've made excellent progress just lately. The Falls Clinic and the physiotherapists have got Jack standing and sitting well enough to manage the passenger seat of his own car with minor adaptations! We had a trial run out this afternoon. All being well, we should be attending with our own transport. Many thanks to @Andyjr1515 and @Stub Mandrel for their kind offers of a lift. We are optimistic as always but it's reassuring to know that we have options if the rules change on us again suddenly.

And, for the sake of completeness, the third knob:

We as a band have decided not to incorporate any Cyril Smith tunes in our set.

And for even more completeness, I present fleabag, the 4th knob

Kingston town by UB40... I prefer the original by Lord Creator, but it was relatively unknown... There's a heart-warming story about the effect that UB40 had on him... "In 1989, the British group UB40 recorded Kingston Town. There is a story that after this, Eccles saw Creator, who had become homeless and destitute, on a Kingston street. When Eccles called out to him, Creator fled thinking Eccles had come to collect $30 he owed him. Eccles chased him down and told him UB40 had recorded Kingston Town and that Creator had earned substantial royalties. With the money he earned in royalties, Creator revitalized his life and career. He appeared in oldies shows in Jamaica, and even toured Japan." https://www.westburymusic.net/ArtistDetails?Aid=WBM_AR_274

Might make sleeping a bit awkward.

The third knob is in the clamp gluing but I thought I'd take a photo of the other two in place and in better light: By the way, the horizontal line in the walnut is a natural fissue emanating from the knot you can just see round the corner. It's treated and stable. There's still a lot to do, but I've got to the 'still to do' list stage (presently 14 items and falling) which is always a good sign Andy

Depends which 80s basses you're talking about, and also the (sometimes hilarious) disconnect between what some sellers ask for & what people will actually pay. By way of an example, I give you: Fantasy Reality

I got a neck and pre-fretted fingerboard for a 23" Ukelele off the 'bay. Still needs a lot of fettling. Might go with a danish oil finish. The scale length is 17", and I've adapted it (not yet glued in) to suit a body made out of three chunks of inch-thick mahogany from an old table. I've got a piezo ukelele/mandolin bridge pickup but haven't quite decided what it is yet. Tempted to fit (at very low tension) bass strings, dampers and tune it CDGA like a cello. Maybe fit a coil pickup as well. Or silicone strings and bass tuning. Or with lighter strings it could be DGBE for a tenor 4-string guitar, or mandolin tuning GDAE. One thing it won't be is ukelele tuning because it hurts my brain.

This is likely to be the most likely scenario, but I don't know much about the laws of commerce in the UK, nor the costs involved in importing, taxes, fees, agency inspections, distributing, stocking, selling and supporting/servicing the product. I do know that Westside operates a substantial and well qualified service center with some outstanding service engineers, that costs something. From what I have seen, they go out of their way to be helpful to those of you in the UK when service is needed. This is not my area of expertise, I'm "just" an engineer/designer. Please forgive me for this

Neck sanding done and satin lacquer applied. Really pleased how this is looking....just need to get the rest of it finished!! As a little future experiment, I'm going to make another neck for this or the other shortie but with a scale length of somewhere around 30" just to see how a normal short scale feels on a headless bass. I've quite enjoyed building a couple medium/short scale basses and like the way they feel so I'm curious to what a 30" headless would be like. That's the trouble with this building lark, there's always the next bass and always something else to try!!

Could be worse... it might have chaffinched its woodpecker or got pigeon-holed by a great big bustard. It's not a garden out there it's a jungle and we all know... Jungle is massive!

A Rolex knock-off.

Just got my 1972 Telecaster Bass back together after completing renovation. I think the before and after photos speak for themselves? Spot the differences....and just one thing missing! Before: After:

Like that bumper sticker - " i'm not a complete idiot. Some parts are missing "

Right, that’s Ave Maria off the set list.

It has arrived. After a small heart attack of strange noises that I quickly realised was being caused by my wireless but being too close to the preamp I got it plugged in. But first the weight.... 6.58 lb!!!! Astonishingly light. It felt so odd I wondered if it was too light for me, but that feeling passed quick. So far I've had a 20 minute blast at lunchtime through my Helix and studio monitors. Even through the monitors and not my usual BF One10s it is really punchy. Very Marcus Miller. Neck is super smooth, fretwork is very nice. Strings... meh! But I either use D'addario or TI Flats and nothing else. I forgot to order any at the same time as the bass but thanks to Amazon Prime some D'addarios will arrive this evening. I have a rehearsal tomorrow morning so I think I'll jump in the deep end and use it straight away and see what happens. I'll report more after rehearsal

Out for delivery between 12:19 and 14:19 Going to be a long couple of hours!

I have a bit of a beef with the current fashion for trial by media being used in place of, or to pre-empt trial in a court of law. I'm not a fan of MJ, but far as I can see; nothing criminal has yet been satisfactorily proven against him, so I would not let the current media circus persuade me to avoid playing his songs.

Things come, things go. 10 years ago I was routinely trading Wal basses with Clarky. He'd buy one, sell it to me. I'd buy one, sell it to him. Not one of those trades was valued at more than £2000 and some were sharply cheaper than that. The same basses now trade in the £3k - £4.5k range. They're the same basses, and the intervening period has (allegedly) been one of austerity and low inflation. Go figure.

Very insightful... Reminds me of the story about Paul McCartney when he worked with MJ back in the 80s.. Apparently so the story goes, they were working on a song together and Macca was telling MJ about the financial value of music publishing. Next thing Macca knew was that MJ had bought ATV Music Publishing, the publishing company that owned Northern Songs, which itself owned all the rights to the Beatles songs! I don't think Macca was best pleased.. Innate musical talent aside, MJ was a very intelligent person IMO who knew how to operate and make things happen for his benefit in the very grown up and fiercely competitive world of the music business. He had other talents in abundance too, especially in terms of projecting and manipulating a public image and persona that always seemed to allow him to come out smelling of roses That he wouldn't have intuitively or knowingly transferred all of those talents, skills and personal attributes into his achieving what he wanted in his personal life would beggar belief frankly. The jury's not out for me on this one and I certainly wouldn't want to play bass in a band covering any of his music from Off The Wall onwards.

I'd keep the cabs and replace the amp if it were me. A combo is much less flexible. Frank.

Seriously, I doubt two retailers could even agree on where to eat lunch.

Should have gone to Specsavers.....🙄 😄

I thought that, but it’s the fluffy stuff lining the case!

I found some old daddario nickels lying about so I’ve put them on. They feel like 35-95 (for my Les Claypool attempts) and I quite like the lightness on this bass. Big band rehearsal tomorrow morning! Can’t wait.

Virtually all of @Andyjr1515's builds?

I know what you mean - it's not something you think about with double ball end strings but they only come in 34" scale (double ball end strings are so convenient and quick to change). The Nova headpiece clamp is similar to what I've seen on other headless basses using single ball end strings so should be a tried and tested approach. Here's the two head pieces side by side for reference. The Nova is a nice looking piece of work isn't it?!

Yeah. Pile of shite. Would rather pleasure myself with shards of glass.

In early January I bought an almost 10 year old ABM 500. Used it on a gig and it was as good as I remembered. Get to it`s second gig and at soundcheck it started making a very bad noise. I mailed the guys on here and they said send it down. A couple of days later, I got a call to ask if I would be at home on Thursday so TNT could deliver my amp all fixed and ready to go. And all this was done for free! They wouldn`t even take payment for the courier. Ashdown didn`t have any obligation to repair the amp: I bought an old ABM from a shop down south that looked newish but could have been abused to within an inch of it`s life. These things don`t come with logbooks, mores the pity. And DPD didn`t handle it with kid gloves on the way down to Essex either! So a big thanks and thumbs up for Ashdown.

I saw a partial tit in the garden this morning, it was missing its 4th knob.

It's a story, thanks. Also you lot are all still very lovely. Thanks to all.

Here's an insane comparison. My Mono Vertigo gigbag is 6.2 lb empty. This bass is 6.58 lb. The bass is almost as light as the bag!

You may like this Dave

Well an update on the EHX Mono Bass Synth.........tried it for 3-4 hours.....sent it back.......!!!! Now don't get me wrong, it's not at all bad, some tracking issues, but not major at all, all depends what you want from a Synth Pedal, but there's the crux, it just didn't offer me the Sounds n Options I wanted. I get the feeling nearly all Synth, or Synth type pedals are created for crazy expressionist sound scapes, and that's fine for those that want that, I want to emulate many classic 80's Bass Synth sounds, and thus far nothing has achieved that in a single pedal, you'd think manufacturers might actually realise this as going on all the stuff they cram into some of these pedals it's well achievable. The sound(s) I lust, well check out Billy Ocean/When The Going gets Tough, Chaka Khan/I Feel For You, Madonna/Get Into The Groove, to name-check just a few, there's 100's. I know many have said just buy a bass synth keyboard, but I'd rather wait for the ideal pedal (standalone) Looks like it's the Future Imapct after all. Now, anyone looking to try the EHX Bass Mono Synth, don't let me put you off, it's a neat little pedal, has lots of sound options that are useable, I did have the sensitivity all the way up on most settings as I found tracking an issue when I had it anywhere else, it's a good wee unit for the price, as are most EHX, just got a Bass Muff Deluxe real cheap on Ebay, and PMT online are selling off the last of the Bass Metaphors at £40, nearly £100 off the retail price.

I'm building a bass to show my bridge, is it appropriate to create a thread here to show it?

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Thanks to you all, better get an order in quick then 👍

I’ve just lost my eyesight ... that is vile

Better than being a complete tit though. (I've never seen a partial tit now that I think...)

I am all for cats, very pro cat indeed, airborne or in a vice, obv.

But with proper protection you can still go to that gig. I have 27 ones and am uncomfortable going to a gig.

Don't start pulling Michael Jackson. That's what got him into trouble in the first place.

It's very hard to say. It does make me sad, a brother of mine died very young and he loved 'Garold' Glitter's music. I recall being moved seeing Rolf Harris crying while singing (ironically) Two Little Boys on Crackerjack when the audience joined in. One of my steplads was massively into MJ as a teenager, now in his late 30s he's not sure how to feel about the music. 😞 Jimmy Page had a long and well documented relationship with a girl that started when she was 13 or 14. Outside rock, most people accept Wagner was an anti-semite whose music was much used to promote the Nazi's vision of 'Aryan' culture; but it doesn't stop his music being remarkable and widely performed. Churchill was a national hero, but also did some pretty foul things. We should also remember that no-one is perfect; where do you draw the line? Should you play music by someone who once bullied another kid in the school playground or smacked their children? Where do you draw the line? As a society we have to be mature about the difference between the deeds and doer. As things become historical we can enjoy the works but condemn the actions. That said, while things are still more or less contemporary we also have to realise some things might upset some audiences. Some people might get 'offended' by MJ music who just enjoy taking offence, but it might be genuinely quite upsetting to someone who has suffered abuse or be seen as 'flag waving' in support of MJ. I'd tend to err on the side of caution - there's lot's of other music to play while it's at the forefront of everyone's minds. But I wouldn't change radio channels just because Beat It came on.

I'm a signed up nickel DR Sunbeam purist - stainless steel has too much jangle to start with but then loses it dramatically, whereas nickel seems to be more consistent over time. That's my experience. Davo