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Had my audition. The guy who was doing mine was lovely, but of course as soon as he started recording my performance piece I went into panic mode and started sweating all over lol. Apparently there was a bit of lag but he said he could tell that what I was playing was right from my hand positions as he knew the track well honestly himself. In the end he only got need to do the one piece and didn't ask me to do a separate piece to show groove, timing etc as said he was really happy with what I played and that I did really well. Long story short, I got in! Looks like the next couple of years are going to be a fast track to bass awesomeness

Oh, go on then. In 2004, Mrs. WoT & I hit San Francisco as part of our honeymoon adventure (God, the days before kids when we had a few quid...). I was browsing The guestbook on the Band's website (big fan that I was / am) and spotted a post from someone to say that Garth and Maud (Mrs. Hudson) were playing that night in Boz Skaggs' club in the Theatre district. I posted a 'We're going!' comment, and thought nowt else about it. We got in the car and muddled our way across, and parked outside on what seemed to be an otherwise empty, quiet street. There were no posters outside, nothing. We ventured in and checked with the bar staff, who confirmed we had the right place and time. Medium sized venue with a stage, probably feel great with a couple of hundred people in there. The seating was cabaret style, so we took a seat at the front and waited for the hordes to arrive. ...which didn't happen. There was probably about 30 people in there by the time Garth, Maude and the guitarist and bass player arrived on stage. We were treated to a couple of hours of jazz / blues musical brilliance. Maude sang like an angel, and Garth spread himself out over his keyboard, accordion and sax head-down and hands sprawling, exactly like you'd imagine. They played stuff from his album of the time, some standards, some Band stuff, and it was incredible. At the end of the show, we were getting ready to leave when someone (I think the guitarist or bass player, but I can't quite remember) came over and said 'Are you the couple from England? Stick around for a bit 'cos Garth wants to say hello'. 😮 So we did. Once the 25-odd other people left, Garth and Maud came out and we sat at a table with them and another couple who lived nearby. Just the six of us, for probably an hour or two, listening to these AMAZING stories about his life on the road with The Band and Dylan. They were absolutely mesmerising, and then he came out with the first accordion joke: 'What's the definition of a gentleman? Someone who can play the accordion but chooses not to.". And that's when the accordion jokes began. I laughed. Then pinched myself. Then laughed. Then pinched myself. etc. Unreal, man.

My new limited edition classic 1of 10

I’ve been lusting after this burgundy mist Sei from the first time I saw it about 3 years ago. Finally got round to purchasing it and couldn’t be happier. Almost perfect spec for me 33.5” scale, a P that sounds great solo’d or mixed with the bridge humbucker (which can also be really snarly solo’d), sounds just fine in passive mode, super slim striped maple neck, lovely fingerboard, very low action, through neck with beautifully carved neck to body alignment, bound body, back-angled headstock and even has nice subtle white LEDs on the top of the neck. Sits beautifully on the wall next to my other Sei too 😉

Frets filed flush to the board, none of them had moved or tried to wriggle free so that's nice! Just waiting for some inlay material to arrive before doing the fret inlays then I can glue the board on! made a start on the nut and got the inserts installed, grub screws fit and raise the bridge up well, won't notch it until the strings are ready to go on and I'm setting all my heights. It's the same wood piece as the fingerboard so I assume they're happy being back together! And this handsome chap is my dog who is busy telling me I shouldn't be in the garage on such a nice day!

And I’m quite pleased. I work away from home so treated myself to something for my other flat. I already have an ELF and love it with my Markbass traveler. So I got another along with a Trace Elliot 2x8. Next to the Mark bass it sounds and feels like an executive toy; crisp, crystal clear and, while it lacks the earth shaking characteristics of the Markbass, the volume and lower frequencies are impressive but it wouldn’t be my first choice up against a large drum kit. Looks good though! And the two work together well though the traveler does drown the 2x8 a little.

I have been running a thread on this in the DIY lounge but wanted to show more people so that Ceri who did it can get the applause he deserves. https://www.facebook.com/rendallsrestorations . He has done stellar work. Andy and Jabba also played their parts and I am grateful to everyone )

I don’t know what car my bass is, but I’d venture that slap is the hand-brake turn of driving.

I'll bring my clarinet 🤣

I Want You Bach - Jackson 5

Given all my basses are Alphers made by great guys in Yorkshire, I guess it would have to be a Ginetta.

Reminds me of the first tour I ever did. Got in the back of the van, all chatting/laughing/looking forward to the gig. Pulled up, driver opened the door and we got out. I noticed a shop that said Barnsley Newsagents and enquired, isn`t the first gig in Bradford? Back in the van then.......

Just embrace it! The space is one of the characteristics of a 3 piece and isn't necessarily a negative! Nice bit of dynamics and actually it sometimes helps the tightness of bass and drums punch through which in itself adds a new layer to the sound! Especially in pubs where the sound isn't necessarily great!

I believe he’s staying in a posh tent with other astrophotographers.

Finally have a door and a window installed. The door is a composite door with added security locks. Quite hefty with some soundproofing. Electrician came round yesterday routed the wiring which will allow me to do the roof and wall insulation too. I also started painting the studio. Word of advice, if you're going to be paint porous blockwork with a paintbrush, don't bother. Much better to invest in a spray gun which can get into all the pores of the block work. Wish I'd have known this earlier. It would have saved a lot of graft.

Remember, you are also auditioning them. They want your money, so don't be afraid about questioning them as to why they should be the ones to get it.

Been a while since I’ve done “bb on the stairs” - think the last time was the 714bs… wonder where that ended up…

And finally finished. I had a hairy moment after installing the EMG wiring harness where the bridge pickup was dead but after a bit of trial and error I realised I'd forgotten to connect the wires at the back of the pickup itself. I also managed to completely strip the four pickup screws on the bridge pickup by using the wrong sized screwdriver but being too eager (lazy) to retrieve the right one, so I need to order some more replacements. Other than that and for once, one of my builds has turned out better than I anticipated and pretty-much problem free.

Oh yes, we will. That was part of the annoyance really. If this had happened before lockdown, or during lockdown, we wouldn't have spent all that time practicing these songs we would never do, we could have been doing other stuff (to be fair, we should have done other stuff). Those feelings must have been present then. So yes, we will do another group, just feel like we have wasted a lot of time.

THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The finest bass sound I've heard. The bass sound at 1.26 particularly

We have decided its digital

Open to any 'heavy' music...right up to the point where the vocalist sounds like they're clearing a fur ball from their throat, retching, sounding like they're almost about to vomit, clearing mucus from the throat or any other similar noises.

It is indeed! Well, the slatwalls are in my study anyway It was all part of a plan to run the business from the study (it’s a soundproofed, brick built, building with dedicated power supply, heating, 500mbps internet etc). Vic was going to run it as a demo unit 3-4 days a week or by appointment and I’d manage the web site and finances. Unfortunately the loss of our Victor in the run-up to establishing it really knocked me back and I’ve not had the enthusiasm to reboot it. Was about to get going last autumn but got offered a freelance consultancy project on a 12 month contract just 10 days after ‘restoration’ stuff started. The consulting gig pays about the same in a week as I could earn from Bassgear in a month - in fact, it’s actually more like more in 2 days vs what little we used to take out of the business. About 6 of the basses are BG owned plus a small selection of, never used, MarkBass amps, some ATS and a few boxes of strings 🤦‍♂️ Maybe I’ll start by selling some ex-BG stuff before the private ones. Will see how much time I have spare. Just in the process of putting a 2nd band together so that’ll get ‘in the way’ a bit 😂

We just hate being those what-did-we-tell-ya guys, but ... 😉 Congrats! You'll have a great time, I'm sure.

This is the latest version of my bass rig.

(... and the audition will go just fine. Tell us all about it when you've sobered up from the dual celebrations. )

Decided on an angled headstock - the neck blank isn't thick enough to cut the angle out of it, plus as I'm working without a bandsaw it could have been tricky. So spent pretty much the entire day in the garden measuring, cutting, flattening and gluing a scarf joint for the angled headstock.

I love Joe Lallys tone in general, the argument is the album that really flicks my switch.

From all the 'Blah Blah' above, I've just treated myself to some HD206's for a whoppin' £15 from the 'bay of dreams... Gonna pass them to my Wife so the kids can give them back to me for Fathers Day... that way i'll get something i actually want, as well as the usual Toblerone, Fruit 'n Nut or Old Jamaica. Mainly to use with the Zoom B1on, the Sennheiser's have a 3m long lead so pleanty long enough to run down ya back and out the way plus over-ear cups for hopefully better sound isolation and comfort... should be a bit better than my current Sony ZX300 headphones which have a shortish lead and more on-ear cup but handy folding design to stick in a bag, fine for use with my little Sony MP3 player... but they keep getting snagged on the bass neck, strap button or fall against the strings when ya move ya head.

Congratulations - sounds like me going to interview with my portfolio of images a couple of years ago for my photography course (I'm over 60 and currently a full-time student...). I'm sure you'll have a really good time.

If you are in the dark for six hours while your gear does all the interesting stuff on its own with minimal intervention, it's much more enjoyable with a mate to chat to. When imaging at home I spend most of the time on forums or what'sapp. Plus, a star party is essentially the same as a bass bash - a chance to share your interest with like-minded folks face to face.

I can see how you get there, some of their studio stuff is pretty average. But some of their stuff is extraordinary, and live they were something else (never saw them, speaking about their live recordings). There is an extraordinary joy and passion for life in a lot of their songs, and especially in their performances of those songs live, despite that fact that at first impression, the songs themselves can appear quite MOTR.

I always felt they missed out the most important descriptive bits out of their name... It should probably have been "The very middle of the road and rather dull Band unless you're a fan of 70s Americana and blokes who no doubt now wear double denim"

It’s que, not keh, and it’s THE Band.

Trial and error, trying to get rid of dead notes on many basses over many years. Physics, resonant systems, oscillators, damping. Think of a pendulum you're holding in your hand (a weight on a string). If you don't move your hand while the pendulum swings, it will take a while before it comes to a stop. That's like a string vibrating on a stiff, non-moving neck. Now, if you move your hand with the pendulum (same direction), it will stop a lot faster. That's a string on a neck that vibrates (resonates) at just the right frequency and in phase with the string. It will dampen it. Now, if you prevent the neck from vibrating with the string, such as by propping it against a wall, or by adding weight to the headstock, to increase its inertia, it won't be able to dampen the string, so no dead notes. Try it with the usual dead notes on the G string some day. Only problem is, it's awkward to play with your bass pushed into a wall, or with a big weight bolted to the headstock... Solution? Stiffer, denser necks.

I bought my first Volvo in 1985. I keep buying them because they never seem to stop working! My problems are usually self inflicted! I missed the only gig I've failed to turn up to, because on the way, I filled it up with petrol rather than diesel!! What a d!ck, and even more stupidly, I cheerfully rocked up to the Blues At The Farm gig in Billericay, when I should have been at a festival at Blues On The Farm, near Chichester!! I finally made it and we played 3 hours late!

😲. Bass Gear 2, The Revenge of Molan?

I wanted an Ibanez 4 string with Nordstrand pick ups ever since selling my six string version - too heavy for 2-3 hour sets and even after a year of playing them, I still got lost on the sixes. Picked up a VGC Ibanez SR 1200, same woods, finish, pick ups and bridge as my old SR 1206 but lighter and with the proper number of strings. Brought it home, tuned it, plugged it in and….. It was everything I've wanted in a bass - at least as good as my Sandberg Panther Special. I might talk to John East about putting one of his pre-amps in it (I'm addicted to his sweepable mid-range) but in every respect, it's perfect. I know this doesn't really fit the thread, but with someone saying earlier that dreaming of an Ibanez was indicative of very low aspirations, let me tell them they are wrong.

Right then- deposit down for the 4th of September. Will update the title shortly.

It’s got really bad since they changed the terms of service to allow ads to be automatically inserted on anything, even if the owner didn’t have monetisation enabled and doesn’t want ads. I don’t mind ads at the beginning and ends, but the mid-roll ones are dire.

Japanese, heavily modified, not the fastest or the best, but lovely to look at. (IMHO)

There’s some good suggestions here but in my experience I’d say don’t be reluctant to leave things just as they are. Let the change in dynamics and sonic space work for you. When I hear a bass player suddenly getting busy or stamping on effects pedals during a solo I often think it shows a lack of confidence in themselves or the material they’re playing.

Classic StingRay (think it’s a 2014)

Ta-daaaaaaa! Witness the fitness.