Leaderboard

I read this story on FB earlier (this is a direct quote, it is someone else writing in the first person, not me): "Twenty years ago, Charlie Watts did a week at Ronnie Scott's with his tentet. A hell of a line-up. Henry Lowther, Gerard Presencer, Mark Nightingale, Peter King, Julian Arguelles, Evan Parker, Brian Lemon. EVAN PARKER AND BRIAN LEMON in the same band. That's a combination that nobody would think of booking. Except for Charlie Watts. Why? Because that's who he liked and who he wanted. And of course, always, always, his childhood mate on bass, the wonderful, endlessly versatile Dave Green. My mate Joel Taylor, who's now high up on the Metro paper, was then a junior reporter at the Camden New Journal. He rang me "Want to come to Ronnie's free with me next week? I'm reviewing Charlie Watts". My response was swift and decisive. So the following week, there we were. We ordered a bottle of wine. When it arrived, we went to pay. "That's on the house." Nice. Second bottle. Same reply. Third bottle. You get the idea. Eventually, we needed to soak some of this up. We ordered a basket of chips. "That'll be £3.50". The following week, I saw Joel for a pint and he said "I've got to the bottom of the wine thing. Cindy Hacker (one of the club management, who handled the PR side) explained that Charlie Watts had said he'd foot the drinks bill of every journalist who came to see the show. When it came to the chips, we were on our own". I should add that it was a great night. That line-up delivered, and the drummer wasn't too shabby. Joel has reminded me tonight that, touchingly, Charlie peered round the curtain just before they went on to see if anyone was in. It was a sell-out for the whole run. It's clear that was the sort of man Charlie Watts was. Someone (possibly either Pete Cater or Brian Bennett) told me that when Ronnie and Pete King were having trouble, which happened a lot, due to Soho landlords and stuff, Charlie was always there. He'd put a band in for a week, pay them out of his own pocket and let Ronnie and Pete keep the door and the bar takings. He saved the club a few times that way. He played rock for a living, but played jazz for pleasure, and his way of paying it all back was to keep the premier jazz venue in the UK afloat, and to keep his mates in well-paid work. It's a sad day. Being a drummer is to be in the finest club of all, and we've lost one of the very best of all of us." Charlie Watts, a real class act.

Don't be ridiculous. Most of us are well past the first flush of youth. Many are even OAPs like me. For me, there's not a lot to do or say apart from feel sad about the news. We don't feel the need to rush into print. Respond how you wish and leave others to do the same.

Fun fact: the original photo depicts exactly what is wrong with this young man.

I'm already loving this Sandberg VS4. Satin black, rosewood fb with abalone. Superb balance either sat or standing. Nice wide fingerboard, but not full PBass width, 22 frets with really good access, flattish radius and (for me) the perfect string spacing High output passive pickups (anyone know what they are?). 30in scale (it's the strangely named "Lionel" edition). I'm a very happy chappy.

And let’s not forget he did get paid at the time, his $1 is clearly in the shot.

Isn’t it incredible how many people can feel the good vibes of a single person through our little community. Buying and selling here has always been a pleasure because it takes trust, and more often than not leads to friendship. Martin’s family are truly humbled by the fantastic showing of memories and tributes posted here. What an awesome endorsement of the community and what a tribute to Martin.

@lee650 and I raised a glass tonight x

I would have paid good money to be in the room when someone told Dave Grohl about it 😂

Deoxit D5 is the one that I use most days. Sorts out the noisiest most crackly pots in no time. Money well spent.

So I came home today to this……. (See pics) My 1984, serial 067 Streamer headstock (it was a glued repair) has miraculously let go…. The body has a minor dent at the bottom from my guitar rack, and obviously the bass is beheaded. Like Gibsons, the early Streamers were prone to breakage due to not having a volute. The break was pretty ugly and repaired by a monkey, but the bass sounds wonderful and glue is stronger than wood. So I used it quite often, never an issue. But since it has let go and I will probable never be able to sell anyway, I have hatched a cunning plan….. I could replace a large part of the top of neck and headstock with new wood, add some splines ….. basic traditional Gibson-esque surgery. But I am going to do something else….. I am going to use the wood of the headstock, graft that in place (keeping serial number intact) and turn the bass into a (semi) headless! Will post the plan/design here soon. But the plan is to go from beheaded to headless, using mostly original wood.

Not enough credit to @upside downer for the thread title. Way to go, sir

There are 3 separate threads running simultaneously. This one, the Chatlie Watts has put in a dep thread and the notable deaths thread. However, it's not a competition about who is showing the right amount of grief.

According to another article referenced in the above, he recreated the photograph 5 years ago and allegedly suggested to the photographer that he, Elden, should be naked. "I said to the photographer, 'Let's do it naked.' But he thought that would be weird, so I wore my swim shorts," Spencer told the New York Post. Money-grabbing twot

No, you have to bring your own

I’m not the expert here but it looks like a Bb1100s

We've got our first post-lockdown gigs this weekend. At the last rehearsal I decided to make sure everything I would be using at the gig is working. Extension cab - no sound coming out of it at all Overdrive pedal - has developed a fault, I think it might be the switch. I fixed the cab - a wire had come out of its internal connector. It's back up and running. I haven't got time to tinker with the OD pedal so I took the opportunity to experiment with a different one and it arrived today. Moral of the story - in the excitement to get going again don't just rock up to your first gig back without checking ALL your gear, otherwise you might end up looking like a right berk

10 months later the bass has finally arrived... Overwater J5 Contemporary Figured Maple Top Ebony Fretboard Abalone Inlays Black/Grey Burst - Comes out more purple in photos Can't wait to plug it in later!

The Manchester to Morecambe Yamaha BB delivery service resumed duties today… @lee650 and I have promised to raise a glass to MB1😎 as it’s almost as shady as one of his car park deals… A pub next to a railway.

I had a studio session just after everything opened up. Gear worked fine but when it came to pack down, I couldn't unplug the speaker cable from the cab, no matter how I twisted or pulled the plug. ....I'd forgotten that Neutrik connectors have a little slidey thing you have to pull back to unplug it.

I’m sure he gets recognised all the time from that shot…..

The mostly American membership has a daily "thoughts and prayers" quota to fill.

Talkbass has a slightly larger membership, I imagine...

Good god that's squalid. You'd think they'd at least hose it down before taking pics. 🤢 No idea how I missed @Reggaebass' thread, this sort of thing being of interest to me - and it's a pity I did, because I think I've got a brass Kay trc at the bottom of a spares draw somewhere!

I really wouldn't use WD40 ! Servisol switch cleaner is good stuff with a good reputation, I've used that whenever I've needed to sort pots etc out.. Worked well on an old Lucas indicator switch in the motor too !

I've wanted one of these for a ridiculously long time. Big fan of Yammy SGs in general but I've always loved this particular model - the unadorned front & visible through-neck make seem it less of a Gibson variation than most of the rest of the SG range. This is a Yamaha SG1500, dated 1984 according to the pickup codes. What's interesting, unlike any other SG I've seen, is that it has no serial number on the headstock or model number on its truss rod cover - according to the guy I got it from, its previous (first) owner got it direct from Kemble Yamaha when the Kemble piano factory closed, so it presumably sat around for a long time after the model was discontinued. As Kemble was Yamaha's UK distributor I can only assume it was a not-for-sale sample that sales reps would have taken around their dealer network - I've heard of similar not-quite-retail models being used in this way before. Anyway, it's fairly well-gigged and has a few knocks & bumps, but also has been well looked-after, plays perfectly and is 100% original. Sounds immense, too. And did I get a bargain? Oh yes, I think I did...

Alice Cooper's bassist uses an Epiphone Vintage Pro Thunderbird live. I'm sure he's in a position to buy any bass he wants.

No, but the car's exhaust pipe wasn't on display so it wasn't pornographic.

He's recreated the whole thing twice in the last 11 years, and now all of a sudden he's suffering lifelong damage? This reeks of lawyer from top to bottom.

Seriously, if y see that image as pornographic then you should see a psychiatrist and then report to your nearest police station and tell them that you might be a closet nonce.

Obviously an opportunistic attempt to get some cash.

My guess is that a lawyer has contacted him with the suggestion that there might be money in it for both of them... Given the fact that this dude was obviously fine with the situation before..

BASH NEWS - OFFICIAL T-SHIRT!! OK guys, we've bitten the bullet and commissioned another Bass Bash T-shirt - incorporating the Basschat logo (thanks Ped!). This time it's a more colourful design (that's not specific to this year's event) on a combat-green, 100%-cotton, good quality shirt. To keep the price down to £15, we've had to order 70 shirts. This means that me and Mrs. Scrumpy will have to fork out a big chunk of money for these in the next couple of weeks so could those who definitely want one please PLEASE get behind this by PM-ing me your order and paying in advance. There will be enough shirts for anyone who's not sure to purchase on the day. We've ordered in M, L, XL, 2XL and 3XL so just order what you normally wear and we'll measure/confirm the actual sizes when received. Thanks in advance!

Dan Reed posted that when the Network opened for the Stones in 1990, Charlie had his own sewing machine on tour and repaired his own suits on tour. That's pretty classy. RIP Charle Watts

OK, here is my entry. This song is about those people that you meet that show you a false front - and you never know what is behind the facade. I wanted to get a grungy feel - not sure if I quite got there. The technical stuff. Guitars are my ageing Patrick Eggle New York, through Amplitube (Fender Bassman 57 emulator at the start, Soldano SLD100 and a Mesa triple rectifier emulator at the end). Bass is my Fender American Special PB through Amplitube's Fender Bassman 300 emulator with a touch of overdrive. Drums are MT Power Drumkit. . All recorded in Cubase. In case you were wondering there is no autotune on the vocals 😀