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This was apparently, one of his final jokes. What an absolute genius !!

A close friend of mine (cough, splutter) once did exactly that. £100 later, I have it on very good authority that he never wound the truss rod like a m*****f****r ever again. Now every time he gingerly inserts his Allen key into the appropriate slot, I - sorry - "he" holds his breath a little bit and pulls a face.

I've told this in another thread before on here, but it fits well in this one, so apologies. When I played the fiddle, I used to do a lot of ceilidhs and barn dances. One night, I was booked as part of the band for a Burns supper. It was quite a smart affair - chaps in DJs and kilts, ladies in ball gowns, etc. The usual format for such occasions is that the band provides background music during dinner and then plays for dancing. It's a tradition at a Burns Supper that the haggis is brought into the dining room at the start of the dinner itself, accompanied by a bagpiper. It is placed on the top table and the MC recites Burns's Ode to a Haggis. Bagpipers are very busy on Burns night and good ones are not to be found on every street corner. As a result, they can play many jobs during the evening. They go to a venue, pipe in the haggis, collect their money, accept a dram or two and head off to the next one. It was obvious, when the piper arrived, that he had done quite a few jobs already that night and had accepted a generous dram at every one of them. He was plastered. However, he was still able to walk in a straight line and play, so all was good. The chef carried the the haggis into the room on a silver salver, accompanied by the piper. The procession made its way to the stage, where the haggis was placed on a table placed at the front of it. The MC stepped forward and began his recitation, whilst the piper stood to one side, playing and marking time on the spot. The effort of blowing into the instrument, combined with the skin full he had imbibed, caused the piper to lose control of his bowels for a moment. As he was wearing his kilt in the traditional manner, there was nothing to catch the product of his lapse, which plopped down on the stage between his feet. This wouldn't have been so bad - the height of the stage made it unlikely that anyone could see the offending item. However, whilst marching on the spot, he stepped in it and slipped. His boot flew up, propelling bits of it into the audience. The band hastily vacated the stage and howled with laughter in the dressing room. The piper was ejected and the mess was cleared up, but the evening never really recovered.

I just purchased this beauty from Classic and Cool guitars. It's a California TM2.

This is my current lineup. The top one is a Fender Precision FSR 70's reissue with a custom Shuker maple fretless neck finished in high gloss. It's a replica of the one Sting used to play and is fantastic. For a Mexican Fender it is fabulous although the only thing left on it that's Mexican is the body and I've got no idea what wood they use. Pickups are US Vintage Fender, the pots have been changed and the neck is made by Shuker. Currently strung with Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats. In the middle is my 1986/87 ESP Series Jazz which was made at the Japanese Fender factory and is based on a 1966 Fender Jazz. It's basically a Japanese Fender Jazz and even the components are interchangeable. Even the original neck has exactly the same headstock and could of ended up with a Fender, ESP or Tokai decal on the headstock. This bass has seen all the action over 35 years from playing thousands of gigs, recording multiple albums, live radio and TV shows so it's pretty beaten up and sentimental. Its fitted with a set of Bartolini pickups which give it a smooth but dark sound and works great for fretless. Currently strung with either Rotosound or Elite Stadium rounds. The fretless neck is a custom one made by Shuker but I do have the original neck which is the nicest neck I have ever played so I may return it to it's original fretted status. It's high gloss and theres just something about Japanese basses that makes them very special. The bottom bass is my 2013 3EQ Ernie Ball Fretless Stingray which is new to me but seems to be working out. I'm not a fan of active basses but have always loved the Stingray and Pino is a big influence on me so I thought I'd give it a go. The neck is Pau Ferro which sounds quite nice, a little bit hard but does have a fantastic grain to it. I've done 2 gigs with it so far and I'm quite happy, its certainly comfortable to play, especially the neck but tonally its not as expressive as the Jazz. I think it's a keeper though. Currently strung with Rotosound rounds. I'd like to perhaps get one more bass but I'm not in any rush. I'm thinking either a Japanese Fender Jazz, either the Traditional 60's Fretless or a standard one and then get Shuker to make me a custom high gloss fretless neck. This could then replace my current fretless Jazz and I can return that to being fretted. I also like the look of the Ibanez SRH500F and as that has a Piezo pickup, it might be a nice alternative to some fretless tones.

Indeedy I've just sold a bass, my Aria PRO ll SB 900 , which weighed 10lbs +, and the whole packed weight was 111 kg I mean 11 kg

Maybe they're trying to move to your area on the cheap. 🙂

Oh go on then….. Full spec at: https://www.acguitars.co.uk/project/0415retrob5-32/

Sorry I’m a bit late, but …. we all sound the same and no one cares anyway.

I know back when I first started playing (1980) you were actively discouraged from trying to do your own work on your instruments. Guitar shop techs used to put the fear of God into you; “don’t touch the truss rod, it’s really easy to break it if you don’t know what you’re doing” and suchlike. Now of course it’s different.

Are we nearly there yet?

On the sub-subject of Setting The Tone, the BL/singist/geetard has an almost Tourettes-level compulsion to blurt things out without running them through his head (or by us) first, which has set the tone many a time; we once played a verrrr posh Hunt Ball somewhere in Cheshire; this was a Masked Ball, so the great and the good (you know, Captains of Industry and their Lady Wives) were there in DJs, ballgowns and rather swish bejewelled masks. After the first song (we were introduced by the DJ straight in), BL walks back to the mike and says 'Ladies and Gentlemen, you're all looking very smart this evening, I love the masks...did anyone watch that program last week about dogging?' The tumbleweed was only interrupted by the drummer's faster-than-usual count into the second song...

Just ordered this from Mark at Bass Direct.... Will be the third Sandberg I've owned, sold the original one I had, but the 2nd is my favourite bass ever.

Someone will be along shortly to say we all sound the same whatever we play 😂

Yes, but their refund policy is open to scams & offers little in the way of protection to the seller.

Not a gig, but related. I had a solo open mic spot about 8 years ago. I felt I hadn't practised the vocals at full volume enough (I can't do it much at home) so decided I would stop off in the car park of a disused sports centre in Luton and have a run through in the car. So I parked up, got the acoustic out of the boot and got in the back seat. I played though the songs a few times, when I became aware that there was now a police car parked on the other side of the car park… and that they seemed to be observing me. I carried on, thinking best to act innocent. The male officer started to walk over . I carried on playing. He had a real serious look on his face until he got a few feet from the car, then he started kind-of laughing. He was laughing because he could see the guitar. It transpired that up to now they could only see the movement of my strumming arm, and thought I was entertaining myself in quite a different way. I'm assuming they had some kind of tip-off as it would be too much co-incidence otherwise. Anyway I did the open mic… went pretty well and I had a good "Something funny happened on my way here" anecdote to tell.

I decided today that I'd fettle my old Godin fretless as I've not played it for a while due to the fact I had a few issues with it: 1. overpowering E string. 2. treble side slightly high at bridge. 3. bad static/crackle when adjusting the sliders. 4. intermittent fault on the output. Whipped the bridge/piezo out and someone has previously fitted a nasty shim... removed and that fixed 1 & 2. Took out the preamp / EQ and cleaned the slider tracks with anti-static spray and a cotton bud (very dirty)... fixed 3. Took off the output plate/jack and hey presto a chunk of tin foil trapped in between the contacts! No idea how that got in there or why but it isn't in any more. Glad I dived in and did that as the bass plays and sounds lovely. Moral of the story; don't put off till tomorrow!

So technically I'm out for 2022, 2023 and 2024. I think it's important to plan ahead.

I’m out Sandberg Basic 4 🙈 im not even sorry 😀

Not sure if this was really a train wreck as we had a decent night, but we did fancy wedding where the main reception and speeches were in the house and they were moving to the very nice marquee for more buffet food, cake, and a well stocked free bar. We were all set up earlier in the day and went back for an anticipated “2100 hours” start which was drilled home to all of us by ‘The Major’ who was the brides father. We were back at 8 to allow for flexibility (because when does a wedding ever run on time) and we’re told to just get comfy and have a drink until people came down, and we gladly obliged! We could see the room in the country house where it was all happening and the night went on with various updates from ‘The Major’ saying “any minute”. We got to 10pm and the best man got a projector out and the slideshow/speech started and the laughing and cheering picked up. By this time we were several beverages in and had started on the buffet as they were only just being served pudding with approval from the caterer and bar staff. At 11:45 they start wondering down, we were tired and a bit drunk but hey let’s have a good night and play some music. We did the first dance, one good rocking opener and then I get pulled aside by the very nice venue manger who said “guys we have a noise curfew at midnight so make this the last one”. We announced the last tune, wish everyone good night and start to pack up. ‘The Major’ who was steaming by this point, comes over and I am expecting some displeasure at the length of the set despite it not being our fault. He walks up, hands me a massive wedge of cash and says “bloody good night chaps, all the best”.

Nah, they're where you find silverskin pickled onions sandwiched between small cubes of cheese and pineapple. Perhaps I'm dating myself a little here

That's just plain wrong. Unless it's being shipped in a lead sarcophagus maybe? You know, to keep all the 5G out, really messes with a bass's mojo...

Please at least use cocktail sticks - they're made of tougher wood than matchsticks and they have the added benefit of being tapered. You only need to fill and redrill if the hole's got really bad or if it needs relocated.

Yep. They realised they'd make more money fixing a broken truss rod than just doing a normal service.

And that no one in the audience cares anyway. Or the rest of the band.

So just an update, I turned the truss rod a quarter turn clockwise (looking at the truss rod face on) which seemed to tighten and it made things worse with most of the frets (or lack of as it's a fretless) and open strings buzzing. So I turned the truss rod anticlockwise a quarter and then a quarter again which felt like it was loosening and now no more buzzing on any of the frets and the bass plays beautifully. So I guess that as I had to loosen the truss rod for the Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats, they are actually a looser tension string over the Rotosound flats, even if under the hand they don't. With my new found confidence, I'd always thought the action on my fretless Stingray could do with being a little lower so I turned the truss rod wheel clockwise a quarter on it and it improved it so I gave it another quarter turn which improved it even further. Much lower action higher up the board and its playing much better than it did before.

That’s what I said in 1982 when I bought my labella’s 😁

I can't speak for the Bass Gallery but for anyone in or near to Croydon needing fretwork done I can highly recommend Feline Guitars, had a couple of basses done there and the work has been exceptional, after there fret dress I was able to get the action on my basses down to 1mm at the 17th fret, they build custom guitars and basses so they really know there stuff

Colour decided (though looks a bit different and much nicer in person compared to this image).

If the OP is paddling in the waters of 70's-80's Jap basses it might be worth thinking about the Vantage brand (Matsumoku?). They were around for a fair length of time, came with various pick-up configs and they tend to cost less than their better known contemporaries. There's a single pup Vantage on UK eBay right now for £295 or make an offer: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255201400775?hash=item3b6b3057c7:g:9NMAAOSwpjBhe8sk I had a double P Vantage (like the one below) for a few years. Really well constructed, played nice, sounded good. Sold it to the BigBeefChief for about £100-£150 ten years ago. Vantage: Nice

And finally, it's finished. If I had the patience, I could have operated on the decal and made it follow the curve closer, but it's fine for my needs. Assuming nothing else breaks, that really is The End

You’d let a guitarist touch anything of yours ? 🥺

Whoa-oh, livi...... sorry.

Oh man, talking about inappropriate things over a mic, that's just sparked a memory. Playing a thalidomide society ball, (I kid you not) without thinking, singer just goes and introduces the next song, "c'mon people, get your hands up in the air and clap those hands" I had to turn and face the back of the stage in shame. I didn't want to be on the same stage at all. It did spark off an interesting conversation on the journey home... "just how do thalidomide folk wipe their derrières?"

This, in a nutshell.

gallery sold it twice each time for outrageous amounts (compared to normal stingray PEB) in about 7 seconds lol

36 quid from earlpilanz 👇 sent original away on a Monday & received new guard the following Tuesday

Like most people I’ll happily do truss rod, bridge saddle height/intonation adjustments and perhaps a little light nut tweaking. I’ve installed a couple of KiOgon solderless wiring looms and adjusted pickup heights but that’s about it. I’ve yet to do any fret work. I did put a bitsa p bass together which involved plugging and re drilling the neck bolts and also positioning the bridge and shielding the body cavities. I learned a lot from that process and would recommend it to any one wanting to learn more about the instrument

Yep, I do it. I see it as a fundamental part of being a player. If you don't understand the basic nature of how your instrument works, well... that's not very good at all.

Jumping in to say I've just replaced my strings with D'Addario Chromes, basically because of this thread. I'm definitely a fan. When it comes to replace them in 50 years' time I'll definitely buy the same again. Best start saving now. Sheesh they were expensive.

That is clearly fishing for compliments. The guy asking how it sounds doesn’t care for your opinion or want to make use of somebody that could help better their sound, they are just looking for that ego boosting affirmation of “yeah, that sounds amazing. Best band I’ve ever heard. You guys should go on the X Factor” PS - if you find yourself in this situation and it’s clear that they are arrogant enough to not take on board anything you say… Always throw in the X Factor bit. It’s highly insulting to any pro musician and helps to cement the message of letting them know that you know exactly why they are asking you.

Glad I found this thread, thats tomorrows work soundtracked... also slightly OT, I love the national but seeing them live is a weird experience... starts off as a slick stadium band, ends up with Matt as a drunken mess in the audience in a way that would have been amazing in a venue a 10th of the size, bit odd.

Look at that! That's really something, nice one. I'd vote for leaving the neck as it is, the bass has a classy understated thing going on right now. Black triangles would be a bit too much I reckon.

Has anyone else noticed how many of these stories start "I was in a band with an alcoholic drummer..."?