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Festival gig last night with a bunch of Dutch Mason alumni doing a tribute to Dutch. He was quite the legend in the Canadian blues scene. Saw a lot of old faces , and players I hadn’t seen for a while. Dutch alumni are not a terribly exclusive lot , he played with most everybody here on the east coast at one time or another. It was a great night!

Altho not strictly a gig last night with punk band Emergency Exit we played to a small intimate audience of family and friends while setting up the gear for a gig tonight in a friends very large house in Wanlockhead. He was having a birthday party for his brother on Sat night and said we could all come down on Fri afternoon and set up the gear, have a BBQ and a few beers and if we want to play a few songs even better so we did. I was driving as i live 25mins away so no beer for me. Back there tonight for the actual gig which is a freebie hence the BBQ thrown in last night for us. We occasionally rehearse in his function room if its not leased out that week. Cracking big house too currently building a pool on the end. Driving again tonight so no beers for me but the rest of the band are staying over and drummer lives in same village within staggering distance We can leave the gear there and pick up on Sunday too so no carrying lots of gear thru lots of sweaty bodies at end of the night. Last time we did this kind of party it went on until 4am. Way past my bed time especially when sober. Should be a great wee night and i'll update tomorrow on how it went. Dave

The awesome Farmyard rally in Helmsley yesterday. First on the evening bill as we know how to get a party started. Only 10 in the marquee just before we came on but a good couple hundred as we came on and double that before the end of the set. It was hotter than hell in there - the big hair didn’t help! Being on early did have the bonus of being able to catch some of the other bands, Women in Rock were particularly awesome. Will post some pics as they come in…..in the meantime here’s the Mustang brothers.

Beaten up dude from the early-mid '70s; Seymour Duncan SPB-1 pickup, replaced pickguard, replaced knobs. Does most of the small scale pub etc gigs where I don't want to risk anything pricier; as a result I'm very attached to him!

Definitely a shortscale day, with TI flats and the Sidewinder neck pickup on full, it’s the most “upright” sound I can get.

That looks nuts, I love it! One of my students has a bass like that, but it's from Gear4Music and I don't think it's intentional...

A New Bass Day thread, which the OP is pleased with and it’s descended into negativity. Why can’t we just be pleased for the OP and perhaps start a different thread where the issues raised here can be discussed? @BCH congrats on your purchase, may your GAS remain in abeyance for a goodly while; it messes with my head .

I don’t deny what you’re saying, Blue, but I object to being described as old😂

“Why don’t we have this conversation somewhere else, only I think the band are using this doorway to move equipment through.”

A bit of a labour of love/lockdown; finally drawing closer to completion. Essentially a dream scenario late'64/'65 P bass with a jazz width neck. Fender AO jazz neck, brown plastic front and side dots replaced with pearloid, re-radiused from 9.5" to 7.25", frets switched over to vintage style nickel wire. Stripped of the tangerine nitro finish and awaiting a mild amber nitro to paint. Alder p bass body, need to roundover the edges and finish off the tummy and arm cuts, then it'll be time for sanding, grain filling and spraying with nitro. Completed picture is the vintage inspiration.

https://www.torzalguitars.com/natural-twist Its bonkers...but cured my GAS! for now...highest quality construction, design & body fit ...sounds fab 35 degree twist (25* neck & 10* body) After 10 min playing & not looking down ...you cant see the top of the neck...I feel ready to do a gig tomorrow...what could go wrong ...ha

He will find You, sooner or later. Believe me.

So Bass Bros had a black Fender JMJ Mustang at 7lb15, it would have been incredibly rude to not snap it up, should receive it next week. Then I’ll have 3. The sensible part of me says move the heaviest (8lbs5) on but I just love these little basses so much that I’m sure I’ll keep them all.

We have this one older guy that shows up to our gigs. Without fail he's always found laying on the floor somewhere passed out. Blue

34" scale feel like short scale!!! I only play ss bases, 26.5"...30" 30.5" But I tried this and because of the small body and where it sits, it feels like a ss...but its 34" https://www.torzalguitars.com/natural-twist Its bonkers...but cured my GAS! for now...highest quality construction, design & body fit ...sounds fab 35 degree twist (25* neck & 10* body) After 10 min playing & not looking down ...you cant see the top of the neck...I feel ready to do a gig tomorrow...what could go wrong ...ha

Ok, so this is a NBD post but there's a bit of a story to go with it. I've had the bass a couple of months but I wanted to make sure I was keeping it before posting about it. Anyways, I'll do my best to keep it brief. For as long as I can remember I've known that I'm a bit different, life has been a constant struggle & to be honest, just down right cruel at times but this is not about seeking sympathy or anything. My favourite saying had become "I can't wait for this planet to stop spinning so I can get off". With that said, my one true constant love has always been music & even on the darkest of days music has been there, a steadfast companion as loyal as they come. After spending almost a decade trying to figure myself out with no help from the NHS the answers finally came from my employers occupational health dept. They steered me in the right direction & along with the diagnoses came the discovery of my own spirituality (ok, I know most will leave this post now so thank you for reading this far). It was a relief & I binned off all the self help books but as an avid reader this left a hole in my spare time. So digging around my bookshelf for something to get stuck into I found my copy of "the music lesson". I had read Victor's book years ago & to be honest I thought it was pants. But with fresh eyes I had another go at it & began to think about my place in music as a musician. I discovered a few things, firstly, I had become a collector of basses, nothing at all wrong with that but it was never my intention & secondly, I didn't know what my "sound/style" was. I had gotten very good at imitating other people but there was no individuality in my playing. I wasn't "moving" myself so how could I possibly be "moving" the audience with my playing. I just wasn't grooving man! So after much thought I decided to sell on my beautiful basses because as gorgeous as they are & as lucky as I was to have them none of them were "the one". Off they went to members here & on a total whim in the early hours one morning I stumbled across this wonderful 90s Tobias & brought it. I know it's a Gibson model & purists might turn up their noses but it's actually a fine instrument, or at least it will be. When it came it needed a good set up & the dual truss rods gave me some grief but I stuck with it & got the neck nice & straight only to discover this particular bass also came with plenty of high frets. Awesome. Off it went to the shop I use to have them leveled & I asked my mate Rob to give it a nice low action as I wanted to force myself to play with a lighter touch. I've kept a Lakland 5 string because it was a gift from my wife & it's always useful to have a 5 but for the last two months or so this is the only bass I've played, or even wanted to play. I'm more inspired to play bass now than I've ever been & this bass really draws me up the dusty end. I'm not in a band at the minute so all my time is spent improvising & playing what's in my head with little thought & it feels liberating. It's like I've cut out there middle man & I'm really starting to discover my own sound. The only thing left to do is fit the East bass/treble stack eq that I have because I think the active contour it has standard really limits the Bartolini pickups. So, long story short, the last few years & challenges that they brought have led me to this bass & the musical self discovery I'm experiencing now. I'm a "one bass kinda guy" now & I really like it. If you read this far thank you! I'm sure you deserve to see a picture of my awesome bass 😁

My video side project "Days Of Dyanna" should be out soon. Blue

This is on my way tomorrow so I’ve messaged him. Will see what the deal is…

It used to be that NL2 and NL4 weren't interchangeable, but Neutrik has been for a while. On that I'd only buy Neutrik. Knock-offs have been known to cause problems.

3 basses... fretless jazz, 5 string fretted Sei, strung high C, and an EUB. If I could only pick one it would be the fretless jazz. If stage space is limited I only take the 5 pedal board, otherwise the 14 pedal board comes along.

PM heading your way @jonsparrow91. I'm hoping it is just the truss rod nut that is knackered, not the rod itself. In which case I have a cunning plan to remove and replace in situ. If it's more than that, then I will be learning about major neck surgery over the summer. Which is also good.

Yep, it's just a mid scoop but the Funkulator does it by using an inductor, as in the classic rlc passive circuit (a decent inductor coil is not the cheapest thing). It also has a line driver built in with a buffered 300ohm output.

Now I said I'd add some pics in the sun and ironically it isn't sunny but I got the bass out today, had play and remembered to take some pics.

I got mine /vague post

Ok, so all cleaned up, fretboard oiled and a new set of medium gauge strings. Very nice indeed. Very comfortable to play, nice action (you could drive a car under it before, it’s no wonder people dislike guitars and sell them, because they can’t set them up!). OOF!! Crazy output, I wasn’t expecting that, almost Stingray levels of top end. No idea what the controls are, I’ve found Volume and tone I think, I guess another is pickup blend? No idea what the fourth one does, Treb/Bass cut/boost? Anyway it’s a fabulous thing, very pretty and very punchy…. so there’s some more investigation to do.

Will you lads at the back puLEASE keep it down…. SOME of us are TRYING to listen to the bass solo!

IHear what you're saying but i'm pretty lucky that both bands the guitarists are very controlled and we balance stage volume against the drums. I generally dont have any issue with volume creep other than from soundcheck to actually playing the gig. We play lots of gigs with just vocal PA's in both bands. Its the same drummer in both bands and he has a tendency to play a little bit quieter during soundcheck than the gig itself meaning the guitarist and myself have to notch it up very slightly when we start the gig. Was a nuisance at first but i've gotten used to it over the years. Guitarist with the Marshall rig typically runs his master volume at 2 or less. That's the punk band which plays smaller gigs but he loves the tone from his Marshall rig. Have to admit i do like it with a Les Paul which is my fav guitar tone. Personally i've looked at the Kempers for bass but i hate fiddling with programmes etc. Much prefer to just plug in and play. Dave

I'd get the cables checked/replaced

The Bass Centre in Wapping was the best shop in the world ever. In its heyday they had a stunning array of basses, amps and everything else. Just as important though, was that Barry and the rest of the staff were always very decent people to deal with, whether you were buying or just trying stuff out. There was something about that shop that epitomised playing bass in the 1980s. I went to the other branches in Manchester, Birmingham and LA, and they were all good, but Wapping was the best.

Bruce to his band: "Stop." Bruce to bloke 60 yards away at the other end of Villa Park: "Did you say you were in a band too? Come on up, brother, and join in. Plenty of room on stage." 😃

All the young dudes - Mott the Hoople.

Drawings now added to post 1. Many thanks to @RichardH

Yeah, some Twonk has bought sunbeams put them on a bass and returned the box to amazon with a set of Knacky old strings,I'll bet they don't even check just resell 🙄

People misunderstand how long it takes to set a CNC machine up. I built a CNC machine as a lock down project (see here https://forum.v1e.com/t/new-build-in-clapham-north-yorkshire-uk/16519) so have some experience here. I am not a professional in this area (or any other area 😀) It took a long time to build the CNC, but it takes an awful long time to design something that isn't just a simple engraving. If I wanted to do a house sign, thats pretty easy. Cutting space for pickups would be relatively easy as well. Anything that is complicated, such as the guitar above, could take a long, long time to design and get right. If they told me, it took 50 - 100 days to design and test, redesign and test, I wouldn't be at all surprised. I would expect them to create an awful lot of saw dust as well, I certainly did. A CNC machine makes sense in some areas, but it is not a cheap machine to buy (good ones are over £100K), they are not cheap to run, you tend to need a dedicated machinest, not cheap to design for, it takes real skill. Routing out pockets for pickups is fine, that work of beauty above is very difficult. I'm not bad with Fusion 360 and have designed some reaonably complex stuff, which tends to be square and lots of straight lines, but I wouldn't even know where to start in that guitar. This took over six months to design, test, redesign, retest. It's a magnetic, modular dust show for collecting waste from a CNC. it uses magnets to hold things together. It didn't work very well 🤐 Circa $8,000 doesn't sound that bad to be honest. Not cheap, but you pays your money and takes your choice. Thanks Rob

How much of the ABMs EQ do you use, if a fair bit then go DI from there. I’ve found that as cabs in general have a coloured sound (usually adding in low end) what goes to DI from an amp (or pedal) is less so, this making it easier for FOH to mix in.

You've just ruled out the only decent bass shop in London...! It is better in person than online if that's any help...

My leather scratch plate is IMO a nice variation on the theme.

These are always described as "Very rare", as if rarity was some kind of virtue. What they don't seem to realise is, they are rare because nobody else wanted one.