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Back home from audition. It went as well as could be expected and they seemed a nice bunch etc….. Ended up only playing 2 of the audition songs as they were sick of playing Go Your Own Way that night 😬 Instead we played 2 other songs off the setlist that I had learned, so I was glad I had made the effort to learn them. hopefully I’ll hear back from them soon, one way or the other

I have a couple of stories. They're not as good as those above, but here goes. Back in the 80s, some pals and I started a western swing/honkytonk band in London. Two of the band members were an established guitar and fiddle duo who knew the material, so we were off to a good start. We put together a couple of sets, sent out demos and got some gigs. All was going swimmingly until said duo got offered several months of lucrative work in Europe and announced their departure. We debated what to do. I played fiddle (it was originally my main instrument), but was playing bass in the band. Should I swap to the fiddle and look for a bass player? In the end, we decided that it was better that we had a rhythm section that knew the stuff and that we should add solo instruments (we had a competent rhythm guitar player, who also sang). We had gigs in the book and figured that a solo instrumentalist who doesn't know a number could sit out and not leave a hole, whereas a member of the rhythm section dropping clangers would not be good. We put out some wanted ad's and booked a rehearsal room for auditions. We looked for guitar players first. We did have a few interesting characters show up, saying things like "country music and swing? Yeah, no problem. Only three chords, innit?". One bloke was amusing. He produced a beautiful vintage Gretsch when he set up (to approving nods from the band. He must know his stuff if he has the right instrument, eh?). We kicked off a number and he thrashed the unfortunate guitar, pogoing around and gurning. We nodded at him to take a solo, whereupon he turned the volume up and thrashed away at the same chords, jumping about on one leg and smiling broadly at us as if to say "Great, aren't I?". We politely asked him to leave his number in the waste paper basket on the way out. All was not lost, though, because two guys showed up together next. They were long-time pals and playing partners, both had Telecasters (one with a B bender) and knew what they were doing, so problem number one solved. Rather than hire a room to audition fiddle players, I suggested that I should invite people to my house to check them out (I would play guitar to accompany them) to weed out the no-hopers/weirdos. We agreed and I placed the ad'. One guy rang the doorbell, I answered it and he fixed me with a gimlet stare and asked me, in a heavy Germanic/Scandinavian accent, whether Zis was the place for ze audition. I replied in the affirmative, led him to the lounge and offered him a cuppa, which he declined. Attempting to make small talk and break the ice, I asked if he had come far. "Vot do you mean?", came the reply. "Er, I wondered if you lived far away", I replied. "No. I do not". His manner was rather intense. Right. Okay. Let's get down to it. "Vot does the band play?", he asked. Thinking "didn't you read the ad'?" to myself, I replied "Western swing and honkytonk. That sort of thing". Another gimlet stare. "Vot is honkytonk?" I rattled off the names of some of the better known players and singers and he looked blank. I picked up my guitar and asked what he would like to start with. "I shall play you a piece that I wrote", he intoned with a fierce glare. "Do not play ze guitar, please". Um, OK. Go for it. He launched into a frenzied rendition of, er, something, sawing away furiously. It sounded vaguely like an American old time fiddle tune, The Devil's Dream, but was in some sort of free time. He finally stopped with a flourish and I said "Ah, the Devil's Dream". His eyes bored into me. "No. I wrote this tune". Have it your own way, sunshine. At this point, I was ready to throw him out, but felt I should give him one more chance. I suggested I should sing one of the songs from the band's set and he could play along. He agreed and I launched into a straightforward Hank Williams number (can't remember which. It was almost 40 years ago). Before I had got to the end of the first line, he was carving away, out of tune, out of time. He played random inappropriate nonsense over the entire thing, to the extent that it was a struggle for me to get through it. I put down the guitar, thanked him for coming and said I'd be in touch. "So I am in ze band?", he enquired. OK, you want honesty. "I'm afraid not", I told him. "Why not?". "You just aren't familiar with the idiom", I replied. He glared at me and said "I am not satisfied with your explanation". I'd had enough. I took out my fiddle and gave him a few bars of western swing legend Johnny Gimble's party trick, which was to play swing fiddle and scat sing a harmony line (a great device. I'd worked for hours to be able to do it). "Because you can't do that", I said. With a face like thunder, he put his fiddle away and left without a word. Just as well. Saved me from having to clean his blood from my carpet.

Ban this sick filth!!!!!!!!! He is not wrong though.

So - here it is, in all its ... er, glory - built like a tank - unfortunately the similarity doesn't end there... If i had a 3/8" steel bar rammed up my spine, maybe i'd be as upright after all these years 'Do not use until converted' - a little injoke there, to me, from my student self My 55+ year DIY bass case, also in better shape than me now That's all, folks

So, as a long-overdue, and final gift to the 'Washboard' (expertly named by an old skinny-stringer friend, with whom i used to jam in my student days), i decided i should finally finish this 55+ year old 'project' by covering its modesty with something hopefully more appealing than formica I sourced a couple of sheets of 0.6mm mahogany veneer which i'd have to glue together to cover the full area of the perspex scratchplate The edges needed to be cut to fit and, while i managed to do a successful 'overlap-and-cut', i wasn't so successful at taping and folding the joint to glue it - maybe the veneer was too thin for this approach? ...maybe i'm just making excuses! Anyway i finally found a way to get glue (mostly) on one edge of a veneer sheet and press the 2 sheets together - it worked out ok A couple of coats of water-based varnish, and a bit of sanding, later, i was able to find an area which seemed to be the best match for the grain on the body of the bass, and i traced round the outline of the scratchplate and its cutouts. I cut out the outline with some mean-looking scissors and the cutouts with a craft blade. For days before, i had nightmares about possibly cracking the veneer while cutting, but the varnish was my friend After a little bit of trimming, i loaded the veneer and hardware onto the perspex and finally… took a breath The Washboard just has a few battle-scars now - but hey, after half-a-century, who hasn't? Veneer in place And, finally, sporting a 3D-printed pickup plate, kindly donated by Rob @rwillett of this parish...

Latest iteration.

For some obscure reason, i always preferred the 2x2 basic headstock style (shop only had LH machine heads, so i had to ease open the gears on two of them, flip the winders, and cut the covers a new one!)

I wish they'd stop making AI for things that humans like to do and focus on things that humans don't like to do. I don't want it to make music for me. I want AI to trawl through the internet in its entireity to find the best insurance deals, not just price comparison websites. Or one that scans a recipe and adds the ingredients to my online supermarket shop, highlighting somewhere that sells something my supermarket doesn't stock.

Over half-a-century ago, in my financially-challenged teens and never having seen a professionally-made bass, i made my own for about £12 I bought a couple of bits of unplaned mahogany (one for the body, one for the neck&head), a strip of ramin for fretboard, some fretwire, and the cheapest set of machine-heads and strings you could buy (at Bell's Instruments, Tolworth) Couldn't afford a decent pickup, so i bought 4 alnico ¼" rod magnets and raided an old solenoid for wire to wind them as individual poles Scratchplate was some off-white kitchen formica sheet, 'truss-rod' was ⅜ steel bar, threaded at one end (what was i thinking?!? I'd never seen a truss-rod) Didn't have a workshop, or any fancy tools, so on an old outdoor workbench, armed with a couple of saws, files, and chisels, a mallet, a bench-plane, an electric drill, a screwdriver or two ...and a misguided sense of not knowing what i didn't know, i set to To cut a longer story shorter, i actually completed it miracle #1 - it looked almost like my exercise book cover design; miracle #2 - it sounded like i imagined a bass might; SR-BassPickup-Tflat-PBP.mp3 And now, miracle #3 - it looks like it's going to outlive me We've been through a lot of musical adventures together, and a few years ago i treated it to a fretless board and a new bridge, courtesy of a local Luthier I had long ago replaced its rather fetching 60s kitchen-vibe formica scratchplate with a DIY transparent perspex one - the only problem being that everyone could see my bodged attempts at routing the control and pickup cavities Temporarily (for *cough* number of years), i hid the routs using black masking tape on the underside of the perspex. It looked… er, funky

"I find your lack of satisfaction disturbing".

I got the “thanks, but no thanks” text this afternoon which is a bummer Nevermind, I enjoyed the audition and playing some songs that I wouldn’t normally play

I like BassBros. They seem to be on a mission to keep vintage prices reasonable.

Jaco only needed 4GB of RAM

It was a bit of an impulse buy (hard to believe on Basschat) but as I turned 51 on Monday and the cat turned a far more impressive 17, I decided to invest in the Blackstar U700 head to go with the matching Blackstar Elite cab that I have. A quick road test in the kitchen and my bass tone brings all the felines to the yard! Sounds as sweet as it looks and I was quite taken with the bag it comes in too. Big shout out to Andertons who never hang about sending these things too!

With added bread loaf

How could I forget?! I played the Sousaphone on an episode of Lucy Worsley's history thing on the telly, the one about the Peterloo massacre. She's lovely - really friendly and down to earth. That's me in the background. (I'm the one with the Sousaphone.)

I told a couple of pals about it and they reckoned he'd done one of these self help/pop psychology courses, such as EST, that were all the rage in the 80s. They were all about being "assertive" (code for being an arrogant, self-regarding tw@t) and the like.

Primus. All of it.

My humble little board I made this morning when I woke up at stupid o’clock. I like playing with 2 dirt sounds. One always on that just gives me some bite (pre-amp pedal). Then one full on to make children cry. But I can’t fit my Big Muff Pi or Hotwax on here as it is a teenie tiny Pedaltrain Nano. So, going to use the distortion on the Battalion as my real dirt sound. These boys and girls (plus 2 not in photo as at my mates house) would love to join in. Maybe a new board for guitar/lap steel a should be made?

It's an easy fix for anyone with a modicum of competence. The broken jack plug gets cut off, and a new stereo (TRS...) jack plug soldered onto the cut end of the cable. About five minutes; a suitable jack plug (it's nothing special...) costs a couple of pounds or so for a good'un. Hope this helps.

Are AI bassists any good for metal?

. 2 biggest regrets in the build: gluing & screwing the neck joint (as well as using a horizontal Dove-Joint ...overkill, or what?!?), although i'd never seen any professional (solid) guitars close-up to know any different; thinking that 3/8" steel bar was a good idea for a truss-rod - it works, but mostly by gravitational-pull

Following up. here's the latest update:

Okay so over the weekend I decided to pass on my Harley Benton MM-84a to my son, This left me with a vacancy in my bass rack so I decided to check out some p basses. I used to have a 1982 JV Squier that I stupidly let go while my mind was in a fog after my wife passed away. While surfing the web I came across the Vintage V-4BLK with mirror guard (Phil Lynott & Steve Harris are amongst my bass idols) Out of the box she virtually perfect. Just a slight truss rod tweak and the action lowering to how I like it Paintwork & hardware fit and finish are perfect Intonation was spot on The pickup sound fantastic through my Ashdown ABM EVO III 500 Both controls are super responsive. Minor niggles Fretboard a little dry - sorted this out along with frets The frets needed a re-polish (a couple of rough spots) The bass weighs 9Lb 14ozs but is slightly neck heavy (thats what wide straps are for) Factory fitted strings are rubbish to say the least - restrung with Rotosound 77's Flatwound. I'd never tried flatwounds till now - really enjoying the change The only mods I've done are (only because I already them in my parts draw) Pure Tone 4 point jack socket 3 string tree to stop any A string buzz (though she doesn't have any at the moment) The biggest problem I now have is, I am gonna have to get the Vintage V4 in white with maple fretboard and make a Steve Harris version.

Yes it did, they had gigs lined up and a reasonable bunch of songs. I didn’t like the whole setlist, but then I have never played in a band where I liked everything on the list - the majority was good though. If nothing else, I am finding doing things like this is increasing my confidence with playing with new people, and learning different songs

I think this is called 'Ode To A Dying Cow' by Steve 'Wishbass' Wishnevsky

But he vill be back.

Apparently you can pop the Behringer open and adjust the delay time. I wish I'd known that before I gave mine away 😄

I totally get that (and that mvave device looks fab) but it's nice to know there's something out there that if I need it at a gig, it should sound almost the same as my main helix patches. and isn't massively expensive, even if it doesn't have XLR.

I'm inclined to agree with this Order a new control plate from Sandberg with just 2 holes, a good 250k volume and treble pot and a .047uF capacitor and a more vintage sounding pickup (the Sandberg pickups with the large pole pieces are inherently bright) and you might be set

AFAICS, Esperanto were one of many bands trying to cash in on the success of Ekseption. Other bands included Exception and Expression. All used the same or similar typeface in the bands' names. Now, Ekseption themselves copied The Nice, so I'm not claiming they were the original. Here's one also done by Ekseption: the Sabre Dance in the Love Sculpture version.

Love it! 🤣

The answer is staring you in the face. Sell the VS4 FIRST and replace it with the 60s spec. Your wife can't tell the difference by her own admission. You'll not have 3 basses and everyone is happy.

My problem is not the sounds per ser but the fact that for that price I can get something with better sounds and with an XLR out. Hell, I think one of those Zoom pedals provides better value for money.

DON'T SELL THE '71 you'll regret it mate. Just keep playing it. I recently bought a Harley Benton PB-50. After a set up and rolling the fingerboard edges (I did this myself) it is a superb bass and cost £104.00. Great for dragging about when you dont want to use something expensive. I use it in my Police tribute band but I will also be using for a normal pub gig this weekend

Not a bad price, I think if it was me I’d change the tuners for period correct and fit a bbot bridge and your good to go

Was really gassing for this when I first saw/read about it. But after reading the reviews and seeing the demos (and the price) not so much now.

Not a bad priced late 70's P on Bass Bros. How hard it would be to find original tuners and bridge im not sure? https://bassbros.co.uk/product/1977-fender-precision-bass-6/

I just asked a friend at work and he has had the tip break in a MacBook. To retrieve it, he used the ink tube from a Bic pen (with the ink out and cleaned. After sliding it into the slot and applying a tiny bit of pressure it came out. Obviously o can’t be held responsible for damage but it sounds like a good tip to me.

Yeah, cut it off and replace it. The only thing you'll lose is the use of the screw on adapter, which are pretty rubbish in my experience. I've had two fail and turn mono. I also hope the tip isn't stuck in a socket somewhere, as that'll be a git to remove

So... it wasn't today, it was Friday and a joy to behold and play it is. Feels great, sounds punchy and funky (shame it doesn't have a tone control in passive mode) but overall, very pleased with the bass. I will add that I was a little disappointed in the condition it arrived in from the supplier (who I won't name but some of you may have seen the bass for sale there, in direct line of sight... ). It had an inspection sticker on it but it was filthy. There was some kind of liquid stain over the scratch plate, under the strings near the bridge was covered in grime and dirt and overall, it looks like it had come in to the shop in that state and gone straight back out again with no checks at all. I had to strip the pickguard, control plate, strings etc and give everything a thorough polish and make adjustments to the truss rod and lower the action (a bit too much turn up at the nut end for my liking). I would have thought a 30 minute check over and clean would have been a standard procedure. Oh well... it's proper sorted now, nice and clean, fresh strings and plays and sounds like a demon. Atelier Z - you have a devoted follower. One thing - the sticker is pretty tatty. Do I remove it or source a replacement? If a replacement, anyone know where?? The Atelier shop only ships within the far east as best as I can tell...

Hobby for me as well, but I am known as a musical whooer by my mates for taking on all offers to play pretty much whatever because I enjoy playing and can afford to (within reason) as wifey is accommodating to my regular disappearance to gigs and rehearsals and the day job keeps me solvent. I probably did around half of @Clarky's journey Saturday in the opposite direction (from the coast inland to Horsham). After costs we had £10 each Saturday night, and the final tot up for 92 punters through the door, after room & PA means I have another £10 to come apparently. 🕺EV & a bit of sun in the morning means I probably broke even on mileage for the gig & three rehearsals - though not once the extra bits to make running the bass pedals easier and other odds & sods are factored in

Andy, Pro bass pots are weird… never seen the like on any other bass. Rather being an integrated part of the same unit like most pots, the pot and the shaft for Pro basses are separate items. The body of the pot has two locating holes at the centre of the hub and a separate plastic spindle with two locating prongs fit into those holes. Yes, bonkers! After many years the plastic locating prongs get brittle and can snap off - which is what has happened to yours. Give them a gentle tug and you’ll find they come right out and you’ll be able to see where the prongs have snapped off. Same thing happened to my Pro2E about 15 years ago. I took it to Paul for him to fix and he did is bang up job. The pots locate directly onto the circuit boards so I wouldn’t have trusted many people to have replaced them. When he fitted the new “normal” pots it really brought the bass back to life! So my advice would be to take it down to Fetcham and get Paul to swap them.

doesn't bother me on my Ray

Well, with nothing more than a link I'm not going to follow, it's completely useless to me. I'm not that good at cryptic crosswords, either. ...

The carbon bass is finally finished. I re route the front to host a plate for the controls, as I found too much this time to create an ad hoc cover for the back. This is the final result, on the usual OSB floor that everyone is crazy about! (hahaha). Thanks, and see ya next time folks!