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After last week’s shenanigans with the full 12 piece band, including the percussionist doubling on pedal steel, our most straightforward format albeit my least favourite, 6 piece with the horns on tracks at Tewksbury Park at a smallish wedding. Nice room to play in, easy sound to manage and a up for it crowd. Dep guitar did great, singer decided he’d DJ the end of the evening, everyone happy.

The Bluesfire gig at the Doll's House was last night. Long dark, wet drive up into the valleys. Good load in but virtually no parking, but the residents completely ignore the double yellows and we were told "you'll be ok as long as you leave room for a bus". We were a bit worried at first but it filled up a bit (although not rammed), perhaps as it was a miserable dreich night. But the audience made up for numbers with enthusiasm. The juke box made it clear our music was bang on target for the pub and it was great to get cheering not just applause! Got some positive comments all round too, which was nice 😁 Got away well after 12, for a long, dark wet drive. I found an open macdonalds when nearly back so didn't get home until after half one.

First time in the Racehorse taunton last night - in fact, probably the first time in taunton proper, which consider we are a band from Yeovil (25 miles from taunton) is quite odd in itself - we have done the villages around but not the town. Anyway, very narrow, long pub, tiny space, awkward load in, but in general was a great night, really enjoyed it and left with future bookings and wedding (gig, not proposal), so I am guessing it went down ok. There were a lot of people in the pub but you couldn't see many of them, they passed the door or went past from the room at the front or the room behind me or the outdoor area. Beyond that space in the picture was just people. It was pretty up close and personal. Second gig with a keyboard player, not sure I was convinced it was a great idea before, but although it doesn't work on everything, he really has brought a new dimension to some songs A bit of a pain breaking down, not much room, and a lot of people in the way of everything and walking through. Although it is further than we usually go (yes I know a lot of you travel miles, we dont!), it was a really quick journey back as the roads were empty, so back before 1. Noticed a private message on our facebook that we were amazing. Always nice to get a compliment although sometimes it would be nice if it was visible on the page!

So, Turnette Doone (for whom I do the bass bits) had a gig in Minehead at The Old Ship Aground on a Friday night several weeks ago. All good, well received, want us back etc, so happy days. The next day I flew to Australia for two weeks of work stuff - sounds cool, but it was hard work. Imagine my excitement when I see there’s a fresh comment on the FB gig post from ‘Mark Young’. More compliments?? More praise??? A gig enquiry for a wedding???? Well, not really. Check out his comments, and I hope my reply spreads some joy on here. People, eh?

Great packed gig at the Hopton Vine Suffolk Red Heart rock band

Jaco... I don't really like fretless bass. I don't like burpy bridge pickups soloed. (I mean, who wants to listen to burps?!?) I can appreciate the musicianship, but I really don't care for what he does. It doesn't speak to me at all.

I did post this story on BC a while ago, but I'm posting again as I think it still proves that truth is stranger than fiction. In 1975 I was playing on the island of Jersey with the remnants of a 60's pop band called Love Affair. (Remember them?) We were doing some sort of cabaret show at a big hotel there. We'd finished our set in the main ballroom, and then picked up word that Robert Plant and John Bonham were in the bar. Went and had a discreet look, and it certainly looked like them. Plant was on crutches - I knew he'd had a car crash recently. Bonham looked completely out of it. They were surrounded by a posse of hangers on and music biz people by the looks of it. Next thing we know, everyones cheering, and Plant and Bonham are heading towards the stage. Plant stops and talks to our drummer briefly, and then our drummer points to myself and the guitarist, and indicates we should go up on stage with Plant and Bonham. The rest was a bit of a blur, quite honestly. Bonham was clearly more than a bit worse for wear but started fiddling with the drum kit. Then someone fetched a stool for Plant to perch himself on, and Plant suggested over the mic that we played 'Red House' Sorted out the key, and we were off. I was doing my best, but was only one step back from pissing myself with fear, god only knows what it sounded like. Luckily our guitarist was an excellent player and carried things along, as Bonham was hardly able to keep time, let alone play well. We played two lengthy numbers, half drowned out by whooping and cheering from the crowd, possibly undeserved. I cannot remember for the life of me what the second number was. Most unexpected thing that's ever happened to me at a gig.

All clean and shiny now, might not look much different but I can promise my bin is half full of absolutely disgusting paper towels. Still need to sort a shim for the neck as the reason the pickup casing cracked was because the previous owner screwed them down as far as they'd go so they weren't too close to the strings, bridge is bottomed out so it needs the neck angle sorting. Touched up some of the headstock chips and found some screws for the truss rod cover which had been glued on. Think I'll get away with the stock bridge unless it gets any worse in which case I'll get the AliExpress one .

It’s Wooten for me. I just find his playing soulless. Maybe it’s just me 🤷‍♂️

update to the grab-n-go/flyboard. just wondering how to squeeze a C4 in. or probably a 1590A filter.

Back at Birchanger Social Club last night. First gig for us since just before Xmas, and first gig with new Allen & Heath CQ18T mixer and my new Sennheiser IE 400 Pro IEMs. It's a regular venue for us, but unfortunately it was rather on the quiet side, not to mention we had to wait for the rugby to finish before we could start. But that meant we could take advantage of the excellent food and cheap beer before we started. Every cloud... We played well enough, but as I say, it was a quiet night, so only a few dancers. But they seemed to enjoy it. And even though we've had a few rehearsals since Xmas and I've practiced at home, we were clearly out of physical "gig shape". All of us, apart from young Sophie, were broken by the end of the night. Hopefully, another couple of gigs should do us good. Really happy with the new mixer. I'm glad we had a technical rehearsal a few weeks ago to set it up but it's going to take a few gigs to properly dial it in and get the in ear mix just right (we're sharing a single mix for the time being). Talking of which, I'm very happy with the new IE 400 Pro IEMs, none of the irritating harshness of my previous ZS10 Pro X set, with a lovely full range and deep sound. And the sound from the new mixer seemed to be much clearer compared to the old Yamaha desk. Next gig in 3 weeks time back at the Cow and Telescope. Looking forward to that one.

Thoroughly enjoyed that film, particularly Mickey Mouse chopping up the broomsticks.

Give it long enough and every bass player who's ever lived will be in this thread 😀

@tegs07 spot on as usual @scrumpymike decent insights for sure @sandbergmarc I don’t think rules are broken, you are offering to help someone. Happy to say I am slightly biased, but it’s based on personal and friends experiences, one of which (for a friend) involved Hölger personally replying to something and going over and above what would be expected - that won’t happen in most companies. i am saying this with no knowledge - but a big company probably has a tech division that can sort problems mentioned - Sandberg is ‘family’. In true appreciation thread style - here is my old Shape MarloweDK complete with dog, toy and a bit of foot…

Been on here years and seen you lot snagging vintage bargains, well today was my day as I spotted this old thing for £60 in a charity shop window. It's a Hondo II Professional with what I assume to be a Dimarzio, no Made in Japan on the neckplate so is this Korean/Samick or a later MIJ Tokai or something? Serial is 0110454. Sounds impressively loud unplugged, looks all original (to my untrained eye anyway) aside from the janky knobs. Pickup housing has cracks but not completely broken, parts rusty and definitely showing its age but should clean up to a less ratty state and the neck is straight. Some weight to it, given the rust and the fact I found it in the port town of Fleetwood I wonder if it actually has been used as a boat anchor at some point. Obligatory rubbish car seat shots.

Flea. Epically overrated. His performance playing the US national anthem at a Lakers game was unforgivably embarrassing.

The closest I ever got was one of the fifteen thousand or so claimed to be member of The Drifters got up and walked out half way through our set at a charity gig. Which henceforth gave birth to our pre gig team cheer "F##K THE DRIFTERS!".

Jimmy Page stroked my lurcher.

We did a Butlins 70’s weekender at Minehead last night. We nearly didn’t due to our singer all but losing his voice, but the gig was saved by bringing along a possible future replacement for him. He did very well considering the circumstances and at such short notice, so they shared the vocal duties along with me doing a bit too. Had the use of an SVT rig which I’d been looking forward to. Unfortunately it seemed to have a problem during soundcheck so ended up using my GK set up. We got through the gig okay - great audience of around 2000 mostly in 70’s themed fancy dress and up for a good time. After we’d finished some of us caught Bootleg Blondie on another stage who were really good. Plenty of beers afterwards and a good night’s kip in surprisingly nice lakeside accommodation. Dreadful journey home today though due to an accident on the main road in and out of Minehead, necessitating a massive diversion using very narrow roads into Devon! Took us over 5 hours to get home so absolutely knackered now, looking forward to a night in etc. ( Got a break of 3 weeks now before our next gig in Milton Keynes, one of the 5 left before I leave the band. )

Not really a gig, but went to an acoustic open mic tonight. Got up and added acoustic bass for the last half hour or so, utterly random and great fun.

Can’t say that I’m into any “solo” bassists tbh. I appreciate really tasteful playing, good songwriting and well crafted bass parts within a song much more than I care about fast playing or technical wizardry. Its like someone having brilliant handwriting but no interesting stories to share.

Pretty much those mentioned, basically players where Basslines stop being the backbone and start being a lead instrument. (usually very skilled players, but if you want to be in the spotlight and show off how many notes you can quickly play then just play guitar).

Is there any other way..? I've never thought of it, but I can't imagine how one may not do this (nor yet silence that little voice incessantly rattling away between one's ears...).

That's superb Marc. Its great when a company has an input on our BC forum. It makes a big difference to buyers when they have someone they can talk to. I just hope you don't get bogged down in messages now Many thanks Dave

Small touch of superglue is enough, use a good one small blob either side hold the nut firmly for a couple of mins you don’t want any over spill of the glue so minimal amount. The string pressure alone will hold a nut on so there is no need for over kill.

Good job i've got one, cause i'm at the front of my best mate @Cuzzie's queue. Dave

This idiot thinks there’s a man works down the chip shop thinks he’s Alfie...

I have had a fair few brushes with the famous but not much in the way of their magic-dust seems to have settled upon me! 1. 10 gig tour backing Ricky Valance (Tell Laura..) in the 80s 2. 8 gig tour backing Keith Harris and Orville the duck (OMG!) in the 80s 3. Joined the White Hor Airmen (a London Temperance 7/Bonzo type outfit) where I played sax alongside Rod Slater (ex Bonzos) for several months. We had a gig downstairs at the 100 Club and ex-Bonzo Viv Stanshall had agreed to join in - we went to his house and had a chat and a runthrough of the numbers, but he didn't show up! 4. One WH Airmen gig at he Grey Horse Kingston found jazz legend Ken Colyer with his cornet ready to play New Orleans stuff with another band, but he'd got his dates wrong and he was on his own. We invited him to play with us (very 30s dance band stuff with 'comedy') - he did and it went very well, tho' he looked a bit askance at Rod and I doing the Paul Whiteman-style sax harmonies... 5. Joined the house band 'Brix Six' - classic Bix jazz residency in the Bricklayers Arms Brentford. One night in walked Andy 'Thunderclap' Newman - he played piano with us for half an hour (we didn't do 'Something in the Air' - I wish we had...) 6. My edgy modern jazz group 'Moebius Band' that I formed while up at Oxford featured an amazing keyboard player (Dave Jarrett) who soon after joined prog-rockers 'Quiet Sun'. based in Dulwich. Their guitarist was to-be Roxy Man Phil Manzanera. My brother and I jammed with Dave, Phil and others for Mr Manzanera's birthday party. Healso helped mix a studio session my other Oxford Band recorded in Tower Studios London. 7. Quiet Sun's drummer was Charles Hayward - phenomenal player who I last heard still gigs as a solo percussonist mainly in Europe. He and I spent 6 months trying to get a QS follow-on band together after Phil joined Roxy , we auditioned many musicians but I think our musical genre was, well, a bit far-out for most, especially the bass + lead guys from the Foundations! Try the Quiet Sun album for a taster... 8. Depped for the Temperance Seven a couple of times when they had West Country gigs that their regular saxist(s) couldn't do 9. Honked a bit of sax on Jonah Louie's 'On a Saturday night' - well mixed down at the end! 10. Played in the jazz band that features in a crucial scene in the middle of David Essex's 'That'll be the Day' film - I'm stage right with a ridiculous beard... 11. My London band 'Sweeney' supported 10cc at the Scunthorpe Baths Hall in 1972 I think, and also supported the Pioneers at the RAF base in Northallerton. Their lead singer fell out with their two other frontmen and hitched a lift with us sitting on top of the PA in our freezing-cold diesel Transit to get back to London. The oil pump broke 15 miles down the road stranding us completely - he only had his satin stage gear on, it was -1 degrees. He phoned for a taxi and our guitarist abandoned us and went back to the Smoke with him... are you surprised? Rest of that story another time.. . 12. Lastly, the lead guitarist with my current band is Francis Lickerish, late of prog-rockers The Enid and composer of some amazingly good epic symphonic rock albums based upon the Arthurian legends - worth a Google and listen. Right, I'll STFU now...

Finally got around to labeling my @moose23 custom. It looks the business!!!

hi! Marc here from Sandberg! first and foremost, I hope i’m not breaking any rules for the forum/this thread. if I am, someone kindly let me know (or give me a swift kick in the butt). as for your frustrations, I can assure you that it’s not intentional avoidance. some of the insight provided in this thread is spot on, in that we (like many other companies) have had a number of issues with emails either getting to us OR getting to people. anything from spam filters to the email servers people us (eg Google) rejecting our emails entirely for a variety of reasons, most recently the SMTP authentication certificate. these are just a couple very real and often very frustrating things we’ve encountered and are working to fix that! to address your specific concerns/inquiry, please don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected] (yes, “.com” - I live in Chicago. you are also welcome to CC my personal email at [email protected] to make sure I see it). thanks for bringing this to our attention! -Marc

Sorry to hear Steve Harley has passed away. Loved the early Cockney Rebel stuff.

No. There are none for me. There’s music that isn’t for me made by people who don’t make music for me, and then there’s ones that do. As with all art, there are going to be detractors. If it’s not your kinda thing, you just need to move along. Fame and success do not always relate to your definition of skill or application.

To sum up, it's OK not to like something.

Er, Sheila’s me mum, and Adrian is our singist/guitard. We really must work harder on our social media presence…..and will, but not any time soon 😎

Interesting! I hear the music, new and old, in my head. I've never thought about it in this way before though. As an add on, I don't have perfect pitch when I hear music being played, but I've noticed that I do have perfect recall pitch when I listen to a song in my head. For instance, I can tune my bass to concert pitch by listening to the intro of Around The World by the Chili Peppers in my head as I know that it starts with Flea hitting a big E, so I tune my open E to his by singing that note and holding it, then the rest of my strings off that once I'm in. Is this normal? Do you recall songs in your head in the keys they are really in?

bring ‘em on! ❤️

I found myself humming a melody, over the space of a few days, and thought, after a while 'What is that..?'. Upon searching a bit, it turned out to be a piece I had, myself, composed a few years earlier..! Dummkopf..!

Hey Marc, full marks for jumping onto this in such a timely way. This is the kind of thing that restores/strengthens our faith in the Sandberg brand.

I ain't Nissan You - John Waite

There is a queue!!!

They're America's bar band. They're all still alive and probably play at least 200 nights a year I use to see them back in the early 70s before they were famous. They would play at the " sock hops" at my university Daryl

My rig from last night. MarkBass Little Mark IV Barefaced Two10 Fender Japan 62 RI Fretless Jazz Fender Japan 62 RI Fretless Precision Ibanez UB804 EUB

Our singer normally does all the bookings and he would definitely charge more if a venue wants us to be there longer than the 2 x 1hr sets. If on the night we decide to play more because we're enjoying it so much we just go for it until we run out of songs. I have pushed hard for both bands to stick to just 2 x 1hr sets but its difficult when your guitarist just wants to play all night every night. Dave

8 years ago I was smitten by a Patrick Eggle New York IV being played at a mate's birthday bash. I was so impressed by it's tone, compact attractive aesthetics and high quality build/hardware that I've been trying to get one since then. The only example I knew of in my home town got sold before I was aware and went to Nottinghamshire a few years ago . Anyhow, last week I spotted it on ebay and amazingly it's now back in Hertford . There's so little information on the Internet about this 1995/96 bass that I can't imagine too many were made or have survived? Anyone else had or still own one?

Saw them a few yrs back supporting Deep Purple i think it was. Great band and didn't even know they were still going. Dave

I’ve played on a few Butlin’s big weekenders, booked in for a couple more in Skegness and one in Bognor Regis this year - they’re really good gigs. There’s always a big crowd who get right into the swing of things and theres usually some other really good acts on to watch as well