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Here is my new part bass I finished recently and which make me proud of: Warmoth body, Musikraft neck, nitro paint, Fralin splitcoil. The design, paintwork and the printing I made with the help of my wife. Enjoy it!

Last night we had our first stadium gig. 80,00 screaming fans, helicopter in and out, 50kw PA, individual dressing rooms. Then I woke up from my pre-gig nap. It's true we were in a stadium - the Swansea.com stadium - but sadly all the rest of it was fanciful daydreaming. Last night the Hull band played in support of the annual 'Big Sleep Out' event, raising money for the local homeless charity drop in centre, Matthews House. We've been raising money for them for years and we regularly play with their choir so they asked up to do a short set at the event, in which folks get sponsored to spend a night sleeping out in the open. We were due to play in the stand overlooking the pitch (the pitch itself was strictly off limits to all) but Storm Claudia put paid to any open air performance, and instead we played in the main concourse under one of the stands. The audience was limited to the people who were volunteering to sleep out, the choirs and the staff and volunteers who were helping out on the night - about 200 in total. Swansea City football club were sponsoring the whole event, hence the venue. We were due to play for about 30 minutes; the choir kicked off the entertainment and we joined them for three songs before carrying on. We ended up playing on longer than expected as the audience kept asking for one more song. Well, you can't say no to the punters. Eventually, the stadium's own noise curfew brought us to a stop. Great atmosphere, dancing, singing along etc and more than £42,000 raised by the time we'd finished playing. And no, that wasn't money paid to get us to stop. We used the stadium's events PA but our own desk as we are a 13 piece and we brought our own sound engineer. My kit for the night was my Squier PJ into a Behringer pedal tuner (I just can't get on with clip-on tuners) which also acts as a mute and my Ampeg SCR DI. Straight into the desk as usual. Outfit was geared towards remaining warm and black boots completed the look. Highlights for me included dedicating and playing the song 'Heroes' (already a favourite) to the folks staying out overnight and dancing with the choir leader at the back for our encore of 'Hey Jude'. The Matthews House choir The stadium. Ready to soundcheck Mid gig

We played the Wheatsheaf in Calne last night with the drummer from our first band, 35yrs back. We’ve reunited a handful of times in recent years and it’s both nice to have a real drum beat & good to have 60% of my Sixth Form band back together. We’re just so comfortable in each other’s skin. I thought we played well. I was on my mandocello for 90% of the show and there were flashes of us all being really on it at times. The two bands who were on after us both came up after and said “how are we supposed to follow that?”, which was typical of the ego free and friendly nature of this multi band gig, raising money for Bristol Children’s Hospital. For the record, music has never been about competition and both bands did their thing well. I was particularly impressed with some of the earlier bands who were so young. I was talking to some 17yr old bassist who really impressed me and it’s so good to see that generation getting out there and doing it. A great day.

Had a very busy weekend and a break from the norm with some great dep gigs. Fri night & Sat morning depped in a production of Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, a very professional show and a chance to flex my reading chops, I then went straight from that gig on Saturday 120 miles down to a Holiday Park near Scarborough to dep for a band playing at an end of season party to finish off a very busy Saturday. Quite a contrast but some fun tunes to play. The theatre show was in a really nice old Theatre in Newcastle city centre, I took a few photos from the pit where I was sitting, it really gives the place a proper old timey feel rather than some of the sterile newer places.

Back at it after a weekend off, with Nine Lives at The Railway Club in Keith. A weird one - I wasn't feeling 100%, had been fighting a lurgy for the past few days but had got myself to the "you'd be well enough to go to work" type state so I decided to go for it. Unfortunately, it wasn't very busy - probably an effect of the Greece vs. Scotland game being live on the Beeb. Things got a bit better in the second half, we had people sporadically come through from the bar area to see us for a few songs then bog off back to the bar. Yet we were still treated to some chair dancing and acrobatics/tumbling. How odd! It was more interesting from the gear point of view, as this was the first time I had taken my Jack Casady out to a gig since I finally got a replacement coil and fitted it. Happy to report that it is back to its normal self - capable of generating feedback, but in a controlled way (instead of reacting simply to being in the same room as a not very loud amp, as was when the dodgy coil was in there). There was a sustained note for 4 bars during one song during which the JC did a lovely slow feedback buildup - became noticeable around bar 2 and built up gracefully (and quite musically) but never to annoying levels. Chopped it dead at the next bar. Loved it. My JC is back doing its JC thing. Gear was the Epiphone gang (Jack Casady then Thunderbird) into the cubist wasps.

We played a new venue last night, the Palace Place social club in Paignton. They have a PA, but the monitors were elsewhere so we took our desk and monitors and plugged into their amp. The room was quite tall and we needed to dial back on the higher frequencies to control the sound. My bass rig was filling the room nicely and didn't need much FOH, but the guitar did. A decent FOH and stage sound sorted and we blasted through our 2 sets. This club is near an old favourite pub which has changed landlord and direction, so we are not playing there anymore. We will secure more gigs here so that keeps us busy enough. They were pleased to have us and suggested coming down when it is quieter and setting up with their system and digital desk and monitors so we can just plug and play for the next gig. We didn't have a lot of time last night for that. Quite a few people who used to see us in Paignton came last night now we are back in town. My usual rig of StingRay, RM500 evo II & BF 210. Shoes were my new Skechers slip on' which are super comfy.

Digitally printed direct over the body: MOV_3133.mp4

Fretless Sterling Ray 34... Don't see many of these available. I also think this one was professionally defretted, I can't remember the lefties being available fretless. It has only arrived today but so far my thoughts: the fingerboard feels lovely, I think it's some kind of ebony. The neck profile is a bit slimmer than my US Stingray. Flatwounds sound great on it, I thought I'd need rounds of some kind but there are decent strings on it right now. Bad points: The machine heads feels a bit flimsy, will need to see how it settles. Also the preamp and pickup is nowhere near the league of my US Stingray. More discovery to be made after work

Before @cetera jumps in… Big Horizon were fantastic at Pizza Express Live - Holborn in London last night. A lovely evening of Yacht Rock, 70s West Coast pop tinged music. These guys are absolutely top of their game (which explains why the spend most of their time backing megastars on tour). Great set, great playing and what a fabulous voice Iain Hornal has! They did a couple of Jeff Lynne’s tunes (an obscure ELO one - Four Little Diamonds, and Handle With Care by The Traveling Willburys). As Jeff Lynne’s backing band for the last 10 years, they paid tribute to him and the unfortunate way the tour ended with him being too unwell to continue to his big Hyde Park retirement gig. Wonderful evening! Lee Pomeroy was a highlight, of course but watching him mangles my brain because all the strings and fingers are in the wrong place. Fab to see Gary PB and Costas there too!

I have officially joined the club. Here's my new (to me) 1985 BB1100S. My first Yamaha, first vintage bass and my first Japanese made bass and its really very nice. This is the one @Burns-bass shared the link for.

After 24 hours of continuous rain we were not surprised that turnout was a little low at the Bricklayers in Sharnford last night. Especially given that the pub is next to the river. In fact as we left the landlord came out to fix the last few sections of the flood barrier in place! As usual it was a tight squeeze in the corner. It was great to play at a lower volume though as we could hear everything and had no sacrifice of tone. The guitarist took his Mesa Boogie but had a tiny little Vox amp plugged into the speakers rather than using the Mesa amp - much easier to get a decent tone without volume. Well it sounded good to all of us anyway. As I said, a selective audience but some of them had travelled quite a distance, which was appreciated by us. We even got some up dancing (ok, it was the WAGS 😂) I don't often do vids but this one isn't too bad, even if it is me singing!

Nice little venue in Manchester, good sound and engineer, and we played pretty well, but the audience weren’t into it. I wheeled out the Yamaha RBX A2 5, which sounded fantastic, ace low B, so I’ll defo use that again. My TCBQ500 via a house Warwick 4x10 sounded decent, and so easy to walk across town with just the bass and head in a rucksack.

On Saturday we played at Gagarin205 in Athens - the venue looked fantastic lit up at night. Sadly I only have a daytime pic: and an aerial view of the soundcheck in moody black and white: and a view of the audience from the stage: We sold 1200 tickets. The venue was full. Punters were being turned away! We had a few technical gremlins but overall it was a successful (and profitable) adventure. My kit for the night: EBMM Sterling 4HH> Shure GLXD16+ wireless> Empress compressor> Cog CE-2B clone(some songs)> DHA EQ >DI Box (split off to PA) > locally Ampeg B5R > Ampeg 4x10 PS - Athens was full of Scotsmen attending the football:

So she has arrived. Quick unboxing on my lunch hour with full details/review etc to follow. My 1976 P bass 😍

A weekend of Eagles tribute shows. Halifax Playhouse on Friday - a beautiful old hall, formerly a methodist church. A lovely, friendly crowd. A bit of a nervy trip back to Tyneside which involved negotiating a couple of floods. Next day, another Playhouse - this time at Alnwick, a little closer to home. Another lovely crowd. The front row of seats is int he same level as the band, and one particular highlight was when a chap in the front row spilled his drink, sending ice all over the stage. He got on his hands and knees, and crawled around under our feet trying to pick it ip, which he couldn't quite manage as ice is rather slippy. It all went on for a comically long time. This is the stuff you really remember in years to come. Next stop - Edinburgh & Whitehaven. Pics...

Nice to see some bass specific programs on TV , definitely worth a look . Apologies if this has been posted before .

Some things in life you know are bound to happen somewhere along the road, you just don't know where, or when. Today was that day for me. By sheer luck everything aligned: the instrument itself, locally for sale, within budget, generous tax return which sweetened the already more than fair deal, and a feeling of "If I don't do this, I'm going to regret it massively later". So, since today I became the proud 2nd owner guardian of a September 1966 P-bass. Fully original, including the case, except the missing bridge cover, and some filled holes where someone installed other tuners, but the ginormous Klusons 546's cover those up very nicely. In a very, very good condition (buckle-rash the size of a coin), frets at de-facto factory condition, slightly faded red, but still plenty present,... And that patina, that's something you can't fake (nor the smell). Rather lightweight, very resonant, a bit neckheavy due to those tuners and the very light body, it has that extremely pleasant 60's C-shape (wide, but thin). It has the newest additions that were introduced in 1966: Indian Rosewood fretboard, a 45° bevelled pickguard and the wide frets. Made by the same people that made the early 60's ones, using the same methods, and virtually identical materials... just under a different contract. It has seen some action, but it was also very well babied and cared for. And given it's a '66, it's an absolute growler. There's something about '66/'67 basses that gives them more raunchy punch compared to 1965 or 1968 onwards. And if it's good enough for James Jamerson, it's good enough for me! Going to install an old set of LaBella's tomorrow, see if I can reduce the action a bit. Also: going to thin out the heard a bit. Given I've now got "the original", the "American Original '60s" may leave the premises, my Jazz Bass as well, my 500/1 that hardly saw any use, maybe the EB3, although: that's so quirky I might just keep it. But with this, I kind of arrived at the end of the line.

It's here 🤩

We had a good night last night.

https://reverb.com/uk/item/93109785-atelier-z-zpo-4-jr-short-scale-natural

During a break in the proceedings, Andy @Wolverinebass tucks into some chocolate cake while @Sean enjoys a coffee.

My EUB / Guitar set up as of last week, a friend made me a silly offer on the MOOD so there's an empty space at moment, been thinking reverb maybe (after Echobox). Starts at the MINI on the top right and works left, then Onward to Meris X (bottom right). Some pedlas may look a bit wonky, only 3 have velcro at the moment. Its desk top use rather than floor, makes editting easier on the fly. Sounds f***ing awesome!

Got a message from my contact at the Tampereen Musiikki guitar store that they shipped my new Sandberg a couple of days ago, so now I will be furiously clicking the refresh button on the tracking page until it arrives (shipped from Finland to Norway, so I probably won't see it until at least the end of next week). 35" VM5 in Virgin White with a rosewood board. Not a superlight, but still only weighing in at 3.7kg (8.15 lbs). Should be a good one.

In for a penny etc. Annoying creaking noise, source identified, trip to luthier, frightening estimate for diagnosis and repair, DIY aesthetic engaged. DB friends over the pond advise and encourage. What could go wrong? Its just wood and glue. And a £2k vintage collectors bass... Tools out, nerve held. Top off. Cat impressed. A little bit of splintering. Oops. Chance to clean up the inside, label was almost invisible under 80 years of grime. 1114 = 1937 The problem. Bottom block partially detached from ribs (and from front, removed). Bass bar reinforced (precautionary) with hot-hide-soaked calico. Hot hide liberally applied. Ribs heated and clamped. Broom handle is strut holding rib 'garland' open to avoid creep. Homemade spool clamps ready to go. 20 of them for under £30! (cf £180 at Allparts...) I like a challenge. The advice and encouragement I'm getting from caring pros has been amazing, essential and comforting. Wish me luck ... top refit next weekend probably. I want to leave that block clamped for a good week, with occasional heating to coax the ribs back into line. CAVEAT: IF YOU CAN AFFORD A LUTHIER, JUST PAY THEM!

We don't play at The Thornton (club) very often but it's always a nice friendly place. We managed to pull a few in, so it made for a good time. Lots of dancing. Lots of compliments. Although we were totally upstaged by one of the guitarist's young grandchildren who stood on stage dancing while we played the last set. The heat combined with a very busy weekend meant that I was pretty tuckered out by the end of it. I have next weekend off so hopefully can crack on with a bit of spannering on my old VW camper.

Royal Blues (originals Americana), at The West Hampstead Arts Club. It was either a bus ride for 3 stops from Kilburn, or a 10 minute walk. What Google maps didn't say is that the walk was uphill 😖 (and it started raining). We were a support band, second out of three. Soundcheck at 6, so of course we were soundchecking at 6:45 (Showtime 8:15, actually onstage nearer to 8:45). It's a small venue, 30 punters make the place look full, which was fortunate... The sound person was great, onstage balance was good, and FOH sounded good according to punters. The 2 new songs debuted at the previous gig were included and went down well. Ibanez UB804 -> Getaria wireless -> DI. Footwear - maroon creepers. This was the back of the stage. In front of the drummer and myself was the guitarist, lead vocalist, and 2 backing singers.

This is a 6SL7 tube, the ones in a B15, so that pretty much confirms it!

Email from COATs:

The cables that came with my TE amp weren't in the best condition. But I was in the electrical aisle at ASDA a couple of days ago and spotted this lime green mains extension reel. Being in the "mains flex is fine for speaker cable" camp a lightbulb appeared over my head! Edit: Jacks and XLRs for speaker leads do give me the heebie-jeebies and I did think about converting my cabinets to speakon but that was faff and I thought it might devalue them should I sell.

Is it from Bez?

Weekend off for me this weekend but starting next week its every weekend until some time mid January if i remember right. All Sat nights except for the Fri and Sat before Xmas. Good thing is PA is supplied on both those gigs so its an easy load in and out for me. Got a rehearsal this Thu night to run thru the Xmas songs ready for some party night Glam fun. Dave

Mine arrived on Friday. To say I'm delighted is an understatement. At 9.2lb it's no lightweight but definitely manageable for me - so happy there. This was a B Stock Bass so I immediately scrutinised it. All I could find was the tiniest imperfection in the paint on the front, invisible from a metre away. So for £289, an absolute bargain. The Rosegold finish is lovely, almost, but not quite, pearlescent. The neck is a bit deeper front to back than I'm used to and the finish is a gorgeous satin that feels really nice. It's got a slight tint that looks really classy. All the fit and finish is flawless. The action was a bit high with the slightest of back bow in the neck, but 20 mins with a tuner and a couple of Allen Keys soon sorted that. Got a nice low action on it now and it plays like a dream. I went for a Z3 as opposed to a Z7 for the simplicity of the preamp. I've got a bass with the Z7 pre - and it sounds great and is very versatile, there's just a bit too much there for me to manipulate quickly while playing live. What I've found though, is that each band of EQ on the Z3 is so powerful, I'm using it in conjunction with the volume control which again gives me a lot of choice and makes it quite the distraction! Having said all that, it sounds bloody brilliant. Just like a Stingray. I love the sound, but I'm not sure it's a sound I could use my current band. Although it sounds ace, the EQ can't really change the fundamental tone of this bass. It sounds like a 'Ray. Tweak the controls and it sounds like . . . . a 'Ray with the tone controls tweaked. And that ain't a bad sound to have! I'd been wanting to scratch a Stingray itch for a while now and had considered investing in the real deal, but I'm glad I didn't - I can't honestly think I'd easily find one as good as this - and for under £300! It would've been nice if they'd kept the 3/1 headstock that appeared on the prototypes, but this headstock looks good now they've reshaped it a bit and the silver Moniker looks tasty!

board for the RnB covers band that I play with.

Sounds great. However is he an all round fit for the band? We auditioned an excellent guitarist a few years ago. The audition was great. However, before he left. He said, " I just want to play" then went on about not caring about money and said he'd play for gigs for 50 bucks. We decided not to go with him. He didn't fit the band model. We don't want the guy that will gig for 50 bucks. There are other bands where that mind set would be a better fit. We're also not looking for the guy that just wants to play . If we were to bring in a new band member and if he/she asked me how to fit in, here’s my answer. 1. We don't rehearse, so don't broach the topic. 2. Don't make song suggestions. 3. Don't make any type of musical suggestions. 4. Show up on time for sound checks with working gear. 5. Have decent improvisation skills. 6. Be interactive with us on stage. What to expect. 1. You'll perform with pro sound and lights. 2. You'll have at least one gig per week. 3. You won't have to play late night bar gigs. 4. You will be paid in cash prior to every gig. 5. You'll make more money than what your use to. 6. Nobody will comment or make suggestions about your volume, tone or playing. We're not for everyone, however our band model has worked for close to 20 years. Daryl

It landed today!! Plays great, lovely neck and sounds awesome. 😎👍 Here are a couple of bad 'artificial light'pics in my studio. Better 'outside' ones to follow when the cloud/rain lifts....

here's the latest version of my pedalboard, all inside the MOD DuoX Every purple line is an audio path, and every blue one is MIDI. It's one in (though it could be stereo) 6 out (three stereo pairs). The parallel audio paths include an ambient path that's all reverb/delay, one that's all pitch-to-MIDI, and one that's glitchy weird sh*t. it's all controlled via a Keith McMillen Softstep and Quneo, the MOD Footswitch and two Dunlop mini expression pedals. The only additional outboard at the moment is a Dunlop volume pedal, a Dunlop Wah (alternate between the mini bass wah and the Justin Chancellor), and a Nordstrand Starlifter.

The Pedals 'R Us corner.

My circular saw proved capable of cutting a triple layer sandwich (once I set the cut height right). I used a different cutting pattern as I was cutting a maximum of 610mm - first a cut across at 300mm, then a second and third at 376mm. After that, I stacked the three pieces and cut at 276mm twice, so a total of five cuts. First, I made the sled - I'd glued and screwed a length of batten across the panel, and just cut across using that as a guide. Then I clamped up for the first cut, and found that when I'd just nipped up the fixing bolt for the blade that my definition of nipped up and the instructions definition of nipped up are different. Once rectified, off we went. The first cut is the shallowest. After that first cut, I was able to use the piece I'd just cut off to rest the other side of the circular saw base on. Another cut the same and then I stacked the wood. And at last got to the final cut. I still have to cut out holes in the front and rear.

Yep that was me! Whilst my Wilcock bass isn’t actually short scale (it’s 32” as @ezbassmentioned) it does get you in the ballpark and plays/sounds very much like a short scale bass. Plus being medium scale it’s very easy to switch between that and my regular 34” basses. I actually bought it last year from a fellow Basschatter specifically to play on a few tracks for the latest DC album and it ended up on every track. It’s since become the number 1 bass on the UK tour and will be going all round Europe with us in the spring. It really is a joy to play and is incredibly responsive under the fingers. Previously I had a JMJ Mustang that filled the shorty role but it was nowhere near as versatile as the Wilcock. And it sounds awesome with a pick. Does the clicky palm-mute thing better than anything else I’ve played.

ok i briefly have the whole lot out of storage together so i took a quick pic! ...so rare to have them all in one room these days on account of the wife..

I couldn't not include a photo of some LFSys cabs, could I? Pleasingly, there were quite a few present. My thanks to the owners for bringing them along. I managed to try a few different amps through the cabs. Sean's Gallien-Krueger sounded nice, lean and punchy. I was also very impressed with the Handbox head that @wateroftyne has been praising all these years. Never heard one before, but is sounded really sweet.

Thanks, it’s a little darker than it’s bigger brother - also Starry Night finish.

Following on from my SillyStratocaster Bass hack. I Picked up a mid 80’s Applause (by ovation, allegedly m’lud) P Bass for £50 at a junk shop for a pub bass, honestly I nearly didn’t buy it because that was the food money for the week, but I thought it was Worth a shot and I could probably explain to the wife why we would just eat porridge and beans. The Fretboard was partly delaminated but truss rod sound. Now to ruin it with my epic luthier skills that i got for xmas last. 1- re fit fretboard and see if it plays. It does neck is nice but the action is vile 2 - will it play nice? hmm not really, better but still a bit shit frets are all over the place. 3 - de fret, because re fret is just silly. And I really fancy a fruitless because I used to own a Doug Wilkes percussive fretless in the mid 80s which I lost at a gig because I got so drunk I left it there and we parted ways, what an idiot.🤯 Some of you might remember this bass from the “has anybody got a scratch plate” in wanted ads. well i got the scratch plate sorted thank you to @walshy @rwillett @Shepster8316 then like a fool I just went down the old fixit wormhole and went full project on it. had a busted 80’s Benedetti from a Viger had that I had rewound perviously by Bloodstoneguitars (Dave is great). Got a veneer sample from ebay for £3 good shout from this excellent basschat thread watched a bit of YT and procrastinated for over a week. I then bit the bullet and took all of the frets out “carefully” after learning that patience was key and I’m not a very patient person so I was very patient or as patient as I could be took the frets out waited about a week for the maple to come the Maple didn’t come then I asked the guy where my maple was and he said oh I’ll send you another bit and then he didn’t send me Maple he sent me Royal Ebony instead and so I used that, because serendipity. (The maple did arrive eventually, so if you need some hit me up) Glued in my shed Finished in someone else's actual workshop Interestingly the ebony is striped, so i put the lighter stripe at the top end of the fret so i have markers, which helps. Griller glue for inlays and super glue to seal the board! Who knew! Finished with Gun oil because it was there. when I put it back together again, I think the old wiring loom was really shot. It would not stop buzzing no matter what I did and the pots were just dead really so I just wired in series the pick ups directly to the Jack while I save up for a @KiOgon VT VT Loom it works okay it’s a bit weird not being able to turn your base down or adjust any other tone, but it’s quite liberating in some ways not having to fiddle with your knob all the time 😁 routing for the B was a bit scary but i managed it with out too much damage. now I have a pretty well playable fretless PJ hybrid thing and yeah it is a lot of fun actually but I’ve gotta get some flats for it because all my other basses are two aside and I don’t have an old set that fits and so this is currently sporting a totally mismatched set of horribleness. Again I gotta save up because I don’t have any money to buy strings. I have to buy food and pay the gas bill.😩 i suppose I could ruin/modify it to a 3/1 to use my old sets but i like the fenderesque headstock. So prolly not.