Leaderboard

Well… I love 51’/tele basses. Had a very nice custom shop “sting” and have had a MIJ reissue at some point. Saw this on a facebook page and just went for it. Thanks to @walshyfor doing the middleman bit. So spec is Fender neck - stripped, nitro refin guitarbuild ash body, nitro BSB fralin pickup Gotoh reverse machineheads bakelite pickguard bakelite saddles etc some posh pots and capacitors etc. Fender covers all slot-head screws as per early 51’s needs some tweaks to suit, but it’s ace. slightly heavy at 10.5lbs…but it’s a resonant chunk.

My old band Knock Off have decided to part ways with their bassist so have asked me to help them out until they get a permanent replacement. Am looking forward to it, though coaxing that old aggressive sound out is a challenge as now playing Fender JMJ Mustangs rather than Precisions for my backs sake, plus my hands can’t take that battering playing style anymore, am sure I’ll find a way though. Some good gigs lined up (Cocksparrer on May 31st in Islington being the first one up) and will be nice to catch up with a lot of people I’ve not seen since I left at end of 2019.

Annual Otis Jay Blues Band show at the local Forest Arts Centre, New Milton. Sold 100/130 tickets for a three-band bill - all good clean fun and a joining-in audience to boot. Great to have pro sound and lights. Sandberg VM4, GK MB200 through Barefaced Two10, DI’d of course.

I did a little jam session thing yesterday, second gig in three years and I had no amp so went through the pa and sounded dreadful. There were poets and the usual string of lunatics but watching the tiny crowd watching enjoying themselves was life affirming and I realised that life is not about how I experience things but how WE do so. For that reason, it was a triumph. One lady who was celebrating her 70th birthday yesterday sidled up to me and said she had been volunteering at Rock Festivals for decades and had never heard anyone play bass like I did. She said, '...but I got it. I really did'. Made my little day. 😊

Gigging in a pub? Soundcheck 'till you're happy. Gigging in a ticketed venue? Be done and dusted before they let people in. ...IMO, of course.

I think today’s the logical day for showing this one. May the 4th be with you, and all that! I’ve added a delay since last year and a more fully-featured drive pedal. The drone, a multi-chorus and a fuzz have made way. I’m happy with the functionality of what is essentially a novelty board though. In particular, the bass chorus and reverb both sound right up there with some of the best of that type of pedal.

I played a really good gig at Bar Silo in Golant in Cornwall. Crowd was amazing and the venue was absolutely wonderful. We even got free food which was delicious.

Sunday evening gig in a local, with a new guitarist and new drummer. Slimmed down setlist, of which we’d only run through half together on Wednesday afternoon. Vocalist/guitarist and I have gigged together for the last eight years, so fit well together. Drummer and I gigged together for 12 years in the late 80’/90’s, he dep’d with us for one gig in 2022, so I trust him and he’s brilliant. New lead guitarist has some brilliant vocals, especially with the couple of Cult songs he’s brought, gigs with another Band and does his one man show too, so he’s fitted in well. New line up gives us four ( well three and me ) lead vocals and an awful lot of gigging experience. Cant help but think this might be the start of a good thing.

The Hulla band played a 50th birthday party last night in what is becoming a regular venue for us in Port Eynon on Gower. We've played inside and outside the hall, in teepees and marquees there and, for the first gig I played with them, open air outside the fish and chip shop on the sea front back in 2022. That day we were paid in food. 😀 The stage was cramped but I wanted to play my new 5 string Ibanez. I was aware that it might not be possible without repeatedly stroking the guitarist's lower back with my headstock (not a euphemism) and took my headless shortscale Ibanez as an option. But I managed to find a little spot between drums, keys and guitarist that I was able to make my own. I had planned on using the onstage monitors rather than my in ears but the cramped conditions and proximity to the drums and the guitarist's amp meant that I ended up with the IEM. Our sound man had brought the PA subs and during the soundcheck my bass was booming away but once the hall filled up and he'd EQ'd properly, the sound was good. I kept the board to a minimum - Zoom MS60b giving me a noise gate, compressor and tuner and my Ampeg Classic preamp going into a DI box and into the desk. IEMs were through my Behringer P16 via Ultranet from the desk and a pair of KZ ZS10s earphones on which I've replaced the silicon buds with foam ones for much better isolation. Footwear of choice was the lace up black Skechers which have become an intergal part of my sound. This was my first gig playing a 5 string for several years and there were a few string faux pas but nothing the derailed the night and overall I was happy with my performance, and with the 5 string. I love the narrow string spacing and neck, which suits my hands perfectly. As usual, we had a lot of fun on stage and the audience were up and dancing from the first number. Hiding behind the guitarist.

My blues band played a new festival last night. Great stage, excellent PA and lighting, and very well run in terms of the sound. The guys were really good at their job. However, it was a brand new festival, I would say intended to be a very big event with thousands in attendance. But....there were not a lot of people there, and they are still desperately trying to sell tickets for the rest of the weekend. I think the organisers are going to take massive bath on this one. We were very grateful to those who did come and see us, especially @rwillett and his partner Zoe (credit to Rob for the photo). '73 P bass, GK Legacy 800 (DI'd), TE Elf 2x8. Rob

So, I basically only play Rickenbackers these days, not that I have loads. I have a Fireglo 4003 from 1999 that is my main bass until I started travelling. Last year I bought a 2009 4003 in Mapleglo, which after Fireglo is my favourite colour. Then, bored, late at night I came across a 1984 Mapleglo 4003 on Guitar Center. I don’t know what more to say, it’s basically the same bass but older. Neck shape is different but every Ric has always been different for me. It’s incredible

Second gig for my originals band last Saturday evening in Reading. Gig put on by a local promoter who has delt with our guitarist before. All new to me and was slightly nervous as only required to take Squier PJ-555 and pedalboard. Happy to find Markbass lm3 and 2x10 cab supplied. Small pub but a sizable enthusiastic crowd for the four bands. We were on second and went down very well. Friendly sound man and I could hear everything fine which encouraged me to do my backing Vox. I'm not great but it's so much easier when you can hear yerself. Lots of positive comments from audience members and one of the other bands want us to do a gig with them in September.....so far so good. update, some footage has shown up...got to work on that ending😆

So after 9 weeks off we had a gig at last - or at least 2/3 of us did. The drummer came down with a bout of bronchitis yesterday. Luckily we managed to find a last minute dep, a chap we've known for years and played with in various bands (including him and the guitarist playing in Martin Turner's band for a few years). That meant we had to scribble a list of reasonable songs we all knew. We actually had a lot spare at the end of the night. It was great to play with another good drummer and it can give familiar songs from the usual list a whole new vibe. We had a great time. The audience were ok and we went down well. I don't think the pub puts on enough bands to really establish it as a music venue really. I took my Sire P7-5, but actually played my stinger-equipped Sterling Sub5 all night because I was enjoying it so much. Usual GT-6B and Rumble 500 combo provided tone and heft. I forgot to take any photos, but a lovely young lady (barmaid on her night off) did get some great shots, so I'll post one or two of those when they are forwarded on. Instead you can have a shot of tonight's footwear - custom burgundy suede Converse One Stars I just know you're now going to want to play with the customisation tool, so here you go... https://www.converse.com/uk/en/products/customize/custom-collections/start-with-a-blank

Late to report but I've been in Whitby for the April Goth Weekend. We played the Shadow Factory event at The Crafty Cove on Friday night with bright new things Social Youth Cult and local stars Westenra. Sold out gig which wasn't that surprising given the line-up. The Crafty Cove is an interesting venue, being a shop during the day and a night club in the evening. When we arrived to load in they were still putting all the clothing racks away. Sound checks nearly over-ran mostly because Social Youth Cult had been told that backline would be provided and then discovered that what was in the venue wasn't very suitable and neither us or Westenra use any that they could have borrowed. Finally got everything sorted minutes before the doors opened. Despite the sound check hiccups Social Youth Cult were even better than when I saw them in October and their sound is veering towards Bauhaus rather than their previous Joy Division heavy influences. It could have been a hard act to follow but I think we managed it. There were some interesting glitches: I managed to hit my bass so hard during the breakdown in "Adore Me" that the wireless transmitter dropped out of the jack socket. Luckily I spotted it before someone trod on it and was able to plug it back in only missing the first bar of the next verse. Our singer forget all the lyrics to the first verse of "Tilting" and the foot switch for the backing was doing some weird things that required manual intervention at the computer. Despite all of that we went down really well and sold an unfeasible amount of T-shirts and CDs including loads of copies of our brand new single "Robert Smith's Eyes". Obligatory photos: Next gig is Carpe Noctum on 10th May at The Lending Room in Leeds supporting Faces Of Sarah.

SATURDAY NIGHT! (I know that's not last night) Depping with Manchester Ska Foundation at The Empire in Rochdale. I play with them about once or twice a year, but hadn't for a while so I was looking forward to it. I love playing with these guys as the gigs are always good and they're all cracking musicicans - I really have to raise my game! Early get there (6:45), I had to drive down actual cobbled streets to get to the venue which my crappy Hyundai i10 wasn't happy about! Bit of waiting around as the sound engineers were covering for the usual guy, so there was some confusement about channels, stage boxes, phantom power and such and such... All setup evetually, soundcheck all normal then lots more waiting round as we weren't on until 9:30. (I popped over the road to see the Town Hall, which is "widely recognised as being one of the finest municipal buildings in the country" apparently. It is rather grand.) The place was pretty full when we went on for the first set - a decent mix of people who'd come to see us and random Rochdalians (Rochdalers?) who were in there anyway. We cracked through the first set and sounded great. Highlights were 'My Girl Lollipop' which I absolutely LOVE playing and 'Ghost Town' (one of my favourite songs EVER), especially the trombone solo... Goodness Gracious, that girl can play! Oh, and 'Nite Klub' (Bass Solo!) which I did well on - I got a 👌 from the Sax player after my solo, which I was happy about! 'Hands Off, She's Mine' (The Beat) was a new one for me but I did pretty well (It's pretty straightforward to be fair) I'd done my homework so I was happy with my playing, right up until I completely (and I mean COMPLETELY) buggered up the 'coming back into the slow bit' bit in 'Special Brew'... I wanted the stage to open and swallow me up. I apologised profusely to the band at half time, they laughed and said "You did it better than Al (the usual Bass player) normally does" and blamed the drummer, so no harm done. Quick Lime & Soda and (Strawberry Jam Firerose) vape break and back on for the second set. The place had filled up nicely and the crowd were loving it. Second set highlights were 'House of Fun' (RELENTLESS Bassline! Lots of fun!), 'Too Much Too Young' which is a blast to play, 'Message to Rudy' (there's about four notes in it, so I just went on autopilot and enjoyed myself), 'Our House/Wings of a Dove' Mashup which is pretty complicated (all modesty aside... I'd put a lot of work into that, so I smashed it) and 'One Step Beyond' which always goes down a treat (except I forgot about the 'Swan Lake' keyboard solo in the middle and had to busk it (badly)... cue more laughter from the rest of the band and an amused 'Gotcha!' look from the keys player). We end with 'Night Boat to Cairo' and everyone gets a solo... my solo was... perfunctory at best... (It's over F and Eb minor... can't get my head round it!) but it went down well enough. The band were grateful for me stepping in and I feel lucky to play with them, so everyone was happy. Decent payer, quick packup as we didn't have to take down the PA, twenty minutes back to my dear old Ma's place for a bottle of Henry Weston's Signature Vintage (6.8% ABV). Played the StingRay (I'd taken the P as well, but... couldn't resist the 'Ray) -> Small board (I only used the chorus for the 'Nite Klub' solo) -> 'secret weapons' board (Thumpinator -> VTDI) -> MarkBass 802 -> PA. Shoes were the Black and white leopard print Converse (Peach Pink sparkle don't really go with the whole 'Two Tone' vibe...). An absolutely fantastic night all round. Apart from 'Special Brew'.

What a cracking gig last night. Played with Nine Lives in a wee pub in a wee village (specifcally the Pittendrum Bar in Sandhaven - a small village just along the North Sea coast from Fraserburgh). Funnily enough, we had played in this village a few years back, in their village hall on Hogmanay just before the COVID hit (so 2019, I guess? The "before times"). One of the advantages of playing a small place is that you don't need many folk as long as they're up for a dance or a singalong. There were 20ish folk in but they were a musically omnivorous bunch and seemed to be up for just about anything, which makes our job a bit easier. Anyway, long story short, we had folk up dancing to most of the songs, and a few head bobbers at the bar, so can't really ask for more than that. The pub said that they want to book us again, so that's what you want to hear. Easy load in/out - side door onto the street right next to where we're playing. Really was a fantastic wee gig. Gear was my "cheap night out" basses - Gear4Music bass with Lace Aluma-P then Epiphone Em-bassy with Entwistle PBXN Neodymium, into the usual Markbass modular nonsense. Also because yesterday was May 4th, I geeked out a little. R2-Neep2?

Played at the North Bar in Peterhead last night with Nine Lives. Bit of a weird one. A venue we've never played before. An area so wide, but with paths customers will take across where the cables to the PA speakers have to go, so I spent most of my time sticking cables down with gaffer tape. Really going to have to investigate using wireless bugs to get the signal from the desk to the PA speakers for places like this in future. Rushed setup as a result, and we were a bit late starting. And after all that effort, it was pretty sparsely attended - in the first half we ended up playing to 4 (four) folk plus the bar staff. "Paid rehearsal" came to mind, but thankfully some people came in later on and it was better in the second half. On the plus side, the sound was good, and the SB-2 performed admirably, with the Wunkay seeing out the second half. I do love my G&Ls. MFD FTW. Gear was the fantastic MFD brothers (G&L Tribute SB-2 then Wunkay) into the usual Markbass cubes of low frequency. Please excuse the terrible photos, my phone was having a 'mare focussing, it would seem.

I bet someone sent him a telegram at the time slagging him off

Saturday night was a wedding at a new venue for us in Lincoln. Long old day with travel included. We performed the ceremony, drinks and evening + DJ which is fairly regular package for us. But when we have a few hours travel on these as well they are killer days. Woke at 6am… Left the house at 7.30am and got home at 3.20am. Worked out at around 20hr day (ish). Still, just the one gig this week so not too bad. This can get relatively regular in the Summer so taking it as a nice easy week. All round a really good day. Lovely couple and group of people which were well up for it in the evening and a good sound with no limiter! Good first dance too. ‘Silver’ by The DMA’s which we smashed (if I do say so) Although, we are going through a few weeks of technical frustrations. Struggling quite a bit with something causing an intermittent cut out/ crackle in our IEMs. Thought we’d cracked it but it appeared again for a couple of songs... Sometimes wonder whether we’d be better with corded IEMs but with only 1 aux feed sending to 2 IEMs I don’t know whether this is achievable…? More investigation needed Also struggled with a horrible grounding type issue on my bass in soundcheck. Noise gate and reducing the gain on my pedal seemed to fix it but strange it’s never been an issue before. I’ve gone back to the Zoom B3 after having a few gigs using my new Laney Digbeth pedal. But, I really missed the cab sim within the SVT patch so not sure whether I’ll just stick with the B3 or try and find a way to make the Digbeth work as it does sound great. Anyway, the important bit… Brown Asda boots that I picked up on the way to a gig a few months ago after the guitarist let my Dr Martens fall out of the van on his drive without realising.

A rugby club up in the valleys on Sunday early evening. Modest attendance but enthusiastic reception for Bendricks Rock. I'd driven to London at 1:30 am, got four hours of non-sleep from 5-9 then drove back for 1pm. About 20 minutes of fitful nap, eat, shower lots of tea, then picked up by vocalist for 50 minute drive. I was amazed that not only did I not eff-up, I had a good gig. Nearly dropped off in the car back. Now I'm going to sleep early, goodnight.

VID-20250503-WA0001.mp4 Played a Salisbury Live gig on Friday at the same venue as @Cat Burrito played last weekend. The room is quite big with a dancefloor in front of a low stage and there are tables and chairs on a gallery area up some steps (this is on the same level as the rest of the club). There were three bands and we were headliners. Our drummer was drumming in the first band and singing in the second band so it was a little weird but we got to see another side of him and both bands were good. There wasn't a lot of audience throughout the evening but enough for it not to be embarrassing and consider it a 'paid rehearsal'. I'd say the fact that there seemed to be very little promotion apart from what the bands put in themselves, the venue is out of town and there's loads going on in Salisbury this weekend contributed to a low turnout. Having said that, the evening was great fun and we got another gig out of it later this year...with a guaranteed audience 👍🏻 Back to my Airwalk Ones (worn out soles but comfy!) Spoke to the other bands' bassist and we had a connection to a local band from the early 90s so that was cool. Short video from the outro to Butterflies (slightly cut short 😬)

Option 2 every time. You can't sound check at low levels as you won't hear the low end. You have to sound check at gig level. No need for 5 minutes though! Line-check everything then do 30 seconds of a section of a song where everything gets used (IE don't check the verse without BVs, check the chorus with BVs).

My gig last night was a recording session for which I was the engineer. My mate has opened a small studio where he records his music school students, so it's mainly acoustic guitar and singers. His initial attempt to record were, in his own words, rubbish (well, actually he used non-Basschat language which I have translated) so he asked me in to do it properly. Having been recording myself and bands for years (I started on small Fostex 4 track cassette in the late 80's and went through an 8 track reel-to-reel machine and various digital hard disk recorders), I have some experience. Last night was a beginner singer/guitarist who wanted to record a CD's worth of cover songs so it was a relatively simple set up. He wanted to sing and play at the same time, which made getting separation from guitar and voice impossible and he kept moving around, so trying to get a consistent sound was hard. We managed to get through about half of his list before his voice gave out and he started to struggle nailing some of the guitar parts. After he'd gone, my mate explained that he was in his 90s. He didn't look it, and my admiration for his performance went up a notch or two.

Last night was a joint 60th and 40th birthday, but in an open pub. This is about the smallest place we play, crammed into the corner. I always prefer to have my amp on the floor, but had to put it up on the seat for this one. Our regular drummer is still down with bronchitis, so the seat was filled by Rob Hewins, a musician I really admire - he did a great job drumming, filling in harmonies and taking the lead vox in a couple of songs. He's a pretty mean guitarist too! As usual the place was rammed, so I hovered in that thin line between having my teeth knocked out by the crowd knocking my mic stand and being stung in the back by a cymbal crash 😂 Sire P7-5, GT-6B, Rumble 500, burgundy suede Vans

This ^^^ 100% ! We had a similar gig yesterday, our regular slot at The Sun Inn, Beverley. It was pretty full by the time we arrived at 4.30pm, then absolutely rammed by the time we kicked off at 5.30pm. Obviously the bank holiday had a fair part to play in the amount of people coming in, but we managed to keep them from moving on to other local drinking places. We did our usual request thing, and probably the most we’ve ever had. ‘Dad rock’ was the main theme on a lot of them , so we hit them up with ‘’Smoke on the water’, ‘Highway to Hell’ and ‘Stairway…’. These were intertwined with ‘Copacabana’ , ‘Don’t dream it’s over’ and the awful ‘Hi Ho Silver lining’ Drink does appear to affect a lot of people’s preferences it would seem. Funniest thing was when a group of young lads came in, with a trophy held high as they’d just won it at a local football tournament. As they were about to be served one of the bar staff asked what the team was called, to be told it was a village under 18 side!! A swift exit followed ….. No pics taken, except for the lovely Beverley Minster as we were loading out.

Membership revoked!!

This is why we do it! I played a gig at a marina bar. Blues and funk covers and was going through the motions really (as double bass is my favourite instrument to play) and I looked over a guy in a Led Zepplin T-shirt rocking out like it was the best gig ever. All packed up and home by 10pm and he told us we were brilliant, etc. Some of the gigs we play I wonder why I bother, then you do one like this and it becomes a bit clearer. Doing a run of 4 next weekend (is that a tour?). Hope they’ll be as good

. . . . being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November. Always nice when the bass player gets some recognition.

My covers band has started every gig for the last 15 years with the same song. All three of us sing, so we take a verse each. Three minutes into the gig, our sound engineer @Silvia Bluejay has heard all three vocal mics, guitar, bass and drums (usually with everything going through the PA as well as backline) and our sound is sorted for the rest of the set. The audience (pub / club / festival / whatever) has no clue that they just heard our soundcheck.

The trick in these circumstances is to make it not sound like a soundcheck. No fannying around or practicing riffs you should have tidied up in the rehearsal room. No annoying feedback or tuning up at full volume. Everyone is focussed and ready to do a very specific and planned sound check. A band I played in had the soundcheck rehearsed so we could get set up, and play something both useful to get our levels and fix any sound issues with the room, but also appear to give the punters a montage of tunes. (We used the same soundcheck plan to set up rehearsals too as it happens) It helps if you have someone else doing sound "out front", but it is still more than manageable if the whole band is reading from the same page and actually helps rather than 'not being a team player'. As a side effect of turning up with this professional attitude is that you'll also help to bake the idea in to the heads of the punters that the band are gonna be really good and worth hanging around for. Nothing puts me off more than musicians who have no stage craft and p*ss around, not helping each other but still think they are great. /disclaimer, yes I've played festival stages and the toilet circuit where the engineer checks merely for some noise on the DI as a confirmation of bass tone lol.. It's not always perfect.

Finally! I mean all she had to do is record over 9000 songs perfectly, through multiple decades! 😁 Like one does.

I saw this in a youtube comments section. Gave me a laugh.

Gibson built approximately 1,700 sunburst Les Pauls between 1958 and 1960, of which only 2,500 are accounted for.

I shan't say anything other than this post is offensive. Carefully considered offence. Especially to those of us with hearing loss or those of us that have been doing this for a long time and have evolved with many ƙinds of tech. So, what's being said here is that because I'm passionate about big valve amps, I like my hearing impairment? It's difficult to interpret this in any other way. It's a nasty vibe. Hearing loss/impairment is not a joke and ACS wasn't a thing we were aware of in 1985. It's rare that we see such a vibe on BC. The original post has the sanctimonious air to it that tries to belittle those that don't align or agree. Vile.

New backup bass day got down to one bass but what a bass 72 P but band suggested I was tempting fate turning up to gigs with one bass. I have never needed the backups I’ve taken. Ever! I caved in and thought I’m just going to get a super cheap bass that can sit in a case - saw the Squier Jag Bass with one big pup - £219 - got it yesterday expecting it to be bad - but neck is satin smooth and zero fret sprout or sharp frets, 32inch - not had 32 or Jag before. It’s really nice to play. Pickup is nicely balanced and has a nice grunt to it. Tuners seem to be fine. Bridge is cheap - that and the strings are the only things I’ll change I think. im digging playing it too - rehearsals tomorrow to test it out.

Well, had my fretless debut on an all-nighter BBC session las week that's broadcast tonight!

Long overdue update. Waiting on body being finished before hardware upgrades and re-assembly. Mirrored scratchplate not shown should complete the build. Impatiently waiting but happy with how the checked finish looks on the upper body.

So about 9 months ago I became a double bass player - I bought a second hand Stentor '1950' bass in a very fetching blonde - and was lucky enough to get a spot in an established rockabilly band within four months of starting to play. That's not some prodigy genius, that's hours and hours of practise and 40+ years as a guitarist. All in the garden was rosy ... well, I kept looking at eBay adverts for double basses - not sure why - I mean one 'musical wardrobe of doom' in ones lounge is a big enough statement 😁 Luckily my wife thinks upright basses are lovely bits of furniture as well. These other basses I looked at were all fixer-uppers, as I am fairly handy - owning a guitar pickup company helps ... as does a father and grandfather who were engineers. However they all were a bit pricey considering they were unknown quantities two or three hundred quid is a lot to shell out for something with no bridge, a fallen soundpost and poorly done neck repairs ... so I kept my hand away from the bidding button. Then late one evening I saw it - bass shaped standing by some wheelie bins in the pic - no idea what size 3/4 or whatever and £49 with no bids ... er ...and no scroll and peg box either!!! So for fifty quid it came home with me ... Well, I determined it was old 3/4 (but quite dainty and slim compared to my Stentor) plywood ... Czechoslovakian ... I think, not valuable in the least (especially wrecked) with a painted (and thoroughly manky) fingerboard. A perfect candidate for fixing up. My first thought was to graft on a scroll and pegbox, but the guitar builder in me reckoned it was probably easier - and a more sound job long term - to replace the whole neck. I know - I'm a certifiable loony - but after I copped a look through the unoccupied end pin hole and one look at the two honking great wood screws holding the neck (as well as god knows what glue) I thought 'no ... that there neck has got to come off, and if it's going to come off I'll replace it with a new one - and fit an ebony board - So here are a couple more views before I started . .. ... nope the flame on the neck (like that on the body) is painted on. Normally if this were a guitar I'd have used hot water to soften the glue and with palate knives and wiggling I'd have removed the neck intact. The fly on the ointment here are those two big screws ... so butchery was needed sadly. Plenty of measuring up first ... This is where I planned to get the ball rolling by removing the neck along the dotted line My Japanese Ryoba saw made fast work of the sad bit ... and left this As soon as I saw evidence of PVA bodging adhesive I went for isopropyl alcahol rather than hot water to start freeing up the bits of neck I'd sectioned out (being careful to avoid where I thought the screws were. and there she blows and it's bloody HUGE - the plan had been to wind it backwards into the body ... but it was so loose it just fell in. Lots more dribbled alcohol (sounds like my weekends) and the other one put in an appearance Messy ... but we can fix that. Extraneous holes to fill with properly cut wood plugs (not dowels) and loads of claggy white glue and hide glue to clear up. I measured the heel block depth and cut a plug for the central slot/hole from a part salvaged from the old neck heel ... and will cut two more for the old screw holes. So for those that are interested ... I have ordered a neck and fingerboard from China maple/ebony ... it'll be interesting to check out the quality ... I bought some tuners for my Stentor and they were amazing for the price. I made a dummy neck 'plug' so I can re build the sides of the neck pocket against a 100% square sided former. and this plug will be used in drilling for the neck bolts ... yes this bass will sport a bolt on neck More soon.

Found it…

The drummer from one of my old bands from the 90's contacted me to ask if I could play a gig with them as sadly their bassist had died suddenly. Went along for a practice last night and was blown away how good they were. All sixtys covers but not many that i'd ever played before or was even slightly aware of. I'd been practicing at how for the last week or so but still couldn't nail some of them. A Doors number and a Moody Blues one left me just sitting out while I recorded it to play to at home. Also wanted me to do Penny Lane but in a different key to original so that's on my to do list. A number by The Creations sounded great and Summer in the city went well but my fave of the night was Riders on the storm... nailed it imho. Lots to learn for next week but up for the challenge. Got a Zoom H2n recording of Making Time by The Creation from this practice. I'd never heard the song before so had a listen on YouTube to a live version....I think overplay a bit here but I was enjoying it so much. Didn't get the end right but plenty of time to sort that hopefully. Was using EB3. into fender rumble head through ampeg cab. stan practice - BC_.m4a

We don't have a guitarist, drummer or keyboard player. We never perform live. We manage to write approximately one song a year. In a good decade. Beat that.

Because we don't rehearse much i actually quite enjoy them. We all bring sandwiches and juice or coffee and sit and have a chat for a while in the middle where we catch up on what each has been doing and gossip really. Its as close as i get to hanging out with a bunch of mates like the old days when i was young After one new song by ABBA which i thought was pretty standard stuff for any bass player the guitarist told me i'm the first bassist that he hasn't had to show how to play the bass line in that particular song. He said the same with Wizard Wish It Could be Xmas Everday when we first did it. Maybe because my background is in Prog / Jazz-rock i just find them relatively easy. ? Dave