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I have taken the brave decision to launch a new print and digital bass magazine for the UK market. I've been publishing magazines in my day job for 27 years and think it's terrible that we don't have a dedicated magazine anymore. We launch the mag officially at the Birmingham Bass & Guitar Show next month where we will have a small stand and giving away a sample issue (while stocks last) - we will then publish quarterly moving forward. Editor is Joel McIver who ran Bass Guitar magazine and then Bass Player so no cheap AI generated content here! Website is here You can subscribe via the website - our socials launch on Monday. If you are at the show next month come and say hello - be nice to put faces to names. The cover of our sample issue is here for your thoughts and comments.

So. After three-odd years containing knee surgery, a pulmonary embolism, torn rotator cuff, additional knee work and hand surgery, Sunday sees me back in the studio. I'm genuinely feeling energised to dip my toe into things. It's a blank canvas, we just go in, write in the fly and hit record. Old school.

I was up in Scarborough last night with our acoustic duo, playing at ‘The Lookout on the Pier’. We were a bit concerned with the weather, as the waves had been crashing over the end of the pier where we park to unload, but the tide was out when we arrived so no dramas. A full house of dining punters, with some familiar faces and some newbies which is always good. We run the gig as request based, and had some good ones including ‘Dead flowers’, ‘Walk away Renee’, ‘Budapest’, ‘If you could read my mind’ and ‘Stormy Monday’. ( Also nice to see Chris from ‘Knight’s Music’ shop in the audience - a great place in Scarborough.) I used my Fender Kingman bass into a Rumble 100 combo, perfect for venues like this. We are back there next on February 15th, so looking forward to it already. Just hope the weather has calmed down a bit by then.( Apologies for the boring photo, but Mrs CP was too busy socialising and forgot to take any.j

Hi everyone, I think I’ve come across your bass in a live auction with Wellers Auctions in Guildford. I check their listings from time to time for instruments, and this one caught my eye due to the very limited information provided. A quick Google reverse image search led me to this forum. The auction ends tomorrow, so it may be worth contacting them ASAP. I really hope you’re able to recover the bass. Chris

I've never known pubs to be so busy in January - another one rammed tonight. They were not very dancy, well there wasn't really the space, so it was a bit of a proggy night instead. We even had a little blast of Genesis - I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe), and I found my lawnmower patch in time 😂 The tools of the trade - Sub5 Stingish bass, GT-6B, Rumble v3 500. Black DMs. Some lovely compliments too. It's always nice when people acknowledge the bass. We have a couple of weekends off now.

Update. I'm in. The band were supposed to audition another bassist tomorrow, but he forgot about it......😁 His loss. I'm chuffed. First rehearsal tomorrow night.

Played at Thekla in Bristol last night, such a cool venue. Highly recommended!

We did 3 in a row with Abdoujaparov at the weekend. They're lovely guys and such a good band. We arranged to share the drum kit and bass rig. The first night was the Golden Lion in Bristol. It's a pretty cool venue room at the back of a pub, but weirdly, the pub punters have to go through the venue to use the loo, which made the doorman's job very difficult. Even more difficult that the job was forced onto our merch guy last minute. A bunch of young guys tried to get into the gig, talking too loudly, over confident, and perhaps a gurn or two... anyway, Tommo our merch man made short shrift of them. Since starting my own venue I keep noticing all the little things I don't like in other venues. Here we had: multi coloured XLR, PA hanging from the ceiling by metal angle and wood screws, spot lights at pretty much 6ft from the stage floor (mild concussion), lighting rig attached to a thin piece of wood attached to some plasterboard... Anyway, it was rammed and we had a great time Bideford Palladium Club on the Saturday, which is a very cool venue, but kind of out of the way. The guy says he's struggling so if you're out that way please go to some gigs! The sound was awesome and the room is fantastic. Green room upstairs with a random selection of objects was good fun. Someone glued a fake Oscar to the ceiling but it was down again by the time I left. More japes - I'd noticed a parking fine on our van before the show. I waited until after to tell the others. It turned out to be a yellow PCN plastic document wallet with a random bit of notepaper inside! We have no idea who it was. I suspect the venue owner did it to prevent us getting a real ticket. The King Arthur in Glastonbury on Sunday. We knew ticket sales were low, but we know a couple of people who live in Glastonbury, and it turns out they had no idea the gig was on. They've not seen it on posters or in local press or anything. There were loads of gig posters on the outside, some from last year, some gigs coming up, and a big brand spanking new gig list with Jan, Feb, Mar on it, and no mention of our gig. We got inside, the sound engineer is the guy "promoting" the show. Our frontman asks why there are no posters around and SE says "We did have some up". Our frontman laughed and asked "Were they nicked?"... SE obviously feels a bit awkward and goes on a rant about how he's not allowed to put posters up around town any more but FFS he might as well have forgotten he booked the gig at all. Apparently his door staff called in sick last minute too, giving Tommo the job again. SE chews my ear off about drums and gear while I'm setting up, and I know I should have seen this coming, but he said he needed 10 minutes to plug everything in, so we went to the shop, and on my return this f&^%$er was sat playing my kit. This might be snobby but I spent more than £3K on my cymbals and I don't let anyone play them. I let him know I wasn't happy, he got awkward and defensive, and we got on with sound check. To be fair it sounded excellent, he really knows his stuff, but by this point I'm losing the will to live. Abdoujaparov played first, and they were great, but obviously playing to 10 people in a cold venue gives a different vibe to the previous two days. I tucked into the beers and did my best. It was a long drive home to Stoke!

We played The Shed in Charlbury tonight; it's a small venue but popular with the jazz crowd. This was a fundraising gig to cover some of the costs of the recent refurbishment there (nice to have working electricity which is up to safety standards...). It was a good turnout considering we'd never played there before and the locals wouldn't have known what they were going to get. Luckily, they seemed to have liked it. Edit: Video available.

I saw Big Country a few times. Just before The Crossing was released, me and a mate flew to Jersey to see them. He worked for an airfreight business, they had an office in St Helier and he got someone to procure tickets; both of us had family working at BA, so we got cheap flights out. We had nowhere to stay and travelled in shorts and t-shirts. Found a room in Pontac. Gig day we thumbed a lift to St Helier (in a Lords Taverners minibus!), found the venue (Fort Regent Centre) and just holed up in a bar there. We saw the load-in and then Stuart and Bruce came in. This was mid-afternoon. Drink was drunk. They're stunned that anyone would want to fly somewhere to see them. We were invited in for the soundcheck...it was just me and my mate and a couple of crew (private gig!), more drink (Stuart gave us fresh t-shirts), then the gig. It was a great gig. Next morning we were on standby flights, so we're at the airport at 7.00am, same clothes. Band come in, see us, Stuart cheers (I remember him putting his arms up like he'd scored a goal), he tells me proudly that he's bought a wristwatch for £2.99 (this memory has stuck with me, him just going, '£2.99!'.). It's noticeable that despite the hour, he's not holding back in the spirits. Cleared to fly, we're on the same flight...Stuart is cheering when he sees us boarding. He's in the row behind us. Amazingly, Kenny Dalgliesh us sitting in the row in front of us. Over the years, we run into Stuart a few times and he always made some remark about the Jersey blokes. I genuinely miss him, it was a tragic, terrible, lonely and pointless death. I often wonder what could have been, but at least his legacy us pretty much intact.

This one is very bitter sweet - on the band stand as part of the local Wassail yesterday, leading community singing along with the local singing club and male voice choir. We had about 500 in the audience all singing along. Sadly that's the last gig we're doing as a band, but there's some good memories. Sorry, it's a rubbish photo, but you can see most of my bass and my left forearm!

Last night we played at the Musketeer in Leigh, Lancashire. It's always been one of those gigs where the crowd turns up 5 minutes before the band starts. We had been talking to them about taking our long-established jam night there, but we couldn't get timings that suited us all. We did a well-received first spot and a lengthy second spot. We certainly blew off the cobwebs in the place. It was great that the 'new' line-up of the band was so readily accepted at one of our favourite venues. It was a bit of a special gig for us, as our guitarist's wife gives birth next Fri (planned birth) and so we are taking the band off the road during February.

Cracking gig at The Bungalow in Paisley. Depping with a band I used to play with a few years back! Great fun and very very busy! Got to use my newest bass which is the Deaky bass as seen on this very forum! It rocks!!

I'm not sure if it has been posted before, if so, always worth another thread. 'Martha Reeves live in concert'. It's not very long (22 minutes) and there are a few top players by the looks of it. Some posters have named the band. Jamerson, Joe Sample (Keys), Wah Wah Watson & Dennis Coffey (Gtrs), Jim Keltner (Drums), Ollie E. Brown (percussion), Steve Doc Kupka (sax) Emilio Castillo (trumpet) Both from Tower of Power. George Bohannon (trombone) Maxine Willard, Maxine Waters, and Clydie King on back up vox. And, of course, Martha on top form!!

After our usual few weeks off in January, we were back at it at a fairly local WMC, Maltby Catholic Club. Despite being local we’d not played this venue before. The gig was well publicised resulting in a packed house. Both spots were well attended by dancers and a promise of a further gig, love it when a plan comes together. Talking with the proprietor, turns out the place wasn’t doing too well when the took it over last year but since investing in better live music acts the place is now thriving which was great to hear. EBMM shorty stingray, Boss pedals, Markbass little Marcus 500, 2 x Markbass NY121. Silver Converse Chuckie Ts.

Not my gig, but I was in the studio yesterday recording the first couple of tracks for my second album. The studio engineer, who is also guitarist and sometime backing vocalist on my recordings, casually dropped into the conversation that he opened for Planet Rock's "Winters End" festival on Thursday... and I get this guy whenever I need on my amateur recordings!

More pics... Shape oversize cut prior to routing...

The Joe Dart III Sterling Short Scale got a first run out last weekend. Lovely to play it has to be said.

First gig at the Merriott Social Venue near Yeovil last night. We were pretty rusty not having gigged since before Xmas and having been forced to cancel our last 3 weekly rehearsals due to illness and floods. Singer Kat still hadn't fully recovered from whatever bug had colonised her throat but we all agreed to just turn up and give it our best shot - including several ungigged new numbers. Thankfully Kat smashed it, the crowd loved us, the venue booked us for another gig in May plus their New Year's Eve bash - and a couple booked us for their wedding! One of the new numbers was No One Knows by Queens Of The Stone Age and our percussion was enhanced by the sound of my knees knocking together as the fear of what I was about to attempt took a hold of me. Fcuk the gig money! Nailing that song was what made my night 🙂

Some video emerged from last weekend's gig. Just in case you thought I just set up my rig in random places and photograph it every other weekend 20260124 Harbour Lights - Zombie.mp4

Yesterday morning I picked up a few items that had fallen out of the recycling bag. A bean can lid made a big slice along my ring fingernail. Spent all day with it plastered up and it appeared to have sealed, but I touched it up with superglue just in case... Last night's Fortunate Sons gig was for the Rusty Sprocket MCC and locals at a pub in Rumney. Usually the band play their festival every year but this year the dates didn't work, a shame as it's an event I'd love to play. Setting up this happened... yes leaking either side of the glue patch. It stopped bleeding but a rummage in my hits box later and it opened right up, about 4mm deep and 15mm long. Luckily th drummer has special 'wrap' elastoplasts with long tails. I've still got it on and will leave it for a couple of days. Gig itself was good although I made a few fluffs, only partly due to my padded ginger ... like remembering to tune back up from D but not switching myself off standby. Got an immense sound from my Epiphone Embassy with a nice overdrive when digging in. Great reception and possibility of a slot at a big bike festival in the summer.

Possibly the most unnecessary experiment in guitar history, but here we are

Redux. There's a load of photos from Jersey. Stuart We were crawling over the soundcheck: St Helier airport 7.00am (note t-shirt that Stuart gave me). I'd just come back from Spain, hence my complexion reflecting mu Portuguese heritage. And glasses!: I had nothing to sign, so I bought a book and they signed that!

Various shorties I’ve had over the years just the Shuker left 😊

So yesterday I sold the last of my SWR gear. This ends what has been a thirty plus year obsession with the brand, started by my love of the bass playing of John Paul Jones. Over the years I have owned and gigged: 1) Black Beauty combo 2) Black Beauty combo with Workingmans 210 3) 750x head with Goliath III (4x10) and Son of Bertha (1x15) 4) 750x head with two Goliaths 5) Grand Prix preamp (twice) 6) SM1500 head with two Goliaths 7) SM1500 head with one Goliath Senior (6x10) 8).SM1500 with one Goliath 9) SM900 with one Goliath 10) Marcus Miller preamp (twice) 11) Marcus Miller preamp with Amplite poweramp (the setup I should have kept). I know that Fender swallowed up the SWR brand and then promptly did nothing with it, but boy would I love an SWR pedal sized preamp with the semi-parametric EQ and the famous aural enhancer (marmite to many),

Well, 2 weeks to the day since I returned the One10, a replacement was delivered this morning, and all is well with the world once more. Alex promised to turn it around quickly and he has, just in time for me to use the pair on gigs tonight and tomorrow. The initial mix up was unfortunate, but it's all been sorted out at no cost to me. Rob

When we took the gig it didn't register that it was Burns night. I arrived first to find a very loud piper in full flow on the stage! We therefore had a slight delay getting the kit in. The plate of haggis, tatties and neeps with whisky sauce while we were setting up was very nice though. We are not a Scottish music band at all, but we did play a few songs by Scottish artists or fabricated tenuous Scottish links to the songs we did. I don't think we upset too many of the folk in tartan, although one guy did ask if we could play properly. When we said no he just said "Ah, crack on then" 😂 The place was quite busy and very hot when we started around 4pm. It was a bit of a relief that it thinned out slightly as it went on. We were all starting to flag a little by the time we finished though. The trusty Stingish bass and Rumble were in action again. I also gave my Solovair boots a run out for a change - not quite as comfy as my DMs yet though, so I'm glad to be at home in my slippers now 😜

I can understand not liking a guitar tone. (Taste is subjective, and all that.) I realise some people feel like they need to share this dislike in a short comment. Then there is Gazz. I do not know Gazz personally, but he felt the need to respond to a little 45-second video at some length: He goes on...dare I say my atrocious tone seems to have offended him quite personally... Apparently, I'm doing absolutely everything wrong..."but what [does he] know??", he humbly ventures... Ah, wait, there it is: Did Gazz actually want to offer his useful (read: unsolicited) advice, or did he just want an opening to brag about his collection of amps? (And isn't it funny how some people think that they can foghorn the most patronising screed at you, but as long as they say "don't take it as an insult," everything's A-OK?)

small but mighty!

A bit more progress on this one today, with equal parts satisfaction and quiet concern. The roasted maple neck has had a test fit into the wenge & elm body (dry fit only). Alignment and scale are behaving themselves, centreline is where it should be, and for once nothing has tried to fight back. Always suspicious when that happens. I’ve also been polishing the gloss poly finish, which has reached the stage where it looks finished enough to give you false confidence, but still has plenty of opportunities left to catch you out. This build was started before I’d properly refined my build process, so there are still a couple of jobs left that now feel… character-building. Chief among them is drilling the bridge earth hole, which is one of those operations where you stare at the body for ten minutes, measure it again, stare some more, and then wonder why you ever thought this was a good idea. Still, progress is progress. Next update will either involve a neat earth wire… or a lesson learned. It would be rude not to mention that a worrying amount of today’s progress was made possible by my Narex chisels, which continue to justify their place on the bench every single time I pick them up. Sharp, predictable, and refreshingly uninterested in drama, they’re basically the opposite of most of my builds. Clean cuts, no tearing, no surprises — just quietly getting on with the job while I mutter “that’s lovely” to myself like a man who’s spent far too long in a workshop.

I’ve had a Japanese Geddy Lee body hanging around for a while, did contemplate selling it at one point but never got round to it, then I started looking at a few options for it I did consider until very recently a fretless neck, I did see a mex’ neck for sale but didn’t take it any further The local Cello player tried to persuade me to sell it and he had a Japanese 70’s neck lined up for it in the meantime a very neglected Mexican jazz bass came into my possession for some much needed TLC, so I borrowed the neck off it and it worked well, but only a short term solution as the neck needs to go back from where it came at some Point so I continued to casually look for an alternative This came up last week, a Klos carbon neck, slightly unusual looking compared to a traditional neck with the 3+1 head stock and off set position markers but it appealed to me, after some research a deal was done It’s a very wet and windy day in Manchester so a good day to play with necks After I told the local cello player what neck I’d bought, he did suggest adding a black pick guard, sounds like a good idea, so if you have one knocking about, let me know

After my short-scale revolution due to the Sire U5, i started to look after a 4 strings short scale with 24 frets. ( Yes, i'm using the fret 24 from during solos ) And i've seen than Ibanez has proposed a shortscale version in EHB familly. (Three years ago i've been closed to receive a EHB 1500 DEF for my 50's birtdhay gift, finally dismissed by a Markbass Kimandu at last minut) So it was a now perfect occasion to finally grab one. She's arrived few days ago, and is a wildest animal than my Sire at first glance. It's been a real work to make her become softer. Unplugged: very nice resonance, nice vibe; already singing. Neck is one of the most comfortable i never played. Slightly wider and less thicker than the U5 one. Neck wood is absolutely beautiful. Fret work is perfect, thin frets i dig. Weight is 7,16 pounds. Perfectly balanced when strapped, straight wrist to play and not any discomfort to play F note on E string. Very smooth touch. Small defect already beat to death in the EHB topic: inlays are near to invisible on fretboard and neck edge. I will have to add some visible dots on neck edge. First plug in my amp: Heeeelp me !!! Deaf sound, rough, becoming aggressive as soon as i touch the preamp. So, after a deep dive in the TB EHB topic, i've tried all advised modifications: - In first remove the neutrik jack lock lever. It was really painful to remove the cable - Move a connector on the circuit board: + 6db. Meh, more level and a very little more clarity but more overdrive as soon as i touch the preamp - Move a second connector on the circuit board: VMS -> BE3Q: voicing change. Not very better, still deaf and rough tone. A little more trebly but in an agressive way. - Wiring modification from serial to parrallel: Night and day ! Pickup are becoming suddenly more precise, sound more open. Preamp strats to be nice and effective. It still misses something in the mid department. Voicing is very mid-scoop and too trebly. Of course preamp can now correct things but it doesn't seem to add some thickness to the overall tone. Something is still missing. Ok, plan B: give back stock soapbars to my Markbass Kimandu, and get her actual Bartolini US BC4CBC to put it in the EHB. 4 holes drilling in the bass: original BH2 have two holes when my bart US have 3 -> Welcome to the sound and power of US bart: much more beautifull mid, and bartolini flavour all around. The bass is more precise, powerfull; even in passive mode. But overall tone is still a little deaf side mainly on the E string, as if the power would take precedence on note definitions. Strange. Ok, so mixing this impression with previous modifications tried, i decide to re-wire the US barts in parallel. And finally: WOO HOO ! Same night and day impression than with the BH2 but this time with nice mids, beautifull treble. The Preamp start to work nicely, and perfom sweet little corrections. Pickups: Neck side: if you're after a PB tone, this bass is not for you. Nice round neck sound but on the modern side. Bridge side: close too jazzbass sound. Two pickups together: It could be a jazzbass, on the Marcus Miller side. But always with a little something more modern. Notice: - Bass came in a gigbag, with a ramp (too thin and a little curved. I will re-do another one), schaller straplock and Allen key. - "Zoundhouse" in Germany is a really serious shop: quick sending with a strong cardbox in another stronger cardbox. Bass in perfect shape, perfect set up. (First time i don't have to touch anything; plus the original d'addario strings are those i use.) A shop to trust ! Finally: i've had some work, spend some time to make it suit my taste; but i'm really happy with it. I really don't understand why Ibanez didn't think at minimum about a serial/parrallel switch as it really needs it. I'm really happy: nice bass with a modern sound and an ouststanding playing comfort. I will not say GAS is dead cause you all will laugh but with my Sire U5, i've now the perfect duet to cover all fields; and they are the two most comfortable basses i've never played. Next step: find color paint RAL for making a matching ramp, add some visibles dots on the neck side, and make some soundclips. To be followed Enjoy !

Hi guys, Just recorded a video in 4k so you can really see the detail of the body with the glassy finish... yep still in good condition after all these years!

Well i couldn't find a 32" SC headless...So i decided to design and build my own. Had a pair of Peavy VFL's 5;s lying around so one's gone in the bridge (im still looking for it's preamp..it's about here somwhere!) and id thinking of dropping an S in the middle position (maybe mod one in after it's finished) My 2.9mm stainless wire just arrived after being lost/delayed last month, not sure if i'll be going high gloss or hard wax/poly wipe on yet...i should start a build log here for this i guess.

Tone air, it's the newest thing.

Finally have finished all the routing for Speakon connectors and handles. Sides, top and bottom already glued, Now doing front and rear glueing and clamping. Next steps tomorrow, let the glue cure overnight, a bit of filler (ahem), sanding down, put a 6mm curve on the edges with the router, two layers of smooth Armacab on all external surfaces, one top layer of textured Armacab but masking off any rebated areas, measure for black 3d printed corners, print them overnight as eight hours , assemble all and test for Sunday (hopefully).

With my thanks going to @HeadlessBassist for agreeing to collect this from Rotherham and meet me at Membury services (mentioned positively in the 2019 Gavin and Stacey here is a 1981 Aria TSB 550. I have only ever seen one other fretless one of these in this colour and it belonged to Frank Allen from The Searchers. Undergoing some TLC as the truss rod is seized atm So 3 in 1 oil into it and fingers crossed I can sort it 32 inch scale and MB 3 pickup

It might just be knocking around a depot somewhere. Years ago I had a bass that went missing for a couple of days (my Zoot in a massive Warwick flight case) which was shipped via PF24 or whatever it was called then. The only reason it made its way to me within the same week was our Parcel Force guy (I worked for a mail order company that used PF almost exclusively at the time) spotted it leaning up against a wall, recognised he'd delivered waaaaaay too many similarly shaped boxes to me and checked the label. So really the moral of the story is the more basses you buy the safer you are.

Generative AI can get in the bin as far as I'm concerned. It makes an absolute mockery of the years I've spent learning an instrument. It's a disgustingly insulting short cut. Get gud or eff off. *mic drop*

I played a charity gig with the Hulla band last night at Rhossili village hall (that's right on the windy end of Gower and last night was very windy). It was in aid of Brain Tumour Research (organised by someone whose daughter has recently been diagnosed) and well attended for such a stormy night. The hall has a proper stage but as a thirteen pieces, we manage to fill the space of most stages and tonight was no exception. I was stage left as usual but at least I had a small off stage area that my headstock could fit in. The set was a mix of rocky stuff, a bit of C&W and Stones songs, requested by the organiser. Pizza and drinks were supplied for the band, which was very thoughtful as we had an early setup and little time to eat. Lots of dancing, some tears at the speeches, more dancing and some dodgy (but great) audience singing. We had a 'mare during 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' when, for no obvious reason, the arrangement went jazz on us and I found it hard to get back to some kind of normality. Later, the singer/guitarist jumped off the stage (about 3 feet) and as he landed, the battery pack for his wireless guitar setup fell off the strap and bounced across the floor. He was set to solo and instead I had to fill in the gap with some bass runs while the crowd picked up the pieces and handed them back to him. That seemed to clear the jinx and the rest of the set was fine. The inevitable 'one more song' chant led to an extended encore and a later finish that we were expecting but everyone stayed to the end and I was home by 12.30. Kit last night was my Fender P Bass going through the Behringer TU300 tuner (I can't get on with clip-on tuners) and my Behringer BDI21 which fed the desk from it's DI and my IEM from the jack socket. I was trying to keep things simple as I knew there wouldn't be much space on stage. Footwear was a pair of black no brand boots.

I think you can get too hung up on this sort of thing. If you put stuff up on social media you are going to encounter people who get their kicks from trolling. I see it all the time on the most innocuous clips on Instagram, people obviously just trying to upset other people for the hell of it. What they are after is attention either from the original poster or other commenters, the more negative the better, as far as they are concerned being noticed is a win for them. The best way to deal with it is just to ignore them. Don't give them any indication that you've even seen it. Deny them the attention they are seeking and leave them thinking that they're wasting their time trying to engage with you and they'll move on.