Leaderboard

We had a great night with a great crowd at The Bend Theatre opening for Reverend Raven. We sold 230 tickets $18.00-$20.00. The place only holds 300. We played from 7:30- 8:30. I could tell from the sound check that were clicking on all 6 cylinders. I got mobbed in the lobby as I was leaving.lol Daryl

We opened the Swindon Shuffle’s Friday Night at The Castle in Old Town last night. Arriving in good time to see the headliner’s soundcheck, I was immediately taken by the bassists sound. Very dubby. He had his back to me and when he turned around, he was playing with a pick, right up by the bridge! It was a Genz Benz amp and every time I hear one of those, they sound fantastic. We were the first of five bands and I think were given this slot as we’re just a duo. I would be too polite to argue but a few people suggested we should have been higher up the bill. In many respects though, it was one of the better slots. I had my 2008 USA Fender Jazz that was going through my board. Doing as the soundman wanted, he had me go through the Genz Benz amp and it sounded great. We did an all original set with the keys / drums on the iPad. Some soundmen struggle, with this set up but the guy last night clearly knew his way around the desk and the sound both on and off stage was glorious. We let the music do the talking but still had a bit of banter with the audience. We held the audience throughout our 30 minute set, something some of the other acts didn’t manage. Introducing two new songs and a few favourites, the time flew. At the end, I thanked everyone, only for the track to loop and start up again. I quickly stopped it and said “So sorry, you didn’t ask for an encore!” which I think endeared us further. I thought we played well. My lead vocals (I am not the main singer) are definitely gaining confidence and I am falling in love with my Jazz bass all over. A great night.

I've just got back from Islington after collecting this monster that I bought 6 weeks ago. I'd given up on finding one years ago. I've gigged a 12 in the past, I've played "those" songs live, I've seen Cheap Trick a few times, I've seen Tom Petersson guesting with Pearl Jam playing Surrender in the US, I've been chasing one of these for years. It's a 1999 B12L and it's like New Old Stock. It's pristine. @Wolverinebass has given me some great pointers for biamping via the HXStomp and shared patches that I've already trialled with 4-string Spectors. It's the first set-neck bass I've ever had, apropos of nothing, just saying. It needs a set up, it'll get new strings in the morning and then I'll see what it can do. It's relatively light for such a thing @9.5lb. No idea of neck dive yet. That's the original Hamer case and the original certificate with serial number is in there. More pics and updates as the week progresses.

Just got in after an excellent, but LOUD, gig with Katy Hurt at the Hogs Back Brewery Hop Harvest festival. Weather was changeable and literally 15 minutes before we were due on the heavens opened, but thankfully the rain stopped and the sun shone for our entire hour set. The lineup was eclectic but cool, naturally there was great beer, the crowd was superb, and the sound (onstage at least) was great, (except for the loud bit 😆). We played well on the whole, my ACG/Elf/Two10 rig was sounding mint, Gab played a blinder and Katy was in fine voice. Really enjoyed it, just wish I’d put my earplugs in…

Oh, more importantly, it's finished! I'll take some better pictures tomorrow when I have some daylight, but here's a decent enough shot of the completed bass. I think it looks rather nice, and it sounds good as well. I've attached a quick bit of noodling, recorded direct into my interface with no tinkering. It's neck position, both pickups on, and bridge position. I've since raised the bridge pickup a little, so it should sound a bit less feeble. Untitled.mp3 Thanks to @Chienmortbb for being willing to part with this project bass, @PaulThePlug for his Hohner/Steinberger knowledge and @Jackroadkill for his 3D printing work. Also, special thanks to the cheap white-and-orange beach towel/workbench cover that stars in many of these pictures. My mum bought from a Leclerc in Brittany during a family holiday about 30 years ago, and it's only recently occurred to me that I have no idea how or when it ended up rolled up in a cupboard in my house.

Charity beer festival at the Shirley British Legion this weekend, Friday and Saturday, and quite busy for me. Friday evening I did Hey Joe with the first Chris, then it was the band to which I've been recently recruited with one and a half rehearsals for an hour. Quite a lot of jamming occurred, the audience liked it. Definitely needs a lot of tightening up. Then another hour with Graham and Tony - Graham had sent me the song sheets but I hadn't looked at them properly and missed the "capo 4" on Eight Days a Week. Sat that out as I couldn't transpose it on the fly, coped OK with Come up and see me (capo 2) and something else with capo 1. Saturday I was there for the latter part of the setting up and ran through some songs with Paul, then did the first half hour with Rick and nine short 60s songs, half an hour of rest, then half an hour with Annette where I sat out a Smiths song due to confusion over chords and capo but did the rest. Another hour and a half of rest, then back with Annette and Chris the sax for half an hour, and then I played guitar with Mrs Zero singing for another half hour, then straight on to an hour of blues with Tom and Tony. Shouldn't blues be restricted by the Geneva Convention to a maximum of half an hour at a time? Half an hour of rest, then one that had been sprung on me, playing bass for Paul and his two lady friends on ukes and guitars. Then half an hour accompanying Blind Young George. My old band played next for an hour but didn't include me, although I sneaked in for their encore. I think I played about 70 songs over the two days. Gear was Sei headless fretless 5 -> Lekato/M-Vave wireless -> Zoom MS-60B+ -> HH bass combo, footwear was the usual Caravelles. Blind Young George really is blind, and 14. Very talented. And I do have a music stand because I can't learn 70 songs that quickly (only needed it for one of George's songs though).

I played a gig as a dep bassist in my mate's band last yesterday. I had 2 weeks to learn 32 songs most of which I hadn't played in any form before and a third of which I'd never heard before. It was at a rugby club where a local derby match was being played so the prospect of post game rowdiness was high. And it was in a smallish marquee on a day when winds and thundery showers were forecast. We set up in the morning, pre- game, during several heavy downpours and the water was running into the marquee under the sides and across the band area. There was only staging enough for the drums so when I got there everything else had been placed on beer crates, duck boards and in the case of the keyboard player, an old door. I was stood on the upstream side of the band area and only had a couple of old rubber car mats for my pedalboard. Fortunately the stage had enough room for the Trace Elliot cabs, which were only for monitoring anyway as I was going through the main PA. In the gap between set up and gig I was able to go home and make a mini riser for the pedal board and a folding duckboard for me which I deployed when I got back for the soundcheck. The anticipated rowdiness wasn't there and we kicked off at about 5.40pm, playing all the way through to 7.30pm when the crowd started making their way home after an all day session. I managed to get through all the songs with few 'creative lapses' - the drummer reminded me when to come in on one song and there were a few fumbles on transitions between choruses and middle 8s. We had a full tent of dancers for pretty much the whole gig and best of all, no river flowing across the band area. Kit was my Hohner Jack into a Sine HPF, MS60b (for noise gate and tuner only), NUX Sculpture compressor, EHX Bass Clone, NUX Voodoo Vibe and into the desk via my Ampeg SCRDI, with a signal to my Peavey Minimax 600 nto apair of TE 1X10 cabs, one angled for the drummer the other angled across to me. The original plan was to take a split from the SCRDI into my Behringer P1 monitor and via radio to IEM. But one of the cables in that chain was playing up and all I got was crackles and blips so I gave up on IEM, retaining the earphones as ear protection. As it happens, the monitors were good and I could hear myself nicely. After rejecting the idea of wearing wellington boots as being a little out of character with the rest of the band, footwear for the evening were a pair of black shoes, brand unknown. Morning set up. My pace is stage left. Duckboards

Last night in a Boston pub, 1st dep for Kloane, an 80s+ covers band. Was apprehensive to be honest because, though I had depped twice recently with most of the guys for their soul big band, these songs were mostly brand new to me: I'd never attempted these basslines before, even at jam nights or learning at home. Out of 30 on the setlist, 9 days to learn 25 of them. I had a feeling they wouldn't mind if I used a tablet as an aide and it turned out to be the case - it was a bloody useful crutch. I don't know how I'd have fared without it, but on some songs I'd have been not got the starts right and missed some of the many breaks, interludes and specific endings. Most of the recorded tracks are fade out, but I had their backing tracks the vocalist uses on his solo gigs and I trusted the band would follow the structures, which they mostly did. Had a few unannounced key changes which totally threw me for more than a few bars as I was trying to desperately transpose in my head whilst keeping the groove going 😱😎. Pay wasn't the best, but we all get the same and this is the first that's not been cash No rehearsals, just straight in. It's nice they trusted me for that. I'm not even a semi-pro, so this has been a challenging but huge learning experience - and on the night a lot of fun once we got going. Hopefully I'll get called in again. In the meantime I plan on learning these songs properly!

An Eagles tribute show in Richmond, North Yorkshire last night. A fun gig as always, but notable for being in one of the oldest theatres (c.1788) in the UK.

So I thought it would be interesting (decide for yourself how interesting!) to document the setup of a new band... Read on if you want to, or don't if you don't. I've always wanted to have an 80s covers band. Ideally I would be the lead singer and bassist, alas my vocal chops just aren't there. I tried once in the past to set up a band using people found on joinmyband and other sources and it wasn't a great experience but a valuable one. Earlier this year my main band, a 2000s covers band, had a hiatus and the drummer and I cooked up a scheme to do something as a side project. This is one of the big lessons I learned a few years back: work with at least one person you already know! Well, that makes bass and drums... I contacted a guitarist I was in a band with four or five years back, I love his style and attitude and we have remained friends loosely keeping in touch, he was excited to join in. In the middle of August we met up with a handful of songs to bash through. I found it a real struggle to sing and play, my voice was knackered at the end of it, but we agreed we had something that worked and if we had a singer and ideally a keys or sax player we could really have something worth progressing. I got too excited and advertised for a singer much earlier than I had wanted to. I got a handful of responses: a guy aged 28 who sings modern metal, a classic rock vocalist in a covers band id heard of, a female singer who recently left an indie band, and a lady who only wants to do backing vox as she doesn't want to fully commit. I have not yet met the singers, we want to get the songs tight first. But we have rejected two of them already! Now, the lost of songs we are working on is a handful of "male" songs and two "female" songs. The classic rock singer contacted me to say words to the effect: "you do realise that Holding Out for a Hero is written for a girl??? You know it's about a Man???" That told me all I needed to know about this person. Didn't say "hey I might tweak the words" which I'm happy with, just basically came across a bit old fashioned and hinted he could be difficult to work with. Luckily, the recordings of heard of his vocals weren't great so I was comfortable saying we had better fit singers already. Also, he didn't notice, or at least raise, that "I wanna dance with somebody" is also a female perspective song. I have no issue if a man or woman wants to change the gender perspective of a song, or keep it. But we had not at this point said we want a male singer, or we want a female singer. We just wanted a good singer and to do good songs, so we have a mix. Anyways, onwards and upwards. In the meantime we wanted to get the songs tight but also I kept hearing sax in a lot of the great songs of the decade so I advertised for a sax player. I got a great response from a guy local to where we rehearse who plays sax and keys. I sent him the long-list of possible songs and five mins later got a reply of "f me that's my childhood!" And I just knew he would do for us. This week we met up again and invited our sax and keys player. We also had a friend come along to sing so I could concentrate on bass and arrangements. Magic happened. We did two or three runs through of each song, had a ten minute break for a chat. We instantly bonded with our new multi-instrumentalist: a decent person, a proper musician, and he LOVES the genre. There are still details to work out such as better transition to solos, proper endings of all these fade out songs, but we were really solid and the keys and or sax just really added something. It felt special. We will meet again in a few weeks' time, now with a handful more songs that really prominently feature the sax. Our best candidate for singer isn't available until mid October so hopefully we can be really tight by then and ready for him. I'm getting quite excited about this side project! Playing with a drummer and guitarist I know really helps, and striking gold with a chap who plays sax and keys is just sheer good fortune. More to come soon....

Correct, this is my work. Good question and I agree (in general) somewhat, but we now have 3 different hybrid models, and all 3 are very different from each other in tone, texture and feel. The WD-800 is modeled after the Walkabout, with the updates that many players asked for, this amp is modeled after the Bass 400+ with significant player driven updates as well. I spend most of my time over at TalkBass, there were over 300 players over there that provided input on what they would like to see if we were to do an amp like this, and a LOT of the suggestions made it into the final version. Here's a link to the thread, there are informative comments and a couple of our test players have contributed to the thread, including some gig videos. For a (refreshing to me) change, we deemphesized the obligatory bass slap w**ker videos because that's not representative of real life, and instead are focusing on gig and studio demos. I would expect there to be more of these in the next week or two, once players receive their amps. I also begged for better EU access to these amps (we all share your frustration), and it looks like making a fool of myself groveling may have produced results! Thomann says they will have them available within the week on their website. Here's a link to the thread: (sorry, link won't embed) Here's a link to the owner's manual: https://www.gibson.com/cdn/shop/files/MESA_Boogie_Bass-800D_Product_Manual.pdf?v=14438764719515208578

I was in the big time Saturday night at The Bend Theatre with the full Maple Road band.. Sunday we had an acoustic gig and back in reality. It was an okay acoustic gig. We were background music for an event sponsored by wine makers and vendors. Daryl

Depping gig inside a church for a wedding near Hinckley. I was worried about the acoustics of playing in a place with high ceilings etc but no problem at all. The audience were really up for it with lots of dancing, plus one guy who came up and sang a couple of songs with us (I think he knew the singer 🤷🏼‍♂️). Good catering too courtesy of a pizza oven thing out the back. Winner. Took a small rig of just one Markbass 2x10 cab, a LM2 head and a Yamaha BB604 bass. Pared down the effects board to just a tuner and a compressor gaffer taped to the top of my amp head.

For me intent is everything. To take the piss in some way - bad. To honour the song / subject - good. A few words spoken before playing it will clarify intent for the audience. "We have been asked to play this song. It is one of the greatest protest songs ever written about a subject that doesn't get enough attention and we just hope we do it justice" Something like that.

Played The Prince Albert in Brighton yesterday afternoon. We were asked to open with just a few weeks’ notice after the headliner pulled out, and the other two acts moved up the bill. I was already running on fumes after seeing The Stranglers (with the fantastic Skids supporting) in Watford the night before, so leaving the house at 10:30am was a bit of a struggle. I ended up using another band’s bass rig—an Ashdown head on a tiny 4x8 cab—as a stage monitor, while DI’ing my Tech21 DP3X. Bass was the Nate Mendel signature P. It sounded fantastic. The set went really well, and the crowd seemed to genuinely enjoy it. Numbers were thinner than expected (likely due to the original headliner dropping out), but the energy and enthusiasm from those who did show up more than made up for it. After our set, we headed to the back room for a quick drink and a sandwich. As we emerged, the drummer from one of the other two bands hands us a roll of cash—turns out he had kindly manned our merch table and completely sold out of our albums, EPs, and even a few shirts! We stuck around to watch the other bands before heading home. Long day, but a great one.

Back at The Plumbers Arms in Huddersfield last night. We usually end up really cramped there because there's football on and they don't move the tables for us, but this year we made a point of asking for the space so we had maybe another square half-metre to play with. Hey, every little helps! We were due to go on at 9, but while we were setting up we were asked if we wouldn't mind going on at 9.30. We grumbled a bit but there wasn't a lot to be done at that point so we said yes. We wondered why since the place was quite empty, until our singist did some sleuthing. It turned out that we weren't going to be the only band on last night. We were told that another band had come up from Wales to watch rugby, and were going to perform for free around our sets in exchange for a free room for the night. All very enterprising but not promising for getting us out of there at a reasonable hour. The band in question were a vox & guitar/sax duo from Anglesey doing covers to a backing track, and while I appreciated their technical competence it wasn't really my cup of tea, though I watched a few of their songs to show support and was pretty much the only person who applauded any of them. To be fair they watched the whole of our second set and their singist/guitarist said some extremely complimentary things about us afterwards, including that we should be doing a lot more gigs and he'd set us up with some on Anglesey if we ever fancied it! We didn't have our usual crowd there as they were all either busy or ill, and so the place seemed really quiet, and actually emptied a fair bit before we started which had us fearing we were in paid rehearsal territory, but people came and went throughout and there was always a good dozen or so in the immediate vicinity of us to keep us a bit interested, although applause during our first set was very hard to come by even though everyone seemed to be enjoying us. Out second set is livelier then the first so there were a few more people getting involved, helped by the arrival of part of a wedding party, including the father of the bride who wore a very natty red suit and a porkpie hat and who, along with one of his mates, created probably our first and only ever mosh pit (albeit quite a tame one) during Teenage Kicks. I didn't think we'd get any calls for an encore but we did, and so we didn't end up finishing until nearly midnight. A swift pack up and load out later I was home by 12.45, where at the request of my 8yo I slept in the living room on a pair of stacked foam mattresses that was Not Comfortable while he slept on the sofa, so I got hardly any sleep and am a fair bit broken this morning. Didn't get any photos because I forgot, but I used the Sire V7 - Elf - Two10S combo again that sounded ace. Shoes were black Converse Chuck Taylor Hitops.

The headlining Bredon Cider Festival gig with Jagged Little Alanis from a couple of weeks ago is the gift that keeps on giving. The official photographers have been rolling out loads of stuff but these ones are amazing - love his edits! 🙂

Saturday: Fortunate Sons (not a tribute) at Barry Football club. Someone asked me 'where are you from?' I said over there... I was born a stone's throw from the far end of the stadium. First half I was a bit rough... still recovering from a brief visual migraine, no headache but leaves me washed out. By the second set I felt better. Stuck in a few little fills of my own, some of which madevthd guitatist crack up. Keyboardist is a lapsed bass player (😯) which meansvhe doesn't compete with mycfound so the mix was excellent. Monitor with my own mini mixer worked well. Good numbers, lots of dancing, lots of handshakes afterwards. Sunday: My first Bluesfire gig for months and the setlist had evolved a bit. New songs but not complex, three or four we hadn't played begore, but I had gone through earlier. A few key changes but only one that I didn't get tipped off about! I know blues isn't everyone's cup of tea but we have very wide idea of what goes and on many songs there's space for improvisation. I found being away from the band playing other stuff gave me some interesting/unusual ideas. We felt the break got us out of a rut and we were paying more attention to each other rather than playing from habit/memory. Had chances to get up the dusty end too. An encore was demanded so we did a randomly arranged Superstition about 30% faster than normal. At one point I was slapping the riff from Play that Funk Music... strangely it all came over as pretty tight. Audience was a bit thin due to torrential rain, but all three of us were on fire and we played a good two hours. Felt shattered afterwards but in a good way. Same gear for both gigs. Unashamed Fender lover. Sound was great IMHO. My udual cheap quecha trainers as they are the best thing for my dodgy ankle (podiatrist and physiotherapist approved!)

We graced a huge sports bar last night. Palpable sense of menace in the air, drunken, broken nosed, tattooed football fans wandering into the playing area to chat with the singer during songs, people asking for Pink Floyd tunes (we're an Irish band, whistles, mandolins, cajon etc) and one guy offered to take over as our bassist. I nearly let him.

Must keep away from the Gardiner Houlgate auctions, they're a dangerous place for me, or at least for the integrity of my anatomy if I keep buying basses and can't manage to sell any. Went down to near Bath to pick up this lovely Shuker Uberhorn today. Body: African blackwood topped mahogany body Neck: seven piece wenge/mahogany with CF strengthening rods, 35" scale Fretboard: phenolic resin Electrics: concealed EMG pickup system and Graphtech piezo saddles All in an original branded Hiscox hard case. There's also a card from WM Guitars whose hands it has obviously passed through giving the specs (and the price they sold it for). The strings are described as D'Addario tapewounds in the WM Guitars description, and that's still what's on it, looking a bit worn, especially the long thumb rest string. It will be getting some nickel rounds. The action is ridiculously high, mainly (I think) due to the relief being absolutely huge. The battery is in quite reasonable nick, should get a bit of use out of it. There's a couple of little dings around the edge but nothing major. For some reason, it hasn't got straplocks on it, which I see as a significant omission to be rectified very soon. Pictures are from the Shuker website and the auction website. When I summon up a bit of energy, I'll take some more.

Yesterday at the Wirksworth Arts Festival in Derbyshire. The Desperate Cowboys did a 45 minute set as part of an all-day multi-act show. It’s a small town with grim parking at the best of times, so park-and-ride systems were set up from the nearby quarry sites. Consequently, it was my Taylor Mini Bass straight into the supplied PA. The Taylor has enough character and quality to sound good enough though that setup, so no complaints. Initially, we were disappointed to only get a midday slot. However, given the way the weather went, we were quite happy. I even had to swallow my prejudices and play in a hat! I think I’m done now for outdoor gigs in Derbyshire until next spring.

New venue for us at The Winged Horse in Basildon. Pretty much your usual community pub in a busy resential estate, with an array of lively, colourful characters. We were also joined once again by one of our dep singers, Hazel, who did a fantastic job once again. Initially they wanted us to set up in the main bar area, but there's barely space for a duo, let alone a 6 peice band, so we set up in the secondary room. It did however mean we had to compete with the football on the screen in hte main bar. Nevertheless, we played well and had a decent crowd who came through to watch, sing and dance. Only real downside is no body told us it's payment via "Just Pay", not cash. So that's that's going to take a while to come through. Oh well. Next stop, The Sarah Moore in Leigh-on-Sea.- about 15mins walk from my front door.

Righty, I'm back from a week's holiday on the Devon coast (lovely) and ready to put the finishing touches on this project. In my time away, the lacquer has had time to fully cure. So the first thing to do was the both tedious and nerve-wracking process of wet-dry sanding the bass to get rid of all the brush marks and runs. This is always a fairly scary process, as you just have to keep sanding (constantly checking things) and trust that you applied the finish thickly enough to be able to smooth out all the imperfections before you go all the way through the clearcoat somwhere. If you blow through it, particularly if its in a very visible spot, you essentially have to just throw up your hands, do a lot of swearing and start the whole process again, which can take a week or two to cure. It's maddening, but I've gotten pretty good now. No issues with this job. Here's what the bass looks like now – I've sanded and polished and polished and polished and polished and polished. I then applied the shielding foil to the control cavity and added the ground wire before attaching the bridge (with thurst bearings fitted now, thanks for @PaulThePlug for the recommendation). I boiled the strings and gave it a rough set-up for intonation and action. No electronics yet. One of the great advantages of headless basses (especially double-ball end ones) is that you can string them up and de-string them over and over again without any problems. I've just spent the last half an hour or so playing it unamplified and it seems pretty damn good. No fret buzzes, and it's really surprisingly loud even with just the wood for resonance. One thing that has thrown me a little is just how chunky the neck is – I'd taken measurements and so I knew in theory that it was a big boy, but I was still a little taken aback when I got it in my hands. It feels more like my dad's 70's EB3 than the jazz and stingray style necks on my custom basses. I'm assuming I'll get used to it in time. Even with the chunky frets, the action could probably go lower than its current position (with the saddles decked on the G and D strings decked) with no fret buzz. Not that it isn't playable now, probably low enough for most players, but I'm picky. I think I can file the bridge saddles down a smidge without problems. Tomorrow I'll prep the 3D printed components from @Jackroadkill and put the electronics together. My plan is to put a basic vol-blend-tone circuit in it for now, and then replace it with something esoteric, filter-based and active down the line if I like the general sound and playability.

It was ok. Played to sold out 150 capacity room. Local indie stalwarts ’The Notion’ retirement gig. 9 songs, then when we’d finished - got told to play on, did a bass/piano/vocal version. small stage, increasingly frustrated by the use of music stands. guitarists amp blew up…properly dead in soundcheck… fun.

We played Murton Officials Club in a local colliery village 20 minutes from home last night. It's a small club with a fantastic crowd, and one of our favourite gigs, with a very easy hump in and out. After a week with a chesty cough I struggled with my singing, but keys and guitarist helped out and we really enjoyed a brilliant atmosphere. I only use my Cliff Bordwell fretless on three songs, but got sent this pic of me studying the fingerboard between verses..

Proud owner of my all original Mustang from 1973. Bought it from the first owner and sounds the absolute business.

We did two this weekend, both with good crowds and we played out of our skins - it's renewed my enthusiasm a bit.

Resurrecting this to say my daughter and son's band, Tulpa, release their first album shortly. Preorder available, and a video of their first single below. https://www.roughtrade.com/product/tulpa/monster-of-the-week https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JexAQGyZMYM&pp=ygURTGV0cyBtYWtlIGEgdHVscGE%3D

There are so many compositions that have real meaning ('If I Had A Hammer', 'Blowing In The Wind', 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday' and hundreds more...). Personally, I'd much rather play stuff with real meaning than innocuous, bland, 'filler' stuff, whatever culture it's originally from. To me, human is human; the rest is simply coincidence of birth time and place. I see no problem here. Peace.

Personally I feel culture is something to be shared and celebrated by everyone. I think if you are celebrating and sharing culture it’s not appropriating it but absorbing it, being influenced by it and changing your mindset and behaviour because of it. It’s a positive not a negative thing. Appealing to soldiers not to blindly follow orders, which I think this song is about, is as relevant to any culture or race and no more so than in the current world situation.

Some better pictures. Perhaps one day I'll re-do the chemical blacking on the metal hardware. I probably could get the finish a bit shiner and less scuffed looking, but I've been working on this thing for about two months, and there comes a point where you just don't want to sand things anymore. I feel good for having revived this bass and, if I may say so myself, made it probably a bit nicer than it was when it left the factory when I was about 2 years old. I think, all told, this project has cost me something like £250-300, so not a sensible financial decision but still not a huge outlay for a very nice instrument.

Returned to The New Inn in Buckingham last night. Not as busy as has been but still a reasonable amount of people who seemed to enjoy us. Landlord and Landlady were very complimentary. Our singer had a bit of an off night as she had had a tooth out the day before and was on some pretty strong medication. Will be back there next year.

Two nights, two gigs. Had some mega-feedback from the double bass so emergency jumper was called in to sort it out.

You'll have to ask someone who is culturally adjacent to the song. The majority here are grey haired white men.

From last wednesday's rehearsal(!)

As reported in a previous thread, back in 2012, I visited a relatively new Nash dealer: Westside MI in Denmark Street, London, (a shop that has sadly since disappeared, like so may of recent times). My aim was to see, feel and hear for myself just how good Nash basses were. I have to say that I came away a little underwhelmed after trying out a couple of Precisions and Jazzes. Whilst the finishes were very good, the feel was generally okay if a bit on the heavy side, but none of the basses I tried that day had the resonant sound of my two Fender Jazzes. It was an interesting visit, and I came away satisfied, in the sense that I had tried them, and could tell myself that at that time, Nash basses were probably not for me. But I have never forgotten them........... Wind forward 13 years and I have just travelled back from Bass Direct at Warwickshire, as the proud owner of a Nash 52 Precision (Butterscotch Blonde) which sounds amazing. Whilst at Bass Direct, which was my first visit, due to the distance, I received a warm welcome, with plenty of time to "try out" a number of Nash's including a PB 55, a PB 57, and a PB 63 as well as the PB 52 which I settled on. My feeling was that the Nash basses had come a long way from my trip to London back in 2012. Of all the basses I tried, I would have been more than happy to have brought home any of them with me. I settled on the 52 as it had great feel, super sound and just looks so cool. My thanks to all at Bass Direct for making the experience so good and to Bill Nash for making some superb basses. Ad Multos Annos!

Is that why we had a power cut yesterday!

Just got this Nash PB52.......

Welcome to BC @DanDoesBass I'm a paid up member of the Mustang Brotherhood - which is weird, because a few years ago I would have laughed at the idea. I bought the '66 Mustang on a whim and fell in love with it, especially with rounds. Since I had it modified with new pickups it's become my favourite bass. I realised that short scale would be really well suited for fretless, given the additional weight afforded to the higher strings. I bought the '72 Musicmaster and a fretless Mustang neck to test that idea, and it's fantastic. Shortly the bass is going to a local luthier who is doing a few other bits such as correcting the electronics, replacing the bridge and possibly epoxy coating the board.

Been a couple of years since I last updated the P Bass family pic 78 Siennaburst 78 Olympic White 77 Lake Placid blue 73 Black 21 Am Pro II Dark Night 97 Am Deluxe Trans Crimson Metallic 02 MIM Mark Hoppus mk.1

First time I've managed to see them live after many years of enthusiastically following them and Louis Cole. I wasn't disappointed! Brilliant musicians, all of them, exhillerating performance too, crowd were bouncing by the end. Sam Wilkes was a big fat monster on bass. Had to resist the urge to keep videoing bits on my phone (one of my pet hates at gigs) but it was such a great show. I don't know why but I felt the urge to take a pic of Sam's bass at the end of the show, perhaps someone out there would be interested 😂

Another good question, nothing is off the table and personally it's something that I would like to do... in part to honor my dad's memory since he started his engineering career during the (all) tube era designing servo amplifiers (which are similar to audio amplifiers). He then went on to handle spacecraft attitude control on the Mariner Mars project which allowed him to step away from strictly hardware design and into the control systems side of servo theory. My dad passed away 2 years ago at the age of 90, this model was the last amp that he provided his insight on (he remained interested in engineering and math until his death). It's also why I followed in his engineering footsteps at university. I wouldn't rule this out either, but there's nothing immediate on the table either. I'm always open to hearing what YOU PLAYERS would like to see, sometimes that's what provides the impetus for new projects.

Thank you, I’m very grateful that you took the time to read the study details so carefully and for flagging those concerns. I apologise for not including this information up front; that was an oversight on my part and I appreciate you pointing it out. This project is being conducted at the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina (https://dimed.unime.it/it), as part of my graduate thesis. My project supervisor is Dr. Matteo Nanni, Consultant (Dirigente Medico) in Orthopedics and Traumatology at Ospedale Maggiore “C.A. Pizzardi”, Bologna (https://www.ior.it/curarsi-al-rizzoli/dr-matteo-nanni-0). Asitionally, I will attach Ethics Statement & Data Control Protocol for the study to this post so anyone can review the full details. Thank you for raising the distinction between sex and gender, that is an important point. To be clear and respectful: The item in the survey asks for biological sex (male / female) because this study is investigating biological risk factors that may plausibly differ between sexes (for example, in musculoskeletal physiology or injury susceptibility). The choice to collect biological sex is therefore strictly scientific and relates only to the research question. I fully respect gender identity and the social meaning of gender. The survey does not assume gender identity from the sex question, nor does it make any judgement about people’s identities or experiences. No identifying information is collected; all responses are anonymous and will be analysed and reported only in aggregate. Because responses are collected anonymously, individual submissions cannot normally be linked back to a person, and therefore it may not be possible to remove a submitted response from the dataset after it has been sent. Thank you guys for your understands Ethics Statement .pdf

As a biker, the same goes for motorbikes. They are machines, they may have some character but they do not need a name. I used to be in a Jaguar car owners group. One lady referred to her Jag as her growler. I suggested she might want to look up what growler can also mean. She never called it that again.

I took my board to bits at the start of the summer - and partly laziness and partly not really needing much more this is what I’ve used the last few times … it just works

No. This is what my guitarist said when I told him of the court case. We're both from Leicester btw. Oh yeah he's well known amongst theatre musos. Plenty of local musos have been ripped off by him. He runs a few theatre shows - Carpenters, Robbie, Queen etc. Tim's done a handful of deps for him but insists on payment upfront to his bank account. Probably earning a fortune as the shows all do really well, and loads of dates too. He once borrowed a bass from someone and promptly sold it! He had a caravan which he rented out. Took the money then cancelled the bookings without refunding! Serial fraudster for years. You have actually met him - he introduced himself to us whilst we were packing away at the Harrow years ago. I didn't know anything about him then but I distinctly remember not liking him & thinking he was a t**t! Bout time he got his comeuppance....