hiram.k.hackenbacker

4 minutes ago, Shambo said:

I'd just take the neck, sell it as new with a quick explanation of why the nut isn't cut, and use the proceeds to recuperate the cost of the Status replacement. Then it's finished with.

Yes, that what I’m leaning towards. If I decide to keep it, I could get Rob Green to fit it and I’ll have a ready spare. Not that I’ll need it with the graphite one in place though.

I’m definitely leaning far away from sending my bass to them. They haven’t exactly inspired confidence in me thus far. 

They’ll have toddled off home for the weekend by now, so I’ll give it until Monday morning and have a think about it until then.

Thanks for your input one and all. You’ve been very helpful and supportive.

Can it be any coincidence that I have today received an e-mail from Fender UK, an unsolicited one this time, rather than a reply to me chasing them?

Good news - they have a neck for me.

Bad news - the nut is uncut and they want me to either send the bass to them or they’ll ship it straight out to me and I can get it done myself.

Mmm 🤔

22 minutes ago, BassApprentice said:

Rubbish situation all over by the looks of it.

Tweets always do better with engagement so if we could all like/retweet the OPs tweet it might gain some traction 

 

Thanks.I would probably of thought of that if I wasn’t so unbelievably crap at Twitter.. I had to get my bleary eyed son to help me with that at 6am this morning.

I don’t do Twitter very well. I tried to find the account for Andy Mooney, the Fender CEO, and failed. 

I almost gave up, then found the feed for Flea, so I tagged him in instead 😀.

‘Here’s a question for @flea333 - how long is the neck on a Fender ‘61 Flea Bass supposed to last? Answer: 12 months according to @FenderGBI. Neck on mine went & 5 months down the line I’m still waiting. It’s a known issue with your Sig Model. Thought ‘You Oughta Know’.’

3 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

That is totally irrelevant, the fact you had to shell out to replace their defect makes it worse.

Unfortunately at that point, having been in similar places, you have to turn into a bit of an a*se to get stuff done. Fender are very big on social media with their 'fender play' adverts and the like on twitter and facebook. On all of those adverts you see like that, reply to the post with 'How can I play this as my 2 year old £900 fender flea bass neck warped and it appears they aren't expected to last over a year' and similar. And on their page, comment on any post where people ask about their basses with things like 'Be careful, the necks are only supposed to last a year until they break' and the like.

do that and you will find that their response speeds up drastically. For some reason (and I think it is a shame), customer service of many modern companies is entirely driven by their social media profile, the person who waits and shows them respect appears to get nothing.

I hate doing it, but it works very well.

Mmm. I'll sleep on it. It's not the sort of thing I would normally do tbh. I thought twice about posting the update on here, but thought it only fair should another '61 Flea owner suffer the same issue.

1 hour ago, Linus27 said:

Let Flea know as well, he'll probably send you a whole new bass 😁

One of those Artist Series would be very nice 😀

17 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said:

A known issue?

Why the heck are they dragging their undercarriage then?  As a working musician you could be at a serious loss due to the delay.  In engineering, for example,  tool makers like Snap-On have a no-quibble lifetime guarantee on their tools.  If you present them with a broken one, they replace it immediately and then look at the causes of failure for product development to see how the tool can be improved.  The mechanic can carry on working and everyone benefits.

With a known issue there is no reasonable excuse for holding you up.  What a bunch of mother-fenders!

Part of the reason for their half heartedness in my case may have to do with the fact that I disclosed to them that I had the neck replaced by Rob Green at Status almost immediately so that I could continue using it. In hindsight, that probably wasn't a great move on my part. That said, I've only just found this out some five months down the line. They also seem to be sticking quite rigidly to the "it's over a year, so it's out of warranty' approach. I questioned whether Fender basses are supposed to last longer than 12 months. Ignored. Apparently they're doing me a favour and as a good will gesture have offered me a box of strings. Woo hoo! Go me 🙄

UPDATE:

I still have not received the replacement neck from Fender. I think they may be growing the trees it will be made from. I’ve had to enquire a few times for updates and one of the most recent communications indicated that there was a ‘known issue’ with the necks on these basses.

Quote:

‘The known issue seemed to affect only a small batch of Flea Bass necks that for some reason were failing in terms of twisting and bowing with the trussrod unable to offer any relief at all.’

I bought mine from what I believe to be the initial run that was shipped to the UK. This is probably worth noting if you bought or own one from the same batch. I’m happy to forward you the e-mail from Fender if you have any ‘out of warranty’ issues like I’ve had.

My 80’s band are in a bit of trouble in the keys department. 

Since the original guy emigrated we’ve had another guy in his place who is brilliant. He’s a great fit for the band, really nice chap, has all the gear plus the skills required and more. The only issue with him is that unless the gig is local, Friday’s are pretty much a no go due to his work commitments. We have gigs coming in all over the country for both Fridays and Saturdays so need to find someone to either replace or dep him ASAP. 

Rather than advertise on a bass forum for a keys player, I thought it might be better to sign up to a keys forum. I have had a look, but finding one with a decent amount of UK activity is not as easy as I thought. 

Any suggestions?

Tickets available here.

I'm a fan and have been for many years. I still have that bulky vinyl set The Complete Works which I bought on its release. A fabulous collection of albums it is too.

But I'm not an anorak obsessive about Queen unlike other artists I'm particularly fond of (Genesis, Frank Zappa, Peter Gabriel, Rush etc).

So, I was watching the Live at Wembley Stadium DVD set yesterday. Although it's essentially the same set, it's great to see two gigs of that scale filmed back to back on consecutive days.

Within the extras there are interviews with May and Taylor where they state that the final gig with Freddie was at Knebworth at the end of the 'Magic Tour' in 1986 and that it was 'almost perfect' (for them) sonically. There are clips also which appear to be from Knebworth.

This suggests that it was also filmed, but I can't find any reference to it having been released. Is anyone aware if the gig was filmed? It seems a shame if it was that it hasn't been released, being Freddie's last full gig.

“a sinister midget with a bucket and a mop”

6 hours ago, HazBeen said:

Zoot Allures another one of my favs....

Yes, another great album. I remember listening to The Torture Never Stops for the first time and wondering what kind of mind this could have come from....

13 minutes ago, fleabag said:

Apologies.. had to post The Slime track.  Got one of my all time fave lead guitar wails .  Even his lead git work was unique

Yes, spot on. Over-Nite Sensation is one of FZ's finest studio works. Got me into George Duke big time.

This is one of my favourite FZ guitar phrases. There's nothing particularly difficult about it, it's just in the context of the song, it fits perfectly.

Straight out of the gates as the first song of his second show in San Diego THAT DAY, the note that starts at 0:48 just makes the hairs stand up every time.

45 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said:

Not sure if you’ve seen it (or aware it exists!) but the Nikki Sixx ‘My Favourite Riff’ episode with Vai as a guest included some good Zappa stories. 

I'll look it up 👍

20 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

At the time, mid-'60s, there was a lot of stuff coming out that was, let's say, 'unusual', different culturally from 'South Pacific' or Frank Sinatra. 'Freak Out' was amongst these gems, and the rot set in immediately. It's all good, in its own way, each with its own idiom, and of its own time. From the exuberant cross-dressing stage shows to the philharmonic opus, the slathering guitar-fests and discordant horn stabs, percussion solos and Duke's 'singing'... there's a universe full of unimaginable talent stirred into a tasty soup, each day a different 'flavour of the day'. I listen to the later offerings with open ears, and play again (and again, and again...) the early stuff, hearing new things at every session. Unbeatable value for money, that bloke (and his team(s)...). I'll admit that it took me quite a while before giving 200 Motels a listen-to, entire, in one sitting. Too much soup can cause indigestion if ingested too quickly (or if it's too hot...).

If you think 200 Motels is a tough listen, try Civilization Phaze III 😀

1 hour ago, HazBeen said:

He will, sure of it. Maybe we need to start a thread about our favourite Zappa period. For me it is ‘73 Overnight Sensation - ‘88 Broadway the Hard Way .... 15 years of just ridiculously good music and musicianship.

That's a big period to have dibs on 😂.

As you say, there is so much to like. If pushed, I would probably go to the album that started it all for me - Zappa in New York (released in 1978, but recorded in 1976).

My teenage brain really didn't know what to make of it; I just knew I liked it - a lot! That was the first album I heard, but it belonged to a friend of mine who I convinced to lend it to me so I could tape it. I played that tape so much I wore it out.

I'm now the owner of every album he has produced as well as a mountain of bootlegs. More than I will probably ever be able to listen to.

Happily, the ZFT have just announced the 40th Anniversary of Zappa in New York, comprising a 5 disc Deluxe Edition. More info here.

6 minutes ago, HazBeen said:

I am very much against idolising people, but Zappa is my one exception..... major fanboy. The guy was a friggin’ genius (but also a nasty piece of work at times according to the many books, memoires etc I have read on him and the family.

Most of the recipients of said behaviour deserved it though 😉

10 minutes ago, HazBeen said:

He might....

I must admit that in part the ridiculous fued between Ahmet/Diva and Dweezil/Moon may be colouring my judgement (I even bought Dweezil’s No Fake Frank t-shirt ;)...). The family has resolved their differences but this is very much a Diva/Ahmet event (Gail’s preferred kids). I am of the opinion the 2 have squandered a lot of their Dad’s legacy for cold hard cash.

I am a sensitive soul when it comes to Zappa 🙄

It will be a great show though, Scott Tunes is a joy to watch I am sure, all 6’5” of glorious bassist.

Rumour has it that Steve Vai might turn up at a few shows as well. Where else better than the London Palladium. Fingers crossed.

13 minutes ago, grenadillabama said:

The deep bass with the bright,choppy rhythm gtr is very good ! Lead gtr not bad at all ! You should do an album of original songs too.

Thanks for the kind words. Our lead man has an album of material to be recorded, but he has a mammoth amount of studies this year that need to take precedence. Maybe next year.

28 minutes ago, HazBeen said:

I can’t seem to get over the entire hologram thing. To each their own of course and it will undoubtedly be a great event, but I am not going. It doesn’t feel the right thing to do for me (I know, but if I ask myself what would Frank do.... I cannot see him want to be a hologram).

Dweezil is the closest thing for me. I saw Dweezil Zappa Plays Whatever the F he wants last year, best live gig in a few years. And I have seen the Z plays Z thing a number of times.

May regret it, but passing on the hologram.

I'm sure I read somewhere that there is an interview of Frank talking about holograms and their potential use in the future for performances.

He was all for pushing boundaries, so I think he would approve. That's what I'm telling myself anyway 😀.

Just bought my ticket for this at The Palladium. Anyone else going?

I'm really looking forward to hearing Thunes play again since the last time I saw him some 30+ years ago.

This is the promo blurb which sounds both promising and intriguing:

"Live music’s premier hologram production company, Eyellusion, have announced that a who’s who of Zappa fan favourite musicians will support The Bizarre World Of Frank Zappa hologram tour – set to hit the UK in May 2019. 

Hours of never-before-seen Zappa performance footage from the early seventies will form the basis of the “can’t miss” concert spectacle, which is being produced in close cooperation with the Zappa Family Trust.

The “Bizarre World of Frank Zappa” hologram tour band is comprised of former Bandmates for this monumental series of shows. The touring unit boasts guitarists Ray White and Mike Keneally, bassist Scott Thunes, multi-instrumentalist Robert Martin and drummer and Zappa archivist Joe “Vaultmeister” Travers – with special guests set to join in on some shows.

In 1974, Frank Zappa transformed his Los Angeles rehearsal space into a sound stage and cranked out a passionate, trademark performance seen only by the camera operators in the room who captured every last bizarrely beautiful moment. This footage, locked away in the Zappa vaults for 44 years, will serve as the basis for what will be the world’s most ambitious hologram tour to date, blending live footage of Frank with outrageous visuals that offer a striking view into his complex musical works."

Here is the ZFT trailer....

New promo for 2019....

ChangesTwoBowie play The Clarets Bar at Chelmsford City Football Club, Essex on January 18th 2019.

Supported by Delta Ladies.

Tickets available here.