bassbiscuits

I’ve been playing a Crafter DE7 electro acoustic since 2002. It’s a great all-rounder, with a solid cedar top, mahogany neck, back and sides. It didn’t cost me much at all back in the day and has definitely more than earned its keep over the last 20+ years of gigs.

Courtesy of FB marketplace I picked this up locally last week. I gig a fair bit with either an old Crafter DE7 or an equally old Yamaha FG512SJ but always have an eye for another good acoustic in my life. So this is a 1998 Simon and Patrick, made in Canada by the same group of makers responsible for Godin, Seagull, Art & Lutherie et al. Solid cedar top, laminated cherry sides and back. It was filthy and dusty, so I immediately gave it a clean, some lemon oil and a new set of Martin 12-54 strings. What can I say - it’s really really loud! Perfectly placed between bright and warm with solid punchy low end (similar to my Crafter, which is also cedar). Really articulate. Dropped D tunings work a treat too. Feels like it hasn’t been played very much at all (apart from some strumming marks on the body’s ultra-thin finish) so for the next few weeks I’m just gonna play and play it and see how it settles. But so far so good.

Epic solo acoustic / vocal gig at Bar Dos Hermanos in Leicester. A group of friends had come down from Sheffield to see me. Inviting family/friends always seems to be the kiss of death for me and guarantees a rubbish gig. But not so! It was awesome. Enough very vocal audience members wanting to sing along that the second half was just one long home straight of singalongs and hands in the air shenanigans. Exactly the right behaviour for a Saturday night. Back of the net. (Equipment - Yamaha FG512SJ acoustic with Seymour Duncan woody in it, flask of earl grey tea, Allen and Heath desk and a couple of Mackie SRM350 speakers.

The Three Amoebas is a fantastic name, just sayin’.

Just back from playing a solo gig at VE celebration in a local pub beer garden. Personal best - 3mins door to door from my house yay! Scorching hot afternoon but my acoustic guitar miraculously stayed in tune despite the heat (I took a big cloth to cover my kit when not in use). First time there but it went down well enough for the gaffer to ask me about coming back, so that’s a win.

Good rhythm section there - Rick and Joe.

It’s an isolated power supply unit about the size of a pack of Cooks Matches which powers multiple pedals without needing to daisy chain them. Boring but very effective.

I’m out. Bought a Yamaha acoustic (even though it’s now back up for sale, I don’t think that counts because I still bought it!) and a Cioks power supply.

Does sound terrible in fairness.

Vintage basses can be quirky. While some have brilliant elements they also have their own characteristics, whether to their age, their life up to this point or the material/build quality of that particular era. So I would say; think closely about what you do like about this bass and what you don’t like. Decide whether those things could be better met by another bass before modding this one to try to achieve that. As others have said, a 78 P does a very good job of being a 78 P. If that’s not the sound/look etc you’re after, then there are other alternatives. FWIW I’ve owned a 1970 sunburst P for the last 30 years. I don’t love everything about how it plays or looks but it does what it does. Personally I wouldn’t dream of swapping stuff on it unless it desperately needed fixing. I have other basses that cover other sonic and aesthetic ground and I leave the old P as it is. But that’s just my two cents worth.

My La Bella flatwounds were secondhand when I got them about six years ago, so I don’t know their age. They still sound good to me though.

Hope it all goes well and you do him proud.

Good mix of tribute gigs, solo acoustic gigs, dep gigs and blues band gigs over the summer for me. But I’m also keeping time aside to actually relax and go on holiday with my wife and kids too. It’s been a real slog over the last year or so and my family deserve me back for a bit!

Just received a Cioks DC5 power supply from Ian. Easy transaction, arrived really quickly, exactly as described. Top man.

I can just about manage Rhythm Stick, if there’s an R in the month and with a fair wind etc etc….

I think Weather Report “Heavy Weather” defeated me about 25 years ago when I bought it. I managed to learn Birdland pretty accurately but Teen Town utterly lost me. In the days before YouTube and other online resources, it was beyond the scope of listening and working out by ear or stop/starting my CD player. Haven’t tried since.

The Darkness on Thursday night at Leicester De Montfort Hall. Absolutely epic. Just pure entertainment and loud rock all rolled into one. Awesome.

The Darkness tonight in Leicester DMH.

Nice one. I’ll get my top operatives onto it…

That racing stripe looks ace. How does one go about getting hold of such a thing?

I love my Yamaha BB604 but I’d love the option of more colours beyond the fairly dull choice of factory black, natural or red wine sunburst Yamaha colours. Lake Placid Blue, Inca Silver or antique white maybe?