bassbiscuits

A bit of peace and quiet hopefully.

Balls. That's horrible. I'm in Leicester so I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Ah I love JC basses. I had a 2007 goldtop one until i sold it this summer to fund a Fender Mustang bass. The neckdive was spectacular, but yeah i used a 3.5inch wide rough suede strap which went a long way to reining it in. Lovely sounding thing TI flats on it. Great bit of kit, and got me noticed on stage too!

I've dropped off my Schroeder 1210 for a once over with a techie and hauled out my Aguilar GS410 for a practice instead. I barely use it as not doing gigs that big nowadays, and was thinking of selling it. However, I had forgotten how great it sounds, and it's such a good match for my LM3 and MiJ Mustang with flats. Sure it ain't a valve head and huge cabinet. But it sounded warm, articulate and really punchy and snarling. V nice indeed. God knows what my neighbours made of it!

I used an Orange AD200B head and Ampeg 8X10 cab at a festival a year or two ago. What a sound. But I'd never be able to carry that around, or really want to.

Ah man that's awful. You have my sympathies as some one who has also previously had their gear nicked. Its an unusual bass and ill def keep my eyes peeled. Fingers crossed

Yep in the last couple of years I've had an Epi Jack Casady and an Epi Gary Clark Jnr signature Casino, and they've both been incredible value guitars.

Hmm I understand - I'm afraid I think your guitarist sounds like a prat.

I don't understand why you aren't working out the parts yourself tho - why do you need him to tell you how to play the songs correctly?

Absolutely. I got excited then I saw these for a split second before my eyes realised there was something wrong with the control plate and extra pickup. Nice option to have, but a standard USA Mustang would be ace. Damn. I'll have to make do with my perfectly lovely MIJ Mustang instead.

Ive played the same bass for 24 years but can't be considered by any stretch to have had a glittering music career!

Took a bass off over my head onstage in Derry and smashed it straight into the lighting rig above me. About 25 years ago after seeing a Mr Big gig I decided to try supergluing three picks together like a clover and sticking it to a drill. Too impatient to let the glue dry properly I fired it up, splattering the bass with little beads of superglue which I never managed to remove. Oops. If anyone out there owns a black Charvel model 1 bass with mystery little bumps all over the front, that's the reason....

Rory Gallagher's battered strat?

I'm also pretty sure that Steve Harris's (Iron Maiden) P bass now is the same one he's used since the early 1980s. The one that's currently West Ham coloured is the same one that used to be the metallic blue sparkle/mirror pickguard one from around Live After Death tour in 1984/5, which itself was a refin of the white one with black pickguard he used from around Number of the Beast onwards. I might be wrong tho. It does happen.

Malcolm Young and his Gretsch guitar. Used it throughout his career from the early days when it was red and white, then stripped back to natural wood.

Nice! What's that - an early 80s jazz? DOH - i could have just read the description couldn't I? I'll get my coat...

I've got the earlier MIJ Mustang, which i think has a tighter radius neck and smaller frets than the JMJ. Mustangs are lovely basses (def go for the La Bella mustang strings too - they sounds great).

Absolutely. I spent last night listening thru a load of tunes, sketching out the main sequences and arrangements and busking along to get the hang of them. But today I listened to them all again on the bus ride to work and they are full of little phrases and runs that just bring it all to life. He doesn't spend much time on his low E string at all - the majority of stuff seems an octave up and creating really melodic lines rather than my own usual approach of relying on volume and power and vamping away on some root notes. Ive really warmed to his approach tho and feel like it's time well spent retracing his steps for a couple of weeks until I've got the songs down.

Apologies for being so late to the party on this one (about 47 years late...) but I've recently started learning Bowie's Hunky Dory album ahead of a tribute gig I'm playing at in January. What a great bassist Trevor Bolder is! So much of what he plays isn't what I'd expect him to play, and I've had to learn some sections one note at a time thru headphones (Quicksand for a start!) Excellent stuff tho. Way ahead of its time. But you all already know that. It's just me who is just waking up to Bowie's music. Sorry to have taken so long.... Just got to learn the stuff now - luckily I'll be playing my short scale Japanese Mustang will hopefully give me a nod in the right direction tonewise.

I'm going to have to pass his year. Its Mrs Biscuits' 40th birthday and I'm supposed to be coming up with a plan to take her somewhere nice. Not sure the bass bash will be enough for her!