bassbiscuits

Don't get me wrong, Kiss were one of the first bands I ever got into, and Alive I and II are classic albums. Gene Simmons bass playing is good too - lots of good melodic lines etc. It's just when he opens his mouth to talk that I switch off.

Gene Simmons - talking out of his a*se as ever.

This. In the last couple of years I've bought and sold a Mike Lull which i expected to be my forever dream bass, and instead hung on to a secondhand Yamaha BB604 which plays and sounds brilliantly. Same with guitars - my USA strat has gone, by battered old MIJ strat is still with me after 15 years. If you find the right one for you, hang on to it.

I bought some for my old Fender bass and they looked lovely - but the pickup one was right in the way where i put my thumb, and the bridge one hampered palm muting and needed to come off to change strings. Nice idea, but not for me.

Congrats Andy and best of luck to you and all your family with everything.

Currently I've fallen into doing just solo gigs on acoustic guitar and singing - it doesn't involve the time commitment of being in a band, finding suitable personnel, rehearsing etc, but still gives me a couple of gigs a month at most and a bit of pocket money as a result, which I'd miss by not gigging at all. I've done one bass gig this year I think - as part of a trio at a local David Bowie tribute night back in January. I've got plans for more, but all three members in that band are all in the same boat with young kids etc, so we're doing it for enjoyment rather than putting ourselves under press to meet any unrealistic demands. Ironically when we do get out there it sounds brilliant - lord only knows how decent it would sound if we actually had a bit more time to polish it! EDIT - we're all early/mid 40s now....

I'm still trying to hammer out a deal by which I can get away for a few hours on my missus's birthday to attend. Could make Brexit negotiations look straightforward by comparison. If i do come I'll bring my old vintage Fender P and my Jack Casady bass.

I sympathise entirely Andy, I've got two young kids at the moment, which means I've scaled right back on my gigging as I simply don't have the time or energy to do as much. I've sold off various bits of gear i don't need as a result, and the rest of my kit is squirrelled away in cases and gig bags to keep the kids from messing about with it (the youngest is at the age where he's discovering the world thru grabbing and fiddling with absolutely everything). I'm keeping the stuff that I still use, or that is difficult/uneconomical to replace - but like you, I'm in the position where having a few grand in hand is better than having it tied up in a bass stashed indefinitely under a bed. I hate having stuff I don't use - it makes me anxious, and in practical terms I just don't have room to spare among all the baby stuff. The way I see it, as long as you've got a basic amount of gear to gig should you need to, you can always buy more if you need to restart regular gigging once the money starts to come in. Good luck with child number 4 as well!

Once in the late 1990s we got booked to play a gig in Soho (when I lived in South Wales at the time). We were an originals britpop sort of band, but found ourselves playing in a gay club immediately following a drag artist. Apparently we'd been billed as Jazz... So we did the gig anyway, but were really not what they were looking for. Then we're told the pay which was only £100 to start with was now £50, which didn't even begin to cover the cost of van hire or petrol. We got back to the van to find we'd got a parking ticket. The same britpop band also did a gig up in a remote club in the Welsh valleys. A friendly local having a fag outside told us it was their regular death metal night and a bunch of them had just dropped some acid. We were glad to get home alive from that one.

I've loaned people bits of kit for gigs here and there, but I've always felt there's a difference between someone assuming they are entitled to use your kit, and you offering to let someone use your gear to help them out. I used to play with a guy donkeys years ago who always had an excuse about why he wasn't driving to this or that gig and could he borrow my guitar, amp etc etc. He assumed my stuff was his spare stuff, and he'd never help set it up or pack it away. On the other hand I loaned a bass once to mate of a mate for a last-minute gig and it came back with £40 tucked under the strings as a thank you. Fair play to that man.

TNT130 in my day... I thrashed one for years and it still sounded decent. Weighed the same as my car tho.

Yes no doubt about it. A Squier set up to a broadly decent standard would work just as well as any of mine and cover most of what I need for a typical gig. It's longevity might be a different matter tho - I can be a heavy handed player once I get stuck in onstage, and I've rapidly chewed up frets and worn down bridge saddles on v cheap basses before now. Maybe the basses are fine and it's my technique that needs sorting.

These do look fantastic and I'm intrigued to see how they perform - I've not played short scale before, but with old fartdom looming in the not too distant future i'm liking the thought of smaller and lighter....

Car almost always. It's an old Volvo estate, so big enough for most eventualities. I don't drink these days, so driving to and from gig is way easier than trying to get a taxi at 1am after a skinful.

Yup - people selling 'the best bass I've ever owned....'

Is that the bass player's Ferrari?

My role in my last band seemed to be chief onstage DIY man when equipment broke or fell apart (more often than you might think!) so I always appreciate simple but effective things like this!

Yup I've come full circle. I currently own a bass I've had for 20+ years, a strat I've had for 15 years and an electro acoustic I've had for 16 years. When I slimmed down to just what I needed I realised that it was pretty much what I already owned and liked playing. I'll eat my words at some point for sure but the burning need to spend money on stuff has gone (helped along by the fact I don't currently have any money).

I think we just get caught up in it - if you're gigging and getting some spare cash coming in, its just too tempting to treat yourself to some more nice kit. There's no obvious cut off point once you get beyond the basic necessities, and into the realms of fantasy kit. The bubble burst with me about a year ago, mainly cos i cut right back on gigs for family reasons, and then realised how much kit i actually had. The apparently amazing, life-changing aspirational gear I'd bought didn't make me play any better, or feel any better. It just tied up thousands of pounds, so I flogged the stuff i didn't really need. I still look on Basschat most days and see stuff I like - but then a reality check reveals i don't actually need it. It's nice feeling that you don't have to buy anything. Sort of the opposite of GAS. I'll probably get lynched on here for saying it tho. It's lovely to have shiny new exciting treats, but constantly longing for different things and working out how to get them makes me really stressed out I've realised.

That's be good for all the headphones and trailing cables in my little quiet practice corner. Everyday genius there Stewblack. Take a bow sir.