bassbiscuits

Marlowe DK does a thing on his instructional YouTube vids too involving getting a little bit extra lifespan out of dead strings by slackening them right off, and pulling/slapping them against fretboard for about 30 secs and then retuning. It sort of dislodges the worst of the gunk and does help to a degree, certainly for one gig. I agree with what's been said here tho - while there's nothing wrong with changing strings before a gig, if the OP is happy with the sound and feel of his existing strings then he should just leave them on and turn his attention to enjoying the gig! Whatever you decide string wise, hope the gig goes well anyway!

[quote name='funkyjimbob' timestamp='1498587175' post='3325729'] To whoever was asking about Rag n Bone man's bass. His name is Bill Banwell from down my way and he has got some serious chops. Used to post on here a few years back. Google him if you want to see his stuff, there's plenty out there. [/quote] Cool - yeah that was me asking about him Funkyjimbob! I'll check him out.

I'm not sure where this idea has come from that a week before a gig is too late to change strings? Have i missed something? I've regularly changed mine the day before a gig - as long as you keep giving them a good stretch and play them a good bit before the gig they will have settled down and will stay in tune no problem. I did exactly that last weekend. Quite whether the change in sound was appreciated by the punters is a different matter tho! I should have asked them both...

[quote name='ern500evo' timestamp='1498480636' post='3324862'] He's a member here, his name is Bill Banwell. He's a great player. He had some work done on one his custom Warwick's by a tech I use, and is apparently an incredibly nice guy too. [/quote] Cool - well if you're reading this Bill, i well and truly tip my hat to you buddy! Sounded great.

Mine would be Womad 1994, in Reading. Seem to remember spending most of it listening to trance music from people like Transglobal Underground, Banco De Gaia and Astralasia. Apparently the line-up also included Gil Scott-Heron, Jah Wobble and Lee Scratch Perry, but i appear to have missed all that lot. Oops.

Thought Chic and Barry Gibb's sets were both ace - and also Rag N Bone Man had an awesome bassist with him. V impressed.

Musically I've had a couple of lucky blags. I won a Blackstar practice amp in a promo event at my local music shop in Leicester last year which was cool. Even more impressively I won a place on a two-week summer school course at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts back in 1998. It was an amazing experience - doubly so because I hadn't long finished university and would never have been able to afford to go. I also got sent on a freebie holiday to Majorca back in 2002 when I was a trainee reporter on my local paper. Apparently I was reviewing the place but that amounted to about an hours work when I got home to Britain! Again me and the missus were poorly paid young journos at the time so jumped at the chance of a free holiday. I also got to review Download 2010 as a journo too, which was a class weekend out, all in the name of work of course. Makes up for all the times things haven't worked out for me I guess ha ha!

I remember these when they first came out in the 1980s, but i didn't finally own any until the early 2000s and they were great. I've had a 301 fretless and a 310 fretted. Both great little basses, which were reliable and easy to play, tho didn't really suit the image of my band to be honest! But great value, and well-made instruments.

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1497590728' post='3319244'] Stow on the Wold? Just down the road from me, never knew he'd lived there, thought they were all West London boys. [/quote] As far as I know it was a place called Quarwood just on the hills beyond Stow - you used to be able to see it up in the trees from the road to Stow from Cotswold Wildlife Park.

These budget versions do exist apparently - googled them, and they go for about £600 new...

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1495802013' post='3306727'] I would have no problem being naked in the right setting where it would not be unexpected, like an event arranged by naturists or for some daft arty thing where nudity was part of the performance. At an ordinary gig where the audience might not be into the idea, not so much. [/quote] Exactly this! Probably not ideal for any gig I've ever done to be honest, but I'd have no problem in the right setting - at least it would be quite cool and breezy onstage for once.

I've had my old P bass since 1994. I managed not to sell it when i was a student and up to my ears in debt, and then I recovered it a few years later after it was nicked along with my car. So I've got no plans to part ways with it any time soon. I've got a Hohner acoustic guitar which was only the second one i ever bought back in 1988 too. It doesn't get out much but its still playable and sounds decent.

I'm afraid 1980s metal did it for me. Some friends had some Kiss, Iron Maiden and Scorpions albums, back in the day when you had gatefold sleeves with pics of huge gigs inside them! Really made me want to play, and my earliest influences were Steve Harris, Gene Simmons and then people like Tom Hamilton from Aerosmith, Duff McKagan from G'n'R, Billy Sheehan who was playing with David Lee Roth at the time, and then later things like Extreme, Mr Big, Saigon Kick and Skid Row. I was 12 when i began playing and it all seemed incredibly exciting. Over the years the influences broadened thankfully, but there were a good range of techniques (fingers, using a pick, bit of slapping and tapping, thumping root notes and fast melodic stuff.) I haven't mastered it all - far from it. But I reckon i could probably play Live After Death still from memory, having played it so many times!

More love for Japan Fenders from me. I've got a strat which I've had for 17 years and it ain't going anywhere. All the ones I've played have been really good instruments.

Sorry but I'd have told him quite strongly to take a hike immediately after he thwacked the Musicman. He sounds like a tw*t, and i'm not very patient with those.

Looks like an early 70s neck, with replacement tuners, new scratch plate, wrong bridge, and different knobs. The neck plate serial number stamp is all wrong and clearly not original. In fairness the price is way too cheap for a 1966 P anyway, so maybe they're quite aware its not all original. Give it a miss...

I've owned a 1970 P since 1994, but i didn't really use it for a number of years in the early 2000s, partly when i moved away to college for a year and left it with a mate, and later when i left my band acrimoniously and wasn't interested in playing for about two years. Then it needed a refret, so just got stashed for a long time when i wasn't gigging much. Finally had it back up to speed by about 2009, and been reminded what a cool bass it is. In a way its taken me all these years to grow into it. When I was 20 i didn't really 'get it' so much, but now I'm a different sort of player in my 40s, its perfect for what i want.