mcnach

That's the thing... owner of multiple Squiers over the years and never a problem with their screws (touch... wood? steel? ) (Yet my first Maruszczyk... the pickup mounting screws were made of cheese)

My 4 bands of all time include at least one post 2000, and probably two of them will be post 1995... And I'm not a millenial exactly

Maybe. But from that list, I'd definitely put down Muse as one of the 'greats' of the current era. Some bands I like more and some I like less, and a few I consider special for their time. Muse are one of them. I think we tend to admire 'greatness' more in bands that we grew up with, perhaps because we 'discovered' music with them, and later bands do not impress us as much.

It's not a VM.

debatable... what you call greats may not look that great to others.

I bought one of those, same colour too (but original whiteish pickguard) last year [*] Really nice. It was incredibly light too. Good buy! [*] actually it wasn't for me. My girlfriend plays bass a bit and she's been looking for another bass as the one she had just wasn't what she liked. One day she told me she had seen a beautiful bass on the window of a second hand shop, went in and tried it, and she fell in love: it was very light, it played very nicely, sounded good... So she was a bit short of cash at the time, but she hoped to go in a week or so and buy it. She had taken pictures. I just made some appreciative noises without looking too impressed... but I thought I knew where the shop was, so next day I went on the hunt. I found it, tried it and bought it... then kept it for nearly 2 months until her birthday

Not at all. And he strikes me as someone who overestimates his own importance/contribution...

I PM'd you, but here's the link in case anybody else is interested: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bdmqmd23864g6xn/scan2-240 - thumbrest.tif?dl=1 I had good results with them cut from a 4mm thick black acrylic sheet. I smoothened the edges a bit with some fine sandpaper... and that was it.

Unfortunately I cannot help you there, I've never recorded with mine. There's some noticeable hiss on mine at low volume. It doesn't matter out on the street, you can't hear it... but if it's in your recordings because the preamp is what's hissy it can be a bit of a bummer. I wonder if you can process the signal to tame it afterwards. There's a number of hiss-reducing methods developed during the tape era, maybe some of those can help. Maybe even sampling the hiss on its own and phase-invert it then add it to the original? It won't work perfectly as noise is random, but if it is on a relatively narrow frequency band, it might be useful? (I have never tried). The short answer is no, I don't know how you could improve it at source. Recording was never something I was interested in from this box.

I am the same, I like to have a thumbrest where a Stingray pickup would be. I add them to Precisions and even to Jazz basses. I once bought an OLP Stingray copy that had a metal piece glued on the pickguard as a thumbrest where a Precision pickup would be. I removed it but kept it... and ended up using it on another bass: It is held in place with strong double sided sticky tape. It's solid, but not so solid that you cannot remove it if you try gently but with persuasion, and the sticky residue that's left behind is easy to remove and leaves no mark (on poly finishes at least! If yours is nitrocellulose I am not sure this would work well). A while ago, we had a thread about this kind of thing and the idea became popular enough that some BC member with access to the right machinery took orders and produced a bunch of them in black acrylic based on a scan of mine. Another BC member also made me a handful in aluminium. I do not have any spare ones anymore. I use them on various basses and have given away the rest, but it's a simple idea that definitely works for me (and a few others too). I can send you the scan if you want an exact copy and know where to have it made... but you could probably make one from a small piece of acrylic and files/sanding. At least that's my plan for when I end up needing another! Other shapes work, of course, but I liked this one as it is so that's why we copied it. I have no idea what the original bit was initially. It seems made or some kind of steel. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a thumbrest... but it has a really good comfy shape for one. It's only about 3-4mm tall, which is perfect. Here's my Classic 50 Precision with a black acrylic one:

Yup.

Oh yes! I've just done the same to my white Precision fretless... I like it

Mine was originals...

On a flat Earth it would be seen easily, right?

I played there last year, they actually treated us very well.

It depends on how/why you left I suppose... There's one band in particular I really like and I enjoy seeing them do well. I recommended their current bass player to them when I left and they're all happy. There was one band I left in good terms but slightly frustrated: music was great but there was a clear band leader who was a bit too much of a control freak for my liking. I see him out and about and we chat like friends, I just cannot play in his band. The first time I saw them with a new bassist it felt a bit strange. I heard the first song... "that's not how I played it" turned into "but this way is so much better!" They had a really cool bass player and I enjoyed the music even more now that I didn't have to endure being in a band with that guy

I'm afraid it was not a bad gig... The guy had a great voice and seems like a nice guy but...

I enjoy not knowing the songs and being surprised that way. If it's good, new stuff is twice as exciting to me.

I would not love it but... if you give it a few days you'll probably also feel that it's not a big deal. My main band booked a gig one NYE when I was away. A friend of the band was recruited to play bass. I felt the same as you... but in the end, it was fun for them, no kittens died, and I ended up having someone I could call if I really MUST back down a gig (which happened once). As an originals band, I don't want to use subs, but from time to time it can be useful and if it's a situation like this where it's either cancel or play the gig with rearranged personnel, why not?

We had situations not quite as silly but not far off... and we have done the "let's do it so that we don't get bad reputation". Guess what? Incidents like that kept happening. Then one day I had enough and refused, and convinced my reluctant bandmates. Do you know what happened? NOTHING. If fact, we decided to not put up with unreasonable crap (there's always some kind of crap, it goes with the territory), and things become much better. When a promoter treates you badly, chances are you're not the only one and people know about it. If you keep working with that kind of people, then you will be seen as a band who is probably not very serious, I think. In your case... 7.30 is probably a nicer slot, so if you can do it, why not? But I'd stay away from that guy in the future. If it's not a nicer slot or you can't make it... fear not and just tell him that you're ready to play the 3pm slot and that's it. Don't be afraid of him being upset... it doesn't look like he's the kind of person you need to worry about. Just be firmly polite, there's nothing gained by being confrontational (I did threaten one promoter once who got in my face... guess what? yes, nothing happened either... turns out he's well known for being an idiot and some people were sad I didn't thump him but yeah, best to keep it simple, polite, and move on)

oh, and I've gone to see bands after I left them too.

I'm not in a covers band... I'd go see my band, yes... but if it were a covers band I would not travel much to try. I've been in bands I would not go to see... in fact I've been in bands I have regretted being onstage with

Aha, another one 'discovers' these great speakers Big fan here too.

I think the bits that really matter are good. Fit and finish are perfect, everything is fine... but yes, the screws are soft metal... so be careful. I would not let that put me off... in fact I found that out on my first bass and bought two more. It is one of those "guys, really?" things... but fortunately the rest is good. Very good.

That's my approach too... but as you say, it's just what *I* do, not the right way. There is not right way but the way that works for you to give you the sound you want. I tend to leave the amp flat, and use the onboard preamp to get me the sound I want to produce. I only adjust the amp controls to EQ for the individual environment (boomy stages? room characteristics if I'm not using PA support... etc)