Gareth Hughes

Hubrad - thanks. Yep, think mine was the same as your mandolin - a few too many tours and taking the pickup on and off.

Double bass folks - this one is for you. A week or so back 3below (Francis) of this parish enquired if anyone had a broken David Gage Realist pickup. A few emails later and my very dead Realist pickup was on its way. Literally within hours of Francis saying it had landed, he emailed back to say it was fixed and sent along a recording made with it. To say I am grateful is an understatement. This pickup has sat, dead in a box, for the better part of a decade. By all accounts, the design of the Realist means that it does have a shelf life - akin to wear and tear on car tyres, but given the price of them, about £175, I just couldn't bring myself to bin it. Surely someone will be able to repair it, I thought. Well, that someone is 3below and if your pickup is showing signs of giving up the ghost, I highly recommend getting in touch with Francis. He informed me of what the process would be, what was likely wrong with it and I had the pickup back on my Eminence bass less than a week after I sent it. Given that the pickup has been off the bass for so long I have zero recollections of how it sounded. This reborn pickup however, sounds truly awesome - a solid sound, strong signal and captures every detail that I hear unplugged. So thank you 3below and thank you Basschat for making all this possible. (should you be interested, attached is a quick Garageband recording) Realist - with track.mp3

Totally loved that - playing and the tone. Nice job.

On a side note Lozz, I seem to be going the opposite route - I’ve played Jazz basses since 1995, all with rosewood fingerboards. But then the clank called and a few weeks ago saw the arrival of a Fender Player Precision with a maple fingerboard and I couldn’t be happier. I blame Steve Harris and Iron Maiden, to whom I am eternally in their debt.

My tuppence worth - just received my 2nd build from Maruszczyk a week or two back. Bass is all good, no complaints. Minor issue before it was shipped was that it was missing a string retainer I had asked for, being a non-angled headstock. Again - not a big issue. Asked Adrian about this before it was shipped, his reply was it didn’t need it. (My first order definitely needed it. Different opinion is fine, but I ordered it, so I’d like what I paid for) I replied it was fine to send it without the retainer installed and I would do it myself, having done the other one. His reply was along the lines of ‘ok, but which string retainer? I have 30 basses just arrived.’ I’ll happily overlook any language issues - my Polish and German is non-existent - but right there I felt like I was bothering him just to get my order fulfilled. As others have stated, his manner is less than ideal for in-person or internet sales. The pro’s are that I have two instruments I’m really happy with. The negatives are that his manner would make me look elsewhere if there’s a next time I’m looking an instrument of that price. I really do like my basses, loved learning about the company from following WOT’s posts. It’s unfortunate to be left with a sour taste. Spec’ing a custom bass is part of the enjoyment, along with getting the final thing and cherishing it. Feeling like you’re interrupting someone’s conversation and wasting their time (when you’re actually just trying to GIVE THEM MONEY!!!!!) - I thought that was the bricks and mortar music shops of olde. Anyway - sorry for the hi-jack. Hope things get resolved for the OP.

Just having a nosy now Rob - congratulations, it’s an awesome archive. And thank you so much for sharing, it is greatly appreciated. It’s a great motivator.

I got that same feeling with my recent order. Sending him a few messages on Facebook got a quicker reply.

Sofa shot for now, should be here (hopefully) early next week.

A friend of mine is from North Korea. I asked him what it was like. He said he couldn't complain.

Ordered on the 6th of April I think, so just over 12 weeks - 13 by the time it arrives. And here it is:

I received my sofa shot today - 2nd payment did not reflect any change.

Yup - I did that with an Edgar Meyer cd. Was enjoying it (the 2nd copy) thoroughly and then a melody hit me that I recognised, and lo and behold there was my first copy sitting on a shelf. Hey - at least we're consistent!!!

Here you go. Sorry for the sideways angle, can’t figure out how to change that here.

I’ve just bought a new Player Precision with a maple board, arrived a few days ago. I’m more than impressed, not having ever been wowed by anything MIM before. To put it in context - my other Precision is an early 2000’s MIJ, and I have a MIJ Mustang, ‘75 Reissue Jazz and a 2009 US American Standard Jazz 5. Genuinely, the Player is better put together than the US Jazz or the MIJ Precision. Both those basses sound, and feel, wonderful to me, but they took a lot of work to get there. This Player needed a truss rod tweak and the bridge lowered, but that’s just personal preference, so all in - sound and playability of the MIM Player is more than good. Satin neck feels great, body is light weight, finish is perfect, strings are ok but again that’s a personal thing. Am I happy? Hell yes. Would I spend more on the higher end Fenders? Not again.

I like the extension, but being thin I found it digging into my side a bit much. I remedied this by having the upper ribs and neck block of a broken double bass transplanted onto it. The extension now serves to support the new rib. Feels so much more realistic to lean against.

Maybe acoustic on the record, but he played it on the electric the night I saw them in Dublin on the Book Of Souls tour.

Steve’s tone is .... Steve’s tone. It works for Maiden and that’s all it needs to do. But..... as much as I love Maiden, and Steve Harris is a huge reason that I’ve played bass since for 30 years now, sometimes his tone can be a little too much for me. The start of ‘The Red and the Black’, especially live, is so damn bright it takes away from the actual riff he’s playing, IMO. Having said that - Up the Irons!!!! And ‘Hallowed be thy Name’ is 37 years old, so maybe that’s why it sounds like their 80s material 😉

It’s good to be open minded to new possibilities :; (I’ll issue my apologies now)

Not using his pinky finger has really got to slow him down.

Too true - it's funny how close your slapping on (presumably) roundwounds is to his playing on flats. But rhythmically - a great idea to take his patterns and slap them.

This is so wrong on so many levels!!!! AND I LOVE IT!!!!! Seriously - great job, and what a tune. Up the Irons!

Ha! Don't get me started on regular books - I had to make a stack of unread books and let it guilt me into submission. And then there's the dvd's.....the umpteen gigabytes of questionably sourced mp3's....the lost folders of barely perused pdf's.....