el borracho

There's always Westone's interchangeable neck option. Not the most practical mid gig though!

Good find. I think I posted earlier I've never come across another single pickup one apart from mine. 

It's My Life by Talk Talk. It was that bridge between verse & chorus - I had a mental block on it when I played it live. Fine at home but in the band I struggled with it for months...until one day it just worked.

21 minutes ago, owen said:

(a U in O level Chemistry and 2 Us in O level French come to mind)

Us in Chemistry, French & Maths for me 😄

Primary school was quite good. There was a good music teacher who I learnt from & I started playing the violin (badly - Grade 1 second attempt) & played in the school orchestra. After moving to secondary school I was made to feel like I couldn't play at all. Looking back, the teacher quite simply bullied anyone who wasn't good at playing. When I announced I was giving up he lost it, screaming his head off at me "Ahh poor little diddums is finding it all too much isn't he - it's all too much for him... etc etc" - actual quote that sticks in my head to this day - I was only 11 or 12 & was quite bemused an adult would behave like that.

I lost all interest in playing music until I was at college when my friends inspired me to take up electric guitar. After a switch to bass a couple of years later there was no stopping me.

I probably learnt some basics of theory from school but overall it turned me away from playing music. 

Chris Stainton, who has been playing piano & keyboards for the last 50 years, with the likes of Joe Cocker, The Who, Eric Clapton, the marvellous Boxer & countless others was originally Joe Cocker's bass player. 

One of my favourite 80s bands - The Playn Jayn

2 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

So the story goes: Phil (thy animal) Taylor of Motorhead fell backwards from his drum stool off of a high stage.

Doctors said his injuries did not include a fatal neck-break only because he was so drunk/wasted that his body was totally relaxed and he hit the ground like a rag doll.

OK, if you want to be picky being drunk/wasted may have contributed to the fall in the first place !

I saw this happen to Joe Cocker's drummer - I forget who he was, someone might know - at Gateshead Stadium in about 1991. It was particularly noticeable as he was the only one playing at the time during a song intro. All of a sudden everything went quiet & he'd gone.

He appeared from the back of the drum riser holding up his broken stool to great applause!

Sound of Status - a Swedish Quo tribute who recorded an original album. In my opinion it is what Quo should have sounded like in the Just Supposin' era.

Another Swedish Quo tribute - Big Fat Mama - are following suit & recording an original album this weekend. I look forward to it.

5 hours ago, Bassassin said:

I think the MC800 & the active, twin-pup MC900 were only around for a year, after which they were replaced by the MC924 active and (on occasional years) MC824 passive. Both were twin pickup/24 fret. Ibanez used the same numbering to differentiate active/passive & 24-fret necks on their Roadster, RoadStar II & Studio series basses too.

I sometimes worry that I know all this stuff, but nothing remotely useful.

But always interesting!

I like an old Ibanez - I also have an RS824 I bought 35 years ago & my go to bitsa has Blazer bridge & knobs (my first bass was a Blazer)

12 hours ago, Woodwind said:

A friend of mine got exactly one like this from Macari's in London in the early 2000's and I was horrified to hear he moved it on a few years after.

I would have bought it off him in a heart beat.

Musicman position for the pickup gave such a great sound. 

Incredible construction standard.

Lovely, lovely bass

I've never seen another one with the single pickup - they're usually the twin pickup active ones. Got mine in the early 90s  & was my main bass for 10+years. Gigged heavily & has a lot of battle scars.

Best £195 I've ever spent!

On 14/07/2020 at 12:21, Muzz said:

 

 I'd take both with me all the time, 'just in case'. 

I do 😁

Ibanez Musician MC800 (apart from the finish)  but you're not having mine - if I went down to one bass, from 10, this would be the last one.

25 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

The only practical benefit I can see for stringing through the body is for a bass like certain Rickenbackers with a crap bridge which wants to lift at the back. String through the body = problem solved! Other than that, it doesn’t change the speaking length of the string so I can’t see it benefitting me. And I’ve owned basses with through-body stringing. 

I had this with my G&L M2500. It had always had strings through body but when I put some from the bridge it lifted enough to slide a plec under the back. Straight back to through body!

I listen to Arrow Rock while I'm working. Being a Dutch station you get the usual suspects but the odd Dutch band as well. I've discovered Brainbox, Livin' Blues & Anouk along with loads of Golden Earring (not just Radar Love!)

A bit off topic mind as they don't have presenters.

I probably learnt bits of songs when I started but the first one I learnt in it's entirety, for my first proper band rehearsal, was Chatterbox by the New York Dolls. 

I still like the look of them. Maybe somebody was having a bad day!

I rang enquiring about Overwaters in the early 90s but the guy was so offhand it put me off.

I wanted to know prices/availability etc but he wouldn't tell me & just kept asking how much exactly I had to spend. 

Not knowing their prices (pre internet days remember) I guesstimated £1000 ish (I had a LOT more available having just sold a house)

His reply - "you're not gonna get a lot for that here" - I said I had more if necessary so he took my address & said he would send a price list.

He didn't & I bought elsewhere!

On 04/07/2020 at 10:36, el borracho said:

Another one was Dan Baird, who toured with a 1950s Fender Esquire for many years that had previously belonged to Steve Marriott. He retired it a couple of years ago then, sadly, retired himself.

I wasn't looking for this but a link appeared on Facebook with the full story. He did indeed play one guitar, live at least, for most of his career.

https://danbairdmusic.com/secret-ingredients?fbclid=IwAR2Dg0FlJtsjMH-TkhkwtIfgOD6x23auXnGEeCpxKDpIyz_wDA_QINU9iik

I have used the Super Compact in various bands & been fine but I did play in one band where it wasn't enough. They were way too loud with no monitoring & a very loud drummer. Solution was to use a second Super Compact. 

I don't play with them anymore!

Been a couple of mentions of Quo's Telecasters but none of Alan Lancaster - in the main he played the same Mustang from the early 70s & then during the FF tours, having been sunburst, natural & now a purplish black.

Talking of the FF tours, I saw Wilko supporting them & mid set he had to stop playing while the tech fixed his Tele - apparently he doesn't carry a spare. Was a great opportunity to see Norman solo for a few minutes though - him & Dylan Howe just carried on playing.

Another one was Dan Baird, who toured with a 1950s Fender Esquire for many years that had previously belonged to Steve Marriott. He retired it a couple of years ago then, sadly, retired himself.

I need to get some more of Deke's books as I always like these snippets. I bought Rhinos when it came out and enjoyed it. I've got an early signed copy (55/109) - why 109 I don't know - there's probably a very good reason!

McCartney did it as well

I never realised the  French version of Trust's Antisocial was so different.

At around the same time I was listening to Ocean, another French band.  I still like the album now. It never really occurred to me that I didn't know what he was singing about.

You've got me thinking now !!