tauzero

That's improved the trussrod access.

Don't like the white binding on the top. Our old guitarist had an actual '57 (I think) Gold Top and the binding doesn't wrap right round the edge like that:

I've not seen anyone launching into similar diatribes against GK for selling their MB150 combo for £550. It's not as if they're still absorbing the development costs, it's been around for 30+ years. Although one point that Ashdown may wish to consider is that as well as the premium-priced MB150, GK do a second range which are half the price.

I had the neck on my '00 Thumb shaved down to the same proportions as my '87 JD Thumb. Local luthier did it, and made a jolly good job of it.

[quote name='lonestar' timestamp='1422743298' post='2676455'] Id like to be able to do nuts but the files are a bit prcicey [/quote] Adjustable nuts from Thomann are a lot cheaper. Of course, you'll then get lots of BCers telling you not to use them, but it's worth it. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/abm_6240_webster_nut_bass.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/abm_6240_webster_nut_bass.htm[/url] If it was good enough for Warwick, it's good enough for me.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1422632607' post='2674934'] My influences when taking up playing bass were guys like Jaco, using bass in a melodic way. [/quote] Who's Jaco?

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1422637605' post='2675030'] Smile politely. I'm very much in the John Entwistle school of stage presence (which, I hasten to add, is subtly different from the Bill Wyman school) [/quote] I thought the Bill Wyman school was where he got his girlfriends.

I already knew how to solder when I got my first bass, so that wouldn't have been an issue. As I bought it as effectively a kit of parts (Fender Soundhouse had had a fire and Hayman had just got bust, so they were flogging off all the parts one needed to make a 40/40 - other instruments were available), I probably did more work on a bass before I got to play my first note on it than most bassists would do in a lifetime.

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1422648754' post='2675237'] Nice Jack, always fancied one, particularly the J/J variant. [/quote] You should get one. Everybody should. That or a B2. 4-string Jacks, like 4-string B2s, have quite slim necks - oddly, the 5-strings are rather chunky.

[quote name='JJW' timestamp='1422643708' post='2675146'] Someone on here probally knows, is it a factory customisation or one he has done [url="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&pub=5575090229&toolid=10001&campid=5337531593&customid=&icep_item=191353834476&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229508&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg"]http://rover.ebay.co...&mtid=824&kw=lg[/url] [/quote] Reading the description often helps in cases like this. Unusual as it's normally a J pickup in the bridge position. In 30 years time, when this comes back onto Ebay, the BCers of the future will be whinging about someone vandalising a Noughties P with an extra pickup.

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1422269785' post='2670411'] That could almost be cool, if it wasn't for the B&Q emulsion paintjob. [/quote] Indeed. Smooth it off, spray it a less offensive colour, and get that sh*te yellow paint off the resonator, then the worst thing about it would be the unbranded Jazz neck (because they're so boring).

[quote name='walbassist' timestamp='1422648282' post='2675226'] Maybe make one fretless and then join a prog rock band? [/quote] I did part 1 of that with my identical 5/4 (made the 4 fretless). However, what I really wanted was a twin-neck headless 5/5 so I sold it.

Anyone mentioned the Peavey Grind yet? If not, I will.

I carefully studied Andy Fraser's dance moves (available on a Youtube near you) and use them. If I'm feeling a bit more showmanlike, I do a variant of the hand jive. I'm trying to get Honky Tonk Women into the set so I can have another rest.

I now have Mrs Zero inured to the concept of basses possibly costing four-figure sums, though if the first of those figures was anything other than 1, I think I would get Stern Looks, and possibly even Expressions of Disbelief. And if I were to suggest further purchases of any four-figure basses (already having a couple in the house), I think that would move on to Severe Disapproval. We can't afford for me to be wildly extravagant, and although it's nominally my money, we actually operate as a sort of shared pool of money (well, puddle would be closer to it) without having a joint account, hence really expensive purchases get flagged up before proceeding. Less expensive ones operate on the principle of forgiveness being easier to obtain than permission.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1422530765' post='2673691'] But if you do jazz gigs, you are certainly going to get horn keys thrown at you. [/quote] The first band I played in was a Glenn Miller tribute band (I played rhythm guitar). That was very much at the start of my musical career (if you can call it that), when I couldn't even play 6-string barre chords. Transposing instruments - just say no (except when they're a keyboard and you want to play without the black keys, of course).

"All work done to a very high standard by Phillippe Dubreuille in Denmark street, London. The man is pretty much a guitar Luther legend in these parts." Is that Luther as in nailing stuff to church doors, or Luther as in detective who never does anything by the rules and makes ghastly cockups of everything?

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1422442034' post='2672599'] I love watching keyboard players squirm playing numbers in C# and even F#. [/quote] Stuff that, my keyboard has a perfectly good Key Transpose function.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1422440764' post='2672567'] If you have an adversion to F and Bb etc I guess you don't play with horns much..?? [/quote] Or maybe it's playing with horns that gives you that aversion.

[quote name='cybertect' timestamp='1422435836' post='2672486'] TBF, given the time signature, dancing to Floyd's [i]Money[/i] could be an interesting exercise. [/quote] My old club band used to play one club where they liked to line dance. They tried it to "Music" by John Miles once. The 7/8 section proved quite amusing.

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1422431524' post='2672449'] But that's what I'm saying, bass was starting and stopping. Some songs had none and NO ONE. Noticed. They were all up dancing and having a ball. All they were interested in was the beat and the melody and obviously, the vocals, which I supply too, so I was powerless to do anything about it as I was trying to keep the show rolling. [/quote] I think that as long as a song isn't too butchered, as long as it's familiar, the typical audience member will hear the soundtrack inside their head, not the song being played in front of them. The ones who'll definitely notice are the musicians in the audience and any agents who've popped in to check you out.

[quote name='Mr Arkadin' timestamp='1422450585' post='2672787'] I would have thought even a casual listener would have to have the Ziggy album, which covers both those tracks, in addition to any compilation. I thought the compilation was great, covering some different stuff, and love the new track "Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)". [/quote] "John I'm only dancing" isn't on Ziggy, it's only on compilation albums. Gets rather unjustly overlooked too.

I'd rather like my old Hayman 40/40 back, mainly for sentimental reasons. PXed it for a Precision in the late 70s/early 80s (which I'm not sure was the best thing I could have done), and then traded that in for a Warwick Thumb that I still have.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1421956314' post='2667157'] I have one of the early V-Amp2 units. One of the amp models, as written on the front, is "Amercian Deluxe". I noticed later models being spelled correctly. I held onto it hoping one day it would become rare and sought after [/quote] It could be desirable to anyone who lives in Mercia...

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1422239585' post='2670254'] I am not a fan of the [i]"open mic[/i]" and we have a lot of them over here. Usually if your not a friend of the host you don't play. Plus over here they seem to attract a disproportionate amount of newbies. Usually they are geared towards blues harp players or lead guitarist only. [/quote] Nothing like the ones over here, then, where a certain amount of juggling and time reduction occurs if there wouldn't be enough time to fit everyone on otherwise. And the host is often the one who plays least.