KingBollock

We went with some friends to see their daughter perform in a talent show in a venue on Cromer pier. I don’t really know how to describe what her troupe were supposed to be doing but it was truly awful, an absolute shambling mess! My mate was relieved that only the best three acts from each category went through to perform again in the afternoon. He was just glad that we wouldn’t have to stay for that. Except that there were only two acts in her category, so they got through by default. I buggered off outside and spent the afternoon crab fishing.

The only thing I can think of is the Digitech Bass Synth Wah. Which I got new for £34 (I believe I got it just before they stopped making them). I had no idea what I might do with it, but I do sometimes enjoy mucking about with it.

… I grab my walking stick and hat as I leave the house. Jump in the van, still wearing my hat (leather flat cap), and off we go to the lake to do some fishing. I take my hat off before I get out of the van, get set up and put on a different hat (peaked cap)… I sometimes wear my hat (flat cap) indoors if I’m feeling particularly paranoid and worried someone might nick it (it wasn’t cheap) or that I might forget it and leave it behind. There are sunglasses involved, too, but I can’t be bothered with the details.

I have had a couple of ideas for one of my basses, but haven’t actually got around to doing yet… #1 - Replace the cavity cover with a piece of 1mm steel with some ebony veneer. Drill the screw holes in the body to fit some magnets. But I worry about losing it. or #2 - Mount a battery box into the cavity cover.

I have a Fender strap on my Fender banjo, and I thought it would look nice on my Squier telecaster but I couldn’t bring myself to do it!

I don’t get particularly sweaty hands but my thumb still sticks. It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for a couple of things… I have a thumb injury I got as a child, this is exacerbated by neuropathic nerve damage that goes from my neck, down my arm and into my thumb. And I can’t play with my thumb brace on. It bloomin’ hurts!

The weirdly stretched body shape of Spectors and Warwicks. Warwicks aren’t helped by that headstock, either. The dumpy, drawn by a child, shape of Wals.

I have a PC and it’s drives all named after fantasy swords. I have another PC and it’s drives named after ships from the Alien franchise. Three of my basses also have names (one of which is named after a fantasy sword…).

I hadn’t but I have now. Thank you! They’re not a bad price, either.

I have a couple of these in the living room. One for guitar and one for a mandolin. They’re nothing special but they are nicer than normal guitar stands. They come in two parts, so they pack down nice and flat. And they’re only £12.99. I love the grabby Hercules stand but it won’t take my favourite bass (not tall enough) nor my favourite guitar (the Telecaster headstock not being wide enough).

A friend of my wife’s owns the only pub in the village. She’s always been strict about closing at 11pm and is only open four days a week. She used to put on live music in a dedicated function room. Then a couple moved in next door and started complaining… So, no music anymore, live or otherwise. This isn’t good enough, though, oh no! They don’t want people talking while walking past their house at closing time. So she had to buy signs that tell people to be quiet when they leave. She has decided to sell the pub, and those neighbours are part of the reason for it. There used to be two pubs in the village but the other one got turned into a bistro/deli. Who knows what’ll happen to her pub once it’s sold?

Thanks! I always appreciate an opportunity to post those pics!

Ohh, I hadn’t thought of red strings. The ones currently on mine are black. (Not the black strings. It came with black strings which I replaced and then unreplaced.) I’ve got some black dye for the fretboard. I just need to get around to using it.

First Bass Owned: Westone Raider I 'Go To' Bass: Cort T-35 'Your' Bass: BC Rich Warlock NT

The only things that I own that might be worth more than what I paid for them are a Digitech Bass Synth Wah (£32, new) and the Behringer Centaur (£59, new). They’re such good pedals that the little I might make on them isn’t worth the effort of selling them and finding replacements. Although, thinking about it, my BC Rich Warlock might be worth a little more than I paid for it, purely because I got it for such a good price. But it’s my dream bass, it ain’t going nowhere. I’m not a collector, but I do have a lot of Behringer stuff. Which I think makes me a hoarder…

I’ve got a Behringer TO800 Vintage Tube Overdrive, which is their version on the Tube Screamer. It’s good. And very cheap. The only worry that people seem to have about it is the plastic chassis, but if it’s going to be always on, that doesn’t matter quite so much.

About 30 years ago we bought a 120 year old upright labelled as Jackson’s of Coventry (which I have never been able to find anything about). It was overstrung with an iron frame. It sounded nice and worked fine apart from one of the end keys that had been used to repair one of the more central keys. Moving it was an absolute nightmare. It was unbelievably heavy! Unfortunately, when we moved to Wales, 17 years ago, we just couldn’t bring it with us. We ended up having to skip it, which felt like sacrilege.

I use 3mm Dunlop Primetone picks and get a very fingery sounding tone from them. They do a rounded tip version, too, which sound even more fingery. I never actually play with fingers, I keep a selection of picks for getting different tones and attacks.

I got mine three weeks ago from Anderton’s, they were the only place that seemed to have them in stock. It only took two days to arrive. I have to say that I love it. I had been thinking of building my own, until I saw that Anderton’s video. If the EBay prices do really sell for silly money, I might consider building my own anyway, compare the two and sell the Beringer if they’re close enough. Although, if I could get silly money for the Behringer, I could sell it and get one of the new ones. I don’t care about owning a rare pedal.

Could you tape a set list to the back of your bass? The first thing that popped into my head when reading your problem with the pedal screen, was the Gameboy magnifying light. Maybe not one of those exactly, but I thought it worth mentioning in case it might give you an idea.

Westone Raider I in silver/grey… I keep looking on Google but all I ever find is a BassChat page that was posted while I was on a break from internet forums, so I missed it! I believe that there is a chap on BassChat that owns one, that he mentioned he keeps in its case on top of a wardrobe. But I can’t for the life of me remember who it was! I think he may have said that it was his first bass, so I felt it would be too cheeky to ask if he would sell it. Especially with how much I regret selling mine.

Have you tried uv resin? You’d still have to use heat, or a lot of patience, to spread it. But with the use of a uv torch it sets immediately. Meaning less retraction. And if it did retract a little bit, it’s a quick, seamless fix. You’d probably be able to use it to fix the edges of that pedal. I bought the stuff for model making, but I am finding all sorts of uses for it.

Just the one for me. Front. Back. Headstock. Her name is Angelbane.

The individual boxes would be metal. I’m sort of envisioning each side having a couple of small, embedded magnets, to hold the enclosures together and also for positioning, to keep them aligned. The instrument connection, from box to box (apart from the end/terminal boxes, which would have a jack socket, too), which would be a couple of metal pads. It would eliminate the need for patch leads and take up less pedalboard space. Of course, you’d be stuck with only that type of enclosure.

That’d be cool if each pedal was separate and each in its own box. With each box being exactly the same shape and size with perfectly squared off sides, they could be joined together with magnets, so that they would fit snuggly. This would allow for them to be joined, electrically, by metal plates, or more magnets, instead of jack sockets and plugs. (I hope I have described that well enough) You’d end up with something similar but more versatile. Slowly trying to think this through… You’d need “end boxes” that allowed for extra connections. They could be used to allow leads to be plugged into jack sockets, and also power. You would need four of them, I think. One for the end of each row. You’d need a patch lead to go from the end of the bottom row to the start of the top row. I’m sure I am missing something else…