BaggyMan

With you on the TRB. Mk 1 are scarce as hell and mine was the jazz pickup model, which is rarer still

One for the 'you wont see another.." pile

Zemaitis 1989 custom built for me by the man himself. As far as I can tell he built probably 3 fretless basses, the other two being accoustics.

Fantastic instrument, warm and rounded as a fretless should be. Not much curly wood but a class act nonethless.

Did the Sunday.
Surprised by the lack of mainstream builders (FEnder, Gibson etc where the hell were you??) . well done to Ernie Ball for at least being there.
Loved getting the chance to chat to some of the smaller builders whose wares the mainstream manufacturers really need to take note of.
Spoke to someone from AC guitars (from Scotland apparently) and they have a £1200 that looked like awesome VFM (in fact some of my current stable of basses may be for the chop...)

some of the East european builders had some cool stuff on show as well. Had a nice chat with Jon East too.

Good enough to want to go again, bad enough to remember it was a bit expensive being that I didn't have time for any of the master classes, and the interminable bloomin' slap bass showboating from every corner of the building (clickety clickety clickety Ahhhhhhhh )

Well technically I am not a newbie per se, as I have had a basschat account for a few years. Thing is I have been quite focussed in my lack of posts so far.
I realized this after a rather pleasant chat with some chaps from basschat at the recent London bass show, so here is my hello…again.

I have been playing bass since 1980, blimey that’s 34 years…feeling old suddenly.
I have played rock, function bands ( that’s where the cash is..) and a whole bunch of side projects covering a good few hundred gigs.

I am an incurable sufferer of Bass Acquisition Syndrome, having bought/sold/re-bought and resold well over 50 basses in those 34 years.

Here’s a rough list for the geeks out there

P basses – Columbus, Squier, Crafter, Fenix, Squier and no-name Chinese.
J basess – Squiers, Fender, Crafter
Various Ibanezs, Yamaha, Washburn (that’ll be the 1980’s then) Vester, OLP and Musicman.

[b]Weirdest Bass[/b] has to be an electric blue Ibanez EDA 05
[b]One’s I wished I hadn’t sold[/b]: Yamaha TRB Mk 1, Fenix j bass fitted with now heinously rare and expensive Zemaitis handbuilt pickups. ’98 Stingray.
[b]One I’ll never sell[/b]: Zemaitis fretless custom
[b]One's I should never have bought[/b]: original olp 5 string (crap), Ibanez 6 string bass (too wide neck)

30 odd years of playing has left me blessed with a decent collection:[list]
[*]1989 Zemaitis fretless custom
[*]2005 Geddy Lee signature jazz bass (Japanese version)
[*]2006 G & L US version SB-2
[*]Sterling ray34, bought last month, a good and inexpensive alternative to my old and missed stingray
[*]Tobacco sunburst 2000 vintage Squier p bass
[*]White Squier p bass with fretless ex-Jazz Squier neck
[*]Ibanez BTB 5 string
[/list]

a couple of basses in bits

Mark Bass P501 Amp and cabs. TC electronics combo.

As far as influences go Geddy Lee, who lets face it is the the BOSS, Billy Sheehan, Richard Bona, Chris Squire and so many more.

Worst band name?.....(as ugly as a.) Busted Couch
Worst habit?: Ebay

Yep should have posted this there ...it mainly people looking forwards to it. this is the post event thread. Maybe the nice moderators will teleport it

Really,? ok well I had a look around and started this off in good faith i guess.

Toys! lots of great basses and Noise!
First up i was surpised that Ernie Ball was the only mainstream manufacturer with a stand. (apologies if i missed Fender, Gibson, Pedulla, Lakland...didnt see your stands guys.;o( ..)

What is encouraging was the number of smaller bespoke manufacturers, AC basses for example, there were other its just that I picked a business card whilst talking to John East on the stand next door.

Prices for these small builders were very good IMHO. Actually considering a purchase (following selling a few of the current stable)

Had a good chat with the chaps from a forum called [i]basschat[/i] and vendors who were all friendly and happy to be there. All except one thing

[i]Slap bass showboating[/i].

Dont get me wrong I love slap bass, and many other techniques besides. But after about ten minutes of a whole room of clackity clackity clackity slap bass from all sundry was driving me nuts [i]and probably driving up coffee sales I suspect[/i].

A few years back there was a noisy quarter hour per hour (at the Excel centre). that made the day a lot more balanced I thought.

Anyway. A great range of basses, old and vintage, good to see some music shops are still out there, great representation from industry notables, all in all a good show. Just wish it ahd been a little bigger.

Come on[i] Fender and pals[/i] lets see you in 2015 please.

What did everyone else think??

Just bought a Ray34 second hand off the ebay for £320, having had to part with my '98 3 band Stingray of 10 years standing last year ...sigh..
Have to say I am very impressed. Fret dressing isnt up to standard but a trip to a decent Luthier can take it from 'decent' to 'excellent' as soon as I have some pennies to burn. sounds great, plays really well. V.Happy. Pretty new to this so haven't quite worked out how to attach a pic..