Kiwi

Sounds great! I need to check if Turner do 5 string soapbars.

He's played a load of other brands since including Rick Turner, Musicman, Fender, Godin and Tobias. If you have a look through the auction sale results, you'll see some of them

Out of those two Alembics I think the fretless went for way more that it might have sold through somewhere like Ebay. And the graphite necked one went for less than I expected. A selection of items went for way more than their estimates as well including that 1960 P bass. Given the choice between a pair of wooden balls and two Alembics, the decision would be easy given the total values are so similar.

We'll be doing an forum software update later tonight. Hopefully it'll take care of this.

Had a PM recently from BC member@ash: "Martin Nash - who was a member here and occasionally contributor has died. He’d struggled with his health for a number of years. He was known as Nashmonster on here and had a big collection of basses and some guitars. I traded with him many times and we kept in touch for a number of years on and off the forum. He lived in Northampton and was a picture framer and restorer by trade. " RIP @nashmonster

After an Android update? It seems more likely to be browser related. We haven't done anything with the site recently. Maybe @Woodinblack knows...?

Are you sure it's not your browser? Can you pm me a screenshot?

Alan Murphy on guitar. Later with Go West and then Level 42. An incredible guitarist.

You're right but my point was they rehearse even though they're all top drawer musicians.

Abba - Arrival (because Abba are an indelible part of my pre-teen memories) Planet Funk - Illogical Consequences (kept me going during some rough times in London) Toto- 25th Anniversary live (because Toto have been a near constant musical inspiration) Prince - Aftershow Party bootleg 15-9-2007 O2 Dome with Beverley Knight (because I was there) Rolling On The River - Tina Turner (we used to play it in my last band and it killed every time) Sky - Sky II (because it inspired me to take up playing music. More specifically I wanted to drum like Tristian Fry 2:00 in on Tristan's Magic Garden.) Freemasons - Compilation of their more bombastic remixes (because I like listening to the arrangements) John Williams - Star Wars soundtrack (a movie that I heard the music to before I saw the film) Book: The SAS Survival Guide I'd swap the Bible for a translated copy of the I-Ching. Luxury: Rainsong carbon composite 12 string acoustic guitar (upgraded with stainless steel frets), 30 sets of strings, tuner, a supply of 0.5mm Dunlop tortie picks, a small pair of needle nose pliers and chord sheets for a selection of songs by Supertramp and Abba.

I think you're missing the point. Really? Given your expertise, I would very much appreciate it if you could expand on how dancing and playing a musical instrument are similar enough that their rehearsal times provide a valid basis for comparison. Please let us know when you are. There are many bands full of professionals that do rehearse between gigs. The backing band for the Academy Awards for example. Maybe your brothers band is more accomplished perhaps? Or maybe the Academy Awards band is more accomplished than your brother's band? Hard to tell. Maybe "going through the motions" is the problem? Bring your A-game to rehearsal and show your audience some respect. Avoid the silly errors completely.

It's definitely true, in my experience, that the threat of a gig is a great motivator for those who don't bring their A-game to rehearsals. But its not professional or fair on paying punters to expect them to watch a rehearsal. And if the gig is full of mistakes, it'll affect the band's reputation. OK so the band might not be anywhere near the performance level of Prince but Prince and most other acts rehearse for a reason. To see how things go and do whatever needs to be done to maximize confidence before they get in front of an audience.

And there's Keith Richards, I'm not sure how comparisons are helpful though.

Fleetwood has a place in Hawaii.

His graphite necked Alembic was the first one they ever made. I suspect retired Alembic owners will be all over that one. It's a piece of bass design history.

Money where my mouth is. This is an old shot, the Hitmaker replica is a little more reliced now. And...on the other strat (before I commissioned the Hitmaker in 2015). I was lucky enough to chat occasionally on FB with Nile before he got heavily back into touring, I met him at the London Acoustic Guitar show in 2014. He is great company, very streetwise, yet one of those guys who is a musician's musician but not attention seeking. Although there are times when he tends to milk the audience for sentimentality and it gets a bit cringey. But yeah, he's definitely a big influence and Chic's songs are very accessible. I think Cory Wong is worth a mention too. He certainly gives out a lot of props to bass players and isn't too bad himself.

This is mine. kiwi's cat.mp4

I have fairly narrow tastes in music which include Abba, Chic, Freemasons, Stonebridge, The Sunburst Band, Incognito, Roykksop, Ulrich Schnauss, Planet Funk ...etc. These bands don't define my tastes and the later stuff is definitely not notable for bass playing but they generally suit most of my emotional states in some form or another.

I have one of those... the III. It really is a Swiss Army knife.

It's a little difficult to test and confirm the problem from my own account. It all seems to be working as expected. Is it possible that an inadvertent brush of the finger might have unfollowed you?

There's a few points to address here. 1) Ply generally uses lots more glue and can be relatively heavy 2) Laminated necks are a different construction to ply but both use the process of lamination. Hence potential for confusion. If someone were to make their own ply from, say luthier quality 3mm veneer and laminate using epoxy resin rather than PVA and a vacuum bag to cure...they might end up with something that sounded closer to a carbon composite. But it would probably be quite heavy compared to a piece of alder.

Some people on the internet don't let ignorance get in the way of expressing an opinion. Carbon composite generally has a flatter frequency response which means it's possible to use softer materials in other parts of the instrument to provide some selective dampening of frequencies. That sculpting of timbre provides character but what I think those commenters might really mean is that carbon necks don't hide their sloppy left hand technique. Besides which, we're talking bodies rather than necks and they have a slightly different structural role depending on how the instrument is constructed.

A star?

Maple veneer, they have a rep for the veneer peeling off after a time.

My first two basses had plywood bodies and maple necks. They had poor sustain and an unmusical, lifeless timbre. I replaced the second one with a Jaydee MK and it was a world of difference. I'm sure it's possible to make an acceptable instrument from ply, if the construction and build quality is up to scratch. But it's also possible to make a bass with too many laminations, whether it's the neck or body, and it kind of sucks the character out of the instrument. They all start to sound fairly similar. Someone's opinion of whether a ply bass is decent or not depends very much on what their baseline references are.