Kiwi

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

3 hours ago, BreadBin said:

I get that too, after an Android update this morning 

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?

5 hours ago, fleabag said:

Oh hell yes ..

 

 

 

And oh hell yes mk 2

 

 

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

3 hours ago, Doddy said:

I doubt that the band that plays the Academy Awards rehearse every week.

I'm guessing that most of the players see the charts either at band call (or maybe a week or 2 beforehand at most), then have a couple of rehersals including a full dress rehearsal, followed by 'see you next year'.  They won't be going to a rehearsal room every week to work out songs and arrangements- that's the job of the arranger and MD.

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

1. Abba - Arrival (because Abba are an indelible part of my pre-teen memories)
2. Planet Funk - Illogical Consequences (kept me going during some rough times in London)
3. Toto- 25th Anniversary live (because Toto have been a near constant musical inspiration)
4. Prince - Aftershow Party bootleg 15-9-2007 O2 Dome with Beverley Knight (because I was there)
5. Rolling On The River - Tina Turner (we used to play it in my last band and it killed every time)
6. 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.)
7. Freemasons - Compilation of their more bombastic remixes (because I like listening to the arrangements)
8. 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.
 

4 hours ago, TimR said:

 

They're professionals and I doubt very much they rehearse week in week out for one gig a month or less. 

I think you're missing the point. 

4 hours ago, TimR said:

From the professional dancers I know, they'll be called in the morning for a show that evening. They'll block through the dances in a few hours, rehearse and get on stage. It's what they do for a living, they're professionals and they get on with it.

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.

4 hours ago, TimR said:

If I was in a band that met a couple of weeks before a tour...

Please let us know when you are.

4 hours ago, TimR said:

My brothers band is full of professionals. They don't rehearse between gigs. There's no money for it and they know what they're doing. 

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.

4 hours ago, TimR said:

I find going through the motions at rehearsals just introduces silly errors that then get disected to find out who played what wrong. Waste of time.

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.  

12 minutes ago, Mykesbass said:

The very sad news about Wilko Johnson brought this thread back to mind. For pub bands I'd say he is a much better benchmark rhythm guitarist than Nile.

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

9 hours ago, asingardenof said:

Don't he and Mick Fleetwood own neighbouring islands somewhere tropical?

Fleetwood has a place in Hawaii.

On 20/11/2022 at 02:50, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Bet those Alembic’s go for a lot more than the estimates. 

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.

 

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.

On 08/11/2022 at 17:41, BigRedX said:

Alternatively the Linn Adrenalinn, the only effect I use that the Helix can't replicate, but it doesn't spend as much time processing my bass as the Helix does.

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? 

5 hours ago, Maude said:

I'm sure I've asked it before, but when does multi laminate become ply?

The high end Yamaha bodies are an alder/maple/alder sandwich. Is this ply? 

Shouldn't a plywood neck be stiffer and more resistant to twisting than a single piece neck? 

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. 

9 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Some say the same about carbon fibre... Which is just another composite. 😁

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?

6 minutes ago, Ralf1e said:

Maple top

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

1 hour ago, Ralf1e said:

Boats as well. Marine ply isn't cheap either and it doesnt fall apart. Not to forget skateboards made on a mold.

Yeah but marine ply is constructed differently to a maple laminated neck.

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.

V, the wife of @nationofzeros PM'd me yesterday. 

"Dear Kiwi

I am V, the wife/widow of the owner of the missing TB.  I am incredibly grateful for the resource which is Basschat, and your attempts to get hold of Chris which has meant I have been reunited with his misssing TB - even if only virtually.  

He died on the 23rd August 2022.  The hospital  put him in a side room on the 10th August which had pseudomonas aureginosa in the shower water, which the hospital knew about.  As he was totally immunocompromised following 5 days of the most aggressive of chemos - he caught the bacteria and died of pneumonia,  sepsis 10 days after admission to hospital. He was totally fit and well upon admission, with no symptoms.

The guy that sold Chris the bass, Henry Betz Brown, Bonfires Vintage has offered to refund me the money that Chris paid for the bass - ironically virtually a year ago.

Life is strange.  I have borrowed money from my mother to pay for Chris's funeral - the refund on the bass almost exactly covers these costs.

Kiwi, I would be grateful if you could let those member that commented on his story know that I am so grateful for their support and action.

With very best wishes

V"

Props to Henry at Bonfires Vintage of Portland, Oregon.  He probably deserves a big thank you for being a beacon of honesty and integrity in these increasingly crazy times.  

@nationofzeros

Passed away tragically on Aug 23rd.  While Chris was a relatively new member and based in the US, he also called upon the support of the BC community in trying to trace the whereabouts of a Travis Bean bass that had been lost in transit.  The really tragic thing was that it was recovered by a shop in Oregon a matter of weeks after he had passed on, thanks specifically to the appeal he posted on here.  

His widow dropped us the following message last night: 

"Dear Kiwi

I am V, the wife/widow of the owner of the missing TB.  I am incredibly grateful for the resource which is Basschat, and your attempts to get hold of Chris which has meant I have been reunited with his missing TB - even if only virtually.  

He died on the 23rd August 2022.  The hospital  put him in a side room on the 10th August which had pseudomonas aureginosa in the shower water, which the hospital knew about.  As he was totally immunocompromised following 5 days of the most aggressive of chemos - he caught the bacteria and died of pneumonia, sepsis 10 days after admission to hospital. He was totally fit and well upon admission, with no symptoms.

The guy that sold Chris the bass, Henry Betz Brown, Bonfires Vintage has offered to refund me the money that Chris paid for the bass - ironically virtually a year ago.

Life is strange.  I have borrowed money from my mother to pay for Chris's funeral - the refund on the bass almost exactly covers these costs.

Kiwi, I would be grateful if you could let those member that commented on his story know that I am so grateful for their support and action.

With very best wishes

V"

@Fluid Druid at Bonfires Vintage of Portland, Oregon probably deserves a big thank you for being a beacon of honesty and integrity in these increasingly crazy times.  

A polite reminder that we do have a guitar forum.  

www.guitarchat.co.uk

It could do with some love from guitar loving members on here. 

2 hours ago, Cato said:

https://thebassgallery.com/products/ken-smith-bespoke-b-bass-1981-ex-stanley-clarke

 

I've never seen that before.

 

I can't decide whether it's a masterpiece or the ugliest guitar I've ever seen.

I remember seeing that for sale on EBay about 10 or 15 years ago.  IIRC the asking price was something like US$32,000 to help pay for the uni tuition fees for one of his kids.