lowregisterhead

Same line-up, same tour at Aberdeen Capitol Theatre. Same result! Van Halen were jaw dropping.

Nice tone, nice ink too!

That's interesting - are they just re-badged Hipshots made for G&L? I would have thought the name 'Ultralite' is patented...

You'd think so. Could be it's because the Y key is thicker and solid, so overall they're pretty much the same weight. It's always astonished me that any maker can produce a bass with a serious degree of neck dive. I've got another 5 that isn't bad, but could be better, so I'm taking a punt on a set with the 'mini clover' ears, which are quite a bit lighter that the standard Ultralites. They take several weeks to come from the States, so we'll see. My only concern is the dinky heads might look a bit weird!

Interesting, but why were only 4 ever made? My concern would be if you remove half of the body mass, the neck dive will probably be spectacular!

Blimey. Weird, beautiful and absolutely bonkers all at the same time! Serious singing skills.

I know what you mean - that line-up can never be recreated, so there's a good argument against further tinkering. I'm under no illusions that I may be deeply disappointed, but I thought I'd go and see Percy play some bonkers bass before we both expire!

Brand X are still on the planet, admittedly in a different form, but Percy's still with them. The band are based in the States now, but they're playing a gig at Trading Boundaries in Uckfield, E. Sussex on the 2nd of May. You going?

Forgive me for being pedantic, but I am a bit of a pedant, so I'm gonna. Shouldn't it be "All that glisters..." ?? 😉

Nice idea, but you could spend a few hundred on the preamp, pickup and hardware - if in fact you can buy 'proper' MM hardware anywhere. May as well buy a complete one!

A cubit, three leagues and two chandeliers?? That can't be right! 🤣

Yup, you're right, I'm over-thinking it! But perhaps I should have checked the specs on the licensed tuners, and actually weighed one of mine before I ordered the USAs. You live and you learn. Well, you live, anyway. 😉

I was watching "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee" last night (a fairly mindless way to waste 20 minutes, watching Jerry Seinfeld and his buddies back-slapping each other - the real stars are the wonderful classic cars he drives in each episode) and he met the actor Christoph Waltz in a hardware store. Being Austrian, he was quite rightly appalled that you can't buy a tape measure in the US in anything but inches. Heathens.

What can I say? The Americans refuse to go metric...

Got myself a lovely new Lakland 55-02 just after Christmas. It sits well on a strap, with no neck dive to speak of, but I thought I'd treat myself and upgrade the tuners from the Hipshot licensed ones they come fitted with to USA Ultralites, as Hipshot's website states that I would save as much as 0.06oz per tuner in weight! (Here's a link to the page which then links to specs and weights, for anyone who's interested - https://hipshot.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020825572-What-s-the-difference-between-Licensed-and-USA-Ultralite-tuning-machines- ) The licensed tuners are perfectly good, but I persuaded myself the higher tolerances and superior materials of the USA tuners would also be worth a splurge, as well as the miniscule overall weight saving. The ones I chose are HB6C (clover head and 1/2" post). Imagine my astonishment when they arrived, I weighed them both, and the USA version was actually 0.05oz HEAVIER than the licensed version. They are actually bang on their stated weight as per the Hipshot spec sheets (1.95oz), but it turns out that at 1.9oz, the licensed tuners I have are 0.11oz underweight, going by their published specs. Now, you could say I shouldn't really be hugely peeved about the weight gain, I mean, spread across all 5 tuners, what's a quarter of a gram between friends? (No drugs references, please 😎) But is it really worth the £120 I just paid for supposed superior engineering? A minor fly in the ointment is the fact the bushes on the licensed tuners are 16mm diameter, but the holes in the headstock are 17.5mm. The bushes on the USA tuners are 17.5mm, so they're a snug fit. It begs the question why the hole is slightly too big for the tuners Lakland fit as standard in the first place, and also why the weight specs on the Hipshot website for the licensed tuners appear to be inaccurate. I even emailed Lakland to see if Hipshot made a special version for them, but they said they use these the HB6 - https://hipshotproducts.com/collections/bass-tuning/products/hb6-1-2-ultralite-licensed-bass-tuning-machine I'm tempted to put the old tuners back in, and stick the USAs up for sale to try and recoup some of my outlay. But let's be honest - does any of this really matter, or am I over-thinking it a tad?!? 😆

They definitely were, and still are, great musicians. The drummer moved to the States and produced several big name bands. The bass player went on to work with several name acts, and now plays with a couple of jazz outfits in Scotland.

Not that I'm aware of, but it was a long time ago! I think it's best to preserve their anonymity in any case, to spare their blushes...