lowregisterhead

Rendevouzed with Brian today to deliver my Status which he bought. We've done deals before, but never actually met - great to finally put a face to the name - and have a long overdue cuppa and a chat about all things bass. Brian knows his stuff! Suffice to say you can buy, sell or trade with Brian in complete confidence. You're a gent, sir. 'Til the next time...

Blogs and personal online content in general can be something of a confessional, but this guy sounds like he should get counselling. A lot of people I've known in music over the years who displayed what might be loosely termed as 'the artistic demeanor' have had borderline personality disorders. It's what makes them (us?) creative / windswept and interesting / sexy / dangerous / nauseating / massive pains in the backside (delete as appropriate). May it ever be so, of course.

The princely sum of £12 a head for a 4-hour session. We're a 5-piece, and it's London prices, but it's a very nice studio. But I don't think it's the money, it's more the principal he objects to, that he shouldn't be putting in what he sees as 'so much effort' for a longer-term return. If he was note-perfect, I wouldn't mind so much, but he drops huge clangers at every gig.

Thanks for the reassurance - there's been a few times when I've thought we might be being a bit hard on him. And yet, it gets murkier - today he WhatsApped us all again - he's only gone and got us a gig!! Still doesn't want to rehearse until 2 weeks before, though. It makes me wonder... was he keeping it to himself and planning to bring in some mates to do the deed until we forced his hand? Seems mighty convenient!

Stinky poo?? My first post that's been obscenity filtered! Hurrah! 🙂

An uneasy silence, but we are rehearsing with another keyboard player next week! Not sure where we go after that, but I have a sense we may be offloading Dr Dentures shortly. Or he may offload himself. stinky poo happens, it's the attitude that nobody needs.

I know the man, I've worked with him. He is exacting and uncompromising, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It won't always win you friends, but sometimes you have to be true to yourself regardless. The whole album that track is from is great, but sadly I suspect it'll never get anywhere.

Blimey. I'm guessing he didn't go on to a wildly successful solo career after the band split? This isn't quite on the same scale, but despite several weeks off after the Xmas period, the keyboard player in a function band I play with announced that he didn't want to rehearse any more, apart from a couple of times just before gigs to refresh his memory, as he put it. As the band only just took on a new guitarist, the rest of us tried to point out that wasn't practical, especially as the said keyboard player was not up to speed himself, regularly going blank in the middle of songs, despite being in the band for over a year. He then proceeded to lecture the rest of us via WhatsApp about how much work he had put in, and how it was totally unreasonable to expect someone of his musical calibre to spend his hard-earned money on rehearsal if there wasn't an imminent gig to offset said outlay. No other bands he knew of worked like this, he went on, and as he gained his "musical satisfaction" elsewhere, he didn't need to "rehearse for fun" like the rest of us! In response, we took a slightly firmer position than perhaps he might have expected, pointing out that we would rehearse anyway, get another keyboard player to come down and help out, and that if the dep knew the set, we were far more likely to call him first when gigs went in the book. There then followed furious back-pedalling (again via WhatsApp) from Dr Dentures about how much we needed him to help with organisation, video editing, and "general musicality". I'm not sure how he thought that last point was going to win any friends, but suffice to say it went down like a cup of cold sick. He followed it up by warning that "an all-or-nothing approach would be making it hard for ourselves going forward"! Bloody keyboard players. They know they're hard to come by, so too often act like prima donnas. Bass players don't seem to suffer from this sort of bizarre egotism to anything like the same degree. Maybe I should form a band of only bass players... I know it's been done already, but it would be good for my mental health...

Did a trade with Alexis, and the whole transaction was as smooth as silk! Great communication, and the bass was just as described. Excellent packaging, too. Thanks!

I've found the same thing over time. I've now been playing for over 40 years, starting out on jazzes (well, an Antoria jazz copy in the 70's!) then moving on to an Aria, an Ibanez, then a Stingray, then Stingray 5s. About 15 years ago I picked up a 35" scale 5 string with 19mm spacing, and that was it - I can't go back! I've tried 18mm, but I find even a small difference in spacing really quite noticeable. I should add that I'm a pretty big guy with hands like shovels and arms like an orangutan, so perhaps it's no real surprise, but I've gradually found I just need more space - everything else feels really cramped by comparison now.

I experience the same wastefulness on a regular basis. Bizarre. Without wishing to be nosy, what are you using the BNC patch leads for?? 🙂

It is hideous though, and the price is way over the top...

To be fair to the seller, it's likely the pickup and/or electronics had died, and he thought it was easier to do a hatchet job than try an source replacements. I had an SB900 that had a dead bridge pickup, and it took a bit of searching to find an accurate replacement - I ended up with a custom build by Kent Armstrong. There's also a bloke in Finland who makes replacement modules for SB1000s, but the seller in the States may not have wanted to go to the trouble, it seems...

Bought a very nice 5 string from Marinus, and the whole transaction was very smooth. He even messaged me to tell me he was watching the tracking of the bass, just to check it had arrived safely! Buy/sell with confidence.

There must have been a few bands with that name over the years - I remember seeing The British Lions supporting Rainbow back in the early 80's...

Now you're talking! I was always drooling over the Audition and Top Twenty gear in Woolies while my mates were robbing the Pick 'n' Mix. Clearly I was destined for greater things. Still waiting...

What I find most worrying is that it doesn't seem 5 minutes since I bought a burgundy Shergold Marathon brand new, and now the only ones you can find look like they're relics. Either I'm now equally ancient, or perhaps they weren't very well made in the first place. I know which one I prefer to believe.

Very interesting. I had 1990 Series 5000 5-string a few years back that had that circuit, and jazz-type pickups. To my ears, it was the best-sounding Status I've ever owned, but the 15mm string spacing was impossibly tight for my gorilla mitts. It was also very red, which didn't work visually with the band at the time. Pity.

It is a bit odd - I'm no Status expert, but the body shape looks more like an Eclipse, and the circuitry is Series 2000-ish, yet the tuners and pickups look much more contemporary. I know Rob does custom orders where all these could have somehow come together, but the hand-written serial seems mighty strange to me!

Not sure if this is factory applied... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Status-bass-with-led-s-and-status-hardcase/264091158829