Silvia Bluejay

Agree, and I've always found it baffling, as if it was meant as a sort of throwback to the old days of dial-up, when email was a rare commodity and you would only collect it once or twice a day, and disconnect from your session before replying, then reconnect later to send out your replies, which you would have composed offline. 😉

Well, yeah, you're right, assuming one can tolerate the general look, I guess...

I found that it's more efficient if you pick up the phone, as opposed to emailing. The person you'll be speaking to is often a call centre operator in the UK, presumably working remotely from home or something. They are very good at solving problems on the spot, through accessing the system at their end, as opposed to having to wait 24 hours for each reply to your emails. Note: my experience of 'issues' dates back a few years, long BC (=Before Covid).

I haven't got a single bass guitar with 2+3, and IIRC neither has @Happy Jack, hence my comment.

Someone's got to have the balls to say the truth every now and then!

I think that perhaps the 3+2 layout is to make it slightly easier to reach the D string tuner. I know I have trouble reaching it on my Warwick Corvette 5ers, with their protruding necks. My own Ibby has 3+2 as the Warwicks, and feels familiar. When I tune the NS upright, instead, I have to remember it's 2+3, but that's probably because B, E and A would be too thick to fit in a line on one side of the headstock without fouling each other. Never got on with Fender-like basses on any level, and I think the 4+1 layout is utterly hideous... 😱

Very nice! 😎 My OCD is intrigued by the headstock - the bass has the B and E tuners on one side and the A, D and G ones on the other, which isn't what usually happens on 5ers. I've got B, E and A on the same side on all my 5-string bass guitars (the NS NXT5 is different). Gorgeous bass all the same.

And yet, whenever @Happy Jack and I have seen a live rock band with a drum machine, we haven't liked it. Yes, the timing is perfect, the volume is suitable to the venue no matter what, and so on, but the gig is, to our eyes, really not live and it feels, even as the audience, more like just playing along to a record than a real gig.

This is an entirely different discussion, probably best tackled on a separate thread. I remember the Basschat Collective coming to the conclusion that, if you are a weekend warrior, you usually end up spending more than you earn, if you take into account buying equipment, maintenance, paying for travel etc. (which you have to do). So HMRC may allow you to self-assess your earnings and your expenses for a while, then it tells you you should consider your activity a hobby and stop wasting their time. If you are a pro, that's a totally different matter. Having been freelance all my life (not as a musician), I object to being thought as dishonest by default. Remember that the reason why we can detract all kinds of expenses from our income, so we end up paying less tax, is also to compensate for the lack of sick and holiday pay and lots of other benefits that employees have and we don't.

She only had one job...

Thing is, we have a spare cajon in our house (two-bassists house: we have EVERY musically-related spare item you can think of). The drummist forgot that too, and so didn't phone us for help before we reached the birthday boy's house.

I tend to opt against hiding and issuing a warning - which I can do very easily - in favour of publicly calling out posts like that. Many thanks to those who 'get it', as opposed to those who don't. Back to PMT codes, if there are any around.

I didn't. Enough of this now or I'll hide our exchange.

Absolutely the way to go to lift the tone of this thread.

I'm sure PMT have never heard that kind of incredibly funny joke about their company name.

Here is the promised MKIII photoshoot after the refinishing job. The front of the headstock appears to have been left untouched, except for the rounded top bit, which is the same colour as the body. Two more of the near-twins together:

It is - close-up below:

Got there first! 😉

My OCD is screaming at the absence of a B string on the one on the right... 😱

I've tidied up this bit of the thread.

Stay tuned for a proper photoshoot... 😉

Merged with the topic in Gear Porn.

I've killed the new one too.

@ped @charic we are under attack.

Killed.