rushbo

I had a BC Rich Warlock in custard yellow in the mid eighties. It sounded great, but not really the thing for playing REM/Americana stuff on. The look of that sort of instrument and all it's pointy brethren is so nailed to the glam rock/metal genre that they look really incongruous anywhere else. However, a nice BC Rich Mockingbird in a natural finish is on my bucket list...

I've been using the Sennheiser XSW-D Pedalboard Set for quite some time - probably 50+ gigs and many hours of rehearsal. It's been faultless. I used a SmoothHound for a while which was great, but I liked the idea of combining the pedalboard receiver with a tuner to save space. It's not the cheapest set-up, but spare transmitters are available in the UK and the build quality is excellent.

I'm rescutating this zombie thread as I've done exactly the same! Sadly, Fretmeister's original pictures are long gone, but using the ice cream stick idea as my starting point, I came up with these: Nope, they're not skinny shoebrushes... The wooden part is from a bit of leftover edging - something like this. The original plan was to make three with different sorts of foam on each, but the superglue I used to attach the "washing up" sponge I tried to use, practically melted it... maybe I'll use two sided tape for that type of foam in the future. The two that survive work really well - one is made with fairly dense foam (the sort that you might find in a fitted case for a drill or similar) and the other one is more spongey. The spongey one gives a slightly better tone - to my ears anyway. The denser foam needed to have slightly wider slots as the notes were choking a little. The hardest part for me was cutting the foam neatly. Maybe I should have watched more episodes of "Blue Peter" as a kid. I rounded the edges of the wooden part a bit and gave it a rub with some wax. I gave it a little handle so I'd know which end is which, although it doesn't seem to make much difference. Neither will get me a job on "The Repair Shop," but they cost me nothing to make and took about half an hour from having the idea to sticking the finished thing on my bass. Now I can get a nice "Carol Kaye" sound quickly and easily. And it looks quite cool.

In my experience, when it comes to building a budget bitsa, it's the neck that is the crucial factor. As long as the body is sturdy enough to accept a bridge and is a colour, shape and condition that you're happy with, all is good. I'm sure that more learned BCers will be along to discuss tonewoods, but it's never been an issue for me in terms of choosing parts. Make sure the neck pocket is wide enough for the neck, otherwise that can open up a whole world of pain. On the other hand, one of my main gigging basses has a 2mm gap between the body and the neck of one side of the pocket. It's been like that for about 10 years, with no discernable issues.

I was the long term bass dep for Brum based R&B band that did a load of shows with Wilko Johnson, the current version of Dr Feelgood, Eddie and the Hotrods etc. Often, when it was my turn to man the merch table, I'd get people asking me to sign CDs. I'd always say " no problem, but I don't actually play on any of these albums!" No one seemed that bothered and I ended up signing them anyway. As a result, I wonder how many people searched Wikipedia for a bassist called "Rushbo (Dep)."

Hi, I've gone back to using medium-light picks, so someone else can get the "benefit" of a bunch of heavy (.88mm+) plectrums, with a few other sizes and shapes thrown in. Yours for a small donation to Birmingham Childrens Hospital, ta.

It's probably just my dumb bad luck, but every Rickenbacker bass I have ever had in my hands has (IMO) played like a dog. In 1986, I was besotted with REM and with my pockets bursting with about two months wages, I spent nearly a whole day in Musical Exchanges in Brum, trying to convince myself I liked one of the 7-8 Rickys they had in stock. I couldn't. I left with an Ibanez Roadstar 850. The Ricky would have been a better investment, but I doubt I'd have had much fun playing it.

I call plagiarism, sir! That's (almost) my board! You've got a hell of a lot of options there, haven't you? And Warwick Rockboards are brilliant, aren't they? I love my B3 and unless it goes "bang," I can't see myself changing anytime soon. The BDI adds a bit of dirt for when I'm feeling saucy. I'd recommend the Ashbass B3 mod as it's fairly simple to do (as long as you've got a soldering iron...) and means that you can scroll through patches really quickly. The switches are housed in the orange pedal on my board. The other pedal is a page turner for my Ipad cheat sheet program. Not necessary, but very useful. What's the HB Wireless system like? I was considering that, until a Sennheiser one came up on here at a great price, so I went for that.

PM'd

Well, obviously this is the best advice that anyone is going to give in this thread. I once "went rogue" and ignored this sage proclamation and my Fender P bass turned into a two headed viper which ate my entire family. Or... There is some good advice on the Fender site: https://support.fender.com/en-us/knowledgebase/article/KA-01903 If I'm setting up a bass for someone else, this is what I use as it's a good, basic starting point. When I set up my own instruments, I drop the string height until it starts to rattle under normal playing conditions, then pull it back in tiny increments until it stops. Your mileage may vary, as they say on The Interweb.

I guess it depends on what you really want it to do... If all you're after is a way to put songs in order from a list, then Word or Excel should work. If you need cheat sheets as well, then I'd recommend forScore - easy to use on the fly, reliable and with loads of useful teatures. The only downside is, I think it's only available for Apple products. I've used it for years - it links seamlessly with DropBox, so importing files is a breeze. I use mine with this page turner. And this mic stand tablet holder - although that has been discontinued.

As a big fan of The Tubes, I was saddened to learn that Rick Anderson passed away on December 16th. He was a great player - solid, supportive and flashy only when he needed to be. https://ultimateclassicrock.com/the-tubes-rick-anderson-dead/

"The Dildo Trend" is the name of my Prog-Rock side project. But on a serious note... I've never been a fan of instruments with an image on. Or in this case, a bit of lovely, faux Jackson Pollock. They all look fantastic close up, but from any kind of distance longer than an arms length, the beautifully considered brushwork and elegance of line just end up looking like an amorphous grey splodge. "Amorphous Grey Splodge" is The Dildo Trend's new album, btw.

(Resucitating a Zombie thread...) I've just picked up a second-hand, 4 string JP-45OP in sunburst for silly money from FaceBook marketplace. Oh my... It plays beautifully and sounds gorgeous. With a bare minimum of tweakage, I was able to get a nice low action with no annoying rattles. Hardware is decent and even the no-brand tuners seem robust. There's no excuse not to have one, really. I bought it with a view to modding it, but having played it, I might just leave it as it is, with one exception - I might replace the dots on the edge of the fingerboard. The black dots look lovely, but in a sweaty club, under subdued lighting, they won't be much use, so I suspect the dremel will be coming out before too long. Other than that, it's a peach.

That surf green one looks lush. I hate this forum.

Hugo Largo. They made two brilliant albums in the late 80's.

I put up a "wanted" ad for a set of P Bass bridge and pick up covers - Pete replied promptly, the deal was done and a few days later (my wait time was lengthened by those pesky striking postmen...) they arrived chez Rushbo - beautifully packed, shiny and lovely. What a guy. Buy and sell with confidence.

Yes it was - a fantastically entertaining gig. I went with a mate who is a real hardcore Devo-tee and his jaw was on the floor for the entire performance. We'll be at the Brum show next year.

I saw We Are Not Devo play in Wolverhampton a little while ago and they were bloody great.

I'm currently the bassist in the UK's foremost/only Roxy Music tribute band, Roxy Magic. www.roxymagic.co.uk Do you have to be a fan of the original artist, or maybe you become one? Having played the songs for a few years have made me appreciate the original band even more. Growing up in the seventies, Roxy Music were everywhere, so it was hard to ignore them. I was a fan, but I never thought to join/start a tribute band until the opportunity arose. It helps if you (at the very least) like the band - I'd imagine it would be hell on earth to play in a tribute to a band you actively loathe. How important is it to be visually/musically identical? How much latitude are you allowed? As long as you don't take too many liberties and the "signature" parts of the song are kept intact, the punters don't seem to mind. However, if I hit the fuzz pedal for the intro to "Love is the Drug" it would signal the end of a long career. Do you ‘get into character’ or is it just a gig? Fortunately, everyone is looking at our singer, who is practically a doppelganger of Mr Ferry. The band dress as if we're off to a wedding reception a la the current version of the real band. To be honest, we could dress like bricklayers and I don't think most of the punters would mind as long as the singer was in a nice suit. Does it feel musically limiting, or is it fulfilling your needs? (Maybe you have a side band?) I'm really lucky as the musical palette of Roxy Music was so broad that it's challenging and fun to play. I get to play pop, prog, rock, disco and almost all points in between. And in terms of technique; fingerstyle, plectrum and slap. Do you have any qualms about tributes ‘stifling original music’? Nope. The "real" band are playing bigger venues and earning more money than we are. Have you ever met or been seen by a member of the ‘originals’? What did they say? A few members of Roxy Music have seen the band since its inception - none while I've been in the band though (make of that what you will...) Andy Mackay really liked the band and Paul Thompson was quite keen to play a gig or two with us. Bryan Ferry wished us luck in a very gracious manner, too. What is the overriding thing being in a tribute act has taught you? It's taught me that people love live music and are grateful that they have the opportunity to enjoy it in a moderately sized venue for a sensible price. It's also taught me that most Roxy Music fans have no idea who played bass in Roxy Music. And that suits me fine. Having done it once, would you do it again? If so, would the musical angle be very different? In a heartbeat, yep. As long as I like the band, the songs are fun to play and my fellow musicians are generally lovely human beings, then I'm happy. I can heartily recommend Absolute Bowie, Teenage Werewolves (a tribute to The Cramps and bizarrely, also Bauhaus) and We Are Not Devo. A good night is guaranteed for all.

I do like the look of basses that have a bit of "history," and I don't get triggered by the fact that the wear on an instrument might be artificial. The key is that it has to be done convincingly and sympathetically. A lump hammer and a cheese grater are not the tools for this sort of job. I'm always amused by shots of the backs of reliced basses that look as if they've been dragged behind a Land Rover since the mid-seventies. Until I discovered Basschat about eleven years ago, I had one (!) gigging bass which after about twenty years of heavy use, suffered a bit from buckle rash. This means I have a patch of wear about 20cm x 5cm on the back of the bass and a few associated dinks and chips elsewhere. In spite of having a long, hard life it does not resemble one of Noah's oars. Limelight do some pretty convincing relics, but some of their "heavy" relics can end up looking like the worst kind of car boot sale fire salvage.

It's not the ugliest bass I've seen... I'm slightly perturbed by the paintjob on the headstock. Was this a stylistic choice or was the paintbrush wielded by someone with the DT's?

Sold a Squier P bass neck to Andy. A textbook transaction with great communication. Buy and sell with confidence.

Sold a Harley Benton Jazz Bass body to Matt. A textbook transaction. Buy and sell with confidence.

I've always had fantastic customer service from Chris at Smooth Hound. Very helpful.