Jean-Luc Pickguard

I’d bet if someone at gibson seriously put their mind to it they’d be able to make a bass that looks feels and sounds as good as the epiphone vintage pro thunderbirds

I have used masking tape for this before, but would probably use aluminium tape if I had to do this again—but only as I have a roll of it sitting here unused.

I'm happy with my Italy-built LMII which I have owned from new, but if it does go toes up in the future I am unlikely to replace it wth another MarkBass product and will probably to go back to using Ashdown.

I have a couple of Fender curly cables and a couple of straight ones. I have had a ancient ones fail in the past and fixed them myself by soldering on new neutrik jacks. I'll try to remember to contact Fender if any of my current crop ever fail.

My Tastes are rooted in basses that were designed in the years I was a toddler for some reason, so my favourites are: There's something particularly majestic about the headstock on my Guild Starfire II, and the mustang shape just looks right with the lollipop tuners on the JMJ. My Epiphone vintage pro thunderbirds really needed the Gotoh res-o-lite GB640 tuners to look right though.

Drop it like its hot - Snoop Dogg

tight pants - Iggy & the stooges

Cactus party - the Melvins

Looks nasty. I'd put it in the washing machine on a hot cycle before touching it with bare hands. Or would that remove the tone-grime?

You know what they say about rules?... 🤷🏻‍♂️

...whenever he passed a mirror and caught a glimpse of himself looking a right twunt.

When I scrolled down and saw that, I thought that was the key from a tin of sardines. The stewMac gadget is good as it also works well when the slots in the truss rod not are at 45degrees.

Play it. No way is it wrong for britpop. Own the style. If anyone in the band does suggest there’s a certain look to be adhered to, tell them they sound more like piddling middle managers than cool & creative musicians.

I always use good quality 0000 steel wool. I do this outddoors and usually take the neck off. If the neck doesn't come off you can tape up the pickups to prevent the loose whiskers/bits getting in the pickups. I've never had any problem with the bits getting embedded in the fingerboard - maybe that happens if you use something other than 0000 grade.

I'd be wary of playing bass for any band I really admire technically as I'd probably ruin it, so I'd choose the Sex Pistols in place of Simon Ferocious in 1977. I'd have been around five years too young at the time but at least I was skinny. Also I would have refused all offers of substances stronger then cider.

Rub lard into your strings, fingerboard and hands. Keep away from dogs and drummers though.

The funk is in the gunk!

If there's ever an old bass than needs a refinish, this is it.

It took me a while. I've never seen thumb bleeders used with barrel knobs before. Its a very odd look and a weird choice as I'm not sure how they could possibly help in repeating favourite settings with no markings on the knobs.

Really enjoyed Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. It was cool to see JMJ playing a blue mustang with St Vincent—I think it was one of his signature ones rather than his '67. Watching Billie Eilish currently & Fineas was playing a mustang bass a few songs ago.

I have a strap for each bass which only come off if the bass goes into a case—ie stays attached when in a gigbag or hanging on the wall. I use the rubber grolsch thingys but on some basses I have also replaced the strap buttons with oversized 'mushroom' strap buttons which help add a little more security. I used schallers briefly in the 80s but after my Fender precision hit the deck and suffered damage I've not tried them since.

Here's the current incarnation of my bass board And my guitar board I bought a Fender mustang GTX100 guitar amp last week, which has a ton of fantastic sounding pedal models onboard—including a space echo which I have fallen in love with, so the guitar board is pretty much redundant now—apart from the SY-1 of course! I initially thought the GTX was just going to displace the MS-50G, but the overdrive, fuz and distortion models are actually usable and sound & behave like the real pedals to my unsophisticated ears. The spark mini on the bass board has also fallen out of favour as I replaced it with the mojomojo to add a bit of oomph when needed. I'll probably try to find a way to fit the SY1 on bass board. Maybe by removing the spark and repositioning the thumpinator. The Boss SY-1 is so easy to use and is the first usable guitar synth I have tried. I still have a casio MG-510 midi guitar somewhere, which was unusable due to latency and it was a faff to set up. I've owned a few other synth pedals over the years including an akai deep impact which I didn't keep for long, and an EHX organ thingy which didn't trigger well for me. The SY-1's triggering, lack of latency, ease of use and of course the sounds mean that it is probably a keeper.

If the truss rod adjustment is of the type with a cross at the end rather than a hexagonal hole for an allen key, once you have the appropriate cutout in the body (and pickguard) it can still be tricky to get a screwdriver in there for adjustment without causing damage, but there is a handy tool available from Stewmac that makes adjustment a doddle: https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/tools-by-job/tools-for-truss-rods/truss-rod-crank-for-tele I use one for my JMJ mustang. Mine came via a UK seller on ebay who had a few of these for sale.

The font used for the "Made in U.S.A." looks off to me.