Jean-Luc Pickguard

If it is a fuzz pedal you can tell when it is on as the bass will sound like a flatulent elephant—but in a good way. I hope this helps.

I recently got a custom pickguard from Brian Pillans (Earlpillanz) in Glasgow and will be getting another one soon for a squier bullet mustang once I have decided what I want. His customer service is excellent—and he really seems to go the extra mile. He has several colours of tort and I wouldn't be surprised if he'd be able to accommodate a request to send a pic of an actual piece of material in stock before you place an order.

Until the time it doesn't work.

I 'won' the auction for a Fender mustang GTX100 guitar amp over the weekend and it was sent via Evri first thing Monday morning on a 48hr service. I think Evri might have misunderstood Einstein's theory of relativity and assumed that time passes more slowly for them the slower they move, as it has just been delivered this afternoon. The seller had kept the box but had disposed of the polystyrene blocks. No idea why he couldn't have kept them in the empty box. He promised it would be well padded with bubble wrap. For some reason he thought a single layer of bubblewrap a few miscellaneous torn bits of cardboard would protect a 100W amp with a 12" speaker. There was not enough material to prevent the amp moving in the box. Luckily the amp was not dropped or thrown and it has survived the journey, so I'm happy it is now here and seems to be in perfect condition. It is a massive upgrade from my vox ADI15VT—It sounds wonderful and I can control it from my iPad. I'm most surprised at how good the built-in pedal fx sound. My Zoom MS-50G and most of the other pedals on my guitar board are now redundant. I can't believe people think a single layer of bubble wrap is sufficient to offer proper protection if it had been dropped. Not as bad though as the set-neck Les Paul style guitar I once received (also via ebay sale) which turned up wrapped in nothing but a load of cling film and a 12" square of bubble wrap. I was lucky with that one as well.

Its Gilmour's guitar tone that ruins it. Apart from that it sounds alright for a live version.

The streak - Ray Stevens

Good morning Judge - 10cc

Turd on the run - the rolling stones

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth - Spike Jones

F.I.D.O - the Dirtbombs

Rinky Dinky Doo - Roy Brown

Call ashdown on 01621 857853 - they sorted me out several years ago when I blew a tweeter in a MAG cabinet.

Subterranean homesick blues - Bob Dylan

Our House - madness

The dinky little Roland microcube bass rx is surprisingly loud for its size and can be powered from six of poundland's finest AA batteries for several hours. It works really well with a Kala ubass and with the amp modelling the tonal options are very flexible, plus there's a built in preset compressor as well as digital fx: chorus/flanger/autowah/delay/reverb. I've used mine for unplugged rehearsals and jam sessions. As long as the ukes aren't amplified and no one's playing a drumkit (a cajon would be OK) it should be all you need—even for outdoor sessions.

You'd have to be quite flush to afford that one

Some of us like to tinker. Its less risky to customise a sub-£100 instrument than something considerably more expensive.

The photo was taken with the bass at an angle that makes it look a lot worse than it is.

At my next gig I'll probably be proudly playing a Harley benton PB50 that I bought for £50. I have customised it a little, but the neck, body, and pickup are the original parts 😉

I don't really have an opinion on what Wal should do as the basses aren't really my cup of coffee*. How they're doing it at the moment must work for them and I'm sure they have made a decision not to expand based on the likely pros and cons of expanding the operation. *A wilcock kind of looks a bit like a wal, I wouldn't mind a short scale one with a single Guild BS-1 bisonic pickup.

I would love to see a series of tutorial videos outlining all of the techniques that go into making these fine instruments. These could help answer questions such as: Should you spit or swallow when gnawing at your nuts?

They were never going to recommend a Seymour Duncan! If its the shiny chrome relentless I'd put in a Kent Armstrong jazz lipstick—purely for looks, but they are great sounding pickups. I used to use a pair of 'em when a highway 1 jazz was my number one gigging bass.

A comfort strapp will make a light bass practically weightless. Gotoh res-o-lite 350 tuners are a little lighter than hipshot ultralites. Also they are better made and work smoother.