Jean-Luc Pickguard

get a proper drummer in & 'promote' him to percussionist - bongos, tambourine or cowbell. Or give the band a USP & make use of his pole dancing skills - in a kind bez-type position.

Before the ban I also used to hate coming back from gigs with my gear, clothes & hair stinking. My missus would demand I put my clobber straight in the washing machine, have a bath & wash my hair as soon as I got in through the door - before sitting down with a single malt & some cheese & crackers (my post gig snack). My fuzzy carpeted cabs always stank of other peoples' airborne effluent for days after a gig and I could even smell it on cables and my bass strap. I'd never buy a smelly guitar/bass. I really don't understand that some of my daughters' friends in their mid teens have taken up smoking - I can only put it down to them being extremely stupid. The thing about pubs closing because of the smoking ban is to a certain extent bollocks - cheap supermarket / white van to Calais alcohol is probably more the culprit there. Before the ban I never went in pubs unless I was playing as I hated the stink so much and I know quite a few people who feel the same.

Well the rebate offer has ended. I *may* have been able to sneak an order just in time to take advantage.

is it normal for there to be two types of speakers in the amp? 2 with square backs & 2 round. I recall something about a seller referred to as '2 gnomes in the attic' where there was a disgruntled buyer

'tis a shame. I thought £162,000 was quite reasonable to buy Scotland. Someone must have put in a cash offer to end it early.

Not sure I have room for it... [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150737757247#ht_500wt_1156"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150737757247#ht_500wt_1156[/url]

[quote name='Matt P' timestamp='1325853393' post='1488732'] before you go out and investigate new chairs double check the arms on the comfortable one you have, they might just unscrew, i've got one of the more expensive ikea ones that came with armsbut i just left them off when i built it (they're still in their wrapping under the desk) failing that i think that most of the ikea ones come self assembly so the arms should be optional in fact they seem to be an added cost extra [url="http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/categories/departments/workspaces/20652/"]http://www.ikea.com/...rkspaces/20652/[/url] this is the one i've got, very comfortable but not the cheapest. [url="http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/20103101/"]http://www.ikea.com/...ducts/20103101/[/url] Matt [/quote] I have the leather Markus chair as well. I work from home and probably spend at least 12 hours a day sitting on it. I also took the arms off for bass purposes. I found mine in the cheapo 'ex-display' section so I think it was probably half price and a bargain as its really comfy.

[quote name='velvetkevorkian' timestamp='1326418760' post='1497120'] Status do a short scale flats set, which they say should fit a 30" scale. [/quote] Cheers - I'm not usually keen on steel strings but they're only £14 They might be worth checking out but the website says these have a 'speaking length of 32 3/4" which would be fine on a string-thru such as a mustang. However I've just checked with a tape-measure and this, if accurate, could result on the wound part of the 'E' going almost a whole turn around the string-post of my musicmaster - which could be a problem with the very tight radius on the tuners.

[quote name='Michaelg' timestamp='1326408055' post='1496985'] flatwounds are a korma nylon tapewounds are a phall [/quote] whatever ...There's always one

[quote name='redstriper' timestamp='1326386865' post='1496574'] Good idea to order the bass - you can send it back free if you don't like it (which one did you go for)? [/quote] Cheers for posting the video - that's definitely in the ballpark of what I think a bass should sound like - I love thomastiks, but as I like how they improve with age (IMO), less bright is probably good. I don't think I'm likely to send the bass back unless there's something wrong with it - I won't spill the beans about which one it is yet, but I'll post a NBD thread once it has arrived. Of course the GHS set will now be going straight onto the new bass, so I'm back at square one with my old musicmaster.

for our last CD I took along: 1981 Precision with EMG pickup & D-tuner 2003 Highway 1 Jazz with J-retro Peavey cheapo 5 string something or other NS-design CR5M upright Ashbory 'rubberjohnnie' bass I used them all except the Peavey as the precison sounded better - I detuned & overdubbed the lower than low E notes that I thought I needed the Peavey for. Live I'd usually just take one along - mostly my mustang. Any songs where I'd normally use a 5-string or D-tuner I just play that note in the higher octave - no one has complained so far. In case of catastrophic bass failure, for further-away gigs I often bring the ashbory and keep it in the car so at least I can fetch it & make some bassy noise if anything happens to my 'proper' bass.

[quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1326361743' post='1495876'] No-one got fired for playing root notes (especially the right ones) and playing them in time. [/quote] Straight to the basschat famous quotes thread

Cheers Redstriper. I ordered a set of the GHS flats from thomann earlier today. They have a minimum order value for free shipping, so to save the cost of that I added a bass to the order. My CIJ mustang is a lot more refined and better made than the old musicmaster. The original musicmasters used mustang guitar pickups, which are basically half-height strat pickups, complete with six pole pieces. I replaced the pickup in mine with a kent armstrong enclosed cool rails strat-sized humbucker which sounds much better than the weak original, but looks (& fits) just like the original

Or if you like gambling with your safety: http://makeprojects.com/Project/Custom-Fit-Earbuds/199/

For a short-lived feeling of gratification followed by guilt & self-loathing, there's nothing like buying a new bass when skint. Even though its not an expensive one, I hope I'm not going to regret this. I could sell one of the old ones I s'pose. I don't need a new bass and it doesn't really do anything my others don't already do, but it's a bit of a looker. Anyone who has noticed my taste in basses should be able to guess quite easily what I have incoming.

It looks like the chromes are for up to 32" scale length, so like the Thomastik TI JF 324 there *may* the risk that they'll be too long for a musicmaster - unless anyone knows better. The GHS brite flats are ground-down roundwounds (ugh!), so it looks like I'll have to see what the GHS 3020 L set are like.

Don't the hofners have a bit of a gap between the bridge & tailpiece - I always thought they would suit 32" strings like the mustang. Anyone know about Daddario chromes or GHS Flats or Brite Flats? Any good?

The mustang is string-thru, the musicmaster isn't, so the mustang can use 32" strings but they'd be too long for the musicmaster and will break at the tuner. If I could use 32" strings I'd just bung on my spare set of TIs, but I need 30" ones.

Obviously from a squier telebass with a fake logo added.

I'm sure we all love a nice thread about flatwounds, so here's another one, but specifically short scale ones. I love my thomastik flatties on my precisions (TI JF344) & mustang (TI JF324), but the 32" 324 set is too long for my 30" scale musicmaster or similar basses. In the past I've had rotosound flats on it but they were rubbish - the individual strings didn't sound or feel like they were part of the same set, so I'm not interested in them. LaBella were better, but I think I had to use the G from a long scale set as the short scale one wasn't long enough - which was odd. a bit of a shame as the Danelectro-specific LaBellas I have on my longhorn are great. It looks like my main options (looking at Thomann) are Chromes or GHS - 3070 / 3020, so what are they like? Daddario ECB81S Chromes @ £23.90 045-065-080-100 GHS 3070 R Brite Flats @ £18.13 049-062-084-108 GHS 3020 @ £19.70 045-060-075-095 Any experiences of these or other flatwound strings suitable for a 30" scale Fender musicmaster bass?

get whichever one is right for you

Someone has pointed out Vic gets a round of applause for no obvious reason in the first video. It all becomes clear if you find the video of the same event taken from another angle. He was actually providing background music for a monkey juggling on a unicycle.

Are they the ones with the headstock that looks a bit like a foot?

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1325979797' post='1490771'] And why does it have [i]two [/i]string trees? [/quote] Often when I've seen an extra one added, it was an ill-advised fix for a problem caused by the owner not knowing how to put strings on properly where the string exits nearer the top of post rather than the bottom, the angle over the nut is to shallow & the string doesn't sit so tight over it.

I must admit I took one look at the pic and thought 'that'll never work'. it looks like someone tried to solve the wrong problem - if you want a loop to anchor the plec to your finger, the loop should be solidy attached to the plec. Perhaps the designer should have come up with a plec with the Heath Robinson / rube Goldberg bits integral to it - like a thumbpick or a variation of one. This contraption looks daft. doesn't the bassist in the hamsters use a thumbpick as he has a hand problem?