Jean-Luc Pickguard

New bass incoming. The tracking says it left Glasgow Yesterday and ETA at my address in London is by end of day today, but the latest entry on the tracking page is that it arrived at the DHL Sort Facility, East Midlands at 2:37AM, and with no later updates, so I assume it's still there at Castle Donington. I ordered a couple of bits for it which arrived today, and I had a rummage in my bits box. When I found the Fender Hi Mass Bridge in my bits box, I also found a Badass II I'd forgotten about, so I'll have to decide on which one to fit. Also I needn't have ordered the new thumbrest as I already had a spare one in the bits box. I got a set of EB short scale cobalt flats from amazon warehouse - unused but missing the outer packaging. A new colour co-ordinated suede strap should be delivered tomorrow, and a set of grolsch-style strap blocks is sitting here at the ready.

I use mostly Leathergraft comfy suede straps or Perri's suede with sheepskin pad on my basses/guitars and these help a lot to prevent slippage/neckdive

Soul Finger — The Bar-Kays

Gotta Serve Somebody — Bob Dylan

Given the choice I'd go for the 1x12 combo plus 1x12 cab for the flexibility. Given a wider choice I'd buy Ashdown so the amp could actually be repaired if it ever fails.

Nice! I have my eye on the new version of the epiphone mandobird. I'm not in a hurry for one so I'll probably wait until they start cropping up secondhand or epi bring out an eight string version, however I'll probably have to use ukulele tuning.

Thief — Can

Cold Revolver Click — Obviously 5 Believers

My trigger finger has bypassed the rational part of my brain again, and I have a Sienna Sunburst player mustang bass incoming. This comes with PJ pickups with a master volume and master tone on the control plate, and a three way switch on the pickguard by the lower horn. In addition to fitting a Fender hi-mass bridge I am planning to improve the wiring. Initially the idea was to simply swap the switch for a blend pot, but it has struck me that I could just wire it as a Jazz bass with a volume for each pickup on the control plate, and a master tone on the pickguard. Has anyone already done this? Any other ideas?

I have three vintage pro thunderbirds, and the stock bridge & tailpiece work perfectly for me without any issues on all of them — eg: no intonation problems or unwanted lateral string movement, and I like the styling. What issue were you addressing by swapping out the bridge?

One Show Lost — Pure Retribution

Leaving Here — Motörhead It blew my mind when I discovered this was a cover of a Holland-Dozier-Holland song originally released by the Isley Brothers on Motown, but I suspect Lemmy based this version off the cover by the Ronnie Wood's old band, The Birds

Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheba — Handel

Pop Muzik — M

If I do get around to trying this, I'll probably do it to my telecaster bitzer, so there should be fewer sticky-outy bits to worry about, and the join could possibly around the outline of the back. There's a rig rundown of ZZ Top when Elwood was the guitar & bass tech, and he showed Billy & Dusty's 'Peelers' which look like they were left in a barn, but they're actually a custom bolin tele & precision with a custom printed vinyl wrap.

The Razor Song — Puss N Boots

Rice In The Sun — Status Quo

Aloo Dolly — Louis Armstrong

I am sure it is a coincidence that the recommendation for sellers to use postit notes comes in the same week that Ped bought shares in 3M.

Perhaps Samosa Aeon — Cocteau Twins

Naan Of Us Are Free — Solomon Burke

Kewpie Dhal — The Birthday Party

Korma Chameleon — Culture Club

Can I Play With Madras — Iron Maiden

Another option that might be worth considering is to use automotive vinyl wrap like the stuff tossers use on their BMWs to make them irridescent purple. There are a few videos on youtube covering this and it looks a lot more straightforward than refinishing with paint. The only tools needed are an x-acto knife (about a fiver on amazon) and a heat gun (about £15 on amazon) I'm considering trying this on one of my guitars or basses. edit — Just googled for suppliers to get a ballpark price for wrap and came across a company called MDP supplies (I doubt it's him though) it seems the film is between £10-£25 for a piece about 1m x 1.5m depending on how fancy it is.