Jean-Luc Pickguard

Papa Was A Rolling Stone — The Temptations

I love the bass balls. In the 80s I had an original one without an LED. I have no idea what happened to it, it might be in a long forgotten box in the loft or I might have sold it, given it away, or left it somewhere. I now have a Mooer bass sweeper mini pedal which does a good job of copying the bass balls with a bonus that it has a pair of external knobs in place of the internal trimpots of the bass balls.

Here I Am (Come and Take Me) — Al Green

My First fender. I hated every minute of working in bejams over the summer in 1982 after leaving school, but I was doing it to buy this new from Rockbottom in Croydon for £260. It was actually made up of two separate basses in the international colours series — I asked if they could get one in with the body like the cherry sunburst precision (that had a rosewood fretless neck) and a fretted maple neck like the one on a yellow precision. After confirming that this was a serious enquiry, they took the two basses into their workshop for ten minutes and came back with the necks swapped. I was eighteen at the time and had never played a real fender before so I had no idea that a precision bass really shouldn't weigh as much as a small elephant. It currently has an EMG Geezer pickup & electronics, and a Fender High Mass Bridge. It sounds fantastic, but can't compete with my JMJs for comfort.

And here is my guitar board

Oh Pritt! — Buzzcocks

This would probably be right up my street if I hadn't recently put together my ultimate pedalboard of six boss compact pedals, which I am really happy with and gives me the all sounds I need for the set. I used to have the big red GT-6b, and although I liked it, there was still a bit of faffing about in using it. Comparing the two, the ME-90B looks to be more aligned with how my brain works. Being able to run it off batteries is a bonus.

Semolina — The Residents

Here's Event Horizon, where I aimed for a 70s Krautrock feel. It is is about looking into, and being pulled over the Event Horizon of a black hole which might actually be a wormhole into a parallel universe.

Ingrid's Oily Tongue — The Residents

I hang my ukuleles from picture rail hangers like this, but I wouldn't trust anything heavier than my ubass to resist gravity.

You Need a A Little Something Extra — William Bell

It Snot Unusual — Tom Jones

John (Noakes) I'm Only Dancing — David Bowie

I bought an akai deep impact for £50 and let it go for £85 — I should have hung onto it a bit longer. I listed my japanese boss HM2 on ebay with a start price of £40 expecting it to go higher and it went for that price. I used to own an original 70s coloursound tone bender. I thought it sounded like crap and I either gave it away or possibly sold it for next to nothing not realising they're supposed to sound like crap. I have had some good deals that have more than offset these though

D'addario medium scale (32") Chromes are a perfect fit for a mustang with thru' body bridge.

The fatbasstone one looks like a no-no for me as it has knurled pots, and you'd really need solid shaft pots (or a kludgy workaround) to be able to fit proper vintage-style jazz bass knobs. I'd suggest spending the money on top quality components (CTS pots, switchcraft or pure tone jack etc) and a soldering kit. If you've not done it before, soldering is a useful skill to have and it really isn't difficult. With a little practice you'll be able to make something just as good as any of these with the satisfaction of putting it together yourself and using exactly the components you want. If you are upgrading something like a squier to use better quality pots, and reusing the original control plate, you will probably also need a tapered reamer to open up the holes for the pots as the mini/far east pots commonly fitted in cheaper instuments typically use a smaller diameter hole.

Taxman — Beatles

Shorty's Lament — The Residents

Winchester Cathedral — New Vaudeville Band

I Glued My B@lls to my butth0le again — The Sticky Sweethearts

On first glance, this Les Paul standard looks like a bargain at £300, so if someone jumps in quick to snap it up, they'll probaby think they've pulled a fast one and have been able to take advantage of the seller's ignorance of the value. https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/gibson-les-paul-guitar/1478624071 However the are several honking great red flags indicating that it is indeed the seller who is trying to pull a fast one Its a two second job on Google to discover a Gibson Les Paul Standard is worth a lot more than £300 The truss rod cover is wrong - the printing looks like crap and it has no white edge The Rhythm / Treble 'pokerchip' stamping is wrong The switch has a hex nut rather than a knurled nut The Strap buttons are shaped like fender strap buttons rather than gibson buttons The back plate shape is wrong The neck heel and cutaway shapes are not quite right A Les Paul standard would have a decent hard case. This doesn't have a case The tuner tips are a weird murky grey green colour No Fret nibs The fingerboard position trapezoid markers are the wrong shape, being too curved at the sides The Serial number and 'Made in USA' stamp are marked with characters that are too thin The "Guitar has been in the wardrobe for a long time, used to belong to my stepfather. I don’t play and know nothing about guitars, having a clear out and need it gone." story gives plausible denyability if challenged Cash only — no tracability etc...

Flapping Your Broken Wings — The Handsome Family

I've been into short scales for almost twenty years, and my gigging basses are JMJ mustangs. Anyone who dismisses short scale basses is in danger of sounding like an ignorant tw@t — like Scott Devine does in the SBL video, even if it was tongue in cheek. If anyone says their reason for not considering a short scale is that they'd look ridiculous playing it, they need to remember that many punters can't even tell a bass from a guitar, a short scale bass is bigger than a guitar, and there are plenty of people who can play guitar in public without feeling self-conscious about it.

Funny you should ask this as tomorrow I am meeting a fellow basschatter to exchange my 2004 olympic white CIJ mustang bass for his black JMJ, both basses being in the same ballpark value wise. The CIJ was my first mustang and in a previous band was my go-to gigging instrument. Back then I always said that I'd never sell it, but I always wanted a daphne blue one. When the JMJs first appeared in daphne blue I bought one despite not really being into the finish being roadworn, however I grew to appreciate that as I can gig the bass without worrying about it picking up dings on the body. I now own two blue ones and after tomorrows meetup I'll also own two black ones. The JMJs have been my rehearsing and gigging basses for several years. The MIJ/CIJ mustang necks have a thicker glossy poly finish and a skinny profile like a Jazz bass, but the thin nitro finish on the JMJ necks is more satin/almost matt with the profile more like a nice precision. As I got used to the JMJs I played the CIJ less as I preferred the feel and chunkier neck profile of the JMJs. I also have a couple of 72 musicmasters — the secret to getting these to sound great is to fit a Kent Armstrong cool rails strat humbucker pickup like this one: https://www.armstrongmusic.co.uk/products/mini-humbucker-power-blades-cool-enclosed-cover