molan

The Sadowsky has an ash body but rosewood board with a flamed maple top and burst finish. Usually Roger uses ash/maple or alder/rosewood combinations so I guess it’s a kind of hybrid. The Lakland custom sits in the kitchen on the wall - it’s the only bass my wife allows in the house and I often forget about it 🤦‍♂️

The loss of our Vic knocked the heart out of us really. Although we’d already decided to close the main shop, Vic & I had put a plan together to keep a smaller version of the business running on an ‘appointment only’ basis. Without him I lost the motivation to do anything. Might have something interesting on the horizon later this year though 😉

I think if the time came when I had to keep just one, then my white Ritter Cora would probably ‘win’. I realise that Ritters aren’t for a lot of people but it is often the one I reach for first when I need to learn something new.

I think I’m an ‘accumulator’ rather than a ‘collector’ 😂 I gig all of my basses too.

I should add some ‘previously owned’ I guess: MTD - 2 F Bass Alembic - 5 Musicman - 2 Shuker Alpher Modulus - 2 Wood & Tronics Status - 5 Performance Probably others too! I don’t like Wals at all. I’d take an Alembic ahead of a Wal any day.

I can’t play them 😱 I’m a ‘thumb on the neck pickup’ player and the MM pickup positioning always catches me out 🤦‍♂️

Of course, the simple answer is ‘never’ but this thought genuinely occurred to me this afternoon. I walked into my study and looked at the main wall of hanging basses: Ritter Stenback Sadowsky NYC Sei Fodera Alleva Coppolo 63 & 66 Jazz 21 black paisley Jazz In other parts of the house there’s: 64, 78, 87, 93 Precision 82 JV Precision medium scale 70, 86, 07 Jazz Rickenbacker 4001 2 more Sei McIntyre based Precision Warwick Star Fender Starcaster Ibanez 824 Various other Japanese Squiers, Aria, Fernandes etc Oh, and a token Fender Strat and a Novation Bass Station Surely now is the time to stop 🤪

I have spoken directly with Roger, more than once, about his connection. He is very much involved in everything that carries his name.

Ben and I agreed a trade recently and had some really interesting conversations along the way. Lovely guy and 100% trustworthy should anyone want to deal with him.

Doh - I completely forgot Soundcloud! I even use it myself!!

I was chatting to someone last night about the rise & fall of MySpace and he asked where people now 'meet' online to share new music & look for other musicians to work with remotely. I realised I had no idea - basically because I'm a covers band guy and not a new music creator! I figured people here might have some ideas of good places to visit?

I hadn’t realised the Mama’s Gun connection - makes complete sense now 🤦‍♂️

I have a Porsche Boxster - perfect for my gear carrying needs 😂 Markbass 2x10 slots perfectly into the front trunk (frunk!). It’s like it’s been custom built for it. No movement whatsoever! Little amp also has a cubby hole just above the cab and a bass sits in the passenger footwell. I can even add a 12” powered monitor cab in the boot if I want

Great band!

Having 'retired' in October '20, I got a call out of the blue from an ex-colleague (who I barely knew) just 2 weeks later, who offered me a freelance contract for an unspecified period. Fast forward to March '22 and I'm still freelancing for them. They pay me decent money, it's 100% working from home & they even give me 45 days a year paid holiday (freelancers are never usually paid for holidays). I talk to the guy who offered me the contract almost every day and we've become good friends. One thing I've discovered is that he used to be a bit of a rocker & played in a gigging band for many years. He shared a picture and he's playing a black Stingray. He no longer has a bass but has randomly mentioned a couple of times that he wouldn't mind playing again. Anyway, my contract should finally finish in July & I thought about maybe buying him a bass & small practice amp as a 'thank you' present. I looked at new Stingrays but they have rocketed in price over the last few years & used ones have doubled since I last owned one. I can get a new Ray4 for just £265 in Europe (my employers are based in Germany) - from what I'm reading here, this would be a pretty decent present for someone. I just can't make up my mind if I'll look like a 'cheapskate' if I don't buy the 'real thing' 🤔

I think my current cheapest bass is worth about £250 vs my most expensive being around the £7,000 mark. They are all playing instruments and I don’t particularly care how much they cost if they do whatever job I want from them. If I’m playing at home then I guess I’d normally grab one of the more expensive ones simply because they tend to be nicer to play. For rehearsals I like to grab whatever takes my fancy from week to week. Whilst gigging basses tend to sit in the mid-range somewhere. Mind you, I currently have way too many basses 🤦‍♂️

I’ve had PJs that didn’t really work for me and others that I liked a lot. The best example I can think of is the ‘classic’ Fodera setup that you see on a Monarch 4 with EMG PJ pickups and a Pope pre. I have no idea, from a technical perspective, why this combination works but it’s definitely my favourite PJ setup.