molan

It’s a Chinese reissue. Actually surprisingly nice and way better made than other Chinese Fenders I’ve tried. It doesn’t really get played much I’m afraid

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.