uk_lefty

It's a nice looking bass, far nicer than that weird Ric-a-like thing they brought out. I just couldn't read all that dross though, just give us a table of the specs like body woods etc. and leave us to it.

Venue: Played at the George III in Hoddesdon for their annual music festival on Saturday night. Heard some really good bands over on their second stage, then took to the main stage ourselves before the headline act. Gear: Played my Stingray through my Boss ME-80B and there was a Fender Rumble 500 provided. I put the Rumble on the "bright" setting with the EQ all centred hoping that would give me the most transparent sound, then used the amp Sims on my Boss unit. I occasionally used some fuzz or distortion but the rig absolutely sang. I was really pleased with the sound considering it was plug n play and I haven't used a Rumble before, also amp SIMs on pedals can often clash with Amps... Set: We jumped straight in with "I bet you look good on the dancefloor" and kept the feel of each song being a 'finisher' throughout. It's a great place to play because you've got a clientele who love their live music and will sing and dance along to everything. No gig photos available yet but I did manage this snap...

I need to be able to get on with people I'm in a band with. We need to be able to have sensible discussions and some give and take on all sorts of things like song arrangements, gig bookings, and which hotels to stay in, etc. I can get on with people who have different mainstream political views, that's what democracy is all about I think, but prejudices just switch me off. Incidentally for a new project I'm starting up with my drummer and an old band mate we had an email this morning from a singer we wanted to audition. He seemed to be against singing a great song because it was originally for a female vocal and about a man, lots of unnecessary punctuation. Just made him seem very insecure, I haven't bothered responding because I don't think it's worth telling a grown man he need not worry himself, or he can change the words. The tone of the message just screamed that he's not someone I want to spend my time with, let alone have to have discussions with that may involve persuasion and compromise on each side.

My band is very different but we spoke to a promoter we know about how we get more specialist music venue gigs. He gave us lots of advice but the main thing was good social media. You need to have a good social media presence with photos, videos from gigs, regular engagement so you keep onto your followers. Our guitarist knows this stuff well and does a good job of it, though I'm sure there are people out there far more proactive. Studio recordings aren't as good as a decent live recording because a live recording shows what the venue actually gets... We paid about £600 to have someone video us live at a big gig, make a pro video for us, and laid over audio from a gig we recorded off the desk. It looks fancy and it shows our singer working a big crowd and the audio is unmistakably not the original. Then there's the slog of contacting all the venues to get absolutely no reply at all. If anyone knows how to break through that wall I'm all ears too!

It's a good idea but in the last fifteen to twenty years we have been better looked after, with Fender doing a Mexican P bass and Sire doing everything! There have been a few sellers I've noticed that do this kind of thing. There was one on eBay doing nice Fender shaped stuff but they were having around a long time before selling, there's also someone in Japan who bolts together unique basses made from the usable bits of old knackered ones. Thing is it's a gamble buying one of these. So I guess if you're looking for the USP in selling bitsas for me it would be the personal touch in design consultation and instrument handover that would make the sale, rather than seeing a nice picture online. I built a fantastic looking PJ bass bitsa myself with good quality bits but it just didn't ever feel right to me, so you're playing it down by saying it's just screwing some bits together, that all important finishing and set up is the real value!

Loving the Ibanezes (Ibani, Ibaneziz.. ) and the twelve stringer.

The original Fender Katana bass was pretty weird. This is a nice talking point but I don't think I will ever see one anywhere.

Stop it!

I really like the look of these!

You could give them it as a loan with no end date, provided they keep it in good condition, don't swap parts, keep it well set up etc. Then when it's worth ten grand take it back and sell it.