uk_lefty

I like it that he won't send you the wiring diagram, as if people are beating down his door for it

Am sure that was someone on the forum at some time. I remember telling them it's not a reverse headstock but a reverse body

A beginner could have had a shitty old bass for a good price. But instead this happened.

The only time I enquired about a custom build I offered to send the builder mp3s of my playing and go over there with my basses to tell him what I liked and didn't like to see if together we could come up with the right spec. I chickened out in the end but I don't think i could spec out the perfect bass from scratch and I wouldn't trust someone else to do it for me completely.

That's a real shame, am sure you sound just as good a bassist whether standing or sitting. Hope you can find a way to cover playing bass and accommodating your shoulder without having to make too many compromises.

Sounds like you're not churning out clichéd walking bass but feeling your way through it, kudos! Probably refreshing for all the others who've had to listen to the same patterns played for each tune with the only changes being key and tempo

It's not attention seeking. Nobody will notice under stage lights more than 3 feet away. That's purely for your joy. It makes the bass something you want to stare at for all the time you're not playing it

Onwards and upwards! Great way to hone the chops.

For a budget option I like the Hartke, not sure if it's made any more but I was impressed with it and if I went back to single pedals I'd look for this first myself. Apparently its the same as some budget brand (NUX or something?). Also the Eden Chorus was pretty good but needed 12v supply or something non standard which made it a pain if you don't have a complicated power bank or the patience to faff around with another plug, but it didn't really have the "lushness" or "spacey-Ness" you may want.

Gorgeous. But pricey. Am sure Maruszczyk or someone could make you something very similar for a lot less.

I lost my passion for sport quite a few years back, and I treat sport and music very similarly. I played at a good level but retired at 29 having reached as far as my ability would take me. I always thought I'd be the guy in the clubhouse all day Saturday forever and ever. Actually having been near the top and retired, lost my fitness and enthusiasm I have no interest in playing to a level my current state of fitness and enthusiasm allows. And I don't miss it. Must be similar for you as a musician if you're churning out the same old same old when you have been more enthused and achieving more in the past. Having said that I watch the odd game online and read about results and for a moment I want to get back out there, maybe when I qualify for over 40's, etc. And I've had long enough off to get interested again. I sometimes lose my passion for music but I think that's not just down to boredom of the set list, no gigs for a month, it's usually playing bass along to CDs bores me senseless, even if its learning something new. I like playing guitar but I don't have enough time to be as good at it as I'd like. I've got an idea on my head for a band I want to set up next year but with work and family commitments I have no idea whether this will take off. It's hard to keep enthusiastic if you've got nothing to aim for.

Not seen many bass changes. A few years back I did a three bass gig and realised I must have looked like a right tit for it, it slowed things down too much. IMO its not needed unless you go fretted to Fretless and even then if I want a Fretless for a few songs I'll usually just play the half set or even whole gig Fretless just to not have to faff about. Guitarists who bring more than two guitars are usually showing off their collection. In my first band the guitarist had a very impressive collection but gigs took far too long to set up and he was pooing himself any time someone looked at his 1957 Tele which he had for one song. Last guitarist I saw doing this was in a dreadful band and he had three or four budget guitars he swapped between almost every song, and each was not stylistically different enough from the other. He really should have just invested in one decent quality guitar.

Can I add UB40 Red Red flipping Wine please? Tuneless shite. The only reason I wouldn't want to seal UB40 in concrete and drop them in the sea is beceuase it would stop me setting them on fire.

Hang on... "Peter Kaye" , Amarillo. It's annoying, as a song yes, but it's the cultural aspect that comes with it. For vast swathes of the British public it is the height of wit and something that sends them in to a fit of activity. "eeeee it's Amarilloooo!" they say as they get off their fat @rses, crisp crumbs dripping off them, and they jig around mouthing anything for the verses where they don't know the words, looking around with a vacant grin that is begging you to find them funny and be entertained by them, then they roar put the chorus. Those that like this song and find it the pinnacle of wit, the party starting "choon", they are everything that is wrong with society.

Well, it could be one factor on a short list. "they're shite" being the second and last!

80's marmite stuff is what I love!! It looks like the Terminators calf. Well done.

Shotgun!!! My band asked me to play it. I'd never heard of it. I'm 35 so not "too old" I think, but I don't listen to the radio. Apparently it was a massive hit? Massive 5hit more like. I hate, hate, hate it. Its just dead wood, it's a drone, no dynamics, nothing clever in the music or lyrics, nothing exciting. But when we play it people like it so I kind of have to... Ship Called Dignity is a song that can get me in murderous rage. I'd rather eat the cubes out of a pub urinal. Luckily I have never had to play that in any band. Parklife by Blur is also a steaming turgid pile of sh!t that I have to play in my band and I hate it. I'm northern, maybe that's the root of the hatred of this song. But my band plays in Essex occasionally. So I guess that's why I have to grit my teeth and play it. Audiences like it. I don't.

It's a trap!

All the money I sank in to my MIM Jazz to then trade it in for just £250 against my brand new Stingray. Any and every amp I bought brand new and sold at a big loss. A Brice six string bass that was just awful. Probably my Stingray IF I ever want to sell it. Can get a good quality used Lefty stingray around 900. I bought a new one for double that...

I usually have the master vol for the bass on full as I typically play fingerstyle most of the time but if I'm going to use a pick I roll it down to 70-75%. Usually the output volume from the amp increases when I play with a pick (is that my poor pick technique or just what happens?) so I want to maintain the same volume but just get that different attack from using a pick. Rolling it down on the bass is the easiest way of doing this for me.

Money can be a safety net, meaning if the band think "this could be a stinky poo gig" whether it's the venue, the event, the night of the week... We price it so its worth us turning up. We got asked to do a Thursday night recently. Local, and on our usual practice night. We used it to test run some new songs, had some fairly engaged punters in for half of it, we played fosters poor probably due to a number of reasons, one being a mostly empty venue on a Thursday night, but we each got paid £40, whereas it usually costs just over £40 for all of us to book a rehearsal room and you don't get to watch whether people are in to the song or not. And on a gig you play the song together, you don't spend ages arguing over "it goes DA-DUM-DA-DAAAA! THREE F'ING TIMES, THAT'S HOW WE ALWAYS PLAYED IT, I DON'T CARE IF ITS FOUR ON THE ORIGINAL!!" And other such productive things.

I'm going to give Nevermind and Badmotorfinger a thorough play through, to remind myself of Nevermind and to have a second listen of Badmotorfinger. I know BSSM well enough otherwise I'd listen to all three together. Would be good to revisit as a group of albums and see what thoughts and inspiration it stirs.