uk_lefty

The whole of Stevenage Old Town becomes a live music hotbed on the 6th August. Stages and venues everywhere, loads of local bands of all types. The Desert Penguins will be playing at the Mulberry Tree from 7pm. As always if a bass chatter wants to make themselves known to me I'll get you a pint in!

I looked a LOT before buying a new one from Belgium. Loads are listed around £500 but there are a good few about and they don't seem to shift, so you should be looking at something closer to £400 in my view.

Maybe have a heart to heart. Try and understand why the reluctance to travel? Why can't he learn the songs beforehand. If it's truly laziness/ arrogance then there's your answer but if it's lack of confidence, issues at home, there may be other ways to resolve it.

The best thing I've ever done is join established bands. That way to know where they are in terms of whether they gig, how often, what type of gigs etc, and these days you can see videos etc of them. That makes it so much easier than trying to form something. It's particularly good if you're only just starting out in the world of gigging bands because you can see how it's done from getting gigs to managing rehearsals and changing set lists. I wish it was as black and white as "do you want to be in a band that does pub gigs once a month, aiming to gig from November?" Vs "do you want to meet up talk sh!t and maybe play some tunes?" Because the problem is the number of dreamers, weirdos and time wasters who will tell you they're the next Steve Luthaker ready to play any gig any time anywhere, they're so sh!t hot on guitar you might not be good enough to play with them, they've got four fender custom shop Strats... And they only know one song. And they never rehearse. And they want to be the lead singer too but can't sing. And they tell you how to dress for the gigs that are never going to happen and how low to strap your bass. And they get on everyone else's back about not being gig ready quickly enough. I'll stop now.

Jeez that's some overblown tripe. Do you sound like Led Zep? Do you make some attempt to look like them with outfit and stagecraft? We don't need your cheeky and amusing, faux authentic theatrical backstory. Alan's probably the type of guy to Google himself daily so I won't write out his full name because he's already flooded the internet with it, even when doing the bio of his bandmates.

Stingray+ ABM 😎😎😎👍

In my book drummers = weirdos. Sweaty weirdos.

There's a difference between enjoying a drink and a jam with some friends and trying to put a band together that has everyone pulling in the same direction. What works for me on the new band is we are all on a similar page in terms of age, family circumstances and work circumstances. So we all understand that if the guitarist has a work trip to France we can't rehearse, that's ok. We all have jobs that mean we don't rely on the gig money, so we don't end up traveling to sh*tholes to play for thirty quid each and we can protect the band image and our family time. If my kids are sick on the day of rehearsal we cancel with nobody whining because it can happen with any of the other guys too. And most crucially we all want the same thing for the band in terms of what type of venue we play, how far we will travel, what we want to charge, and how many gigs we can take on. I've never found another band with that type of cooperation and understanding and I don't think I ever will again until I'm in my late fifties or whatever with a load of other retired people!

Aged 15 I wanted a bass. I thought the low strings should be at the bottom, as in lower, right? So I was tempted to get a righty but saw sense and got a lefty. It was a very expensive Christmas present and I'm still very grateful to my mum to this day. Tanglewood Nevada. A sunburst P bass copy. I have always had a soft spot for Tanglewood ever since. After I got my five string fretless for my eighteenth birthday (I was in love with Ten by Pearl Jam so it had to be fretless) I traded the Tanglewood in for something, probably the Zoom BFX708.

I know your pain. Music should be fun and you need to be around people you can disagree with and still get the job done. It takes a long time to get a band of like -minded people together, and unfortunately music is full of dreamers, weirdos, and people who can dish out criticism but can't take constructive suggestions. Stick at it, you'll get there!

You and me both! I'd have thought the best way would be to stick them side by side in the same room and play them (with the same bass) and if one has more output than the other that's your answer.

I never understood it either. 4 years ago I bought a first gen V7 and the tuners felt a bit cheap but held perfectly. I've now got a second gen V9 and it detuned itself during gigs. I'd like to have tuners that hold. May as well go lightweight too because it's a big beast to get through the length of gigs I save that bass for.

It's just a bit uninspiring to look at.... I know, shallow.

Hi... So for years whenever someone says "if you buy a Sire V7 you must upgrade the bridge and tuners!" I always said No, my V7 was perfectly adequate. Well, I sold that V7 but later got myself a V9. It sounds and feels great and it's my go-to for Weddings and other gigs where I don't need the ballsy Stingray sound. However... The tuners aren't great. They don't hold tune as well as I would expect so I'm looking to upgrade them. The bridge looks and feels a bit of a cheap afterthought too. I'm quite surprised seeing as my generation 1 V7 was more reliable. Nevertheless, it's a very good sounding bass so I'd like to swap out the tuners and bridge. Any advice on which tuners people have used before would be gratefully received. I've seen YouTube videos where someone has got Hipshots but had to rig something to fill a few mm in the headstock holes and I'm not so keen on doing that, though I've had it before on an old Fender. For the bridge I'm even thinking of the single rail thingys but only because I like the look.

Could it be because being a musician implies long travels, parking in all sorts of places, late night driving and expensive equipment in the car? Regardless, no matter what you put your actual occupation as if you play pub football on a Sunday you're not going to say "footballer" even if they pay you a fiver a game. Same with being a weekend warrior bassist. My argument is it's not a paid job, its an absolute drain on my finances!

Ha, maybe in my youth... We get a great gig there every quarter, private parties and they've got a sister venue in another town so I never want to rock the boat in any way.

Wowzers. A pro "repaired" that at some point??! Looks like I did it.

Played my ABM set up at Friday nights gig.... Soundman had to walk out front and ask me to turn down a few songs in. Volume was barely near 10% 😎

Yup. I bought mine, not B stock, from a retailer in Belgium and paid VAT on bringing it in because that was very cheap compared to anything in the UK... If I'd have waited your PMT deal would have blown that out the water for value.

What's the plan?? Very interested in what these can do, the price is so tempting.

I've only ever had lefty instruments... If I got into buying right handers I'd be bankrupt. I recently bought an Epiphone Casino six string though and I sweat sometimes when I look at it it must be a righty body, the lower horn seems ever so slightly bigger than the top horn. I should measure it one day so it's not taunting me from across my office. One bass I'd like to try flipping though is a Gibson/ Epiphone EB-3. If I was playing heavy rock/ classic metal I'd want one done up like Iommi's SG.

Maybe the stockroom has a lot of mirrors in it and they all looked right handed... But little did they know...!

https://youtu.be/mPObzJkWueY

Watched that last night... For a few seconds. It's not my thing.

Any other bass chatters playing or watching? We will be on the main stage at 2pm on Saturday, the Desert Penguins, playing our "pop goes rock" covers set. It's a great one to be doing for me personally, I've only been in the Penguins less than a year, but my former band was the very first band to play the very first Todd in the Hole a few years back. Hoping this weekend we will be playing to more than a handful of punters and all the stall holders setting up! Unless everyone is hiding from the sun, of course!