Maude

Go on then, count me in. Although I bought nothing in 2025, not even strings or a plectrum, so I'm probably going to do some buying this year.

I don't know about streaming Big Ben but you've got to use them as the intro into AC/DCs Hells Bells. 👌

It's now December 31st. I might order a bass in a minute, as a year without buying anything music related just doesn't feel right. My left eye keeps twitching and I've developed stammer. 😁

Hanging Around - The Stranglers

This ^^^ Just try a thinner set, or moving them over a slot, and see how it goes. I bought a Ibanez Talman 30 when they were silly cheap to try a set of piccolo bass strings on, EADG but an octave higher so guitar register and gauge, I didn't have to change the nut and it's fine. The tension keeps the strings in the bottom of the oversized 'U' shape, you'd have to play really hard to move the string across and up the slot.

A doublebass is a beautiful piece of furniture in the corner of a room, a conversation starter, social status elevator, somewhere to hang decorations at this festive time of year, you can even play it if you're that way inclined. The reasons to own one far away outweigh the reasons not to. 😉

To be fair to these Fazley basses (I haven't seen or played one), a thousand pound bass will probably come will strings that you'll want to change and in need of a set up. I'd have no qualms in buying one of the 4/4s if I needed it as a bass I just don't need to worry about. If something started to fail then you don't have to worry about professional repairs as it will have virtually no resale value, just glue it or screw it yourself and carry on playing. They probably won't sound the best but for live playing you'll most likely be using a pickup and it won't matter anyway. It'll have 12 months warranty anyway so play the hell out of it and any major issues, if any, should arise in that time and you can get a refund or replacement.

I don't know if I have a signature sound as such, but I do have an unhealthy amount of basses which I somehow manage to make all sound the same. Not necessarily identical but it always sounds like me, so I suppose that is my signature sound.

I was given this by my wife as well, a complete surprise. Also Kevin Rowlands' 'Bless Me Father', I don't know huge amount about him other than I really liked the early version of Dexy's, but he does seem like a very interesting character so it should be a good read.

It's that time of year again, the time to watch this fantastic piece of nostalgia. https://youtu.be/rizRsvBluAA?si=XiqUs8EC6-aLKCpr Edit, well that all went wrong. Accidentally posted the version of Chas & Dave's Christmas Knees Up with the horrible Jim Davidson, tried editing to the version without but it won't let me embed it. Apologies for any of offence caused. I'll try again later.

As I've been using it for practice and the tree is in the same room, here's a festive one.

That's a good idea, they'll be able to let me know how big a gauge I'd need to reach a certain tension. The other option is to just order one and try it. I don't like ordering basses just to see but I probably don't have any other option with these.

A quick bit of background info, in one of my bands I solely play doublebass bass. At rehearsals I sometimes just bring a standard electric bass just for ease. Turns out some stuff we do works better with an electric bass and I'm considering doubling on gigs. It'll be a bit of a pain on small stages so I want short scale and light to ease grabbing quickly. I've got some shortscale I can use but this 23" Ashdown has grabbed my eye. Nice looking, I briefly had a Saint bass which was fine, standard pickups to swap if needed, a green one which is our band colour, and only £200. But I really like heavy strings, I just don't get on with low tension strings, especially not for the style of stuff I will be playing in this band, lots of percussive stuff. My question is, can a 23" scale bass have higher tension strings or will that short a scale and the low frequency always mean floppy strings? https://ashdownmusic.com/products/roasted-capri-23

Roots Bloody Roots - Sepultura

He's been mentioned but I immediately thought Lachy Doley when I saw 'Funky Organ'