Maude

They will never be referred to as "vinyls". 😋

Are there any banjo players on here that could offer some advice to me please. My mother in law has decided that my father in law would like a banjo for his birthday, he doesn't know this 🤔 He is in his seventies and has never played any instrument before and in all honesty I'm not sure he'll take it up but she wants to get him one. He is a big Billy Connolly fan and is Scottish himself, he used to be into trad jazz in his youth and still enjoys trad jazz, ragtime, blues, and traditional Scottish and Irish folk music. With that background is there a better style of banjo to go for? Is one easier to get started on? I've been doing a bit of research on four string and five strings, and what styles are suited to each, clawhammer, two finger, three finger, scruggs, etc. The standard when looking to buy seems to be five string and I'd narrowed it down to the Harley Benton BJ-55 Pro as a nice compromise between value for money and a nice looking instrument, but now I'm thinking for the sort of music that might be easier to play that would appeal to him, a four string may be better, is strumming and picking melodies easier than bluegrass style three finger rolls and stuff? So if anyone could offer any advice on playing styles and the ease/difficulty of learning them then I would very much appreciate it. Thanks, Allan.

I like the idea of luminlay dots on knobs (stop giggling at the back), I struggle to see my dots on stage nowadays.

I'd never liked P basses, the reason being that every cheap learner package in Argos, Toys'R'us and the like was always a P copy and I'd always associated them with looking cheap. Pathetic I know but there you go. After about twenty years of playing, and mainly because of this site I thought I'd give one a go, and not even a real one. Locally I'd seen an Aria STB Series P for sale for £40, I'd read that they had lovely necks and bought it, what's to lose? I put a 1/4 Pounder pick up in it and a set of Chromes, gave it a set up and it played lovely. Wasn't sure about the sound at home, first set of flats, first P and all that. Anyway took it to rehearsal and instantly with the band playing it was 'wow', the sound was just there, clear punchy and very audible in the mix. I gigged that bass for about six months until that band folded. I loved the simplicity, just plug it in to any PA and it just sounded how it was supposed to. It's at home now as my go to noddling/learning songs bass.

@Bobthedog Oh my.

I already have a free pass for Keira Knightley should the opportunity present itself so wouldn't want to push my luck. P.S. This is also tongue in cheek........ maybe 🤔😃

No you haven't misunderstood at all. Full blown, tongue in cheek, misogynistic tripe. As the first line of the original post is about finding Danni a hundred times sexier than her sister I thought maybe the eternally offended wouldn't be following this thread with any great interest, but you've caught me out. I'll still stand by my statement though, but will elaborate even though it will detract from it's original comedic intention. If Danni, Kylie and myself were all single and willing and no one else would be hurt or upset by the act, I could see myself being physically attracted to them. Obviously with myself being married with kids and the Minogues possibly being in relationships this won't ever actually be happening. It doesn't quite have the punch of the original line but there you, you can't have everything. 🙂

You could go into a record shop to "buy some vinyl", as you could drive to ATS to get new rubber for your car, it makes you sound like a knob but it's OK. But buying 'vinyls' or 'rubbers' is just wrong and I won't allow it 😋 Feel for you @Normski, it's a horrible position to be in.

Arrrghh, they're records, I can't take any more, please just call them records! Not a personal dig you understand, just don't like this new trend of calling a record 'a vinyl'. Vinyl if you really must but never plural. Next folks will be buying rubbers for their car. Sorry kevvo66 😁

Thanks borntohang. I'll give the knurled ones a try with a rubber washer. If not I may have to get some Schaller ones and just use one strap specifically for this bass then. If the buttons are standard Rick items then I'd rather keep everything as it should be.

The Jam, greatest cover band in the world 😯

They almost got plopped on but they ran, ran so far away.

The trouble I've always found with HMV, and this is going back a few years but into the Internet buying era, is that a bands current CD was a normal price, tenner-ish, but any of their older cd's were through the roof pricewise, where other retailers sold most older cd's for less than the current release. There's been quite a few artists I've got into and bought their back catalogue on the Internet, mainly amazon if cheap enough new or ebay second hand. A few times I have bought a back catalogue for £30 where in HMV it would've been a couple of hundred. I've been in there and seen a CD for £17.99 and gone on Amazon while in HMV and bought it for £4. It's sad but I've had no reason to use HMV for a long time, and I don't do streaming preferring to own the physical item.

Not sure they'll go on a Hofner either, they have very small guitar style tuners with small holes.

It's a great song to play on bass isn't it. There's so many bass-centric songs in our set, it's great, Pinball Wizard, The Real Me, Down in the Tubestation, Town Called Malice, Keep on Running, the list goes on. We've got a reasonable following and they all know what the bass does, it's quite uplifting compared to the average pub goer who has no idea.

I'm going to suggest a live album which is basically a greatest hits because the tone Nelson gets on it. A bit odd as my favourites were played originally by the great Stuart Morrow but Nelson does a fantastic job and this is a fantastic live album.

Ooh I didn't know that, off to look it up 👍

Can I upgrade this to their entire back catalogue?

I haven't played NYE in years through choice. It's always, without fail a nightmare. People who don't normally drink get sh!tfaced and act like d!cks, couples who don't go out very often go out and argue with each other, people who do go out all the time get territorial and act like d!cks to ones who don't go out all the time, the night never lives up to anyones expectations and it all ends up a very sad, depressing place to be. And I'm stood, sober on a stage watching it all unfold. No thanks. Merry New Year 😄

BTW could anyone tell me if the strap buttons are for Schaller straplocks. I've only ever used the Dunlop rings that you twist or rubber washers, my strap doesn't fit nicely/safely over these. It also came with a similar pair without a knurled edge rather that the smooth bevel on the fitted ones. The thread is larger than a standard strap button so would need plugging to revert to what I'm used to. I'd rather not got to a certain straplock or I'll have to change all my basses or buy a strap specific to this bass. Can you get a standard button with this thread?

And no stupid pick up covers in the way and razor sharp front bindings to dig into your forearm. To me a 'normal' Rick bass looks nice but just trying a bit too hard, where the 4005 is just effortlessly beautiful.

Ah go on then.... .... lucky. 😁

No more than Limelight I suppose 🤔 It'll never be able to be passed off as the real thing, there are things which aren't right like the placements of control knobs, but the biggest give away is that it just looks too new, the newest genuine ones will be 35 years old and this wood is as fresh as a fresh thing. 🙂

Great looking bass! I could see John Entwistle playing that. Congrats and hang on to that wife of yours 😄

Totally gratuitous, but here she is reclining in my little reading corner.