Huge Hands

It looks like I was right after all. This is the BBC concert with only Melvin from his usual band (he does allude to people being missing). You can see Melvin guiding the band at some points. The leather jacket is there though! Nothing against Benorce, butI do like some of the licks and fills this guitarist plays on this.

Probably get to see him in action more in this one, but you'll just end up watching James Gadson like me!

I was wrong - the classic leather jacket (and how could I forget tartan trousers sitting cross legged!!) uber coolness was from OGWT with James Gadson and his amazing "pyjama suit".

Found this recent interview with Melvyn but he doesn't get as far as mentioning his time with Bill: https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/melvin-dunlap

That was usually Joseph "Lucky" Scott on Curtis' recordings. Another hero of mine.

I wouldn't dare to count how many times I've listened to that album. There is live UK TV concert footage knocking around of Bill playing (I think where the still in your video is from) with Melvyn sitting looking so cool with his long black leather jacket, playing his early P-bass with his thumb. Most of his band at the time is missing (James Gadson included) but it is worth a watch anyway.

I once advertised a cheap combo cab as "collection only" but then a buyer persuaded me to ship it for him, even though I didn't want to. I had just bought my new smaller cabs, so thought I would hack up the boxes to make a big one. Once I had spent ages doing this and taping them up, all the extra polystyrene padding made the dimensions a size that made shipping more expensive than the cab itself. In the end, the buyer agreed to me packing it just as a cardboard sleeve over the cab to get the dimensions down for cheaper delivery. I seem to remember it was a giant cost difference between a few cm in length/height. However, it meant I had to go out buy a load more gaffa tape and spend a whole night cutting/taping up more boxes. I think he had only offered about £10 over the postage amount for packaging, so I'm pretty sure I ended up making a loss on the postage costs if you totted up all the extra stuff I had to buy and petrol to get it etc. I also accidentally went through the cardboard to the carpet with the Stanley knife which cost me later with my landlord when I moved out... I was massively panicking over the cab getting damaged with such a thin layer of packing. It got there and the buyer contacted me to say it was dead. Luckily it turned out to be that a spade connector had fallen off, but shows the knocks it must have had in transit as I'd never had that happen before. I'm not blaming the buyer as it was my first time doing this so was a learning curve for me, but what I learned was never to do it again!

You called? I would like to point out that I am definitely not the subject tinkerer of this thread. I did defend him earlier in the thread as I thought people being snidey about his level of actual playing went too far as there are all levels of ability in this forum. However, I have no issue with his level of dodgy bodging being highlighted to protect others. Interestingly I would be interested in a guitar with wide spacing as I have tried to play guitar before but struggled due to the size of my banana fingers. I think I'll pass on this gentleman's products though....

Have told this story before, but without a doubt - Paul McCartney. I originally played drums but watching the "I Am The Walrus" bit in Magical Mystery Tour made me realise that Paul looked so much cooler than Ringo (no offence Ringo - I love you too) and without doubt meant I would pull more girls if I played bass. 28 years later, I'm still waiting for the ladies to fall at my feet.....

Welcome back. Hope your band mate/BFF is ok. Sounds horrible.

I love the worn look on my basses, but that is because I can point at most dings and say "that it where I clipped the doorframe in '92 when getting on the bus with it", or that is where the strap broke in 2004 and I caught it, but still did that". It tells our (mine and the instrument's)" story, especially around how clumsy I am. When I see old basses for sale covered in dings and scratches, I love to imagine what those stories might have been with their previous owners. I'd feel I'd been cheated if they were faked and added on. Of course, this is only my own opinion, no criticism of others intended.

Totally agree. To continue further, maybe not all read music, but many have a copy of the script and make notes about who comes in where, which effects get played when - basically anything they want. I have done a few theatre shows in my time and the script was vital to remember everything. I have also done FOH on many band gigs and had notes written on a copy of a set list - I.e. which effect number to dial in for a certain song, remember to turn guitar mic 1 off in that one etc. I worked in a venue mainly, so didn't really get to know bands well enough to write scripts - that was probably the "playing by ear" analogy. I don't think there is anything new to be invented here, although you youngsters probably have it all stored in a digital desk now....

I play in a concert band with lots of wind and brass instruments. I learned to read with this band (they were very patient at first). As Bilbo says, you only get faster and better at sight reading the more you do it. I still struggle with anything faster than quavers! In terms of the rest of the band, there are a lot of players whom I've noted can read well, but can't adjust if the timing goes awol or hear that the incidental they are playing is flat. As the only bass player (the tuba players are intermittent at showing up) I like to add a little improv to my lines if it is a non-classical more modern piece to try and get the rhythm right for the original. I think that is my right unless the MD notices it and tells me off. He recently thanked me for adding bits to an Elton John arrangement to make it sound more like the recording. I'm not sure many of those that have only ever read and play ensemble instruments could do that as all they have ever done is read. I also note where many use dots to learn a piece - in our case, although we rehearse to learn the hard bits, I I doubt any of us would be able to play any of our pieces (no matter how many times we've played them) if the music was suddenly removed and we had to play from memory. It is almost like a different technique - you whizz through the music without really taking a lot of it onboard.

We eat at our local PE a lot. You can exchange your Tesco Clubcard vouchers for payment for the meal, so regularly eat a £60+ meal for the price of drinks only. I think this constant allowance of vouchers and discount deals is reportedly what is making their business fail. Not sure I'd be happy spending the full price for a pizza meal, but there you go. Coincidentally, I was asked to dep in the Soho one later this month by my old band but wasn't available. It is their first time playing there, so can't comment on what it's like, but as others have said, parking nearby is a nightmare/impossible.

Thanks WoT, of course this all just my personal opinion! I was on the side of tBBC against Janek's huff all them years ago, so I am probably not consistent.....

Agreed, which is why I choose not to post any videos of myself (although others have from my gigs) but in the interests of this being an inclusive forum with a wide spectrum of playing abilities, I would hope this forum would know better than to be a slag fest against other bassists playing and own music, I would have thought it doesn't encourage beginners to want to stay around if it is all a bit elitist. Perhaps the Youtube vid itself would be the better place to comment on that sort of thing if someone really wants to have a direct pop at his playing.

I was feeling the same as @ahpook when I read this yesterday. I think highlighting his dubious work and claims around what he is selling is fine, but slagging him off for his playing and music went a bit far for me. I must admit, if a young beginner I knew was sucked in by one of these eBay sales and bought a dodgy instrument with his/her paper round money, I'd be livid, so glad these get highlighted. However, I don't see how that relates to taking the Michael out of his online playing vids, however good or bad we think they are. There by the grace of God, go I.... which is why I wouldn't post a video of myself playing!

I think the point is I don't treat them badly in the sense of coiling them too tight, knotting them or twisting the connectors around, mine is more from clumily stepping on them or putting my amp down on them when I'm struggling to set it down with my dodgy back in a tight space. I think I bought one as an emergency purchase with no other decent choice and it worked for me so I got a couple more. That is about it really, no more science than that.

I cut my teeth in studio/live sound and learned how to make, coil and treat cables properly. Unfortunately I'm also a heavy clumsy short sighted, bad-backed oaf who often accidentally stands on them, rests kit on them, trips over them, traps them in zips and spills drinks on them, even though I always try my best not to. I even managed to wreck a couple of @obbm's lovely cables he made me within 5 years. I've settled on the stiffer braided Fender type ones for now which seem to hold up to my level of accidental abuse a bit longer....

Not sure if it was the same version of the Sweet but my mate used to tell the tale of doing sound on a gig with the original singer (Brian Connolly?) just before he died and they pretty much had to wheel him out strapped to a sack trolley to get him on stage, he was so ill.

I remember in the early 2000's, when a sound engineer on the holiday camp scene, dreading the 60's weekends. The "original member" always seemed to be someone like the keyboard player or rhythm guitarist who either left just before they broke big time, or joined just after they broke up. The talented one who wrote the big hit would doubtlessly be lying on a beach in Miami on his royalties, whilst guitar 2 and his bunch of mates who weren't good enough to be in the lineup the first time around hoofed their way through the one hit played at the end of the set. I would also find amps would be cranked painfully loud because they were all deaf from years of poor sound. The opposite example would be the "star" who couldn't sing the high stuff any more that would bring his beloved son along as a bass player and watch fondly with an awkward smile as the son turbo-slapped his way through a classic 60's track on a coffee-table-top 5 string. ...and I'm saying that as a 5 string player (not really into bespoke coffee table basses though.....)

As far as I understand it, this is not the "Funk Machine" (that is still missing), but another that he owned and gave to a friend on permanent loan. It was sold recently at auction based on it being Jamerson's but the friend had mainly owned it and played it since the 60s.

"man who hits drums" - fantastic! I reckon the mods should add this to the swear filter when anyone types "drummer". Although it may need to be "person who hits drums" in the interests of equality....

I have a couple of these Indonesian P5s with Jazz pickups. Someone told me at the time they were that config because no one could do a 5 string split coil pickup on the cheap at the time. Not sure if that was true or a load of cobblers. I have modded both of mine. The first, I got Andy at Wizard to make me some new Jazz pickups to slot in the holes. It took two goes, as he reckoned both the bridge and neck dimensions were the same as the thinner neck one on a 4 string Jazz! He told me the second set he made would be weaker due to having to widen the blade to cover the extra width but they were still monster to me and better than the stock ones. The second one, I got the body routed with a big square hole under the scratchplate and tried to fit an EMG P6 set that a BC member had taken off his Shuker made P5. I assume Jon Shuker had used the P6 set instead of the P5 due to issues with placement as no matter how I placed them under the strings, I couldn't get the B without some some sort of fade or loss of attack. I ended up buying a second P6 set brand new as a punt in case there was a fault (when I was once flush) and it sorted that, but now I have the same issues with the G string on the other side. I gave up in the end as I couldn't be bothered to keep filing the custom scratchplate I had made to let me move them around. One day I will have another look at it! I ended up loaning my Wizard one to a mate's young son and it doesn't appear to be coming back. I must chase that up!

I think they look amazing, but when I have tried other friend's basses with them on, the gap between the two covers is not normally big enough for my chunky mitts to fit between. I did ask @Painy where he got his from when I was working on one of my P5 projects, but after he told me that saga, I didn't bother any further......