4000

I much prefer inlays, for both aesthetic and practical purposes. I had a Squire P with side dots that you couldn’t really see very well that was a nightmare on darkened stages, even worse was the front dots also disappeared in certain lights. I had similar problems with an otherwise unmarked Sei I had. It’s maybe not so much a problem if you play the same type of bass all the time (which is one of many reasons why I now do) but when you’re chopping and changing scale lengths, number of frets etc, as I have in the past, I found it helpful. I’m also singing most of the time and do reference my markers so prefer them to be very visible (I miss my LEDs…). I do absolutely love fancy inlay work too, as in the pic you provided, although it can be counterproductive as reference.

I guess one question raised by this would be how many of your favourite covers are on albums by your favourite artists?

Oh, absolutely. I mean he can’t even draw, really. 😂 But in my case I was applying for an Illustration course, not Fine Art (which I studied at Foundation). Unfortunately good ole Rog was seen as everything wrong with Illustration and incredibly dated. They were more into stuff like that on the cover of Duke, which I hated (still do, probably because of that). Also, it could be argued that a degree of naivety should be expected from a teenager. 😉 Further experience at Maidstone College of Art, which is where I ended up after pointedly not mentioning Roger in my interview (they held the same views), taught me that there’s nothing an illustration tutor hates more than a successful illustrator. 😂 The only good thing about Maidstone was I got to spend 2 weeks being taught by guest illustrator George Hardie, who was an incredibly nice man. For some reason (awe, probably) I never asked him about his work on so many of my favourite covers. Just think, I could’ve got them all signed! 😉

I realise they’re not everyone’s cup of tea. 😉 Surprised you haven’t seen one before though.

If the decision was on balance one he was happy with, then that’s fine. But if it was an “or else”, that’s terrible. However in situations where there is a house and/or kids/pets etc, or where the relationship is a long-standing one, it can get really complicated.

When I went to my first interview for Uni (illustration) I told them I liked Roger Dean. Biiiiiiiig mistake. They hated him. 😂 For me, anything Roger Dean or Hipgnosis, as that’s what most of my favourite music came in.

I would totally agree, but sometimes it depends how far into the relationship you are. Relationships are unfortunately often extremely complex things.

Passive person generally trying to keep the peace here too. My partner once made me take a bass back to the shop. It was an impulse buy, an absolute bargain too and I had the money, but in the end it just wasn’t worth the grief. And I’ll admit that just made me somewhat more surreptitious when buying, so completely defeated the object.

Here are some other relative unknowns playing them 😉:

Have you never seen one before? FWIW, it’s one of my three favourite bass designs, so to me anything but ugly! 😂

My partner is fairly supportive I suppose (or maybe just not actively unsupportive) - she has no problem with me rehearsing/gigging - but not when it comes to me buying gear. She’s never happy with me buying gear, or having gear left out around the house. And she would never in a million years dream of buying me gear.

If you mean what bass is he playing, it’s his Alembic. If not, I’m not sure what you mean.

I’d buy the same make of bass I bought then, for the same reasons. I’d buy a better rig than the JHS 50 watt guitar combo I first had though. 😂 Although the 100w Custom Sound combo I replaced it with was a bit of a beast, so maybe I’d have kept that and just kept buying Rics. 😉

This depends entirely on what sort of sound you’re after. Most of my favourite-sounding players eq heavily and I tend to too. I was checking back on Lemmy’s early amp settings the other day and he had the middle, treble and presence on his Marshalls on full and the bass full off. And Chris Squire back in the day: Squire's settings on the Marshall are Volume = 4, Bass = 4, Middle = 6, Treble = 10, Presence = 10. and on the Sunn: "My sound is a combination of the amp controls, the guitar's controls, and the volume we're playing at." The settings on the Sunn Coliseum Lead head, which Chris states without hesitation, are 6 on the volume levels, 4 on the low freq control, 3 on the high freq control, 5 on the mid-freq, and 10 on the treble. On the Rick, the volume and tone controls on the treble (bridge) pickup are run wide open. The bass (neck) pickup volume is near full and the tone knob sits on 4.

Yeah, I remember the name. I was in a band called VHF at the time, after which I moved on from playing metal.

I used to play there regularly in the mid-‘80s. We used to lose money every gig.😂 I liked Maiden but never really loved them (preferred Sabbath and Priest and later Manowar), and I thought they went downhill once Clive left.

I only caught half of it, will try and catch up next time it’s on. I’ll be honest, I never really liked the Kinks, but I love anything like that. What I did find quite interesting was that I’m also not a huge fan of many of the bands and artists who were so obviously hugely influenced by them, and now I know why. 😂

Whenever I comment in shops, apart from the aforementioned ones, they usually just look at me blankly and walk off. 😂

My first was a 1980 Rickenbacker 4001 (which probably partly explains why I find them so comfortable when others don’t) in Jetglo. It was nicked from the band van along with the drum kit and bass rig in Hendon in ‘85 or ‘86 (I’d have to check) after a gig. Serial number is/was TC915. I’d replaced the white scratch plate with a black one, had it shielded with copper foil (although I hadn’t had any problems with it) and the treble pickup had been rewound by Kent Armstrong; I didn’t know about the cap at the time. If anyone has it, It would nice to know.

Well I play bass as my first instrument, but as a writer first I don’t care any more about the bass than any other instrument. It’s just that, an instrument, one of many, there to serve the music.

I sold my Wal Custom in ‘96 for £550. I don’t miss the bass particularly, but I do miss the £5k difference. 😂

Why would it matter if it’s programmed? For me, some of the most awesome bass parts recorded belong to Tangerine Dream, with no bass (and no attempt to sound like one) in sight….

Once upon a time I used to convince myself I liked Weather Report, because, well, you know, you had to and, well, Jaco…….I’m glad I eventually admitted to myself that I find them nigh on unlistenable much of the time. And it’s not because I don’t like jazz(I grew up with it), or fusion (love plenty of other stuff, e.g. RTF, Mahavishnu). I just think they’re the worst of all worlds, for me personally.

Pretty sure that’s a John Birch. Look at the pickup and shape. He did play a B C Rich Eagle on Heaven and Hell (and on tour when I saw them) and possibly Mob Rules though.

I had a Classic briefly which I got in a part trade, with a view to selling. Thankfully there was absolutely nothing about it I liked, so selling it was easy. 😂 I really, really want to like Rays; they have such a great slap sound (not that I slap these days) amongst other things, and they look really cool, but I just cannot seem to get on with them, and lord knows I’ve tried. I haven’t tried one of the Specials yet though, although given the price I think there are too many alternatives I’d likely prefer. But still, you never know.