Norris

The other night my trio were playing and we all noticed that all of us were flagging a bit in the last few songs. We were all tired and the performance suffered - not really enough for the audience to notice, but we did. I suppose a certain amount is down to age. I'm the youngster in the band at 50. The drummer is 63 and the guitarist/singist is 58. I assume that general fitness would help - I'm certainly not as fit as I could be. However it is not easy to find the time/motivation when you have a day job and family. I don't think the drummer is likely to hit the gym any time soon either. Plus it can be a long night when you've arrived at about 7:30 to set the gear up and are still playing at about 1am. Any tips, advice, experiences to share?

I do jig about a bit occasionally but it depends very much on whether I'm getting a good vibe from the audience or indeed if I have the energy to move my creaky old bones around. Being in a trio with a drummer and git/voc means I'm the only one that is able to move about much, so I do try to make an effort. I still look bloody miserable most of the time though - very rarely actually feel miserable though.

Welcome to the club of miserable looking bass players

Lilac Wine by Jeff Buckley

Good choice. I love mine

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1457987100' post='3003735'] I don't think there's such a thing as a standard replacement for contacts for an AA battery anyway. Are you thinking of PP3s? [/quote] Yes I was

Tone Tech Luthier Supplies seem to have a reasonable range of natural materials. There's bound to be some on ebay too

Blimey that's certainly not a standard replacement. It looks more like a part of the Millennium Falcon

Sounds like the contacts are corroded, which doesn't bode well for gigging reliability. If you can wield a soldering iron, replacement connectors can be had from Maplins (or similar) for a few beer tokens

There's something about the retro simplicity of Danelectros. Lovely looking bass

The 80s were a cesspit of shameful dress sense. Some cracking poodle-dos on there too! I always like it when there's one or two band members who are not quite as into the image as the others

Hendrix - Electric Ladyland. For me it works, but I could understand people not liking the extended underwater noises of 1983...(a merman I should turn to be). There again it contains the only bass solo I can bear to listen to

Sounds like dead batteries. The power should be disconnected when you remove the jack plug, however sometimes that doesn't work correctly. I'd take a look at the jack socket

Lighter fluid is very similar to white spirit but is less likely to leave a residue (higher hydrocarbon fractions?) Both are basic solvents when used for cleaning and should help remove stubborn gunk without too much detrimental effect

Welcome to the relatively GAS-free backwater that is the Repairs and Technical forum

Both Fender and Gibson tried to stop copies being made, especially in the far East, but eventually realised the futility of doing so. China is finally starting to tighten its copyright laws, but too late for a lot of manufacturers. Rickenbacker are still attacking windmills in true Don Quixote style

I used this http://www.catmusic99.co.uk/product/shielding_paint

Mine developed an after a couple of months. GAK handled it well, Fender fixed it, no issues since It sounds great with all my basses including my Stagg EUB

I was looking at Black Dog Music Supples earlier. They had a range in the "Truss Rods" section. They may have the correct size

If it's super rare, and assuming it's a bolt on neck, would you be better to get a reproduction fretted neck made and store the original fretless neck away safely?

Fantastic job. Well done

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1455756143' post='2982244'] Question, am I the only guy on bass chat that loves gigging at the bar band level? Blue [/quote] I love gigging in pubs/bars, but then I have a day job. Colour me a weekend warrior and proud of it

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1455758202' post='2982256'] I like that method when the transition to the next song is done quick. A lot better than way too much time between songs, like a high school level band. My band doesn't do this, but I also think medleys, stringing a few songs together is cool. Blue [/quote] Actually there tends to be quite a lot of banter in between songs. Although sometimes we'll do a medley for up to half an hour - all transitioned at random and no idea what is coming next. We tend to have a very relaxed atmosphere, a fun evening - with some serious music too

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1455641475' post='2981021'] Our guitarist likes to keep the rest of the band guessing too! [/quote] It's not just me then. Our songs are picked from a list as we go. The guitarist will often just tear into the opening riff and we just follow along

The guitarist needs to shape up or ship out