martthebass

Not sure how doable that would be as the string spacing is the same as the long scale, they are both 19mm at the pup. I think the Sterling version looks a bit cluttered due to it using the same bridge as the full size and the full size control plate but this is fixed to a certain extent with the use of the Ray special bridge in the ebmm version.

I’ve currently got a passive alder bodied Lionel and briefly had a pink active. I found the stock 40-100 strings horrible and weak and changed up to 50-105 ebmm slinkies which to me had a less brittle and more even tone - plus had better tension. Some owners consider the stock pup a bit modern sounding, well I wasn’t looking for old school and preferred the bit of bite, that said it’s nothing that can’t be dialled out with the tone knob and it’s more than capable of thump if that’s what you’re after. The active I had was more hifi and, had I kept it, (if you recall it had a finish defect) I would have found it a usable tone on some stuff I play but I don’t think it was the sort of catch all that the stock passive does…….and the pup is hot for a passive anyhow (it has as much output as the active neo pup on my Darkray…).

I really didn’t like the Sandberg strings that came on my Lionel. I thought the sound overall was a bit weak and they felt a bit ‘sticky’ to my fingers. I changed to 50-105 EBMM shortscale slinkies which work well for me. Forgot to add, I always need to go heavier gauge on shorties, I use 40-100 on my long scale basses but prefer 50-105 or even 50-110 on shorties to stop them being too flappy.

We get the odd Sunday Afternoon Dave but most clubs seem to want us on a Saturday night.

I agree with you on a fair amount of the above. To me the game changer came with the introduction of the Specials and the Shorty. I use a Darkray and an EBMM shorty on gigs, both have great tone and are 8.5 and 7.5lb respectively

Congrats. Bear in mind this can be a rabbit hole.....I started off with a second hand Mikey Way Squier Mustang and I've ended up with, what I consider to be, 2 expensive shorties. So the journey has involved money, but I got there in the end and the shorties take 90% of the gigs these days.

Ahhhh...the complexities and beauty of club land in the North. I'd say we do about 70% of our gigs in WMCs now though the differential in 'pay' between them and pubs is not what it was. Unfortunately there are still a number of the 'bingo comes first' outfits, and I still scratch my head at why they pay out for a band....though a sizable number are now opting to cheaper solo/duo backing track jobs to cut down costs. While these can be a disappointing gig they have their moments, though Gladis and Wilf rushing off a quarter into the last spot to catch the last bus can be unnerving - I've never understood the rigid set times that put us on too late when this is a factor. These sort of places seem to be dying on their arses with closures every week and implosions of the committees due to finances/reducing footfall. Conversely some WMCs are still thriving, do less or no bingo type activity and concentrate on good entertainment. We love these places and try and support as best we can.

Sorry mate, works at my end…..never did understand the machinations of FB though

A nice local club for the Glam lads. Was looking forward to a nice packed house but apparently the home crowd was partied out after their club Christmas do last Thursday. Still it ended up filling up to about 75% and we had a decent night in the end. Meeting quite a few people coming down with flu and crossing fingers that we make it through NYE without casualties 😂

Ditto.

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Have a good one Dave. We’re lucky and have one just 5 miles down the road - a compact and bijou WMC. As were entering our dotage we tend to stick more locally when BST ends….yes we are sad and old 🤣plus at least that way there’s less chance I’ll push the old mini of doom through the hedges of a dark country lane 😂

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I put in 31dB Decibulz for the pack down and it was still deafening 😞

Our annual Christmas gig for the Mencap gateway charity last night. Always a fun loving and appreciative crowd. This is where Christmas starts for us.

Out of those I’d probably go with the Mustang…it’s logical if you’re looking at a JMJ or Jap Mustang upgrade path.

There’s a club we’ve played a couple of times in Hull, great gig but they insist on playing music at 130dB between spots and at the end of the night during pack up. We decided to knock it on the head despite request for return next year.

We generally just do Slade and Mud. We have done Womblin…in the past but it was a fair bit of work for little audience reaction.

First Christmas show with Glam Viva! last night, awesome live music venue on the outskirts of Chesterfield. We hadn’t played this venue before but it had been advertised well and we hadn’t played a rammed pub for most of the night. Dancing from song one..like @dmccombe7 the Christmas songs were less appreciated than the normal songs but we normally stick to just 2 for this reason. Sandberg Lionel into my normal Boss pedals using my aging Smoothound wireless. Normal Markbass mini rig of doom. End of gig celebration with 4 jammy doughnuts - I did share! Crap drive back home as, as per normal on a Saturday night after midnight, plod had set the variable speed limit on the M1 at 50. Purely a revenue job as there was no roadworks or poor visibility. Cruise control is your friend.

I think I'm in the minority of Lionel owners in liking the more modern sound of the stock pup, I haven't missed having a Jazz.

We’re in a similar position, we get a lot of requests for long distance gigs but the finances don’t compute. Ironically we’ve gone shorter distance for 80% of the gigs and charged accordingly. As you know in our genre there’s a limited number of songs and we’ve found if you go a bit ‘left field’ it can fall flat…..the punters seem to want the same standards. So we try and limit it to one gig/yr or 2 max if pestered.

Cheers Dave, you’re right, sometimes people are not up for it. We’re having a bit of a cull on venues for next year and looking at some new ones which keeps it interesting.

Well the run of excellent gigs came to an end last night. A club gig that doubled as a members event. The audience was our age demographic but dancers were few and far between. Maybe they were saving themselves for the upcoming festivities. However onwards and upwards to next week when we’re back in pub land for a new venue on the outskirts of Chesterfield.

With friends like this who needs enemies mate. Personally I'd call it a day as these situations have a tendency to implode or at a minimum leave a sour taste in the mouth going forward.