Chris Sharman

Just caught up with this. That is a very fine looking ‘instrument-in-the-making’ Looking forward to performing my test pilot duties if required...

I told you you'd be pleased with it! You also make a far better job of playing it than I do.

Afternoon All, Sorry for not being about recently, but as a quick follow up to this; Andy, it was a pleasure to assit on the fine tuning of this fine instrument. I am sure Mick will be ecstatic when he gets it. I can certainly confirm the tonal range available with the combination of external and internal controls gives a massive amount of room to play with adn I am sure he will be able to find a sound of his own personal tastes in short order. The finish on it is sublime, Matt was very taken with simply stroking it and saying "sooo smoooooth...soo smoooth..." over and over again that it did get quite worrying. Also, Jo has been to the bank and got your cash but since you published that video anyway I am going to go and spend it at the pub instead! @Mick - you have a truly fine instrument on it's way. I would love to see some video of a proper bassist playing it rather than just me.

[quote name='Marillionred' timestamp='1494699787' post='3298009'] Great event - thanks for organising again Si! Those Alembics - just wow! Talked to many lovely people who generously let me have a go on their treasures. Just what were those silky smooth flat strings on the various fretless 5s please? GAS. [/quote] For the benefit of Marillion Red, Nick A, and others who asked; Jon Shuker has confirmed that the strings on my Shuker Uberhorn fretless 5 are indeed D'Addario chromes. Feel free to release GAS at your chosen string supplier.

Definitely recommend the Yamaha mentioned above as I had one of these which I have since moved on to a member here. It was a very light, easy to play, and fairly versatile itnro to fretless and funnily enough I used it with a band I was in briefly to play black velvet. I am now on my third fretless, beware the path you are about to walk. it leads to a whole new realm of GAS...

sit down with your guitarist for a while and ask him about his gear. Focus especially on his effects pedals and why he uses "this setup for this track" etc. After two hours of listening to him drone on about that you will find it easier to ignore any other noise he makes! (it's a service I provide this - NEXT!)

Hi all! just to restate the bleedin' obvious...it was a great day yet again and thanks of course to Si for his hard work in organising the event. Thanks also to everyone that had a chat about the vaious basses on offer and was prepared to let me get my hands on them. Thanks from Mrs S for the kind words regarding cakery. It was good to catch up with you all and I look forward to seeing some of you at gigs over the coming months. (and to seeing photos of today of course) Cheers, C.

If anyone Derby-ish does have transportation issues closer to the time, I will be travelling from Belper. Give me a shout.

Ah haa! Midlands bass bash eh? Count me in for that. May bring a couple of basses down with me including the new one (courtesy of Jon Shuker, the London Bass Guitar Show, and a spectacular lack of self control). May also be able to encourage the wonderful Mrs S to flex her baking muscles again...

I didn't think Andy's work could get any better. I hate being wrong.That looks fantastic.

I have the same model as geoffbyrne (Thunder III Mk2 fretless 4) and previously owned the fretted version. This bass is the one I will be keeping hold of permanently. Others may come and go, not this one. That, and the fact I wish I had never sold the fretted one I had, probably tells you all you need to know about my thoughts on Westone basses.

Water for Dogs is err....err.... Next!

Crivens.... Andy, stop giving me ideas!!!

I use TI Jazz flats on my fretless Westone Thunder and love the sound. What it loses in top end it makes up for in slideability (is that even a word?). The 18v active boost allows me to compensate, at least in part, for the less-trebly sound of the strings and I do really like the sound I get from it. When I got the bass and handed it over to Andyjr1515 of this parish to work on it had been wearing rounds for its entire life and had sufferrred serious fretboard damage. Seeing what that has done means I would probably not put rounds on a fretless ever again just for that reason. End of the day you have to give it a try. These are my first set of flats and they work well for me. Your experience may vary.

Echo a couple of points above - one of my bands "Water for Dogs" is an original EDM/mish-mash of all sorts band of bass, guitar, and a stack of keys. Play mainly festivals but do the occasional pub gig at local music focussed venues. We have spent the last year focussing on our changeovers between tracks. Looking at [i]"if Matt needs to change a lot of his effects then what can Richard and I do to set up the next track..."[/i]etc. ... ensuring that when I change from the fretted to fretless basses it is not immediately before a track where the bass comes in early...and yes, some of those between track over the mic ad-libs are not even slightly ad-libbed... the idea is to add up to a smooth flow over the set, remove the clunkiness and keep the people interested and the dancers dancing. It needs to be fun for everyone, get out there and enjoy it (just dont expect to be giving up work on Monday...)

AAAARRRRGGGHH! I can't beleive this is on my doorstep and has completely passed me by. must pay more attention to stuff in future! Hope you all have a good day!

[quote name='spencer.b' timestamp='1470604624' post='3107097'] I find it way easier if I play with a plectrum [/quote] beat me to it whilst I was typing mine. Guess I am not wierd then (or at least not alone)

As all above; practice, practice, practice is the key. I have had to go from no vocals to backing vocals to now lead vocals on a couple of tracks and it was all down to practice. One thing I have noticed is that if I go back from finger playing to playing with a pick it is easier to learn the whole singy/playy thing. Whether that is because my brain is doing less work controlling digits I don't know but I find playing pick lets me learn to play and sing together until the singing becomes natural enough that I can then ditch the pick. Maybe worth a try or I may just be wierd...

I have to say I bought one of the Deko versions of these and had AndyJR1515 of this parish restring it with Nylon wound strings and work some of his magic on it and it is now brilliant. I think these are a bit of a bargain to be honest. Up Side: A lot of bass for the money (particularly if you can get a Deko or B-Stock) and capable of holding it's own against much more expensive items. Down Side: variations in finish (even on the non-deko's) QC not necessarily top line (fret ends as discussed seem a re-occuring theme) does tend to have a higher feedback level than other electro-acoustic basses I have tried. I know EA basses are quite prone to feedback anyway but certainly my HB seems particularly sensetive. I would appreciate anyone elses experience on this front.

Thanks all for the sharing of experience. I will take it on board and give some of those a try. Neil, I will give you a shout about trying yours out if I may. This site is great!

There are no other words for it but that is a beautiful looking bass. Andy, your work never ceases to amaze me. It is also a great example of the phrase "the gap between genius and madness is measured only by success"

Hi all, as per the title really, I am new to the EUB having recently taken ownership of an Eastcoast (rebranded Stagg I understand) and one of the bands I play for, Water for DOgs, have recently been exploring some more acoustic and chilled stuff using acoustics and piano. I would like to use my EUB on one or two tracks in a small scale live environment and I was wondering if anyone here uses a similar EUB in a small venue and has a recommendation for a suitable combo amp for the purpose. Over to you m'learned colleagues...

Not last night but Saturday afternoon, although this is the first opportunity I have considered myself safe to operate a keyboard having spent the weekend at the Derbyshire Sausage and Cider Festival. The Badly Stuffed Bears played the Saturday afternoon to a great, welcoming, and MASSIVE crowd. Only our second gig with our new drummer and keys, the rehearsals have definitely payed off in our performance, the energy levels have been upped and having keys means Henry can be more fluid in what he does; not just bashing our chords but more lead breaks and interacting with the crowd without there being sudden 'emptiness' as perhaps was likely in the past. Of course, we were camping out, we got paid, the organisers got the money back through increased cider sales and I got a hangover and a long lie-down in a darkened room. A couple of photos...

Belper goes green festival just down the road from Matlock (well...about 8 miles down the road) usually an interesting event with a nice selection of ales/ciders and trainable from Matlock [b][size=2][i](government advice - don't drink and drive)[/i][/size][/b]. Just happens to feature local band "Water for Dogs" headlining the Friday night of the event. I would say I am in no way affiliated with the band but that would be a lie...

Afternoon All. Just to echo the above - thanks to Si600 for organising the event, shame there weren't as many there as there might have been. It was, as always, good to catch up with you and see some great kit. Thanks also to Andy from D'Addario for getting me looking at roundwound strings again, and of course for the raffle prize (the t-shirt of which is being worn as I [s]speak [/s]type). Thanks also to the good lady wife for the provision of cake, a large amount of which we sat and stuffed into our faces last night in a most undignified manner. Hope to see you all again soon.