Happy Jack

I bought a Zeller from Clarky (well, who else?) many years ago. It's one of the nicest-sounding DBs I've ever played, sufficiently so that I always try other Zellers when I get the opportunity, see if mine is somehow 'special'. Every Zeller strung with Silver Slaps (or similar) that I've tried sounds just as good as mine. Well, to my ears, anyway. I have no idea about current pricing, but I suspect that these DBs cost around £2k new. Mine was pristine when I bought it, now not so much. In the ridiculous event that I were to sell it (not going to happen, people) I couldn't ask for more than a grand. For context, I've used my Zeller with originals & indie, blues and jazz, rock and rockabilly. I never use a bow.

As ever, all good stuff here and nothing at all that I'd disagree with. One strong recommendation, though, would be that you try out as many DBs as you can before making a decision and a purchase. Use this forum to find DB players near you who would be willing to offer you an hour playing their DB (and a cup of tea, and maybe a digestive biscuit). Different basses obviously feel and sound different, just like electric basses, but the differences can be magnified with DB simply because they are so physical. You will usually find also that string choice is even more significant than on electric bass, so a bass that you try and fall in love with may be because it's strung with Silver Slaps (my personal favourite - blame Clarky) whereas the others you played were strung with steels.

@Silvia Bluejay and I just love Trader Joe's in Pasadena. So does Lee Sklar. Guess it's a bassist thing.

Do indoor plants count?

Can Jerri not supply the percussion? A pair of claves, or woodblocks, or one of those strange ribbed things you 'stroke' with a striker (never can remember what they're called or how to pronounce them), or maybe one of those strange round things with chains around them which you twist and shake (never can remember what they're called or how to pronounce them either) ... any of those would add enough to allow you to play bass.

It ain't necessarily so ...

Forget the bass ... I want that wallpaper.

This guitar is a bit unusual in having a longer fretboard that extends over the body so you get higher notes if you like.

Cramp can have many causes, and if you don't know what's causing yours then you could be in for a struggle. I've been a lifelong sufferer from cramp caused by postural issues, caused in turn by being born with flat feet. I've also been a lifelong sufferer from well-intentioned people suggesting that I drink more water, take more salt in my diet, buy expensive magnesium tablets, and eat bananas. All of those things are good for curing different types of cramp, so I guess that if you do all of them it might help you. The best start point is, as Dood suggests, that you do a simple warm-up of your fingers and hands before each gig. Try this:

£1.80? What a rip-off!

https://rochdaleherald.co.uk/2019/07/19/shake-vac-composer-have-ashes-scattered-on-carpet-and-hoovered-up-by-jenny-logan/?fbclid=IwAR3I5lZWTFu4yjEniRExdEssoEo3qXOpkwlRhK2W4IXw8DbqXEFf8z-FfGI

Why, thank'ee kindly young masters, thank'ee fer yer kind words. I grew up in Guernsey so I spent a truly ridiculous amount of time on boats. That one was a 48' Rampart motor cruiser, lovely old thing from the 50s, fitted with twin Perkins diesels, teak everywhere. I was a sideburns addict, constantly changing their shape and re-growing them. I suspect this was a reaction to my appalling moustache, a weak and scrubby thing in a sad shade of ginger. At a time when all my friends were growing porn-star taches I had to keep my upper lip clean-shaven. Ah, the trials and tribulations of youth. That long wavy hair was an absolute bastard to keep groomed, too.

I had to look that one up. What Is Solfege? Solfege is a method of naming pitches. It works by assigning a syllable to each note of the musical scale. So rather than, say, naming a C major scale as C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C, you can name it as do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do.

Yup, this ^. It was pretty much the only distinguishing feature between loons and flared jeans (at their most extreme). Obviously they were made of plain cotton rather than denim, too. We were all wearing platforms, and your trouser-bottoms had to hide just how much extra height you'd purchased. I routinely wore boots with side zips, 1" platform and 2" heel. That was pretty conservative in 1975. These were all 'fashion' shoes, made of wafer-thin leather over what amounted to reinforced cardboard. The built-up soles were a honeycomb of cheap plastic. You might get a summer out of a pair, if you were lucky.

Prompted by your question I've just had a quick look at these. You can buy the head for £225 and the matching cab for £279, so the combo that brings these together costs £579. Really? Makes more sense to buy the separates. Makes even more sense to buy the head for £225 (I have one, and it's a very useful backup plus rehearsal tool) and a Barefaced One10 for £369, but that's just my opinion.

And about 10 years ago there was a brief fad for listing items with deliberate typos to give over-eager buyers the opportunity to think they'd spotted a bargain because the seller had made 'stupid mistakes'.

https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/steve-hillage-gong/aylesbury-waterside-theatre/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=ccr-paid_social&utm_campaign=x-awt-ste-newseason-20190711-x&genre=onenight&venue-implementation=ccr&fbclid=IwAR2pyi5PkDvSnzXzXvwHjQJ9USHsRBRcvX-Enj9s5AVon5os9tjj2lxGGWY

... of worthless plastic. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/fender-telecaster-bass-1973-thumb-rest/192992297213?hash=item2cef3cc0fd:g:VoIAAOSw-s5dK1Xo Do note that this is not even an original part.

But it's worth remembering that it was the Ibanez fretless P that introduced me to the idea of fret-edge markers ... absolute genius. Incidentally, as a biker who started with a BSA in the mid-70s and then went Japanese for a couple of decades, I never had any trouble with the JapCrap designation, and I fully appreciated the irony.

Not sure who the band are, though ... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-48746287