Happy Jack

Serious question - can anyone other than the bass player actually tell that it's in Drop D? When asked to play this, I've just used a 5-string in standard tuning ... sounded OK to me.

At 20 = priorities. At 61 = life.

Not sure I understand the attraction. Are these particularly sought after? If so, why?

"It was a bass guitar a band called NEO TOKYO used, they were friends with BRING ME THE HORIZON." Is this the weakest-ever use of a celebrity connection?

Nope. Pretty sure that the piece I quoted says 5000 DM. I can tell. I'm good at this stuff.

Not heat, but humidity. If you've just switched on the central heating, for example, the level of humidity in your lounge may have changed drastically.

This whole thread has been a complete waste of time. Apparently the flavour of the month this week is Revelation. Job done.

Has there been a significant change in the weather? Or did you leave it close to a radiator or similar?

Is this a 'Sue Ryder bass' for our times? How many people here remember the brief but entertaining Sue Ryder feeding frenzy?

I thought the brooch he wore on his teddy boy jacket throughout that TV series was a bit of a giveaway ...

If this is any indication of the standards in the merged pair, some of us will have to raise our game:

Pickup? Nah ... treat it like a kickdrum. Sometimes I stick a proper kickdrum mic (on a small folding tripod) facing into the vent, but most frequently I put a cushion or a folded towel on the floor inside the cajon and rest a normal vocal mic there. Shure 57 works well for me (because I have one) but frankly, it's just a thump, innit? The RV range from Red Audio will do a great job for you, and you buy a LOT of those for £200 ...

Amazing what you can achieve with an Octaver and the right attitude.

German-built genuine Hofners are about 6lbs. Just saying. Mind you, for that money you could buy a Lull anyway ... @fretmeister If you're anywhere near Harrow, you're welcome to come and spend a day trying my selection of medium-weight, light-weight, and uber-light-weight basses. Plus both my boat anchors.

Meanwhile, back in the real world ...

Hmmmmm. That's 5000DM, not €5000. It's a long time since I had to think in DM but I think that's about £1500, maybe less.

Truly lovely piece of marquetry but really not sure what it's actually for? The whole 'Earthquaker' thing makes little sense on what sounds like a fairly standard 4-string bass, no matter how pretty it may be.

I thought you'd only just sold one, Mick?

This. Absolutely this.

My very best mate from school was in the choir with me and anything musical, anything at all, that a pair of teenaged schoolboys could do we did together. We sang the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean and Simon & Garfunkel and the Everly Brothers as we walked to school, all of it in perfect harmony. We learned to play honky tonk piano duets and swopped guitar chords we'd discovered. The first-ever recording of me playing rock music was a duet with the two us thrashing out Caroline by Status Quo on a pair of cheap Spanish guitars. He went to university and studied music while I got an office job in London. 30 years later I took up bass so he came round for a jam on guitar. Even as a newbie on bass who hadn't touched a musical instrument in over two decades, I could tell that he wasn't great. His 60th was earlier this year. He'd joined a band and been playing with them for two years, and the band was going to play at his party. Their first set was dreadful and he was comfortably the weakest member of the band. Their second set was indescribably bad; I've routinely taken part in jam sessions where none of the musicians on stage have even met before which sounded better than this. When they finished playing, our chief interest was in finding a way of leaving fast enough that we could dodge the "how did we sound?" question. In answer to the OP, no, I've never done anything like he describes.

Late to the party, but so's Discreet so that's OK. I do this for fun. The money's nice and I do expect to be paid, but enjoying myself is way more important than the money. [Cue lengthy and tangential posts by pro musician Basschatters explaining why I'm undermining their market and need to change my attitude.] In the OP's situation my only real questions would be: Am I still enjoying playing this music with these bandmates? If I devoted this particular time & effort to finding another band and then playing that music with those bandmates, would it be likely to be more fun? If my limited career as a gigging musician has taught me anything, it's that every band has issues, every band has problems, every band has a list of reasons to make me want to throw my toys out of the pram and flounce. Which makes flouncing a less attractive option, since I know what I'll be walking into next ...

Now this guy may have found the answer: https://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/one-bloke-band-available-t1105873.html

https://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/rock-paniokey-boardist-t1105077.html

I hope you have read through the Auditions In Hell thread?