Happy Jack

This topic is trying to cover far too much ground. As I understand it, the OP's question referred to serious pro musicians who can charge a serious rate for depping because they're good enough, flexible enough, and (presumably) have some sort of reputation. Well I've depped too. Twice. I'm not good enough, not flexible enough, and I have no reputation, so I got the same money that I'd have got for playing in Dad-rock pub band. Seeing as that's pretty much who I am, I didn't have a problem with that. Bassfunk talks about charging up to £350 for a dep gig. Very few of the bands I've played in were capable of earning that for a pub gig, and that's for the whole band. As to 'we should all sing from the same hymn sheet and ramp up the prices', sorry Si but that's simply nonsense in 2018. Musicians could get away with operating an unofficial cartel in the 60s and 70s, pre-Internet and pre-thousands of newly qualified music graduates appearing every year. This is a capitalist country, and everything is driven by supply and demand. Supply has been soaring for the last ten years, at exactly the same time as demand has been falling. Do the math.

OP last visited on May 28th ...

Nice one Sweeney ... are these units well thought of? When do you expect to receive yours?

I'll be interested to hear how you get on with this, especially if you're not planning to use it for soloing.

Yup, you're right Mike. I loved my T5 so much that I bought a PT4 (from Old Horse Murphy, unless my memory is failing me). Precision-shaped body (= P), but fitted with a pair of Lull's own Thunderbird pickups (= T), and it's a 4-string (= 4). I own more Precisions than is right for a grown man, including two all-original vintage Ps and two other Mike Lull Ps fitted with Lull's own Precision pickups. The PT4 is (IMHO) both the best sounding and also, due to having two pickups, potentially the most versatile. I say 'potentially' because I'm an all-knobs-to-max-and-leave-them-alone kind of guy so I don't do much actual, y'know, testing of these things. Tonally, the T-pickups take the PT4 into Seymour Duncan Quarter-Pounder territory ... like a Precision, only more so.

Just like it says ...

So it's official ... there really is such a thing as 'tone glue'?

I haven't seen that! When they interviewed me, I just assumed that would be the last I heard of it ...

Sleepless I am, sleepless.

I'm thinking of emailing M D Phillips to get his input on this ...

I may be old, but at least I got to see all the good bands ...

L'audace, et toujours l'audace, mon brave!

Nice one, mate. And the good bit is, the more you do it the better you get and the better it sounds and the more fun it is. Try singing BVs stepped back from the mic on other songs in the set - no need to tell your bandmates you're doing it. Eventually, you'll choose when to step up to the mic and join in properly.

In truth, if it's your first-ever fretless then it doesn't matter much what you buy so long as it's cheap. At best, it's a 50/50 whether or not you like it enough to keep playing fretless. I certainly wouldn't think in terms of messing about with a decent fretted bass. A very quick eBay search turned up: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-Squier-jazz-bass-fretless/163194746006?hash=item25ff2a3496:g:JrAAAOSwXVNbbMvf https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stagg-BC300-NS-Fretless-Fusion-Bass-Guitar-Natural/232886336485?epid=2256060733&hash=item36391b7be5:g:Rg4AAOSw1m5bI7RM https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Squier-Vintage-Modified-Fretless-Jazz-Bass-Custom/173470790738?hash=item2863aa3452:g:VB4AAOSwd8ZbRIhW Any of those three will be enough to get you started, and if you decide that fretless is not for you then you won't take a bath on the resale value.

But good luck with enforcing that.

In all fairness, what he sold was 'the world's oldest bass guitar that is not a Fender or a Rickenbacker or anything that most people would recognise'. I'll bet the world's oldest Fender would sell for a bit more than the price of a family car ...

Mind you, when I saw the title of the topic my first thought was, "well he was about 5' 10" and a bit chunky, so maybe 180lbs".

Feel free to share this one of me:

I do like that lino. A lot.

That sounds fair to me Lozz, especially given that half the song is likely to be in the energy level. But in a covers band it doesn't matter whether you're learning Brown Eyed Girl or Sweet Child O' Mine ... the rest of the band will expect you to learn the right bass line and get the song structure right, if only because they know that their audience will expect that. In that context, being able to hear the mistakes so that you can correct them becomes quite important.

Surely the guitarists spend 20 minutes noodling aimlessly at full volume while you're trying to talk to the drummer?

Drumming? Technique? What is this Forum coming to? You'll be telling us that guitarists are sensitive, supportive people next ...