upside downer

650mm is the usual scale but they can be longer. Both my Greek and Irish 'zouks are 670mm. Gives you more resonance, according to those in the know. Any chance of a picture of it?

You say crude, but that looks alright. You say you want to try something with double courses of strings, how about a stab at a mandocello? Just like a tenor guitar, tuning of CGDA and an octave below a mandola. Beautiful deep, rich sound.

Not sure if it counts as a pun, but after David Bowie released Low, Nick Lowe released an album called Bowi.

Congratulations to @SH73 for beating me in the 'Upload Challenge' Decided on a laid back, gentle reggae feel for this one, despite Indonesia not being in the Caribbean. The lyrics focus on the wish to get away to sunnier climes and the attractions of a South East Asian holiday. What's it like in Indonesia? You're asking the wrong bloke. I've never been further east than Antwerp 😄 Many thanks to Tom Waits for the pronunciation of 'Indonesia'. Instruments used were a 4 string cigar box guitar, Westfield violin bass, an electro-acoustic Irish bouzouki, Yamaha keyboard, a couple of shakes from an angklung and drum samples from Looperman and Ableton. All recorded with Wavepad and Audacity. Vocals are a female vocal from Sample Focus and a dodgy vocal from yours truly, both in the performance and recording of the thing.

I'll race you...I want mine done by half 9 😁

Let's play nicely. In the spirit of draudzību, here's some Latvian musicians playing something quite lovely.

Aston Martin? Dillard 'Farting' Martin's eldest? Last I heard he was doing well for himself and had recently been appointed as secretary to the British ambassador in Riga.

Man, I haven't seen this since it went out live. What a belting performance.

I find this with 6. Always take a break and then come back to it. I do have a problem with Mary Anne Hobbs in the mid-morning slot. She don't half play a lot of guff and then insists it was "amazing, breathtaking, exquisite".

I am shocked! Thought this would give you a few pointers for this month's Composition Challenge

Good job they had their manager Don Fleming on keyboards to fill out the sound 😁

Love this but it's over too damn quick!

I've had a Giovanni de Meglio 1905 Model A mandolin for some time now and have recently added a Sherwood mahogany solid body electric to join it. Sherwood was the name used by Hobgoblin music for their UK-made mandolins. With the fretboard being so small it takes some dexterity but I do like the instrument being tuned in 5ths. I'm mainly a strummer and there's an element of overtones or drone notes available, similar to what I've experienced on the Turkish saz (three courses of strings tuned GDA, although that instrument is a different kettle of fish altogether with its microtones and 17 notes to an octave). And if it's drone notes you're after, try the Irish bouzouki tuned to GDAD. Greek bouzouki on the left and, on the right, the Troubadour electro-acoustic Irish bouzouki with resonator and Wilkinson pickup I got a few months back. Was originally just an acoustic but it's been souped up and it's a lovely thing to play. Sounds incredible when used with a delay pedal and a bit of echo. I'm no virtuoso but these instruments are such fun to mess around with.

Well done to both Dad and Nail for their winning entries I'm guessing most of us know of the Radiohead song that @Dad3353 and his lads played but I can't have been the only one who had to bung 'send my Giro to Cairo' into a search engine to find out who did the original of @Nail Soup's tune. A hidden gem!

What was wrong with the setlist you chose? Did you just play New York 25 times in a row?

That's a great setlist, should be a lot of fun to play! Stand and Deliver is one we used to play and always went down really well. These are the most pleasing songs to do, IMHO, the ones that hardly any other band plays but everyone knows. Also Lust For Life and Silly Thing from that era.

Grooving with Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band.

Quick, pin the December voting thread! It's falling down the page at a speed!

Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg... Here's mine. It's a cover of Every Man's An Island by Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart from the acclaimed 1991 album Rising Above Bedlam. Wobble's a prolific recording artist and has done countless collaborations down the years. I've always loved this track and it has the added bonus of a spoken word vocal which suits both me and your ears, no doubt. There's also a female spoken part on it so Mrs UD stepped up to the plate (and the microphone) and did a sterling job. Drums are both MT Drums and Hydrogen drums, keys and other sounds are from the Yamaha YPT-240 keyboard, bass is a Vester Catalina, used both a Necarman electro saz and acoustic saz for that middle eastern vibe and utilised a Behringer tube overdrive pedal and a Vivlex delay pedal for effects. All recorded using Wavepad, Audacity and Ableton. The picture was taken before a gig by Mr Wobble and chums at Nottingham Rescue Rooms in 2020. Don't worry, it filled up handsomely, I just got there ridiculously early. Merry Christmas, y'all

I use my thumb to cover my eyes when certain people post on here. "Boredom, boredom, be 'dumb, be 'dumb" Boredom by Buzzcocks, for those that like a quote.

I'm two-thirds through mine with an 'approximation' of the main riff but it's quite an obscure tune so I think I'll get away with it (though @Nail Soup will know it 😁)

Having a run on Adam and the Ants right now.

I will never, ever, onsume.

^This is my take on it, too. I'm fortunate in that I love a rummage around on ebay or at auction houses and have quite a collection of many weird and wonderful musical instruments now. I guess it is compulsive behaviour but that's in every enthusiastic hobbyists nature. The only 'problems' are finding time to get around to playing them all and storage space.

Warmongering despot Vladimir Putin Ex- PiL bass behemoth Jah Wobble