NancyJohnson

1 hour ago, prowla said:

Well, I guess you can only sell so many Beatles basses.

I just took a look at their website; now there's always going to be some smart Alec that will comment to the contrary, but the whole business seems to be being carried by their proxy association with Macca.  Less core instruments than Fender.

I was actually quite surprised they had a couple of guitar models and upright basses.

Vester were one of those brands that came in very low pricewise and were pretty well made.

Maybe 20 years back, I had a Vester Strat-thing, pointy headstock with dual humbuckers generic Kahler-style whammy.  It was a quite lovely thing.  More than capable.

Less interesting were the circumstances surrounding purchase.  I was looking at a pair of guitars at the time, the Vester was shiny and new, the other one - for not dissimilar money - was used, battered and tired, so I bought the Vester.  Of course I did.

I often wonder where the other one, a 1961 Les Paul Junior single cut, ended up.

A few years back I was doing some home demo recordings here; we had a couple of amps set up in a spare room and stuck Shure SM58 (vocal) microphones in front of the each cab and a Rode vocal mic up away from the amp to pick up room ambience.  Sounded fine.

Guitarist put a photo up somewhere and got an absolute deluge of comments about how stupid we were, that we didn't know what we were doing and how we should have used <insert assorted microphone types here>.

The responses just reflect the world we live in, the results were more than acceptable (we just dialled in the tone we wanted off the amps), the SM58 was the only suitable microphone I had (I used to use it rehearsal spaces rather than catching herpes off the studio mics).  Ultimately, any nuances in tone/frequency shift (etc) off the SM58 would be lost once everything else was added (drums, bass, more guitar).  Plus, it was a home recording, not Abbey Road.

People are idiots.

7 minutes ago, neil___lien said:

Mine is a Squier Affinity Jaguar H that's completely stock. Haven't gigged in a while though and it needs shielding but i love how it plays and sounds. 

Would love to have a blue one or a shell pink one to mod.. 

I'll have Chromes on this bass after Santa drops them off here!

I've thought about these as a project; another neck from China (rosewood with blocks), reverse P.  Maybe in 2026.

These two owe me peanuts.

This is off a '70s Aria Primary Bass; it was truly knackered when I got it, so there's been a load of tinkering.  I put a knock-off Jazz neck on it earlier this year as it was cheaper than a refret.  It's gnarly.

Bolted this one together this summer.  Cheap MIM Jazz body, Precision neck from the same seller as above.  Filled the bridge pickup rout, installed a reverse P pickup.  Owes me about £200.00.  Also gnarly.

I have a brace of very expensive basses, but I adore these.

Filmed my piece for this about ten months ago, but disappointingly was cut from the final edit.  

I used SIT strings a while back.

Didn't think there was anything particularly different about them to any other budget string, although I did like that they felt kind of rough/gritty.

Been using Elixirs for years.  No reason to stray from these.  

I've had the horn for an Explorer for as long as I can remember and have considered building one from a kit; I just know in my heart that the expectation will be higher than the finished realisation.

It's not in my nature to just go with the stock kit, I'd be putting different hardware on it to somehow elevate it to something better, but end of the day I'll be stuck with a finished kit guitar of very little value, which I'd probably end up breaking for spares.

I check all the usual outlets and to be honest, I'd be happier just sourcing a Tokai one for less ££ than I'd throw at a kit/updates.

Today the deluxe of Kiss Alive!

God, it's like being 13 again.

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

Back when this thread started the Gardiner Houlgate bass wasn't known. 

 

However we still only have the previous and the current seller's word that this bass is actually by John Birch. There's no logo on the headstock as there is in the example in the 70s catalogue and no documentation. The Hyperflux pickups that were in the bass when Gardiner Houlgate were selling it have been removed which IMO seriously impacts on this instrument's worth, and the wiring installed in both versions of this bass are very conventional by John Birch standards. All that can be said for sure is that the bridge is a John Birch bridge. Everything else is heresy and speculation.

While I appreciate the GH auction wasn't mentioned the auction itself was in early 2024, so anyone questioning the accuracy of the listing and authenticity of the bass itself could easily (easily!) have done a search off google and found the GH listing within a few minutes, tops.

On 25/11/2025 at 08:24, BigRedX said:

It was discussed in this thread back in August.

 

The general consensus then was that the bridge is by John Birch, and the rest could be anything. If it was a genuine JB it would have had John Birch pickups on it when it was originally made, and I can't think of any sensible reason to replace them.

General consenus and 'the rest could be anything'?  People do change their pickups - just look at this site - there's hundreds of people swapping out pickups.

If you have a look at the photos of the Gardiner Houlgate auction and compare to the Gumtree bass, I'd say everything matches except the Gumtree bass has - for some reason - P90 pickups in it.  

As I said in the original thread I posted, that seller doesn't seem to stock junk.  He's had some spectacular kit through.

I honestly wish they'd have put the Epiphone logo in the same orientation as the Gibson one.

I have 6 x1GB and 2x8GB RAM boards if anyone needs to update their PC.  The 8GB boards are new (I bought them mistakenly thinking the motherboard of our old PC could handle 16GB of RAM), so they were never used.  Eventualy just had a new PC built.

Just shoot me a PM.

I'd find a D,E and F and start a new band with them.  Maybe get a horn section in with G, H and I and find a couple of backing singers (J and K).

While you're at it, decimalise the music scale and create two new notes, H and I.

Sorted.

On 17/11/2025 at 13:52, neepheid said:

 

I'd probably just report it for not as described then buy some Hercules ones from a more reputable source.

Like Amazon.

Always find it weird reading these threads where someone takes this moral stance and says they're not going to purchase through <insert site here>, then buys through eBay/AliExpress and doesn't get the product described.  It's eBay/AliExpress/etc.

Honestly, life's too short.  Whether you like Amazon or not, it's generally a one stop shop.  Convenient, generally cheaper and quick.  My old employer sold into them extensively; if you're buying direct (and not using a third party seller, you're pretty much assured you're getting as genuine a product as possible.

What bass is it?

If it's Fenderesque, save yerself a few £££ and take a punt on (more or less) any Chinese seller on eBay.

On the OP, for as long as I can remember I've tinned the bare copper when I wire a plug.  Always felt a well tinned cable end will be stronger than splayed copper strands.

Doesn't really make any difference to electrical performance, does it?  

Also, I'll tin the ends of speaker cables for the hifi as well.

...

As a youngish teenager (and being fed a steady supply of singles), the names that immediately come to mind from that period are Martin Gordon (Sparks/Radio Stars), Steve Priest (for the glorious Sweet F*nny Adams/Desolation Boulevard albums) and Jim Lea.

Other guys I adore, Pete Vuckovic (3CR), Dan Adriano (Alkaline Trio), Stuart Hill (Shudder To Think), Clemente Sardi (Full Treble/Hawaii Zombies).. there's probably dozens.

Expect this post to be edited several times!

We're going to hold the next SE Bass Basheroonie on 11th October 2026.  Same venue as the 2025, St Sebastian's Memorial Hall, Crowthorne, Berkshire.  Similar timings - 11.00am to 5.00pm, although we didn't seem to have any issue getting in a bit earlier.  Again, we'll hire the whole site.

And, once again to confirm, the site has decent parking, good connections with M3/M4.  Closest rail connection is Crowthorne (which is on the Guildford > Reading branch line) or Wokingham (Waterloo > Reading).  Hopefully, no engineering works scheduled this time around!  Main entry to the site is off Nine Mile Ride, the exit is off Honey Hill to the rear of the hall.  On the subject of parking, please be sensible - no double space malarkey just because you have a big Mercedes. 

This is the place:

Map below.

++++++++++++++

BASIC POOP:
 

ENTRY/RE-ENTRY
We're proposing the usual £10.00 entry per person.  CASH PLEASE.  No cards, Paypal, body parts or sexual favours. You'll get a sticker.  Write your name on it and wear it.

RAFFLE
We're hoping to do a raffle of some sort if we have enough donations.

SELLING
Of course, you'll be able to use the event for selling your unwanted stuff; please just make sure whatever you're selling works and is labelled and priced.

ATTENDANCE
Please note (as usual), this is a private event open to Basschat members and their guest(s), and we will categorically not be letting any local oiks in.  It goes without saying, please be vigilant.

VOLUME

This is a two room village hall.  PLEASE respect your volume and be considerate of other members around you.  Yes, we all know you're proud of your earth-shaking SVT and 8x10 fridge, but this is a small hall and 300w of valve-powered bass tone is going to melt the face off the guy next to you, so please try to restrain your rig.  When the talks are going on in the main room. please refrain from cranking it in the side room because, as proven in 2025, the sound travels.  

HMMM, POWER SOCKETS
The 2025 event seemed to be fine, but there did seem to be the possibility of a lack of electric sockets if more people attended, so please bring a multi-plug extension cable.

WHAT'S THAT BASS?
Sadly the blind bass shoot-out didn't happen in 2025, so I'm hoping it'll happen in 2026.  More information on this to follow.

OTHER SHIZZ
Be respectful of other member's equipment...no unplugging anything if it's not yours.  Also, it transpired that the hall seems to be in an mobile dead-zone area colloquially referred to as a not-spot; mobile coverage is frankly terrible.  You would think the location was In Guezzam Province, Algeria, rather than a few miles east of Reading.  That said, In Guezzam Province probably has a larger population than Crowthorne.   If you want to pay people for purchases by Paypal, you may struggle. 

In closing, we're obviously looking to break even on the outlay and make a profit from this.  @prowla and I agreed in 2025 that any proceeds over our costs will go to COATs (Crowthorne Old Age & Teens) of Crowthorne, where I volunteer weekly.  COATs have a well run shop, a lovely day centre on the edge of the village and they run a couple of mini-buses to get the oldsters to hospital and for day trips.  The whole place is volunteer run, even the top line people.  It's a great cause.

There's no need to form an orderly queue or anything at this juncture.  

Cheers

Paul @NancyJohnson
Paul @prowla
Gary @cetera

Just been trying to shoot a PM to @prowla and @cetera and I'm getting a response about the recipients not being able to accept messages?

Thanks

PAul

7 hours ago, stevie said:

This should be a caption competition photo. Gary @cetera saying something to Chris Childs (or vice versa).

 

 

"Wanna buy a Spector?"
 

Just now, TrevorR said:

I love this band. They are so, so good. Saw them at one of the Last Flight album launch gigs last year and at the Proms doing their concept piece about the history of the BBC and (obvs) Public Service Broadcasting. Their stage set-up is stunning and, I guess why one of the five members, Mr B, just focuses onstage on the AV elements of the show.

It transpired that the singer in my old project knew J Willgoose's father and offered his son some sage advice when he was starting out.  I popped Willgoose a message and he was kind enough to respond and confirm:

...don't get too moist here, but there was also a bunch of other stuff on the thread discussing the possibility of exploring Atmos/5.1 mixes of the albums.