NancyJohnson

I've never seen a Telecaster that I actually liked.

They do make them in the classic guise. While I have little intention of ever owning a Stingray, I do like what MM are trying to do with finishes...the Stealth one (all black) looked beautiful and, on the subject of MM, the St Vincent in Stealth Black is specfeckingtacular.

If it were me, the rosewood one, BUT man alive, that is a huge slab of pickguard. It actually detracts from the niceness of the sunburst.

For reasons too long to put into words, if you like how they both play, then revert to the lowest common denominator, which is the visual aesthetic. Which one looks the nicest, which one do you think would look better on you and which one do you want to keep picking up time and again. Born from a discussion as whether Geddy used a Rickenbacker or a Fender Jazz on Farewell To Kings, Gary/cetera and I put on a bass blind shoot out at last years SE Bass Bash; 25-30 attendees tried to select the correct bass from the fifteen that were submitted for the test. The highest mark was 3.5/4 out of 15, there were quite a few zeros with some people not even recognising how their own basses sounded. It's highly unlikely that once you're in a band environment the nuances that you're applying will make any difference.

I had a washer go on my old Waterstone bass; it was nightmarish trying to get a spare/replacement, you just couldn't get the odd one or two. Ended up making a replacement myself out of an old bit of plastic...little dab of WD40, not pretty but it worked.

Flew out to Italy for a couple of dates in 2017. One of the security guys at Heathrow recognised us from somewhere we'd played, he was an old punk bloke. That was nice.

I bought one on a Reverb offer a couple of years ago, I think it's perfectly adequate and fit for purpose...it was under a fiver and it's still going strong. That said, I wouldn't use it if I was doing a bit of a set up (ie intonation work), just need something that I can plug into rather than relying on vibration if the body. I'd concur with an earlier comment that it's essential to mute the other strings when you're tuning.

...but what you need to factor in is to be prepared for every eventuality. It's perfectly feasible that you're going to play a howler due to inadequacy in the PA set up if you went ampless. Currently, I genuinely feel that normality is not the ditching of a head and then relying on DI boxes and the available PA. I certainly wouldn't want to ditch the amp.

To what, Pete? In answer to George's OP, this is one experience I'd had and from that alone my boy scout fallback position would always be be prepared. Sometimes you have defining moments that make you sit up and reconsider how you've done things previously; in this instance it was enough for me to make the decision there and then that I would always carry my amplification to every live show I did. Unless you're running your own event, with your own PA (and are wholly aware of it's limitations), then expect the unexpected and pack everything, because there's always someone or something that will bite you in the donkey.

Hey @dave_bass5 We were playing this little club in Reading, it did seem a little weird that there was nothing about sharing of backline being circulated pre-gig, so as we were second on, I just took a 4x10 and my rack. The stage was low and tiny, but we never really stayed on stage anyways, these type of platforms served more as a drum riser than anything else. The sound guy was adamant about keeping the stage volumes down and letting the PA do the work, which, fair enough, would be fine if the (house) PA and monitoring were fit for purpose, which it wasn't. There's something somewhat disconcerting playing live in a situation that you can't actually hear what you're playing, plus my fecking tuner was in my rack, which was in my car, which was no use whatsoever. Luckily I was always carrying a BDDI, so at least I could shap what I sounded like, even through the tech was telling me to roll off the dirt and go cleaner (he didn't even know what we sounded like, so why would I do that??). We just tuned up between us and went for it. It wasn't great really. P

Just an observation, the Serek body shape borrows heavily/looks very similar to an Epiphone Crestwood.

I've done one gig in my lifetime where I went ampless, and not through choice. It was a disaster. Sound guy told me to just leave my gear in the car...took a DI out of my Sansamp; no monitors, couldn't hear anything except for drums. There's something reassuring having an amp/cab(s) behind you.

I knew it was all over and I'd lost the band I formed years before. That last chorus was just shouting, sometimes I'd play through it, sometimes not. Terrible venue, twenty or thirty in, prospect of a two hour ride home. Spur of the moment thing. The bass was already off and it just seemed apt at the time. I have this slow motion vision of it flying through the air and it clattering into the bottom of the drums.

It's a great shame that (in my case) I'd need to buy the book again and that it wouldn't necessarily be a first edition either. Nah. I'll pass.

How do you quantify genuine mojo? A few years back I acquired the bass below. I've jammed with it, recorded, gigged it and on my last gig with the Johnsons I threw it about 20' across a stage. It wasn't pretty when I got it, so I pledged to ding it every time it left the house. It's beautiful now in my eyes.

6.51am. They're playing Cool For Cats again. Hmm.

Any suggestions for any decent alternative/rock US/Canadian based internet radio stations? Appears my Sonos app can access global radio (who knew, eh?).

I did a radio show with Rick Buckler about two years ago. Top bloke.

I was just reading (on Facebook) the cheery story of one of our bass playing brothers, John VanZanten of Seattle, who about 14 years ago had his dream bass built by Mike Lull Guitar Works. Two weeks ago the bass was stolen, then the thief contacted Lulls in an attempt to sell it to them; Paul Schuster at Lull got photos, verification of the serial numbers etc and convinced the person who had it to bring it in as they had an interest in buying guitars for cash. The guy took it in and Mike Lull seized the instrument advising the thief that the bass was stolen and the guy fled empty handed. Bass has been reunited with the original owner. Brilliant, eh? I doubt you're going to get that sort or after service from Fender.

I bought my Lulls off two A4 spec sheets, despite their apparent rarity (one of two, one of a few), I had no qualms about forking out nearly £10K for the pair!

This came up on something I was reading last week. While I couldn't quote you SBS or EBU, those acronyms do sound familiar. It came through on my newsfeed from somewhere. As I'm not really a devout follower of Eurovision, I just read it and filed it away in my head.

I'd second this here.

Two reasons the Aussies are in it. There's a massive audience for it in the antipodes (so a ready audience/advertising revenues) and it also has something to do the broadcaster who carries the show in Australia owning a sizeable percentile of the main European Broadcasting union that owns the broadcasts rights. Israel? Not a clue.