NancyJohnson

I love Scott Bradlee. Sadly a full diary means I'm going to miss his show at The Hexagon, Reading at the end of November.

I would guarantee to you that if I removed the shims you probably paid good money for and replaced them with an old business card or something cut out of a cornflake box, you would be none the wiser. Wedges? Pffft. If you believe that filling a tiny triangular void under the neck heel is somehow going to affect playability or tone or whatever drove you to buy a set, then you've been duped.

The English Garden album is a tremendous thing. Matthew Seligman on bass too. Win win. I still have my B Woolley Minded badge somewhere too.

Irrespective of the bass and it's provenance, why anyone would pay $10 for something that you can make for free out of a playing card or a bit of sandpaper is beyond me. I have some bottles of snake oil in my garage if you need to buy any.

I've had to shim a couple of necks in the past. It is amazing how a tiny sliver of veneer or sandpaper can have such an effect on overall playability.

I enjoyed the first three showing on Spotify (one of them isn't up yet). The first live one ('On Tour') isn't up either, but I was intrigued when I read a post somewhere saying it had the same energy as Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous.

My hands are pretty big so honestly never really experienced issues with neck profiles or string spacing. That said, I didn't get on with the neck on the Rickenbacker 4003 I owned...no taper, fat, nasty.

A few of you who are friends of mine on Facebook, will have seen a post I made earlier on that site earlier. David Essex. I'll profess having the tracks Rock On, Hold Me Close, Stardust and Gonna Make You A Star on a Spotify playlist feels somewhat of a guilty pleasure (much like a couple of Girls Aloud tracks, cough); I had some decorating to do earlier so just decided to dial up his first few albums to accommodate me while I was working. They're spectacular albums really and have aged very well, in that they don't sound that old. If you're familiar with the tracks I've listed above, then you're honestly in for a treat. They're dubby, clever, smart even. I've listened to them three times today. Go on, have a go. Brilliant stuff.

Me too. Ridiculous thing is they were selling stupid cheap used. I saw examples at $1700.

It does seem to output a ton louder than the Geddy.

Lovely work there! Thank you!

Here you go. It's also for sale in the for sale section.

...not even your own!

In all likelihood, in a blind test you probably wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between that and a Harley Benton JB75 selling at 4% of the CS price.

I'm certain the BC was at street level. Wasn't there the Acoustic Centre upstairs. I remember my first time up there, Wapping High Street. Coming out of the Tube, you're just expecting this bustling street, but it was deserted; it wasn't really gentrified, from memory no real shops...a narrow road and if memory serves me correct, the street was cobbled?

It was always a bit of a pilgrimage whenever I was up in Landaan. Basswise, I bought a Hamer Scarab and a Warwick Streamer 5-string from there. Amps and cabs, a TE 4x5" bright box and a huge SWR 4x10 (Goliath?). Also went up for the Doug Wimbish clinic. Even the old lady enjoyed that.

Reverb is your friend. A couple on there...

60s Jazz basses aren't around any more either. But they are if you look hard enough.

Haven't we done this somewhere else?

I recently bought a pair of Aguilar SL112s. They're very smooth, very hi-fi; even full on, the tweeter just adds a bit of shizzle, very subtle. I haven't actually taken them out in anger yet (next Wednesday), but obviously I can run as in parallel or more likely run them daisychained to give me more headroom. A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to win a Barefaced Big One at the SE Bass Bash. It a 15/6 and it's very aggressive by comparison to the Aguilars. I was a Hartke endorsee for a few years too, I'd say tonally the Barefaced is a country mile better than the Hydrive 115 that I owned. If I can offer up some advice, try and land a Big One. Yes, I know they're a 15/6 but they're in a package no dissimilar to a 2x12. They're amazing cabs. Where are you based? If you're local to me (Reading) you're welcome to come over and try it out. No loans, sorry.

Sorry to sound so obvious, but given the costs involved, wouldn't it be cheaper just to source a new bass? There's probably a very high chance that the existing oil and varnish/clearcoat is already deeply embedded into the grain and you're never going to be able to suck that out; any new colour wouldn't take the same as if the top was unfinished. It's never going to pop like the one on the bottom.