HeadlessBassist

Lovely return to the Exchange Theatre at Sturminster Newton down in deepest Dorset. Drove past Stonehenge. 200 mile trip back home and in bed for 4am. Awesome three tribute act gig and audience was a full house. Played as house bass player today at a local Nottingham Jam while practically dead on my feet. Currently eating Cherry Pie and Custard before I predictably fall asleep in an armchair.

Very, very nice. Nitro finish (the most important part), I presume?

Congratulations Looks amazing. Hope you enjoy playing the heck out of it!

Agreed. Being aware of different places you can place your right hand opens up a world of possibilities.

Yes, that rear humbucker on Blu's signature bass does sound huge - very much like a parallel Stingray. I've been wanting to try one of those Jazzes for a while, not that the blue sparkle/mirror finish is really me. 🫣

Delilah works best if you do the verses in 3/4 and the chorus in 4/4 as a Quo style shuffle.

I can only come at this from the pro world, but people's attitudes to Musicians apply whether you're Amateur or Professional. I used to live in the South West, and a young bar manager at a local pub where I was having a couple of beers with a friend suddenly mentioned to me, "I hear you're a professional musician..." "Yes, I am." I replied. "Wow man, you'll have to come and play for us one evening!" "Yes, sure - book a date in the venue diary and agree a fee and I'll comer and play for you." "Nooo maaaan! Music's free! Music's for everyone..." "I'm sure you wouldn't expect your ****** Plumber to come and unblock your toilet for free, would you?!" That's the general shape of the exchange, anyway. Basically, a lot of people don't see music as a real job. Yes, it's fantastic if you can afford to play for free as a hobby, but people often forget that to some of us, it's our job.

Lovely basses. I had one many moons ago, but had to part with it, as it weighed more than a boat anchor! Hope yours is a nice light one Congrats!

As I said, when you dig in with the Performer...

I see you have the highly thought of JMJ there as well. Which do you like playing the best?

Your mods sound very comprehensive and effective. Love the lollipop tuners too!

Via a series of trades, I ended up with three Jazz basses. Obviously I only need two - my main American Original 60's and my hand stained 2012 FSR Am.Std as a back-up on the live shows. So the butterscotch blonde Deluxe had to go, as well as an Ibanez SR1400 which I found to be very bland, even with it's Nordstrand Big Singles. So while on the hunt for something a bit different, I came across two Mustang basses - one American Performer and a Mexican Player series PJ, both made in 2023. After setting up the American Performer on 40-95 Elixirs (it came with Labella Flats which completely killed the character of the bass) and with a great deal of finagling with the pickup height later (the Yosemite small split coil is obviously from Fender Japan, as the adjustment screws have reverse threads, whereas the Yosemite jazz pickup has normal US clockwise screws for the height adjustment). These pickups are incredibly sensitive to string height. Many have said that the American Performer Mustang can often seem too 'polite' sounding, and I can see what they mean. The bass has a very clean sound and doesn't have any 'snap' to the sound until you really start to dig in. Obviously, with the short scale length, when heard in isolation the A & E strings can seem a little lacking, but this impression disappears when playing live, which I did this afternoon at a local Jam Session where I'm the regular house bass player. It's a great sounding bass and a pleasure to fly around on. Haven't really had much of a chance to do much with the Mexican bass as yet, but will have more of a go tomorrow. It basically sounds like a MIM P&J Precision with a touch more 'twang' from the short scale length. Anyway, here are some pictures...

Congrats! I was looking at one of these at BassBros a few weeks ago when I bought my KingBass MkII from them. That must've been the heavier one you mentioned. I like the "T" tuners too - I had those on a Mexican Jazz V that I bought about 20 years ago. You're definitely preaching to the converted with me - my main bass for the live shows is an American Original 60's Jazz with a 2012 FSR Limited Edition hand-stained ash Jazz as it's backup. Congrats again - fabulous looking instrument you have there.

That Cort should be a good bet. I've got the Artisan Space Bass 5 and it's excellent for the money. The Fishman Fluence preamp will be good too. I've got a very nice Ibanez SR 1400 with the Nordstrand pickups for sale at the moment. I must list it on here this evening. Again, great basses for the money.

I'm going to have to sit down and do one of these in the next few days. 2025 has been a very expensive year, so far. Is it like a church confessional?

An odd weekend - On Friday evening I went to a little studio in Nottingham and played for the first time with a similarly aged keyboard player and drummer on some original tracks (sort of funky jazz with a dance beat). It's always interesting creating baselines to go with other people's music. I was particularly pleased with one track where my line made the track sound quite Flecktones-esque. (Not that I'm comparing myself to Mr.Wooten!) I was all set for a quiet Saturday evening when an old school mate Drummer (can't believe it's 40 years ago!) asked me to go to a local reopening of a pub with his son and daughter in the band and do a guest spot. Nothing too challenging, but I did have to figure out Elton John's "I'm Still Standing" on the spot - never played this before!

Thanks Michael. I may stop by the workshop next time I'm in Brum if I don't hear anything.

Well I've sent them an email re going down to the workshop and trying whatever they have to demo and to discuss options. We'll see what comes back...

Hi everyone, I'm thinking of ordering a new JayDee Supernatural. Since John Diggins died at the beginning of 2024, I understand that his two sons have continued the business. Has anyone commissioned/received a build in the last year or so? I'm wondering what the quality is currently like and whether or not I should take the plunge?

I like the look of that new 4 string version. My Space 5 has become invaluable. It lives in the boot of the car and is a nice light bass for carting round schools for teaching duties. The best part is that the monorails keep it in tune all the time. I've got a set of Elixir 40-125 strings on it and it sings very well. Sounds great live too. My only complaint is that the output is a little on the low side (about equivalent to a passive Jazz). I checked inside and there's no trim pot to turn up on the MarkBass preamp board, so I guess that's how it is.

The "Destructions" that came with my American Original stated that Nitro Cellulose finishes should be gently cleaned with a soft damp cloth only. Whether that includes when it's checked and failing in places, I'm not sure.

I was hoping to try out one of the new post-graphite basses (S-23 series), but there are now only a couple of stock instruments left. Apparently they made somewhere between 120 & 130 in total if the # numbers on the website actually correlate with production quantities.. There's one review knocking around on YouTube, and the owner seems highly complimentary. It sounds good too.