Staggering on

I still have the 1967 Gibson J50 A that I bought new in Toronto when I graduated from university in '67. It went with me on a trip by ship to Australia and back in '67-'68 and it rode around Australia on the back of my motorcycle for about four months. It is still a wonderful guitar and I have played hundreds of gigs with it including the most recent one about a month ago.The bridge was reset shortly after I bought it but that is the only work ever done on it and it has been played outdoors in the rain and just about every situation possible except very large events. It sounds great and although some Gibson fans don't like the adjustable bridge on the J50 A I like it and use it to tweak the set up occasionally.The narrow fingerboard on these guitars is not popular with everyone but I have small hands and it is perfect for me. I also have a Baldwin Ode tenor banjo that I bought new in 1975 and have played and gigged it on and off since then. At one point shortly after I bought it I played four shows a night, six days a week for about six months at a big hotel in Toronto so I needed a good instrument. It was something like $1100 Canadian at the time which was a lot of money in those days but it has held up with no repairs through hundreds of gigs including one last year in the pit band for a production of "Chicago" and a brewery gig in May 2019 and I will be playing it at a rehearsal next week and a gig in August. It still has the original head and sounds fantastic...well,if you like banjos. Neither of these are mint condition "show" instruments, they were made to be played and they show some scars from the years but both are still fine instruments that sound wonderful and are a joy to play. My basses are mere babies: a '97(?)Yamaha EB bought new, a 10+ year old Yamaha SLB 200 EUB and a 2008 Engelhardt Swingmaster ES9 DB. At 73 I still play all of them and gig regularly, they have been the best things in my life and have taken me many places and will live on long after I'm gone to give someone else the joy of making music.

Three hour sidewalk gig Friday night in North Bay went well but it was 33C when we started and 28C at the end and we were cooked! We were well paid and had some strollers stop to listen and a few little kids danced but it was really a paid rehearsal although we did make some contacts that might pay off. First gig using my Boss WL-20 wireless rig going from the KNA DB 1 pick up to my Schatten Design Mini Pre (volume control) mounted on my music stand and then cable to the PA.Worked like a charm and I had plenty of battery left after three 45-50 minute sets. The Bose PA is great for these gigs..great sound, lots of volume, easy to set up and it can be used as a monitor with no feedback so it is our go to system. Good gig but hot. In the first photo you can see that I seem to have lost my head in the middle of the song but I did get it back later.😊

Well I tried the Boss WL-20 with my DB last night at an outdoor street gig with the jazz standards quartet and it was great. The sound was good and no cables underfoot so I could move around as much as I wanted.The batteries had a factory charge on them when I bought them and I used them at home for an hour or two and then played three 45-50 minute sets at the gig and the batteries are still fine. My bass has a KNA DB 1 pick up and after the preamp it goes into our Bose PA which is perfect for this band (keys, sax/clarinet,vocals,bass into the PA,drums acoustic). So far I'm impressed with the simplicity and the sound of this rig and I hope it will continue to work as well.

Yesterday I picked up a Boss WL-20 system to try with my DB. I may also use it with my EB and EUB(both active) but the main purpose is to avoid cables and be able to move around more when I play the DB. I tried a Line 6 G10 a while back but it developed problems and also didn't like the active pick ups. Similar to the G 10 the Boss unit has a small transmitter that plugs into the instrument and an equally small receiver that I have going into my Schatten design mini pre and then a cable to the amp or mixer. I have the pre amp mounted on my mic stand for easy access, it is basically a volume control, I EQ on the amp or mixer and I can move around all I want and even (gasp!) spin the DB if I feel the need. After an hour or two of playing I'm quite happy with the unit and will give it a tryout at an outdoor gig tonight, if it doesn't get cancelled due to possible thunder storms.

Maybe they are trying to work out an arrangement of "The Flight of the......." OK, I couldn't resist, sorry about that.😁

Our seven piece swing/Dixie band had a four hour gig last Friday at the official opening of a small craft brewery. We were set up in the actual brewing part of the building about ten feet from a canning machine that was running most of the time we were there. Concrete floor, steel walls and ceiling and a large industrial garage door open to the parking lot/patio and anywhere from 50 to 100+ beer drinkers there to celebrate the opening and try new beers. The background noise was unbelievably loud so we just went ahead and played two sets of swing(me on DB) and then two sets of Dixie where I switch to banjo.When the BL called the tunes we had to shout them along to everyone and then hope for the best.The Bose PA we use is absolutely wonderful and we could actually hear ourselves just using it as a monitor.We are experienced enough to let the PA do the work and we didn't try to compete with the noise, we were there as background music not to play a concert.Unusual way to set up the band but we were told where to play so we had no choice and the whole building had a concrete floor so there was no other place that would have been better. From what I heard from people I knew at the gig the balance was pretty good and we could be heard. Crazy gig but it went over well and we even got an encore, amazing since most of the audience were between about 25 and 40, not the usual demographic for our type of music. We were well paid, got a couple of beers and the owners said they will probably book us back and we got some good exposure.

Well your wife has the right idea and you are very lucky that way.Go for it!😉 Not particularly good pics but this is me with the Stagg I had and my Engelhardt Swingmaster ES9, not a very well regarded bass by some, but it looks great and sounds good for the music I play.

That is pretty strange, a lot of drop with the jack out. I didn't keep track of my batteries on a regular basis when I had the Stagg but did check them before each gig and replaced them if they had dropped much but I can't remember the details.The batteries lasted quite a while before they started to die and the EUB got quieter and quieter and finally quit, I wish I had checked the voltage at that point to see exactly where it quit working. I actually used the Stagg a lot, it was my first foray into the upright world and sounded good in my jazz quartet but when an SLB appeared with an unbelievably low price I just had to buy it and although some people don't like them it is perfect for me. BTW, I went even farther down the slippery slope last year when I visited England ( I'm Canadian ) and went to the double bass bash in April.That experience produced serious GAS and last June I bought a DB and use it on most gigs but use the SLB for rehearsals and gigs in venues with limited space. Be careful, upright is addictive, but so much fun! 😉😊

The Stagg I owned and the Yamaha SLB200 that I use now both have a power switch in the output jack and some owners are not aware of this and wonder why their batteries don't last. If the cable is plugged in the preamp is on. I assume from the work you have done that you know a lot about electronics and are aware of this but I thought I'd toss it out just so others with battery problems following this thread might find it useful before they look for other solutions. I liked my Stagg but I love the SLB 200, it works for me.

Well done!👏 From your description it sounds like more than a "minor success", most of us would be very happy to have a night like you had.Your future looks good...you will be much more relaxed and have some real fun next time!😊

I hope I'm not being rude but I can't be the only one who is wondering how the gig went...don't keep us in suspense any longer.😧 ...oh,maybe it's because the post gig party is still going on and you are also in intense negotiations with agents and others who want to manage your ascension to stardom...let's hope!😊

Yup, it's the EDB stand made for the Stagg. I'm in Canada but I just saw it on the Thomann UK site at a reasonable price, cheaper than it would be here.It is relatively heavy (to me that's good thing) and can be folded up into a reasonable size although I see in reviews that some people complain about the size. It worked for me with my Stagg and is great for use with my SLB 200. What is the problem with the bridge? In the photos when it was posted for sale the bridge looks OK. I have had some difficulties trying to get information from Yamaha on this side of the Atlantic also, in my case I was trying to find out what gauge strings they use and also some details about the preamp.You may have to see a luthier about your bridge, it seems Yamaha isn't being very helpful. I eventually got some answers but nobody at Yamaha seemed to know much about the instrument and most of the info I needed came from other owners on this site and others. Good luck!

I use my old Stagg stand for my SLB 200 and I assume it would work for the SLB 100 also. It came with a Stagg EUB I had and when I sold the Stagg I kept the stand.It is a lot cheaper than the Yamaha stand and I have used it at home and many gigs and had no problems. You got a great deal on the Yamaha,I hope it works out for you. I love my SLB 200 and use it for rehearsals and a few gigs where space is too tight for my DB.

I used Tru oil on a Hofner copy bass kit from Solo Music here in Canada.I put on at least 15 very thin coats with a cloth pad and sanded with grits up to 1000 I think.It is a nice gloss finish, foolproof (I did it!) and very easy to use. It did give the maple top and back a slight honey shade but didn't change it very much. In the second photo you can compare the colour with my Engelhardt blonde Swingmaster ES 9.

I got one of these from Gollihur Music, it's foam rubber and works great for me and is fun and can be used to toss at annoying people.I should have ordered two, one for the bass and the other for fun.It's on their website and they ship world wide.

A bit odd to quote myself, but since you were well prepared I was sure you would do a fine job and have fun! Live music is best...time to find a band or some friends to jam with.Congratulations! BTW, the fact that you found your way back to what the band members were doing shows that you've got good musical sense and a lot more ability than you may have thought, lots of players would have been totally lost and never recovered...well done!👏😊

Sounds like a fun night to me, you'll be fine once the music starts.Enjoy the moment, it might lead to great things!😊

If you bought your bass new it will have new strings which make more finger noise than older worn in strings.New rounds are very bright at first.

I love my KNA and use it for daily practice at home as well as band rehearsals and gigs but I did have a problem similar to what you are describing at one gig. When I installed it my bridge needed a fair bit of sanding to get two nice flat surfaces in the wing and until I got it perfect I had a variety of noises and sounds I didn't like but when I finally got it sorted it was perfect for several months and then started to act up at a gig when I was setting up. I wiggled the pickup and moved it a bit and it started to work just fine and has been good since then, which was about 4 months ago. I think I may have moved the pickup a bit when the bridge bumped into something in my car or when loading in at that gig, it is VERY sensitive to location and pressure. Other than that time no problems.I use a Schatten Design Mini Pre that has volume control only and use the EQ on my amp or the PA(Bose) so I know the problem was the pickup and the way it was wedged in the wing not the electrics in my case. Hope you get yours sorted out, these things can be awfully frustrating and expensive too. Glad to hear you are back playing after your heart problem,I've been through something similar and it's not much fun.

Agree, a contrast to when we were young and every teenager had a guitar or bass. What will it be like in 25 years? I guess that's the way things go with popular music. It could be compared to the the piano market(real piano, not "keyboard") that existed for the better part of a century and every home had a piano and kids took piano lessons and the sheet music market flourished. In my part of the world(Canada) lovely pianos are being sold cheaply or given away and it's been like this for years. Times and tastes change,I'm glad I was around when the guitar boom started in the 60's and I'm still playing, totally changed my life.I have met many fantastic people, including the mother of my son, while gigging or jamming and hope to continue as long as I can.Still gigging in two bands and in my 73rd year. Oh, and we "older men" often have a bit more cash to invest in overpriced instruments to support the market. You know how it goes..."now that I have paid off some debts and am a bit more comfortable financially I'm going to buy the (insert toy of choice here) that I always wanted".Been there, done that and I'm still doing it!

Great to hear that you finally got your hands on the new bass and that you are are now truly on your way to the heaven and hell that is playing DB. Keep us informed about your progress, it sounds like you have already had some fun!👍😁

Nope, the dots are on the side of the fingerboard facing me. I play standing up and they are easy to see. As I said above, I just use them for a quick check now and then if I'm a bit unsure of the intonation due to band volume or my basic insecurity.😟

I use one of those White Out pens that is used for correcting typing/printing errors. It's simple to use and easy to make exactly the size of dot you want. It lasts a long time and is easy to remove. Gollihur Music and other dealers sell stick on dots that are neat and easy to apply and remove.

Ah yes, but it feels so good!😊

When I had a Stagg it was set very high when I bought it and I lowered it to the more or less "normal" DB string height of 5-6mm for the G string and about 8-9mm for the E, measured at the end of the fingerboard and it worked fine for me.You might want to check the height at the nut too.Paul made a good point about slacking off the strings a bit before you use the adjusters, it will make it a lot easier. Of course the condition of the neck and fingerboard, what type of music you play and the condition and type of strings should be considered also. If you Google around a bit you will find a lot of threads about setting up a Stagg and there is a lot of good info out there. Good luck and have fun!😊