Stylon Pilson

...electric blue, that's the colour of my room... S.P.

Indeed, it's not linear. Going up an octave corresponds to a doubling in frequency. Most guitars are tuned using twelve tone equal temperament, which means each semitone corresponds to multiplying the frequency by the 12th root of 2 - approximately 1.05946. S.P.

Saturday night was a Royal British Legion social club. Very healthy sized crowd, but a large proportion were seated and somewhat mannequin-like, so it just goes to prove that size isn't everything. We did have a few dancers though, so not all bad, though a lot of them were very selective about what they would dance to - at the end of each song they'd immediately go back to their seats, so we had a lot of comings and goings. It may be that this is suggesting that we need to work on our set list structure, or reduce gaps between songs - it may just be that this is the nature of the crowd here. I recruited a photographer along as well - a guy who had done some photos for one of my previous bands - because I felt that all the photos on our website being clearly cameraphone-quality was not an ideal state of affairs. I need to rethink my approach to transporting equipment. I recently bought a large holdall that would be big enough for amp, backup amp, pedalboard, and all my leads and accessories. I suppose I was thinking that with that in one hand, cab in the other, and my bass on my back, that I'd be all set for a one-trip load-in. Unfortunately, the bag is now so heavy that it ends up requiring a trip all for itself! I think that I'm going to find something else for the amp and backup amp, and stop chasing the one-trip fairy. S.P.

Heart-stopping stuff for a moment there Andy. As you say, it's good for aspiring builders to see your mistakes and how you recovered from them. In fact, in many ways, it's even more useful for them than just watching a photo diary of everything going perfectly. S.P.

Sounds like they are both getting stage fright and are trying to come up with excuses. S.P.

At the next rehearsal, tell them that you want to start gigging. If your guitarist thinks you're not ready to gig, then ask him what he thinks you need to do to get to that stage. Either his answer will be something solid that you can work on, which is great, or something handwavy, in which case you walk. What's the background for the drummer and guitarist? Have they been in gigging bands before? Are you sure that they're actually interested in gigging at all? It may be that really they're happy with things the way they are, but feel that they need to be elusive with you otherwise you'll leave. S.P.

The shape of the bass can have a huge impact on how the body balances when you're wearing it on a strap. If the bass is poorly balanced such that the neck is always trying to dive towards the floor (Gibsons seem to be particularly prone to this) then you're constantly having to support it with your left hand. The design of the bass also ideally needs to be comfortable against your body, both when you're standing up with it on a strap, and when you're sitting down with it rested on your knee. S.P.

Awwww, c'mere, buddy. (hugs) There, now that's out of the way - my question about the drummer was how much self control they have. If your drummer is loud and you've got no PA support, then you're going to need some really beefy equipment to keep up with them. You'll probably need to compromise on something, either your budget, or your lightweight requirement. Old Peavey gear is robust and loud, but heavy. However if your drummer knows how to keep their volume under control, and/or you've got decent PA support, then you'd probably find that you can use something like a Fender Rumble or TC Electronic BG250 combo, which will be much lighter. Whatever you do, remember that it's not all about the amp wattage - the speakers matter too. S.P.

Depends how often you need to use that low Eb. If it's rare, then you might be able to get away with modifying the basslines so that you end up on that note an octave higher. Another alternative is to get a 5-string. S.P.

What sort of venues will you be playing? What will you have in terms of PA support and monitoring? What's the drummer like? Would you be looking to go lightweight or are you happy with carrying heavy equipment? S.P.

That looks like someone's put a tom on its side and cut a hole in it. S.P.

This is, sadly, par for the course with a lot of new originals bands. You have the following options: Leave, and join a band that's already well established Leave, and join a covers band instead Do it for the fun of it If you enjoy playing the music, then do it for its own sake, with no expectation of success or recognition. Having bandmates that you get on with is essential for this. S.P.

I'd bet you a pound to a penny that he does do that again. Unless you have a word with him about it, of course. S.P.

Are there any decent live music venues close to (ideally within walking distance of) London Waterloo? Looking for the sort of place that might have good quality lesser-known national bands - not bars with covers bands, nor the kind of place that crams 4 or 5 originals bands into an evening with half an hour each. Thanks. S.P.

Hmmmm, presumably they had been the ones who booked the gigs in the first place? Yeah, there's not much you can do about that. So I suppose what happened here is not so much that they fired you and the drummer, but rather they splintered off to form a new band (and took all the gig bookings with them). It's a bit of a Ꮷick move, but then I can kinda see their perspective - they've spent many hours of their time nailing down gig dates with various landlords etc, and so they might view it as unfair if they left the band but you and the drummer got to hold onto all those bookings. S.P.

One of the curious things about the 736 is that the instrument cable was hardwired and came out of the top of the instrument, near where the neck strap button would be on a modern bass. I'm surprised that this ergonomic catastrophe made it into the production model. There's a cool thread on talkbass where someone builds a replica: here. S.P.

I've tried writing a response to this post about four times now. After chucking it away and restarting repeatedly, I now see that @project_c has written something that is basically 90% of what I was trying to say, so I'll just direct you towards that. S.P.

Imagine turning up to the Tickled Trout on a Saturday evening with this. S.P.

Oh, there are more than just "a few" https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_words_not_following_the_I_before_E_except_after_C_rule S.P.

Your walk gives it away. S.P.

Remonstrate, pontificate, masturbate, pomegranate. S.P.

In terms of amp, cab etc I'd keep exactly what I've got at the moment. In terms of basses, I've currently got 6 of which I only really regularly play a couple. So obviously I wouldn't replace the ones I rarely play, and I'd probably replace the ones that I do play with slightly higher-tier alternatives. S.P.

This response was an absolute rollercoaster. S.P.

If what you're saying is that rock'n'roll is inexorably linked with misogyny, then perhaps it's for the best that it's dead. S.P.

It was a pleasure doing business with David (musicbassman). He bought my LH500 and stayed for a nice chat about all things bassular. Good communications, and I would have no hesitation in dealing with him again. S.P.