Cato

I had a girlfriend who had one of the Vester Warwicks in a transluscent green colour, must have been around 2000. I was really taken with it with it, probably one of the first really impressive budget instruments I ever played, before that kind of quality became the norm for cheaper basses.

Went for $40k, according to this slightly click baity article from No Treble. https://share.google/qK6FugI3ZeKrNJ9PZ

He just turned up on my Instagram feed doing this. Colour me impressed.

Andertons have the Dave Murray Custom Shop 50th anniversary sig for around £10k, makes the MiM look like a snip.. I did wonder if there might be an eqivalent Steve Harris model, but no sign of it yet.

I know Steve's had a few resprays over the years, maybe his No 1 will be black by the time the next leg of the Maiden tour kicks off? Personally I always think of him with the blue/gold version but I guess that reflects the era I got into Maiden, for older fans it will be the checkerboard finish and for the newer ones the West Ham edition.

One of those powerhouse session guys who played on more hit records in 60s and 70s than you could ever name. One thing I didn't know until reading his obituary is that he co wrote 'Sitting on the dock of the bay' which for most musicians would have been a career peak achievement. For Steve Cropper it was just another day in the office. RIP

He's apparently making a living from playing bass. It may not be quite the same dream that most of us had when we started out way before social media, but he's still living it. Personally, while I would never actively seek out his (or any other bass influencers) youtube stuff I do usually watch the short clips that pop up in my Instagram feed and he's made me laugh a few times, so good luck to him.

The rise of roasted necks may initially have been related to CITES but imo it very quickly became one of those classic guitar 'snake oil' things where manufacturers claim, usually without evidence, that a certain component or process gives the instrument some kind of special quality. I definitely first started seeing the roasted necks on high end instruments like Stingray's but now they seem to be available at every price point. Personally I like the aesthetic of roasted maple but, as with most of these things, I'm extremely skeptical about any special qualities, at least to the extent that would make a noticeable difference from a non roasted neck.

Went to see the Horne Section last night at Warwick Arts. I'm not familiar with Alex Horne's comedy outside of Taskmaster so I wasn't sure what to expect but it certainly wasn't this. The show is basically an eclectic mix of bad puns, comedy songs and surrealism, at various points I was a bit baffled as to what was going on but on the whole it was an entertaining evening, at times very funny and never boring, the 2 hours (with interval) flew past. The musicianship on show was of a very high standard, the bass player was outstanding and sounded really good. 90% sure he was using a Wilcock, a Mullarkey in something like Aztec Gold (though might have been natural with the stage lights giving it a glow) it definitely looked like one only it didn't look short scale, though that may have been relative to the size of the guy playing it, difficult to tell from where we were sitting.

I love the look of these early P basses but at the end of the day I'm also sure there are sound reasons why Leo Fender tweaked the design and stuck with those changes for the rest of his time at Fender. Ergonomics and quieter pickups being 2 of the obvious ones.

I've never tried using an adhesive to secure a pickguard but I have changed a few and I would say that they don't always sit flush to the body prior to being screwed down. It may need to be fairly strong adhesive to stop the edges rising up over time.

I'm not generally a fan of fancy wood tops but that's an absolute stunner.

Get a multi fx with multiple built in amp sims as well numerous distortion effects and see what works. I use an HX Stomp which would definitely do the job, but there are probably other more recent units available that will give the same plethora of options, some of them are probably cheaper too.

Streaming music has led me down some great rabbit holes. Last year I started researching the earliest recorded guitar music, which led me to some great stuff like Charlie Christian and Django Rheinhart and led eventually to me 'discovering' semi forgotten gems like Lonnie Johnson and Charlie Patton. I get that it's not great for current artists trying to make a living, but it's also an absolute treasure trove for older music that may otherwise only be obtainable through years of browsing old vinyl at record fairs looking for 1960s reissues of the original 1920s and 30s recordings

Yamaha may not be the first brand most people think of when they think of guitars, but when they do come up in discussion they always seem to be very highly thought of. I came close to getting a BB1024 a few years ago when I was looking for PJ, ultimately the only reason I didn't was because I've never been keen on sunburst and that seemed to be the only colour scheme anyone had in stock at that particular moment. Yes I am that shallow. I'd have a Revstar skinny stringer or a vintage SG in a flash if funds/space allowed.