Cato

I did think I was sorted for bass stuff for the immediate future, but I've recently experienced an almost undeniable impulse to get a P bass just so I can have one bass permanently fitted with flats. Seems like a perfectly sensible and rational idea when I read that back.

A skype lessson with Carol Kaye (assuming they are taken by the lady herself) would be something a bit special. https://shop.carolkaye.com/product/skype-guitar-or-bass-private-lesson/

I saw an electric piano/drum duo at the Jam House in Birmingham a few months back where I think the pianist had assigned a bass guitar patch to the lower keys. I hate to admit it, but it sounded pretty damned good.

The surprise fuzz bass elevates an otherwise pretty generic ,forgettable tune. As mentioned above there have got to be possibilities for sampling that bass and using it for purposes which could never have been foreseen back in 1961.

Sounds like you've got it covered. You can never go wrong by trying out as much gear as possible.

Have you tried many basses yet? The average Jazz neck is still a fair bit chunkier than any guitar neck I've ever played. It might also be worth looking at PJ basses, you get at least as much versatility as the Jazz configuration and it would broaden the number potential candidates a fair bit. I don't really have much experience with dual humbuckers but I imagine they also give a lot of options. Finally, if it's versatility and flexibility you're after then you might want to consider instruments with an active preamp, especially those with an option to switch the bass to passive.

I'm not too keen on the bridge on my V7 fretless, it just doesn't seem that solid. There's a bit of lateral movement on the saddles when you pull the strings, but it's certainly no worse than the average BBOT and unless you hit the strings with tremendous force it's not going to cause any issues with playing. I just prefer bridges where everything is locked down. As for the tuners they seem fine to me, although ,due to my dodgy fretlesss playing, just because the bass is holding it's tuning it doesn't mean that I'm playing in tune.

From what I could tell from visiting Jamaica a few years back 'classic' reggae doesn't seem to be that popular these days, at least not with the younger generation. Of course you can't get away from Bob Marley and a smattering of other one hit wonder reggae tunes in the tourist hotels and bars, but when we were driven across the island to the airport the taxi driver was listening to the radio and it mainly seemed to be American style pop and hip hop. There was some 'dancehall' stuff as well which has reggae roots but is really more a sort of dance music/rap combo but nothing that came close to what I would have described as 'classic' reggae.

I saw them turn up as unnounced support for a Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine gig at the Hummingbird in Birmingham in around 92/93.

It's probably going to need headphones or decent speakers to hear both the low and high bass bits on this one.

As above. There have been a few reasonably, if temporarily, popular rock bands (within a rather broad definition of 'rock' as opposed to the ridiculous number of subgenres formerly known as 'metal') with interesting basslines in the last decade or so. Arctic Monkeys, Editors and Maximo Park spring to mind. Whether there's any demand from audiences to hear any of their tracks apart from maybe a couple of early Arctic Monkeys songs is uncertain.

The old 'toast rack'. I didn't realise you were at Eton.

No damage done but I once heard my jazz bass hit the ground with what sounded like some force about 45 minutes after I left it propped up against the sofa. It must have been tipping over very, very slowly from the moment I left it there until it reached a point of total over balance and plummeted into the floor.

Probably get a lot of Youtube hits though. You could be the next 'This drummer is at the wrong gig'.

The lack of control plate sort of reminds me of a Hamer Cruise.