Doctor J

And of that small number, what percentage cared?

Guigsy from Oasis dropped out more than once, I recall, only to come back again.

Deicide - Legion 29:01 of deity-bashing fury.

David Ellefson co-founded Megadeth in the early-80's and was with the band until they split in 2002, after which he tried to sue the other co-founder and failed. The band reformed a couple of years later and he was not part of the party until he returned as a hired goon in 2010.

I never realised he and Tony Iommi were so close https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/black-sabbath-tony-iommi-eddie-van-halen-interview-1073082/?fbclid=IwAR1TJbUEhPQ2irjkemnbb-HF05-SGDN-uSPChFbIZZ_McRrS1tJaFtplM3o

Do: Quadrophenia - It's the only one I can think of that works from the first note to the last note. Don't: all the others. They're usually a failure of quality control, rather than someone genuinely having too much quality material for one album. Mellon Collie and Use Your Illusion have been mentioned and they're ones from my lifetime notable for having one outrageously brilliant album diluted with filler. Stadium Arcadium would struggle to be distilled into a good EP.

Yes, this kind of thing or some tasty, pointy headed Charvels

Perhaps a smidge too late, I see, but late 80's Ibanez SRs and SBs are the future as seen through the eyes of the past. A SR800 or SR1000 will have your back in any fight, while the SB900 or SB1200 can take any out an eye in the blink of an... well, you get what I'm saying. None of us are getting any younger so their light weight is just right for our ageing cuff rotators. Plus, the necks are slim but not super skinny so they're easy to adjust to. Matsumoku is for broken shouldered hipsters who can't raise their left arm over their head anymore, while all the cool kids hang out at Fujigen 😁

Yes, now we're talking!

When they released the Fender Okoume jazz, the promo pics had a very badly mismatched body. Edit -> You can't see the pic? Ok, I'll try a different one

Go And Say Goodbye - Buffalo Springfield It's Going To Take Some Time - The Carpenters

If You All Get To Heaven - Terence Trent D'Arby Maybe a little morbid, that one?

Fever - Peggy Lee I am the Virus - Killing Joke She's Just Killing Me - ZZ Top Shakin' All Over - Johnny Kidd & the Pirates

I've had a couple of non-bass related ones at either end of the service spectrum recently. The good: I bought a Natal double-kick pedal second hand. I didn't notice one of the beater locking screws was missing. I contacted Natal looking to buy one and, as with others here, their response was brilliant, they sent it out for free. Result? Natal will be very high up my list when it comes to every future drum related purchase. The bad: I bought a Nintendo Switch a few months ago, which died recently, it won't charge or power on. These things happen. I contacted the seller, Gamestop, about how to get a warranty repair. "Bring it into a local store" they said. Fine. I called into the local branch a couple of days ago. After much ooohing and aaahing and being asked if I bought it new more than once (as well as asking when I bought it more than once) they wouldn't accept it for repair and told me I'd have to take it up with Nintendo directly. Irritated, I contacted their main support centre, the people who told me to bring it to the local branch in the first place, and this time was told "The store seems unable to determine the fault with the console and have directed you to Nintendo to repair the console under warranty and retain the said warranty." The store didn't even look at it. They wouldn't accept it because it was "over 30 days old" despite being well within warranty. Result? I will never, ever spend money in Gamestop again. Good service requires a little effort but usually pays for itself in the long run. I don't understand why some companies choose to turn customers against them and cut off any future revenue from them.

Bacchus made a tasty Stingray in Jazz clothing. It's feels like a J but the sound is 100% Ray.

This is a nice clip too - from about 38 minutes in if the link doesn't work properly

His niceness was inverse to the effect of his alcoholism, which he did overcome. Not just in the tributes since yesterday, but there are lots of accounts of him being a very nice fella.

I liked Van Halen a lot. Hendrix had been and gone before I was born, Eddie is the guy who had moved the instrument on in a dramatic way during my lifetime. If you were into rock or metal in the 80's, Eddie was the big dog when it came to guitarists. The first bands I played in were filled with guys copying him directly, or copying the guys who were copying him. In that sense, it's someone who played a role in my lifetime who has died and, even though I didn't know him and never saw VH live, there is still a sense of loss.

They usually come across as a by-the-way-look-at-me thing, making it about the poster rather than the deceased. Whether the poster is bright or aware enough to realise that is an entirely different matter. It's all quite self-centred and tasteless, as seems to be the fashion of the times we live in, sadly.

As far as I'm aware, Elixirs are still the only string where the string is coated as a string, rather than the outer winding being coated and wrapped onto a string as all the others do. Elixir own the patent to coat the string. That makes Elixir the only coated string worth a damn. The rest are just marketing but don't offer the advantage of an actual coated string, which is to stop your bio-goo getting into the windings of the string which is what makes it sound dead, but you're paying more for it regardless.

He had part of his tongue removed due to cancer many years ago, but didn't stop smoking.

Brutal. What a gifted player.

You could use a slap-back echo. Pan the guitar one side, the echo to the other. Listen to Live at Leeds for a great example. Van Halen used to just pan Eddie to the left and let reverb fill the space. Edit -> As BigRedX says, keep the bass in the middle, along with the kick drum, snare and lead vocals.

That all sounds very promising, nice one.