TrevorR

P-bass shaped Wal - an obscure option the few knew about and (as far as we know) only one person (Kev) took up - there’s a bit more to the story but I’ll leave that to @Spoombung

Presuming to well known luthier wasn’t Charlie Chandler, his shop is in Hampton, just the other side of Kingston bridge… https://ccgx.co.uk

A few semi random thoughts… Wals have always used proprietary electronics - right back from the Pro series models in the late 70s. The Pro series circuit boards are works of art in their own right. …but it was the Custom Series basses which brought in the filter based system from about 1981. Hugely, hugely versatile system and some amazing tones which can be easily pulled up. As to tone wood… Paul would say that the wood does have a bearing on the tone of the bass. However he would also say that it’s not as predictable as a people think because of the organic nature of wood and it’s variability as a material… I discussed it with him for the blog a few years ago… “The standard bodies all have a central Mahogany core and the facings add character to the overall tone. So regardless of facing choice there is a consistency running through by using the same core timber. As a general rule, the harder facings such as wenge/padauk (wenge being slightly harder) tend to be slightly brighter and punchier giving more attack and reflection - often selected for fretted basses. At the other end of the scale are the softer/less dense timbers like American Walnut, which is favourite for fretless instruments and players who prefer a rounder less aggressive sound.” Talking about preferences for fretless woods, “Yes, in general, but to counter the theory we’ve had some great sounding hard faced (like wenge) fretless basses through here – more aggressive sounding though. Also, you mustn’t forget that the density and grain structure can vary even from one end of a single board to the other. There can be a lot of variables even on two basses with exactly the same spec." Full blog here… http://walbasshistory.blogspot.com/2016/10/wal-woods-part-2-bodies.html

…who famously took Live Aid as the opportunity to promote his new single and album rather than do a crowd pleasing tune… and 1) therefore no one remembers being at the event, and 2) pretty much killed good will and his waning career in one fell swoop!

A signed copy of David Paton’s autobiography (one of my fave players), a live album by folk band Jamie Smith’s Mabon (with some tasty Wal playing on it) and the deluxe version of Tarkus with the Steven Wilson remix.

Got into a discussion with a chum about this a few years ago, and picking positions/techniques in general. He just kept his thumb wedged on the bridge pickup and that was it. I tried to recall the various places and ways I pluck the strings and went home and came up with this montage… Tried the floating thumb thing but never got on with it so I’m somebody who rests the thumb on the pickup or E string. However, I also move position a lot for different tones. Also use the old fashioned thumb plucking technique for softer tones too. Plus a weird pseudo upright plucking thing over the neck sometimes (but I’m odd like that! 😉🤣).

Yup, me too…

Or you could try my Schmaltz-free Christmas playlist on YouTube…

I’m home cooking lunch. Rest of the fam is out collecting Grandma so for now it’s noisy music! Threshold’s Dividing Lines album. My fave new album of the year! [Edit] they’re back home… back to Xmas tunes…

Another happy OnSong user here… I think set list software” is misleading. The beauty is being able to organise a library of chord sheets into a set list. Have used this at church (where who knows what random blast from the past could suddenly show up…) for many years..

Got a little MarkBass MicroMark practice amp for home use. So nice and light for carrying round the house and sounds fantastic given its 1 tone knob and teeny weeny itsy bitsy speaker. That said, I’ve only made two gear purchases this year - and the other one was a TC UniTune clip on tuner (also great).

Wrapping the kid’s Christmas pressies and listening to The Best of T-Bone Walker…

A few bands have waned over the years. As a teen I loved ELP, Zep and Deep Purple. Now Tarkus and Fanfare for the Common Man are more than enough ELP for me, I find Led Zep quite dull and uninteresting now and apart from a classic tracks never listen to Purple. However, I’ve picked up a good few artists and genres along way… university brought The Alan Parsons Project, folk rock and Steely Dan. The 90s brought Capercaillie, Nanci Griffith, Aimee Mann, Counting Crows and Sheryl Crow. The 2000s saw me getting into acid jazz and other funky sub-genres, Nerina Pallot and the Laurel Canyon variety of singer songwriter in greater depth. And the last 10 years have seen me revisiting Kraftwerk and Jean-Michel Jarre in greater depth. Through that time the constants have been Thin Lizzy, Yes, ELO, Horslips, Saga, Gary Moore and a number of others…

The key to finding this on the BSF is the treble control. To my ears it’s less of just an EQ roll off control but seems to have an effect on how the break up works, changing its richness/bite - though no idea how it’s operating as part of the circuit electronically.

I went for the BSF because it’s a lower gain OD and a reasonably priced mainstream pedal. I have a suspicion that one (well three) reason(s) TB is sniffy about it is 1) it’s not all exclusive boutique and super expensive, 2) it’s not super super cheap so has inverted snob value and 3) it’s not what you’d choose for uber distorted Cliff Burton bass solo type stuff. These are, rather, all the reasons I DO like it! I have my VTBassDI set so it’s warm and clean but has a touch of hair when you really dig in. That’s my “always on” pedal. The BSF is used when a song needs a little more grit (rather than dirt) or to feed my envelope filter for a pseudo synth bass sound… But it seems like OD are a pedal where everyone has their personal preferences… and they’re all different.

Reminds me of something that happened a few years ago in the worship team. The (very young) WL came back from a conference enthusing about this powerful new song they’d sung there and how she’d love to introduce it to the team. Sounded great! Love a good new song! She said that she’d recorded it on her phone and she and her drummer/keyboard player boyfriend had worked it out. They would sing and play it so we could get an idea. Great idea! Love a new song! She started… “Because He lives, I can face to morrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone…” The more superannuated members of the team (like me) kinda looked at each other, shrugged and just joined in, singing and playing - much to her confusion! She was stunned at how we could know this new tune just introduced at the conference. Had to break it to her that I’d been singing that tune since I first joined a youth gospel choir back in 1979! I guess that there really is nothing new under the sun and what goes around comes around eventually. She did look so stunned when we joined in, though! Lol Here’s a nice modern Celtic version of it. We did it more straight rock/hymn fusion…

Oh wow! That’s a blast from the past. Not sung or played that tune in years!

This guide to how a whole range of effects work from the now, sad.y defunct “Monkey FX” is brilliant and hilarious - well worth a read… http://www.monkeyfx.co.uk/fxguide.html How a compressor works explained through the medium of tiny monkeys.. Compression Picture the scene. Sicily, 1947. A monkey. With a volume pedal. He has tinnitus, so he doesn't like loud noises, but needs things to be a certain volume level in order to hear them, poor little mite. He is wearing headphones. When you play, if it's too loud, he turns the volume down a little. If it's too quiet, he turns it up. He can do this quite quickly if he wants, but there's a big dial in front of him, telling him how fast he's allowed to turn the volume control. There's another control that determines how loud his headphones are compared to your guitar. Pop the little chap in a box and paint it (traditionally) blue and off you go. Oh, it might be a good idea to replace him with some sort of electronics gubbins, to save his poor hearing. Some compressors allow you to have a little effect loop in between your guitar and his headphones, so that you could (for instance) have him only listen to the bass part of your guitar sound, but work the volume control according to that.

Some of the vids are up online of the tunes they played. Mmmmmm… Niiice! Great!

She came in through the bathroom window - The Beatles

Heart Attack - Nerina Pallot

And then however many weeks later… on Thursday, 3/4 of my thumbnail dropped off. On the bright side it looks like it’s growing a new one underneath… seems like a three or so other nails are on the way… 🙄

They are down near Exeter - so a long way - but Jack at Brook Guitars is a wizard at inlays. They take on repairs as a standard sideline so should be open to it. And ask them for a certificate of works to certify they’ve removed and replaced it. https://www.brookguitars.com

New album by UK prog metal band, Threshold -“Dividing Lines”. Really rather good! Actually has tunes and the solos aren’t just an excuse to get some modal arpeggio practice in…

From my chums Rich and Karl’s new album…