TrevorR

Second billing at Penwith Rocks! in 83. Love 10cc. With Gouldman and Stewart! That was a Bucket List gig!

On my list specifically because they are the worst band I’ve ever seen live. I didn’t see them on purpose- they were support to Magnum at the Hammersmith Odeon back in 1988. Abysmal choice for a pairing with a band like Magnum and absolutely gawd awful from start to finish. Also in my top (bottom?) 3 worst are Primus (supporting Rush - so disappointed, just thwacky clanky noise the whole way through their set) and Gary Moore’s fave support, Dave Hole.

Saw him at this ill conceived musical festival in Cornwall back in 83 called Penwith Rocks. Cornwall’s first music festival! But... They had it on the TUESDAY after August Bank Holiday Monday (on the basis that bands would be in the country for big shows that weekend and they could snap them up as an extra show. They budgeted for 30,000. In the end 3000 turned up because everyone was back at work! D’oh! It was a great day and a fantastic line up, though. Lost shed loads of money so they never did it again. Chuck turned up, scowled at the scratch band put together for the set, barely tuned his guitar and ran through his contractually obligated 45 minutes. Then went off stage only returning when the promoter had scraped together enough petty cash for a begrudging 5 minute encore. So the perfect Chuck Berry gig experience, really. Truth be told, though. He was great to see live as a punter. And it means I’ve seen Chuck Berry live.

Lucky one... and thanks to @dmccombe7 for forcing me to choose the right answer! 🤣🤣 Here’s mine... Which one’s a fib? 1. Meatloaf 2. 10cc 3. Aswad 4. Chuck Berry 5. Billy Bragg 6. Thin Lizzy 7. Jeff Lynne’s ELO 8. Toyah 9. Heavy Pettin’ 10. Lynyrd Skynyrd

Not myself, but a member of my team, who’s based in Aberdeen, works closely with Scottish Govt and Department for International Trade trying to get developers to place contracts in the UK and has been there many times. Recognised the layout of the sheds... it’s been a really tough period for all the yards with the downturn in the O&G sector, the fall in the costs of offshore wind and the competition from overseas fabricators.

I’m gonna say [edited to] Blur... ....because @dmccombe7 just beat me to it.

I'm saying "The Floyd"

No, sadly he passed away many years ago. A guy called Dr Adams. Best consultant I'd ever had. I had previously been at another hospital when it started. The ME played merry hell with my diabetic control meaning that I literally needed 3-4 times the amount of insulin as I used before to stay stable (which is insane and makes no sense - unless you have ME...). I've always been very careful with the diabetes and controlled it tightly so it was the last straw when I went to chat to the old consultant about it and ask for advice he looked me and just said, "Well if you're going to sit at home all day pigging out on Mars Bars and lying to me about it then there's nothing I can do about it, is there?" I went straight back to my GP's surgery, said what the consultant had said and demanded to be transferred to another hospital. Ended up with Dr Adams... He diagnosed the ME and treated and supported me through it. Best possible result ever in hindsight! Still think the previous consultant was an absolute [expletive deleted], though.

Nice looking set of jackets there! Is that BiFab?

Sadly still all too true. I was really fortunate. I'm a diabetic and my consultant at the time was all over it - he'd had a couple of friends/colleagues from medical school who'd gone from being up and coming, top flight surgeon-types to pretty much bed rest, so he really took it seriously. In fact, he took me as a bit of a case study/guinea pig to see what treatments might help. Not many are that lucky.

My job? Work on renewable energy policy, especially offshore wind, biomass and emerging renewable energy technologies.

ME is a b*tch. I was off work from 93 to 95 with it and then took another year working back up to full time. Always good to hear of someone else who crawled back up out of the ME pit...

My actual go to bass is this one... ...but the one I probably noodle on round the house most is probably this one... Faith Neptune Titan

Love this little doobrie for fuzzy cabs...

Thanks, love my Pro IIE bass. Yes the mutes are really nice. Made by a girl in the States I found on Facebook - Patton Bass Mutes. I’d been playing around with foam mutes for a while and saw these. Spotting a customer comment/endorsement on her page ascribed to a certain @wateroftyne piqued my interest. I really liked the design concept and thought the little loop would make using it so much easier to use... it does. Blew £45 on getting three. Don’t use them lot but they’re perfect when I do. Money well spent. The “holes” are slider switches that engage EQ filters. The middle one is an early version of Wal’s “Pick Attack” presence function. The other two are (had to look this up) low-mid boost switch for neck pickup, upper-mid boost/bass cut switch for bridge pickup. Gives the pickups a more punchy 70s rock tonality. Very useful as instant tone changes.

@dannymaddock That's really cool. Finding your passion and going for it. I wish you every possible success and look forward to seeing some of the instruments you make (hint, hint). Just don't you go making one of them vegan bass guitars otherwise Piers Morgan will probably have a conniption fit! 😉🤣🤣🤣

Or pity me... I usually rest my thumb on the neck pickup surround... then I play this bass where they’re practically flush with the scratchplate... #firstworldproblems

Yes, I rest my thumb on the pickup and E string but “rest” is the operative word. As in gently... not grind it into the edge of the pickup with 1000lbs of force like some seem to do. As to your new bass. Just find somewhere comfy to put your thumb, keep doing that and in a week or so it’ll be second nature. All just part of adjusting to a differently designed bass.

Notoriously unreliable are hookers. Do the rest of the scrum and forwards usually arrive on time?

P.S. Pike narrated the remade version from 2016. Not the 1974 original...

The bass was built for the live shows. He was pretty much a P-Bass guy back then IIRC. Much more info here... http://walbasshistory.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_17.html http://walbasshistory.blogspot.com/2016/01/chris-squire-custom-triple-neck-wal.html

Perhaps Partreon is the answer... the OP could ask subscribers to fund him buying the bass and setting up a YouTube channel where every month he posts up a video of him playing a bass line on his Mayones Viking followed by him singing “I’ve got a lovely bass! I’ve got a lovely bass! I’ve got a lovely bass! And I didn’t even pay for it... you did... Nah na na nah!” That could work... maybe...

On the certification... the EU has very strict sustainability rules (much more than many other jurisdictions). So take the appearance of FSC stickers as a sign of success rather than the opposite. Of course compliance enforcement is the critical adjunct to that but audits are undertaken on a random sampling basis to trace the paperwork back to source. In my job I have close contact with biomass sustainability criteria in the energy sector and I know how stringent those criteria are in Western Europe, how seriously they are taken and that regulators do monitor carefully. Will some unscrupulous operators do what they can to get around the rules? Of course, the same goes in any area of society or business. But ultimately we “shouldn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”.

In answer to your questions... Have you ever thought about where the wood comes from for instruments? Yes, it’s a consideration. My custom built acoustic guitar has a locally sourced walnut back and sides for that reason. For me it needs to be sourced in a fully kosher manner as a minimum. If a wood looks amazing but came from an unethical source, would it bother you? Yes. For a custom build I would want to know woods came from CITES approved sources and from proper FSC accredited and tracable sources. And no mass builder should be flaunting the law. Would you buy an instrument from a company that refuses to use a certain timber? Yes. There are options. I love rosewood fingerboards but would be happy to go for Paul ferro or a similar option. I wouldn’t want an “ebonised” board though. Rather have a naturally attractive wood. My custom acoustic bass is European sourced flame maple and spruce. How important do you think the wood is to the overall sound of a bass (i realise there may be many, many discussions about this on here but can we keep it specific to exotic timbers vs native european timbers?) It’s certainly a factor/contribution but by no means an overriding faction not certainly in the simple and binary way most folk argue for or against when this is discussed on the interweb. It will definitely be much less predictable than many argue given the organic, non-homogeneous nature of wood and massively outweighed by other factors like hardware, design, electronics etc. Ultimately it’s value to the builder and buyer will mostly be aesthetic (and workability for the builder). Do you like decorative timbers, or prefer a more simple aesthetic? I am a fan of natural and trans finished woods. Personally not a solid colour fan (the red Wal below is actually deep trans red on a plainish ash body). But a builder will want/need both as an option in their finishing range. As an example, my bass collection to show preferences...

I think that Raffall need a better (or more honest) lawyer. Prize competitions should be free entry NOT by paid ticket. That’s by definition a raffle or lottery. Hence the old “no purchase necessary” disclaimer on magazine comps - to show you didn’t have to buy the magazine as an entry ticket.