TrevorR

…see what you did there!

As a Kiwi Johnny Cash tribute act might sing… 🎵 “…made my home on a burnin’ ‘Ring of Fire’…”

He was a properly good bloke and really down to earth when he came to the last SE Bass Bash - and absolutely hilarious. How many players of his stature would leave his original Betsy and the Spector he used to record Like a Prayer sitting on stage after his talk and say, “I’ll just leave those there if anyone wants to have a go on them…”? Barry Moorhouse brought a range of his Bass Collection basses to try out and I can confirm that the Betsy copies are really, really nice. Properly tempted. Enjoy it! I’m not the slightest bit jealous, honest!

Do, do! It’s a great vibe and a nice bunch of folks! Zero egos too, which it nice!

Country theme night at our Weekly Monday Night Jam last night was an absolute hoot! A great mix of great tunes, cheesy songs and lots of folks not taking themselves too seriously. Did 3 tunes in the end - here’s one of them: Gunpowder & Lead by Miranda Lambert. The house band opened with a slice of Albert Lee - played even faster than Albert plays it! The guy in the hat is Nick Meier, who is the regular host. Not so shabby on the skinny strings… but then he did spend 5 years or so playing in Jeff Beck’s band in the 2010s… yes THAT Jeff Beck! Lovely guy and quite a player!

Research is not a strong point in their gear videos… lots of mistakes that a quick pre-record check would have avoided.

This Monday we’re doing a country themed night. I’ve been nabbed by some folks to bass on The Devil Went Down To Georgia, I Like It, I Love It by Tim McGraw and Gunpowder & Lead by Miranda Lambert. Should be a bit of a hoot, even if it’s not the type of stuff I normally play. Last one, I played Still Got The Blues For You which went really nicely despite the lead player’s OD pedal not working. Talking about working up Parisienne Walkways in a couple of weeks! Result!

Killerfridge is correct. Shouldn’t be an issue (other than EMGs which are a different animal). If you’re looking to change pickups can suggest you check out Catswhisker Pickups… hand wound in Birmingham and really nice. Plus he’s happy to tweak them to your tastes. Have some of theirs in my Frankenjazz and they’re fabulous. And really good vfm compared to the big brands like SD, Aguilar etc. if you’re interested I had a humbucking jazz set then swapped the neck pickup for a soapbar… just because why not. All fabulous pickups! https://www.catswhiskerpickups.co.uk/bass.htm

Another vote for Sandberg. My Wals haven’t been out of their cases since I got this in January!

Ballad of the Alamo - Marty Robbins

Absolutely beautiful!

What a great idea and a fitting tribute! ❤️ RIP Nick.

There’s a professional photographer who comes along to our jam night occasionally. Rather like this shot he took a few weeks ago of my Sandberg…

I fought the law - Nanci Griffith with Sonny Curtis & The Crickets …yes, really!!!

I saw them live twice. Second time was on the Thunder & Lightning farewell tour and he was using the Roland bass. The previous time was summer 81 with Snowy White in the band. He was playing the Ibanez then.

Lizzy was the first band I saw back in 81 (St Austell Colosseum). I asked for 2 gig tickets for my birthday. One week later I was back to see Elkie Brooks in the same venue. Ironically my ears rang longer and louder after Elkie - which was a shock to 3/4 of the audience who clearly only knew “Pearl’s A Singer” and “Lilac Wine” etc. She spent 30 mins at the start getting all the MOR pop hits out of the way then said “Well, that’s enough of that, let’s rock…” the following hour was full on Vinegar Joe, swampy blues and full tilt rock’n’roll. I may be wrong but I think Geoff Whithorn was her guitarist/MD…

As the film critic, Mark Kermode, has been known to to say, “Everybody is entitled to have their own opinion… …it’s just that yours is completely wrong!” 😉🤣🤣🤣

First time I saw a multi scale instrument in the wild was when Gordon Giltrap played his brand new multi scale Fylde at a gig. I remarked to him afterwards about the guitar that I knew he had a reputation for nimble fingers, but I’d never seen someone with playing so hot it actually melted their instrument mid song. That tickled him. I'm in the middle between the two options- I completely get the engineering philosophy behind them but as a long term 4 string player with no desire to play a 5, it’s all moot for me.

Ebeneezer Goode - The Shamen

…and if we’re talking about Whiskey in the Jar and great covers let’s absolutely NOT talk about Metallica!!!! 😉🤣🤣🤣🤮

Bob Seger’s original version of Rosalie is incredibly pedestrian. Thin Lizzy’s version is the definitive one for me.

I saw Lizzy on that tour and he was playing the Roland synth bass controller. I can certainly vouch for it sounding fabulous live. Spent ages getting to work out what bass it was until I git far enough down the front to spot the GR logo on the headstock. That was a fantastic gig - though I’ve never been a fan of John Sykes’ NWOBHM style for Lizzy . Darn it but he could play, though. The other time I saw them live was with Snowy White and his sound and style suited the band so much better as far as I was concerned. Phil was playing an Ibanez at that time. I absolutely hated the headstock on that bass. 🤮

This is the Italia site. Think I’ve got 4 of these straps - all 20+ years old and still in perfect nick! Great quality and lots of colour choices! https://italiastraps.com/collections/4-inch-wide?srsltid=AfmBOoqngioYLIT2BrY7p6jMjTG5ENV5OqT2r8MeD8C1gm0pQ_etOnJ5 Your strap also looks very nice quality!

That’s how that bass came - it was bought as a Frankenjazz so Hipshot Ultralites were the first thing I changed! I considered this but frankly for the likely difference it just wasn’t worth the hassle. A wide strap and it works fine!

Chambering my not help as much as you think… this bass still weighs 10 and a half pounds!