SpondonBassed

[quote name='jezzaboy' timestamp='1508961969' post='3395706'] I don`t think that you can blame the sites. I have joined a couple of bands through them. The problem is most people who advertise on them are either dreamers, bedroom musicians or just time wasters. The good thing about JMB is if you look in the profile section under the advert, sometimes you can spot the serial advertisers who haven`t deleted their old messages and give them the old Merv the swerve. As long as you can put up with the nutters, these sites are perfect for us weekend warriors without a network or the professional contacts. [/quote] I have read that twice. I am not sure you are being fair on subscribers to JMB. Dreamers - Where would music be without dreamers? Bedroom Musicians - Everyone has to start somewhere and continue to practice without being a PITA for the people who share the building with them. Time Wasters - That is such a selfish attitude when you think of all of the times when you just wished someone would give you a chance when you were starting out. Nutters - Every walk of life has them. I have no argument with what you said there. I am aware however that the creative gene seems to be associated with nutty behaviour. I just joined JMB again now that I have my email issues dealt with (finally!). I need it for building up my contacts list. As I won't use social media it is the only avenue left to me really. When I am less of a Bedroom (workshop actually) Musician and more confident with my progress, I'll look at more highly-regarded sites for networking but for now JMB is quite appropriate.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1509004849' post='3395877'] No not me! I keep practising in the breaks in rehearsals. I think I'm getting quite good now. Well, it was going well, but they just fired me! Said their old bass player is coming back! Funny thing is, he died. [/quote] Heeheehee

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1508967768' post='3395759'] New project being formed... we have a first meet and see what we feel like. The core is drummer, sax and bass: we play together in another band and we're starting something else. We got a singer and a guitarist to try. Both looked good on paper. Singer was very good. No problem. Guitarist... was knowledgeable enough, and his technique was right, but pretty much only played a couple of bluesy numbers, and murdered Brown Sugar with excessive distortion and a bassy guitar sound. In general he was out of tune too. We didn't gel, musically or personally. He would argue about keys, despite the fact that the singer had specified the keys for the songs with discussed... He was just hard work, not fun, and musically uninspiring at best. And a bit of a 'guitar hero' too... After we part ways, we talk about it and we unanimously decide that we don't need to see this guy again. Drummer writes a simple message to him along the lines of "thank you, but we think you're not what we're after, good luck, etc". Nothing offensive or anything. Then the guy just went on and on about how we feel threatened because he is better, and he's got so much experience, etc etc. [size=6]He sounded insane[/size]. He was a little odd in person, but after I saw that... I was very glad we didn't waste any more time with him. Seven or eight messages later, he disappeared. I hope for good. I laughed but... it was sad. He was genuinely feeling hard done by and tried to insult us (must try harder)... and somehow we are idiots for not recognising his value and not wanting to play with him. [size=6]What planet does he live in? Immensely deluded.[/size] A bullet well dodged. Has anybody come across people like this guy? It's a first for me. [/quote] The highlighted bits of your OP have summed it up for me. Even now he's wasting your time because you are still discussing it. It's best not to mock the afflicted and moving on was the right thing for your band to do. He'll find a place somewhere.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1508805951' post='3394583'] ...Thinking about gigging the 1991 Gibson Bird. My quarter inch lead seems to pop out for some reasons. Do I have to tighten the nut around the input? Hope there's a lot of Sexy Nurse costumes. [/quote] Reading that last sentence has slackened my nuts somewhat too. Joking aside I don't think tightening the attaching nut will help to retain your jack plug. It's more likely to be a well-worn socket that needs replacement. Alternatively, if you have recently bought a new cable, check whether the old cable pops out as easily. Some cables have jack plugs that are incompatible with some jack sockets and on rare occasions this happens.

[quote name='mep' timestamp='1508831209' post='3394620'] ...We've got on on bonfire night. Can't see us exporting that to the US! [/quote] Hahahahahaha! Good one.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1508798514' post='3394562'] Always a big gig night for bar bands in the States. A lot of fun and nice size crowds. Is it a big deal in the UK? If yes, tell us about what you have booked. Blue [/quote] I know you are asking about bookings but you may have opened up a can of worms with that question Blue. To answer your question briefly, yes. It is a big deal for many reasons. To address the actual question, I don't have gigs (yet) as I am a hobby bassist. There are however lots of musical events put on during the week around 31st October every year. To expand on the notion of Halloween being a big deal as you put it - we now have children doing that awful Trick-or-Treat thing. It has replaced collecting pennies for the Guy on the run up to the more insensitive Guy Fawkes Night that was commonly celebrated every 5th of November during my youth. Instead of children preparing for the November 5th "celebrations" by gathering firewood and old clothes then going door to door with an effigy asking for a "[i]penny for the Guy[/i]", we have children going door to door in random groups, sometimes with parents, doing that intimidating thing of begging on the doorstep for sweets while wearing face masks. If you don't give-in you get victimised. Neither practice is tolerated here because we don't have children in the household. We don't even answer the door on Halloween night. I'd be much better off performing during that silliness. At least I'd get something useful out of it to compensate. Did I not mention that I am a part-time miserable old git? [url="https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/penny-for-the-guy"]https://www.activity...nny-for-the-guy[/url]

Welcome Peter.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1508945747' post='3395540'] ...Hope you enjoy these. [/quote] Cheers Grangur. Great post. The Blues Brothers film was a marvellous way to showcase those standards without making it look like musical theatre. As you say, there was little in the way of original music for the film with the possible exception of incidental music but even that might be said to be an extension of the previously released material. I'd heard a lot of the music before as you had but was not up on artist names or backgrounds. Back then we did not have the Internet to help us satisfy our curiosity like we do now.

[quote name='pfretrock' timestamp='1508943646' post='3395528'] Seemed like unusual string spacing on Big Joe William's guitar. Google found this: [url="http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=2102.0"]http://weeniecampbel...hp?topic=2102.0[/url] [/quote] Yes. The nine strings were yet another interesting fact. Three machine heads along the end of the headstock - magic! The story in your link suggests he was modifying the guitar himself to stop someone else "messin" with it during the interval. The tunings were quite unexpected too.

Still and all. It would have been a marvellous thing to see Jools doing piano while Frank called him Nanook and advised him not to eat that yellow snow.

Thanks for the link Jack. I have to thank the Internet for this sort of thing. I can be as curmudgeonly about technology as, say, Victor Meldrew might have been had he not been knocked down on a wet night many years ago. This sort of thing however, I'll allow. Long live Victor; [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvwIelHqE9A[/media] PS: Where on earth did you get the notion that I am experienced as a musician? You must know by now that I spend half my time talking out my bum?

This is undoubtedly common knowledge for a lot of forum members but I thought I'd share it for those who, like myself, have not been exposed to as wide a variety of musical styles in their lives as perhaps they'd have liked. I was looking up YT clips for [i]She Caught the Katy[/i]. If someone had asked me who released it I might have given the Blues Brothers credit but I had an inkling that it was a standard like the other songs from the film. I am glad that I looked it up because of the entertainment I got watching some of the clips along the way. Just before, last week in fact, I discovered an artist called Taj Mahal that I had previously been unaware of. I had seen him perform from a mule drawn cart in the Bloody Sunday Sessions clips on YT doing [i]Queen Bee[/i] and [i]Good Morning Ms Brown[/i]. I looked out some of his earlier performances and collaborations on the back of that. I enjoyed some cracking recordings. After a couple of days I decided to find out the origin of the lyric “S[i]he caught the Katy[/i]”. Taj Mahal's name popped up. He is credited as one of the writers of the song released in 1968. The clip on YT is a good 'un. Taj Mahal; [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_mcvifJ5N0[/media] Then I noticed a clip by Big Joe Williams. Again, the artist is one who I had not previously been aware of. He did a song which has a train and a mule in it as well. It is interesting because the clip is claimed to be from 1966. Big Joe Williams; [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM-ebiCuVpo[/media] I am looking forward to having some quality time going through some of Big Joe Williams' YT clips over the next few days. The Katy? Well, I had an idea that it was a train as the lyric hints that way. It was. The [i]KT[/i] is a contraction of MKT, the abbreviation for the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railway. I feel like I have finally got at an out-of-reach itch between my shoulders now that I know that! Sad innit?

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1508850596' post='3394844'] I use a 5p piece. They vary in thickness slightly but I've found one that is as near as makes no difference, 2mm thick [/quote] [quote name='nilebodgers' timestamp='1508854506' post='3394881'] A standard 2p coin is 2.03mm when new - pretty much ideal for a quick action check. (a hair over 5/64) [/quote] [quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1508865310' post='3394984'] That's a good one. I also use a £1 coin for the distance from strings to pickup. [/quote] [quote name='steantval' timestamp='1508868124' post='3395015'] Is that the old or new £1 coin ? [/quote] [quote name='nilebodgers' timestamp='1508876205' post='3395114'] They probably need some degree of fret levelling, but having that done commercially will cost more than a brand new Encore given they are under £100 new! [/quote] If you add it all up, it's an expensive pursuit this bass lark.

I have every confidence in you. It's of no help to you to say it but I keep thinking of how bones bleach in string sunlight. I have a twisted sensibility sometimes. Shimming or reworking the neck pocket are on the cards for my kit build. The as-supplied machining could do with a tweak even though I now use it exclusively for practising.

Welcome Bigguy.

Again, I am not a fan of metal but neither do I have a blinkered view of music. I like the sound of graphite so "[i]Status in action[/i]" was the hook. Good one! That worked for me. Your band has all the component parts assembled into a functioning unit. It's impressive even though I don't listen to metal by choice. I agree with what's already been said in that you have material sufficient for a very good promotional video clip. The three minute edit-down from that would work really well in YT. The longer version might work well in a domain that you have selected for customers to contact you for bookings.

[quote name='Skybone' timestamp='1508825621' post='3394593'] It amazes me, when you see videos like this, that people are surprised that girls can play instruments to a high level of skill. "Girl street performer slams like a pro"? What about the other player in the vid, or is it just because a girl can play bass? Sorry, I'm not a fan of slap bass, but I'm not a fan of sexism either. [/quote] That's clickbait for ya.

I like slappers[size=5]*[/size]. Am I a sexist caveman? Probably... but I'm happy with it. The clip is good. They don't look like starving musicians so it's a jam in the street rather than a busk in my humble 19th century opinion. It fell apart improv-wise near the end but I am sure lots of us do that when working on our chops. [size=3]*This term used in the context of the topic "[i]Anti-slappists will despise this[/i]" has nothing to do with sex, sexuality, race, religion nor dietary preference. If you still have an axe to grind try another topic on another forum far faraway please.[/size]

[quote name='steantval' timestamp='1508791976' post='3394517'] I have now lowered my action and can now only just slip a thinly sliced piece of ham between pick ups and strings. [/quote] Meh! I once adjusted a sea bass with a kipper. So there.

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1508775843' post='3394337'] Not terribly sure I'd get a banana either For what it's worth, I use a fine flat needlenose and also a triangular one where I've ground one of the apexes smooth. With the flat blade I round it from the fret through 90 deg to the fretboard edge and then with the triangular one, with the smooth edge in the corner between the fret-end and the fretboard wood first take off the sharp edge on one side and then round to the fret apex, then the same on the other side. If any of that makes any sense! [/quote] Yes, me too with one additional needle file that has an inside curve. That should have been the business but its lickle teeth were knackered to the point where it took an age to make any visible metal dust. By that time the fretboard had taken more accidental knocks than simple masking tape could withstand so I got it as good as I could with the flat needle files. I think the last time I used that inside curve was to modify the ports on a fizzy (FS1E) for the lads next door. Serves me right for being a tight git and expecting stuff from my apprenticeship to be in good condition! There ought to be a Dremel cutter with a tiny cupped tip to get the shape close to spherical before finishing. Never saw one though.

The Mr Kipling of basses. Exceedingly good.

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1508769682' post='3394283'] And the frets are in The fret-ends were pre-dressed on the bass side and now trimmed on the treble side ready for those to be rounded too. I'm going for spherical ends to give maximum usable playing width. Tuners are on order - I won't drill for them until I have them physically in my sticky mitts! After that there are just two or three small jobs to do before I can start the final sand and finishing process. Probably be able to start that on Wednesday [/quote] I'd love to see what files etc you are using to get fully-rounded ends on your frets. My attempt to make the Pitbull feel like my B2A in that regard was close but no banana.

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1508751860' post='3394107'] ...or your pickups too low or your bananas too small [/quote] Busy wiping tears of laughter out my eyes. I'm afraid I'm going to have to abandon this topic for a comfort break darn you!

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1508757707' post='3394156'] But those are so thing and pointy that they're sort of pointless. [/quote] Being pointy and, er, thing never put bassists off using the Flying Vee so what's [i]your[/i] point? Heeheehee [size=3]Pointy an ting - iry[/size]

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1508753753' post='3394118'] Are they eu standard bananas ? What if they don't have enough relief to align with the neck ? Fitting the banana with a truss rod could work - twin rods shared with the neck perhaps a la Rick ? [/quote] And so, the Rickenana was born. Just don't file your saddles too low because you can't put them back up again.