Burns-bass

Oak cabinet.

I wouldn’t spend a fortune on one as they’re quirky! I had a Squier one (with a matching headstock) and it was fantastic. Ergonomically it didn’t work for me.

Vintage Fender wood. I’ll use the core of a pre CBS jazz bass because you just can’t get tone like that from a modern piece of wood, as you know.

Literally the exact steps. I figure it should take about 15 minutes. Chose maple and ebony to see if that makes a difference (it won’t).

I recently became interested in picking up a wooden end pin. I bought the one here for £25 but it doesn’t fit (10mm spike!). So I’ve decided to build one. In fact, I’m going to build two. I’ve got the wood and fitted the stoppers. Need to measure the ideal length and cut the wood then stick the spike in (Gorilla Glue!). One will be for barefoot practice at home and the other (slightly longer) will be for gigs where I wear shoes. Total costs so far is £7. Will let you know how it goes!

Each to their own! For that price I'd probably save for another few months and buy a more original one from Andy Baxter.

They say it’s been refretted. It looks a bad job. One of the reasons the vintage basses are so playable is the pencil thin frets.

The frets look absolutely bloody awful.

Thats the normal price!

I get that I was just joking. To be honest, I'm not a Queen fan.

That’s exactly what I did (learn to read the dots to gain more jobs not playing with Queen!).

Very smart. I wish I’d followed all this advice when I started!

It was my recommendation that leading music helped me. I also found the whole process fun and rewarding. It was great to be able to learn what’s effectively a new language all on my own. It unlocked lots of interesting things. I could play a Bach cello suite, for example. In the end, there’s no real need for me to learn to read music but I did it because I wanted to and enjoyed it. In the end, if it’s not fun, then why bother? Very few of us do this for a living, but we do it because we love it. I like process but others don’t. All good.

This is the biggest problem with the transition from EUB to DB. Be sure to watch the videos online about using arm weight. Using proper technique means you can be dexterous without putting any strain on your thumb. I’m not trying to patronise you, it’s a mistake I made and it can really impact you negatively. This bass looks amazing and I’m sure you’ll love it. Just protect your hands.!

They say they do but claiming is a different matter altogether in my experience (admittedly not me but acquaintances). They always have clauses like you need to have a picture of the items in the car etc.

Your insurance wouldn’t cover it in the car but would in a locked hotel room.

Have you taught yourself? I found that a couple of lessons helped to identify some poor habits and provided me with lots of material to work on. One thing that I found transformed by playing was learning to read music, play along to chord charts and improvise. There are lots of ideas here that can help you achieve that. Personally, I believe you'll make faster progress working with someone else, even if it's one lesson every couple of months. (If you don't want to pay or can't, I'm sure someone on here would help you.) Of course, I say this as someone who used to teach a bass guitar course. But I saw what the regular feedback and structured support did for the players I used to teach. Thankfully, most if them are much better than I am now.