ezbass

All Night Long - Lionel Richie

Go Now - Moody Blues

High fallutin’ opinions about tone in these balanced and reasonable pages? No, I won’t have it.

John Wayne is Big Leggy - Haysi Fantayzee

Hip to be Square - Huey Lewis & The News

Only if you go too light on the strings. Dropped D does not seem to be an issue with my normal, long scale gauge and 5 stringers exist.

Other way around. I just my usual gauge (45-100) and enjoy the lighter tension.

Rose Garden - Lynn Anderson

Running on Empty - Jackson Browne

Cold Day In Hell - Gary Moore

I’m glad that Lerxt is doing something, he’s too good a musician to do nowt, or just dwell in the past. It’s not my kind of thing, but at least he’s getting out there. That’s what I like about Rush, there’s often something for everyone in their canon. Permanent Waves through to Counterparts is my favourite era.

I have long scale flats (EB cobalts) on my Mustang and ‘Ray short scale. There is some wrapping of the E & A string on the ‘Ray SS and just the E string on the Mustang (the Mustang is through body stringing and is better serviced by medium scale strings in an ideal world) both seem fine.

St Vitus Dance - Black Sabbath

I’ve seen nothing* *eyes firmly closed, fingers in ears, making lah, lah, lah, noises.

If you’re going to replace so many parts, maybe it’s worth moving it on and getting something else. If it didn’t require routing, I would have said that Nordstrand Big Singles would be a great upgrade, but it’s probably simpler to get an Ibanez or similar with them already in.

Godzilla - Blue Oyster Cult

It's easy for a neck pickup or P bass tone to become lost in a dense mix that includes keys. This is where a J bass blend control favouring the bridge pickup, or a Stingray come into their own. I have found this even playing along to tracks at home. When I played in a keys heavy, 80s band, my solution was to use my J and MM types as described. There is another solution of course...

Tony Butler's bass tone was so much a part of the BC sound, which was sadly missing when I saw them last year, despite Scott Whitley using a P bass.

Smash it Up - The Damned

The Gap - Thompson Twins

Ace of Spades - Mötorhead

Hoedown - Aaron Copeland

Ah, that old chestnut . A lovely brace of basses to be sure.

I’ve recently fallen for the allure of the blue bass.