Beer of the Bass

That was Misdee again, sorry if it read as having a pop at you.

Honestly, I think we get too hung up on birth names. The name someone commits to using is their name, I reckon.

A lot of people have chosen to use a middle name, that's not unusual (Alexander Boris DePfeffel Johnson, anyone?). But the point for this discussion is that there's no basis for "correcting" Blu to Blue when the former is part of her actual given name as well as the name she uses.

It reminds me of the people I've seen "correcting" Jimi Hendrix' name to Hendricks, even though the spelling with the X was what his father used and not a stage name that Jimi adopted.

I feel like that wouldn't work out for a few reasons. She played a Fender on the records she's famous for, but today she favours an Ibanez which is a discontinued model. So if Fender approached her about a signature model, she's unlikely to play it, and Ibanez would have both the extra expense of bringing back a defunct model and the perception that people influenced by her older work are just going to buy a P-bass. On top of that, she's quite an unfiltered, opinionated character prone to lengthy social media rants. She's a hugely important figure in popular music, but I wonder if she might not be the easiest person for companies to work with.

There are pitfalls to be avoided with physical approach which mean it's best not to just assume you can hop across from electric bass without further input. The right teacher is always going to be a more direct route, but I feel like the "no discussion, just Get A Teacher" dogma of the in-crowd on a certain US bass forum ignores that not everyone lives in a large city with suitable music professionals offering lessons. And not everyone feels inspired to work on classical music. You can pick up a lot by using books, watching great bassists and talking to other bassists informally, and there are some good video lessons now that will at least get you off to a physically safe start. If you can find the right teacher in your area who you can afford, go for it, but don't let it stop you if you can't.

When looking for a new acoustic guitar I tried a couple of used Avalon models and quite liked them. But the CEO was Northern Ireland's first upskirting arrest, and then got nobbled for even worse stuff on his hard drive during the investigation, and the guitars lost their appeal a bit upon discovering that.

I'm having the "who do you play for" thoughts also, ironically in the other direction tonewise. Currently the only actual paying gigs I might get are with a friend doing gypsy jazz stuff where a gut string bass sound would be entirely appropriate. I also do some free improv stuff where frankly any type of bass sound could be workable and appreciated. But I'm steadfastly sticking with my sort of 60s-modern sustainy pizz sound and approach just because that's the sound I've gravitated towards.

I guess they're an extremely niche product these days. I always feel fortunate that my all-time favourite double bass sounds that I aspire towards are almost all from steel string players (usually Spirocores, some probably on Lycons historically). Even the new wave of allegedly gut-like synthetic core strings are getting further from that. I've been somewhat intrigued by Charlie Haden's sound with nylon wrapped gut G and D over Spirocores, but the poor bow response of the nylon wrapped strings deters me from investigating further.

I've heard some very good pizz tone from people using them. They can get a little more singing and sustainy than I would have expected from a synthetic core string. Some players with a firm right hand technique complain that they "roll" a little.

If I remember this correctly, Joe Zawinul recounted that Jaco was wearing two non-matching shoes when they first met, and that's long before the drugs. Just that type of guy!

Maybe Pirastro Obligato, going by this site? https://gollihurmusic.com/string-identification-chart/

The other thing I'd note with the YC, the control set is geared around the Hammond emulation and all the others are a bit of an afterthought. The classic transistor combo organs have fewer differently pitched stops available than a Hammond, but usually a couple of differently filtered options at each pitch, so there's a bright, thin 8' or mellow, flute-like 8'. The YC doesn't reproduce this behaviour at all, it's just the same set of Hammond drawbars with a brighter core tone. If you were specifically seeking to replace an older combo organ with it, that could be limiting.

I have the YC, it's fun to play, I could see it being great to pull out for the occasional organ part, overdubs etc, though I'm sure it would be frustrating to a real Hammond player. I quite enjoy turning off the Leslie sim on mine and running it through a Marshall-esque guitar amp, that's an instantly recognisable British rock organ sound that can range from Caravan to Deep Purple. The other thing I'd say is that you absolutely need an expression pedal attached to get full enjoyment out of it. The distortion effect in the YC sounds quite harsh and unpleasant when it's just constant on every note, but when you swell in an out of it as "real" organists do, it's much more satisfying.

Guitarists are a fickle lot (bassists too, but not in the same ways) - it seems like new guitar amp names who start in the high-end boutique world and then expand into the mass market can do quite well. Getting a new valve amp range accepted by the market without that sort of buzz attached to the name seems to be more of a tall order.

Presto are usually quite good value too, I don't think they're lesser quality than Thomastik et al, but Gdansk is presumably a more cost effective place to run a manufacturing business than Vienna.

I use picks on guitar, mandolin and related instruments, but I've found I like them quite thin on bass, usually .88mm. I only use a pick on selected songs, I think it's three or four out of my band's repertoire, so when I use one it's specifically because I want that clicky attack. It's an electric instrument, I have to remind myself of that, not like playing acoustically where a stiff pick can help with projection and volume, and a tone that would be objectionably clicky unplugged is toned down a lot by magnetic pickups. Discovering large triangles was a big help too, my grip is more relaxed with those. I don't really lose them, I'll have one or two tucked under the control plate on my bass, and a few more in the gigbag pocket just in case.

I've played a couple of different guitar amps into my bass cabs, it's not bad as such, but for clean to lightly driven tones it seems a little polite. It could be good for a warm, clean straight-ahead jazz tone (and indeed some of the Henricksen jazz amps use the same driver as my bass cabs), and I've seen people make it work for unconventional heavily EQ'ed drive sounds. But for more "normal" guitar sounds it might be lacklustre.

Not sure about Noel, but Liam was a fairly loud and unashamed homophobe back in the day and has yet to show any real indication of personal growth or reflection on any past views, so I can't quite picture it. One of the reasons so many people so emphatically reject any nostalgia for the whole 90s lad culture business...

I had one of these on rental from a shop in the early 2000s before I owned a bass of my own. It wasn't wonderful, even a bit boxy and thin sounding compared to other plywood basses, but it did get me out and playing. They were literally the least expensive new bass in the UK at the time, I'd price a used one with that in mind. Have you checked that the soundpost is present and in the right spot on yours? (It should be just downwards of the G side bridge foot). The fingerboard surface is a tricky one - most advice on maintaining fingerboards is intended for ebony or other dense hardwood boards, rather than a painted board like this one. I'd string it up first (if the soundpost in in place, and reading up on bridge positioning), and then see how it looks - the amount of relief along its length and whether there are any bumps or dips, before deciding if it needs any reshaping or just a light tidying of the surface finish.

I try and not get into slagging off bands, because I know they mean something to people whether I like them or not. Plus life's too short, I'd rather talk about what I do like. But then, Oasis fans might not make the most convincing case for taking that approach, when the brothers Gallagher will loudly have a go at any music that's not boringly dressed white men with guitars. They get hate because they give it.

I was getting sponsored posts for Leatherwood on social media for a while, I don't think I've ever heard of other rosin brands advertising like that. I don't doubt the rosin is decent stuff, but the advertising budget and the "artisanal" packaging must account for a chunk of the cost.

Agreed, but then most bassists would do fine with Spirocores, one of the classic steel orchestral sets, or simple guts. Getting higher into the hundreds with things like Oliv sets or boutique guts is probably a game of diminishing returns a lot of the time.

When I moved through to Glasgow I picked up a Hofner Shorty bass thinking it would enable me to cycle to rehearsals. But it's so different to my usual bass that it's not very useful to rehearse with, and a bandmate (who lives nearby) often appreciates the lift if I take the car, so the Hofner has not been used as I anticipated.

Reminds me of some of the overly serious theremin enthusiast crowd that I've run into online when researching instruments. Did they disdain any pop music and sci-fi soundtrack use of the theremin, and use it to play classical and operatic excerpts, badly? I suspect they wouldn't like the Stylophone theremin as it has only a single antenna and the "real" instrument has one for volume too.