Baxlin

Good point, taken on board. However, we are all retired, jamming for fun, so the text and his reply were a tad tongue in cheek, as we all have songs we are not fond of, and rib each other about them.

Rehearsed last week without our rhythm g/keyboardist, so we weren’t trying too seriously. Jammed Brown Eyed Girl as we know he hates that song, but it worked very well. Texted him to say we wanted to work on it at today’s session, his reply? "I think I will have a migraine come on this afternoon". Hope he was joking.

Seeing some of the Elvis impersonators that 'perform', there might be some truth in this.......

Not to mention the many replicas of the likes of the AC Cobra, E-Type Jag, Lotus 7 etc which while not BEING the original, often,TBH, perform better......

As well as playing in a jamming band, I'm also on the rota for our church worship band, it’s a fairly big church, we have 3 drummers, several keys players, guitarists and folks that blow things, as well as 4 bassists on the rotas. Which means that while we play familiar songs (with some new thrown in), it’s rare to have the same lineup for either service on a Sunday. We have a good hour's rehearsal, but the atmosphere can sway how the songs are presented, so hand signals are essential, C hand shape for chorus, fingers raised relating to verse number, arched hand for the bridge, fist for finish, 'lifting' hand motion for building up, downwards for pulling back, etc. We also have a talk-back system, when the leader presses a pedal, it switches their mic from PA to our in-ears, for additional communication. Sounds complicated, but works fine!

+1 for buying a low cost instrument to get the feel of. I took it to the extreme, and I hardly dare admit to this in this company, but I bought a nonsuch (Oldfield?) bass via eBay for less than £30 (!) which I defretted, just to see how I got on with it. Really enjoyed it in the safety of my own home, but hadn’t the skill or the confidence to use it in the band. Sold it a couple of months ago for quite a profit, my ad suggesting that it might be ideal for a buyer to use to put their toe in the fretless water.

Have you seen the band 'New Amen Corner'? Young (brilliant) singer, even younger drummer, and the bassist is the drummer's Dad! Big age range........ But (IMHO) a fantastic band.

Black Epiphone EB3 with black scratchplate, neck and fretboard, even strung with black tape wound strings. Backup bass is budget EB2 shape, also in black, as is my Strat copy guitar. The exception is my treasured 1960s Hawk 12-string jumbo, which is sunburst top, natural grain elsewhere.

Maybe, but (allegedly) they’ve been asked many times over the years to name their own price to get back together, and they’ve refused. And with the success of the Mamma Mia franchise, and Chess being revived, it’s probably more important for the "A"s rather than for the "B" members........

Unless, like Joe Brown said when his guitar went 'off' during a gig, "Now for a little Chinese ditty, 'Tu-Ning' ".

My fault entirely.... Way back in the 60s, at a pub in Nottm, we were using their PA, with what passed as a sound desk on the stage next to my drums. Being a drummer, I had no idea how these worked, but the vocalist asked me to turn the whole thing up. Right next to the desk, mounted on the wall, were the burglar alarm controls. The PA volume didn’t increase, but about ten minutes later, the boys in blue arrived........ We never played at that venue again, for some reason

Thanks, separate tone for each p/u. Accessing controls is only via jerjiggling through the f sound holes. Assuming this is possible (they must have been fitted this way?) how would I add shielding, please? Thanks again

I have a budget-end EB-2 shape semi acoustic bass as a backup to my EB-3, and using it yesterday the sound man pointed out a mains hum type buzz when the volume on either humbucker was turned up. As it’s on both, I assume it’s not either volume pot, but anyone any ideas please? I tried different inputs, and different leads. I’ve had the jack socket come loose in the past. Thanks in advance for any help. Malcolm

OK, I’m of shall we say more mature years, so I went to the "Sensational 60s Experience" in Aylesbury on Friday evening. Mike Pender (ex Searchers), Mike d'Abo (Manfred Mann, but he also wrote Handbags and Gladrags, and Build me up Buttercup) Herman's Hermits (still with the original drummer, after 54 years!) The Fortunes (none of the originals) Mike d'Abo brilliant, the others good, but for my money the best were New Amen Corner, who did their own set, plus being house band for the two Mikes.

In Nottingham in the 60s, "The Mason-Dixon Line", we figured everyone would recognise the name, but hopefully wouldn’t immediately come up with the original. As has been said in a previous post, very 6th form.... Current (as yet) jamming band, Cabin Crew, because we rehearse in a log cabin.

It’s your name Carlsberg then, because it’s an old Army saying that you shouldn’t worry about getting shot; a bullet will only get you if it has your name on it...... (I’ll get my own coat)

Martin, if the new slider seems to work but the zip then comes apart, it’s likely the slider's not pulling the two halves together quite enough. Try squeezing the sides of the slider together, it might take a slight tap rather than a squeeze. I got this from a YouTube video, and I successfully mended an old gig bag zip this way. Hope this helps

Only ever done one audition, way back in the 60s, when I sat behind a kit. Not an audition from Hell, but it turned out fine for me. I answered an ad for a drummer wanted for a re-forming showband, there were three or four blokes turned up, which were quickly reduced to just two of us. We were using the band's old drummer's kit for the auditions, but chatting it transpired that the other bloke and me both had identical kits, red silk Premier, and he was left handed, so set his up as a mirror image of mine. Well, it was a showband, (sax etc) so they decided to offer us both the job, to have two drummers, and left it to us to get together to swap notes etc. When I phoned him to arrange, his dad answered, and told me in no uncertain terms that his son wasn’t going to be one of two drummers, and he, Dad, would make sure his son got the gig. I phoned the band leader, who said he’d just heard from the Dad, and was about to phone me, to ask if I’d have any problem being 1 of 2, to which I replied no problem. In that case you’ve got the job, he said.......

They came to our church a few years ago, absolutely lovely couple. I was allowed to host them, it turned out Paul had given up the only free evening of a Manfreds tour to come.

Hi, thanks for the replies, I’ve been abroad for best part of a month with little or no 'net hence not replying, sorry. T-bay, the dimensions are overall length 41" (125cm), max width 16" (41cm) which is about 8"(20cm) from the tailpiece end. Semi-hollow bodyplus vol/tone knobs. Thanks again

Before I retired, I part owned a service industry company which charged fees (although not necessarily on a % basis) and realised that quite a few people know their cost, but unfortunately not always their value. Having said that, I understand that traditional auction houses (not the likes of eBay) also charge around 15% commission, but to both vendor and purchaser, so they get it twice......

Thanks all for the welcome but no, not the Young Ones, it's 'Handle with Care', so I suppose that's almost as appropriate.......

Many thanks, Gear4Music don't have one to fit, that's where I bought the acoustic one I'm using, but I'll explore the other suggestions.

As title, really, I've just replaced my EB-3 with a long scale 335-bodied semi acoustic bass, but I can't find either a gig bag or a hard case to fit it. I'm currently using a well padded acoustic bass bag, but it's far too big really, and those for solids are not quite wide enough. Any recommendations, please? I may finish up making my own hard case, but this is a last resort. Thanks in advance. Malcolm

Good morning all, just joined the forum, although I've been playing bass guitar for a while now. I was in bands as long ago as the 60s, sitting behind a drum kit in those days, but fed up of carrying all the gear, and with the length of time it took to set up, etc, I taught myself to play guitar. Years later, when my younger daughter was taking A level flute, and playing in a church band which had no bass player, this was my chance to learn bass! Still play regularly to congregations of a couple of hundred plus. Recently helped form a jamming band, three of us in our 70s, one aged 65, and the 'baby' in his late 50s as vocalist . Very fortunate to have a fully equipped - PA, amps, drum kit etc - garden room to rehearse in. I've just 'retired' my Epiphone EB-3, and bought a long scale semi-acoustic '335' bodied bass, mainly because I found the solid to be a bit too heavy. As I'm a member on various other, albeit mainly motoring, forums (fora?) I'm looking forward to joining in discussions/banter on here. Malcolm