Stub Mandrel

I used to play octaves with thumb and forefinger, but have taught myself to use forefinger and middle finger for speed and a more consistent tone. As each finger has its own string and muting is easily dealt with by left hand for octaves I use free strokes.

If it's as easy to convert those pups to neodymium as to convert jazz pups...

I don't know why I'm asking as I need to save, but will you be selling the musicmaster neck?

Four hour(!) rehearsal for a dep today. Lots of songs in non-standard keys. Despite aircon, I drank three cans of 7up and fourth on the way home. Must have gone ok as the dep gig this weekend is now two gigs. Turns out that the singer is Dave Edmunds' cousin.

The only name band* I walked out on was Black Star Riders. What's the point of bringing back Ricky Warwick if the sound's too loud and so bad that what he's playing is indecipherable. I don't count Cornershop in their ramdom feedback era.

Just made my last visit to Nobles. Bought some leads and a footswitch, bade him farewell and thanks. Nice to see someone retire rather than go bust.

I have to confess to being a bit of a bounce around bassist...

I exaggerate a bit, but we can get a lot of rain here. Flooding is awful, even if it only damages property.

In the blues band Alex uses a variety of Marshall heads. He also uses a massive power soak and typically runs at about 5 watts output on stage.

In my experience the too-loud bands are the ones who gig regularly for a living and have shot their hearing.

I have a reasonable spl app on my phone. Itsy not be spot on but it does useful comparisons. Alice Cooper at an arena gig about 20m from the main pa. About 97dB peak. Typical bands in my local club at about 10m from the pa 90-100dB peak. Average levels about 10dB down. The band who needed their valve amps hot to get the right tone - over 110dB. I suspect it reads high, but seriously, no pub/club band needs to be louder than Alice Cooper.

I have a four hour rehearsal tomorrow. I will take the Flea because I know it will do everything needed and be the least tiring to play.

That's what we call a shower in Wales 😁

Nice to see a quirky bass made usable.

Great to see it coming back to life. These are such nice basses, they were outstanding for their price point when they came out.

Is the rattle just when you lift your finger off or whenever you play the open string? The first could be technique, in which case it will improve as your technique develops, especially damping. If the second the nut could be cut low, still not enough neck relief, action too low especially if your playing style is quite aggressive) or a high fret. Hard to diagnose without the bass in my hands! You said you checked for high frets with a credit card. Something longer such as a 150 - 300mm rule is better. In the short term raising the action a little if you find the rattle intrusive.

I'm Stub Mandrel and I endorse this message. Waiting for A Strings to open their new doors properly.

Genuine sticker from Birmingham Bass Centre!

I honestly was about to google cangle wax... 🤣

Adverts that say how fantastic a bass is, but are selling it anyway. "It's an incredible sounding and feeling instrument but I just can't bond with the colour!" Hmm.

It like it. Taste is so personal.

I wouldn't presume to suggest what you should like. I have 19 basses, active and passive, 4 & 5 string, long and short scale, fretted and fretless, modern and traditional, d from every decade from the 60s to the 2020s. So I think I'm very open to different instruments. I've tried basses like the modern players. They look pretty, but I don't bond with them. My friends who have had early 60s fenders since the 60s/70s still gig them and I do prefer them. The two basses I find myself gigging most are the 1960 P reissue and the 1963 J reissue. Having played real ones, I'm pretty sure I would use them if I could.

It makes me sad to see that YOB bass for me that I will never own 😫 At least I have my AVII.

Hawkwind at Castell Roc again. Wonderful venue for an amazingly fluent and confident band.

I noticed that your Gaelic pronunciation of 'Fender' is phonetically written as 'Rickenbacker'.