Stub Mandrel

I get really wound up by screw holes. My 70s p-bass copy has two holes for a thumb rest under the e-string by the bridge. When I fitted a new scratchplate I decided to move the rest back to the proper (upper) position. Now I have two holes looking at me. I have two spare thumb rests. Should i fit a second. Oh no! Should I fit a bottom one as well?

Anyone her who has only been to post-2000 festivals really can't moan about toilets! This is a documentary about Glastonbury 1986... My best Festival memory is the Mutoid Waste Company's 'Carhenge' and Mad-Max-style lorry cutting a swathe through the crowds powered by a blue guy with a mohican on the back beating out a galley-rhythm on a pair of oildrums.

I know these things because I was in a band called Head in a Helix 🙂

I used to have an Arion one, many years ago (still have the cardboard box it was in! - Now full of fishing lures and I haven't fished for over 20 years!) Bought a TC Forcefield - it was inexpensive but as well as compressing it sprinkled fairy dust all over the sound of the Peavey I was playing through a cheap amp in the shop. The tone improvement isn't as marked with my own gear, but it still works as a sort of 'better knob'.

I enjoyed Reading in 83, stayed away from thr front and watched the Agincourt Bottle effect from a safe distance. Glastonbury mid 80s , not sure if I went once twice or three times. Remember a handful of bands... abiding memory is the loos Various minor festivals, all good but some weird. Went to Cropredy about 10 years in succession late 80s to mid 90s - best of the lot, and family friendly. Now sad enough to be considering Rockstock. Might try this which combines two of my interests! http://www.solarsphere.events/

The pearl one makes your bum look fat.

Och! I couldn't stand on concrete for four hours! You need a foam pad!

Helices 😝

Mirror, of course!

I always think how could Gibson design such a beautiful shape, and then make it look cheap and nasty by barely even rounding corners? It just looks like it's been cut out of plywood like an old Kay...

Don't overthink it! It's a bit of fun not a scientific experiment. I couldn't swear to tell a start from telecaster by its sound, but plenty of times I've recognised guitarists like Hendrix, Clapton or Billy Gibbons on a recording, often in odd contexts, like Clapton on 'Think I'll Go Back Home', a Steven Stills track. And I can be fooled by imitators, like SRV doing Hendrix. So someone's 'signature' sound is rather like their voice. They can disguise it and others can imitate it*, but some people have one distinctive enough to be recognisable. *Chetaing is easy. I've got an Ibanez '335', plenty of gain, bridge pickup and back off the tone -bend a few pentatonic licks and you get instant Clapton. Or use a modelling amp...

Carol Kaye on Bass Fingering: I can't argue with that 🙂

This is the closest you can get, although I would not be surprised to see a Geddy solo album in the next year or two:

Sponsored by British Gas?

Does anyone remember the old screw-in TV legs? You used to get four plates with an angled boss on them and four wooden legs with tilting feet on the end taht fitted to a TV but you could use them to make coffee tables with any convenient slab of flat stuff. Thinking about dad's shop and looking at the Westone slab of wood body made me think....

I've been playing electronics since I was a kid (my dad had a shop selling /repairing electricals and renting TVs until the 80s) so if I change the electrics I'd want to do it myself - but in this case the pots are totally noiseless and the wiring is very neat.

Phil Alexander introduced a John Martyn track on Planet Rock. I've never heard 'Go Down Easy' (the DAB told me that) but my instant reaction was 'That's Danny Thompson!' Sure enough, a quick google and it's Danny. Who are the bass players you can spot just by their tone and style?

You mean... it's a smorgasboard! 🤣

If ou can cope with the surfeit of cool Hohner B2 basses weigh less than 6 1/2 lbs.

Nice. But now I know stew ripped me off - I shuldn't have paid more than a tenner 🤣

Different! Powerful, not very bright even with brand new strings. Should make a good contrast with my performer.

I got this from @stewblack I hope he doesn't mind me using his 'before' pic: This is the non-active version. read any review of a 1A and people will say 'I use it with the active switched off', because these basses come from before the days of active-optimised pickups that sound weedy when used direct. It's definitely a bass, the old strings sounded dull, I replaced them with new Elite Stadium stainless and it sounds much nicer but still doesn't sound bright. The output is very high too so I suspect these pickups have LOTS of windings - they have a reputation for sounding more like a precision than a precision. I haven't done much: Generally cleaned it all, including the crud off the fingerboard (acetone) which I then oiled. Most cleaning was with 'grip filth' wipes although it wasn't very dirty. Lots of dings and varnish worn through in a couple of places. Took the bridge and knobs off and eventually got the lacquer off with an overnight soak in nitromors. Then pickled in vinegar and salt, then brasso, then Windsor and Newton lacquer (which will come off with white spirit). One intonation screw was snapped sort so i replaced them. Evidence of a different bridge before the old one put back. The three non-brass screws seem to be replacements for sheared off screws so teh brass-colour ones i put in as replacements woudl only go in at an angle to avoid the stub of the old screw , ho hum! Added a couple of straplock buttons, then fitted the elite strings. I could see the marks from where the bridge used to sit, used these a a guide and took little effort to get decent action and spot on intonation despite rather worn frets. Bootiful and a lovely blast from the past.

As a general point not directed at the original poster. In other forums I have come across several situations where someone has learning difficulties, autism, Asperger's syndrome, stress/mental health issues, loneliness, or being bullied. These can all manifest themselves in ways that are difficult for people to cope with, particularly on forums like this where there seems to be a highly developed forum etiquette. As an admin I have learnt the story behind threads from upset people messaging me to say they are leaving the forum "because...". Looking back at the threads in question it's usually easy to see where things have gone wrong and escalated into mutual indignation. Back to the current thread, looking at the post linked above, I can't help thinking the point about spending on the gear just to wind people up was an attempt at irony and not literal. The guff at the end suggests to me the guy is troubled and angry rather than deeply malicious. The video, whatever you thought of it, did not feel like a fake.

If some b***r tries that on me I will strangle them with my Lemmy t-shirt!