Stub Mandrel

A really enjoyable event. Great to meet so many people of like mind! Thanks to Jamie for organising it. Also - seeing lots of handmade basses, including tiny ones by Jabba's and by Manton. These are incredibly BIG, rich sounding and very playable - more like playing a mandolin with sensible tuning! They don't want you to go dum-de-dum! the only thing I noticed was they are prone to high-frequency clanking when hammering on. Lots of custom short scale basses (I suppose we need to call them 'medium scale' now) - perhaps the era of 34" bases dominating is coming to an end? A very colourful and well finished display of Chowny basses - some interesting 'remixing' of styles to create some interesting new looks. The two I played felt and sounded very nice (once I figured out the D string was tuned to D# and it wasn't just me being crap...) I also won the Chowny Elephant Strap in the raffle - that can replace a plain black one 🙂 Some very nice sounding amps and cabs, but a bit difficult to really assess any with so much going on and so many different basses. Tried out Jamie's bass - my first time with fan-frets. I couldn't cope with it being in drop-D but once I tuned it up it wasn't TOO difficult to get my head around it. Seemed a bit of a stretch on the E-string though. Nice to compare a Steinberger and a Hohner B2A side by side. When got my B2 back in the 80s the word was they were nicer to play than 'bergers and I finally saw it proved. Forgot to take many photos - I had a 'proper' camera too! Thanks for all the positive comments on my performer, although I can only take credit for being lucky enough to own it! Alan's Andy's (mostly) lightweight guitars and basses: And how's this for an EUB?

He had to get a freebie MarkBass bag to take his winnings home in!

See here (you need top scroll down past the J-bass): http://www.bass-guitar-info.com/pickup_wiring.html

They think all basses have two little feet like this one 😆🧦

Line 'em up 🙂

I've already checked that (a) my blet buckle has no sharp edges and (b) my t-shirt covers it 🙂

You want punky + funky? How about Warhead by the UK Subs - two verses then push up the tempo 🙂

Charlie Watts: "this is my day job, this evening I'll be at Ronnie Scott's..."

Was sad to lose Daevid Allen.

I've decided it's overkill to bring a stack - I'm assuming people play at civilised levels not gig volumes, so I'll bring the Crush 25... Also I dug out my old Yamaha QY10 and it works great as a simple beat box, jamming along to it sounds vastly more 'musical' than random noodling.

Or this:

Do the original version - we're going to! Forget any preconceptions of Elton John, it kicks (Nickelback's) donkey and the bassline is a stretch (for me) and a lot more funkable than the Nickelback one.

I'll see if I can get over after the Bass Bash 🙂 I assume the rustiness means that of the 27 possible versions of NY you have a large does of Crazy Horse 🙂 I will now check out your vids!

I thought Pro II but the body looks more sculpted, and it's got the humbucker and heavyweight bridge. But ether are a lot of variants, If found a few with the humbucker and body shape on google (but they might not be Pro IIs) but not the bridge, which might be upgraded?

Actually the poles do have a 'correct way round'. It won't affect the sound output but it will stop them humbucking. If the pickup seems 'noisy' especially main hum (move near your amp), reverse one pair of wires.

Tupac Shakur - for the number of millennials who've told me he isn't - 21st Century Elvis.

Having thought about this some more, Ronnie James Dio.

Yes. I want it to be 2:37, just to annoy anyone with a phobia of prime numbers.

I was practising through a hefty Ashdown head yesterday. Everyone was getting a bit fed up as it had a strange chorusy/double tracked sound that was driving me round the bend. I kept fiddling trying to get it to go. Turned out the previous user has turned the 'sub' control up to to about ten o'clock to get a subtle octave. I had assumed it was a control for if you had a sub-woofer fitted. Of course when I finally figured it out, I turned it up full, went to the dusty end and annoyed everyone with some 'Royal Blood' style widdling :-)

When you are young, its a shock when what has always been a constant disappears. When you grow older, you think - me next?

Jim Lea and Don Powell. Listen to their playing on Journey to the Centre of Your Mind.

Our guitarist bought a flying v gig bag for his dughter's SS bass... I made a hard case in the end, 4" shorter than a standard case. I'll post a pic.

One of my favourite songs: Suggested for our gig and the reaction was a big positive. Playing this live is going to be such a buzz 🙂

Yeah, I'm playing the same tracks every day, and every day they get better, but playing with the guys is different - not least because some songs have four or five variations and we are all practising different versions - I emailed round some YT links today to address this! I've nailed one song with two riffs that I muddle up by having two little chants that give me the right rhythm. Plus, I'm making sure I know the key so I can fumble something that fits until i can lock in again.

I got thise email from laney Service today: