Stub Mandrel

Point of order. That's a bass leaning against the settee. Incidentally, what does one do if one has a sofa*? *Settee is non-u. I growed up with a settee, my partner has a new sofa...

Lucky Lion - cool imagery!

Not my first electronic kit, but first pedal mod, done for my brother. This kit adds gain control (the original design reduces volume) and a shape control to this Joyo trem pedal. Main challenge was cleaning out the pcb vias with a solder sucker.

How would someone who considers Third a work of genius find the current incarnation?

It's rather nice being in a 'power trio' with some licence to improvise and the space to jmp around while the 'main attraction' is largely tied to his mike 😁 We enjoy some coordinated instrument wagging too!

Just seen this on Reverb. Not just a refin, but non-original pups and controls, althpugh the rest looks right. https://reverb.com/uk/item/53128369-fender-performer-bass-1985-natural-and-black

Cod Almighty! I've unwittingly unleashed a fish pun thread.

What's it like playing in a fishtank? Do you get odd sound reflections?

Unpacking more detail... 30" feels very compact and easy/relaxing to play. 34" narrow (jazz) comfortable, 34" broad (p) encourages more aggressive approach. 34" very narrow (performer) absurdly easy to play. 35" 5 demands more attention, scale length not significant as mostly play around 5th fret & up. Extra shorties... just fun.

My one with a KML sticker is in the loft awaiting a new handle... which I've had for a few years do I ought to sort it!

Band stickers!

As above the antiques trade seem to use 40 years, so my Fender Performer is 'on the cusp'. 'Mid century' seems to be a popular term for furniture etc. from the 40s-60s which would cover older basses.

I voted all options except >35". Because I've never played an extra long scale so I can't comment. I get great enjoyment from playing basses that feel different, so swapping scale length always feels good. That said, it took me a month to realise my long scale fiver had a 35" scale.

Bit disappointed there aren't more 'heavily stickered' cases 😁 used to be the 'thing' way back when!

These are getting popular - always amazes me how many people will turn out on a Sunday, but freaks me out returning from a gig - on the road by 9pm, as my SO said on sunday "this is usually when we are going out!"

Remember boys and girls: When the fun stops, buy another bass.

It's getting very hard to take anything else to gigs!

Another good one at the Earl Haig yesterday. About 80 people in, which is good for the sunday slot. Quite a few came because it was us, which is great. Had plenty of dancing in the second set, which isn't bad for blues! Hopefully better pics to come!

You need the darker times to appreciate the good times. Keep the gear, youll find something with less pressure when you realise you still need to gig.

Bass cases can sometimes tell as much of a story as the instrument inside. Share yours! This SKB was already well used and stickered when our own @ped passed it on, but it's still going strong. The other is a G&G Classic, supplied with my American Vintage II 1960 P. Lush.

True. But then you Have to cope with my application phone spilling.

I got to bed at 2am after our Friday gig, partly because I cooked a snack when I got back (I was starvin' marvin). Did wonder how much of this I could take. Then woke up to a nice comment about my playing (from someone I don't know) on FB and that was worth the 10 hour shift alone!

Have you considered filletting the edges... for comfort. Rounded edges usually print nicely too.

Big small gig for us tonight. Borough Blues Club. It's 'on the circuit' and gets some well known bands, just 12 gigs a year. We are booked for November, but got the call after a band had to drop out. This was their first Friday event (due to the six nations) so they were worried about numbers, especially at £10 admission. It was about half full with forty-odd people and they were happy. Expectations of us were high as the organisers know Alex, our guitarist. Two hour long sets plus encore. We had eight(!) new songs after Wednesday's rehearsal, with the aim of serving up a setlist for an audience serious about blues. So we had a few hiccups- I muddled one song for another, and we had some miscommunication about keys... but got through it. But sound was excellent and we enjoyed ourselves. Fortunately the reception was as good as we could wish for. Not just the usual goog gig comments, but I got complemented on my playing (which I though was a bit random with a fairly big chunk of improvisation). Best bit, at the end we were told that our November gig will be packed as the word will get around 😎

Whipping Post by the Allman Brothers Band. I'd had a bit of a listen, and we jammed it a couple of times at rehearsal last night, now I've got to learn it properly, and we're going to sound check it on Friday ahead of a gig where we have 7 or 8 new songs lined up. Just a modest mix of 11/8 and 6/8 with a few tempo changes... It's a good blues venue that's 'on the circuit' so no pressure then...