Bassfinger

My Dad isn't so much into music, although he did like the Shadows. Like many kids before and since, the first time I heard Apache was an almost religious experience, one that had me reaching for my first guitar and kicking off a musical 'career' that has lasted over 4 decades. My Mum was more into it. She'd listen to the Beatles, the Who (she actually knew Keith Moon fairly well and dated Roger Daltrey before he was really famous), the Stones, the Zombies, the Animals and more modern stuff like ELO, Status Quo and Roxy Music, and it's probably exposure to that that gave me my love of rock music in all its forms and the blues too. For me rock isn't just music, its a lifestyle, a passion, a religion.

I tend to play songs with a pick that were originally played with a pick, and ditto with fingers, whether I'm on my J or P. I'm a great mimic but by my own admission lack the spontaneity or imagination to convincingly go my own way on the hoof, so tend to copy those that went before me song for song,

4 or 5 hours playing time usually does the trick for me. That's 2 or 3 days of home practicing. It takes that long for them to take up the stretch and settle down anyway.

My Sire Precision turned out to be the answer to this dilemma. Punchy mids with sweet clarity which only growls when you really dig in and deliberatrly make it do so. Playing at home through the Crush 50 or GB10 it was a little disappointing, but in the gig environment those attributes make it come alive and hold its head high in the mix. It almost immediately became my main live plank for this reason.

Sorry, WTF am I smoking today! Please accept my apologies for a serious clusterf***.

Erwin Rommel was a keen bassist, but bigged himself up far more than his actual abilities deserved. George S Patton was also a bassist, and a s*** hot one at that. During the African campaign in 1943 Patton offered to settle matters mano mano, by having a bass-off with Rommel, winner takes all. Rommel was so fearful of getting thrashed and severely embarrassed by the uncompromising and hard driving Patton that he fled to France where he formed a new band, The Atlantic Wall. Unfortunately a falling out with the bands drummer Adolf over having sausage rolls and burgers served after a gig ended with the band breaking up and the drummer returning to his bunker studio on Berlin. Patton was sadly to meet his end when his tour bus crashed in December 1945. Even then, rock n roll was hedonistic and the life expectancy of top flight band members was short.

Don't forget the rear of the pickguard.

Next time you complain don't mention you have a video. They'll talk to the driver who will give them some bullpois. That's when you produce the video. Managers hate being caught out in a lie and there's a good chance driver would get the sack. I use this technique when gradsing up lorry drivers who try and kill me when I'm out cycling.

I prefer the feel of certain neck profiles and finishes, but the bottom line is I haven't yet found one I couldn't play as well as any other.

I sometimes get the feeling that Jesus himself could commission Nelson Mandela to build a Bass in conjunction with the ghost of Jaco, NASA could do the design in partnership with Leonardo Da Vinci, and Lobster would still find a reason not to like it.

I love Gibson - I'm my alter ego guitar life I'm a Gibson man - but there's no denying their string routing can often give some acute angles at the nut, which aren't the source of anything good.

There's a young lad in the next village, a drummist. He's 16 or so and a rabid John Bonham fan. He is a sight indeed to watch, makes Bonham look like John Inmam doing the drums. Watching him its as the the god Thor himself has desdended from Valhalla to smash out When the Levee Breaks with sledge hammers for drumsticks Some of the new upcoming talent is incredible. I guess music is now so widely and freely available that there is limitless inspiration on tap, and training aids and information are all over the web for free whereas previous generations would have relied on finding books or paying a tutor.

I like it. Gibson string layout and geometry on a Fender style headstock.

Just stumbled across this thread by chance. I'm a U4 user, tending to use it at gigs where space is tight and there isn't really space for floor monitors. These are the sorts of places with WiFi, wireless card readersm and all sorts of RF dirty kit knocking about. The transmitter sits on our digital mixer, and latency is undetectable to the ear. Despite what any electronic nerds may tell you an undetectable latency is, by any practical usage of the term, low. Once or twice I've had hum or high pitched whining issues but changing to another channel had always sorted it immediately. I do suspect that yours may be faulty.

My mob are pretty sensible. We talk it through, check that any given song isn't going to cause issues for any of the musicians or singist, and in it goes. If the audience are lukewarm to it then it comes off the list. Nothing goes on the list simply because one of us likes it, and there are no set list changes once we're within 1 week of a gig. It's all pretty grown up and not at all fraught. If we agreed some songs as a collective and then someone didn't learn them for whatever reason I think the rest of us would be pretty offended and they'd likely be out the door. Fortunately, once the decision has been made we all go at it seriously.

No, not really. I leave that to people like cannon and ball. You having stated that items do not have a gender I was simply pointing out that it took but a picosecond to think of an item that does have a gender, albeit one arbitrarily assigned by its manufacturer. The hilarious bit, as inadvertent as it was, is disproving your statement so effortlessly.

Not even Action Man? Action Thing doesn't have the same sales appeal.

Mrs Bassfinger wears hearing aids. I can only go by what she tells me in that it makes a significant improvement to not only her ability to hear but the quality of her hearing, so I think if my hearing were sub par I'd sooner be mixing a track while wearing them than not.

It's like those car ads, "good condition...for age". Is it flipping good condition or not? The moment a seller starts qualifying a statement with weasel words you know its time to move on the the next advert.

I fingerpick on the guitar and have tried a thumb pick but never got on, just use my thumb. On the bass I use Tortex Triangle, big old things that take some effort to mishandle and drop.

Mrs Bassfinger bought me a mandolin for crimbo. I'll be playing it live for the first time in March .

Thanks team. I'll do another Precision first - I fancy a light ivory colour and dark tort pickguard - for the next one, and then after that might do them to spec for customers.

I've been chatting it over with Mrs Bassfinger. This project using used parts and spares has well exdeeded my expectations. Just imagine what I could do with virgin components, specifically sourced for each build? That being the case I am going to start making these for sale, not as a business but as a self financing hobby. I imagine I could do 3 or 4 a year and sell them at a price that would cover my costs and still significantly undercut certain other relic bass brands for a product of easily comparable quality. I'd detail each build on here and then post the finished product for sale, making the necessary donations to the forum for doing so. I think I'll stick with the Grimelight brand name, as it have several different meanings and describes the finished product to a T, but mwny thanksmto those that took the time to make naming suggestions. If I'm selling them for money I might not use Fender headstock decals, but seeing as I did some fencing (sword play, not erecting fences) as a teenager I may get some "Fencer" once made, perhaps Premium Bass and Jizz bass - similar enough that a casual glance won't spot the difference, but different enough my conscience will be clear. So watch this space...

Flight Basses? GrimeFlight Basses? I'll sleep on that, it's certainly a good suggestion.