Paul S

Actually my strongest recommendation for a 5 string is 'don't sell off all your 4 strings when you find one you like'. I did. it is costing me a small fortune to rebuy all those 4s I loved.😄

Looks like a proper rig to me. I look at my FRFR set up and sometimes wonder.....

I'd say a Yamaha BB. I had the BB425 and found it hard to fault as a five string, the low B was good and strong. The string spacing is just nice, too - not too tight at the nut or the bridge. Too heavy, sadly, so I had to go elsewhere. But Bas's 1025 would be a peach. Having said that, I'd be very curious about a Harley Benton 5er.

I didn't enjoy it much but it is a hard song to get right, I think. The vocal is tricky and you have to get the tempo bang on otherwise it drags. It is one my lot do and unfortunately the guitarist uploaded a rather wooly rehearsal of it onto out facebook. Redeemed by some rather tasty guitar playing, which I guess is why he did it

When I was looking for a new plate for my HB shorty P bass, Jacks gave me a quote of £60, Brian's cost me £26.99 delivered.

I'm one of them. Great service and cheap, too.

I modded my Stagg to mount it on a tripod stand à la NS Design EUB. It was easily done using a tattooist's arm rest. Other tripods will also work, of course, but that had the advantage of having an adjustable bracket on it that sits nicely on the body of the Stagg. I still have to steady it a bit, especially if trying some vibrato, but generally - for me - it is more comfy than the end pin and bracket thingies.

Took some guts to write that, Chris. Well said.

I missed Black Friday so lets call this a Slightly Grey Sunday price drop to £200 posted to mainland UK in an oversized, scruffy but invincible hardcase or £180 collected. Could do with this being gone, really.

With much thanks to Jon @Bassassin for all his advice, knowledge and patience. I've had the hots for one of the old, better quality Japanese 'SG' style basses for a while and this one popped up for sale on Reverb at a reasonable price. A Fujigen made, Antoria branded, short scale EB-3 copy finished in what I guess you'd describe as a dark walnut lacquer. It arrived a couple of weeks ago now. A serial number on the back of the front pickup dates that, at least, to 4th August 1972 and, apart from a few dings in the paint, it seems in remarkably good nick for a bass that is approaching it's half century. Lots of life in the frets. I believe everything is original and, more importantly, still works. It arrived absolutely spotlessly clean, the neck dead straight and the action to my liking so all I needed to do was tune it up and lower the bridge pickup a tad to balance the output. I took off the middle chrome hand rest that I found rather in the way and there was a (original?) foam mute under the strings at the bridge that I also removed. The bridge adjustment is crude but, then again, so is my playing Edit - re-strung it with my favoured TI Flats. Weighs in at 3.4kg and sits nicely on the strap, no neck dive. Slim, shallow neck with a nut width of maybe 39mm. Have to say I am really impressed. Build quality is everything you would hope from an early Fujigen. It is the tone I was unprepared for. The neck pickup in particular is warm with HUGE character, a million miles from the Epiphone EB-0 I had years ago, even with the industry standard Dimarzio upgrade. Wander up to the 7th-12th fret area and there is a hollow, almost choral sound - hard to describe but I like it lots. And that is just at home. I suspect that pushed it will break up nicely and growl - really looking forward to trying it in the context of my blues trio. I have one of the Gibson Les Paul Jnr DC basses and I love it to bits. But, big question, do I prefer this? Possibly. I like that this is old. I like the whole quality Japanese copy thing. I particularly like that it cost me well under £300.

The nearest I have come was that my blues rock trio were invited to play at the Stowblues Festival this year, an event organised partly by BBC Radio Suffolk and the gig was to be recorded and broadcast. Hopefully next year! I've been on the tele with my garden a couple of times, mind

I see a TV career looming, too. Bass off? Master bass? (steady...)

Funny how tree branches always look so much smaller when attached to trees. We have an ancient Lombardy Poplar in the corner of my place with lots of 'small dead branches'. One of the 'small dead bits' blew down earlier this year in a storm and it was 30ft long.

Sad and horrible to read. I have a tree surgeon live next door to me who does all my tree work for me and a few years ago he made an error of judgement. He was lightly pruning a tree, holding small branches and cutting them off, at the time roped up about 30ft into the canopy. However he misjudged how heavy a branch he was cutting was and once he'd cut through it the weight pulled his arm into the chainsaw. He had already taken his pressure off the throttle so the blade was braking - it only went through skin, fat and muscle but no further - but it made a mess of his forearm and kept him off work for several weeks. Made worse, of course, by the fact that he was way up in the tree and his buddy had to try and get him down. And that is a guy who spends all day every day using a chainsaw. Luckily there was no permanent damage other than some slight nerve damage. Mrs S won't let me anywhere near power saws.

I see where you are coming from. Once I discovered that occasionally T-birds came in at 8lb I suddenly HAD to have one for much the same reason. At one point I thought 'T-birds are a young man's bass, not for a thick waisted middle-aged man'. But now I'm a thick waisted old man I don't actually give a toss. So I got one. Just BC (Before Covid), sadly, so not even used it in anger yet. But I can take it out the case and strike a pose any time I like 🤘