Paul S

There are a couple of guitar hard cases that fit a Mustang/Musicmaster. I think it is this one, which at £66 is a lot less. Gator XL I bought an old LP double cutaway style guitar case at a boot sale that fits my Mustang like a glove but I've not worked out which one it is yet.

Can I just say @stewblack that your descriptions always make me smile

Great picture! I'll mention it to Nat when I see her next 😁

Sold a pickup to Jeff in the easiest of transactions

Aussie Pink Floyd at the Cliff's Pavilion in Westcliff. Not seen them before, what a performance! Absolutely spot on in all respects (maybe the bass could have had the tone rolled off a fraction) They lost the backing track on the left hand side for a short while but it came back again. Can't recall seeing a better light show.

Not bought 'that' much stuff but the best is without question my Gibson Les Paul Jnr DC. It is immensely good fun to play and sounds awesome. It has also re-ignited my love affair with short(er) scale basses. I made a few not quite so good as that purchases but nothing nasty springs to mind.

Pete drove up from the south coast to have a look at my Carvin bass, armed with a huge wad of cash. he left with the bass, I ended up with the wad. Ain't life grand! A pleasure doing business, sir - hope the traffic was kind!

Well, yes, I thought it might be. I sent the pics to DiMarzio technical support and they just answered - not one of ours! That's halved its retail value then 😁

Nobody recognise this - DiMarzio imposter or real deal? A whisker under 12kOhm resistance, if that means anything much.

Chant #1 Spandau Ballet springs to mind.

I've just taken this pickup out of an 80s Hondo II H-1015 that I bought the other day but is too heavy to even contemplate using as is. It certainly sounded very good but is it a DiMarzio? Pics online seem to show a green wire not a blue one. The covers come off, also - I think (?) that DiMarzio are glue filled? or did it vary? Any help in confirming or denying much appreciated. Muchas gracias

Pete bought my Tecamp Puma in what was most straightforward f transactions - great comms throughout. A pleasure doing business.

Saw Kenny Wayne Shepherd at Shepherds Bush Empire last night. Very disappointing - left after 40mins - what a dreary, self-indulgent load of posey, soul-less fret-wankery. The band were awful, looked like they wanted to be elsewhere so went through the motions while ol' Kenny Wayne stood on the edge of the stage pulling his well-rehearsed faces. The support were better, in as much as the singer bassist Danielle Nicole had a cracking gutsy voice. The rest of the band were out of her league, though, and the songs a bit weak. I wonder if I am getting too fussy these days. Still, the day was not lost - went to the Royal Academy earlier to see the Anthony Gormley exhibition. I am not generally one for 'modern art' but Mrs S was keen to go. Totally blew my mind

I had my first gig at 51, now 62, been in bands all the interim. if you still have your health and wits* go for it. *I should have given up around 3 years ago by that criteria...

Just an update to this. One cropped up on eBay a few weeks ago for a low enough BIN that I couldn't resist. Collection only from Pershore, I'm 170 miles away in SE Essex, but I just so happened to almost driving past the chap's door on Saturday last. So I have finally got my hands on one. In very good condition, bought back in the 80s by a guitarist to do some odd bits of recording and thus very low mileage. And it is enormously heavy at 4.5kg. 😂 No way could I play it for more than 30 mins even with the widest strap I own. But... the neck is really very good indeed - straight and true, frets barely used, a nice warm honey colour and the dimensions and contours just seem to fit my hand nicely. Plus the pickup appears to be a DiMarzio. So I have hatched a dastardly plant to fit the neck into the body of this lightweight Encore, below, that I also got a few weeks back in my recent cheap double cutaway bass buying frenzy. It isn't a direct fit, plus the scale lengths are different, but I know someone handy with a router and there is room to shift the bridge backwards to make the 32" scale work. Strangely the Hondo neck is lighter than the Encore one so it may not neck dive either. Should look a treat with the maple neck on there