meterman

About 15-16 years ago I bought a 1990’s Danelectro 59 guitar from the bassist of The Selecter. He absolutely insisted we did the deal in the McDonalds at the top of Oxford Street by the Virgin Megastore, which was a first for me, but for all I knew that’s where folks sold their unwanted instruments all the time. Anyhow while we were in there I asked him if he wanted to get anything to eat or drink and he said “nah, not my thing” so we did the deal and both went our separate ways. Weird! Couple of years later I used the guitar on a session where the drummer from The Selecter was on kit duties and he said it was typical oddball behaviour from him. Never once thought to ask the bassist why it had to be McD’s at the time, and I’ll never know now either. Great guitar though, and he did me a good deal on it.

I use a piece of acoustic foam, the grey type you sometimes find in square panels on recording studio walls. Just a little offcut from one of those. I’ve had the same piece since 1990, just swap it from bass to bass as needed. Tried various different bits of sponge, insulation, etc, but the manky old grey foam is the one for me. Retro muting!

That looks ace! I’d seen them on websites but they don’t look as good as in your photos. Finish looks great 👍

Just look for any medium scale nickel rounds if they’re your preference. Short scales won’t always work on Mustangs, as I found out in the past. And definitely, the La Bella Mustang flats are spot on in terms of fit, nice balance of tension as well. I did get a duff set once (the D + G were super bright and zingy, totally at odds with the E + A) but their quality control is generally spot on, don’t rule them out if you ever decide to go down the flats route. Good luck with whatever you go with 👍 (early 70’s Mustang, quite jealous!)

He is really down to earth. Or at least he was when I met him. I sold him a Gibson EB3 and there was no ‘rock star’ airs or graces about him. Dead nice guy. But yeah, Alan Lancaster’s Mustang! Or his Travis Bean 🤤

This was my main bass for a few years. It’s blue but starting to fade to green a bit on the front now.

This used to happen to me, about 20 years ago, except all fingers on both hands. I had a p/t summer job working for a landscaping firm and had to use a hand held leaf blower every morning for weeks, but my hands were seizing up. I had to pack the landscaping in as I thought it was permanent damage. Probably just the vibrations from the machinery. I had one acupuncture session and did alternate hot and cold packs, but it lasted for months. It went away eventually but it was pretty scary waking up every morning with my hands all curled up and locked. I hope it passes quickly for you.

Assuming you’re in the UK, I’m going to give another shout for Brian / earlpillanz on ebay. He’s done 4 custom pickguards for me and they’ve all been good quality, inexpensive and a fast turnaround too. Whether or not he can do a 60’s tort exactly like you’d like it, I couldn’t say but it would be worth sending him a message via ebay. Recently I fancied some 60’s-ish tort on my cheapie jazz bass but all the really good looking guards were costing close to the price of my bass 😮 So I caved in and got one from a local seller on ebay for €10. Looks alright on the bass, but not super 60’s by any stretch. Oh and £100 for what looks like the cheap tort that’s all over Amazon and ebay for a tenner is really bad service. I’m sorry to hear you had to go through that. Is there no way to do a PayPal claim or something?

I used to do most of my gigs ‘straight’ due to my meds regime, but once or twice I’d have a beer before a show and it would be okay. But on big gigs I’d save alcochol for afterwards. The few exceptions to that rule ended up being pretty messy, from what I can remember.

I used to get Carol Kaye to bite my nails down to the quick for me, but when she put her prices up I had to do it myself. Shame, because she had a real flair for it. But I’m not flipping made of money.

That is handsome! Wouldn’t say no to one myself, that colour is ace 👍

For bass, not so much. But I did some recording sessions last month and the temperature was 32 degrees C in the room I was in and the guitars and drums needed retuning a few times. Not usually a problem during winter but the winters here are mild and instruments don’t seem to mind.

Fair point, that. Repeated rimshots will either dent the metal tube or at the very least chew up the rubber or the plastic over time. I’m not a heavy hitter either but I’ve never had a pair of wire brushes disintegrate on me. I had a cheapo plastic set of nylon brushes fall apart in rehearsal one time only, but they weren’t something I’d have gigged with anyway. Buy a decent pair to start off with and they should last for years.

I’ve had a pair of Pro Mark wire retractable brushes for years and they’ve been great. Gigs, studio sessions, you name it, they’ve been rock solid. Recorded with them today in fact, they’re still doing the business 7 or 8 years on. Otherwise, Flix do many different gauges of nylon brushes and again, they seem to last years in my experience. Vic Firth, Vater, Regal Tip etc all do quality brushes. I’d rate any of the major companies for decent brushes 👍

I never had any particular bass player in mind when I bought my first bass, I just needed one to do some studio recordings with. I bought the cheapest bass in the shop, and it was horrible 60’s tat really but it did the job. The only player influences I ever had when buying any of my basses was when I bought a Hofner violin bass, and it was specifically Aston Barrett and Robbie Shakespeare who’d used them that tipped it for me. Otherwise I’ve never really been fussed. That’s probably the wrong thing to admit here I guess 😂

I used to, along with studio work. Sometimes it was a bit stressful if there were lean times, but I’d got into the habit of putting earnings away to tide myself over. The pandemic saw off all my 2020 live work, then emigration and health issues seem to finished off my gigging for good. Never say never and all that, but I’d be surprised if I got back into it again now. But from 1984 till xmas 2019 wasn’t a bad run, and I reckon I was pretty lucky to have fluked it for as long as I did.

His first electric bass with Can was a 1960s Fender Mustang. Looking at old live footage he may have got his Fender Jazz in 1971 or 72 but the earlier stuff is the white Mustang bass with the weird mods done to it.

I bought this 1/2 size kids P bass from a charity shop pretty much because I liked the colour. Also it was less than £5 which might have swayed me... I’m fully aware that these things are regarded as trash but still use it now, it actually records really well.

Reggae artist Pachyman definitely uses a Fender Musicmaster bass on a lot of his recordings. Not sure what’s on Spotify cause I’m not on there but there’s plenty videos on YT: And there’s a band called Black Sea Dahu that use Musicmaster basses live and in the studio. Again, I couldn’t say what’s definitely a Musicmaster on any of their tunes on Spotify but there’s clips of them live with an early 70’s one.

That Air track on “Moon Safari” was recorded with a 1960’s Hofner violin bass that Nicolas Godin had on loan from a friend in Paris. There’s an interview online somewhere where he mentioned it had old black nylon tapewounds on, and that he tried to buy the bass but his friend wasn’t selling it. Afterwards he got a violin bass and another Hofner (similar to the one Tina Weymouth used), possibly a Club bass? I can’t find that particular interview on this phone, but he briefly mentions the Hofner in a Red Bull Music Academy interview here: https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/nicolas-godin-lecture

My humble jazz, a cheap B-stock Squier Affinity in Charcoal Frost Metallic. Haven’t got the blingy chrome covers for it yet but I will. Nobody will ever accuse me of having good taste 😂

I had both the Oly White and Fiesta Red ones but would have definitely gone for the sunburst if I’d found one. Looks ace!

That, and possibly Middle Earth, would have been my first picks 👍 Or the Cromwell. Or the Bag Of Nails. Or Ally Pally ‘67...

On bass I’ve only ever played in originals bands or done session gigs for artists who write and play their own material. But bass isn’t my main instrument (they’d be: percussion / drums / Hammond / guitar) and I’ve done all kinds of gigs from originals to functions. I’d love to say that playing the big gigs with signed acts was my favourite, and they were all I’m interested in, but tbh I’ve had the absolute best times playing ska and rocksteady covers at sweaty pub gigs for next to no money. Or doing latin covers at a mate’s wedding as a favour for food and beers. (hangover included, free gratis). I miss all that. My gigging days might be at an end now, due to living hours away from any proper venues, in a country where I barely know anyone, but I’d still be up for it!

That is beautiful 😍 I don’t really need one but, oh lord I’d certainly love one!