meterman

Many different and interesting opinions here, as I’d expect. For instance personally I wouldn’t re-decal a Squier as a Fender, I’d rather just play the Squier as it is. I’ve had Squier Mustangs and Precisions and it’s never occurred to me to slap a Fender logo on them. My number one gigging instrument for almost 30 years was a Fender ‘partscaster’ Tele (burn the witch, etc...) made from bits of two 60’s Fenders. But it was starting to get worn out and a bit unreliable so I bought a cheap Squier to use as a backup. But the Squier was nicer to play and sounded better, so on the last European tour I did, I used the £150 Squier the whole time and nobody batted an eyelid. To be fair I was also on keys duties so I was semi hidden behind a pair of keyboards, so not many people would have seen what brand of guitar I was using anyway and it was fine. However I have played with a ‘known’ bassist who has toured internationally and played on hundreds of records with major artists etc, and he has a Squier 70s Jazz with a Fender logo that he takes out on certain gigs where he doesn’t want to risk his vintage 60s Precision or 60s or 70s Jazzes. He’d had a vintage Fender bass ‘lost’ by an airline company in the past I think, so his reasoning was “Why should I risk taking a £3000+ bass just to fly to Europe or the US when I’m only getting paid £250, or maybe less, for a one-off festival date” or whatever. His Squier always sounded great because he’s great. But he plays with higher profile artists than I ever will, so he can do what he likes, I don’t mind. But if folks such as Dinosaur Jr, Tame Impala, George Harrison, The Cribs, Iron Maiden, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Biffy Clyro, Chuck Prophet, John Mayall etc, can play Squiers without rebadging them as Fenders then I certainly can. I’m not fussy about gear though. As long as it works, I’m happy. If other folk want to stick Fender logos on their copies, I’m not gonna get all offended by it.

Syd Barrett’s first post-Floyd album “The Madcap Laughs” has mistakes left in almost all the way through, but that’s part of it’s charm for me. The tunes where he has The Soft Machine backing him and they’re barely keeping up with the twists and turns of his songs is cliff-edge stuff. Plus, the false starts and all the studio chatter. The first time I heard it I couldn’t believe it was all left in. Still a favourite album though.

Fantastic!

Those ltd edition silver sparkle Squier Mustangs with the humbucker were excellent, they should do a reissue of them 👍

Thank you 🙏🏻 I appreciate it. I’m not sure how feasible a post Brexit move will be at the moment, but rules and legislation hopefully could change someday soon. One piece of legit advice I can give you is, don’t expect to automatically get EU residency as a musician now unless you actually are earning truckloads of money. Like, Coldplay level or something. In France I had to become a ‘micro entrepreneur’ (small business owner) to get my residency accepted. Tons of forms and red tape to go through, but now I’m legally a record label owner and can work in the EU. I’ll see what happens, pandemic permitting. Worst case scenario, I’ll just retire and busk for euro centimes in the village square 😂

Very interesting read, that. For years, two thirds of my income came from playing in Europe and DJ-ing there. I moved to a European country last year to try and keep my earnings flowing. It’s too early to know if it will all work out, but I hope it does, not just for me obviously but for all UK musicians sakes. Hope things can get smoothed out.

@Fishfacefour I bought a hollow body Hofner Violin Bass for very similar reasons, an old shoulder injury was making me struggle with a 34” scale instrument. The great thing about the Hofner is the weight, or lack of it. The tone controls take a few minutes getting used to, but it’s a joy to play. However, if Ibanez had still been making their AGBV200A semi hollow short scale in vintage antique burst I might have gone for one of those instead. I’ve seen used examples on Reverb and might still get one. The couple I played in Denmark Street back in the day were great, serious tone 👍 08A5309A-1B1C-4F2B-A9F2-97A74935603F.webp

I love the aesthetics but I’m not sure I’d go the full price on it. I used to have a short scale Commodore bass years ago, but I think it was a rebadged MIJ Aria from the 70’s. It didn’t look as cool as the one in the ad though

Definitely had great customer service from Strings Direct many times. Fast shipping times as standard, plus they were always quick to respond to email enquiries. And they always had a great choice of strings on offer. Consistently decent in my experience 👍

I wanted black tapewounds for my acoustic bass, like on the old Eko fretless acoustics, but couldn’t find any at the time so I settled for a set of D’Addario chromes. They felt and sounded great, waaaayyy better than the bronze strings that came with the bass. Although my acoustic bass was just a sub-£99 cheapie it recorded brilliantly once I’d changed to Chromes on it. Can recommend 👍

I don’t have Sky but I’ll see if I can track that episode down. Jimmy Webb wrote so many great songs, everyone usually remembers the hits but there’s so much more to him than the hits. Bacharach and David were another pair who often wrote really affecting songs. Big hits but with some quite complex arrangements and melodic and rhythmic twists and turns. “A House Is Not A Home”, “Message To Michael”, “I Say A Little Prayer” etc. Love that grand style of pop songwriting.

@barrycreed I think the La Bella’s on my tiny little short scale Tanglewood (25.5”) are 043 - 104, but on 30” scale Mustangs I used to go a little heavier. Might have had D’Addario Chromes once, I think 50-105? They were good for the price as well. Whenever I had anything lighter they tended to sound a bit twangier, not as much bottom end.

A guy I play live sessions for recorded Wichita Lineman on one of his albums so we’d often play it live. Maybe there’s something about the melodic or harmonic construction (don’t know for sure, I’m self taught) but often I’d find it really hit me emotionally when we’d play it. He’s from Wichita so maybe he put an extra bit of push into it, I don’t know? Beautifully composed song though.

Reasonably eclectic for me. Growing up, there was no pop music in the house unless I watched Top Of The Pops or listened to my little battery powered radio. My parents listened to Indian classical music, film soundtracks, Greek and Argentinian folk, opera and classical, free jazz, sometimes old blues tapes, etc, so that’s what I heard growing up. The first records (yes I’m old) I bought were punk and disco and ‘charts’ reggae. Then I got hugely into 60’s psychedelic stuff and hip hop. When I moved to London I heard a lot more music and I realised I loved Brazilian and African music of all types, plus funk, soul, techno, house music, folk, jazz, classical, cumbia and vallenato, and still the Indian stuff from my childhood. I’m married into French family so listen unashamedly 😂 to a lot of French artists too. I don’t listen to much rock music nowadays (of any kind) but I’ll still play The Stooges, or The Saints or the Clash occasionally. The only things I really don’t like are anything with Autotune in it, death metal (it gives me an instant soft-on) and the bored-millionaire rappers droning on and on about their Rolexes and stuff (hello Drake, etc). I’m not a neuroscientist but I know what I like.

I had tapewounds on a Fender (CIJ) Mustang around 2007/8 and they were pretty good, although they tended to mellow it out a bit too much for me. They were a joy to play though, and depending on your bass and playing style they might work for you. I took them off the Mustang and put them on my 70’s short scale Shaftesbury Tele bass copy and they sounded great, it was like they were meant to be on that bass. I realise those old Italian Shaftesbury basses aren’t exactly hi-fi but the tapewounds were a serious upgrade from the flats that had been on there previously.

LaBella make a dedicated set of flatwounds for Mustang basses, I had them on my last Mustang which was through body stringing, and they were a perfect fit. I’m not sure if they offer a roundwound set, but their flats are great 👍

I’m a longtime Captain Beefheart fan, and have tried many many times to get into Zappa, had mates who’d play me their favourite Zappa albums like Hot Rats, or Lumpy Gravy or Zoot Allures or whatever, and insist I’d love them, but.... It’s way too noodly and solo-y for me and I just can’t get on with it. Except for “Trouble Every Day” and this: which I absolutely love ❤️ Surely everyone loves this? Maybe I’m a Zappa fan after all? Did he do anything else like this?

Fender made a short scale Modern Player jazz bass for a time, not sure how easy they are to find now though. A couple I saw on Reverb were €455 and €800. Otherwise for about £107 after currency exchange there’s always the short scale J&D jazz from Musicstore DV 247. These don’t come with a high mass bridge, or Fender pickups etc, of course but... £107! Has to be worth checking out? I’m tempted to try one of these myself.

Percussion (latin / afro / reggae / funk etc) is my main instrument, then drum kit. Then guitar, then bass. I haven’t played my drums in 6 months ‘cause I’m temporarily living in an apartment in a very quiet area. So I’ve been playing a lot more bass too, albeit quietly. But I’m still playing brushes and sticks on a practice pad most days. Can’t wait to get back to it proper, though.

Bet that sounded amazing! I had “Ghost In The Machine” on earlier, just with headphones on, and even allowing for my tinnitus and hearing loss it still sounds great to me. 👍

Mostly The Police. Box set of their five albums on CD, all in neat looking card gatefold sleeves, with a sixth disc of B-sides and non-LP tracks. €16 from the local supermarché. Had all the original LPs when I was a kid. “Zenyatta Mondatta” and “Synchronicity” still sound great to me.

It’s not really a cheat, plenty bands and artists do it. Especially ones from an electronic / DJ / pop background. I played drums for one tour with a band in the late 90s, they had a DAT machine onstage with them that played the samples, breaks, some of the synth bass and keys, plus sound FX etc, that were on their records. On the one hand, it allowed a 7-piece bunch of chancers to be able to pull off the sound of their records on stage. On the other hand, it quickly became very boring, for me at least. Every night, the gig followed the same pattern as the night before, the breaks were in exactly the same places, the solos were the same, everything ran completely on time because of the sheer amount of prerecorded stuff blasting from the DAT machine. There was zero opportunity for improvisation or spontaneity. The tunes were completely locked to what was on tape. I’m used to playing to a click so timing wasn’t an issue for me, although the loudness of the DAT in my monitors got tiring pretty quickly. In-ears weren’t really used as much back then. The main problem was the other musicians not being in time with the DAT machine. The guitarist was spot on. The bassist was not so tight, the keyboard player so-so, and the percussionist largely ineffective as percussion I’d played on the records was on the DAT anyway. I remember at the first soundcheck thinking that if all the band just stopped playing, then the DAT would probably keep the audience happy, there was so much of the original records on there. Bit of an extreme example, but a lot of bands back then had a similar approach. I wouldn’t fancy doing it again now though. But having prerecorded keyboard parts is fine, as long as you can all lock in with them. You’ll find out in rehearsal whether it’s going to work or not.

On a Mustang, once the tension is right, they’re really good. My favourite was a yellowed out ‘78 Musicmaster that already had them on when I bought it. If it hadn’t weighed about 15lbs I’d have kept it, it was short scale dub funk heaven. Would still have one again, mind 👍

Last bass I had them on was a Fender Bullet, but I’ve had them on Mustangs and Musicmasters, and loved the tone. If I ever get another Fender, then tapes will probably go on it.