Skybone

When I first started, all the books were espousing fingerstyle and never really talked about using a pick. Tried using my fingers, but became frustrated with it, then learned how to use a pick. Using a pick also helped when I started joining bands, because the finger playing speed just wasn't there. A pick seemed natural & easy, so I kept on playing. Many moons later, after spending some time away from the bass as my main instrument (only really using it for recording songs etc.), I started to play bass a bit more, and decided to re-learn fingerstyle, more because most of my bass playing "heroes" used their fingers instead of picks. It started off slowly, but after watching videos of these players on how they played, I tried a few different things, and it all started to gel quite nicely, this was about 10 years ago, haven't looked back since & glad I spent the time to work on it. The speed is up, the fingertips are tough, can't imagine going back to using a pick.

Gibson Victory Artist? Nice, very nice indeed.

Had this more with guitars than basses TBH, though there have been a couple of basses that I have deeply regretted selling. First was my old Aria Pro II SB Special II (snappy name), my first "proper" bass. Managed to buy another on eBay years later, but that wasn't as good as the first one. Westone Thunder 1A. Weighed a ton, but also sounded amazing. Jetglo Rickenbacker 4003. Great sounding bass, been after one for 20-odd years when I got it, lived up to all expectations & more. Kept on to it for as long as I could before having to sell it. Replacing it was very difficult. Guitars: Tokai Love Rock LS70F, superb guitar, great sound with stock pickups, superb with aftermarket BKP Emerald's. Gutted when I had to sell it. Ibanez Artist 2619, built in 1979, looked ace, sounded ace, gorgeous to play. Ibanez Iceman IC200, built in 1978, another superb Ibanez.

Highly recommend Shirty Something. Great service, great prices, and it's run by a bass player as well.

In that case, a Rickenbacker would be a Harley Davidson.

Just changed the strings on my No.1 Faker after 3 months, the D string had gone a bit lacklustre. The other 3 strings were fine, the D just wasn't cutting through the mix in rehearsals. Still using Fender 7350m stainless.

That's a shot in the dark

Type 2 Campervan?

Looks like a 90's Integra (IGB) to me too. £25? Bargain of the year that one!

Rickenbacker: Land Rover (Solid, dependable, not everyone likes them, styling from a bygone era, but they still keep going)

Probably frequented some very similarly dodgy venues though... To be fair, though the 80's was known for it's flamboyance and excess, there was a strong undercurrent in music, away from the mainstream. There certainly appeared to be a lot of experimentation with styles, and certainly, the clarion call was lead by John Peel's radio show.

Mudhoney: Touch Me I'm Sick

Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction: Prime Mover Subhumans:

Half Man Half Biscuit: All I Want For Christmas Echo & The Bunnymen: Killing Moon

Edited

Voivod: Tribal Convictions Voivod: Astronomy Domine Not forgetting.... Napalm Death on kids TV programme "What's That Noise" 1989

Loop: Collision Loop: Arc-Lite

Motorhead: Ace of Spades (1980) Discharge: Realities of War EP Rudimentary Peni: The Cloud Song

The Cult: She Sells Sanctuary Sisters of Mercy: Alice Fields of the Nephilim: Moonchild

Likewise, never played one, but always fancied having a shot on one.

We'll have to think about that, we'll get back to you in time...

Mikel, Danelectro's "Masonite" is basically the US term form what we know as Hardboard (high pressure compressed cardboard?), which again is derived from timber. So although it's probably less wasteful than using wood, it takes a lot of energy to produce. I'm all for the use of modern materials in instruments, but the thing that gets me is the processes and raw materials used to make these products. Some of the glues used to make things like carbon fibre aren't very environmentally friendly, and some of the processes used to make carbon fibre itself are very energy intensive. You could argue that timber IS a renewable resource, though many exotic species take longer to grow, and the plantations need to be managed. All of the main manufacturer's use timber from plantations that are managed (or at least that's what they tell the consumer). Remember a few years back when Gibson had all their wood stocks seized and they couldn't produce anything? We now have the new CITES rules on some of the popular timbers used in guitar manufacture, so the manufacturers have to utilise timbers that conform with CITES. Although the trend on guitars & basses is for exotic figuring on tops, we may see that this will tail off as the prices of the exotic timbers rise, because they'll start to become less available in managed plantations (unless they have figured out a way of managing the woodland in order to produce the figuring). And after saying that, I'm still in favour of luthiers making instruments that utilise any and all materials for their craft, and I'm pretty sure that any luthier using these materials will do their damnedest to make a playable instrument.

We're still trying to decide on a band name, nearly a year and a half in.