Veils

I toyed with the idea of getting my own bass built for some time. I spoke to a number of luthiers and paid one or two a visit. I decided pretty swiftly that Jon Shuker was the man for the job but at the time it was as much a financially dictated decision than anything else. If you feel you are looking for something specific or personal that an off the peg bass just wont cater for, then obviously custom builds are the way to go. You just have to balance the pros and cons such as price, lead times, materials available, etc etc. For me the flexibility of paying in installments while the bass was being built suited me perfectly and Jon's choice of woods was awesome. Not to mention the fact he was willing to tinker with his standard body shape to give me something closer to what I wanted (funnily enough the Sei Original shape!). For me there is nothing to match the feeling of speccing your bass out with your chosen luthier. There are some awesome options out there who can cater for all tastes and since you have an idea of the quality of end product you know you won't be disappointed with the outcome. I think it comes down to whether you are happy enough having 2nd hand customs which were built for someone else or do you really want something that is all you That is what did it for me and I truly believe there isn't a better bass out there for me!

Can I just add that, "can I have some guitar through my monitors?" actually directly translates into English as, "can I have some guitar through my monitors?" Very surprising fact, but true none the less.

Joe - that Sadowsky looks utterly sexual

It depends if you are able to use it in such a way that it sounds good. Just because a band has 2 guitarists, wouldn't make a low B redundant.

SUBs are wicked

Reading seems to have a lot of bands coming through at the moment......I actually think you might be in with a shout of finding something dude best of luck!

Yeah I kinda suspected as much. I just envisaged some kind of communication breakdown taking place. Maplin staff, in my experience, lack personality and a soul.

They are indeed the bad boys! I was going to go out and buy them tonight as I am gigging tomorrow so while I am extremely thankful of your very kind and considerate offer, I only need to know what they are called this is to save me going into Maplin and asking for them lil hexagonal shaped things that you screw on to hold a jack socket in place. Unless that is what they are called? Thanks again though man, I really appreciate your kindness

Why is it that all the SR5's I have played felt absolute garbage??? Low B felt and sounded incredibly sloppy! And this is probably on 4 seperate basses.....

I agree with the sentiments above despite only being 26

The lil washer type bit that screws on to hold a jack plug in place....... Both of them have disppeared from a cab I am using, I don't know what they are called or the easiest place to get them from. Someone help this retard out

You need to pop a link up to some tunes so we can see who it is and have a listen to the music otherwise you are going to be met with a fair degree of scepticism

Woo and yay! Forgot to post this up sooner..... We're playing tomorrow night at the Roadhouse at 9pm. Would be amazing to see some of you pretties there. If you reckon you might be up for it, let me know

Woooo! I've attached what is as rough as it gets, straight from the desk with no mixing or tweaking anywhere, it doesn't even have any vox at this stage, but i would appreciate any comments about levels or tones This is a re-recorded version of a tune that is already on our myspace www.myspace.com/sansebast so if anyone wouldn't mind comparing that would be great. Like I said, at this stage, the myspace version is a fully mixed one and this is literally straight off the desk

I wouldn't tend to agree with the above. The only way you could say it is useful for metal is for down tuning, but you can do that on a 4. I play in a indie/rock type band now and I am using the full range of my bass way more than I ever did in my old band which was a metal band. In fact I would say that I find it very restricting going back to 4. To me it's really nice to be able to throw the low notes in to really give some substance to the overall sound every now and again. As for string spacing, it can vary really. I have pretty standard string spacing on my Shuker but with pretty much a jazz neck profile it makes it very comfortable to play. Whereas my previous bass was a Warwick Streamer Stage I which had a monster neck and was very difficult to get about at speed. It's all about what you feel comfortable with really. I have pretty small hands so I find it necessary to have a smaller neck. My tip would be to try both ends of the scale and see what you are happiest with. Bigger neck/string spacing - Precision, Warwick Thinner neck/tighter spacing - Jazz, Ibanez I am sure someone will be able to offer up a few more suggestions as well

I've dropped you a PM as well, but seriously I might be able to help you out here.......my band have done covers stuff before but with a different singer, who along with our drummer already lives in York and I reckon there is a good chance you know them both. If the crowd is 18-25 and potentially containing metal eds I would reckon there is a fair chance they will have seen some of us playing before and we know how to put on a good show

Yeah he's doing this as a warm up show. I'm feeling really lucky to be supporting him! It's another one that can go on the list of big names I have been lucky enough to share the stage with