niceguyhomer

I think the present fiddle player Richard was the original and he was replaced by The Mad Fiddler when he moved on to other things. When the band reformed last September, they asked Richard to come back and I'm really happy he did. Listening to him warm up on the violin before a gig brings tears to your eyes, he's also a great Mandolin player.

Many thanks for your kind comments John - hope you're enjoying the CDs. The band's been described - amongst other things as "Pink Floyd meets Fairport Convention" - whatever pigeon hole people want to put us in, I've really landed on my feet with this band. TBH I wasn't really into folk/rock before I joined them but now I'm really into it and it's a joy to play with musicians of this calibre - dunno WTF I'm doing there but they seem to like what I do. BTW - the violinist is Richard Curran, he's an amazing musician and he's played for some big names. He's also done work for the BBC and played at Wembley / V Festival etc. He's a nice bloke too - if I was that good, I'd be a right tw*t

Will it sound better or improve playability?

What it says on the Jpeg...

...and made meat helmets?...

Is Playback Europe in Kreplakistan? Evil pair Mustafa.

Here's a couple of my main band Silver Dogs - I'm the fat ugly one on the left of the standing shot.

I haven't played one but I know people who have - they both said it takes a mximum of 5 minutes to get used to the fanned frets. Cracking bass that Combustion jobby.

46? pfff - I'm 55 in July and in 3 bands....tell 'em to go and finish their homework

All my cables were made by OBBM - they'll see my playing days out

Don't think I'm mad but search for Go West's version of Tracks of my Tears - we used to do it and it always went down a storm.

I've just bought my first fretless - an Ibanez Gary Willis GW35 and I'm loving it loads. Highly recommended.

No my Shuker is fretted - my fretless is an Ibanez Gary Willis. If you PM me with your address I'll send you a couple of cd's the band's recorded.

Yep - that's me on those tracks They were recorded with my Shuker going straight into the desk via an Aguilar Tone Hammer. If Whitworth's too far, we're playing at Chorley Little Theatre on May 15th.

+ 1 for Ged.

We're doing the Whitworth Festival in Matlock - Derbyshire on Easter Sunday if you've nowt better to do...

I find I play better if I relax and stop staring at the fretboard and rely more on muscle memory.

I bought a Gary Willis fretless just a week ago and used it for the first time yesterday with the band at rehearsal. I was quaking a bit TBH - we have a top class violinist in our band and he'd been ribbing me a bit about it but I was surprised how I got on with it with very few cock-ups. The band loved the sound with a bit of chorus in there, dunno why I was so nervous about fretless in the past, I had a lot of fun with it and it brought a new dimension to the band's sound.

I went to see the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with the missus last night. It was nothing heavy - a bit of this and a bit of that with a bit of a love theme going on and I have to say I found it really moving. I have a decent hi-fi and do listen to a bit of opera / classical when there's f'all on the telly but it's a long time since I've seen a full orchestra live. The depth and emotion in the music was absolutely stunning and I had a lump in my throat most of the night. We were sat behind Jean Boht (?) of Bread fame - her husband was conducting and did a brilliant job. I now know what I'm gonna do when I hang up my bass boots - I'm gonna sell up and blow the lot on a really good hi-fi and some choice music. Heaven.

Wouldn't be without mine now - it does what it says on the tin.

I know we like to moan sometimes about shops / poor service etc but I just wanted to share my experience with Mansons this week and give some praise where praise is due. I ordered an Ibanez Gary Witless Fretless on Thursday from their fine establishment in Exeter and it arrived the following morning. Unfortunately, their carrier delivered it to my home address instead of work so my wife just took it in and signed for it without checking the contents of the box. I went home at lunchtime and unpacked to find that it'd been damaged in transit - something had obviously been stacked on top of it and the tone control had compacted a bit and the finish had cracked around it. I rang Mansons straight away knowing they had another in stock and explained the situation and the chap I spoke to said he'd go and check the other one was still available. To cut a long story short, Adrian Ashton - Director, rang me in the meantime to apologise for the inconvenience and knowing I was in a bit of a hurry, offered to send the other one next day delivery (Saturday) before I'd even sent the damaged one back. Anyway, it arrived today and I've just had a twang on it and I'm very pleased. I still have the damaged one - it's being collected on Monday. I'll definitely be using Mansons again even if they're not the cheapest cos the service is first class and to me, that's far more important.

My Ibanez GW has landed - it's gonna be a good weekend

I've just bought an Ibanez Gary Willis from Mansons - hoping it gets delivered today so I can get to know it intimately this weekend. Some of the songs my band do cry out for a fretless bass - really looking forward to getting to grips with it.