Gasman

A covers band I was in way back was booked to play at the nearby Conservative club (yes, I know, but a gig’s a gig!) but only when we’d set up did the chairman tell us that the committee had unfortunately forgotten to advertise the gig to the members, so no-one would be coming; however, the committee wanted us to play the 3 hour gig anyway, to just the four of them. At at the break I begged them to let us pack up and go, just give us some petrol money, but they refused, making us play until 11pm or no money at all. I’ve never played another Con club... Then for political balance there was the gig at the local Labour club where they’d hired in not only our band, but one of those electric rodeo bull things that drunken wazzocks try to ride but fall off. The first we knew of this was when the bull boss started inflating a massive bouncy castle sort of safety wall thing right in front of the band on the dance floor, then set up the bull inside it. As the inflation proceeded the walls got higher and higher (nice number, that) until our singer had to stand on a chair to see and warble to the utterly indifferent punters at the bar and the bull. The rest of the band was invisible. I’ve never played another Labour club...

I’ve only ever used black tape wound Rotosound Trubass strings on my vintage ‘60 Fenton Weill after trying rounds and flats, super deep chunky sound, but only good on that instrument.

I hear the bass line a thousand times but never really listen to the song...

Main difference for me is the volume level inflicted upon other folk in the area, cranked-up AG700 at the gig vs Vox mini amp and headphones at home. Still, I seem to be getting the same authentic ear-damage from both...

They did, vinyl is now the new wave and is taking over again!

It's a shame that I can't get a negative gear abstinence credit to offset against a future 2023 purchase! Just sold my Fender Anniversary Jazz V via Andy Baxter...

While listing my basses on the 'Journey' topic, I started thinking about alll the amps I'd flayed over the years since '69 - here's my list, what's yours? Linear 30w Marshall 50w and Selmer 1 x 18 Goliath Marshall 100 + 4x12 slopefront Marshall 50 + JBL 1x15 custom Fender Bassman 100 + Bassman 4x12 Fender 1 x 12 Bass combo Roland Cube 1 x 12 100w combo * Aguilar Tonehammer 350 + Fender Rumble 4 x 10 * Aguilar AG700 + Darkglass 212 1000w * * = still with me So not that many, really... how about you?

I need a way-back machine to remember them all (I'm sure some are missing in the middle), but in sequence starting 1969: Vox short scale (cost £5 in Oxford junk shop in '69 - actually vey good!) Fender mashup - Early Tele body, very early P neck - wish I still had it! Fenton Weill 1960 * Fender Jazz (new, returned to shop 'cos of duff neck, dead G string) Hofner President 1960-something to play while Fender decided whether to give me a new Jazz Fender Jazz new to replace duff-necko Squier Tele/Precision * - new, cheap as chips, lovely bass, go-to rough-gig instrument Tanglewood electro-acoustic * Tanglewood electro-acoustic fretless * Rickenbacker 4004 Fender MIJ '51 Precision copy * Fender Jazz Plus * De Armond Pilot Pro 5 string (widest neck ever...) * Sterling Musicman Stingray 5 string * Sterling Musicman Stingray 4 string * (most recent, Dec 30th 2022) * = still with me So only 9 basses hidden around the house at the moment...

Basslines from Quiet Sun’s “RFD” or “Bargain Classics” are a good workout and sometimes get attention from old Proggers...

I'm sure you've looked already, but there does seem to be a fair bit of 'musicians wanted' activity in the Exeter area on the Devon section of JMB - I've been tempted to respond to some of the ads but it really is a bit too far from West Dorset...

Prog - oh yes! Long improvs, multiple themes, quiet bits with poetry competing with my baritone sax (sounding like a rhinoceros having an enema) and a cymbal tinkling away- they lapped it up at the jazz club I ran in Oxford at the Cape of Good Hope pub... but no money in it, of course and not popular at the local Working Man's Club More recently I was delighted to find that the guitarist in my current band has solid platinum Prog form - Francis Lickerish was a founder member of The Enid, an ironic symphonic prog band from the early 80s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enid Since then he's composed two epic symphonic/prog rock albums ('To Wake the King' and 'Far and Forgot') in the Arthurian vein (on YouTube). I asked him why he was in now our covers band. "Keep the fingers flexible, have a bit of a laugh while I complete the third album!" seemed to be a very reasonable explanation...

It's not a path for everyone, but I gambled on the fact that cortisone injections had helped me hugely with sports injuries back in the day; in November my left wrist was so painful that I had to take a break from my band (they found deps) and had X-rays - diagnosis was degenerative arteosclerosis, nothing to be done except take PKs and stop playing. I eventually browbeat my GP into letting me try the cortisone path - he was dubious, but gave me two injections in one session directly into the affected area. As a result, two weeks later (touch wood!) I had no symptoms at all and restarted gigging on NYE. Maybe I'm just lucky, but it is a possible way ahead if you're desperate - I certainly was.

Such a common problem! I’ve been ‘last guy in‘ with all my bands since forever and have finally learned to stfu for at least six months when the call goes out for new numbers so I can see who likes what, who hates what and I don’t alienate anyone with inappropriate suggestions. Some dislikes are visceral, our lead guitarist hates ska and won’t play it because he was a hippy and got stomped on 50 years ago by some skinheads. At the other extreme, two bands ago the lead singer was fixated on Delbert McClinton (no, I’d never heard of him either) and insisted on playing most of the numbers on one of the guy’s country rock albums and vetoed any changes or new material, to the bafflement of most of our customers. In the end I now stay Schtum because I like the guys in the current band and opportunities to switch bands down here in Dorset are very few and far between; there’s also the frying pan into the fire possibility!

Luckily my new Sterling SUB HH4 arrived on 30th December (good old Gear4Music) and was gigged on 31st, so I’m in, and there’s no excuse for any new bass or saxophone gear in ‘23 for me! Well, not right at this moment...

Yes, my covers band Mustang Sally played on 30th at the Rainbow by the Lake near Salisbury, and will be playing NYE at the Two Brewers pub Shaftesbury in Dorset; theme is ‘Vicars and Tarts’ so (cross) dressing-up fun for all!

JMB has got me into my last three bands, and a couple of failed auditions too, over five years. There have been some folk who have loaded irrelevant or multiple spam messages, but the site admin acts quickly to bar them if you take a moment to point the problem out and you're justified, so no complaints about JMB from me.

Lusted after a 4003, borrowed a pal’s to try (he was selling it, funny old thing!) but like many folk here neither he nor I could get on with what we both considered to be its poor ergonomics right arm-wise. I then bought a trans blue 4004 Cheyenne 2, loved the look but again found the sound options woolly and inconclusive, though this was nice to play ergonomically. I’m now back home safely from Rick exploration with a Jazz Plus, wonderful!

My three months between bands early this year were hard to take, especially when finding a new band seemed impossible; yes, motivation to practice was hovering near zero and I was thinking “is it worth the hassle of gigging any more?” (driving two hours, setting up, some dodgy venues, the exhaustion on getting home at 3am etc) but then I got gigging again with a band with 50+ gigs this year and I’m back on a high! I’ve gigged for over 50 years and i realise it’s part of what I am, that’s the crux of it, being a performer in front of a crowd who like what you’re doing is the ultimate buzz and I was lost without it.

I'd agree with Chris7273 - transferring the four neck holes accurately from the neck to the body wouldn't be a trivial job. whereas spotting through the three holes in the body into the neck would be easy. My first Fender bass was a hybrid like this; someone had mated a three-hole Mk1 Tele body with a four-hole '60s Precision neck. The fourth hole in the neck was just visible (could have been filled but wasn't) but no matter - the joint was as solid as a rock! Lovely bass, but a bit of a shoulder-buster at around 11lb!