Big_Stu

Well, I went back for a proper look; sadly the non-rosewood board version had gone. They still had a very well demoed rosewood version in the shop, which I thought about asking for a substantial discount on, though not impressed at all. The shop manager spent all of his time telling me how terrible the neckdive is on it. But having a closer look I'm not surprised. The body is about half the thickness of my Tele guitar, so must be a massive loss of weight there. The round Fender-esque string tree was bent, and on the neck pickup the E & D strings were onl;y barely passing over the large MM style pickups. It looked good, imho - and that was about it.

In October of 1978 I saw Slade play the first night of six in a nightclub chain. Very little advertising and the bouncers were turning away fans who weren't dressed "smart but casual". Slade played to 19 punters in a 1000 capacity venue; the smallest crowd in their professional career. they still talk about it yet. When they came on Noddy Holder said "Jeeesus, did you all come on the same bus?"

You'll have a to use your vivid imagination to see it with a maple board. Apparently the neckdive can be helped - a bit - by moving the front strap button onto one of the neck plate screws.

I've not been able to find any pics online either, I phoned the shop (Chase in Manchester) and the assistant just said that the Shine range is so wide that they don't put everything online, especially new lines. I need a new guitar stand anyway, so that's my excuse for going back for another look.

I was advised against T-Cut by JayDee no less, as he said it was too strong an abrasive, especially for the inexperienced amateur restorer. Since then I bought a Gibson restoration pack, which has a finish restorer and soft cloths, fingerboard lemon oil etc in it. No problems so far.

It would normally be a jacket I'd be wearing to use it; but it would be a PITA to have to wear one just to suit a base. I'm not expecting miracles for a sub £200 bass, but did you have any issues with squealing or microphonic pickups? I'm just wondering whether, if I coudl get past the neckdive whether any upgrades would be required, on electrics or machines? Many thanks for your observations.

Apologies for resurrecting a zombie thread; but there IS now an all "maple" board version, I saw one in passing in Manchester (at £189) and intend going back for a closer look. I happen to have a spare levy suede strap and am wondering whether it'll be enough to fix the neckdive. In effect it's a Fender shaped bass with a missing top horn so the neck dive is to be expected. I also like the sound of the large control cavity as I'm wondering if splitting the coils is a possibility.

Jimmy Lea of Slade, used a backline of 5 x Hiwatt 200s, 2 x Acoustic 361s and a 9k power amp.

Yeah, I've been there a few times to see Cropper in recent years. Tiny (200) compact & bijou venue, but very strange set up. Costly because they know it will sell out either way - and you're seated depending on how well the staff think you present yourself! At least it's known he's touring then so other likely venues could be checked upon.

I can't see this posted anywhere so just to make sure for the MM fans that I know are on here. He's playing Ronnie Scott's, Soho, in four months. Tickets at £85+, though it is always a little high there. https://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/performances/view/4612-marcus-miller-laid-black-tour

AFTER he'd lost his right foot 30+ years previously???

Yeah, pretty much this. I'm surprised about Adele; up until now the only "big" name I've had a negative reaction from was ironically enough Micky Moody. Though I've been assured by several who know him that something must have just happened prior as he's normally a great guy.

I'd be very surprised if that was true about Chas Chandler, he never had a high opinion of his own playing, point blank refusing the play in front of Jimmy Lea during the dozens of Slade recording sessions that he produced.

This - John went way, way above and beyond when he fixed up my John Birch bass. An absolute gem of a guy, he's so proud of his work he'd probably be disappointed if you didn't speak with him.

Jimmy Lea, ex of Slade, on Sunday afternoon at The Robin in Bilston. He was premiering his new DVD of his one and only solo gig. Did a one hour Q&A session with the crowd, spoke at length of his current battle with prostate cancer and how his hormone treatment affects his breathing, his throat and fitness due to muscle wastage. He then excused himself to "look for some notes" and came back on with his treasured black Strat and with the help of backing tapes and much support from the 300 crowd he belted through four Slade classics. I didn't see a dry eye in the house. What a bloody trooper!!

Yeah, service second to none. When John Birch died with my SG bass very nearly finished JayDee immediately volunteered his services to finish it off, since he'd worked with John Birch at his peak it was the closest I'd get to my bass being kept "in the same stable". Absolutely top man, though I believe it's largely JayDee Jr who's running the day to day business now.

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1509470187' post='3399227']I wouldn't recommend Vistaprint - unless they have changed their ways since I last used them - simply because their (exorbitant) delivery costs are hidden until the last moment before you press BUY, and usually cancel any savings you may have over other companies.[/quote] +1 Any printer worth their salt works from a .pdf file and just about every design programme gives you the option of saving as a hi-res pdf. Look for the option of saving at 300dpi or more. Some unscrupulous printers will try to charge for "converting to a printers CMYK file" but it's an automatic process and you just tell them you're aware of that. Unless you're really clued up on print avoid "bleeds" where your image goes off the edge of the page, stick to a standard "A" size and you should be good to go.

[quote name='SH73' timestamp='1509169073' post='3397083'] Well, I've had this bizzare dream about entering The X Factor. There was a line to leave a voice mail singing a song for a sift stage process. Next thing I know, Simon is at my parents house visiting me whilst I was still a teenager. I told him that I can't sing but can play Iron Maiden songs on the bass. I then showed him my Sparkling blue bass and asked him if he knows Steve Harris andvif they text to each other. The dream was set in approxx. 1989 so don't think the mobile technology was quite there. Anyway, he then decided to leave because I didn't sing. I asked him if he would give me a lift to college but he shook his head and left. I then asked my dad if he did. My dad was drinking a beer out a bottle and this was at 07:35. Very bizzare. So I've been up since 5:20 now downstairs enjoying a cupppa. [b]Edited by SH73, 28 October 2017 - 05:38 AM.[/b] [/quote] You were wise to edit out the bit about setting the hounds on him, you never know who's reading these pages

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1508607562' post='3393322'] [size=6]You mean this thing that looks a bit like a [b]Rickenbacker[/b]?? [/size][/quote] [size=5][b]Ssssssh!! Riiiiight!!![/b][/size]

[quote name='ash' timestamp='1508682918' post='3393730'] Yes it is mine and it didn't sell - I had interest but from overseas and some very low ball offers too so I'll probably hang on to it as it's something I doubt I'll see again. I would've listed it on here first but thought I'd best not due to being similar to the unmentionable. A stateside JB collector wanted to bid but I don't like sending things overseas when using eBay and also their global shipping option is a complete con! [/quote] If it was Greg he's a good guy - though he will try to "negotiate" hard, you just have to stick to your guns. He also has a UK agent who would deal person to person. If it wasn't Greg - forget everything I just said .

I thought I'd seen every type that John Birch had done but on Ebay just now there's a short scale 8 string of a certain style who's name shall not leave my lips........

Epiphone EB3, similar to the original in name only.

[quote name='NoRhino' timestamp='1506354339' post='3378162'] Whistlebinkies. Live music 7 nights a week. Just round the corner from the Radisson hotel on the royal mile. [/quote] This - and if that doesn't float (which would amaze me) your boat it's minutes walk away from the Jazz Cellar - and even closer to Bannermans.

[quote name='lowdowner' timestamp='1506024295' post='3376017'] I was once in a band (playing bass of course!) where the lead singer was an ex girlfriend of the bass player in hot chocolate! And, yes!, I *do* believe in miracles! [/quote] iirc he played a left handed John Birch Rick custom which must be about as obscure as you can get!

[quote name='la bam' timestamp='1505765331' post='3374194'] Hotmail is notorious for sending emails directly to people's spam or trash folders even when it does send. We run a business and with every enquiry we get from a hotmail address we cringe as its literally 50/50 whether or not our reply reaches the client.[/quote] I still use my hotmail address for many things; notifications and forum registrations etc. On the odd "real" email that I send I always send it "High" priority and have had no issues so far. I admit it is just laziness on my part and tbh of late Hotmail has become so slow to open that I will have to do something. I have a gmail account that I should use more.