Elixir Strings

When we moved to this small little town, I thought we had moved close to the edge of the world. What could this place have to offer??? (At night it reminds me of “Radiator Springs” from the movie ‘Cars’)

What a surprise when I discovered this: The European HQ of Elixir Strings (Gore Inc.) is located in Putzbrunn, just a few blocks away from my home. I must admit I have never played Elixir strings before but this will change soon.

Unfortunately you cannot put your own set together by choosing individual strings. The sets are available in these gauges:

http://www.elixirstrings.com/

Brandy Anderson

Brandy is actually a photographer. To be more precise: a baby and child photographer in Calgary, AB, Canada.

I made this picture to my favorite in my flickr account last year already. The unity between the big double bass and small little baby is great. You can almost hear the bass, playing slow and low and making it cosy for the little kid.

Brandy is an amazing artist! Check her out here:

http://www.flickr.com/people/tvchicklet/

http://www.freshsugar.com/

Brandy, thank you for allowing me to post this picture on my blog!

Brandi Disterheft

Finally back to my favorite category: ‘Female Bass Players’.

This time I want to introduce to you Brandi Disterheft. She’s a young Canadian from North Vancouver, born 1980. Her first album “Debut” brought her 2008 a JUNO Award, kinda of a Canadian Grammy. Oscar Peterson notably said about Disterheft, "She has the same lope or rhythmic pulse as my bassist, Ray Brown. She is what we call serious."

Here a ‘video’ taster:

 

Awesome tune.

Relocating physically

The date I wrote my last entry here was the last day I played on my basses before the movers arrived. Meanwhile we moved to Munich, Germany in Europe. Yesterday I unpacked my MusicMan MM5 and plugged it into my Boss GT-10B. So, I said to myself this is the right moment to reconnect with you via this blog.

We are settling in well so I guess I will be posting the findings of this new old world.

Breaking balls Sonata – for Vuvuzela

This is not much related but wanted to share. It’s just too good.

Ashbory, Ibanez and MusicMan

Sorry. I’m just showing off: My MusicMan StingRay (Ernie Ball, 1999), Ibanez Roadstar II Series (1985) and the Asbory, now by Fender, 2005(?). More details will be shared at some later point. Today it’s all about …showing off :-)

Plutoneium

I once promised to myself that, no matter what, this blog would be a ‘guitar stuff’-free zone! Today I’m breaking that rule.

I visited my buddies at their Plutoneium Headquarters in Singapore. They just launched an amazing product called the Chi-Wah-Wah: A high quality Wah Wah pedal with a form factor not yet seen in the market.
Primarily targeted at guitar players, but I will check out on bass. I can’t resist.

 

Todd: co-CEO/CTO of Plutoneium

Their blog shows many of the production steps (never thought about that before). You can download the owner’s manual already.

Slipknot bassist dead

Police say a hotel employee found the 38-year-old Gray dead on Monday in a room at the Town Plaza Hotel in Urbandale, a suburb of Des Moines. Foul play isn't suspected. An autopsy is planned for Tuesday.

Known for its grotesque masks, the band won a Grammy in 2006 for best metal performance for the song 'Before I Forget.' Concert industry trade publication Pollstar ranked Slipknot 18th in its Top 20 Concert Tours list in 2009

 

aka “No. 2”

 

A lot of f-words wrapped around a lot of “ya know?”

Basstees.com

Show it to the world! You can groove with only 4 strings (if you wish). Let them know you’re not a treble maker!

No, I’m not participating in their affiliate program, I don’t even know if they have one. Just thought of getting a tee from their site myself and decided to share you.

Don’t expect haute couture but check it out yourself to see if the claim on their website is true: 
“Your #1 "On-Line" Source for Bass Apparel”

 

http://www.basstees.com/product.html

 

Btw, please feel free to click on the links provided by AllPosters.com and Google Ads. The quality is really good. Most of the content or offers are relevant to bass players and it helps me to pay a few bills related to this blog. Thanks.

Headless Bantam

Almost forgot that I used to play a Washburn Headless Bantam (because I could not afford an original L-Series Steinberger). It was easy and fun to play but not playable without a strap. Too tiny to rest on your lap. I loved this bass but I sold it for a beer or two, I think.
   

 Me and the amazing Alex Haas.

The sound was crisp with a bunch of nice highs. The thin low end though, always forced me to fumble with the EQ of my Trace Elliott. I still have this one, in storage unfort…

Fender Jazz Bass turns 50!

Congratulations! The Fender Jazz Bass turns 50 in 2010. Details and very interesting facts about the ‘J-Bass’ can be read here:

 The Jazz Bass® Guitar: A History and Appreciation

Scroll down to see my baby or click here, if you don’t see the posting on this page.

Female Bass Players

It’s time to introduce a new category to my blog: Female Bass Players.
To start off: L-dia.

The first time I heard about Lydia Kaboesj (I guess that’s her surname) was when she got the endorsement with Fender end of 2008.

You will have to watch her on YouTube as she has disabled embedding, but respective videos will take you there directly.

 

 

She is for sure a traditional funker. Style, lics, sound.

 

But she grooves, can sing and looks great.

 

Check her out her YouTube channel or on MySpace. (both very ugly!)

Closing with her own words: “Have fun(k)”

Pathetic Bass Player

in deed. Nothing to add.

Carbon-14 Dating

I must admit that determining the precise production date and location of my beloved Fender Jazz Bass was not as complicated and expensive as a paleontological carbon-14 dating process.

Non the less, it took me 26 years, 1 month and 9 days to finally reveal the accurate age of one of my favourite instruments. And, I must be frank, it’s not that I needed more than the two and a half decades to discover how to determine the age of the bass. I knew it all the time! But never bothered…

According to the serial number and Fender’s database the production date of my J-Bass was between 1982 – 1987. Made in USA.

 

But today, I had the strong urge to unscrew the neck and search for the ultimate answer!

 

  No more guessing:

 

(I bought it 1984, I think June or July,
before going on tour with the band)

And then I discovered this signature. Is this the person who assembled my beauty over 26 years ago?

 

Mr I. Torres I would like to shake your hand.