The Last Bass Outpost

I was teasing a Facebook friend of mine about his Korean (I thought) Thunderbird Pro. He told me that it says "Made in Epiphone Custom Shop Tennessee". Is there such a thing? It's one of these:



And FYI - it was a conversation about trade deficits/buying American, which is the only reason I tried calling him out. Let's please not get into that discussion here!

I was just reminded about these guys by an old high school buddy. Really good 70s rock and roll band. Take a look at this humbucker added to a P. Also, what is that guitar the singer is playing? Looks like it might have some kind of sliding pickup setup.

I just bought this from pilgrim9 (who I believe still has a nice red Bach bird for sale). I've been trying to find an Explorer that worked for me for a while. Tried a 2013 Gibson and it was close, but something was not quite right. Then I grabbed an Epiphone off eBay and the neck was like a baseball bat. I already knew I liked the Hamer necks, so I figured I'd give it a shot and I love it! The width at the nut and the 20th fret are identical to my favorite '89 Ric 4003S. It's surprisingly super light and balances great sitting down or on a strap. They had the good sense to position the rear strap pin pretty far off center. Sound - wise, it has a strong P-Bass vibe, which is surprising considering the all mahogany/set neck construction. Can't complain cause I didn't have that flavor in the arsenal until now. Bone stock with Hamer-branded Schaller bridge and tuners, DiMarzio pickups, Hamer stamped pots, and original case with key in a Hamer ziploc bag. I did replace the original plain black knobs with Gibson speed knobs. Its a winner!

I have to share this story, and this is a good semi-private place to do it. I was a lifelong GHS guy (Super Steels) until one day, I accidentally discovered Dean Markley SR2000 sets. Great tone and amazing lifespan. They are taper core, which is generally not my preference, but it's fine. The biggest problem I had was FINDING them. I used to have my local store order them, but practically every time, some kid that worked there would end up putting them out on the rack rather than calling me and letting me know they came in. So, I started ordering online. About a year ago, I got 2 sets from a vendor on Amazon. Starting putting them on and noticed the A was dead, and the D not much better. So I grabbed the other set - same thing! So I ordered 2 (or was it 4?) more sets from juststrings.com. MORE dead strings! The guy there put me in touch with a guy at DM, and I explained the situation to him. He said there were some issues they were working through and offered me some sets of Blue Steels to hold me over. Fine, cool. Even though it was over a month before I received the Blue Steels, and I had a lot of dollars wrapped up in strings at this point (I had to buy MORE strings to get me through gigs - back to GHS) I was happy with the customer service. Since they had sent me the Blue Steels, I figured we were done, and I'd eventually buy SR2000 sets again. Then a few weeks ago, out of the blue, I get a package from Dean Markley - 6 sets of SR2000 in newly designed packaging. Cool! Start installing a set - the A is dead as can be. Go to the next set. Same. ALL 6 sets have a dead A. WTF?!?!? I went and ordered 6 single Super Steel contact core A strings from juststrings.com so I could at least get some use out of these sets. It's really strange. It's as if they're coming unwound internally or something. One thing I've noticed on all of these is that they are wound unusually tightly in the package. The diameter of the wound up strings is almost half what it would normally be. Not sure if that has anything to do with it. I also noticed there's no silk on the tuner end of one of the D strings in the latest batch. What's going on over there at Dean Markley? Really disappointed. Anyone else having problems with them lately?

Looks pretty cool. I wonder about originality?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291995844273?ul_noapp=true

The 8 string effect doesn't stand out that much in the track, but that's what I used. Enjoy!

https://www.reverbnation.com/nomadic1/song/26244099-carry-on

Sorry I missed Christmas, but here's a nice John Lennon cover I played bass on recently. Enjoy!

https://soundcloud.com/michelle-cross-1/happy-xmas-war-is-over

So patman's post about leaving the music biz gave me the idea to share my recent experiences. After 8 years of 50+ shows per year, I have now not played a gig in 6 months. For various reasons, I decided to step away. And funny thing - I had been uninspired to write for years, but once I made the decision to get out of cover band-land, I started spewing ideas like crazy! I'm LISTENING to and DISCOVERING more music, I'm GOING to more shows, and I'm WRITING again. It's been good. Kind of a relief from the day job/family/gigs grind. I didn't need that extra $15K a year anyway... 

So a guitar player friend and fellow prog fanatic that I've known for 30 years and I are finally doing the prog project we've been talking about for a few years now. We're sharing writing duties. I'm doing bass, synths, and vocals. He's got a Roland setup on his guitar. I found a really cool electric violinist (7 string through a guitar rig), and recruited the drummer from the last original band I was in (Ivory Wire). I'm still trying to find a name everyone likes.  I've realized I have a lot of great resources available too - people who are willing and eager to help out. Really GOOD people - producer, live engineer, photographer, web designer, booking agents... Even though, at the end of the day, this is "for fun", I still intend to make it as top quality as I can. There are some good venues in Chicago for this kind of thing, and I have some possible "ins" as local support for national acts. We have a ton of stuff written. Things are moving VERY slowly due to availability (drummer and violinist), but I plan to record 4 songs ASAP, then get some live shows under our belt before recording another half dozen or so. Very exciting and inspiring stuff!

I've got 1 "sub" gig this summer with a band that does all Zep, Aerosmith, VH, and AC/DC. I may return to that world some day, but for now, I'm enjoying some time off!