BASS

I love bass and ever since I started playing guitar back in 1986 I wanted a bass. So I got one!

Unknown Make (1986)

I bought this from a friend in 1988, it was black with a white plate. I eventually stripped and refinished it in stain and varnish and ripped the frets out in 1992. 

Washburn Mercury (1993)

This was used in the band I was in back in the mid 1990s and now I have it. It has a great neck and active circuit. 

Squier Affinity J Bass (MII 2011)

I picked this up recently in a pawn show and it's really really good for the money. I don't know how they make them so good so cheap! [Sold September 2020]

Squier Affinity J Bass (MIC 2013)

This one was even cheaper and I can't seem to put it down. These things are damn good entry level instruments.

 Fender P/J Bass (1996)

This one caught my eye on an advertising site and I had to investigate. It's a beauty but not all original MIJ. The neck is a Japanese made Fender 60s reissue, the body is a silver 2005 MIM redone in Fiesta Red and it was converted to a J along the way. The pickups are DiMarzio and it has two master volumes and the small knob is the master tone. So it works like a Jazz bass but with the unmistakable Fender P chug. It was used for gigs by The Shadows Ireland and I've seen a video where original Shadows bassist Brian "licorice" Locking is playing it in a club. There's a rumour Jet Harris has played it too. Funny old Rock 'N' Roll world innit!

BASS AMPS

 Trace Elliot Commando 

I picked this up used in late 2015 and it's been on standby every time I go booming. It's UK made but when you open them up they look like they were made by a toddler!

Great sounding amps and plenty boom! 

Trace Elliot Commando 50 

This is the MKII model, again more or less the same and one of the last UK made Trace amps. Picked up in a private sale and all it needed was a clean. Sounds good to me!

BASS

BASS GUITARS

I love basses and I have been playing them on recordings for donkey's years,

but really I love to play along with records from time to time.

FRETLESS BASS (Unknown brand mid 80s)

This Fender P bass copy was bought in 1986 by a friend of mine, it was black with a white plate. I bought it in 1988 and slowly started to alter it and this is pretty much what it has remained like for the last 20 years. The logo on the headstock is from an old band I was in back in the mid 90s. I still use this bass from time to time as it is one of the longest serving instruments I own. The brass control plate was custom made by a silversmith.

This bass is currently being repainted.

  

WASHBURN MERCURY MB-4 (1993)

This was bought in October 1994 for the band I was in at the time. It is an active bass with one of the best necks I have ever played. It's a great bass and I have used it on almost everything I recorded for the last 20 years.

FENDER P/J (MIJ 1996)

I found this on a advertising site and rang the owner and made an offer. It's a P with a J bridge pickup so you've the best of both worlds right here. Fiesta red is a killer colour in my book and not that common now. One other little note, it was said to be played by Shadows bassists Brian Locking and Jet Harris. There is in fact a video of Brian playing it at a Shadows Ireland gig in Dublin! Funny old Rock and Roll world innit!

SQUIER AFFINITY JAZZ BASS (Indonesia 2011)

This was a total impulse buy. The story goes like this. I gave a friend my Washburn Mercury during lockdown and it's still out and I had a serious bass pang having none in the house. So I bought a 1996 Fender P Bass MIJ but it's not with me yet so I was passing a pawn shop and booooom! These are very very good instruments. Really cheap used and very well made.

SQUIER AFFINITY JAZZ BASS (China 2013)

Another impulse buy! Crazy really, but even cheaper than the black one and possible going to be converted to a fretless bass. Once I cleaned it up and set it up right it sounds superb. Again the Squier basses are not just for kids, they're for middle aged nuts as well!

HOFNER (Unknown)

This bass has been around for a long time. A friend I was in a band with when I was in school back in '86 bought it in a pawn shop. I removed the frets for him and it's been like that ever since. We painted the neck brown and you can still see the pearloid slabs! He gave it to me recently to keep and I think I might refret it. It's a short scale too and from the late 60s I'd say. (Sold June 2018)

INTRODUCING

THE BRUTE

This is a homemade, or more like a DIY assembled Telecaster Esquire style guitar.

It was fun to make and it sounds superb with lots of sustain and biting tone.
While searching for a Fender Classic Series Esquire I decided to make my own and although this is a vintage style guitar it has a more modern feel and tone. Clean it howls and pines with that unmistakable country twang that the Tele is famous for.
Apart from all the parts I had myself, the total from my piggybank was around €210 and you won't get much for that in the guitar world unless you're incredibly lucky, like stumbling into an antique shop in outer Mongolia and finding a '52 Tele that was lying there for 40 years and the owner is blissfully unaware of it's value! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Say hello to my little brute!

The body is two piece Ash and it's very heavy.

Wilkinson ashtray with 3 compensated brass saddles.

The rosewood fingerboard has a 12" radius and 22 jumbo frets. 

Schecter logo from hell knows when!

Locking tuners are unbranded Chinese and took 4 months to arrive!

That grain is pretty kickin!

Can be used as a chopping board if you're in a pickle!

A Duncan Quarter Pounder is possible the highest output single you can buy.

It's a bomb! No, it's an Esquire style circuit with 3 Russian paper in oil caps,

Oak 3 way and CTS pots nicely decorated with vintage style braided wire.