For a bass nerd like me, it was great to be in an enclosed space with so many amazing instruments, talking to so many musicians about what they like best about their basses. I also got to geek out on some great rigs.

Some of my customers were in attendance, and they brought some of my custom basses along.  It was nice to see people enjoying my instruments; it’s always  great compliment when you see someone rocking out on a guitar that you have made.

Ross, one of my regular customers, decided that one was not enough.  Three Jim Fleeting Basses: 24 strings in total.  That should be sufficient for one man, surely?

The planned slideshow was not to be, but I think I managed to entertain this hairy crowd with my talk on luthiery.  It was technical in places, but I think I managed to keep the crowd.  I figured that an internet forum meet-up would produce at least a few people who are as nerdy as I am on the subject.

Dare I say it, these people seem genuinely interested!

The whole event was extremely well-organised and supported.  I am looking forward to the next one, and if you are a bass player I recommend that you get on Basschat.co.uk and see if you have a good local representation there. If if there isn’t a regular meet-up in your area, why not organise one?  They are great fun – but expect a throbbing headache the next day.

I was honoured when, almost a year ago, Gordon asked me to contribute to the planned exhibition. I thought I’d make something special for it, and at the time I was receiving a lot of press for building the UK’s first nine string bass. Few luthiers in the UK are making “ERBs” or Extended Range Basses, so I decided to build a second nine string, with a relatively modest 24 frets.  My first nine string had 36!

I began with this large chunk of Californian Redwood, which I bought from a guy on the side of the road during a road trip through Humboldt County in northern California.  It became the top of the through neck bass, and the back of the wings.

I also had some pieces of buckeye left over from a previous build.  I used these to make the pickup cover, rear headcap and the chevrons on the rear of the centre block.

In total, I glued 145 pieces of wood together to make this bass.  The species included bubinga, wenge, buckeye, redwood, zebrano and mahogany. It has had good feedback from those who have seen it, which is pleasing.

This is how it looks in the exhibition:

Gordon Giltrap describes the exhibited guitars as “works of art as well as beautiful things to play”, and on opening night I understood what he meant. My fellow exhibitors, who include Andy Manson, Martyn Booth and Roger Bucknall, are all fine craftsmen. Standing in the middle of the large white gallery, looking at the beautifully-worked instruments that line the walls, gave me goosebumps.