Leaderboard

If you're going to patronise people (that means "talk down to" for all you thickies out there ) then at least learn to spell pigeon.

When I was in a local pub (Forest of Dean) someone made a crack about shagging sheep, to which an old soak at the bar shouted: "We don't shag sheep, we rape outsiders." It was crude, but got the point across adequately.

Not convinced.

I felt this just warranted its own thread.

I'm dyslexic. And because my dyslexia can make written communication difficult for me to read on occasions, I do my very best to make sure that what I type is clear and legible. Occasionally my brain will run ahead of my fingers and I'll miss out words or put the wrong ones in when autocorrect collapses two half words in a new single one. You've probably all seen them in posts from me. It's also why I rarely post from my phone or iPad, because the typing interface on those devices is just too much hard work for me. I can read properly formatted text because I've trained myself to be able to do it. However when confronted with something like the OP my brain simply shuts down, and I have to move on. Luckily for me it is only occasionally a problem, and I've only had to block a few posters here and on other forums because everything they type sends my brain into meltdown trying to decipher it. The OP is not dyslexic. They are either too lazy or too stupid to take the time to try and communicate in a clear manner. And because they haven't done that, they have run into problems. I also feel sorry for anyone who has to try and unravel what has been written. I wouldn't want to deal with someone like that on eBay (or anywhere else) either. It only takes 10 minutes with a book or a decent quality newspaper, to realise that you do not format text like the OP has done, so why do people still persist in putting spaces before punctuation symbols, typing everything as a continuous stream of consciousness without breaking it up into neat paragraphs? If you can't take the time to make your post legible, I certainly can't take the time to try and work out what you are saying.

I think you should take the time and patience to point out why xgsjx is wrong, because I think he's pretty much hit the nail on the head.

Sometime I think I'm the only fool 65 year old with the same spirit for gigging I had when I was 12. I'd be in heaven if I had gigs 4 nights a week. I love late nights, love the club bar scene, love the money and most of all the attention. I must have signed 5 CDs and several gig posters this past Saturday night. I love that kind of stuff. Blue

Yes it's a looky-likey. With regard to the mod, weirdly I have carved up my older Telebass because it is more road-worn and had been modded anyway for another pickup but the Blueflower is all pristine and it feels sacrilegious to start digging away at it! I have the tools, routers and the skills. As you say, I will know it is there, even if it is obscured. I have another pickup which may be a bit hotter and would have no qualms about swapping that but harming those flowers seems cruel. They are real flowers....

TBH almost every broadcast radio station tends to repeat itself. Stick with 6 Music for a couple of weeks and you'll be just as fed up with hearing the same songs over and over.

Of course, that's different - guitarists have always been a lot more deluded than bass players. Anyway, I've got a brand new car and it's made me a really good driver, so there!

The Blues Brothers!

But in face to face spoken communication no one would be allowed to ramble on like the OP. It would be broken up into more digestible/intelligible chunks by questions and other interruptions. And informal shouldn't also mean incomprehensible.

For me GAS : 1: Its the hope that the next thing is better than the existing thing and might make me play and sound better than the last thing with less effort on my behalf to make that so, because the new thing is that much better. Some things I see in the basses and bass equipment for sale ads instigate an instance " Maybe if I get that I could get, or at least close to, that sound that ........ gets. " Like watching Tal Wilkenfield and wanting a Sadowsky or Marcus and wanting a MM Jazz and so on. Its like there could be some instant fix to bass tone problems that the regular gig throws up due to the room ect ect. 2: Its purley being inquisitive. You don't know till you try so you must try. 3: Nostalgia That's my take on it. A story....true story. ( Sorry its one of my essays) A few weeks ago I went to check out a Status I'd seen advertised. I was curious to see what it would be like more than anything and the price was well within reach. The GAS for it was probably because I've seen and heard many a good player use one to great effect so there was a bit of "if it works for all those guys..." Anyway it turned out it wasn't for me and my GAS for that particular model has been satisfied. Whilst I was there the seller casually mentions he has a few Wals, an Alembic and few other top shelf basses hanging around and would I like to check em out? I'm now fearful of a GAS overload and maybe I'd better not. It could be depressing going home to my trusty Jazz having played these. But the result was I actually didnt like the 4 or 5 string Wals, the Alembic or the 4 string Status. I liked the 5 string Status from a certain point of view but not enough that I really needed one in my life any time soon. All of these basses would have up to that point been on my wish list and any bassporn pictures of them would have me drooling. I was completely not taken aback with any of them. If anything I found them surprisingly uninspiring. All these years wanting any one of these. I left there feeling quite good about it. I am not suggesting in any way these are bad basses, just not what I personally expected them to be. They could be sonic Nirvana and the bass of a life time for some or most but TBH I prefer my Fender over them. Maybe when I was younger I wouldn't have known the difference because I didn't have the experience or knowledge about what works for me best. Neck width, balance, string height, weight ect... probably wouldn't have bothered me back then. I would have in my early days of bassingdom , fuelled by GAS, usually because its the latest thing in bass fashion, taken an instrument and struggled to get it to sound like I thought it would sound and moved it on when it didn't. I wouldn't of known about how the width of a neck can help or hinder me or that active is not really my thing back then. Same thing with amps and cabs.

I like the idea of the 'Drag' control. - I'd love to be able to adjust the flamboyance of my stage costume mid song.

There may be a few reasons why your luthier can't get the action any lower. The fact he hasn't told you what his reason is on your bass might indicate he's either: 1 - Not interested in working on your bass. 2 - Not much good at communicating. 3 - Lacks skills. Problems that can limit how low the action can go can include: 1 - The nut being high - solution: file the slots. 2 - The bridge won't adjust low enough - solution - shim the neck. 3 - Lowering the action further causes fret rattle. This can be because the tops of the frets are uneven (as discussed earlier in this thread) - solution level the frets. 4 - Truss-rod problems meaning the relief can't be set low enough. Solution - work to address this issue, which may mean major work. We can't really say a lot more about this without seeing the bass. A Yamaha bass should be pretty well made, for a mass-produced production line item made by people who've been trained to do the job to meet a need of the factory to work to a defined specification level. The problem with any bass made in these conditions is nobody who made your bass is actually a luthier. Wood is wood. Yamaha may buy good wood but wood moves in the process of drying out and aging and a visit to a good luthier may be needed from time to time. This is especially true if the bass you picked up is a "Friday night" item from the production line. As I said in an earlier post; taking it to an experienced Basschatter, who knows basses might be a good start. Here's the thread with a list:

'Chemical Weapons, fine. Nukes, great. But even in the face of utter destruction we will never stoop to deploying weapons such as these against our enemies'.

Is it good for metal?

"We will dominate the world... of table tennis"

Perhaps, but sadly a complete non-starter for me; since to learn said basslines would involve also having to endure Morrissey's voice. In short; a step way too far.

I liked Gladiator by Hans Zimmer and particularly the tracks with Lisa Gerard on. Blackhawk Down was also in the same vein.

The Gig with Dream Tröll was a massive success, we almost hit the venue cap. Made tons of cash and paid every band and I'm 80 quid up. A fantastic night all round.

"For sale my beloved <bass/amp/cab etc.>"

It's 4 years since I bought my first PB-50. I'd just signed up on BC and had no idea who Thomann were, that soon changed First time I viewed their site the PB-50 caught my eye but it was £76 and £76 buys you nothing remotely playable. Bought one anyway just out of interest. 2 1/2days later a big box of goodness arrived. Now I don't have a list of conditions when it comes to basses, I like a decent neck, a bridge that holds strings,tuners that hold a string in tune and a pickup to convey bassy sounds. PB-50 delivered that Interest in these spike everytime @discreet posts one of his mods and I will post headstock templates out to any BC'er who fancies having a go themselves. The templates started off for use with a router and guided cutter but as yet no-one seems to have used one. @MrTea suggested I do a post on shaping the headstock so here goes First thing I forgot was to take a before photo so here's the Thomann link. https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_pb_50_sb_vintage_series.htm I use the Mike Dirnt headstock shape and print on 200gsm card The set up on the newly delivered PB was great so the neck was left attached. Removing the tuners was first job. I'm working from the back so left the bushings in place. The screws can sometimes be awkward so if you've an old PH1 screwdriver,file the tip down and it'll seat itself into the screwhead better. The printed template has the tuners marked so align them with the holes and draw round the template. Remove the large areas with a copingsaw or in my case a pullsaw. ( in the photo is a router template made from doubled up floor tile) This is the rough cut, then I used a rasp to clean and round the shape. Sorry I forgot to take a photo after the rasp stage. After getting close to the pencil lines it's sanding next. Make sure you check the front face when sanding as you may not be sanding vertical. If you veered away from the lines you can hide it by sweetening the edges of the headstock. At the tip there it looks irregular. I managed to chip a bit of the front face so it's actually tape holding the glued in chip you're seeing The boss reckons I should tackle the 2 saddle bridge next. I masked off the edges so I had witness points then removed the bridge. Lady Luck came calling and the centre screw on the 2 saddle bridge matched the centre screw on the PB's bridge but I glued and plugged the other 4 holes.After fitting the bridge using only the centre screw I added the new Herrick pickup,this way I could run a string from saddle to nut and see they went over the pole pieces. Another thing was the bridge base was smaller then the PB one so the machine screw on D&G got swapped for a longer one (just robbed it from the PB's bridge) All lining up the back got masking tape before I drilled for the through body holes. Thought I'd a picture of the 4mm pilot holes but guess not The string ferrules had a 9.5mmm body but the rims were 12mm. Marked the depth on a 12mm flat bit and drilled for the rims,then swapped to a 9.5mm countersink. Tapped the ferrules in with a mallet and it was ready for strings and set up. I really shouldn't have bothered with the 2 saddle bridge, intonation is a hassle and I've decided to fit an ashtray There's also a bit too much shiny wood showing so I'm thinking about a scratchplate. Still undecided about the logo, I wished the HB logo had been in a different area so I didn't cut into it Looking at it now I'll get a Benton logo printed up and fit that. No shame in playing the HB

Recently just got this Fender US special Jazz, and although its lovely, I'm not really getting on with it. One of the reasons is I don't think the pickups are raised as much as i'm used to on other jazz basses i've had, therefore it just feels a bit funny to play. So thought I'd make a wee ramp type thing out of a length of pine I had lying about! I've stuck it down with double sided sticky tape so its very much removable, but I already feel more home with it on. My thumb gravitates towards it without me consciously thinking about it, and I'm not digging in as much anymore, making the whole bass just a more enjoyable experience, and less hard work! Can't say I've ever seen anyone with a ramp on a jazz bass, but if this is successful and I keep the bass, I'll definitely need to investigate what proper ones are out there to get! 9cm bit of pine that was 2.5cm x 1cm. Chiseled out some holes underneath so it can sit flush with the pickup. I then sanded it down taking quite a lot of height of it, painted it. The black paint I used has made it a bit shiny but hopefully that dies down a bit once its totally dried and been used a bit. Thought I'd just pop it on here for you all to have a laugh...err.. look! Thanks Fraser

Kevin, Now you have got the speaker out of the cab, and with your trusty cordless screwdriver to hand 😉, you may as well line the inside with some acoustic furry stuff to dampen the cab even more!

Definitely not a job of a professional. To give you an idea, below is the work of an avergae joe(me) with the first bass I ever restored: Its not perfect but it should give you an idea of what a professional should be capable of...

Funny you should say that, we just did one:

Didn't they feature in a TV series..? The Only Way Is SX..? ...

Guitard to bass player: ‘I will put my volume down so I can hear you better’

You really do need OGWT

Ultimately everything we experience is learning. Good and bad, painful and joyful all we can do is take the knowledge we gain forward into new adventures and use that which we learn to benefit others. Edit: try to benefit others.

Hahaha what a smart guess. maybe.

'Don't kill me, kill that dude over there.'

But you don't own any of it, you just rent it.

I had this problem with a well known brand of flats. The D and G strings went really dull compared to the other 2 strings after a couple of plays. I had trimmed the ends of all the strings (I like to be neat n tidy ☺) and thought maybe that caused my strings to suddenly 'die'. Now I've learnt that one should bend the end just before the cut as there might be a bit of slippage between the core wire and the string wrapped around it once you've trimmed a bit off. Does any of that make sense or am I being fed BS? I might dig those flats out and try 'em again.

@discreet Beat me to the reply I used the exact same method. Used a 12mm flat bit first to give me the cut for the rim then a 9.5mm countersink with a pilotdrill bit to finish. Drilling the 12.5mm first I find easier,the point drops right in the pilot hole so it's bang on target.

1000 Brownie points for your thread title......................... Nick Fyffe was the bass player. Great phrasing, this should be on every developing bass players 'to learn' list.

Did you ever try slapping with flats ? The OP wants to slap à la Mark King, so flatwounds are certainly the worst choice... Please read from the beginning before answering.

Two little gigs this weekend, Sat and Sun night. Snow and ice on the roads. I was surprised they weren't cancelled and even more surprised that both of them were really well attended. Nothing stops Brummie music lovers from getting out it seems :-) Saturday gig - a little spot at a Country and Americana evening. This is with my number 2 band, who are a lovely bunch of chaps but anashamed hobbyists. Banjo player who is usually very reliable had been celebrating Paddy's Day all afternoon and was feeling quite mellow, shall we say. He was playing all the same songs as the rest of us, but not quite at the same time. Nevertheless it all seemed to go down quite well. A friend of mine in the audience said to me afterwards 'Well done for keeping that all together Shell. I don't know how you knew where they were going to go next, you must be telepathic!' I took that as a compliment, as he is an excellent musician himself. Sunday gig with my number 1 band. A much more professional outfit who do mainly 50's and 60's covers. The challenge this time was to rise to the top of my game, as they are all really good musicians. We do some quite fast and furious songs like 'The Letter', 'Claudette' and 'Rip it Up'. My fingers are a blur, haha! Then I can relax on the trippier bass lines like 'Days' and 'Itchy Coo Park'. Had a load of fun and it went really well. The thing with both these bands is that they were originally acoustic trios who asked me to just guest on a couple of numbers that would benefit from a bit of bass. Before long I was a permanent member of both bands and playing the full set. The moral of this story being, keep your eye out for any opportunity, you never know how these things will develop

Whatever happened to using a capital letter for the first word of a sentence?

That's easy. Bladerunner by Vangelis. Probably one of my fave albums too.

They’re definitely not to be avoided!! Serious gear and great guys @Ashdown Engineering . My ABM 900 eventually got swapped out for a MAG 300 for a ‘fatter’ sound believe it or not. They have different versions of for example 1x15 cabs - different voicings (and sizes, etc). I chose 4 early Klystron 15” cabs because the ABM 15”s were bit middly in comparison. Well worth trying Ashdown gear out. 👍🏻 http://ashdownmusic.com/artists/113/J-Capachino-Carter/

Bass and parts are in (only waiting for a black series/parallel switch). The plan. The pickguard will be replaced with a black one. The parts. First things to do. Align the tuners and remove several sharp fret ends. I seem to have a patent on this with HB basses, or I am more critical than most people because I also build my own instruments.

And it's finished. Sorted out the wiring this evening, put on a set of new strings and did the first setup session. While making the pickguard I also made a new one for the original P (I could get two from one rough pickguard plate), that one is also in place. I probably still have to level and dress a few frets, but that's something that can be done at a later time. I'll make more detailed pictures during daylight tomorrow.