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I'm not sure how much he actually paid for it but I heard he was going to party like it was £19.99

I replaced the Bassculture MM pickup in my Elwood L fretless today with a Delano MC4 HE/M2. I have the 'single coil' HE/M2 versions in my fretted Elwood L and have been knocked out by the articulation of them, so I finally got around to fitting an MM one in the fretless (after 10 months since deciding to do so). The Delano is, to my ears, a much sweeter sounding pickup, the single coil and parallel setting in particular now have real character, so much so, that I may start using the parallel setting as my go to tone. A big shout out to Reinhard at Delano, who got the wiring info from Maruszczyk so I could just drop the new pickup straight in using the existing loom, I know he had to really spend some time on the phone getting the wiring info for the Bassculture.

Pre Basschat I had 16 Bass guitars and 1 amp. I now have 18 Bass guitars, 2 Electric guitars, 4 amps and a few effects. 2 of my basses are in bits for repairs or mods and since joining I have moved 5 basses on. I probably spend more time playing with them than actually playing them - I particularly enjoy getting hold of something unloved for cheap and then cleaning it and setting it up back to former glory.

To quote the late Fred Dibnah, technology doesn't make things better, it just makes them cheaper and quicker. You can keep your CNC machine...

You are supposed to wash them??

Just finished The Craft Room, a really good read, well done. Weekend Rockstars was great as well. Looking forward to your next book.

Might I mention, chaps, that I am going to make the Chowny I lent Al ‘available for transfer’. Lovely as it is, my team have just made it into the Premiership and I need to buy a season ticket! It will be in London until it is returned to me, so any capital-based Basschatter who fancies trying it out (I live in Bournemouth) please shout. M

Ive got a cs64 which has a slightly different treble pickup, similar to the original horseshoe treble pickup, and I have had the same problems you have. I have tried one of these,. http://www.rickysounds.co.uk/Bezels.html with not too much success, and one of these Zero-Mod 4003 Thumb Rest , https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/221890260822?chn=ps&adgroupid=13585920426&rlsatarget=aud-295856144804%3Apla-142405565106&abcId=&adtype=pla&merchantid=115189455&poi=&googleloc=9045772&device=c&campaignid=207297426&crdt=0 In the end I put the cover back on the treble pickup [which I had removed with some difficulty], and i found a position which was reasonable comfortable. Good luck with the hunt, and if you find a miracle cure please let me know. Still sounds great so its worth persevering.

Ditto, in the last couple of years I have done a light refurbish on a 5 string, cleaned up and defretted a 4. Also quite major work on a ukulele banjo, all bought and sold (at a profit) via the bay.

I'm making a mental note of all the various permutations for future polls: Do you play in a 52 piece orchestra and use compression? Do you use a compressor but can't tell what it does? Do you perform solo bass/vocals with drums on backing tracks but still use compression? Do you have a comp on your board but only use it for specific numbers/styles but otherwise compression is not your thing? Do you use a compressor more at a gig or in a studio than at a rehearsal or when you are less familiar with the material rather than when you know it well? Do you use compression except when you're aware the PA / sound guys adds some? Do you find it hard to tick boxes or have really never been comfortable with multiple choice Qs?

Sorry, fryer, it's LMC Audio: http://www.lmcaudio.co.uk/acatalog/LMC_Web_Catalogue_12__Drivers_53.html. - although they're not much cheaper when you add VAT. Plenty of cab designs on this very Basschat forum. In fact you're spoilt for choice. Start here:

That sounds like one of the better ones!

Pre Basschat I had 1 bass, 1 amp and a minimal selection of effects for years. Now I have 4 basses, 6 amps and God only knows how many effects pedals and sundry other stuff. I'm not looking for an elusive sound or tone or anything else - I just enjoy mucking about with stuff and usually losing money in the process. No harm done except to my bank balance but life's too short.

Sandberg TM4 - An 'obituary' My first 'really nice' bass. With me for 4 years. Sold yesterday. Beautifully made and so well balanced and comfortable to 'wear' and play. Accompanied me on the journey from being a relative novice to a bass player in two regularly gigging / function bands, and which saw my tastes change: from: a lover of all things passive tone on a 4 string bass; civilised Delano pups with at most a mild 'valve' drive and a purely finger style; to: someone using active EQ on his active basses, very fond of aggressive Warwick MEC or big single Nord pups, enjoying a wide variety of pedal sounds and playing 5 strings often with a pick. Funny how things move on, eh? I guess your 'first love' isn't necessarily the one you marry. But hopefully it will always be remembered with fondness and happy memories of many rehearsals and gigs for which it was my 'goto' bass.

My TM4 sadly was always bottom of the class and never came close to learning how it to play itself. It had to go...

For those tempted to go in this direction, Electromarket have a 10% off voucher (REWARD10) running at the moment - they stock a lot of RCF stuff.... No affiliation, just passing on the info!

It looks great! Nicely done indeed. The matched headstock - which I don’t like - looks good and I quite like it.

Ah - OK. That is different to how I'd envisaged it on the first read. Makes sense. Clearly, I need to read up a bit more on jointing - this approach is certainly new to me! Thanks for the detailed explanation

Just a quick pic with the rest of the family........

Right, it can grow on you gradually and then snowball. When I bought my first bass, all I knew was that I wanted more of a Jazz than a Precision sound (although I didn't know at the time that those were the names of bass guitars!) Developed more understanding, bought a slightly better amp, ... rolled on, gradually. I've just reached a breakthrough point, thanks to upgrading my amp to a Markbass 121 combo (from Trueno of this parish :-) which has so much better sound quality and control than anything I've played through before, that I can hear subtleties of tone, and work with them, for the first time. I've just changed the strings on my main squeeze and I can hear the difference :-) Unlikely to get to the point of switching electronics, but it does feel good to have a bit more understanding and control :-)

http://www.whtimes.co.uk/what-s-on/music/ska-and-punk-bill-at-hatfield-forum-hertfordshire-1-5532793

Need a catorgary who uses a compressor but can't tell what it does lol

The best wheels for gravel are those with balloon tyres fitted. You can pump them up. They laugh at gravel

Well - I was fully expecting that the first shot at the block routing would end in a scrapper. But - unless I mess up getting the ebony rectangles in - I think I was wrong! To my utter surprise, the block routs appear to be clean-sided and in the right place: All of the inner rectangles have been routed flat but will be chiselled individually when I fit the ebony rectangles - they must be deep enough to sink in the sides without being too deep to below the fretboard height in the middle. Back to the reason for the repositioning on the template.... Basically, the fretboard blank is double-side-taped to the metal template for both fret slotting and for routing the rectangles. In both cases, the template is positioned by use of a small index pin. However, in the fret slotting jig, the index pin is offset to the position of the cut: However, the template rectangles for the blocks are in line with the index pin notches in the template - not offset: And so, after fret slotting, the fretboard blank needs to be repositioned so that the rectangles are central and also that the index pin notches are now in line with the fretslots and not offset: I'll bet that's as clear as mud, isn't it

Not random, amateur or "hit n' miss" at all. A lot of folks on here give the impression of being far more interested in collecting / swapping / playing with / showing off their toys than in music. No shame in not being one of them.

I'm also an engineer, based in Yorkshire and use phrases like 'It'll be reet'

Shared this on the Facebook Yamaha Attitude page. Hope you dont mind @bigsmokebass..

I had one of these, but sold it on as I wasn't really using it too much (never bothered using the spare bass for a start). Nether the less, a great piece of kit that will be pretty much ideal for your needs.

+1 for the Epiphone Jack Casady. I'm on my second, after selling the first one then regretting it. On your point about quality - Gibson's woes have nothing to do with Epiphone - being made in China/Korea and far away from the USA. Also bear in mind that the Jack Casady is arguably Epiphone's top of the line bass, so they want to impress you, they want them to be the best that they put out. Worth pointing out that Jack Casady himself uses stock basses straight from the factory ("no ringers" as he put it in an interview) - it would be a real shame if the knuckleheads in America who seem hell bent on grinding the company into dust put you off this excellent bass. Bear in mind that the JC is almost completely hollow, no centre block. It's super light and will feedback, if you want it to. But stay a respectful distance away from your amp and you'll be fine

Good job. See if the older screws are all accounted for, you don't want to find out there's one stuck to the magnet after having all the trouble of reassembling the cab. The wax is just an anti-tamper thing. Not very eficient as it broke off without any tampering from you... glad it wasn't sent back under waranty or it could have been a tough situation to handle.

I`m currently in an originals band and the answer is yes, I would go to see "us" if I weren`t in the band. We`re playing music that I love, on a scene I love (but that I wasn`t aware of until we started the band I should add). Up until this band I used to go and see local covers bands regularly, as I just love music, but I do so much with my current band I hardly ever have the time to go out and see a band locally, on those weekends when I`m not gigging the feet are up storing energy for the next batch.

well done

Heres my Sandy PM4. Its an old one (cant find a serial number anywhere....) but a fabulous bass. Almost plays itself. sandberg 8 by Jon Ashbee, on Flickr sandberg 7 by Jon Ashbee, on Flickr sandberg 5 by Jon Ashbee, on Flickr

There’s a few videos on YouTube about it but it’s really simple: 1. You print off your logo on normal paper using a laser printer (won’t work on inkjet) 2 Cover your printed logo with sellotape then using the handle of the scissors rub the sellotape for about 1 min making sure all the sellotape is firmly stuck down and there are no air bubbles 3. Cut out the logo leaving a few mm’s round the edge 4. Put the logo in cold water for about 5 mins if it curls straighten it out again 5.Carefully rub the paper off the back of the sellotape and you will leave just the logo on the sellotape (if it feels slightly gritty then put it back in the water and carefully rub it again till you don’t feel any grit) 6. Wet the sellotape again 7. Place on your headstock or wherever you want the logo to go and blot with some kitchen towel remove any air bubbles and excess water then leave to dry 8. Once dry you can then apply your finish and flatten the same way you would a water slide decal See it’s simple and a very cheap way to do it In the style of blue peter here’s one I did earlier......

Not "best" maybe, but my J&D jazz sounds at least as good as many Fenders I have played and/or owned. Still a very giggable bass (admittedly with replacement Tonerider pickups). But as the best tone I've had was from my Status series II, no.

I am an expert here on compression, and I can categorically say that sometimes I cant hear it, out of the context of a mix. Because you just cant, not a 'transparent' compressor with a soft knee set to just pull everything up a couple of dB on the softer stuff especially in parallel. Good luck to anyone who can, you're definitely not normal. But put that in the context of a mix and if you know what to listen for you can hear the difference the compressor makes. So why bother if its that hard to consciously perceive? Because perception isn't conscious, psychoacoustics are hugely important and influential and definitely can make a band sound far more pro than the level of the venue they are playing in. Lets put it another way, would you rather an expert live engineer use everything at his disposal to make your band sound as brilliant as possible regardless of the venue, or would you prefer him to keep some of his tools in the box? Do you think your punters would tell the difference between Dave the drummer throwing some faders up on a shitty 6 channel Behringer desk and Wes 'The Wesernator' Maebe with a Midas Pro One and some choice outboard? What about Wes using the same desk as Dave and a few choice dynamics tools? I reckon Wes could make my band sound better live than I can with the same gear literally anywhere, he's the absolute canine undercarriage at his job, so I'd be some kind of an idiot if I didn't feel that. What does he use to achieve this? Simple, the basics that every sound engineer understands: good mic placement, good gain structure, good dynamics control, good spacial and additive effects, great musical understanding, great ears. He will use compression all over your bass to make it work in the mix better, think I'm kidding, check this out and especially this where he daisy chains two 1176s, the man is a master of compression, its his bread and butter. So what does this have to do with the OP question? Its simply the wrong question. It actually shows why most bassists probably shouldn't be trying to use compression, because it breaks down like this:- The audience should not generally be able to tell that a compressor is being used per se, but they will know that something is different if you turn it on and off. It depends on what the compression is for. A transparent gain riding compressor is going to work at a psychoacoustic level. On the other hand if you are using a compressor to drastically change the envelope of your bass sound then every single punter will hear the change as you swap it in and out. Its just a daft question really. Think like a bassist and you cant tell what its for, think like a sound engineer and you cant imagine a world without compressors on nearly everything.

Call me a philistine, but I've never really understood what a compressor actually gave me in a live context. I had one for a while (Electro Harmonix Black Finger) and all it really did was take up too much space on my board. Kejserens nye Klæder.

The thing is that I would notice if I didn't have my 1 knob compression at 9 o'clock. I doubt anyone else would. Even my brother rhythm guitarist says that bass is just bass to him and any subtleties of my bass tone brought to his attention seem to elicit little interest. As for the audience, I'm pretty sure that as has been said many times before, most would only miss the bass if it wasn't there, let alone discern any difference. The thing that folk readily notice is the volume, "the bass was loud". I think Motown did a lot to bring a good bass-line to the attention of the listening/dancing public. A few other popular songs had strong bass-lines like 'Hit the road jack' and 'These boots are made for walking'. I'm happy being part of the rhythm section, I like locking in with a good drummer and rhythm guitarist who are also good team players. But the subtleties we enjoy getting out of our instruments, thumbs & plectrums, strings, nuts, bridges, pick-ups, pedals, amps, speakers and techniques, for the most part are like trade secrets shared and assessed and discussed like new/old recipes by the connoisseurs of the art who are I'm happy to say venerable BCers.

Albatross (Fleetwood Mac) takes some beating.