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7... at this moment!

I am finally there and 100% happy. Barefaced 6x10 is mighty sounding and super light. Aguilar DB751 same but not light. Fender P ‘69 or ‘64 depending on rotation. Incredible sound and people always comment how good it is, so must be doing something right.

Actually - first gig with a new bass day. I've been prowling the site for ages for a Warwick Fortress. I love the build, sound and general vibe of Warwick but often struggled with the ergonomics. I've already got a Standard Bubinga Corvette and a gorgeous 89 Thumb Neck Through, but I seldom take these out when I'm fronting a band as the short top horn moves the neck to the left and throws me out position wise when I'm singing. Anyroadup, a couple of weeks ago this beauty appeared in the 'Basses for Sale' section for a fair price and I snapped her up. She's a Fortress One, Two piece maple body, three piece Wenge neck (not as slim as my Corvette or Thumb but comfy nonetheless) and Wenge fretboard. MEC PJ pups and two band EQ. Had a bit of a fright when setting her up as the D string wouldn't intonate and buzzed like mad resulting in a huge action - turned out to be a duff string. Also had an intermittent electrical fault which turned out to be the push/pull on the volume pot that was solved with a bit of switch cleaner. Eventually set up with a 2mm action at the 12th fret (a smidge over on the E string) and feeling good. It's a bright sounding bass and i was worried it would sound bass light when gigged. I needn't have worried - played a pub gig last night - GK MB500, Barefaced BB2 and Zoom B1xon and wow. The long top horn makes it ergonomically perfect - sits just right. The tone with Warwick Red Labels was deep, tight and authoritative. Plenty of snap, body and growl as you'd expect from the wenge neck. More than enough depth in the bottom end and a 'Jazz on Steroids' tone from the bridge pickup. Wow am I one happy bunny, I think I've found 'the one'!

Careful guys - with these attitudes to punters. It's something I used to be very guilty of myself in the arrogance of my younger gigging days - regarding any customers as 'dim punters' if they didn't react favourably to your playing or ignored you. It's better to try and engage with these people - so if you're going to put a PA speaker 12" from their faces when you're setting up then you could at least suggest with a smile on your face that they might like to move tables "as it might get a bit loud and we don't want to deafen you" or something like that. OK, they may not be the sharpest tools in the box but they're still human beings and people usually respond favourably to someone taking even the slightest interest in them and their wellbeing. And then it all helps create a good atmosphere in the place which is beneficial for all. Just a thought, nothing personal.

Sure no probs to snap some pics! The outer polycarbonate shell is about 3-4mm. I had assumed there was a wooden solid centre block, but I was routing in acoustic foam and polycarbonate mainly. This really surprised me Anyway, I decided to go with a straight knob layout to stay in the TB theme. Scratchplate finished, holes drilled so getting closer to completion. Since I made the pic I installed the pots etc. Forgot to buy pickguard screws and shielding so will need to buy that tomorrow. I’ll be fully done next weekend,

My Laki is a 55-02 Deluxe

Result! I convinced my mrs to take the kids out for the day so was able to make some progress. Routing done, scratchplate cut and routed but still needs some sanding/finishing/screw holes etc. Notice the control cavity (freehand route), the acoustic foam is clearly visible. Amazing stuff, it is incredibly dence and even behaves like wood when routing. Plastic is still on the scratchplate in case you are wondering why it looks “dirty”

Snowflake alert! He gets a hard time because his conversions are bodged and pointless. Guitarists must be wringing their hands over this one - 'shall I buy a six string guitar or a 7-string conversion to um... a six string guitar?'

Its the Bison they use inside

Ha - I think some Warwick fanbois pricing ideas are similar to HP Wilfers!

I got a little done today, just prep work. Ripped up the neck laminates and took a bit of wood off the wing blanks with the planer/thicknesser. There are a couple of patches on the wing wood that are a bit plain looking so they will go into mine as that will be veneered so it will never be seen. I've stacked them on sticks to breath and settle for a few days until the constructional veneers arrive (which I'll order tomorrow) I did re stack the wing blanks better than that, I just laid them out like that to show you

Nice looking bass...feel sorry for those who missed it.

Public transport? hahah - you in london or something?

I've been quite busy in the last month or so. Started a new job, been on holiday for a couple of weeks and been having to keep the two small inhabitants of the house occupied during the school holidays. I have got a few tasks completed on these two builds though. Firstly I decided to make the bridges. As usual, I stated off by making some templates. The template I made for the original semi-hollow build was okay for the bridge outline but the piezo will be a different size so a new template for the slot needed to be made. Small pieces like these bridges can be a bit trickier with a router and need to be well clamped to prevent them being ripped to bits and thrown across the room when the router is angry.... Firstly, the ebony for the bridges was cut roughly to size and the mounting holes drilled. These holes will also be used to hold these still whilst they are being routed. The bridge blank was then clamped under the template and a surround made to support the router whilst cutting to size and rounding the edges. The edges were then trimmed to make the blank the size of the template. I then cut a slot the size of the piezo into some more mdf to use as the slot template. The bridge was then mounted behind the slot template and the slot was cut. The blank was then put back on the original template and the edges were rounded. A bit of filing to slope the long edge a bit and some sanding and that's the bridges made.

These should be available on prescription from the National Elf Service 😎🎸

You are not being unreasonable from my POV - its up to the seller to get the thing to you or return your money.

Does it matter if it’s legal or not if you can’t get PayPal to refund you? And in answer to the specific question, yes, I have heard of fake money etc, but I have never heard of anyone being scammed by it in real life, wheras I have not only heard of but know people who have been scammed by local paypal pickup. Anyone can do that, the fake money is harder to do. If you are not worried about it happening, you carry on doing it, but I wouldn't do it. Cash on collection or no deal for me.

With the main structural braces secure, I now am adding the side braces. Although these also help to maintain the spheroidal shape, their main function is to transfer the vibrations to the various parts of the top. These are the ones that will be tweaked during the tap tuning process. First thing after the glue is set, however, will be to slim down the cross sectional profile of the braces into the familiar arch shape.

Thats what’s paid by pubs because there are bands who will go out for it. Simple as that. If everyone sung from the same hymn sheet, the pay would go up. Si

I would be lying if I said I fully understood what exactly does what. But when I was considering building my first acoustic I did a huge amount of reading and internet trawlingof what the high end makers do. And then I went to a large guitar store and looked into the soundholes of a large number of steel string makes which bore out many of the things I'd read - that the great, great, great majority of steel strings are built to essentially the same formula I followed every single one of the common features to the letter. I was so pleased to have ended up with an instrument that actually held the tension of the strings that I'd have been chuffed if it had sounded like rubber bands over a baked bean can But it sounded brilliant! Like - better than my mate's Martin D18 brilliant!!!! So how many builders and manufacturers actually understand why these features work - and understand enough to know what to tweak and where to make them even better - is probably relatively few. I certainly don't. But they - and I, now - do know they do work. So, while most of my solid builds often go away from convention - and sometimes in a big way - for acoustics, I follow the formula slavishly. And the elements in that formula?: - Almost all steel strings use a dished top. There are only a couple of makers I know of who make a flat top - The great majority of them use this identical bracing pattern - even down to a tiny sliver you will see me put on top of the x brace joint - Even the position and height of the nodes on the braces are likely to be within a few mm of the same positions - The back and sides makes very little difference to the tone. It pretty much matters not what they are made from as long as they are structurally rigid enough. In many people's view, laminated sides and back makes no tonal or volume difference. - The wood type, grain, stiffness and thickness of the top wood makes a very significant difference to tone - As does the thickness and shape of the braces...which is where the black magic of tap tuning comes in (of which more anon)

But have you never heard of fake ID? Legal invoice? Countersigned by whom? I know a guy in the local classic car club who lost just shy of £8k to this very scam it DOES happen. Whilst it may not be common why risk being the victim of any scam? It’s not being paranoid it’s being sensible. Any fraud expert or police officer will tell you that the best scams are those that are an inch off being genuine, so much so that people end up falling for them and losing out. If it’s a £5 item then you haven’t lost much (apart from the fact that as Fleabag has correctly pointed out nice old PayPal turn it into a £20 hit) but any item worth a decent amount, no way. And yes you can get fake cash but there are ways to protect against that as well. It’s just about being careful and minimising the risks. And yes you could take PayPal to court if their terms are illegal, but you would have to have far deeper pockets than mine (and I suspect 99% of the population), that doesn’t make it right but it’s the way it is.

My old 89 was full of Barts.

And if it goes wrong you could always turn it in to a seat 😁

We used to play White Rabbit when Jenny Haan was singing with us - one gig we had to play it 3 or 4 times before they'd let us go home!

LOL Looked at this a few times and I think it has been pretty much nailed! 'Personally' I feel the pre 91 basses were generally made from/of better quality woods and materials (other than the chocolate output jacks... buy a Switchcraft and be done with it). Why W can't role the fingerboard edges on new basses is beyond me mind, that would make such a difference. Electrics are pretty much standard now, though I did prefer it when you could have EMG, MEC, Bart, SD even Alembic. Neck profiles are so personal that it's a case of meat/poison; I have to admit to having some pretty skinny neck Wicks but also possess a very full (maple) necked 07 NT Corvette and I love the feel. I agree the whole catalogue is pretty messed up and dilution of the brand has occurred. Replaceable truss rods were a good thing BUT you shouldn't need to do it anyway and tbh the stories grow bigger in the telling, I've had basses with issues (2 out of 40+... is that good/bad ratio) but all are fixable (unlike some manufacturers). Oh and one shouldn't place 'too' much faith in the official emails/info supplied by Warwick... it may not contain 100% accurate info. Finally, never buy a new Warwick; you may as well drive down your street throwing tenners out the window.

Better picture with the fake cover 🙂

First off, big respect for your post and aspirations. I work with a wide range of adults with severe to mild learning disabilities and/or autistic. We are lucky to have a team of music therapists - in a nutshell, they have psychology degrees because they are using music to support people who have communication and emotional difficulties in a therapeutic and clinical way (there is so much more to it than that, but like I said, in a nutshell). However, there are many volunteers who come to our organisation to play music either with or to the people we support. I can’t stress enough how VITAL this is to a large amount of people. Again in a nutshell, a staggering number of people in residential care spend large proprotions of their day disengaged and devoid of opportunities. Generally this is due to the social care finanial crisis affecting community outlets and organisation’s support provisions and also because many services can struggle to convert their values into staff behaviour. People that come in to do music engage people, make their day, and often give them something else to look forward to. I’ve also seen this have a great impact on staff, and act as a much needed stress reliever for them too. Less stressed staff equals happier supported people. I could go on and on, especially as this touches on my professional remit, however I’ll end by saying that by going in and playing with or for people you’ll be making a significant contribution to their quality of life outcomes. A good organisation will have a volunteering person/department, will have a meeting with you, get you DBS checked and will make the most of your kind offer. Just reach out and find the right place. Good luck!

Having a bit of a gas attack i bought an ELF tis rather wonderful little thing all things considered I got the elf 1x10 cab too sounds ok but tonally i quite like it through my hydrive 112 - looking forward to trying it out when i get the opportunity through pair of 112’s to see what the full power output is like anybody else have/tried one?

This topic is trying to cover far too much ground. As I understand it, the OP's question referred to serious pro musicians who can charge a serious rate for depping because they're good enough, flexible enough, and (presumably) have some sort of reputation. Well I've depped too. Twice. I'm not good enough, not flexible enough, and I have no reputation, so I got the same money that I'd have got for playing in Dad-rock pub band. Seeing as that's pretty much who I am, I didn't have a problem with that. Bassfunk talks about charging up to £350 for a dep gig. Very few of the bands I've played in were capable of earning that for a pub gig, and that's for the whole band. As to 'we should all sing from the same hymn sheet and ramp up the prices', sorry Si but that's simply nonsense in 2018. Musicians could get away with operating an unofficial cartel in the 60s and 70s, pre-Internet and pre-thousands of newly qualified music graduates appearing every year. This is a capitalist country, and everything is driven by supply and demand. Supply has been soaring for the last ten years, at exactly the same time as demand has been falling. Do the math.

Now you're just rubbing it in!

That's the approach I was going to suggest. Diplomacy usually works. Or they could have abruptly and without warning kicked the table and chairs out from under the couple. That works too. Blue

Its pretty well customary everywhere, just good manners really. Surprised you have Aldi's there now though!

Top job 👍

Yes, it's looking great

Update: I’ve now received a sketch of the room showing its dimensions and the sloping areas of the roof space. Very useful! It’s slightly larger than I’d guessed, which is a good thing. Room Modes Here’s the pattern of room modes (standing waves) in Pete’s room, based on its dimensions (length/width/height). Tall, red lines indicate particularly strong room modes; and we can see there are strong modal frequencies at 36Hz and 55Hz, which coincide with the slower decay times seen on waterfall graphs above. So at least we know where the biggest low end problems can be found. Both of these low frequency room modes are treatable, but the one at 36Hz is going to be difficult to reduce without installing truckloads of acoustic fibre or pressure-based bass traps (expensive to buy and tricky to DIY). Although from what I’m seeing, I don’t think we need to worry about it. Curiously, the room dimensions fall within the ‘Bolt Area’ (see screenshot bottom-right), which means that the room modes should be quite evenly distributed in this space. That’s a good thing; but bear in mind that all of these estimates assume the room has vertical walls… so the angles in the ceiling might be sending some of these predications skew-whiff. Moving the Listening Position As mentioned above, I think the priority here should be fixing the lack of symmetry between the left and right speaker responses (as the rest of the room seems generally ok as a starting point). And to achieve that, I think we need to find better symmetry in where the listening position is located in the room (i.e. the desk and chair). I’m fairly sure that having it in the corner is what’s causing the big dip in the left speaker around 100Hz (i.e. a cancellation null due to the proximity of the nearby wall). Theory tells us that it’s usually best for speakers to fire down the longest dimension of the room, which would mean moving the listening position to one of the shorter walls (the one with the "wife's desk", or the one with the bookcase). But theory isn’t always right ...and I’m wondering whether the acoustics might actually fair better with the listening position located where the sofa is currently - especially if the door is left open. These decisions are ultimately Pete’s to make and boil down to his own priorities for the room. All things considered, my recommendation remains unchanged from above: i.e. try moving the listing position to the opposite wall (where the sofa currently is) and measure here twice using REW: once with the door closed and again with it open to allow comparison. My guess is that will help to fix the symmetry issues between the two speaker responses… and with the door open I'd expect to see an improvement in that 30Hz mode (e.g. faster decay time). But moving the listening position here may also cause a whole new set of problems! Acoustics tends to be full of frustrating compromises 🙂 So yeah. Try that new listening position, take some new measurements and we’ll then revaluate before looking at options for acoustic treatment.

All totally my own fault, but since changing back to cabs with tweeters (Berg HT112’s) from a BF SuperTwin, I now realise that I’ve probably let some decent basses & heads pass through my fingers unnecessarily!

Here are some pictures with my Leduc MP 628 SF, which has a "normal" body size : Funny yellowish light we have over here.

We played Cocaine last night, and much as I love JJ Cales's music, this is one song I really dislike playing, but it always goes down well, so I do my best and pretend I'm enjoying myself!

No - it actually enhances it. And we get to get into the really black magic world of tap tuning... If you thought laminating was controversial.... I'll cover this soonish.

Just awesome

I've never been happy with my sound, but when gigs have gone well with people really enjoying the band, then I tend to not be so bothered and enjoy the moment, and think I must be doing something right. Everyone else's sound always seems to be better than mine, whatever setup I'm using. Just like every other bass player is better than me (although they are). GAS is built on this. Odds are, your gear and playing is fab, but sometimes a venue will sound poor for bass (standing frequency etc.). Keep everything; buy new gear; try to enjoy. And remember; it could be worse - you could be a singist.

Last night was the second of five dep gigs that I'm doing with a Rolling Stones Covers band this month. The first one had gone well - just a couple of little stumbles where they play things a bit differently to how I'm used to, but on the whole very good. Last night was really brilliant. Great venue in Brum. Very small stage, but plenty of room for the punters to dance. All ages, really nice atmosphere. Very helpful sound guy. But near disaster struck as I was loading in. Managed to trap my finger in the door of my boot! First finger right hand - my main plucking finger so to speak!!! 😮 So quickly got a glass of ice from behind the bar and stuck finger in that for a long time. Skin broken just under the nail, but luckily pad of finger OK although very tender. So I soldiered on and didn't even notice the pain during the first half (despite Paint it Black and Sympathy for the Devil!) but afterwards it was really throbbing. So spent the break with my finger in a glass of ice again and it was OK for the second half. It went so well - people smiling, dancing cheering. Some bloke wanted his picture taken with me during the break. He kept going on about what a great guitarist I was, and I suspect that he thought the guitar solos were coming from me, haha! I didn't disabuse him of the fact 😄Also, most of the members of the other two band I was in had come along as well and they all really enjoyed it. And I'm getting paid - which all helps to eke out the pension. Feel like a proper musician at last. Very happy bunny this morning, despite throbbing finger 😎☝️

Smallish local music stores have to cater for Mummys and Daddys coming into the shop for a guitar for little Johnny, haven't a clue what they're buying so need advice, if Johnny then progresses a little he'll know what he wants so probably won't need their advice, which is why they have mostly inexpensive stock, that's what their customers need.

I just wanted to encourage those who had posted in this thread before the forum software change to repost your Laklands!! We're obviously missing a bunch of lovely photos from before the software change happened, so would be great to get the visuals happening again in this thread Whilst mine survive above, here they are again 😍: Custom US 44-94 (passive P/J) & Skyline 55-01 (upgraded US Bart dual coils & NTMB pre). Si