Leaderboard

Squier's an actual, proper name, from the Olden Days & everything: https://www.houseofnames.com/squier-family-crest The Squier brand originated in 1890 - string manufacturer V C Squier, which was acquired by Fender in 1965. Obviously what's happened is that The Internet has realised that a gross spelling mistake has been being perpetuated for several centuries, and using the power of popular usage of the correct spelling, predominantly through its Ebay instrument, is righting that wrong. This is, of course how all language evolves. In the future it'll be perfectly normal and acceptable to have a Squire base gitar with a frettles kneck and bone knut, fitted with upgraded turners. You'll need a chord to plug it in, too.

Is it still for sale? i may ask for photos....

Never been to a bass bash and this isn't too far away.... would love to meet you all.

Inspired to add a picture. Leaving out the Thumb fretless. Stage 2 1991 Stage 1 1991 Thumb 1989

Do you have any datums to back that up?

Or it's plectrum, or pick, or flatpick ... you can call it what you like. 'Hey Charlie, I've forgotten mine, can I borrow a pick?' 'Sorry I've only got plectrums.' 'You're a tosser ... just lend me one of your plectra.'

That's a whole big truckload of nope.

Hi Dazed, Your story does not sound much different than my own. In and out of playing due to work/college/family and so on. Now the career is good, family has grown and I have time to myself again. That is why I signed up to SBL. To relearn some of the forgotten stuff and to grow past where I was/am. I am not in a hurry to join a band but I want to play and be better at more than just pop, rock and country. So to the "Shed" I go! And like Scott says: "I'll see you in the shed" Best of luck (to the both of us)

Today I spent a bit of time looking at layout and making templates. The bass is going to be 33", so I've reduced the overal size of the body slightly, and because the bridge will be right up againt the edge of the body (to improve balance) I've also re-worked the lower horn a bit to allow access to the upper frets. For the pickups I'm going to stick with traditional positions for both the P and J pickups. For the P that's 84% of the scale length away from the nut, and for the J in the 60s position, 92%. I also prepared the neck blank. It came from David Dyke and it's fantastic. I cut out the neck and thicknessed it down to 20mm and it didn't move a milimetre. Look at this for symmetrical grain.... Tomorrow, neck pocket.......

Well I wasn’t expecting this much feedback, many thanks to all that have commented so far! My reasons for posting were to gauge if people had used the lessons, improved, and felt there was a worthwhile improvement from the financial outlay. I know from my own experience, good and bad, you only improve by putting the time and effort in but also focussing and not wasting your time widdling (guilty). I started off as a child, aged 8 or 9, playing guitar and having weekly lessons at school. The lessons definitely helped - good teacher. I gave it by senior school and a couple of years later picked up the bass and taught myself. I’d learned to read earlier on guitar to an ok level but over time stopped reading and learned everything by ear. I played with a large brass swing band for a year or so and realised my reading was pretty awful! Instead of practising reading I left the swing band, although my girlfriend at the time also sang in the same band and her leaving influenced my decision. Looking back I should have stayed with the band 😂 but that’s another story At 15/16 I started playing in bands, mainly original material with the very occasional cover gig. Of course at that age I was too cool to have lessons and carried in doing my own thing for 7 or 8 years, slowly getting further into a rut and not really improving my playing, knowledge, theory or reading. At some point in my twenties I had a few lessons from a quite well known bassist/ guitarist/drummer a very talented musician. The problem was I didn’t know what I wanted to get from the lessons and as we were friends, the lessons became more of a coffee and a chat. He did teach me about modes, which I vaguely remember and occasionally practice them. Life became busier as it does, music became less important and the bands I’d been playing in fell apart or imploded as we all moved onto other things. I stopped playing for a long time, ten years or so, bands and all the politics had left me with a bitter taste. For whatever reasons I kept all of my gear and eventually the urge to play returned. Anyone who has been through this will know the feeling of joy but also disappointment that your abilities have severely diminished! This brings me upto the last chapter of my playing, the now slightly rounder shaped, more disposable income, post mid life crisis, bedroom noodling, accidental bass collector (yes I do blame BC!) attempting to learn and actually understand what I’m doing. I haven’t really progressed with any theory or reading, though that is still a goal and I haven’t yet found enough courage or nerve to look into playing with other people or in public, but I haven’t complete ruled it out either. Through other tragic life events I’ve found myself with vast amounts of time to fill. A while ago I went back to what I enjoyed and set myself a few tasks of things to learn by ear. As much to keep playing as to help me through a massive depressive phase, which it really did. Sticking to a rough schedule of daily practice I did make a lot of improvement, surpassing my previous form in some areas which was encouraging. Again things got in the way and that all tailed off. So here I am again, staring at my collection of more money than talent, giving myself a bloody good serious talking to, to get rid of all those shiny things, but keep a couple and concentrate on the playing . If you’re still here reading this, I thank you, you’re very patient and I have signed up to SBL. I may even post updates to publicly shame myself into keeping at it.....

Just want to say, Paul is a great teacher. He taught me at ACM many moons ago and I've returned for private lessons to fill the gaps in my knowledge. I point vaguely in the direction of what I want to improve, he has it all laid out on a plate waiting for me. I digress with something vaguely related, he ties it all back up. Couldn't recommend him enough.

The tinted neck originally intended for the yellow Jazz is now on “the P Bass that started it all”. Pretty happy with how that looks. The headstock on the paler maple neck has now been sanded back and re-lacquered with a new decal. Will probably leave that overnight before giving it a tickle with some wet-and-dry just to knock it back to satin rather than the high gloss it currently is. Took the opportunity to fit a new Tusq nut as the original one was pretty crappy plastic. Once the lacquer is dry I can get the machine heads and string tree fitted and complete the yellow Jazz build. Sadly I won’t be able to get it strung and set up until payday next week as I’ve got about a tenner to last me until then!

My definition of new music is 'music I haven't heard yet', which could be something brand new or something written 150 years ago.

😂 There’s actually something to be said for that…! I think it’s called the ‘limp bag’ approach, where you deliberately choose a lightweight structure (e.g. wooden building) to allow the low-end frequencies to escape the room more efficiently. In fact, mixing in a tent would probably be ideal. Well, some of the time…

So a violinist is really a violin player, a flautist is a flute player? A drummer is a drum player? A vocalist is a git voice user? etc etc etc.

First of all - 'Yeah! You CAN do that' I agree - given a specific and identical set of woods, dimensions, shape and electical componentry, then there is less scope for building in a little bit of extra sonic excellence on a solid body. Loads of scope in terms of feel and finish, but less so in terms of actual sound. There is, of course, always scope for tailoring those factors to an individuals needs and taste. With acoustics, every piece of wood all has it own physical characteristics. The experts in this field not only choose specific pieces of wood ( which the good mass producers also do) but then are able to tweak things to make that piece of wood do the best that it's physically capable of doing. And the difference that can make is quite large, as you can hear in the back end of the video. Bear in mind that his top was starting where my top has finished. So the guy in that video would be able to absolutely transform the way my own build is going to sound. And conversely, an amateur like me is capable of actually making it sound worse than when it started. The mass producers of acoustics therefore are looking to consistent woods, machined to a high standard to produce predictable and replicatable tones. Having said that, surely it can't be far away that someone directly links a vibration spectrum analiser to a cnc router to mechanise the present realm of the craftsman?

Have you tried giving the trussrod a small tweak (say 1/8 turn clockwise) to make sure it's under tension?

My Stingray only does one thing. I tried it as a toaster, a car jack, a ladder, a cheese slicer and a hammer... but it was totally useless so now I only use it to play bass.

I don't like to talk about it. And I hardly ever bother to mention that I am young and gifted.

I decide I need a compressor so I buy one, use it and then decide I don’t need it so I get rid of it. Then a year or so later I decide I need a compressor so I buy use it and then decide I don’t need it so I get rid of it. Then a year or so later I decide I need a compressor so I buy one use it and then decide I don’t need it so I get rid of it. Then a year or so late I decide I need a compressor so I buy... (repeat ad infinitum)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electric-Bass-Guitar-Project-Short-Scale/183391220543?hash=item2ab2f7f33f:g:lksAAOSwmSVbfBsG

HomeSearchRegisterYour AccountE-ZoneResourcesLinksSupport In association with Qualifications: PGCE PTTLS Instruments: Electric & Upright Bass Guitar/Guitar Beginners only Genre/Style(s): Rock Funk Jazz Pop World Music Ability Levels: Beginners to Advance Prices Remote Lessons via Skype/face time etc £20.00ph in person Fee (30 minutes): £20.00 Fee (60 minutes): £40.00 former teaching institutions Teachers.co.uk Musicians Institute 1993-6. Acm Guildford 1997-2012. International Guitar Festival Bass Courses Bath Spa University 2004-07. I have also taught for Access to music,Berkshire Music trust. Grozjan Summer Music courses Croatia 2010-11 Southampton Solent University 2013-16 Acmr Bournemouth 2016-17 Bryanston Music Dept 2017-17 Paul’s tuition program consists of the following: Knowledge of Instrument Bass guitar & Amplification Different models Guitar set up Pre amps E.Q Compression Valves Solid State etc Looking at the Blues progression Using Simple I IV V progressions & ulitimately working toward dominant chords & their appropriate scales including more comlpex dominants e.g C7 C7#4 whole tone C7b9 Phrygian dominant diminished & Whole tone Jazz studies Analysing Chord charts Jazz harmony Key & Tonal centres & altered Dominants II V 1’s b5 substitution Improvisation, chromatic approach notes synthetic & exotic Scales & arpeggios extended chords Walking in 2 & 4 & Getting round the changes.Giant steps changes Rhythm studies. We shall look at identifying specific rhythms styles that can be used when comping or soloing.re visit blues progression Using Knowledge gained from earlier studies Repertoire study Exploring different genres paying particular attention to the Technical (Plectrum fingers Thumb altered tuning Keyboard & synth emulation) & Musical aspects including (style sound chart navigation using a transcription & audio). Fret board harmony Includes specific technical exercises for the Bass that are designed to help with your Knowledge of the fret board & build strength & dexterity, including Scales Triads arpeggio’s Chord analysis warm up & supportive finger exercises for left & right hand. Practical Theory Develop an understanding of how music works in a practical way

Quite the same story for me guys. So see you in the shed too, with my real name there.

... just put this up here

I use an Arturia Microbrute (dinky analogue synth) for Ain't Nobody. Even if I could get a convincing sound using pedals, it's beyond my abilities to play those octaves cleanly on the bass guitar - they need to be really sharp and staccato. Even agressive noise gating didn't help. If you're playing an interpretation rather than following the original, you've got more options.

It is indeed, CTM100, I was tempted with the Handbox too but £500 man, seemed too good to pass up. Yeah I’ll fire some questions if needed when it lands, ta mate

Man oh man, that is one hell of a carbuncle. I've seen better looking warts.

I’ve committed to buy so incoming!!!!

I'm not 100% positive, but I think that could well be the single ugliest thing of any sort that I have ever seen. And I'm including Jacob Rees-Smugg, Hereford town centre and the SsangYong Rodius in that, so it's up against some pretty tough competition.

Hi Johnny, Great diary of two marvellous builds. Great job really enjoyed. Well done! What lacquer did you use on the head stock?

Do we have to pick select one of these?

Love mine to bits & it has all the volume I'll ever need too.

A quick shot showing the frequency response of Pete’s Room in blue (currently untreated) and my own room in red (heavily treated… like a padded cell) for the sake of comparison. What I’m trying to illustrate here is that although there are obvious differences, you can achieve very workable acoustics just by getting your listening position right. It’s by far the bulk of the battle. The region where you really need acoustic treatment to make any kind of difference is from 100Hz and down; and it's an exponential curve with steep diminishing returns. The lower you go, the more time/ money/ effort is required to make any kind of difference (those very low frequencies are burly and brutal!). Getting things under control down to 30Hz is certainly where I spent the most toil. Throughout the mids, however, both rooms respond very similarly. This is why thin layers of acoustic foam and hanging carpet on the walls, etc, are next to useless: they just dampen the mid and high frequencies (that typically require least treatment, as we can see here) and do nothing to tackle the low end (where the biggest peaks and dips are always found).

Reworked my pedal board this week - pretty simple compared with a lot of what I've seen posted in this thread but I'm really happy with this configuration! Just need to work on the cabling as it's a bit of a mess.

I never got what the problem was with the old design, and I've never needed any of the "hacks" described above. As soon as you see the strap locks it is obvious that they are not going to fit through the standard strap button hole. However once the hole in the strap has been suitably enlarged and the the nut has been done up tightly with tools that are able to properly grip both the nut and the strap lock body, I've never needed to touch them again, and some of mine have been in use for over 30 years!

I have put a set of Picato flats 45-100 on my Squier Jaguar SS. They fit just right, feel great, the black silk matches the headstock (!) and have a good thumpy tone for the blues band I play in. I would recommend them. Picato SS strings on Amazon

I've been enjoying a bit of French prog craziness - there's some awesome playing here!

And this a Plek machine... 😂 🤣 😆

Dear Basschat, meet Thunderblackstone.....

If somebody was looking for an argument they've plecked the right topic.

I agree - where would be on basschat if we ever did a topic here more than once? 😂

Ashdown CTM100 or Ampeg V4B.

I'm currently playing with 2 bands who are playing approx 80% originals and 20% covers. It varies on the night and the gig. The other 2 only play covers. They are all good bands with great players and playing very good songs. IMO there is no difference to originals or covers, playing both is the best approach to being a good bass player. It's always disappointing to see the originals guys dissing the covers players. Blinkers are never a good accessory for any musician.

Easy fix, and they will never loosen your nuts on Schaller's. The locking washer. Ive been using these on Schaller's for years and they have never come loose.

Which amp is it? Geez the make and model, and I'll have a delve in my drawers (if you'll pardon the expression) for relevant info. Here's a bit of general rat-sniffing procedure: 1) Make sure the amp is plugged into the cab and get the seller to assure you that the output impedance is set correctly for that cab. 2) DON'T plug in an instrument yet. 3) Switch on the amp and let it warm up for a few minutes on standby before switching it on fully (assuming it has a standby/ON switch anyway - some don't). Then just stand and listen to it while it's sitting there. If the seller is rabbiting on, politely ask him/her to be quiet while you listen. Obviously, if it starts making any scary loud buzzing, squealing or 'motorboating' noises, switch it off at once and either walk away from the deal or start negotiating a total bargain-basement price, 'cos it clearly needs some major attention. If it's pretty quiet, keep listening while you approach the amp and peer inside. If the output valves are visible, check to see if they look normal. What's normal? A few points of bright orange light are OK: that's just the heaters (also, with some valves you can see right inside and see the heater filament itself glowing -that's OK too), but if the anodes themselves (the large grey plates) are glowing red like a cooker hotplate on a low setting, switch off the amp. Red anodes mean that the valves are passing far too much current, which will shorten their life and can even cause damage to the output transformer. It could be occurring simply because they're not properly biased, but it can also indicate a more serious underlying fault that will need repair. Assuming all is well so far, let's move on. RUSHING/CRUMBLING SOUNDS: it's likely that the coupling capacitors need replacing (no big deal - easy and cheap to fix). HUM: In a totally healthy amp, there shouldn't be any noticable hum coming from the speakers. 50Hz hum (sounds like you get from a single-coil pickup) may suggest that there's a bit of a screening problem in the signal path (not a big worry). If there is a constant 100Hz hum that doesn't really change regardless of what you do with the controls, it suggests that one or more of the big power supply smoothing capacitors needs replacing (easy to fix, though new caps will cost £3 - 5 pounds each, so the price should be reduced to reflect this). CRACKLY CONTROLS: No big deal. Might just need a squirt of contact cleaner, or a replacement pot. Pot crackle can also be caused by DC leaking into the signal line (those pesky coupling caps again!) Finally, if it hasn't already blown a fuse or started to fill the room with smoke, plug in your bass and play! ADDED LATER: [quote name='paul, the' post='20025' date='Jun 19 2007, 08:04 AM']I was told over the phone that the amp had some hum - which would be fixed by a re-valve.[/quote] It's [i]very[/i] unlikely that replacing valves would get rid of hum, unless that hum is being caused by poor inter-electrode insulation between the heater and cathode of one or more valves - but unless the seller has access to a valve tester, he wouldn't know that. He's giving you a bit of the old BS there. You can bet he hasn't a clue why it's humming. Armed with the checklist above, though, you might! I'd love to see his face when you give a sharp intake of breath and say [i]"No, mate, that's your smoothing caps gone west. Fixable, of course, but it'll cost....."[/i]