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Surely I can't be the first person to mention Anita's older sister. . . Hylda Baker?

I'm of the opinion that, as a band, one plays exactly how one wants to. Nothing is sacred. Playing like the original is fine, too, if that's what the band want to do.

I saw JB in 1971, with Bootsy Collins, and again some time in the early 90's. Those performances were chalk and cheese, sublime to the ridiculous. Throw his later career in the bin but he was at his peak and world class for about 25 years. James Brown's career was a story of 2 halves. In the first he certainly was The Hardest Working Man In Show Business. In the second, when he was gigging into 70's and with his many addictions he was way past his best. But in the 60's and 70's there was no one who could beat him. He was the guy who inspired every one. There wouldn't be Funk without JB or Hip Hop. Don't write off a whole career based on some of his later, woeful, performances? When he was in his prime he was a unique and original talent, a force of nature even.

Well - huge amount still to do, but definitely at the end of the beginning! The next bit on the body is getting a router out and routing the top and bottom binding channels. I might spend time on the neck before getting to that terrifying prospect!

Yeah maybe, but at least it gets people talking about great music. I worry when I see threads that ask "which way should I point the knobs on my bass for it to be aesthetically pleasing"..

Great thread, I can relate to many of these! 😁 Last night, towards the end I was mainly thinking 'my toes are going numb, I wish I hadn't worn these high heeled boots'

In the best case I stop thinking (no comments please) and am just amazed how the bass plays itself. In the worst cases, why am I here? when will this end? how much longer do I have to play for? Al the comments in thread so far have gone through my mind at various times

My favourite cover, nothing like the original, and I won’t even mention the snarling growley bass line, oops

I'm starting with this one....

So recently a fellow basschatter sold me a 1981 Ibanez Roadster fretless, the price was very fair and I was made fully aware of the issues it came with (albeit exaggerated as it really wasn't all that bad!). I said I'd post a few pictures once done, so here they are! The Bass didn't actually need a huge amount of work, and I had initially intended to re-finish it with a natural stain of some variety, however as I already own a naturally worn black 1979 Ibanez Roadster fretted I've decided (for now!) to leave the finish as is in its black, well used, glory. The truss rod needed freeing, after a spray with WD40 and leaving it to permeate for a few days the rod is now free enough for adjustment, however the neck is beautifully straight as is. The jack input has now been relocated correctly to the side of the bass instead of the front as it was previously and the whole that was left has now been filled with a tone pot so the bass is now V/V/T/T as it should be. A new truss cover has been fitted (couldn't find a brass 'Roadster' one so a nice black one sits there instead). I found a couple of similar knobs as per an original Roadster and after a full set up and polish the bass is now fully functional and plays great! The cost of the parts you ask? Under a fiver. The time it took you ask? About 2 hours. All in, it's now a beautifully playing, mostly original (bar truss cover) 1981 Ibanez Roadster fretless! Very happy indeed, though I was expecting a slightly longer project so now I'll need to find something to take up my spare time! Russ.

Some of you may know my cousin, George...

I have had my fair share of USA Fenders and unless you can try one secondhand before you buy I would stay clear. I think all of mine have had quality issues of some kind and never felt very responsive. I don’t think they are worth the money new at all. If it was me, I would go Lakland or a chunky necked MIM 50’s (both the normal and roadworns I have played are superb) or I would look at the Nate Mendel precision secondhand. I don’t think anyone has much bad to say about them, they look great and Scott Devine seems to play his a lot more that a Fender Custom Shop which says something to me. We all like different feels and look for different qualities though, so really it’s the same old advice of try a load and see what sticks.

There is a 50`s P bass on here for £500 and that is crazy money. They are great basses and I don`t know why it`s not gone.

You silly, twisted boy, you.

Once the back is glued on is no time to remember that you've forgotten something so this is a time for a pause, note the remaining jobs, do them, pause again. Hopefully, I've paused enough times! First there's the cross-grain maple strip across the join line. Because the back has a double curvature as it slims from the main chamber to the neck, I let the glue for the strip set while bending in this direction by using a fillet underneath at the bend axis of the panel: Then the all important label In the past, I've marked the top at this stage or similar and - because it's pretty much final thickness, those can be difficult to get out. So for the clamping, I cut out a comprehensive set of clamp cauls, chamfered so that the edges don't dig in (fingers crossed!): And then - after one more fit check - the 'well, it's too late now' step :

I googled 'Queen of Soul' and apparently it's definitely Aretha Franklin. 🤪

Elton John?

Why don't folk who disagree with the OP just nominate their fave soul singers? That way I might discover someone I'd previously not known then this would be an extremely useful thread, which would in turn placate those who think it worth contributing to what they see as a pointless thread.

Oh I hate that with such a passion - all those vapid breathy girl singers that do slow boring versions of songs that end up on adverts for banking.

Prefer the Partridge version...

I'm not big on labels. They just cause endless hair splitting, as we are doing in this thread, but Soul in the 60's was a thing. With many influences and a level of creativity seldom seen since. Aretha was the best in that genre and for many since. I've seen Anita Baker described as R&B and Urban Soul. Not labels I know very well but I guess that's not the same thing. In reality both singers deserve as many superlatives as we can come up with.

They are Mother of pearl, it's a slice of a shell, it's 1.5mm thick, which sounds thick but with such tiny pieces it gives some strength while your cutting it which is handy. A tip if your thinking of doing this, clean the floor meticulously before you start because tiny bits will flick off the end of the blade as you cut it free despite your best efforts to hold them down. Fitting them, marking is the important bit, I do it just like I do with the fretboard blocks: In the picture above where I am assembling the cut pieces, well they are actually being assembled upside down and superglued to the paper. When I'm ready I will cut very carefully around it with a new scalpel blade then stick some masking tape to the headstock and to the top of the mother of pearl bits. Then I will superglue the dragon masking tape to masking tape to the headstock. Then I can mark firstly very gentle then harder the outline of the dragon onto the headstock. Once that's done peel off the surrounding masking tape, that will show you if you have missed any bits, then with a sharp chisel pry the masking tape off the headstock and finally peel it off the dragon. I then rout out the outline with a 1mm router bit in a Dremel in a stand (I have a 0.5mm bit too but it plain intimidates me!!), I cut the line out so it actually disappears, yes that does leave a tiny gap. Then I remove the rest of the wood with a 3mm bit and clean any tight corners with the tip of a scalpel. Finally I have a bag of dust saved from sanding the fretboard, I mix some with a dollop of epoxy to make a thick but runny black mess and paint it into the hole in the headstock and fit the dragon. There is a little oozing of the black gloop through all the gaps but what I do then is dab what's left of the gloop onto targeted parts of the dragon to fill any potential voids. The next day I sand it down using a sanding block and examine for any voids and refill if need be. That is very easy on a black headstock, the filled gaps will be invisible once it's been finished but on a paler wood you need to take a lot of care to fit the parts very accurately so any gaps are merely hair lines, that is much more demanding but if you just take your time and think before cutting then it is just a matter of time and anyone can do it if they just think first. It's easier on a single piece inlay than a multi piece which may need to be fitted in stages like marquetry. Also with a lighter wood you still need a tiny gap around the inlay but as small and even as you can get it, you may still want to use black powder in your glue to emphasis the design but use masking tape around the hole to stop the gloop staining or getting into the grain of the wood. The top and bottom of it is that it's a fiddly job that will be no easier for me than it will for anyone else, the trick really is just to take your time and think about the repercussions of every cut if you're having difficulty fitting a corner in, as in if I cut that will it open up a gap somewhere else. My biggest tip would be as hinted above to start on black headstocks, they can hide many sins and you will soon gain confidence to have a go on other things and it really is a lot easier than all that may sound

If your thoughts aren’t like Bowman’s journey through the Star Gate near the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey then you are doing something wrong... ...or don’t you all take acid whilst playing these days?

When I glanced at that photo I thought it was a cake with candles on at first!

Anita Baker, Queen of Jazzy Retro-Nuevo (You had to be there, with 8 million others)

Ann Peebles for me, you don’t often hear her name said, but she plain slays. Not going to get into the King/Queen debate, but I can see this happily transforming into notable others, who maybe should have had the title, bit like an Olympic final, but it’s the music business so no drug disqualification.

I think it's stupid anointing people with titles like this. It's somewhat self-aggrandising of whoever does the anointing. Who appointed Pervis Spann (who?) as the arbiter of who was or wasn't soul royalty? Personally, I think she had a jolly good voice. I think it would be idiotic to have a title that was bestowed on her by some long-forgotten DJ get in the way of that.

Sorry for the delay, I had no tear out at all but I used shallow passes. What I have done this time radiusing fretboards was to just sand them and to be honest I prefer that way as I seemed to have much more control over the process, it only took 10 - 15 minutes each. Anyway if your using a router run it down the length of the board not along it rather than across and you should be fine and do three shallow passes rather than one deep one. Stop just short of your goal then fit the mother of pearl and sand the lot down as one. It's easier to do than say

If you want short scale and lightweight, they won't come any lighter than a Danelectro Longhorn. If you can live with the styling of course - the quirky shape was part of the attraction for me.

So, you may have seen I got tipsy and formed a Violent Femmes tribute band... I don’t do things by halves and set about looking for an acoustic bass. Wanted something good really, thanks to all offers from my wanted add - including the fraudster who told me “I have this item for sale, send me your details and I will send you this” Anyhow. Options were limited on my spare cash, so the Geddy Lee I’ve only had a month has bit the dust and will be heading to Sweden next week. So I threw a deposit on a Tacoma Thunderchief in Mansons in anticipation of the Geddy leaving. Played one once and was knocked out. Nearly got involved with the Fretless one for sale here but it wouldn’t fit in with my idea...although I’m already tempted to get a twins set up. Here it is The guys at Mansons are impressive, great service so far.

You're touching on psychoacoustic effects there. A real experiment would have to be very complicated. But as a starter for 10, you could connect a 4 ohm dummy load across the output, and connect a a 440hz square wave from a function generator to the input. That way, clipping will have minimal effect - the signal is already clipped. Increase the input until the voltage across the output doesn't increase any further. The voltage across the dummy load squared divided by 4 would then tell you how much power the amp is putting out at 440hz. Ideally, you'd repeast at 220, 110 and 55hz to get a fuller picture. This will give you continuous power output. To get peak power output, you would have to drive the input with pulses of waveform. It's not perfect, but it would give you an idea of how the two amps fare objectively. I wouldn't be surprised if the class AB amp does better in continuous output, by quite a margin. Thanks Artisan! Thats exactly the feedback I wanted to hear. I wanted to know that there are at least some people out there who "get" the value amp thing. OK, now I'm showing my bias, I'm also a valve guy.

@tobiewharton, I’ve just had a go at programming “Ain’t Nobody” on my Minimoog App, this setting sounds pretty close. It’s a medium-width pulse, no resonance, relatively fast downsweep envelope with medium depth. I’d seriously recommend buying this app if you have an Apple device, it’s worth every penny, you can play it on the device or hook up a cheap midi keyboard. At a push you could even play it with your bass using a Sonuus G2M (though there’ll be some latency). @CameronJ, I can share the settings file if you want to have a listen to it to comment.

You had a 5 string bass for "maybe" 3 days and sold it. You only "sort of" miss it. You don't know what the advantages of a 5 string bass are. If you were a 5 string player you wouldn't need us to explain it to you. I'd say you are better sticking with your 4 string basses.

JB? The Godfather, no doubt. Soul Brother No. 1. All titles deserved.

I have a bitsa P bass: old Squier neck off the slightly later model than the JV with Tonerider pup, KiOgon loom and a 'balsa wood' Affinity body only a few years old. This does everything I could possibly want. ... or did until on a whim I bought an MiM Fender P. Everything about the Fender was better, including the playing and the tone. This prompts me to two advice options. Expensive: buy a proper Fender Cheap: Buy and fettle a cheap clone and don't play the real thing so you don't know what you're missing.

I hope I didn't follow through when I slipped that one out

I love Randy Crawford and would dearly like to nominate her for this title but recognise that this would really be based on 1 album (Secret Combination) plus "One Day I'll Fly Away". Still a great voice.

Great reward for a little effort. Are you christening it? May I suggest you call it Sideshow Bob after the TV reflection in one of your images?

No worries mate. I can't wait to see how your new build turns out 😋 I tried to get some shots of the underside so you can gauge the boards thickness. There's 3 caps on the underside whish when you remove/move the pots and Jacks would be the thickest part of the board. Whick isn't very thick! Best of luck!

I bought my first ever Ibanez (SR 506) a week ago. Never played one before, never played any Ibanez bass before either, but since it arrived, haven't touched any of my Fenders, Gibson, or Alembic basses (well, I picked up the Alembic for about 30 seconds a couple of days ago - neck seemed so narrow after the six string it was was like walking a tightrope!). Perfectly happy with the Bartaloni pick ups on mine, played it's second gig last night (and third tonight). In terms of quality, I'd say my sub 600 quid Ibby six has better build quality than my Fenders and Gibson, and is not far short of the Alembic, which considering the price difference is astonishing! It really feels like a quality instrument. Obviously, I now want another one!!

In that case, I stand by my earlier comment! Or just get the Ubass

I fitted the side dots on the fretboards today, I remembered this time I also played around with the headstock design, basically it's the same as on the Twins but with an extra bit on the end with a Tbird feel to it. It's shorter, will be thinner, with the truss adjustment at the other end of the neck and Ultralites it should be less heavy than the Gibson. Also being the same basic design as the Twins the inlays will fit well too. On the subject of inlays, I made a start on the first dragon today too

Hi Guys, thanks for your help. I have decided in your wisdoms not to upgrade. As a few of you mentioned a few extra watts probably wouldn’t make any difference in those situations anyway. Just a little more background on the two festivals mentioned - We ‘headlined’ both, and were also the only ‘full band’ to at each: The first was my home city’s first ever Pride Festival – a cause close to my heart. I was so thrilled to be accepted to play, I would have played it whatever the conditions. It is a completely free festival. The ‘sound man’ was a volunteer who owned a PA. Act before us was a choir, whom he used 5 mic’s for. “Happy days” we thought, “Two for our vox, two for our amps, and one on the drums”. Unfortunately when it came to our turn to play he could only get ONE mic working, and none of the monitors! Much fiddling, crowd getting ansey, so we just had to start playing. The second one was very similar: Festival at a hospital, essentially a party for staff and patients, few stalls other bits and bobs etc. ‘Sound man’ was a staff member who was in a band, and had access to a PA. Again he didn’t want us meddling with it, but also couldn’t seem to be able to get sound from our cabs to the PA. Neither ideal, I’m now a lot wiser about what gigs we’d accept, and what to expect. Would I play these two again? Absolutely.

Just in case you decide to do further pickup swapping, remember to take a photo of the original wiring for reference. I always do.

I can go along with all that, but how about the very frequent cases in my world where the original band never had a definitive arrangement or maybe even played the song the same way twice themselves? I know of Grateful Dead tribute bands that cover a whole live show learned from the Archive recordings, but to me that pretty much misses the whole point of what the band was about. And I never ever want to hear any jazz band play anything just like the record, ever. Did I mention never, ever?