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I find it incredible the number of people who put their faith in streaming services when AFAICS none of them are actually making any money and are either being propped up by the profitable parts of their parent company or through 3rd party investment. The only service who were turning a profit - Soundcloud - were only doing so because they weren't paying any artist or publisher royalties. Streaming services are fine for checking out new (to me) music although if your tastes run to non-US/UK artists or back catalogue for bands that are now defunct, you are likely to be disappointed in their offerings. Neither AppleMusic or Spotify can manage better than 70% of my CD and vinyl collection, and many of the missing artists or albums are ones that I would consider indispensable. So for me it is CDs first and foremost for audio quality, durability and general convenience. Secondly vinyl - ideally with a download code. After that the music has to absolutely brilliant for me to consider investing in a download only version. When it is possible to do a limited edition run of 100 glass mastered CDs (no crappy CDRs) with full colour sleeves for under £350 and 500 CDs for only £150 more, there is absolutely no excuse for not having a physical version of your single/EP/album available.

If it helps, I'm prepared to look after it for you for say a year or two - just so you can see if you'd really miss it or not. I'm nice like that. 😁

With my varnish method - which is a bit of a compromise due to lack of facilities, knowledge and skills - I get to the point where I have to say 'OK - Stop there...that's close enough'. The reason is that, too often, if I 'just give it one last coat' it invariably makes things a lot worse rather than making what is basically OK into something a bit closer to perfect. And for this - especially as it is a bitsa build for my own use - I've got to the 'OK - Stop there...that's close enough!' Having no spray facilities or equipment, I basically wipe or brush the finishes. Anyway, here is the body prior to fully hardening and final polishing: It doesn't bear very close examination but, for the overall look, it looks OK at the cursory level. The next bit is probably only of interest to those who commented about their own trails and tribulations of finishing I promised I would run through some of the finishing trials and tribulations. I'll split that into 4 aspects: top vs back&sides; prep vs finish coat. AS ALWAYS, THIS IS JUST HOW I DO IT, NOT HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE! Preparation (post finish-sanding): Back and sides: I use tru-oil slurry and wipe to seal and grain-fill all in one go. Works a treat, even filling the horrendous tear-out I had at the back. Couple of sessions morning, left to dry between each, then sand the following day and it's usually ready to take the gloss. Top: Tru-oil would do the job used just like for the back and sides above, but for spruce and maple it does tend to give a reddish hue and so, certainly for an acoustic top, I don't use that method. Last acoustic, I used an old classical guitar method of egg white. Yes - standard egg white, brushed on, left to dry, sanded off. Maybe repeat, but basically then ready to varnish. Didn't do that this time...and wish I had. What I did try was Chestnut Melamine. Very stinky. Tough and no discolouration beyond the darkening of the dampened spruce. But I couldn't sand it down without it becoming a little patchy (probably not enough coats) so basically sanded it off the surface and used that which has soaked in just as a sanding sealer. NEXT TIME - I'm going to use egg white again. In retrospect, it did the job perfectly well. Finish Varnish: Here, my big restriction is that I do not have the facilities to spray and therefore I am restricted to wipe-on or brush-on finish techniques. Those of you who have followed previous threads will know that my preferred finish for a full-gloss is good old Ronseal Hardglaze Polyurethane Varnish. I used to do this exclusively wipe-on but since Ronseal did a formulation change to lower the volatiles, I've found that thinning the varnish anywhere near what I would do for wipe-on gives major problems and that less thinning and using an artist's fan brush is the best alternative: Method is simple: I thin the varnish down with about 5% white spirits (this is WAY different to my wipe-on with the original Ronseal formula which could take up to 50% thinning!) I brush it on - not stopping and ensuring each strip is merged into the previous one (that will already be stiffening), laying off gently with the brush at each strip to even out any ripples or air bubbles After drying, I use micro-web (1800 to 4000 ish) used wet and then recoat once totally dry and cleaned with a good quality tack cloth (I use a microfibre cloth designed for cleaning windows) Now - the trouble is with the new Ronseal formulation is that for subsequent coats, the varnish has more adhesion to itself than it does to the previous dried coat of varnish. This means that it parts, like the Red Sea parted for Moses, leaving what looks like deep brush marks! (I have a photo somewhere I'll try to find). The answer is, of course, to sand and give it a key. But then the 'final' coat shows the dull patches of the sanded substrate (even with 2000+ grit). So you do another coat without sanding. Then it creeps again. Etc Etc Etc And then every now and again, it is almost OK. And that's where I STOP. Which is where I started this post I keep meaning to contact Ronseal - they MUST have other people that have the same issue! And it is 2018. To echo @honza992 's earlier comment - can it really be THAT difficult to make gloss varnish that can be applied successfully and works? But why, I hear you ask, does Andyjr1515 use old fashioned Ronseal polyurethane gloss rather than a modern water-based varnish anyway? Well - this is Ronseal Hardglaze: And this is the exact same wood, prepared in the exact same way...but finished with one of the better water-based gloss varnishes, Osmo Polyx Gloss: It's nice enough - but it ain't the same!

Could now be at this years bash. I think I missed last years. A couple of problems to sort and one problem is with my gig tomorrow...Anyone interested in purchasing a fretless bass?...one of my build fretless basses, 33" scale with 'nice bits' pictured below (it now has Seymour Duncan STK stack pups). Narrow neck, super slim and fast, just under 1.5" nut width. Its been gigged. I can bring it if someone is looking for a fretless. Third pic on the seat taken by Bluejay a couple of years ago at Bassbash. I'm also considering moving a great condition Markbass 2x10 (not the traveller).

It's ironic that paying for a service means you're more likely to commit to doing it. We could all write an hour practice schedule of technique, reading, transcription and improvisation to do every day for six months, and we would all be materially better bassists and musicians... but we wont. We'll moan about it on Basschat instead... mocked by our own procrastination... I disgust me.

I blame BassChat specifically. I was quite happy with the same bass and amp for thirty-six years, then I joined BassChat and all bloody hell broke loose. Recently bought a Vintage VJ74 Jazz Bass, a couple of weeks ago a Tech21 Blonde clone, a few months before that a Fender Rumble V3 500 combo. Just the tip of a very big iceberg going back in time to 2010, when I became a member here... but when I look at my feedback, I can hardly remember any of the deals and can hardly remember any of the gear either. It's decadent, ecologically unsound, bad for one's mental health and... ooh look, a white P Bass!!

For the neck, apply a coat of tru oil and let it fully dry to seal it. Then use 400 wet n dry with tru oil as the wet to lightly slurry an oil/sanding dust mix. Wipe off when still wet. Let it dry. Repeat the truoil slurry but this time wipe it off and then, preferably with a different cloth, buff up vigorously. Let dry overnight. You should have a satin, silky smooth finish that still feels like wood but keeps the dirt and sweat out. If sometime in the future you want to spruce it up, just repeat that very last step. I use this for ALL of my necks - even the stained ones

The man is deluded to the point where I feel an ounce of sorrow for him (which quickly fades away). He truly believes what he is doing is for the better. As for the point that "Harley Benton's are just as fundamentally good...", I never said anything detrimental about HB guitars, what I did mention was the fact he's repurposing their Deko (although I think I spelt it deco in my message) models. He's laughable.

Hi, my name’s DeeDee. It has been 3 days since I last purchased any bass gear - I’ve already got a sweat on 💦 😓

Last night I saw Paris Monster in Glasgow, at The Hug & Pint. Great gig. However, the support band were brilliant local band - so much fun. TOM McGUIRE AND THE BRASSHOLES. Really great syncopated guitar, bass, and horns - I'll be going to see them whenever they're next playing live.

Well, I pulled the trigger on a pair of Aguilar SL112s. Hanging onto the Barefaced (for now at least, not reason not to)...this, combined with the SLs should give me more than adequate cover moving forward. Exciting times ahead.

This is the thinking that makes this site great...keep up the good work. A pure Gentleman...I love your scientific approach

Serious? That’s really kind of you. In return I can “look after” that £2k for you as well

I completely misread the title and was hoping for some juicy bits on Scales or guess the weight of my bass competition??

I bought a YOB bass,probably for the same reason as yourself "it's a YOB" 😃 Realised it's a bloody stupid idea 😃 Nobody really cares if you tell them. A newspaper from your D.O.B they can read but a bass built overseas by strangers ? Glad you posted,reminded me to dig mine out the back of the cupboard and punting it pronto 👍

I used to go out with a girl like that...

Which one? there are 3 if look closely - I take it you mean the "made in the USA y'all" one? 😋 Bezel arrived today. I don't have time to fit it now but I'll get it on tomorrow. I nearly forgot but when I initially plugged it in it sounded a bit thin and bassless so I thought I'd pull out the control to activate/defeat the vintage thingummy and it turned out that it was already out so I pushed it back in and instant bass and warmth.

New Turkuaz album released today. The drummer has clearly been raiding my wardrobe.

Never understood the whole YOB thing really. I guess I'd keep it if I had room, it's nice to have things holding value that you can sell if you really need to - but if it's in the way or if it means you can't get a bass you'd use more, absolutely I'd sell.

I'm bringing some speaker leads and an instrument lead for the various shoot-outs. Once used they can be added to the raffle.

My Chowny SWB-1 is a very good short scale bass guitar. However, what it lacks in length it more than makes up for in weight! Once placed in its Gator case it makes going to the gym redundant! I would like a soft gig-bag for the bass but don't know which one would fit. There is no way I'm going to lug the guitar and Gator case around music shops and looking on-line is just confusing so........... A couple of pieces of cardboard from the bottom of a large carton, and a snip of Gaffer Tape came to my rescue. I laid the guitar on the cardboard sheets, drew round it and then cut out the shape. The Gaffer Tape join allows me to fold the template in half and I can take into guitar shops and try out the gig-bags for size. I amaze myself sometimes. The added bonus was the fact that I love the sound of scissors cutting card - I'll go quietly.

But it has also opened up a whole world of bass beyond Fender basses and amps and Boss pedals! 🙂 And it doesn't have to be expensive: if you're buying used from a fellow BCer (and 99% of transactions are just great, trustworthy etc. and those that aren't are quickly found out) and you look after the gear whilst you have it you can often move it on for no more than the cost of the postage - effectively free rental to try out some amazing gear... ...but if you're buying a brand new indigo-blue Status with led lights on the top and side of the graphite fretboard, as lovely as it is, you're going to be taking quite a hit when you come to move that on. The only way round that is to make sure you have very regular decent paying gigs coming in. And obviously it will be "lacking" 'cos it's not a P-bass.

Whoops! They obviously didn’t get the memo about the great reveal......

I blame the internet for all this GAS. Was talking about it with Kevvo66 last night when he bought a bass off me, back in the day I went years with one bass and one amp, then along came the world wide web and that was it. New gear is always there to be drooled over.

I have to remind myself of this every time I get Jazz bass stirrings.

I'm moderately enthused!

Last night I started re-watching Stop Making Sense. My 12-year old son was absolutely enthralled, and didn't want to go to bed. I think that "the kids" would enjoy rock music, it's just not marketed to them any more, so they don't really know it exists. I wonder if it's about the industry reducing costs - if the music is all made on computers, then the only performer you need to pay for is the vocalist, and if you auto-tune them, then they don't even need to be a competent one. S.P.

I don't understand any group regularly paying $700 for sound and lights. If my group was getting $2000 for a wedding gig and immediately shelling out $700 for lights and sound, I would be looking to getting that stuff myself.

Lost enough photos to a hard drive carking it, wouldn't want music going the same way so vinyl or shiny plastic for me (still got loads of cassettes as well but don't know if they'll still be any good after 30+ years...)

This is my fave vid ever

P-Tone, you say? GAS-inducing, you say? This is track that made me pick up a bass...15 seconds in... 😁

It would seem from my good friend @NancyJohnson 's post above that the Bass Player crew have taken this rather badly. Were further confirmation needed I have been passed an unredacted copy of the BP FB post as originally drafted: Bass Player Family When we launched Bass Player almost 30 years ago we were motivated by a festering resentment at the way that guitards had three or four magazines for themselves but we bass players didn't merit more than a single page shoe-horned into the back of Guitar Player in among all the other bits of articles that started at the front then unaccountably broke off and continued after the classified ads in the weird way that we Americans lay out magazines unlike anyone else in the world because they do it wrong and we do it right, kinda like football is football and soccer is soccer. We digress. BP was meant to show the world that bass players are the most important people in the band and not at all sulky passive-aggressives who can't get laid. And over the years, we've succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. No one ever laughs at bass players these days. Now on the eve of our 30th anniversary we have been stabbed in the back by those treacherous sons of bïtches at the hedge fund. All you need to know about these guys is that only one of them plays a musical instrument and it's a PRS. What's worse is we've been sold to a bunch of effete limeys who sip their tea with their little finger stuck out and curtsy to each other when they meet. Was it for this that thousands of our best young men crossed the Atlantic to join the 8th Air Force and save the Brits by raining death and destruction on Germany? All we have to say is 'Semper Fi'. Could it get any worse? Turns out the upstart English magazine is in bed with those anti-American, Rickenbacker-hating dirtbags at the 'TalkBass rip-off website' BassChat. All you need to know is that the owners of BassChat wear bowler hats and say things like 'God save the Queen, actually'. Anyway, the murderous English redcoats who are taking us over will completely screw the pooch so please cancel your subscriptions now and protest this unwanted takeover by burning the Union Jack flag. We wish the new editor well but it will be a clusterf*ck of biblical proportions and in the end it's all down to Donald Trump and his fascist nationalism. Make America Great Again? We think not. Bass Player

I like to hold my music. And my books. If anyone thinks that's old fashioned and indicative of someone who isn't "moving with the times", then I'd proudly agree with them.

No. Rock & Roll is dead as ärseholes. Anything new is either unlistenable or a tired retread. In fact, it's got so bad one can play 'Spot The Influences' Bingo for days on end. Metal is a self-referential Moebius loop of infinitely smaller and smaller sub-genres, each of which sounds - surprise, surprise - pretty much exactly like most of the others and is populated by hopelessly deluded, vacuous twits with tattoos and piercings who think they're 'dangerous' but pose as much threat as my Aunt Mabel's budgie. Who's dead. The budgie, that is. Though so is Aunt Mabel. She liked Glen Miller, y'know. In fact, Metal is now about as much fun as an exit wound from a Mossberg shotgun and as believable as a school Christmas play. The utter hopelessness of the protagonists shines through just as if each of them had written on their foreheads 'I'm more than a loser - I'm a gaping a$$hole of a loser who knows he's a loser but depends on other losers to keep giving him their money so he can carry on being a loser and not have to go back to his old day job as an artificial limb salesman for SW England and Wales". I'm not saying that 'Rock' was better in my day. It just was - in the sense that it existed at all - but now it doesn't exist beyond its function as a label hung off a t-shirt. Indeed, those old stagers who 'keep the rock flag flying high' (Black Star Riders, anyone?) are just as terminally pointless as - say - Greta Van Fleet who are forty years younger. If you don't believe me about old rock musicians, watch The Story Of Anvil. It's so sad, you just want to cut your wrists at the sheer desperation. Clive Dunn? Well, yes, rock in the 70's (strangely) co-existed in the pop charts with novelty songs and ballady dreck. But the singles charts were a sideline to the real action and Rock existed in its own far larger hinterland of albums and tours and TV sets going out of windows and sweet, sweet punani. Now the charts are a desert of homogeneously over-produced, knowing pop-bait for 11 year-old girls and very little of any note occurs beyond it, except among microscopically small groups of 'enthusiasts' who sit around saying 'Have you heard this? It's new and it's just like the Grateful Dead mashed up with Anthrax and Pat Metheny' and stroking their chins like a crew of smelly ol' jazzbos who've just found an unreleased Thelonius Monk session and are preparing to engage in a disgusting circle jerk of pseudo-scholarly delight. But it's not all bad: Rock isn't really 'Dead'. Rock has just been quietly shuffled into the old folks home and now sits in the day room with its friends Folk, Jazz, Ragtime and Swing, gumming away at a nice Digestive biscuit and slurping a cup of milky tea and saying' I'm still relevant, me. Oh, I've wee'd myself' while young people wander down the street outside doing something much more interesting than listening to Rock music like - I don't know - texting their idiot 'friends' or bullying their schoolmates into suicide or posting pictures of kittens. And if these kids do actually go to a gig, they and the sad, middle-aged has-beens around them don't listen, oh no, they all just film the gig through their phones and walk out afterwards and say 'Who was that we just saw?' And while Rock passes its twilight years in the Springfield Retirement Castle, the advertisers and the media and the record companies (f*ck you, Jimmy Iovine, f*ck you) have successfully cultured a clone from Rock's stinky, yellow toenail clippings and now that clone staggers around wearing a sandwich board that says 'Hi! I'm Rock! This musical experience was brought to you in association with (insert brand here)'. It would be a kindness if someone were to put a bullet into Rock & Roll. I'd do it with a song on my lips and that song would be 'Oh What A Beautiful Morning' from the musical Oklahoma (Rodgers & Hammerstein: 1955).

Sad stuff. It's standard practice to remove valves, and pack them separately. They could still get broken, of course, but it takes quite a bit more willpower. Too late for this one, but might help someone else another time..?

Strictly band use. Blue

It's a long long story... So it has two pickup solutions - an under fingerboard mag (jazz style) and the ghost piezo saddles... the ghost saddles were run through a ghost acoustiphonic preamp. Well, the acoustiphonic preamp gave up the "ghost" lol. Farty noise followed by no piezo output. The preamp is kaput. I also swapped out the mag pickup for a Nordstrand, and it highlighted the fact that the (now 10 years old) preamp for the mag is, in fact, a bit rubbish.. either that or it's also kaput. So - all innards ripped out. Now, as the rest of the bass excluding the electronics is frankly just about the best instrument I have ever played.. I wanted a solution that would do the bass justice. No more crappy graph tech preamps for me. I'm going to keep the graph tech ghost piezo saddles, and they are now rewired to a single "hot" and "ground" connection, ready for a new solution.. Having sampled his delights before, I decided to approach John East - mainly as I honestly think he does the very best stuff. John embraced the project with gusto, and rather than cobbling something together, he's properly adapting a UP-4 to accommodate a piezo and mag input, with a single volume and blend, a piezo HF roll off tone control, a mid with mid sweep stacked, and a treble/bass stacked, with pull bright and all the trimmings, including an active/passive switch so I can amp the piezos off bass if I want, and a mute switch to kill everything (something I wish every bass had). It's now at the "he's making it" stage. He's a busy chap (for good reason) and so it's taken a little while to get to this point. But, ultimately, I should end up with the electronics that the bass actually deserves - a Nordstrand noiseless Jazz and piezo saddles going into a custom John East preamp system..

I'll happily stand you a coffee and a sticky bun if you can bring the Aggie, would love to try it! Status raised from 'moderately enthused' to 'somewhat breathless'.

Yes, a bit different over here. I should mention DJs have taken a good share of the wedding business over here. And that lighting and sound contracting is a big scam. They get a % of the $2,000.00 plus $700.00 for sound and lights. A lot of these guys have good day jobs and some with family money where they really don't care about the money and they're honest about it. It's why I would ask a ton of money related questions before I'd make a decision on joining a band. Blue

Thanks Al. I am sure there is a reason I did not think of that! Probably old age.

If someone at BC will slip me a few bob I'll write a florid puff-piece about RIC with a fawning pen portrait of utter flange respected industry figure John Hall thrown in. That should be bait enough for BC's ad sales people to dangle before the King of Torts. Ker-ching!

I don't there is a 6 string for a grand that is as good as these. Unless a certain Shuker is still for sale. I had the 5 string version and The TRB 6 II version. both amazing instruments.. Piano like tone with a growl.

What killed Rock & Roll? Damned if I'm going to sit through half hour of some American chaps whining about its demise. I'm off to listen to some Turkish psychedelic folk rock. I hope I don't have to make a video about 'What killed Turkish psychedelic folk rock?' in the near future.

There is a Yamaha TRB6 first generation for sale on here for a grand or under at the moment. Not a six string comes close for that money. Imo

I don't often chip in on this part of the forum, owning as i do the technical skills of a drunk koala, but I feel compelled to say that it's a genuine pleasure following your threads. You really don't need to worry about your writing skills.

Your writing is faultless @Christine much like your builds. You have nothing to worry about