Leaderboard

And now both back wings are glued to the through-neck and are level with it so that the whole surface now incorporates the neck angle: Once all of the chambering and control cable routes have been sorted, the top will then glue onto the flat surface, and flush with the top of the neck: In between the two is another layer of 0.6mm veneer: So why bother bookmatching the veneer when no one will ever see it? Well, gosh - a chap's got to keep up certain standards, don't you know!

Well, I must say, my original thread has taken off on a tangent I never expected! I think I'll be content with my $130 Yamaha bass, $90 Ampeg amp, and playing songs I enjoy playing (and my family can recognize)! TripleB67

That Peak Power thing is a bit like Daewoo saying their Matiz will do 122mph, because that's the terminal velocity in air of an object falling off a 1500ft cliff...

9 years cancer free today! Rock on!

I'm Arnel, a 53yo musician by heart but took up another course at university. Still managed to be involved in music in church as bassist, choir conductor & arranger. Started as a guitarist, segued to keys, but in 1999 switched to bass (finally found my niche). Bought a 2H Jackson-Charvel 2B '86 MIJ then, but after 18yrs is now for sale RFS to get a new/used 2 pup (pref 4S passive) PJ or J that i'll keep for life. I'm mainly a background player (i.e. Nathan E in 4play) and play regularly in church weekly with occasional wedding/birthday gigs with other on call musicians. Hoping for fruitful interactions here. God bless us all.

Most the bands I listened to growing up played …. synthesisers... what is this "Fender Precision" you speak of? 🤪

...electric blue, that's the colour of my room... S.P.

Right, finally got this sorted after much phoning around! So basically the only option, should you find yourself in this situation, is to use a third party insurance provider to provide transit cover. There are a few of these companies about but seemingly only one that will cover goods in transit from one private individual to another. The company is called theinsurancebroker.com Tò give you an idea of the cost, for £4000 of coverage shipping to Europe, it's £65. For the rest of the world, £93. Not cheap I know but actually not too bad when you consider the alternative... Hopefully this post will prove helpful - I just wonder how many people are shipping their basses from the UK not knowing they are not even covered by most couriers insurance???

Best 'alternative reality' post of the year....😂😂😂😂

Got the body and neck back this morning, quick mock up looks good to me, still waiting for copper shielding tape so can't finish it just yet.

ooh, good thread I'm another one who has always understood "it's all in the fingers" not to mean that you will always sound (for want of a better phrase) "tonally" identical no matter what you are playing, but rather that regardless of how good or expensive a bit of kit you are using, you won't become a better player because of it, your phrasing won't magically improve because you've got a much "better" bass. You will sound like you playing a more expensive bass. And as someone who uses an assortment of different techniques I'd be pretty annoyed if my slapping sounded like me picking or the couple of different finger styles I switch between depending on the sound I want for a particular piece. But I've seen the opposite belief more than a few times, that using a better instrument will make them a better player, mostly in guitarists - very average players chasing that one guitar or amp that will magically transform them into a brilliant player. One in particular used to watch YouTube videos of players that he rated, and rather than sitting down to work out how they were playing the music he liked, would instead go and buy the amp or guitar they were using in the belief that not using the same gear was the one thing holding them back. He used to turn up with a new amp almost every month - amazing that with every change of amp it never once occurred to him that perhaps it wasn't the tools that were at fault but a bad workman. And to be clear, he did always sound like him - the tone may have varied, but his phrasing was always the same, and the mistakes always sounded like mistakes. But that brings me on to point 2. It may well be that the audience don't notice the difference between instruments, but that's largely because they don't know what the difference is: as long as it sounds OK, or even as long as they don't think it sounds bad, then they're happy, and that's all they should be worried about. However, if the bass makes a difference to you and your playing because it's "better", even if it's not tonally but a confidence boost, then that's a win for everyone. I remember the bass player in an old band of mine where I played guitar upgrading from a Squire P to a US Fender P - I thought the sound was noticeably better (more punch), and it was certainly true that it gave him much more confidence, albeit that his playing wasn't any different...but not once did anybody in the audience (and we played a lot of the same places every few months and chatted to the audience a lot) make a comment about any change or improvement in the bass sound, probably because it was fine to begin with. I always remember a (very good) guitarist telling me, when I was staring out, that a better, more expensive instrument won't make you play better, but it will probably respond to better playing, that it will allow you to play better if you have the skills. Perhaps "better" isn't the right word - maybe "fittest", in the same sense as Darwin uses it in "survival of the fittest" - not meaning the strongest (as people who misunderstand the phrase think) but as in "the best fit" for the particular situation. If we stopped worrying about whether one bass is "better" than another and concentrated on which bass is the "best for me"

Roughly 108 days give or take..... shiny new Status series II to be flaunted, shamelessly, here as and when it arrives...... 🙏🏻😃

I've anyways thought of the Holy Trinity of bass as being Fender Precision, Fender Jazz and Musicman Stingray (Honorable mention to Saint Gibson of Thunderbird). Today's new arrival has completed what I'm now thinking of as my UNholy Trinity. Unholy? Well firstly - as you might notice - they're all five strings. Secondly because the Precision is a (much modified) Squier rather than an actual Fender, the Jazz is a real (albeit Chinese made) Fender but has coil tappable Humbuckers rather than the traditional single coils and now the newest addition is a Sterling by Musicman Ray CA25. Anyway, not had much time with it yet other than to give it a good set-up with a nice low action and to temporarily stick a bit of black adhesive vinyl over the (in my opinion) cheap looking white scratchplate but so far it's looking good. Sounds like a Stingray. Plays nicely. Looks pretty good to me. Now looking forward to giving it a run out at Saturday night's gig. Also, any help choosing between these three scratchplate materials I've narrowed it down to to permanently replace the white plate with would be appreciated. 🙂

Hi all, I'm a bass player from Dundee, Scotland. I started around 30 years ago and still playing today, during that time I took sometime out for family etc. I have 4 working bass guitars including one of my first basses, an Ibanez Roadstar RB 650 that I bought in 1986. The others are Squier VM Jazz, Vester (Warwick Thumb copy) and my current 'goto' bass is a Sire V7. I play through a 400W Eden Nemesis head & Eden Nemesis 4 x 10" cab. Current band genre is more torwards soul music. I'm on the lookout for a Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray or Fender Deluxe P when finances allow (Currently paying for next years familiy holiday). Spotted a couple of nice basses for sale already in the marketplace. I'm looking forward to getting involved and helping out where I can.

As far as Behringer parts being difficult to access, I've had to write off a far more expensive Markbass amp as parts are impossible to buy. I bought second hand, barely used it and any resale value has vanished once repair costs and postage to and from the only official engineer allowed to touch it are factored in. My Behringer 450 watt head is still going strong 15 odd years after I bought it and I have just sold my Behringer 4 X 10 due to weight issues. I would have sold my 1 X 15 too but instead I put the speaker in a Trace Cab which had a busted driver. Not the first time my ever reliable Behringer saved the day where more illustrious names have failed. Like everyone else here I can only speak from my personal experience. I refuse to base opinion on unlikely tales about unreliable speakers falling out of the cab at the first rehearsal, because they have the ring of urban myth. I have no hesitation gigging with Behringer gear whatever badge it wears or reputation it has acquired. The wattage numbers don't bother me at all. I know if it's loud enough by playing through it. I know if I like the sound through a similar process. I know it's reliable by the fact that my amp tech has never had the case open.

No point you saying that, he says he can't hear ambient sounds. 🙂

Not an issue for me

Shape and remove (router) 10mm and add a new piece of timber...oval, heart shape, Batman logo 😏😏.

Yeah, when I turn up it's pretty much all over...

Ok, I stand corrected on the 24. Thumbs do neck dive. But that isn't ALL Warwick as you appeared to imply. My 4 string Streamer doesn't neck dive, as you implied it would. I've not tried a Streamer 5, only Thumb, Corvette $$ and FNA Jazzman. The 2 latter ones didn't dive. No, not spoken to HPW on the matter of the bridge, but I can measure. I can assure you my 4 string basses are set at 19mm. Sorry for not grovelling to you, if that is what you expect. But I'm also not stupid.

Well I managed to intercept the delivery driver before he could make his getaway. 🙂 NBD thread here:

Your relationship is with the retailer, not the manufacturer. So if Gear4Music goes bust, yup for sure you've got an issue unless you pay by credit card or PayPal (doesn't everyone)? And yes you'd get a refund on a credit card as the amount is > £100. You're right about the 3 months lost interest though. Let's do the math: interest rate on savings accounts 1% per annum. 3 months = 0.25% on £266 (including 6 year warranty). Well that's £0.67. Bag of crisps anyone?! PS please remind me how much cash you've got tied up in gear (one of the finest Warwick collections of any BCer last time I looked) not earning any interest right now? 😂

You'll be able to do a 'Recent Status Update' then....

A study last year found that in non-dyslexic people the arrangements of visual receptor cells in the two eyes are slightly different, and one eye is dominant (usually the right). In many dyslexics the arrangement is the same in both eyes, so neither is dominant, leading to confusion in visual processing and perception. So it would make perfect sense for covering one eye to help. In fact it ought to be more widely recommended.

You're right, it doesn't have a waist extension and it does tend to swivel. I've been studying the videos to try and find some uniformity on instrument position/angle etc but it seems that every player has their idea of what is correct for them. Some play with the bass parallel to their body, some at an angle and a couple I've seen, nearly 90° to their body. As mentioned, I'm going to concentrate for a week or two on left and right hand technique and maybe see what developes stance-wise but still look for a tutor before any really bad habits set in.

Ok, got some good pics of the cocobolo pieces: Its hard to see from the picture, but the piece on the left has a gorgeous dark streak running down the centre, so thats what i'm going to use for the top i think. these pieces are about 9mm thick, so along with the wenge centre and the heavy hardware this bass is going to have some serious heft to it. im pretty used to a heavy bass, and i tend to use very wide (4 inch) straps, so i think ill probably be ok if i can keep it somewhere around 10 - 10.5 lbs final weight. the two basses i play at the moment are these two: The Brown Buzzard weighs 10.4 lbs i think, and the purple one weighs 9.5 so theyre both pretty heavy, and my shoulder hasn't given way yet. pickups (the same as the purple buzzard) should be arriving in the next two days as well, so i can sketch out the cavities that will be cut in the wenge centre.

Register with https://www.justpark.com/ . I used them three times for gigs at the O2. It cost £7:50 to park on a private driveway instead of £25 + to park at the venue and then spend an hour in the queue getting out. If you don't mind a 15 minute walk it's perfect.

I've just rejoined. I had a membership in the early days and didn't get enough out of it. Now I feel it has much more depth and I can access it. I learned to read as a kid and just forgot everything. I'm just completing the theory and sight reading lessons done by Philip Mann and its really working for me. I am very grateful for that. I work with some real muso's who are very patient with me but this is making a real difference. Well done to Scott.

I'm certain the BC was at street level. Wasn't there the Acoustic Centre upstairs. I remember my first time up there, Wapping High Street. Coming out of the Tube, you're just expecting this bustling street, but it was deserted; it wasn't really gentrified, from memory no real shops...a narrow road and if memory serves me correct, the street was cobbled?

Sleigh bells in every Xmas no1 single ever.

Can I have a freebie?!

Vicarious gear acquisition can be quite satisfying. Went with my son to the Manchester Guitar Show this morning. He found a handsome Ibby hollow-body to replace his Fender Strat, cheap enough that I didn't have to subsidise it as I was expecting to. Our teacher has always rather coveted the Strat and is now going to have it in exchange for a suitable number of free lessons. I came away with nothing but a cheap, decent quality 2nd hand gig bag, which I needed because mine is about to fall apart. Result all round 🙂

My Aria Primary bass - Gumtree purchase; job lot of three guitars and a practice amp for £45 She's had a bit of swag spent on her; new bridge (Hipshot Supertone), a Delano P-Bass pickup, Dunlop Straploks. I swapped over the white pick-guard to a black one. In the upside, when I got this bass, someone had fitted Schaller machines.

Hey guys - great to see that you're checking out what we're doing over at SBL! Thought I'd chime in to add some clarity that may be useful in some way, shape or form. What I publish on YouTube is a completely different kettle of fish compared to the ScottsBassLessons Membership. My YouTube lessons are kinda bite size chunks of standalone info, usually on a particular subject. The latest one's (as in, for the last 18 months or so), are very "unpolished", show a lot of behind the scenes stuff, and 99% of them are all me. ScottsBassLessons on the other hand is an online school. We have a library of over 40 courses (each course is focused on a particular subject, and some are up to 10 hours long) We stream live classes for our members each and every Monday from some of the best bass educators on the planet (these are also interactive so our students can ask questions, live). I host a monthly "student focus" class - so members can submit videos directly to me, and get a video response from me in return And a bunch of other cool stuff... but I'm guessing you get the idea. Again, just to make it super clear, ScottsBassLessons isn't just me - our faculty consists of bass players such as, Gary Willis, Cody Wright, Rufus Philpot, Steve Jenkins, Rich Bown, Danny Mo Morris (Berklee College of Music), Ed Friedland, Ariene Capp, Evan Marien and many more... As I'm guessing you'll see, it's a big operation and is nothing like what I do on YouTube. I should also mention that all of our courses inside SBL are highly produced, unlike my YouTube videos. If you do wanna check it out, we have a free trial for that exact reason - so you can take it for a test drive and see if it's for you. Any other questions - just gimme a shout! Cheers, Scott. PS. I'll try and keep the meaningless drivel down to a minimum for ya @thebigyin

Thanks Ped, yes as you say ok now. I started the ad, then paid, but couldn't see it anymore. appeared when started to redo the ad!

Basswood

Yes, this is correct, the street is/was cobbled. You walked out of the tube and it was just a street with flats and maybe the odd business if that even. I only ever knew the Bass Centre to be downstairs. You walked in through the door which was on the street and straight ahead were some stairs but instead, you would turn right and go through the next door and then you were in the Bass Centre.

I am getting used to the clip light now. Here are some pictures of the inside. It is well built and the power module is physically bigger and more substantial than many OEM designs. The Heatsink goes from the top to the bottom, also acting as a Faraday cage and a channel for the airflow from the inlet (a grille under the handle) to the fan. As the inlet is under that handle, it almost ensures that the inlet can never be blocked or covered.

Hi Baaheed

The also do a mosfet one for around £208. If you do a Google search you will see a number of good reviews/posts come up. I think there has been a recent thread on here regarding Bugera equipment.

An 800w headphone amp? Now that's excessive!

I'm not bustling into the personal life of the OP, but he did openly ask for advice. I'm not one for platitudes as they are particularly worthless to a man who is in charge of his own destiny. I'm only writing the following because I'm retired and can recognise a mid-life crisis before it turns the corner. I've seen it in myself and in my friends. I have to say, you're not a bass player. You're a family man. You made the better choice long ago... There's nothing more sad than an old bass player trying to find a band... I would suggest that if one wastes their time and energy on band-people and their multitude of issues and problems, they will short change their family and jeopardise their real future. At 60, we ain't got long to go. If one has already built a life, the trick then is to maintain current status. People in bands are damaged people... This you can find out for yourself. Becoming a bass player at 60 in 2018 means one will never make money at it and will, quite frankly, be laughed at. Especially if we try to "gig". I've been playing bass and studying music for 50 years. And I'm talented. But there are still a million guitards out there who crave to micro-manage "their" bass players. And these guitards buy basses. They think they can already play bass because they play guitar! I play guitar, too. But I never mention it because the guitards get so jealous when they find out that a bass player can play guitar. Leave this to young people and the Rolling Stones. They spent their entire lives playing music as a professional band. I don't know how their personal lives fared, but at least when they cry, they are comforted by being rich. You don't want to be a poor man crying... Wives don't respect musicians, especially if it's their husband. I was recently used by a band of devious sexagenarians because their bass player attended a one year re-training course. Of course they never told me that... and when he secretly returned they said, "Oh! We're shutting down for a while to re-group." They never called back and are now playing again (for free...) with their old "friend/lodge brother". I surely don't miss these less than mediocre lads, especially after playing a bar where the young patrons, feeling a little short-changed, started screaming/chanting for Zep's "Moby D*ck"! (You know, the big, white whale...) This is just one example of "band people". Folks will say there are also good people playing in bands. Don't listen to them, they are stupid. Or they're band-people. As amateur musicians age, they become worse, as they have to live with failure until they become desperate little men who will hesitate at nothing to gain some weak measure of fame. An old man beginner will not become good enough to earn respect. This becomes more important as we age. One should play their strong suit. Can't read music either? Save the money for old age and family commitments. Don't we want to travel when we retire? All wives resent it. It alienates wives in a way that one will come to regret. Imagine if a wife suddenly took up a musical instrument near retirement age and had no time for cooking, cleaning or coddling... How would the husband feel? That bass is competing for family time. Maybe play along with CD's when bored. A sort of secret pastime, exploring the music of all eras. Forget bands... Charlie brews his own coffee... Jack doesn't...