Leaderboard

One of my favourites is ..."You're The One That I Want"...from Grease.

Well, here is the latest family photo. Don't hate me for buying them all... but I think I have a problem... 😉 Top Left to Right TT4 Creme - Masterpiece TM2 Orange - HCA Panther - Bocote Top & H/Stock Bottom Left to Right UMBO Red - HCA 48 Red - HCA Grand Dark San Remo Blue 😀

Guess most of you have seen this, but it's interesting if you haven't

That’s funny - someone took the graphite thing a bit too literally! Leave it as it is - it’s a great conversation piece!

Forgive me Basschat, for I have sinned. On my way home with a matte black BB735a from Wunjo 😬 😈

Artists would often record different versions of the same song, sometimes with different arrangements, sometimes with different musicians. I'm not overly familiar with Jameson's or Kaye's history, but it's quite probable that each would have been called in for different takes/versions of the same song. As time goes by, for some songs, even for the featured artist and producer, knowing exactly whose bass part ended up on the released version would be nigh on impossible to ascertain.

My latest offering to the pedal gods...

I think the binding is going to work well. Once the fingerboard has been scraped and finished and the binding corner rounded off, it should look pretty integral and - more to the point - it should work well from a playing perspective. I think this may well become my preferred method: Next task will be to cut the pickup chambers but that will probably be at the weekend earliest

Color sample time. Gold over pick guard material scrap, both black and white. I use Didspade pigments. Very economical and available in small quantities. Satin gold pearl powder in clear acrylic lacquer. Pearl gray primer/ surfacer is the way to go.Touch up gun for samples. Matching headstock on this one.

Blah blah blah weight blah tone blah blah. Get a grip everyone. Matching black headstock trumps everything.

So the most important head is the only one you can't change? Though filling it with oil seems strangely attractive 🙂

How would it defeat the point? You have an accelerator on your car... you decide how far to push it down. I also don't need to know how much 'power' I'm putting into a cab, it is irrelevant. I turn up the volume, it complains, I turn it down... I've ran a 200 watt cab with a 2000 watt power amp and never once had a problem; because I used the gain/volume controls. Not trying to be awkward but folks are seriously wrapped up in the numbers and seem to forget that the obvious deciding factor in all of this is 'human' and you are in control. Just to throw this in the mix; my present set-up is a 750 watt amp which I use with a 2x10 cab (or two) and have done for some years, I recently trialled a 100 watt amp with the same cab(s) and I managed to continue gigging without killing any piece of equipment or ANY detriment in tone that the audience heard (no trickery with PA back-up).

Whoah! That’s a WHOPPER!! Look at how big it is compared to that house.. Is it 34 foot scale?!

Why is no one discussing that blue LED? Very subtle - less is more.

Father, forgive me for I have sinned. I didst count the strings to four and all was good. And then I didst count yet another string. Five was the number of strings and the number of the strings was five. And yea, did I allow myself to yet pluck the string and the sound was good. I turned aside from the path of righteousness and found within myself that I did yet make music that was pleasing to the Lord God of Bass with sinful lack of effort, and the music didst exceed that which I could yet play when the number of strings was but four. And Lo! The band of disciples - for always shalt the other players of strings follow the Lord God of Bass - did say that it was good and did promise to wreak a plague of locusts upon my soul should I worship at the Temple with but four strings. They spake in tongues and didst proclaim 'thou now hast a decent instrument and we do dig thy grooves, man'.

That looks great! Can you do one in roasted flamed maple?!? Mmm, roasted maple...

I stick to the Holy Scripture, as outlined below: A Reading from the Book of Bass, Chapter 4, Verses 16 to 20: 'First enter thou the purveyors of the Holy Bass. Then thou must count the strings to four. Four shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be four. Five shalt thou not count, neither shalt thou count three, excepting that thou then proceedeth to four. Six is right out.' 🙂

The Christmas gig offer was lovely “Trav, I need a bass player for a high profile gig in Manchester - I don’t want anyone else, but I appreciate you’re on a break. Would you consider it?” Suppose it’s nice to be wanted 🤔😂

We'll you should see my new Kramer Forum IV !!! .... Purple/Pink animal print body wrap, Spector pickups, Kent Armstrong 2 band active, not sure if that’s original but sounds beefy ... Mr Leopard will be very happy \m/

I bought on of these v for a project Aria Pro II Magna: https://www.amazon.co.uk/MADE-JAPAN-High-Quality-Brass/dp/B00IC9QW1C/ref=sr_1_15?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1542014383&sr=1-15&keywords=bass+nut+brass Seems to be good quality & works a treat. Was posted from Japan & arrived fairly quickly. I'd replace the nut, add new strings & then set-up. If you've still got dead spots, maybe look at tweaking the truss-rod (if you think it needs it), adjust the bridge. If all else fails, get a quote for a luthier set-up. Good luck!

If you wear a glove to pluck, why not sew a pup into the palm - then you can learn to move up and down the neck to always be on the 'sweet spot', and subtle shifts in intensity will be possible too. Shouldn't be too difficult to master.

You hear in a logarithmic way, so the volume should be logarithmic. The tone for being usable all the way should be linear. Audio for a pot doesn't mean anything and beware of the letters A or B as they are quite often mismatched.

Been putting the bass drum through 15" full range tops for years and it works. The bass drum is the first to be lost in the mix so a little lift is what it needs. Now we have a sub and get that extra thump.

The Reincarnate bass it is!! 'The neck pocket insert looks deliberate and tasteful' Yeah that's what I'm going with!! I didn't try to cover up the fact I made a mistake or anything!! 😁

What some folk have done, to do this, is get a cheap bass and rout out the body for almost the whole of the space under the strings. You can then move the pups anywhere and find what you like. ( @Dad3353, already knows this, but it's useful to quote it so you know what I'm on about)

It’s constant and not variable - and it’s noticeable at 8ms - a bit like the difference between standing right next to your bass amp and standing 15m away from it

It seems that modern retail chemical paint removers are useless, especially on what I think is powder coat. A few coats softened the paint enough for me to wire wheel it back to bare metal. A rub down afterwards with wire wool and white spirit, then a few light coats of Hammerite satin spray and it’s good as new

she did Last Train to Clarksville apparently, to me her bass lines seem to stand out more than others, probably because she used a pick, now where's that tin hat?

Future owner must have a big belly...

Final version of the Bad MuthaBoard Now includes a Future Impact and a system of vital organs

Hello All Longtime, 50-years, bassist and still at it. At the moment I do mostly small local jazz gigs in the Hamilton ON area. (home of F Bass)... Started on electric, 66 P-bass, still got it's neck, now fretless, and bridge. I've been playing upright 25-years. ... My two main electrics are both Fender, an all original 74-Jazz and a parts, neck and pickups 64-P bass, I add D-tuners to all my basses. And a 60-year old carved upright with Spirocores and a Wilson pickup. ... I have another upright, a German laminate, I leave in Florida as my winter beater. ... Amps, I've had them all but now I'm playing Aguilar 350 with a GS12" cab, but run first through a Radial Bassbone pre set on notch. ... After all these years I'm confinced that necks are it, then pickups and all the other parts can be swapped out and changed. ... I also sing, play piano and write, songs and stories. ... I believe we're on this planet to create.

Not sure I like your tone young man! 😎

Yes - I'm afraid so. Mind you, it's a clone, bar some small tweaks, of @Len_derby 's so hopefully you'll be able to see that one

Yeah it seems like a sort of sport to them, hear a band and think now that Lemmy, he just needs far less top end and gain, why a James Jamerson sound would fit in that Motorhead of his far better.

Depends - if totally flat then about 2-3 hours, but if not then less.

Haha. well, word’s got out that I’m depping for a mate’s band on 23rd December for a posh hotel gig. So a few people have been in touch. This offer seems a bit more me, so I’m meeting them all next week all being well.

Interesting. I started on a 5, so that feels natural. Switching back and forth to a 4 has never been a problem. At first I kept the G string as a fixed reference point and I might or might not have the low B to drop down to. I've switched to fixing on the D at A5 as the centre point of the fretboard, and relating everything else to that, which seems more secure. I hadn't thought of this before, but it may be partly that the GMR 5 and the Aerodyne 4 have very different body shapes - they feel different as soon as you pick them up - and I've learned to associate that with the number and spacing of the strings. It's quite likely that a GMR 4 or a Jazz 5 would seriously confuse me. The 6 is taking a bit of getting used to. Mostly in the right hand - the string spacing is actually slightly wider at the bridge than on my 5, although it's the same at the nut. On the fretboard, that D is still the centre point.

Finally, an update. The neck is finished, tru-oil slurried and currently waiting overnight for the water slide decal to dry before sparying some poly over the top of the logo to bury it. Tomorrow, hopefully. The body is mid-finish. I brushed on a few coats coats of General Finishes High Performance to act as a sanding sealer - providing a flat surface for the colour - which will be a (hopefully) beautiful creamy white. I'm using 1/3 Antique White and 2/3 Snow White, both (fake) milk paints from General Finishes. They're basically just a low gloss acrylic (no lactose involved) paint, but they spray nicely and are completely compatible with the High Performance, which I'll also use as the top coat. I spray using an HVLP turbine, but I turn the pressure down really really low. Being an HVLP I don't have a pressure guage, but my guess it's only running at 1/3 or so of it's capacity - basically just enough to 'flop' the paint out of the gun in big gobs and onto the surface - it'll flatten itself nicely as the water evapourates. I've found that increasing the air flow simply fills the air with clouds of vapourised paint that bounces off the surface, but doesn't improve the quality at all, but does make me nervous about what i'm breathing in, even with a full mask. Here are a couple of coats:

I have six guitars, one of which is a Burns Steer , (not bass), I bought it because it was quirky in style and the colour goes exactly with the room decor, just get on with it !!

International... Also, top tip, Canadian shouty man is funny and has good recording tips...

Thanks Dad! I really appreciate that. The lines still need a fair bit of work - some of it feels cringey and it doesn't flow as well as I'd like - but I think the overall feeling is about there. There is some personal stuff in it - the last few years haven't been the easiest for me - but it's not relating a specific experience. I just let my imagination wander about a bit. The sound I have in my head is something like this: Tanita Tikaram - Little Sister Leaving Town and Tanita Tikaram - Preyed Upon Not an exact copy, but that sort of moody, sad and empty feeling. I think the drums are a tad too intrusive on Preyed Upon, but that's likely just me. Plenty of slides on the bass and yes, a distant sustained guitar would work well. I'll have to persuade my other half to dust off her Gibson 🙂 I think the trick will be to see what sort of bassline seems to work and build it from there. Melodies aren't my strong point though, so it might be a bit hit and miss. And 100% agreed - no bagpipes! The chap on Castlehill was squawking away when I was jotting some of that down earlier and it was really jarring.

spot the VU

Looks like I'm going to Hell then. 😈

It’s easier if you play notes rather than frets or string numbers.

Yes, but he/she's crossed the house so to speak so good on him/her. Bass playing is a bit like Hotel California, You can check out any time you like but you can never leave...

The trick about writing good lyrics Is to just use your sense of empirics When you come to use 'Orange' You'll just have to write 'Sporange' You'll have everyone in hysterics.

Forgot to post the result of the new red Mk2. And it has joined its siblings in the stable.