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If this catches on, it's going to kill the 'basses for sale' section of the forum! (If anyone wants to buy anything I have advertised after New Year's Day, I promise them complete discretion and anonymity!)

To be fair they'd both get it!

And there rests the case for the prosecution, M'lud...

I should be so lucky

I've stained the neck and fretboard and started applying the finishing oils. Ref the fretboard and neck, the owner has always preferred a strong amber tint. For particularly the fretboard, to contrast it needs to be lighter or darker than the top. I did a few trials (my own inclination was to go lighter, like @Len_derby 's, rather than darker) but in the end we pitched for a match of a bass he sent me a photo of and which contrasts the other way round - strong colour neck making the body top actually look a decent number of shades lighter than it actually is. Fascinating stuff. Anyway, I'm about 1/2 way through the finish application and this is how it's looking: Couple more days of finish application and then that can be sitting hardening while I do the remaining jobs. Oh yes, and there's probably Christmas in between those two sets of activities

Finding it extremely hard to leave this bass alone, I actually went and found where it was hidden last night...

That would be an ecumenical matter.

The book is only £18.19 NOW on Amazon. Out of stock but delivered within a month...

I only put my head above the parapet at blues jams, where a basic 12-bar can take you most of the way, but "Hey Joe" keeps coming up, "Black Magic Woman" and "Hooch Coochie Man" and "Crossroads" are usual suspects too. And "The Thrill is Gone". It does bug me that the bass player is expected to just know anything that comes up. I play as many open blues jams as I can - it's really good experience - but almost all the time either the guitar player(s) just announce what they're going to play, or (even worse) everyone else gets together on the other side of the stage and then someone walks across and tells me what they've decided to play. I've had to learn to listen for the first few bars and then blag it, but that's good experience too and I'm slowly getting better at it.

I don't think so! A fatter string requires more tension in order to make it's higher mass resonate at a given frequency. More mass and tension require more energy for the same amplitude. Apart from the fundamental tone, harmonics appear along the string. The more energy, the more harmonics. As those harmonics are multiples of the fundamental frequency, the result will be a richer tone, not a fatter tone. As the proof of the pudding is in the eating, I analysed the waveforms produced by both, thin and fat strings. It can be clearly seen that the percentage of harmonics versus the fundamental frequency depends on string gauge. In other words: Thinner strings produce more boom. In the graph tone, gauge and tension are listed.

Well this was unexpected! A tax rebate, a few things going well and a quick trip to Denmark street led me to acquiring a brand new, 3 EQ USA stingray! it's a bass I'd always lusted after, but like so many you see your hero's play it but you don't know if it's going to be practical for yourself. I played a Sterling by Ernie Ball a few years ago and didn't think much of it. This USA Stingray has such a punchy and rounded sound, it's like a recorded and processed bass sound but coming from your fingers. As I said to the guys in the shop you can drive yourself mad looking at a plethora of options online, sometimes you just want to play something and go "yep! That's the one". I played a USA Jazz too and really enjoyed that, but felt the Stingray was better suited to playing live in my covers band which is leaning towards becoming an 80's cover band. So here it is. I also have to say the guys in Wunjo are superb. No pressure sales, gave me a good trade in on my old jazz bass too. Top marks for customer service!

Having been messing about on my acoustic guitar for a few weeks, I picked one my basses up last night and you know what I actually enjoyed playing for me and playing stuff I enjoy it was great with a drum machine and lot of different effects

I was going to say "westcountry"? Glastonbury's over two hours north from me. Eden is westcountry. (Tongue in cheek disclaimer for the argumentative types) I don't know why anyone gets upset over these Glastonbury bookings, it's a mainstream pop festival and Kylie is a mainstream pop star whose been churning out hits for three decades. I'd have thought that qualified her for 'Legend' status in the eyes of the average Glastonbury goer. I'd be fairly content to have had her longevity and success, as would many more on here I'd imagine. Never mind keep knocking her.

Har, challenge most definitely not accepted. Another project is the last thing I need! You, however, have all the Hohner parts already - all you need is a cosmetically challenged Peavey to go with it. If only there was one around...

Easy, Dave. Take a large mirror to the jam ...

I just concentrate on getting a good signal to the recorder, I run out of the DI out on my Markbass LM3 and couple that with a Red Audio 6 Condenser mic in front of a 1x12 cab, between the two signals I am getting all the bass tone I need for a recording

Unless we hold the bash in Hawaii - which I personally would be up for 😎

An early Christmas greeting from the Family...

How's it going guys? I just published my guide to chords on 4 strings. It's got 4 essential tips you can use to find your own awesome chord voicings. Take a look! https://onlinebassguitar.com/bass-chords-4-string-players-guide/

I could contribute by offering a space to keep it or any of your other basses in case they feel left out a bit.

I know what cetera really needs is a whip round for a new bass - he's not got quite enough to choose from...

That's def a beer or two i owe you next time you are up here with your new project.

the Ramones went off a bit after their 8th Album

I posted a brief comment on another thread about playing acoustically, and doing so piqued my interest, so I thought I’d share it. I play bass in a purely jamming/hobby/non-gigging band (by choice, as we’re mostly in our 70s!), but have decent soundproofed facilities, with full PA, drum kit etc, so we don’t spare the volume when rehearsing. But we gave our first 'performance' last night, in front of our wives (!) in a living room, so went acoustic. No mikes, the drummer used a drum box and tambourine, I did use an amp, but very low. To our surprise, we thoroughly enjoyed it, even though any mistakes tended to be more obvious, not that there were that many.....

I used them for my first 2-3 years of bass playing until I understood there were other string brands. 😁 They eat your hands, eat your frets and die quicker than any other string I've tried, usually after one gig. Started using D'addarios and Elixir (when flush) and have never looked back!

It looks like an ashtray.

I bought a 5 string set of TI flats about 2 years ago. I'm hoping to get at least another 10 years out of them!

I've found them consistent for years, one gig, dead.

Aye!

Hi Beams for £20 delivered direct from Amazon. I've ordered multiple sets over the years and they are the real deal. For DR/Ken Smith/Fodera/La Bella strings, I use Bass Specialties on eBay. The prices have gone up roughly £5 over the last four to five years but they're still cheaper than the UK. No import duty either since the seller knows what he's doing. Regarding Rotosound, I'm a fan. Their customer service is second to none. I had a dead string on arrival once and they sent me not only a replacement but a whole new set. I really like the Roto Bass nickels and think they age very well. They cut through a mix and have a really good mid punch to them.

We need to knock up (or find) a definitive list of models, it’s a minefield.

Quite a bit of promo happening now... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIMmdOZlmrU Seems such a cool, nice guy! He's earned it!

There are U.K. dealers selling relatively cheap bows online, or you can get them through Ebay from China. However I tried the China route and the bow was already bent on arrival. I did get my money back but I had to send the frog end only back to the dealer.! You may be able to hire a French and German bow from a bass shop but seeing where you are located, that may be difficult. Are there any orchestras you can contact to see if any bassist can help, with lessons or hands on advice? I’ve had a French bow for years and now believe I should try a German one. I seem to have problems holding the French bow so one day I might try a cheap German bow, maybe a cheap graphite type one. Good luck.

Beat me to it. Apparently the record company added the bells afterwards to give it a Christmas appeal

Deep Purple Mk.II defined that band, nobody's interested in their previous twaddle. Pink Floyd Mk.II. See above.

Guns N Roses. Appetite, which was recorded before they were big was excellent whereas the Illusion albums, done when they were probably the biggest band in the world were alright but nothing special imo. I preferred The Spaghetti Incident to either of the Illusions.

Used RS66s for years, imo all the negative things about them are true - cheesegrater feel, they chew big divots in your frets, dead in a week. After I bought two consecutive sets with A-strings dead out of the packet, enough was enough. Strings of choice for me are Elixirs and have been for about 15 years now, and I always make sure I've got a few cheap 3-sets-for-a-tenner Ebay special packs lying around for emergencies. They're typically better than I remember Rotos being. Oh - and I hate that horrid red hairy crap they insist on wrapping around the ends.

Well done Roger, I do so like a happy ending!

D'Addario's for me. Tried all the others over the years but always go back. Perfect strings for me but probably wouldnt suit everyone. Subjective, int it.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas...

Tweeted to Basschat's followers. Hope you recover everything.

Ahhhh, but it's not necessarily the second thoughts: I traded an amp for a WA, played it for a while, had second thoughts and traded it back, and then bought another, and this one has stuck. If I had a fiver for every Stingray I've bought, had second thoughts about and sold, then a few months later bought another one, only to repeat the process, I'd have at least enough to buy a set of Elixirs... It's more to do with where you are at a specific time with what you need an amp (or any piece of kit) to do. I used to own an SVT and an 810. Never again, and not because I didn't like the sound it made... And on the back of that, one opinion on an amp is just that, and unless I knew that the person whose opinion it was had the same tone goals as I did, it wouldn't be any real use. I had a ToneHammer 500 and didn't like it at all, and I don't like Jazz basses (and they are two of the most widely liked pieces of kit you can buy), but I wouldn't expect a single person to listen to my opinion with anything more than a passing interest...a possibly a mutter of 'weirdo...' 🙂 You've only got to look at, for instance, the difference in the avatar pics of the inestimable Beedster above mine to see that we just might have different tone goals...so something I might be gaga for isn't gonna work for him, and vice versa. And that's a good thing, otherwise there'd only be one type of bass, one amp and one cab, and then what would we all have to parp on about? 😀

This is the modern world. Fakery everywhere. The fakery is even fake.

I hope that no beginners try that. I wouldn't advise anyone to learn Simandl with a floating ring finger. It has a splendid role in SImandl fingering. What you've described may be a personal modification or deviation from Simandl. The way I learned the methodology was that all preceding fingers assist to stop the string. Especially on a double bass. Especially when bowing. On my bass guitar, I can enjoy a high string action due to this feature of Simandl. Also, the ring finger assists the pinky for the same reasons I mentioned above or to play with ease in half-position. I also recommend practicing shifting, in fact embrace it, as it leads to the dusty end, fingerboard mastery and a range of nearly three octaves. These two paragraphs will directly answer the OP and be a guide to anyone interested in learning Simandl properly to avoid RSI / Carpel Tunnel Syndrome..

If the active model plays even half as well as a passive, then you're looking at a damn good bass. The main differences I think you'd need to watch out for are: (i) neck profile - the Model T's neck is much more like a Jazz bass than a P. Wide and shallow, but very fast. Bit of a surprise at first, but it didn't take me long to warm to it. (ii) The pickups. They're not Fender pickups, and they will always sound subtly different. Don't know how the EMGs will compare to the passive SD Basslines in my own Model T, but the "different" sound was no less satisfying than the Fender. And for comparison, I did put a Fender CS '62 RI pickup into my kit-built P bass copy a few years ago, and it now does "that" Precision sound very convincingly for a fraction of the price...so you could always pop one of those into a Squier or HB Precision as your backup and free up even more money for beer!

Changed my perception of old Cee Lo. Wonderful stuff.