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I wonder if electrician's forums have similar threads. You know: "That Edison guy, I don't get it, what was so special about him? And don't get me started on bloody Marconi." Presumably mathematicians have forums where very average modern-day number-crunchers debate the lack of originality in the work of Fourier and Bernoulli. Yawn.

Even before these most recent allegations I would have demanded a handsome slab of cash to perform any of Mr Jackson's choons. Not because he may have been 'evil' but because I didn't much enjoy his oeuvre. Too perfectly patinated, don'cherknow. In any event, it was - for decades - as plain as the nose on his face that Wacko Jacko was off the map at 90mph. It was all very sad but when rumours about his 'play dates' began to circulate it was no great leap of the imagination to conclude there was something nasty in the woodshed. Nevertheless the crazier elements of his fan base were keen to look the other way while the rest of us (and the radio stations) said a perfunctory 'Ho hum' and went about our business unburdened by any great concern. Now someone has made a film about unsavoury events the nature of which almost everyone was tangentially aware at least ten years ago and some are saying 'OMFG! I must immediately retrieve my Jacko albums from the attic and throw them in the cleansing flames lest by osmosis I contract paedophilia or - worse - my impeccable credentials be laid open to question'. Frankly, it's a bit late to be beating one's breast about Michael Jackson and in the event that someone were to be offended by a live, cover performance of Bad (and on purely aesthetic grounds who wouldn't be?) I'd have to ask them if they'd been living under a rock during the 25 years since Jackson paid off the Chandler family to the extent of - er - $23 million and the Los Angeles cops unaccountably closed their investigation. The victim's father, Evan Chandler, committed suicide in 2009 some months after Jackson himself crossed over but nobody gave a sh*t then so I'm not quite sure why they're bothered ten years later.

Fitted a pair of black metal knobs to this to finish it off. Got a comment about this bass at the SE Bash last year that the EMG knobs looked cheap and I completely agree - they're not even what I would call quality mouldings especially the stacked knob. Shame really as the rest of their kit is first class in my opinion. The stacked knob looked a little too tall on this small bodied bass so I filed a couple of mm off the top knob and I think it looks quite a bit better. I think that is all the little jobs complete on this one and need to wait a little before I can do any work on the finish of the other shortie so on with the semi hollow basses to get them progressed as far as I can for the SW Bass Bash.

I'm not a fan of either McCartney or The Beatles - probably because they have no direct influence on my musical DNA, I've always felt fairly indifferent. However, it really bugs me (or "triggers" me, if we're gonna be all 2019 ) when this term "overrated" gets thrown around in relation to artists who are indisputable originators - absolutely pivotal and seminal in the evolution of both music as a creative & cultural force, and in the development of the role of the bass. McCartney is one such - his influence, direct or indirect, is enormous, it's probably entirely reasonable to say that without him & his band, none of us would be playing the music we play now, wherever we sit on the musical spectrum, or however we personally feel about McCartney. Fair enough to say you don't like him/them, or you think so-and-so would have done it better - but "overrated"? Look it up.

Pretty much did whatever was required of the song in the early years, then right through to harmonising other instruments, playing up the dusty end, chords and melodies. Using the bass as a melodic instrument, in a rock/pop setting. Incredible bassist in my book, and hugely imaginative and certainly an innovator.

Just got this Sandberg VM4 . Lovely bass.

Credit where it's due - I've tried playing bass left-handed and I'm useless at it, so hats off to Macca there. 😁

I'm not sure I would, I suspect my band-mates would almost certainly ask me not to bother turning up to any more gigs. Particularly if he starts getting the beers in at the end of the set.

Try playing an innovative bass line (contrast the Beatles with the standard four chord rock n roll numbers that preceded) AND singing lead and harmony vocals at the same time. And then writing that material yourself. And in the process coming up with some immortal songs and the occasional all time best album! Okay I really wish he would hang his boots up now on the writing front 'cos his recent material has, how shall I put it, not been memorable! But being truthful, I'd be happy to be able to do any one of the things I've listed above 1/500th as well as he did.

To gain some perspective you need to look what preceeded him. He was truly an innovator in bringing the bass to the fore rather than standing at the back playing root & fifths. Forty odd years later it's not always easy to realise the influence he has made on bass playing. Most of his bass lines are sublime and are just what the songs needed. To do that as well as singing is truly a feat. I can't say I listen to the Beatles or Wings very often, but to say he is overrated is to do him a disservice

I don't think he's a great technician on the bass. He doesn't either and was quoted in the early days as, "Just following Ringo's bass drum", but as a musician he played exactly what was required. Which is never a bad thing. Then, when the Beatles went into creative overdrive his bass lines kept pace. He changed the way bass players thought about bass lines and empowered all of us to use our elbows and move right up to the front of the song. I think you can talk about McCartney the bass player in the same breath as James Jamerson. They were both imaginative, creative and important to the instrument and they released bass players from the 2/4 "hell" that had been their lot up to that point. They opened that door and made everything we know today, possible.

Because I'm a tart and I didn't like the colour scheme!

Disclaimer: yes i could have sold this bass and got something more suitable, yes it could turn out to be a terrible decision! But i like to tinker, this bass doesn't owe me anything and its (mostly) reversible. So after my previous thread of refinishing a Harley Benton PB-50. It got me in the mood to do a bit more modifying. I bought an Ibanez ATK300 a few years ago for very cheap. At the time i was playing a Musicman Stingray in a Stoner band and wanted something that could mimic it well, as a back up. This fitted the criteria perfectly and the same model was used by Scott Reeder (Kyuss) which was also a big plus in my book. I changed up my set up last year to using Rickenbacker and sold the Stingray. The ATK has fallen to the wayside as i find it doesn't suit the sound I'm going for. So Active preamp out, MM pickups out. Passive and single coil in! Browsing through Facebook i came across somebody selling a pair of single coil Zombie Dust pickups housed in MM size cases. The idea struck me to turn the ATK into a passive, double single coil pickup monster. After Some thought I wanted to try and make this easily reversible. The first thing to do once the pickups arrived was to make sure i could fit the neck pickup where the pickguard is so if i don't like it i can cover the rout with the original pickguard.

Re-listening to Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik (which did not leave my car in the early 90's.....). He was definitely at his peak on this album. I have not heard anything by them since that is this ferocious, funky, complex yet simple and good....... Carry on!

I'm surprised at the dislike of that bassline. I think it's sublime.

I bought a 1024x used but that bass was way more heavy than my 1000ma and all the 424/414s I owned. So I sold it after some weeks. I had a BB3000 once that payed lovely but I always felt more atracted to the bolt on neck sound of my 1000ma. I even once was offered to buy a 3000ma but it could not "beat" my bolt on version of it. That's why I do like the sound of the 700 series. Even the active circuit sounds usable, although I became a passive mode player over the years. I apologise for the ""no frame design" thing ...I am German and my English might not be able to keep up with you here and there 😉 What I wanted to state is that I just love the pickups surrounds 🙂

Exactly. This is where peoples perception of what is and isn't acceptable becomes clouded by a persons position and level of success.

OK - hauling it all back... Two or three jobs ticked off the 'to do' list. Because the final finish coats will go on shortly, it's time to fix anything that needs sanding or fettling on the body. One of these was to tidy up the fit of the pickup chamber that was still a bit uneven. That's now pretty even all the way round: I then bolted the neck on to check the neck angle and also mark the fixing position of the bridge. Neck angle is pretty much spot on so I could then position the bridge. Pretty normal stuff. First was winding the G saddle to its forward position and popping a bit of masking tape, 90 degrees to the body join line at the position corresponding to the scale length at the G saddle. Then popping a couple of strings through either side of the bridge and clamping them loosely at the nut. I used a guitar capo for this: Then it was a case of moving the bridge left or right along the scale length masking tape line to ensure the E and G were equidistant from the edges of the neck: Then popping a couple of pieces of masking tape to record that position in case the bridge got knocked, and then centre-holing the positions of the screws ready to drill the pilot holes: And that leaves 12 to-do's to do!

If Michael Jackson was a fat balding lorry driver from Macclesfield no one would consider that a him sleeping with kids was normal, regardless of what may or may not happened.

+1. Spot on.. And IMO, Macca was a master of striking the right balance between playing exactly what the song needed and making the bass line something of real interest that helped define the song. That to me, is so much more important than measuring a bass player's status/rank/greatness etc by qualities such as technical dexterity and virtuosity alone. Just my 2p worth of course and I know that there are many very strongly held and diverse views about this subject on this forum. Have a nice day folks.. 😊

Ray Brown having a knock on Teen Town.

Hmm... this thread is symptomatic of the decline of music, the industry and more importantly, the value of music. The OP is entitled to their opinion but then so am I and I say that based on empiric evidence of sales, critical success and positive Basschat posts, he's talking b*ll*cks. It's good to be contrary to stimulate debate - I do it all the time on these forums but sometimes posts like this are pointless. And moreover, I'd say who is rateable? And then I'd ask, what do these rated people think of McCartney or Jaco etc, and of course, they'll usually give their approval.

to me to me..

Headstock carved, (Hipshot tuners fitted for an idea), and control cavity drilled and tidied:

I believe that's the Musicman Joe Dart Prototype 😂

Rehearsal went like a dream. Needed to re-eq my amp a lot from my usual bass (mostly P pickup) but once I got it dialed in... lovely! Used an Octave pedal to deal with not having a B string and all was good. Very punchy indeed. Did 1 slap tune this morning - Uptown Funk. Had the B3K circuit on my M900 on a little bit for a touch of grit and it sounded massive. Also did Superstition; Havana; In the mood; Zoot Suit Riot; Don't stop me now; and probably something else I can't remember right now. It really sits in the mix well. I've got 1 more rehearsal before the easter concert so I'm thinking of gigging it.

Am I the only one who heard David Essex shouting when I read this?

This is definitely the most ludicrous thing I think I've seen masquerading as a bass. Took a screen grab to try & work out what's going on, and am left with the sneaking suspicion that this might well turn out to be a prop knocked up from random bits of plywood & tinfoil. And stickyback plastic, obvs.

Going back to Nathan East’s new frame bass 😂

There you are! What did I tell you?

Next step was Dr Fakenstein's acid bath! Bought some concrete cleaner and some plastic tubs and put the metal parts in to tarnish. You put a bit of the acid in the larger container which needs to have an airtight lid, then float the smaller tub with the parts in, inside and place it somewhere safe outside, checking on it every 30 mins or so until you get the desired look. The process definitely works better on nickel coated parts, rather than chrome, and I resisted the temptation to soak them in the liquid, as I had noticed on the pre-relic'd bridge I bought that the baseplate looked a bit blotchy, as if some sort of liquid (etching fluid or acid?) had been put on it and globules had formed and left to dry. It didn't look all that authentic to me, anyway so I polished it up and put it in the tub and (to me anyway!) improved it a bit. this was before I re-did the baseplate This is after. I got a bit 'acid happy' and put in the brass pickup plate and the pots, just to take a bit of the shiny newness off them!

I went shoppng for a cheap backup bass yesterday, tried 3 squiers. The first, a squier contemporary jazz was a dog, heavy, brittle sounding pickups and a rough almost unfinished neck. Hastily handing this back I was given a Vintage modified jazz to try which was almost perfect. I could barely tell the difference in feel from my US jazz. Umming and arring I then tried another vintage modified in my preferred colour scheme and this left a lot to be desired. It was better than the first bass but nowhere near as good as the second. All the basses were made in Indonesia. I didn't come away with anything on this occasion but it goes to show the need to try before you buy on instruments at this price.

I sincerely hope he has not done any of these things, that he was just the innocent childlike person he portrayed. That would mean that no children were harmed.

Three musicians at their absolute peak...and Anthony Kiedis. I've enjoyed everything they've released since, despite their flaws, but BSSM will never be topped. I don't think I'd be playing now if it hadn't been for the inspiration I got from this album.

LOVE the way those preamp controls are recessed!

Derek Forbes selling me his Vigier. Lovely bloke and a great bass that will never be sold again.

Anthony vitty with Danny Morris 🙂

Why do I like that?

I think I can see it from here, actually.

I’d just come off stage, he was about to go on. The BL wanted one with Wilco & Sir Norm

A good mate of mine worked on the film Baby Driver with flea and as a result, he invited him and a mate to see him perform at the O2. Luckily I happened to be THAT mate. It was a very spoilt backstage affair with all friends and family hospitality, and I made sure I was prepared with a sharpie for him to sign my bass clef. He was incredibly generous with his time and chatted with us for a good 20 minutes after he’d just performed. A night I will never forget and I subsequently got his sharpie scribbles tattooed the next day.

There's some good stuff on their recent albums but most people haven't given them a chance. I still like the one hot minute album too. Soul to Squeeze is still his /their finest work and only a few pops and hammer ons in the middle eight rather than any slap.