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Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen

A little (and final for 2019) Yammy addition today to make up a Full Trav:

Sparko and The Big Figure

I'm looking at making a headed version of the mini bass. I'm planning on keeping it at 23" scale and the same body shape as the headless one (with a very slight tweak to the lower horn). I wasn't sure what to do with the headstock so I just went for the same design I have used on my recent semi hollow basses. To my eye, it seems to flow which is nice as it keeps something in common. This design would allow me plenty of options with regards to bridges which is always the difficult thing when going down the headless route.

The Yamaha collection, including the @AndyTravis BB300 😉👌🏻 #FullTrav

I'm actually an Instrument, electrical and electronics engineer so soldering is second nature for me. I just can't be bothered to be honest plus the cost of buying them and maybe they just aren't what i thought they would be is a loss of money for me so i try and buy basses i've heard or tried. I've no idea what a set of pick ups sound like unless i try them on same bass. Too risky for me. Lot of the modern basses now have solderless connections now so it does make things a lot easier for people plus a good guitar shop or bass luthier if one in your area would fit for you but again life is too short for me to be doing that. Easier for me to just change the bass. The VM4 having one of the nicest necks i've played and well balanced i might have considered changing them if i needed to but the Sandberg pups are just fine for me at the moment. Dave

Anthony Jackson & Steve Gadd.

Nothing wrong with that teebs , I do it every day 😀

Haha! Call me Doc, Marty, call me Doc 😀

I think a lot of the 'others' may be D'addarios.

Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson are the pinnacle, for me. I have a lot of time for Cliff WIlliams and Phil Rudd, too - simple, perhaps, but very effective.

Save something back for the encore and knock the audience dead

Other than the weirdy triangular pickups in the new one? Did wonder if that was the final straw that drove JH to run away screaming.

McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones

Charles Mingus and Dannie Richmond

Incredible lineup!

My neck dive tip. . . . sell any basses that have neck dive and buy ones that don't.

Lookin' BAD 💀 To the bone ☠️ 👍 😎

Someone put a deposit down on it a couple of days ago 🤔😉 I'm also in the camp of not loving the Delano/Glock combo ALL the time. IME it needed a certain amp/cab to sound its best. For me, it was all good until I bought a very clean and clear amp & cab, funnily enough a Glock amp. Looking forward to giving the Black Labels a whirl... A 2.9kg 5 string too, for what I need, it's already a winner.

Could well be a fair point. But how much would a typical set of Black Labels or Haussels be to replace both the pups on a VM or VT? (Need to preferably be hum cancelling). If you're 'just' a bass player and not good at tech (I'd be in that camp and I'm guessing from what Dave is saying, he is too) how much would it typically cost to get put in? Then if you need, add in eg a quality John East uni pre (plus fitting)? (Or take the lazy person's route and get a Yammy BB P35 and be really happy with it from day 1).

If we’re going with a car analogy, the tyres would be the strings, and the engine the pickups. You’d be mad to not buy a car because you didn’t like the stock tyres, just as you would a bass and it’s strings. When it comes to the engine though, there are those that love buying and fitting various bits to make their car go faster. But most can’t be ar$ed with that and either leave it alone or get a different car instead. Same applies to pickups!

I have to admit i usually buy a bass as is and if after awhile its not what i thought it would be i sell on usually at a loss cause i tend to buy new. I've never in 40+ yrs changed pick-up or pre-amp in a bass. I've thought about it but always came to the conclusion that its easier to just buy a bass i like as is. Maybe i've had too much money and not enough brains over the years. Far more choice of basses and parts these days and for me that makes the decision to change even more daunting. I would hate to spend a lot of money on a pick or preamp to find its not much different to the one i already have. I would really need to hear or try the two different basses one on one to hear the difference. Every bass i've ever had was good at what it was designed for but none were able to cover every style i enjoyed playing. I'm not sure where my journey on the road of bass will take me and i may still end up with a Fender P bass at some point and that way i can cover all basses I enjoy having new gear and the boost it gives me when playing. If a bass does that for a couple of years then i'm happy with it. The one bass that i didn't keep too long was a Ric 4003 back in 80's. Loved the shape, loved the neck and feel of the bass but for me it had a very one sounding tone no matter what i did with it. Only kept it a few months. The VM4 i just bought gives me one helluva buzz every time i play it both in feel and tone so its gonna be a keeper i reckon. Dave

Yep true - you have shared your views on paying >£1k for a bass and not wanting to swap the electronics. You can also pay >£1k and around about the same price as the previous paragraph for a bass from Sandberg with the electronics that you want for example Sandberg own or black labels. You can also get an excellent second hand deal on a Sandberg, pop in the electronics you want, sell the old ones and come in <£1k after all wheeler dealings and we know you like a deal! Not sure how you can not agree with it not being so easy to make a fantastic well engineered and finished bass or guitar if it were that easy, everyone would be doing it! You only have to look at @mcnach and his recent experience. He found a neck he preferred on a 48 in a store in Glasgow- didn’t want that bass but wanted a different model. Using the serial number the store will contact sandberg and will be able to find out as reliably as possible what the exact neck proportions of that neck he played were, and will try to accurately replicate it for the customer. I haven’t heard of many manufacturers going to those lengths and I know of more examples. The crass point about Hölger not listening is absolute tosh and balderdash, he listens closely to artists and customers. You are basing opinions on a very small snapshot of people and magnifying the result exponentially. I would call that perfunctory and otiose. As you have said - may not be for you and that’s fine. I’d prefer to eat the peanuts out my own poo than use some of the ‘throaty’ nordstrand pick ups - but that’s me.

That’s a good call, a couple of Vintage Jazzes and Precisions (plus Les Paul’s & Teles for our 6 string brethren) wouldn’t cost too much but would save the day, and even on a fiver per rehearsal pay for themselves pretty quickly. On track with the original question, I’d go for the cheapest rounds and flats as they'd only be to get through a rehearsal. I’m pretty sure everyone would change to s new set of their favoured brand once getting home so no need to get expensive or loads of ranges, just steel & nickel rounds, plus flats, standard gauges.

What about the two blokes no one could name from oasis, cold play, snow patrol etc etc?

And in more proggery: Lee/Peart Squire/Bruford *Edit: ooh, ooh forgot the mighty: Wetton/Bruford Levin/Bruford Actually anyone with Bruford come to think of it...

Keith Carlock and Freddie Washington. Ritchie Hayward and Kenny Gradney. Tom Barney and Ricky Lawson.

Some of you know I have ”migrated” to a Helix LT. Great all-in one gigging solution, that sounds marvelous. But since buying and selling stuff appears to be part of the hobby (some may call it GAS) I set out to build a small pedal board again. I had sold some pedals but not all when migrating and I also kept my pedal board. Anyway, several hundred quid later my small pedal board is now a larger size and it sounds gorgeous. So now I can pick Helix OR old school analogue. - Templeboard Trio 21 (already owned) - Pedal Power 2 (already owned) - Lehle 3@1 as I use 3 basses (already owned) - Tuner (Pitchblack mini) in the secondary output (already owned) - Broughton HPF (purchased off BC) - Keeley Bassist (purchased off BC, I sold the Pro I had) - COG T47 (bought new, 2 T16s man...) - Bearfoot BBBO (already owned) - COG TK421x (already owned, my youngest son as decal) - COG Grand Tarkin fuzz (already owned, my eldest as decal) - Julia chorus (purchased locally, as new) - WR Goliath tube pre/DI (bought here...... wow...)

But I do like to mess around too...

My main bass is a VT4, plays like a dream, super light, but I have a love hate relationship with the tone... I HATE the preamp (glock?), the pick ups (delano) fare better in passive, but that being said I'm dying to swap them out for something a bit more traditional... I quite like the shape of if, but to me their new jazz shape just looks awful!

Sorry, I missed this, even though the "notify" box is ticked. Noise like this can almost always be traced back to noise entering the system. It may be EMC, becoming more commonly encountered with all the new bootlegged (uncertified) LEDs and consumer electronics from China (mostly). The amount some of them can emit is staggering. Sometimes, this can be caused by a cell phone very close to the pickup or the amp but this is probably less common now. One thing that can help is to be sure that the amplifier is powered by an earthed circuit. The earthing conductor aids in EMC control to a large degree.

Thanks about the neck(s). 🤒 There's Specials new stuff? I'm stuck in the past playing 'The Specials' and a few tracks from 'More Specials'... more convincingly on the P bass, especially now... On a different note, my popping finger is sore from learning to be Larry Graham! (but on a P bass, with flats!). 😬

Gutted for you about the neck Been playing Specials stuff (new from Encore album) all evening & annoying Mrs Teebs, stopped for a bit for her to watch Graham Norton & The Specials were on, playing exactly what I'd just been learning! Also Fu Manchu & Israelites, Desmond Dekker as well

If it's to get folks out of a spot then strike up a deal with D'Addario, stock a selection of round, flat, half round and tape in their most popular gauges on sale or return and be done with it. Unless you plan on running it as a profit making shop, then stock as many different brands in as many different styles and gauges as possible to cater for the vast preferences of bassists and sell virtually none because they can get their favourites cheaper on the internet, then sell all the stock off cheap because there's just too much money tied up in it for the tiny return and be done with it.

Sir Horace Gentleman and John Bradbury from The Specials.

Mike Clarke and Paul Jackson jnr. were kind of telepathic

Andy Fraser and Simon Kirke, James Jamerson and Benny Benjamin, Paul and Ringo, Garry Tallent and Max Weinberg. And of course, Keef and Charlie. 🙂

Sly and Robbie, the rhythm twins, are the best for me 🙂

Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton of (Stevie Ray Vaughan and) Double Trouble fame have always been a favourite of mine.

'51 P bass that I've been building over the last few weeks , One piece swamp ash body from Guitarbuild.co.uk Fender neck, Schaller nickel tuners, Schaller nickel strap buttons, Solid Brass high mass bridge modified for string through body, Second hand Seymour Duncan Hot pickup, Fender pots, Home made control plate, Ten coats of Danish Oil, Ten coats of gunstock oil, Sounds fantastic, Very punchy even with two year old Dunlop flats, sounds smooth deep and warm with the tone rolled off, This ones a keeper. Very lightweight at 7.5 lbs. delighted with it.