Leaderboard

Holes for machine heads. The slice that I took off the front of the headstock makes a handy template for future use. Screening . I used to use graphite paint but it's filthy stuff and the copper tape looks sooo much more stylish. I like the look of the copper foil and might try something else for the scratch plate but for now I've made this from part of a chest of drawers that used to house spiders in the shed. It's really nice all hardwood 3mm ply. The story so far:

I've never really understood this mindset to be honest. If there's no gigs then it's not worth rehearsing. How about just for the love of playing music with other musicians? I actually prefer rehearsing to gigging. Sitting in a room with other musicians just playing is one of my favourite things in the world. Rather than rehearsing being a means to an end, I see gigging as a necessary evil.

Creeping up an an all DIY setup, just have to build myself a bass and learn pickup winding now. Newest piece is the tube amp, 100 watts switchable to 60. I have the preamp section mostly ready to go but I wanted to audition several different DIY and commercial ones before committing to drilling a bunch more holes. Then it's on to a natural finish wood headcase, I reckon.

Let me address the elephant in the room... rehearse.... for what gigs? at the moment it’s not really worth falling out over. It’s not as if there’s gigs aplenty - and if there are gigs, it’s not as if they are well attended.

Wah ..too much info AP

Suddenly, from outta nowhere, it looks like we might have a paying gig next Sunday. 2 sets in the afternoon, outdoors at a pub just outside Chippenham. Our frontlady has done a visit/risk assessment and they're taking safety very seriously indeed. She knows what our individual concerns are and she's happy with their arrangements, which means I'm happy too. Yay

I'm probably not going to be able to play live for a while for similar reasons to your drummer. Covid sucks, we're all annoyed about how it's affecting our lives - but lets have a bit of grace for people in different situations than us, who are having to make different risk assessments. One of the remarkable aspects of the current situation is how it is affecting everyone differently. At the same time me and my wife were running around working full time and childcare and being exhauted other folk were sat around bored as anything with nothing to do. One of my friends had to get out and get back to work as a tradesperson in peoples homes straight away, my next door neighbour has hardly left his house since march.

You don’t need to be with other people to keep enhancing your craft. Get some practice on, learn more theory. Open up the fretboard so when the opportunities arrive, you are a much better player. Sitting in a room with musicians won’t bring on your playing if nobody is pushing the boundaries of their own playing. I get the whole thing about playing for enjoyment - but there’s a hell of a lot of things that we can’t do normally at the moment... but we can make the most of what we do have.

It's a bit of a slow build this one but I've done some work on the neck for this. There have been a couple of issues but they got sorted along the way - the main one being a router bit moving when I was removing the excess in the depth of the headstock. I had to cut a slice from an old offcut from the neck and rectify this and it turned out barely visible and will be under the veneer anyway. I thought it might please @TheGreek so I decided the headstock would look nice with a matching veneer to the body! I've never had a bass of this shape before but it is really growing on me and I'm really looking forward to the finished bass. I've also put a veneer between the fretboard and the neck so this follows the veneer on the headstock. Next task will be to sort the template for cutting the neck pocket and control cavity. I've also cut some sycamore that I'll use for the binding. I've had a go at bending it just using the steam from the kettle and I think it should work though I'll still be trying it on a test piece first!

Well...... finally got to give my ctm300 valve amp a blast tonight in a socially distanced out of restrictions rehersal. And @walshy you were right! It really was fantastic. I'm now keeping it for good. I found it likes to be loud and pushed. The louder you turn the volume knob the better it plays and sounds, rather than just going louder for the sake of it. It's definitely NOT the same sound as a class d or class a/b sound. It's like a chorus of bass coming from one speaker. Completely different feel. No 'just' bass sitting in the mix. More bass on Ready Brek. Bass with a nice warm glow. Worked really well with Indie stuff. The more confident I played the better it responded. The EQ doesnt do a great deal but even Mark Gooday says that. It just fits. Nice. Even the drummer commented it sounded lovely! Never had that before. Ever! So, yep, add me to the list of bassists still playing a valve amp.

They haven't got any of your gear by any chance?..ie..lights...amps?

I had no Idea they made black Classic Vibe jazzes! Crafted In China 2013. I've never seen another black one. Had a couple of white ones and regretted selling them so had to have this. Still got the plastic film and sticker on the scratchplate. Plays superb.

Its nice to get back in a room and play loud with others though, and it doesnt hurt to be prepared for when gigs do start. Some bands just like rehearsing, its good to let off steam etc. I miss rehearsals more than i do gigs. Its a hobby that some enjoy in different ways.

Quick to set up is very important. A big band can make a very long queue at the bar. You wouldn’t want to be left behind and nobody buys the bass player a drink. Only the drummer and he’ll still be setting up.

Well here's my current stash of short scales from top to bottom ... all superb in different ways Fender Justin Meldal-Johnsen Mustang - superb straight forward solid rock bass, feels lived in / Warwick SS Corvette - useful 2 band active, punchy and articulate, skinny neck / Fender USA Performer Mustang - polite with a good range of tones, the J pup is very usable and adds a lot of definition, lovely to play ... I want to try a Stingray Shorty now!

So anyway @Nicko, what do you want to do?

Did a pub gig years ago where a strippergram turned up for a birthday night (our backing singer was a strippergram but not in this league). It was quite a blue 30 mins. The funny part was she asked to borrow our singers mic. Did a few novel things with it over the 30 mins....then handed it back to our singer for the second set. Should have seen the look on her face. Us backing vocalists put a tight hand on our mic’s and wouldn’t let her change mic’s. We had to up the gain of her mic as she wouldn’t put it too close to her mouth 😬

Took delivery of two new exciters today. One male fowl-up straight away - bought the AR-30s and not the AR-50 which would have been better but ho hum, on with the show. Why 2? Well it seems in the world of these little vibrating wallahs if you want wattage you end up buying a 4ohm speaker thus maximizing the output of the amp . My littlest amp is 200 watts so I bought two 8ohm exciters, wired them in series, attached them to the seat and off I go. These are different from the previous speaker which got hot and melted. Better designed, don't get hot, and produce a different sound. They're more hi-fi is probably the best way to describe the difference. So good in fact that I can listen to music through my chair! The trade off is that the bass is more 'precise' if that means anything to anyone. Whereas I used to hit a low E and feel my innards liquify this is a smaller, tighter sensation. It still shakes through the seat, but with less violence, it's also louder in the room so less good for late night noodling. However I am already scheming! Another two linked together in series and both sets then wired to one another in parallel would, if my maths is working, give me a 120 watt 8ohm speaker system which should be much more capable and thus not need to be run so hard. I await, with a growing sense of nervous excitement to be told exactly why everything I have just said is wrong and in fact I can't possibly hear anything from the love seat because I don't have ears in my bum. Oh and lots of numbers I won't understand too. Bring it on!

Nah, all gimmicks to bump the price up 😂

The only suggestion I "shot down" was the idea of recording via relay which the guitarist had already declined, although I actually sent a long email explaining what we would have to do in order to record in that way. I have a habit of explaining things as they are. If you're that sensitive perhaps we wouldn't work very well together in a band anyway. Me, passive aggressive? Your opinion is valid, of course, even if its wrong.😀 I can be a bit sometimes, although I tend to read things twice before I send them but maybe by the end I was so tired of the discussion I really didn't care that much. I actually thought the "what do you want to do" was more passive aggressive than my responses, but then maybe my compass was off.

Finished the Yes collection, now playing early Neil Young. He was/is an awful singer and wrote depressing dirges. Anyone know why I bought these????

Sounds to me like the drummer wasn't really interested in being in the band, but didn't want to be seen as the bad guy by quitting. Constantly asking the question, whilst simultaneously being the one blocking any solution is a classic passive aggressive move. Now he gets to stay at home, happy and safe (can't really blame him for that one) but doesn't have to look like the bad guy that broke up the band. I'm afraid the OP walked straight into the trap, as did I in a very similar situation with my last band. Either way there nothing really lost as it obviously wasn't going to go anywhere anyway once people lose interest in playing together.

100%. The folks I play with most often just get together for the fun of it. Try out songs we've written, play our instruments at an decent volume and enjoy the time spent together. For me, it's any excuse to strap on, tune up and play out.

This is going to look beautiful! I really love your work, Jabba!!!

Yes, same here. I look forward to rehearsals and really miss them. Our gigs are quite sparse anyway, but I’d be happy just rehearsing most of the time

Yep, a significant upgrade on the EBMM 3-band circuit

Just chipping in on strings. I've been having this very conversation (how to get best of both worlds, gut tone and slappability with articulation and definition) for about 15 years now, and I have a shoebox stuffed with more sets of trial strrings than my wife needs to know about. Whackers, slap happy or any other, do a grand job for slap and roots. But if you want to get a bit more definition and articulation in th eE and A for pizz and more modern roots sound - forget it. Premium brands like SBW and Cordes Lamberts (if you can find them) are streets ahead of most other whackers. I dont know the premium Slap Happy's. Rotosound4000 are a step up - possibly these are what was on that show bass you mention. Great strings much loved by rockailly slappers for decades ... but very rubber bandy so lack definition for pizz. I don't like them much, but they're easy to play.. I'd choose Cordes Lamberts any day. Innovation (Gold/Silver Slaps / Rockabillies / Super Silvers) are a MUCH better all rounder for a newbie who wants a gut like tone and easy tension, but still be able to jazz it up. A few tonal subtleties that'll annoy a perfectionist but when amplified they all disappear. Presto (= Eurosonic) Ultralight are pretty much the same. Also Innovation rope-core SOLO set, bumped down to orchestral, make a fabulous all round set with real punch and definition, but slap easily and have well-matched gut-like click. This set up never seems to have caught on but I seriously recommend it as a well hidden-secret that's very similar to the next step up... ... which is Pirastro's Evah Pirazzi, either Slap set with optional gut GD (£££) or Weich set. Great tone, damn good slapping, easy tension. Not quite Marshall Lyttle but sorry, you CAN'T have it all. All the above can be combined with gut G and/or D. Slappity thud. Other strings are available. .

That's the key isn't it, not about how it sounds as much about how it feels

And I'm another half-Austrian. Are there enough of us to have our own Basschat forum? I've used the term Krautrock quite often, as to me the term successfully represents an idea, rather than describes any particular sound. Krautrock has more in common with minimalist composers such as Terry Riley, Philip Glass and Karlheinz Stockhausen than with US/UK pop/rock. Here's a recording that embodies this perfectly:

Did it yesterday, went pretty well , the skin on my 2nd finger is so thick from all the long gigs on upright (great for turning sausages) I think only the bottom bit will peel and 1st finger is fine , been playing bass guitar and all good ,thanks for the advice guys

The drummer appears to be trying to project the 'problem' onto you at the end of the discussion. Whereas (although I have the greatest sympathy for his position) he appears to be the limiting factor here. The bands problem appears to be lack of suitable rehearsal space, that you should ideally take joint ownership of - it shouldn't be just down to you. One other thought - What was in your e-mail? Was it something that wound your drummer up? the conversation appears to take a less-constructive turn after that point.

I got a Mono double gig bag from Bass Direct many moons ago. Big thumbs up from me. Two basses + 900w head + 2 cabs now do able on my own in one trip. Got to love modern gear. 💃💃🥳

I picked up the same bass on eBay recently , and for the price it’s fantastic . I have had quite a few high end basses in my time , but as for the sound it’s as good as anything I've owned .Already on the lookout for a 4 string version as well ...John

A simplfication: - nickels provide flatter response (= more mids), suitable for fretless and old skool - SS have a bit like 80's slap eq curve But: Depending on the manufacturer and gauge (not to talk about RW, GW, or flats), these generalizations aren't so sharp.

If he were to sell it all then second hand bass prices would drop due to market saturation! 😁

Good stuff, Steve. Just one thing I’d like to add: a while ago I saw a young big band in Portsmouth and they had a bass guitar. And, yes, it didn’t have the sustain of the upright and sounded a bit thin. But no matter, they guy was playing all the right notes and was obviously a good reader. But he had no propulsion at all, it was all a bit lifeless. All big band bass players should realise that their equal function is to give drive to the rhythm section. Put some excitement into the music.

Yes, it always involves tradeoffs IME. I started 45 years ago on an Ampeg B-15 and absolutely despised it. Worked up to crazy biamped and triamped rack rigs and never loved that. Went through several classic Class AB jobs and then Class D amps, better but not quite there yet. Built my own Class D appliances a few years back, better yet. Now I've retired from gigging and figure I might as well bring it full circle with a DIY tube amp build. At this point I don't need to be loud, I merely need to dial everything in for dead clean sound that works well with a tweeter. I do not covet Old School sound at all, for bass anyway. I've always loved tubes for rock guitar playing though, FWIW. So I'm hoping that something switchable between 60 and 100 watts can scratch both itches, and results so far are looking good.

Looking like a P bass is the 'last' thing you need for that P bass sound!

As the car was due a service and sitting on a wall, reading for 2 hours didn't appeal, I finally went out into the wilds of the high street. As that high street was Epsom, a visit to Guitar Guitar was had. Picking up where I left off in Jan/Feb of this year, I tried the Fender JMJ Mustang again (along with a couple of other shorties). Damn! I see a JMJ in my future; so nice. Time to offload some gear to finance it.