Leaderboard

As requested by Spondonbassed here are some pics of the bass that appeared in the background of the ‘83 Élite I’m building. specs are body-ash, zebrano, black walnut. black sycamore. And maple top. neck- flame maple, black walnut , plain maple birdseye bound fingerboard, 35”, abalone dots Bass Culture DC5 pickups East Uni Pre with mini toggle for each pickup (series, split, parallel) ETS headless hardware.

In the latest edition of The Psychologist - the magazine of the British Psychological Society - is a short article in the research section that discusses whether pitch perception is a universal human phenomenon. I'll try to paraphrase it: "In Western music, the octave system is mathematically based - move up an octave, and a given note doubles in frequency. Perhaps Western music has come to use this system because it relates to the way sound waves physically stimulate the cochlea in the inner ear. In other words, there's something biologically fundamental, and universal, about the way we perceive pitch. But, is this true for non-Western music? In 2019, a team from the Max Planck institute revealed that a remote group of people living in the Bolivian rainforest doesn't process pitch in this way. The Bolivians don't perceive similarities between two notes an octave apart. This work adds to other research, notably in vision and smell, revealing that, while all humans possess the same hardware, culture influences our sensory perceptions." I thought that was rather interesting.

Definitely not. There are those who can discern pitch, notes, and melody. Then there are those who like jazz.

A couple more pic's, this time from the bass side of the neck.

Martin Turner on Wishbone Ash - Sometime World, both the first and the second halves....

You need to keep Bees, then you could name one 'Sting'.....

Got it done. Really happy with the sound too (sounds great in the car). My view of the pic is night driving, passing the large spruce & seeing it move to the rhythm. The song goes through a couple of changes & then heads back from where it began. It was originally 124 bpm, but to get it under 5 mins, I had to make it 126.

Just to show that it doesn't have to be brown and slabby I'm making a guitar but with the veneer removed and the front face composed of blocks at 90 degrees to the centre line. I may do a build diary on guitarchat.

As a vintage Ibanez fan, this hurts my feelings a little bit. This is a very rare bass that's hard to come by in original condition. The 24 fret models from 1981 and later are far more common, and especially the single-pickup models don't pop up often. An all-original MC800 from 1979 is pretty special.

My dad saw him have a tantrum in a cafe in Selsey and fling his dinner up the wall

-

After a fair bit of research, helped by a couple of threads on here and advice from @ead , I acquired this. I'm very happy! Great neck, good condition bar a few dinks here and there, frets in good nick and a superb player. The seller seemed to think, due to a 'U' serial no, that it was from 95-96 but I'm inclined to think it's a 2010 model given its condition and spec. As the neck shows, this is the JB-62US model that indicates an alder body and US spec pickups; lovely dark tort scratchplate on it too.

Those sweatbands/wristband thingys that folk wrap around the nut of a guitar...

well here's an odd occurrence , I honestly thought I'd posted this on Monday ! Its a bouncy little ditty for you here , based on the picture , which is a starry night sky , so space , and if space is a theme , you just can't forget Jane Fonda , so with some ridiculous lyrics by me , guitars, bass and half the vocal by me , Drums by EZ, and the chorus by Lurksalittle I offer you ...Type R enjoy Well I think I might just have another pasty after that shock !

So I bought this piece of Claro Walnut... Why? Cause it looks like a frog (...yes it does) and I love frogs. I have finished a design for a 32" scale bolt on bass that I want to make... So what happens when you combine the frog with my new design? Froggy pickup cover! 😍 I've taken delivery on the timber I want to use on this bass and the construction will be; 2 Piece Wenge body (neck pocket, chambered pickup cavity, and electronics cavity should help keep the weight down) 3 Piece Wenge and Bubinga neck, (bubinga central laminate) "Frog" Claro Walnut pickup cover with Wenge walls Ovangkol fingerboard (I have a wonderful piece with what looks like ripples on it) If I can get tarnished brass / gold hardware then I will, or I'll try and tarnish it myself, no frog would have shiny super clean stuff, so that's tuners, bridge, knobs, and bolts, which will be hex bolts with brass inserts. I have brass frets but I'll leave them shiny I guess... No headstock angle this time round, flat head stock with string trees. Using an EMG jazz setup again but with master vol, pup blend, independent bass and treble. Work will begin next week! But really excited to get this one started!

Hi All Just to start a thread about these cool basses. My new Mid Western 2 5 string is nearly finished... Jake’s done a great job, he’s just waiting for the Nordstrand Z Blades to come which are being wired for a more bright tight sound.... The only thing I added which was different was a pan pot... It’s an Evan Marien signature 1 but with a scratch plate.... FYI Evan has a new one coming but with 24 frets.... (I’ve been studying with Evan since lockdown finally getting some of that Hexatonic Harmony under my fingers).

OK , back home so I'll get the voting thread up now that I think we're all in

I like Dummy, but love the third album '3'. And I would like to again plug Geoff Barrows other band 'Beak'. Just don't call them a side project in Geoff's earshot😄!

It's sublime.

I had an amp die on a gig - (It fell from on top of a speaker in the back of the van and the drop caused an issue - I've learned to never let the singer load the van) so used the stomp as my iem/out front sounds - it was a great back up for me but I can relate to your dilemma on a gig if your stomp died! The AO is a great pedal and should tick a lot of boxes -it can load cab sims which are great for direct to desk, I'm guessing you can load 3rd party sims now too but you'd have to consult a current owner (who employs this feature) as I used the DG suite cab sims during my tenure. I used it for heavy sounds but it can do lower gain too but all depends if its the correct type of gain for an always on type sound if that's what you're aiming for. The EQ is good and can be used independently of the dirt so that's handy. I totally get the theory behind the decision - get a solid box that shouldn't fail - I thing AK had a usb issue with his pedal way back too so they're not impervious to the odd issue! @Al Krow A short scale has generally got about 8lbs less tension per string than on a regular bass. This lower tension can translate as more fundamental and fewer overtones and can be described as woolly/phat/thick/muddy depending on what one gravitates to in their bass sound. This can often explain why some eq options are useful especially in relation to drive on a short scale. I know I prefer using fuzz/octave down on the short scale as it just seems to work well for those tones. There's a Zeus Fuzz/Octave in the FS which looks great and does a really nice gated/glitchy fuzz for that exact tones but that wil be no use to the op.

I run a Nux Melvin Lee preamp with my Fender JMJ Mustang and I’m very happy with it. And it’s pretty cheap considering what it does.

The headstock has now been reduced and radius-ed up to the top nut position. I have also, using two different radius blocks (24" & 16") given the fingerboard a compounded radius. It's now ready for a thin clear sealer coat on the fingerboard and then the fretwork begins.

In what may or may not be a coincidence, WoT Jnr. is called Jet.

In the fifties he was the only bass guitarist with a recognisable name.

The custom made 5 string T.bird pickups have arrived. Big thanks to Mike Rose for making these little beauties, Note the non standard 4 core custom wiring.

Yup, I've done that a few times in the past. The first couple of times I simply moved the bridge 2-3mm one side or the other. You need to be careful and you should really plug the old holes as the new ones tend to be right by the old ones and even overlap a bit, but it's easy to do. Then I learnt that most times it's not that the bridge is mounted at the wrong place (CNC, templates... it all makes it extremely unlikely), but an issue with how the neck was mounted on the body. There's always a tiny room for manoeuvre there and all it takes is a movement the size of a gnat's baw hair to angle the neck off-centre. It's very very slight, but enough. I only learnt this the first time I tried to swap necks on a guitar... After I noticed that, every single (bolt-on) bass that was not quite aligned could be set right by reinstalling the neck carefully ensuring it stays centered. There may be exceptions, of course, but CNC manufacturing techniques make them very rare.

An online show isn't remotely appealing to me. I love going round and seeing new gear, maybe even trying some of it. Passing familiar faces in the crowd. Really enjoyed Paul Gilbert's masterclass (I was with my guitarist mate) and seeing Scott Devine in person rather than a lesson. I even enjoyed being abandonded mid-sentence by the bloke at the Bass Direct stand who preffered to serve a queue jumper spending less than me... (John Patitucci!) I'll gladly travel from Glasgow and make a weekend break of the physical show, but doubt I'd even bother opening up the laptop for a virtual one. Hopefully it's back next year! George

Revolutionised my playing. https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2013/04/03/bass-ramps-the-how-and-why/ Many of you will recognise the bass pictured at the head of this article! @Dood

There is. At 25 seconds in his cigarette is in danger of burning his headstock, by 1:26 it has grown a fair bit, by 2:33 it is down so much there is only room for one puff before he puts it out.

Tech21 dUg Ultrabass

Lol, no, not me advising you to whack the neck! Try that with a late 70’s Fender and you’ll be on the wrong end of that fight... 😂 But taking it off and attempting to realign, yes 👍

Personally i think he's very underrated

Carey doesn’t know how to do crap 😂

Cheers myke, I didn’t want the reggae police after me 😁

A Wal or a Hofner 500/1... Polar opposites to each other and yet both are the opposite of a Fender.. 🤪

UFO today. News of the upcoming Strangers 8CD boxset made my heart jump. What a band.

Mine arrived last weekend, with a Nordy Mute. I'm 6'4 and have a preference for large bodied wide neck basses, but plugging this in is pretty inspiring. The push button tone controls and pickup selector switches are a lot of fun, and for a super light passive shortscale bass, the 'series' mode is like adding a sub speaker

Here's mine for this month. We did a tree a few months ago so I've looked beyond, far, far into the cosmos and......come up with a pretty straightforward tune with plenty of flange for that space-y effect. Hydrogen drums, Starforce bass (it's got planets and stars on the fretboard for inlays, I'm all themed up!), semi acoustic saz, a touch of electro saz and a smidge of keys. No vocals, that's Lurks' domain this month. And he's right about the bar being set high. I reckon I'm more limbo dancer than pole vaulter 😄 '

Lovely understated fretless

Just bought a Shuker off Andy. Super easy transaction. Good comms throughout. Deal with confidence folks, he's good people

Bought a splendid little combo here a while ago. RM series, really, really good little amp and speaker. But the pots had become a little dirty. And I kept on and on meaning to give them a wash and brush up, but just never got a round tuit. Until just now. Well done Ashdown! After using your knob puller of choice (mine is the shaved remains of the handle off a long since dead kitchen utensil) you will discover, adjacent to the shaft of the potentiometer, a little hole in the fascia, just about perfect to shove in the straw on your can of Servisol Super 10. Squirt squirt, wiggle wiggle, job done. All made easier by Ashdown's little hole. It's good news week.

Just sold Andy a DB pickup and lone mixer. said he wanted it and paid...cool just confirmed he got it and is happy....cool a pleasure...Shonks