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Woah... how is this random thread that I started when I was bored one day NEARLY 13 YEARS AGO still going?? Holy crap the internet is weird... 🤣🤣 I see that when I posted this I was listening to Skindred. That brings back memories. Currently I'm listening to a lot of Tremonti. I've always been a HUGE fan of Alter Bridge and love Tremonti's guitar work. Bass wise I'm learning a load of 70s/80s classic rock covers for some gigs coming up. Lots of ZZtop, Joan Jett, AC/DC, Iron Maiden... lots of fun

She's done! This was supposed to be a learning experience. So what did I learn.... Nothing ground breaking, some I already knew, but here goes: Not all "standard parts" are the same. For example the tuners for an MIM Fender are different to any standard replacements. And even then its not just the screw holes but also the overlapping of the metal backing. Should have got direct replacement tuners then I could have fitted myself. Also pots, jacks etc. No such thing as standard, there's minor variations that make the difference between fitting and not fitting. Buying necks and bodies from different suppliers is a faff even when the measurements should be right. It took me three necks bought to get a good fit, spending more than I expected, and even then I was compromising on the exact spec. Pre drilled bodies may need some more drilling. They also may need some holes tightening up as they are pre drilled too wide. Setting off to create one thing will probably lead to making something different. Some positives, some negatives. If you don't have the time, skill or tools to do this kind of thing YOU DO NOT HAVE THE TIME, SKILL OR TOOLS TO DO THIS KIND OF THING. There's cheaper ways to learn. If in doubt, get a professional in. I'd have spent less buying a Sire PJ and had the option to send back if things aren't working properly. Cheap pickups are cheap because they aren't very good. Modern MIM Fender P necks are amazingly thin. But better quality than 90s MIM necks. Anyhow, I think she looks and plays quite nicely.

I've been meaning to post my own tale of woe for some time now - so I was about to post to Jakester's thread but ended up venting at too much length... Didn't want to thread-jack so please forgive the possibly unnecessary new topic. I joined an originals band about three or four years ago which until that point had been a keys/gtr/vocal doing a small number of originals and classy covers that were facilitated by the singer's excellent voice. Things were going really well - I knew a few low level promoters and local radio folks so we managed to get some ok gigs and coverage and we had lots of new songs coming through, turning us into a 99% originals band. A couple of us worked tirelessly to get radio play, social media traction and gigs despite an ever changing mission statement from the singer: "I'm sick of doing sh!tty support gigs" one week but then "I want to do a load of pub gigs locally" the next... a period of "I just want to go out and do some solo slots at open mics"... followed by "I don't want to do gigs at all" the next month. We booked some studio time and put down five songs, although it took two years to actually get three of them "released" on Spotify etc - which should have been a warning sign in itself, in retrospect. In the year prior to lockdown the singer's output dropped considerably and so we went from her bringing in chords, lyrics and melodies for each song to band members working up sketches which she would put words and melodies on top of. We got some great songs out of this process and did some more recording. We're lucky to have access to a nice sounding room and I've got loads of recording gear so we took over the drummer's house for a weekend and got another clutch of recordings in the bag. I ended up doing endless mixes of two of these tracks - interminable back and forth finessing things until we eventually put one of them out. Within days, the singer sent a message out to say that she didn't really like this song and that she "couldn't really get behind it" - you can imagine how this sat with me after the hours of work I'd put in, similarly the guitarist, who'd put a video together for it and who had worked with me submitting it to all the usual radio shows, blogs and other places your average, bottom-of-the-ladder indie band has to plumb. Of note, this song was the first of our releases to have a joint writing credit. We, at length, managed to get over this blip and started working up songs in rehearsal. After spending a few sessions on a new one and having it ready to record, we were again told "I can't really get behind this one" - again, a song that had begun as band composition. This caused major ructions and as we were already into lockdown at this point most communication was taking place via texts and group chats. I had my suspicions about this being related to the singer perceiving a loss of her status as sole songwriter and indeed she sent us some messages about being uncomfortable with our creative process and with collaboration being difficult for her as she "received her songs from the ether" - seemingly unaware of the masses of work we all put into crafting her contributions into finished songs. But at the same time she was at pains to point out that we were not just a backing band - without being able to clarify how this curious creative relationship could go forward. The drummer managed to get us all to agree to a meeting to get things straightened out. Within hours, the singer sent a message "dissolving this iteration of the band" and explaining that she wanted to keep the band name for herself and that she expected to be able to use all the songs and material recorded thus far on her Spotify and social media accounts. I balked at this latter point and made it clear that any songs or recordings I'd contributed to were off-limits. I felt quite bad about this at the time but over the following 6 months it has proven to be a shrewd move. The three of us immediately decided to continue as a new band and in looking at the contributions that we'd had rejected and even some of the finished songs, realized that we had a decent clutch of music that we'd actually written without the singer's input and have been going about re-purposing them with new lyrics and melodies. The eye-opener has been how much more productive and positive the band has been. For someone who endlessly posted on social media about positivity and the need to exclude negative people from one's life, it seems that our original singer was an astonishingly negative and stymieing presence. We all live close to each other and the band members, spouses and children all remain in contact which makes it even harder when the singer is heard to say that she regards the preceding four years as an entirely negative experience and a waste of time - although I wonder if she'd feel this way if she'd walked away with all twenty-odd songs as she'd intended... I've glossed over many, many minor and not-so-minor niggles here: the hours put into researching, sourcing and incorporating -and subsequently discarding- flavours of the month such as loopers, Ableton, IEMs etc; trying to maintain relationships with promoters and presenters when it was belatedly decided that a particular gig or session was not going to happen; the endless hours dedicated to promoting the band and hustling gigs; the irritation of spending entire rehearsals teasing a song out of a tiny half-idea while having more fully-realized contributions summarily dismissed - in truth, all the sorts of mundane things that eat away at most bands in the end. I do find it amusing that our potentially excellent band was preemptively derailed by the sorts of issues that seem to destroy bands *after* they've achieved some degree of success - one wonders how much social media played into this: that sad sort of non-fame that comes from having an instantly contactable audience of friends and fans. Friends who never seemed able to get to the gigs, I might add 🤐 If you've read this far, thank you - I've been meaning to vent for some time and I think there is something to be gained by sharing these tales of misery. Not that I'm miserable now - the new band is far more creative and fun and the future looks pretty bright. I do enjoy reading stories about unreasonable band members though so I hope others here have something to moan about too...

Well, it was in 2011 that due to a relationship breakdown and mid-life crisis I decided to learn to play the bass aged 53. Since then I have been on an amazing musical journey. I make no apologies for using the cheesy old word 'journey', because that is what it has been! I booked in for lessons with a wonderful teacher called Mark Shilvock who inspired and encouraged me from day 1. Within 6 months I had joined my first (dreadful!) band. Since then I have been through various bands, and jammed at open mics and blues clubs with varying degrees of success. Kept my eyes and ears open for any opportunity and never said no to anything. For example, I played in a rather dubious Rolling Stones covers band for a while, but this got me an invitation to dep with a somewhat better Stones trib band that actually went out for money!! So when I retired from my day job in 2018, I spent the whole of that summer playing with the Stones trib band and earning a bit of cash to substitute my meagre pension. Meanwhile also playing for another band that did early 60's covers and occasionally did the odd wedding or retirement home gig (prefect demographic for what we did). Just before lockdown I had been invited to join another band that did mainly originals. This was a bit of a departure for me. We did a couple of small, unpaid gigs and then lockdown struck. I felt very discouraged for a while and didn't touch my bass for months. The only positive thing about this was that the mild arthritis in my hands vastly improved and various pains and strange lumps on my knuckles disappeared! Anyway, due to the persistence of the band leader of the originals band, I resumed practising and now we are booked in to do some recording in the first week of June. This will be a new experience for me. I'm really looking forward to it, and not as nervous as I might have been a couple of years ago. With all that has happened over the past year, I realise it's not worth worrying what the sound engineer might think of you, even if he did play with a famous band before they were famous 🙂 And of course I am so glad I joined Basschat as soon as I started learning bass. I have met so many inspiring and helpful people at bass bashes and the London Bass Guitar Show. And interacted with helpful and humourous people on here that I have never met IRL. I couldn't possibly thank them all as the list would be too long and I'd be bound to miss out someone important. So just to name check two. KevB, my 'bass mentor', who has become a genuine friend. And the late lamented BarneyG43 - lovely Colin who is no longer with us, but who was always encouraging, a great bass player and a huge personality. Finally, to anyone starting out, whatever their age, I would just say - stick with it, you are in for a hell of a ride!! 🙂

Lol I’ve been pretty good tbh, I didn’t think it was possible to be happy with a finished board or even if finished should be a word associated with pedal boards but I’ve been pretty happy with my set up for a good while now so....... slightly worried lol Photo of current board cause why not 😛

I will let the pics do the talking,

I love synths & the range of sexy noises they can produce. Below is the set up I’ve recently put together (which obviously includes a bass synth!!) Novation AFX Station / Roland JD-XI / McMillen 12 Step midi controller The 12 step is plugged into the Roland and I can trigger pads/strings or whatever with my feet whilst still playing my bass. I could midi through into the Novation too, but that’s not needed at the mo. The 12 Step is part of my bass pedal board now.

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Close to Uttoxeter. 20 something miles from Cannock, @Sarah5string - easy run.

I know, scary innit, I don’t know how I remember it, I’m only 21 😁

I think it's usually used as a means to say "I'm not confined to specific genres". Should someone really have to append "...but only the good stuff"? Listening to a broad range of musical styles does not indicate the inability to discern quality, just that there is a lot out there to be enjoyed and they have the mindset to be open enough to enjoy it. Is music the only artform where people get so caught up in such narrow pigeonholing? "Do you like art?" "Yeah, I love art but only Impressionism and Art Deco. People who like too many art movements have no taste!"

The first question you have to ask yourself is why you want a bass from a particular luthier? IME it should be because they offer something different to what you can get from a mainstream manufacturer whether it be something visual or a combination of design features that are unavailable "of-the-peg". Remember that these days there is such a wide variety of basses available from the various manufacturers that you have to have a particular reason to go for a custom bass in that it can't easily be fulfilled from what is available from the mainstream manufacturers. As I've already said in the previous post intros thread don't get bogged down by thinking that you have to make a decision regarding every single aspect of your instrument. That's what the luthier is there for. If you go them with the look, feel and sound you want, they should be able to put together an instrument to meet these criteria. If they can't you should look elsewhere.

They are entirely correct that recorded music is a poorer version of the original performances, as it relies on mics, speakers and psychoacoustics to recreate the original in an inferior manner, however, I can't actually fit a symphony orchestra or Rush in my living room or car, much less have them play for me on a packed tube train, so what are you gonna do? Purists gonna pure. Speaking as a veteran audio engineer, the worst possible start to a session is some musician saying "can you make it sound exactly like it does live" the answer to which is invariably "no". We can certainly approach that vibe, but even binaural recordings of performances are artificial recreations of a moment in time. The moment a microphone is involved the music becomes a different animal. We accept the conventions of recording as a necessary evil so that we can enjoy the music we want to listen to, when we want to listen to it. Even the mighty Deusche Gramafon record to Protools and edit bar by bar these days.

Yeh, modern music is all boom boom boom, not like proper music like I had in my day.. grr.. bloody kids <shakes fist and wanders off humming agadoo>

I fear I may be heading down the same ACG path. I've only had my RetroB J4 a few days and have already sent Alan an enquiry about a fretless brethren for it.

I was pretty OK with the functional side, I had a good feel for what I wanted. I did change the bridge and preamp types but they were fairly minor changes and either the original or final choices would have been fine. My original spec to Jon was Flamed Maple top and Rosewood fingerboard. But actually I preferred maple fingerboards but then got concerned that an alder bodied, flamed maple top and maple finger board guitar was all going to look a bit anemic So I changed the ask for a Birdseye maple fingerboard and a figured walnut top. However for whatever reason Jon couldn't source the Walnut and my build was on hold for a few months. He emailed me a few options that he'd picked up from his wood supplier and the Elm looked nice, but finished it was was overly busy and I just didn't ever love it. So I'm back to flamed maple with a burst finish which is a classic look that I've always loved. Hopefully this will work out Elm wood uncut Finished Result

NBD! Warwick Thumb NT 5 from 1995 with wenge neck & 18V 3-band MEC preamp.

Great post, but in truth you really only needed to post this sentence. 😂

Here's an interesting article discussing the pros and cons of risking doing it without the correct paperwork. https://www.carryontouring.uk/blogs/carry-on-touring-real-people-real-lives-real-jobs/risking-it-not-on-option-we-need-solutions?fbclid=IwAR0vezKCASQiQuSX_HEPTaQzalt2XVxKjQELWkwqj4VekoQERS2XRHcY4J4

I've been having a bit of a bass clear-out and something of a change recently. It's now 4 out, two in.... and I have another bass currently for sale - so no more new basses after that...... he says, fingers crossed behind back Just got myself a MIJ Fender Lyte Precision from BC's very own blues business - a thoroughly decent sort of guy indeed - thanks mate I had never tried a Fender Lyte before. What with increasing age, and wear & tear on joints / shoulders / back etc. After having bought my sub 4kg five string Ibanez recently, - I thought I might like to try out a nice sub 4kg Precision. I was pleasantly surprised at just how light & comfortable this bass is. Plus, the neck is a comfortable Jazz profile. The construction quality feels great, and so far, I'm liking the sound. I like a P/J configuration anyway - but this is going to be different, as it's not the usual VVT controls. It has a "Blend" control for the pickups. I'm sure I'll get used to it though. Plus, I'm not normally a huge fan of active pickups - but through my amp headphones, and through my home practice amp, I really like the sound, and I like it a lot. I've got a garden-room / semi open-air acoustic trio jam coming up - so I'm going to take the Lyte along to that, and I must say, I'm really as excited as a kid with a new toy about it The bass came with La Bella Flats on it, and was in need of a set-up. I tried the LaBellas for a day, and decided they were a bit too high-tension for my liking. So I put some new TI flats on it, and obviously had to tweak the truss rod again - but it's playing like a dream now. It's a lovely colour IMHO, but the only (slght) downside, is that it's Foto-flame finish. There's some slight crazing to the finish, on the front of the body. I can live with that though..... There was some cracking & lifting of the finish at the back, where you normally get "Buckle rash". I sealed this area, running PVA glue underneath the lifting finish, and when that had dried, I filled any gaps and secured the lifting areas with a combination of modellers filler and some super-glue powder. I've roughly painted the area with some acrylic paint for now - I can lightly sand it back and re-paint when I find a tin of suitably coloured modelling paint. That's enough waffling on from me

So following the Gumtree post... Collected today... Nov '07 model, In overal good condition, bit of a dink at the bottom bout edge by the knobs. Masked up the frets, wire wool and a dremmel polish, lemon oiled the fretboard, toothbrush and cotton buds for the nooks and crannies of the bridge, Mr Sheen for the body n neck. Stuck on the Dunlop Stainless Rounds i had, Intonated, Sorted... £50 Paid... £100 all-day-long i recon. ...and with its Flats wearing friend...

Got a few bits on the way ( and many thanks to our gallant Reggaebass man above for the bridge !👍 ) I ordered a Zero fret set up as I'm going to fit one, I started a seperate quick thread enquiring about these as I couldn't remember the name of the product... The name i was looking for was Zero Glide, they're an "easy" all in one replacement nut and zero fret unit...but, unfortunately these seem unobtainable in UK at the mo.....so I've gone the other route and gone for a Sintoms zero fret, which is just a specifically shaped piece of fret wire of appropriate dimensions for the purpose, that will require the nut to be ground down a bit and butchered, sorry, adapted to include the zero fret ! Just for a lark today I squeezed an old random P stylee pick up from the junk box under the strings, it still had the pots and jack socket dangling so was able to plug it in in a very rough try out fashion, didn't last long as one of the wires fell off but gave me a couple of mins hearing it "live" ! I reckon when it's sorted and the decent pick ups & proper pots fitted it'll be a goer !

Yaay! Looking forward to this

a point of view that has saved you a bundle!

I tend to think gold hardware should be banned - but there’s some absolute stunners here so I’ll ask Frank to put John Hall into Room 101 instead 😊

That is looking lovely - beautiful contrasting woods. Quick technical question with regards to the pickups, what is the layout of the sensing area? Just wondering as the B string is closer to the edge of the pickup than the G. I couldn't find anything online that showed the layout and I'm curious as these pickups look interesting as an alternative to other soapbars. Cheers

Derbyshire I’m told, but I can’t say I’m familiar with it either... makes me think it might be the closest I get to going on hols this year though.

Some Gary Numan:

God. Forty three f****** years… Many a Friday night spent dancing to that dressed in my punk regalia, confused teen syndrome. It’s as fresh today as it was back then. I love the way it just refuses to move out of the groove.

Indeed - the stereo effects are notably more involving and more in depth than the same effect in mono, which is where i am seeing the difference in the two devices. The 'stereo' chorus I was listening to sounded the same on the B1/four in headphones and through a speaker, the B3N sounded different, so yes I can see if you set up the effect you wanted in stereo you might be persuaded to turn it down a bit to make it more subtle, and lose it entirely in mono. That is a good point, maybe i might just record the same sound through a mono and stereo output and see what the difference is.

I'm pretty sure there are people on here who play their bass in a new band in order to justify buying the new bass that the new band *of course* demands. And then get another one to put roundwounds on. then the band folds after two practices This poor fella just wanted to organise and look after his tools

Holy thread ressurection, Batman! Had an idle read through this, and saw some of Dave @obbm 's handiwork. He also made my lead for this application, except I was too dumb to remember to ask for a right-angled Speakon. D'oh... What I did ask for, regardless, was the lowest loss cable he could fit between a Speakon and a 1/4" jack plug. The result is this: the plug is only a little thinner than the Elf it plugs into! Quality kit, as always from Dave.

Ooo I have a dispatch email! Probably take 2 weeks to actually get here these days!

Of course; hasn't everyone..? Foghorns ...

No it has a section on the stereo looper and also a few more quotes. I did check when I said it. Any stereo aux that comes in goes out to the headphones as stereo, so the output is certainly stereo from aux. However, I just checked a direct A/B between StereoBassCho* on both the B1/four and the B3n, and if the B1/four is stereo they have really masacred the output of that effect when they did it. I tried it on the B1/4 and it certainly didn't sound stereo (from my unscientific listening), then tried the same effect (both as default) on the B3n and it really sounds deep and wide, just like a stereo chorus. There is just a depth / rate / locut and mix controls on both and they are set to the same. If that really is stereo, they have screwed something up! And as previously mentioned, I don't care if it is stereo or not from my use, other than having got one, I wondered what the difference from the B1/Four and B3n. There is a cost difference, even now, I wondered what that difference is due to, an I am reckoning (without a scrap of proof!) that it doesn't have the same level of DSP processing that the B3N does. *Picked as it was the first stereo patch on the B1Four.

I had a couple of Shukers for my first custom basses, having been cursed by owning a Warwick Thumb, simpler Fender style basses just were not going to cut it for me ever again I had also played a 33" Fodera in Boston and knew I wanted a shorter scale, so I went ahead with a single cut 6er and then a modern Jazz Bass, both in 33" flavour. After these two basses, I met and spent some time with Alan at ACG Towers, chatting and playing some of his early work, way back in the mid 00's, but I knew from that point onwards there was going to be a few ACGs in my future and sold both the Shukers to fund this. I went ahead with several 33" commissions over a few years, until I figured out that 31.5" scale was a perfect fit for me, frustratingly, we had actually been talking about going that route for a compact 6 string bass way back in 2006, but I didn't actually pull the trigger on the concept till 2015! I've since moved on all the 33" basses, and have mainly 31.5", one 30.5" and a mad 26.6" one. They all serve different purposes and make quite different noises, all based on experiences I've had playing other basses over the years. To my ears the woods of a bass can have a significant impact on the sound, and I've settled on Limba or Ash for body woods on almost all of my builds. I've bought and sold custom basses as I've figured out what truly worked for me, but I can't imagine being without any of the current herd now. If I had to keep just one though, it would be this one, which is oddly very similar to my first ACG in some aspects, but with all the tweaks I've discovered along the way... Eude

All I can tell you is how I started with ACG - buy a used one to get a feel for what you think you might want. I bought an ACG Graft Recurve 5 from @Black Coffee of this parish... Actually I loaned it from him for a few days with a view to buying it... And transferred him money pretty much the same day I was that impressed with it. (I don't delieve in "signs" so much but on my way home from picking up the bass there was a pretty clear one as I was driving behind a Jeep Cherokee with an odd numberplate "xxxx ACG" - TRULLY BIZARRE!) Anyway, living with that ACG for a while taught me what I like about what Alan does. Zero radius fretboard - love it Neck shape - love it Scale length (33") - could be longer. I was used to playing Lakland 5s at the time so matched their 35" scale with my custom String spacing - OK @18mm but could be wider, went with 19mm but adjustable. Pickups (singles with an odd placement) - sounded great, especially the neck pickup but wanted twin P pickups and fatter enclosures. Ended up with a mix of Alnico P at the neck and reverse Ceramic P at the bridge. Alan was great with suggestions in this regard. 4 way selector switch - nope I had that on a Dingwall and didn't like it. Went with the all dancing 5K pre - this is the only thing I'd change if I was going again, and only because I've now owned a bass with the ACG version of the East Retro-P! Recurve body shape - yup, like it a lot. As for wood choices, I had my own ideas about what I wanted and Alan didn't dissuade me. I also wanted my pickups in a non-standard position - front pickup in normal P position, but bridge pickup as close as possible to the neck pickup. Worked well for me and the resultant bass is a dream! I've had 4 ACGs now, the original Graft Recurve 5 (gone but served its purpose well), my custom 5 Recurve (I doubt I'll ever sell this one), a custom 4 Recurve (similar spec to my 5 string, regretfully sold), the 4 string Finn "cricket club" bass (sold, regretted, bought back). Not a bad bass among them to be honest!

True, but you don’t get that sense of satisfaction. Well done, Sir, well done. 👏👏👏

If you find this stuff interesting (as I do) then it's hard to beat https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-Ay-dodgy-business-popular/dp/178352104X as an intro to the subject. Despite being written by a music industry insider [BLURB: Simon Napier-Bell has been a leading figure in the music industry for over forty years - a songwriter, record producer, artist's manager, and entrepreneur. Amongst others, he has managed the Yardbirds, Marc Bolan, Boney M, Asia, Ultravox, Japan, and Wham!] this is not the usual shallow money-grabbing ... this is a comprehensive, properly-researched, well-written history of how the finances of the music biz came to be what they are today. Apart from being a very entertaining and informative book in its own right, it also makes a great companion read for https://www.amazon.co.uk/Electric-Shock-Gramophone-iPhone-Years/dp/184792218X

I'm confused Let me see if I've got this right: So you bought tools so that you could make a storage thingy for the tools that you'd just bought? Crazy German!

Quick update this Sunday Eve! Got the neck tapers cleaned up with a router, I usually do this with either a plane or my electric planer but last time I managed to put a slight chamfer on the neck so to avoid that the router ensured the faces for the wings were nice and straight. The roughing out of the profiles was started on the bandsaw, this included reducing the body section to 40mm and the neck to 20mm, these will be again neatened up with the router, I'm going to drop the neck to 18mm in the centre (8mm fingerboard) and work out my neck radius from that, this is my first 6er so going to have to carve in a slightly wider flatter radius than I normally would. The volute is roughed in here too. The blend between neck and headstock is roughly done, need to square the face of it off with the nut but that's a quick job later on, I've decided against the laminated headstock for now, I'm quite a fan of the grain on it! Going to have to think about fretting the fingerboard and gluing that on really soon so I can work on the carving of the neck, might also fret it after the carve, unsure of how I want to go at it!

I got this sorted in the end - I'll give a quick description of how I fixed it in case it can help anyone else. The bridge ground wire comes out against the side of the bridge post insert nearest the G string, and the wire is simply held in place by the friction of being sandwiched between insert and wood. My wire had come away for whatever reason. The fix was like this: Pull the ground wire out completely through the f hole (you can just about see the hole through which it gets to the bridge post). Remove the insert - I just put half a wooden dowel in the hole and screwed in the post, and it came out easily. Feed a stiff wire through the insert hole and on through the small ground wire hole, hook it out through the f hole and use it to pull the ground wire back through. Press the insert back into the hole, making sure that the ground wire makes contact properly. Job done!

Went back to my cheapo Donner board and ditched the wireless unit, since it was just too high off the floor to hit the switches comfortably. Turns out the narrow bar on the board makes a rather good carry handle...might wrap it in grip tape? Have also realised that every pedal on here was bought second hand - only the Fuel Tank and the board were new purchases.

Phew, I can breath now