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Be careful, my cousin's friend once used an Ernie Ball polishing cloth and his testicles became so swollen his girlfriend called off their wedding.

I'm glad he's a luthier. He could have been a plastic surgeon. 😳

Started new job at Bass Gear Magazine October — Product Video Reviewer and Columnist 10/26/2021 The Bass Gear Low Down #45 "We are so thrilled to welcome long-time friend Dan Veall to the Bass Gear Magazine team. Dan will be joining us on a regular basis...." - Tom Bowlus https://www.facebook.com/dan.veall/posts/2886319634965407?notif_id=1635330337347733&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif

I'm a big fan of the Five Watt World You Tube channel, lots of good stuff on there. Keith has just dropped a sub-30 minute piece on Rickenbacker basses (4000 series only). As usual it's well edited, detailed and enjoyable. Grab a coffee.

Probbaly best to use a different cloth to polish your nob, just to be on the safe side.

It was easy. Factors are : * Shipping has gone up 250-450% and lead times are SLOOOOOOOW * Prices in India have gone up * It insulates us more from currency fluctuations * It allows us to control stock better * We are also making careful changes to the range to be more efficient in production without a cost in quality. The cost is effort. Expect some improvements to the SWB. Announcements to follow but sneak peak. It'll be : * Lighter (chambering in the body) * Design tweaks * New Deluxe Edition Thanks EVERYBODY for your positivity. We're excited and nervous in equal measure!

I picked up this Stingray in a trade earlier this week and I've noticed an unintentional trend developing. Honeyburst horde?

I've said it before, I'll say it again ... this would be a poorer place without his creations. I can't think of any other luthier who generates quite so much entertainment. Having the bridge overhang the rear of the bass by 3" is just a glorious idea, but securing the steel reinforcement plate with allen bolts is sheer genius. I'm still laughing, though tinged with disappointment that he didn't use https://www.screwfix.com/p/easyfix-hollow-wall-anchors-8-16mm-m5-x-52mm-10-pack/12229?tc=TB9&ds_kid=92700048793290424&ds_rl=1249413&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlOmLBhCHARIsAGiJg7mZvXQ_SXoS5U3vxCUuJ4qI40-yQDZB4kGMfFVvzg_f96P1mG80C8MaAl83EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds instead.

Looking gooood there, Stubz

Well I'm still very much a beginner but last week after my lesson my instructor/teacher asked me to learn 3 songs ready for this week. The music I'm into it was never going to be anything technical but the 3i decided on (before actually beginning to learn them) were... "Bullet" by The Misfits "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down and "Pumpkin Patch Murders" by Blitzkid. Lesson is tonight so I'll see how good I've done later.

I would definitely get a diagnosis from a GP before you start getting advice from a forum of bass players. Once you know what is causing your pain then the advice of other players as to how they coped with the same condition will be useful but until you know what’s causing it some advice may be wrong and potentially harmful.

Even with identical drivers a sealed cab and ported cab will have totally different low frequency response and displacement limited output. You may be able to get a useful result, if you've got the engineering skill to pull it off, but otherwise it's a shot in the dark.

So the neck is pretty much done, save for a nut, a fret job and a bit of a clean because the fretboard god a bit messy during finishing. I left the little crack to its own devices in the end - it doesn't really bother me - and made a matching magnetic truss rod cover. You can't really see it in this pic but there's a layer of rosewood under the matching wood Back to the body now. I'm figuring out all the cavities and holes before I get on with the serious sanding. I'm a sucker for a scratchplate though, and as I never really make the same design more than once, they end up taking up a lot of time. It's pretty much shaped, but still needs the neck pickup cutout doing, as well as the semicircular cutout where the first volume knob goes - an "implied control plate," kind of similar to my last bass build (pic at the bottom for reference). I still need to bevel it too

Yeah. It started life as a whole Lexus.

Acid Jazz Bass... As for a finish... Gonna have a go at a Swirly Hydro Dip with these... Neon Yellow, Neon Green, Neon Orange, Neon Pink!

I've just been enjoying read all these interviews: 2020 interview 2016 interview 1992 interview 1983 interview and thought some people who aren't sufficiently Maiden-enthusiastic to read them might be interested in these details.... Basses etc (Recent) I wanted to ask a bit about your West Ham bass; it’s one of your older guitars, isn’t it? It’s had a few re-sprays, yeah. It started off, actually, when I very first got it, it was white, and then I had it sprayed black. Then I had it sprayed the blue sparkly thing, which was sort of, a bit of a throwback to Thin Lizzy, really, I suppose; I had that look with the mirrored scratch plate, and then I had it sprayed with the West Ham colours. So it wasn’t the chequered bass? No, I’ve got two chequered basses; it’s not that one, I’ve still got those. No, the West Ham version that I’ve got now, that was done by the Fender custom shop, so they did it really properly. I applied officially to West Ham to ask and get permission, just because it was the right thing to do, and they said; “yeah, no problem”. (1992) The first Fender I picked up was a Jazz, and then I realized that wasn't what I wanted, so I changed to a Precision, and I've used Precisions ever since. I just found the Precisions were best for me, and I still use them now. I really like the bottom end, the roundness on the bottom end of a Precision. I can get a real lot of top, and real lows, the midrange, everything, and all really solid. Anyway, in the meantime I tried out loads of different basses. I had a Rickenbacker for a while, I had a Gibson Thunderbird. You tend to try different guitars like that because of people you like. The Gibson Thunderbird was used by Entwistle, Martin Turner, Pete Way, and they're all totally different bass players, all had totally different sounds, and I thought I'd try one out because I really liked their playing and their sounds. But when I got one I hated it. It was horrible, it just didn't work for me at all. I don't put my name to anything I don't use—it's pointless. I'm not a guitar collector, I don't want loads of guitars for nothing just because I know I can get them. There's no point if I'm not going to use them. No point putting my name to something in an ad, and I don't use it, and then someone goes out to buy one because he thinks I use them. It's what I did years ago, the Gibson Thunderbird; the Rickenbacker because of Chris Squire. The Custom Shop just did a couple of jobs for me. I had a Fender before, had it sprayed black-and-white check, really liked that, so I got Fender to do me one, and they did a brilliant job. I might do that for the signature, though of course my blue one is the one I've used most. I use the blue Precision mainly, and then depending on whether the strings go, the sound starts to go—it really depends on the temperature at the gig and stuff—and I might have to change the guitar halfway through the set. Sometimes if it's colder I can get almost to the end of the set, and there's been cases where I've used it for the whole set. I use the blue one first, the black-and-white-check one for backup. Originally, the blue one was white, and I had it sprayed black, used it in the early pub gigs and stuff, and then had it sprayed blue, and it's been like that ever since. On this new album [Fear Of The Dark] I used about five different Precisions that I've got, for different songs, because they've all got different qualities to them. Some are a bit more middle-y, some more bottom-y. They do vary. Why do you think that happens? Is it the wood, the pickups, what? The pickups are pretty much standard. Seymour Duncan does those, he tries to make them the same as the pickups in the blue one. We thought about getting a graphic to tweak so that they all sounded pretty much the same, to even the sound out, so that if I changed guitars live it wouldn't be too much of a difference in sound. But although they're all Precisions, they all sound different. Not vastly, but enough. I think a lot of it's down to the wood, yes, the density of the wood. The blue one in particular is so heavy and dense. The Custom Shop took all the measurements and weighed it and everything and built me another one, and it does feel the same, but it still doesn't sound the same. I'm not one of these people who thinks, Oh, old guitars are best. If the guitar's well made and everything, I don't care if it was made last week. That one does sound the best out of all of them, though. If I lost that I'd be well whizzed off. (1983) I play a Fender Precision Bass from around ’72. It’s been five different colors; at the moment it’s blue. I use it on tour and in the studio. It has the original Fender pickup and pretty low action. I’ve also got three other Precisions. My 1959, which I bought recently, feels so good. It feels pretty much as good as my ’72. I also have three Ibanez basses, but I don’t really use them. I used one of them on “Run To The Hills”. It’s got sort of a grunting sound, and it’s good for playing really fast because the notes come out clean. I use a DBX 164 Compressor, two Hiwatt Model 109 preamps, two Alectron preamps, six RSD power amps, and eight Marshall 4x12 cabinets with Electro-Voice speakers, which have the best sound. I like getting a lot of bullocks and a tight, driving bottom end without much rumpling. It’s got a lot of treble, as well. (Recent) Tech 21 made this gadget [Steve Harris Signature SH1 preamp/DI] for me, since I can’t take my gear everywhere. It’s an amazing piece of gear. I can’t believe it. I don’t normally say things like that, but I truly believe in it. I couldn’t believe it myself when I heard it. It reproduced my E-V [Electro-Voice] speaker sound. When I toured in Canada in November with Coney Hatch, Andy Curran’s Ampeg rig is as far removed from my sound as possible, and I played the Tech 21 through it and it came out so close to my sound, I was amazed. I was like, “This can’t be real”. At first I thought maybe it was a one-off, but they were able to reproduce [my sound on a consistent basis] — so, basically, we decided to market it. I don’t mind putting my name on something that I use, and I knew I was definitely going to be using this. I’ve even been using it as a DI, as well, when Maiden tours. It’s been an absolute godsend, because it means that we’re able to tour in other parts of the world where E-V speaker cabs are not easy to rent — in some far-flung places of the earth where it’s difficult to transport any gear, I can use the Tech 21 unit. Strings (1992) Yeah. I originally used roundwounds, and if I played a quiet section it screeched so much as I moved my fingers along the strings, moving up barre chords or whatever, that I ended up using the flatwounds, for that reason. Plus you don't churn your fingers up so much. They were interested in me endorsing them, so I said yeah, I'd love to, if it works. (Recent) You use flatwound strings, and yet you’re known for a bright, trebly sound. It’s a bit of a contradiction. It is. The unfortunate part is that I have to change strings every gig. It’s because I sweat so much onstage that they just go dead. That might happen with roundwounds as well, but having said that, the flatwounds also stop all the screeching when you’re playing quieter, slower stuff. And that’s one of the reasons I stopped playing roundwounds—the screeching, and also chopping your fingers up a bit. I love the flatwounds. It’s not for everyone, I suppose. They’re such a heavy gauge that they tend to bow the neck unless you have a really solid neck, like I have. Technique (1992) Do you use the first two fingers of your right hand? And what about nails? Those two, yeah. When I'm recording, I tend to keep the nails longish, to get that treble attack on it. But I can't do that live because they just break off. You just naturally hit the thing harder. There's no point, so I tend to trim them right down. Otherwise I'd just split them and it makes things worse. Do you get much damage to the fingers themselves? Yeah, the first couple of weeks I get blisters. Then they burst. They're really, really sore for a few days, then they go really hard, and that's it. They stay like that for the rest of the tour. The only bugbear is that when you play somewhere really, really hot and get really sweaty, your hands go soft, and that completely changes your sound. Your fingers tend to sort of sink into the strings, almost. And there's nothing you can do about that, it's the temperature of the place. That's why I prefer to play in places that are a little bit colder. Also, that maintains your treble output, and the attack is more even, the fingers stay hard and solid. Very big difference: It's like someone put a muffler over your speakers. So, you just have to add more top-end to try and compensate, but there's not a lot you can do. With the blisters, have you tried putting stuff on to harden them? Yeah [dismissively], tried that. Doesn't work. I tried that Nu Skin stuff, when I've had a blister that's come open, when you're through to the skin underneath, that's really sore. But once you get out playing, get the adrenaline going, you tend to be alright anyway. It hurts a bit, but sometimes the pain—you just grit your teeth and get on with it. Weird. Do you use all four fingers on the left hand? Oh yeah, all four. Obviously I bridge a lot between the first and the last finger, and I do play a lot of bass chords, as I said. I tend to get quite hard skin on the little finger just on the outside edge, because I'm barre-ing a lot. Song writing (1983) I know 90% of what I want, and I’ll work out the melody lines and riffs, build it up layer by layer. I’ve written most of my songs on my own, the melody lines and lyrics. I know what crotchet and a quaver is but that’s about it. I don’t know what scales are. (Recent) When you’re listed as the sole writer on a song, clearly the music and the lyrics are yours, but are you also writing the vocal melodies and guitar harmonies? Yeah. I do the vocal melodies and all that stuff. Sometimes when I’m writing I might take a melody that I think is a part for a guitar and change it to be a vocal melody, or it might be both. An early song, like “Phantom of the Opera,” started off as a riff, and then I put the vocal to it, but I just do it by feel — whatever feels right. How do convey those ideas to others? Do you play an idea on bass or sing it to them? I work it all out. I play bass chords as well, but I’ll usually whistle or hum the melody for the vocal, write the words out, and then I’ll show Bruce what it’s to be sung like.

Back in the club. Sometimes you see a bass and you think “I have to have it….” So a year to the day I collected my last Spector (435xl) It’s time to go again.

That's the biggest loads of boll0cks I've ever heard

I know of one bloke who touched an Ernie Ball polishing cloth once, and next day he got cancer of the knob and died. He's never got over it.

It's more just a "why do bass amps still have just 1/4" jacks in 2021" thing tbh, especially as it does lok like there's room for a Speakon in both of those. Maybe it's not just the cost saving of the 1/4" jack itself but also cheaper for it as much to be surface mount as possible. I can imagine if margins are tight then it might not be viable for a daughter board or soldering wires. I'd happily pay £10 more for that capability though.

I'd be happier if he actually was a luthier. I think it's likely he trained as a butcher.

Doncha love the interweb 🙂

Don't do it! You might end up with a subscription to Scott's Bass Lessons. 😱

He will be crucial in assembling them as well as setting them up! All in our new Bristol workshops.

Talking about bucking the trend! I think this is an incredibly forward-thinking and responsible step. And the inevitable cost increase is - as others have said - surprisingly low. Now, I certainly don't need anymore basses but in the spirit of supporting a 'local' manufacturer I feel the least I could do is pay their site a visit.

Just picked this up today! Amazing build quality and playability. Not plugged it into my Berg gear yet, but expecting good things!

Yep this sounds great

With of Without You @TimR was right...

It's exactly the same warning with Ernie Ball strings containing nickel... I think it's only a way to protect themselves against the typical American habit to sue everyone for nothing.

I deal with Prop 65 on a nearly daily basis. Its just Californians being a bit sensitive. Sure the 5 or so things on the Prop 65 list are nasty, but its no worse that chemicals on the REACh or TSCA lists of doom. I view it akin to the "May contain nuts" warning on a Hazelnut Whirl... Just don't eat it and you will be fine.

Yeah, I really don't 'need' a new Bass and am actually quite happy with my current one and I'd be fine keeping it - it's just I've found that there are these small things that I think would make a Bass perfect for me. I'll certainly stay a while at Bass direct and try a lot out, it's good there that I've never experienced anything resembling a sales pitch- just get handed the Basses I ask for and get left to it. I've generally bought second hand or ex demo and always sold/exchanged my previous Bass so it's never been a huge financial hit (but they have gradually got more expensive as I get more spoilt). The way I sell it to myself is that good Basses don't really get worse with age, they hold their value so it's basically an investment on something I'm going to play for possibly 1000's of hours over years so I might as well try to get as close to perfect as I can afford - if I go off it or get skint it can probably be sold for similar.

Bass Direct have given a fair estimate for the Sandberg TM5 SL part-exchange so perhaps by the end of the weekend I'll be the owner of a Bass that has 1mm wider strings, 1" longer scale, two more frets, and a mid EQ.....marginal gains!

It’s a bit like spongy bacon

It brings a whole new meaning to shredding a guitar!

Great band. Fantastic live. Saw them numerous times…, I think 🤔😁

A difficult choice. Both great basses. I think I'd incline towards the Vintera, but could doubtless be easily persuaded into the Player series. Both MIM I think, so build quality that ranges from merely adequate to absolutely stunning depending on the individual instrument, so better off going to a store and finding one that hits the target than taking pot luck with an online buy. Good luck, you've got good times ahead whichever you get.

Lol snap

Nice one! 35", 24 Fret, 19mm spacing, lightweight, 3 band EQ, cheaper than budget....it's got it all! I've never played a semi-hollow Bass before so I suppose that might be a stumbling block- or might be exactly what I'm after. I think a trip to Bassdirect is needed.

I have one of these I was considering selling, would it be of interest to you?

Use one of Ped's grolsh bottle washers, available at a basschat marketplace near you. Or buy a Comfort Strapp with the double ends.

Scam. Doesn't say "Groovehacker" anywhere

Wish you were here 😁

Personally, I would implore you to consider a Fender. However, I would look towards the Rising Sun. I have bought 6 Japanese Fenders over the years and every single one of them has been excellent. All bought sight unseen. The versions with the US suffix to the model are the premium ones and you will see consistent praise for them across BC. Somewhat against your intention (and I get where you're coming from), but you can get exactly what you want for a cost very much within your budget.

Can you be a bit more specific?! 😃

In general I’m happy to pay more for stuff made in the UK. Good on ‘em