Leaderboard

Hey gang So... about 20 years ago, I sold everything I had and bought a 1971 P from a chap in Indianapolis via eBay (back when it was financially not completely daft to do this kind of thing). I loved everything about it - the rich, deep sound, the chunky neck, the light weight... it became my right arm for the next 10+ years. We travelled the world. Like many marriages (but not mine, I must add), familiarity sank in, and I got a wandering eye for something from the 60s. So four years ago, in a moment of stupidity, I sold it. ....and immediately regretted it. After four years roaming the wilderness, howling at the moon, the buyer (Normski of this parish) got wind of my sorrow and offered it back to me. And for this I am INCREDIBLY grateful. It arrived yesterday, and as soon as I picked it up it was like having my right arm sewn back on. It's like no time has passed. Thanks, Norm.

I lent a bass to a guy in a similar situation a few years ago. I got an absolute critique afterwards about how my bass wasn't really good enough for him, which started with the phrase "I'm usually a guitar player..." I cut him dead with "next time I'll leave you onstage with a dead bass for you to sort out as my bass is clearly beneath you". He soon changed his attitude.

I got this blue Mustang PJ

Had the same thing in reverse, we were the support to a 'pro' band and their bassist broke a string (no spare bass, no spare strings! What a pro!). I had spare strings, he broke another one! I gave him another one and he didn't break any more. I had to leave before they finished packing up after the gig and was cursing that there was no thanks from the band. Some time later at the same venue, the sound engineer recognised me and handed me one of my wind up extension leads I'd left behind. When I opened it up out came a load of cash and a thank you note from the string breaking bassist! Restored my faith somewhat.

Actually, it's this next bit that's a bit scary - drilling out the old big and small dots This is so close to the top of the fretboard, the drill holes have to be spot on - my little Proxxon drill-press and the neck held absolutely vertical using that radius block again helps enormously. I decided that the dot at the 15th was as good a one as any to try it out: I don't have a plug cutter quite the right size, so I cut one from some plain rock maple offcut (should match) slightly larger than the drill hole and slimmed it down in a hand-drill chuck with some sandpaper on a block: Trying to match the grain direction as well as possible, glued it in, cut flush and sanded it. I'm quite pleased with the result - once there is a luminlay in the middle, I reckon that will look like it was meant to be there Now just got the others to plug - but that's enough scary stuff for one day, so it will have to wait until tomorrow

I've slapped pretty hard while pulling on a g string in the past lol

So the humble cabinet scraper. Basically, if you get dust, then either the burr has been prepared badly/is blunt or it is being used wrongly. The reality is that it is a type of plane - it is designed to be able to cut wafer thin and long shavings: And I find it ideal for modifying or carving necks because it is efficient but very controllable. Often I will do this with the neck still on the bass, sitting and holding it a bit like a back-to-front cello. But for the first de-varnish and rough cut, then I've cantilevered it from my work bench with the fretboard sitting in a fret radius block: For the first rough-cut, I marked the spine with a sharpie and then simply worked on removing the edge that the slimming left and blending it into the existing profile. This is done running the scraper up the whole length of the neck (which is why it's cantilevered) so that the profile is continuous around the neck and along it. The carve is usually best done by feel - the edge starts off feeling like a distinct line to your fingers, then feels like a slight lump as it smooths out and then, if it feels like one continuous curve to your finger or thumb from the fretboard to the spine, you know you have a blended shape. Here it is after the rough carve: You can see here how little of the black epoxy side dot depth has been removed. Sorting that will probably take longer than the whole reshaping and refinishing process!! So far so good....

I find if you play with musicians who are noticeably below your standard, you wind up not being friends because you moan at their lack of practice. Always best to play with people who are better than you because you push yourself. Personally, from my experience, I'd pass. Being in a rehearsal studio with a lumpy drummer and an out of tune guitarist is one thing but being seen live with them is another. Good luck finding something more suitable.

First job after removing the neck was to take the tuners off. This is a nice touch - recessed washer seatings: On the other hand, I will be leaving the string trees in place. It is important that the headstock isn't damaged at all, regardless of the mayhem that will be going on around it, and these act as protective spacers And so - I mentioned the Shinto rasp file. Some builders say that, for wood, the best files around are the top notch hand cut professional rasp files. But for all-round wonderment, in my view, there is nothing that comes remotely close to the Shinto. They are unusual in that they are made from blades similar to hacksaw blades. One side is coarse and the other is fine: Why are they so wonderful? Well - apart from the fact that they can cut through even the hardest woods at a remarkable rate - but leaving an impressively smooth surface - they also can file METAL!! So for narrowing a fretted neck, they are absolutely perfect: Remembering to always file the frets into the neck, it took no more than 10 minutes to slim down the neck accurately up to the sharpie line. And here is the slimmed down neck, in profile only at the moment so lots more fun stuff to do: Next step, is reshaping the neck to blend it all in from this edge round to the spine, which won't be impacted. And here I will be using my next favourite type of hand tool - the humble, cheap as chips, cabinet card scraper

Another bass equivalent of that time when Homer Simpson was asked to design a car.

Sometimes it's good to be a Lefty...

That's better! In my defence, I have to say here that this is not entirely an OCD thing It's just that in guitar and bass geometry, everything affects everything - and so the more things that you can get correct at the start will mean that more things will be correct in the subsequent actions. Which is just as well, because, now I have also placed the nut in line... ...then, in about 15 minutes time, it's going to be taken down to the cellar and attacked with a Shinto rasp file!

Yes. Before he came along, they could only play guitar.

"Fender are using all the right parts, but not necessarily on the right bass."

Honestly, my heart fluttered when I opened the case. I remember the day before the buyer was due to pick it up, I emailed him to tell him I was having massive regrets, and couldn't go through with it. He understood, but then I felt so bad about it I went through with the sale. I realised I've been searching to fill the gap ever since, and for him to have to good grace to offer it back to me when I put the shout out for an early 70s P on BC a couple of weeks ago was a bit of surprise. I didn't even know he was on BC - I thought it was gone for good. Here's a vid of us happy together back in the glory days when I had a little bit of hair...

Poor design... I mean your coffee cup is going to spill all over the floor the moment you pick up that bass...

Cheers Steve. Luckily, as a band we’re pretty open in discussions. She’s very much ok with the dep idea. I think that over time, by default, she’ll become a non-active member of the band and we will recruit a replacement. As I said, it’s her dream to be in the police and we’re all happy for her. No dramatic sacking necessary. But wouldn’t it be great if we could make it work? Borrowing a ‘works van’ for the weekend - our parking and load-in worries would be over! 😆

Very little. If people pretend they can tell the difference I wouldn’t believe them. The upgrade can be made in a few seconds and won’t cost you much. (Other opinions may exist)

I answered an ad for a punk band looking for a bass player. They already have a drummer: tick. Gigs booked: tick. The sent me some rough demos - pretty catchy and the singer can hold a tune: tick. I went to try out for them last night. They were lovely guys but my god they were terrible. The singer/guitarist/songwriter was fine, but the drummer seemed to barely know the songs and the "lead" guitarist was out of tune for the whole two hours and seemingly oblivious to that fact. I was still considering it on my way home though - it's just something fun to do of an evening and a way to hang out with nice people - that's clearly their approach. But I concluded that I can't bring myself to get up on stage as a part of that. I shouldn't be going to my first rehearsal with a band that's already played live knowing the songs better than anyone else in the room. Am I taking it too seriously? Do they just need some time to get it together? I feel like I'm too old to start from scratch like that and have been to a shocking number of try outs in this vein - people who just don't know the material or don't put in any effort to play to a decent standard. The leader really didn't seem to mind that these songs he's spent time putting together were being butchered - I would despair in his position! I by no means consider myself a remotely exceptional musician, but learning a song properly and playing it in tune is the bare minimum, surely?

My only purchase this year was a tiny Swiff tuner and I am completely whelmed by it. Perfect for my needs.

Might hear it tonight, going to see the Wildhearts in South Shields.

Neil Giraldo (then of the Rick Derringer band) turned up at an audition for Pat Benatar without a guitar. She heard him come in saying ‘man can I borrow your axe?’ to a guitarist that was there and she thought ‘what kind of idiot turns up to an audition without a guitar?’. The kind of idiot you end up marrying apparently 🤷‍♂️😂

I'm inspired to take this as my backup in future...

I wouldn't like to be in the position of everyone in the room: venue staff, other band, punters, all looking at me going "come on mate, he will take care of it, don't be a tight b@stard it'll ruin the night if his band can't play and empty the place". Saying "not my problem" in that scenario wouldn't just make everyone say "yeah ok, fair enough" I'd hate the badgering. Having lent my amp out before I was sh!tting a small brick watching some clueless bassist keep the VU in the red for his whole set. It was bothering me so much that when the smoke machine came on in my set I was sure for a split second my amp was on fire!

I've auditioned for some dreadful bands over the years, notable incidents include the keyboard player who could only play in C/Am and had to use the transpose feature on the keyboard to play in any other key.

Oh sure, it's a 115k miles s#itbox, on you go

I think it is different lending a mate a bass (which I would do), than lending a stranger your bass at a gig because they didn't prepare well, or damaged theirs.

Just tell her - can't stand losing you.

Wasn't that Punk? Seriously, maybe give the singer your number and say you'd be interested if he ever forms another band.

Next stop ... my Seasick Steve Tribute band.

That's an absolute munter.

I notice a definite improvement in sustain and (yes) tone with a higher mass bridge. You may notice it, or you may not, but it's there. One of the biggest plus points for me, is that generally the high mass bridges are better quality and have more adjustability than a standard Fender style bridge.

I don't understand why anyone wouldn't carry spare strings. A spare bass is understandable (still a bit weird in my book, but understandable), but if I broke a string in any of the bands I play in, I would look a complete idiot if I said I didn't have any spares.

I take my hat off to those who are kind enough to share basses out, you’re genuinely warm-hearted people. Not for me though. For me these days it’s neither my fault or problem if you’re not prepared enough for the gig you’re playing. If you’ve blown your amp up, go through the desk. If you’ve knackered your bass and don’t have a backup, well there’s a very important lesson you’ve learned. And if I lend you a bass a) I don’t know you so therefore it’s something of a liability and b) you likely won’t learn that important lesson… I do love that many of you are so much nicer than me though!

I thought hockey season started later?

Same here - come in, set up, sound check, then have a break and then start the gig. We can't control the people in there, it is a pub, they are open all day. It is in effect for them, still part of the show

I’ve never ever broke a string, how does this happen, the only way I could see would be if you were slapping hard and pulled the G maybe too much

Wait, so Fender claim installing a hi mass bridge will give you more vintage tone even though their old basses didn't have hi mass bridges on them? I put one on my MIM P and swapped back pretty much immediately. I can't guarantee it wasn't all in my head but it seemed to make it lose its edge somehow. So in my experience the effect on the tone is somewhere between nothing and slightly worse!

It does not, at least where maximum volume is concerned, which is usually limited by the driver excursion. With no changes to the knobs the four ohm cab will be perhaps 3dB louder. However, all it takes to get the same excursion, and therefore the same output, from the 8 ohm cab is a slight twist of the volume knob. If the amp is rated well below the power rating of the speaker, like by half, then you might, might, get 2 dB higher maximum output from the 4 ohm rig. It might even be slightly audible, but that's it.

Photo showing first UK built body ready for the top to go on. The holes are the cable routing for battery cables and some weight saving chambering. Fully Ash Body SWBs will now be an ash body with an ash top. So it'll look like one piece, but underneath you've got some stuff going on.

Most guitars have always been screwed together from parts pulled from bins. However all the parts were supposed to be on the same guitar.

Yes - I work very close to Denmark Street & have been based here for c8 years, so have seen the way the prices have been going. Can't say whether they represent value or not (all personal opinion) but things are certainly costing more!

I struggle to trust myself with one of my basses let alone anyone else!

Ah yes. "Drunk people who play in a band and know what they're doing." That's a whole subject on its own. I was packing down after one gig. Left the desk running with background music while I unplugged mics and fold back. All of a sudden there's a howl of feedback and I turn round to find some idiot playing with the faders. He was obviously very drunk, I asked him to move away when his mate piped up, "It's OK, he plays in a band, so he knows what he's doing." Mind blown.

I’d take one of these over anything PCsGC has to offer any day of the week 😂

Well...you know the wobbly dining table problem...where you shorten the longer leg and it still wobbles and you carry on until you end up with a coffee table? Just conditioning him

So @Happy Jack is eventually ending with a one string bass ?

No experience at all. Sounds like an honest conversation needs to take place. I would have the same doubts that you express, and the same pessimism. Good luck to her for her career choice. We need them more than drummers, it has to be said.

Unless I know you well and it was a genuinely unfortunate and unexpected occurrence.....Just "no...." You didn't bring a spare bass or spare strings. Not my problem.

To be fair Neanderthals were absolutely not rough, stupid and brutal, that's the Homo Sapiens who are stupid rough brutal destroyers... That said, I've seen, in the late 80's, the guitarist of The Scientists destroying the black early 70's Stratocaster he's been lent by the La Muerte guitarist at the end of the show. I've seen the smile on the La Muerte guitarist's face slowly fading out while watching this Homo Sapiens totally destroying his newly acquired vintage guitar. I would have jumped on the stage and finished the work by smashing the remains on his idiot junkie head. That's certainly why I'm very reluctant to lend my instruments except if I know the person well, but there would be a lot of recommendations and the first would be to wash their hands as I can't stand greasy fingers.