Leaderboard

First impressions: HB have upped their packaging game further. Never had a bass of theirs broken in transit, can't imagine it will ever happen now. It's feather light. Don't ask me to weigh it, I just pick it up and it's obvious if it's heavy or light. It looks and plays beautifully. No I'm not looking for silly niggling faults so don't ask about irrelevant details because I don't have any answers for you. Very happy.

So we're doing a gig as a trio tonight. It involves travelling from one side of Birmingham to the other. I'm a nervous driver and so I only agreed to do it on condition that I wouldn't have to drive. Guitarist doesn't drive anyway, so singer offered to drive. But yesterday her car failed its MOT, so guess what, I'm driving all three of us in my 3 door Fiesta. It's a multi band event, we're only doing six songs and we're not getting paid. And they've just texted me to say it's in a beer garden, it's cold and so bring a coat. Oh deep joy. I'll report back later to let you know if it was remotely worth it.

From L to R - US '95 with a CS 62 Pickup, a very sweet sounding Precision strung with Detroit Flats, my 'Motown' bass. Next is my 2021 USA Precision Pro II in Miami Blue currently strung with rounds (for now) and the lovely LPB with ebony fingerboard as built by Walshy. Three absolutely cracking basses.

Well, not me. I've already taken one for the team with the book.

Signal chain: Boss OC5 --> Pigtronix Octava --> Boss SY-200 --> Zoom B1-4 --> 3 Leaf Proton --> Thumpinator HPF (under the board)--> Tech 21 VTDI. All powered by a HB Iso5 Pro. This update got a big thumbs up from our band’s guitarist! 😊 I've replaced my Future Impact mono-synth pedal, with its cool bass synth sounds, with a polyphonic Boss SY-200 synth pedal. Whilst not quite so lush as the FI the SY-200, being poly, tracks more tightly and with less latency; a more winning combination IMO for a band-mix particularly on faster / busier bass lines.

Excellent - no gaps

Tracking says Monday. .. parcel has arrived!

Update - took it to my bands recording session today - it recorded very well. Flat EQ, straight into the board - I think it may be a go to recording instrument. Even managed to get a bass solo in there up to 22nd fret on the C

Sorry for the minor hijack @AndyTravis but I know the rules...

Wednesday April 27th - Sky Arts 11.40 pm Muscle Shoals - docu/film about the famous recording studio.

I'm done then , itys a bit on the simple side and I got lost a few times even doing this ! Mercifully no singing this time just some speakage and plenty of dodgy guitar work ! I used a couple of freesound soundFX to give it some direction but its all ive got .

Lobster is as good as it gets by youtube standards. You can accuse him of clickbait video titles and thumbnails, but within the context of the culture of YouTube, his stuff is very mild. That's just how the youtube algorithm works I'm afraid. If he didn't engage with the youtube culture at all, none of us would likely have ever heard of his channel. Unlike basically all the other bass and guitar channels, Lobster doesn't do sponsored content. He buys all the basses himself, or borrows them from friends. All the other youtubers I know either get paid for their "reviews" by manufacturers or dealers directly, or at least get the gear for free. Lobster is only able to do that because he's basically independently quite well off. He did a video explaining this. His videos are monetized, so will be generating some ad revenue, but it will be a pittance, and probably won't even cover his expenses. That's not how youtubers make money any more.

It looks like a vibratortron 5000. Erm......... So I'm told. 😳

The fine-tuning takes a little longer, but the basic rough carve can be surprisingly quick. That's why moving to lighter cut methods sooner rather than later is quite important...it is very easy to cut too deep with, say, a spokeshave

The neck profile carve is now finished and ready for final sanding. But wait a minute? What's happened to the overhang?? Don't panic - I've temporarily (and intentionally) removed it. The reason is that because presently there is no neck or body to support it, the 22nd fret pushes the gap and curves the overhang towards the body. And when you are fitting the heel...or when you are attaching the plate that will be fitted under the overhang to fill the gap, the chances are that either the neck heel fit in the pocket will be compromised because the overhang is fouling the body, or that the strain on the overhang will snap it off in an uncontrolled manner. Better to take it off in advance and stay in control. So the neck will be: - temp fitted to the trial body and the heel adjusted (if necessary) to give the right adjustment at the bridge - the fill in plate under the overhang will be fitted to the neck - the overhang will fitted to the plate - the fret will be re-fitted to the overhang What could possibly go wrong? So next job is the heel. My donor body is, theoretically, identical in the key dimensions as @fleabag's and I have the dimensions of the bridge and the all-critical saddle height ranges. To check the present theoretical action height of fret line to the saddle position, I fit the neck firmly in the pocket and lay a carbon rod along the top of the frets. I've popped the loose overhang piece on also to see how thick an underplate I am likely to need: At the saddle position, this is currently just under 11mm. Hmmm...might be about right even without the use of the optional spacer available on the 3D. I'll get @fleabag to do some calliper double checks on the physical bridge but in the meantime move onto the headstock plate. Oh - and the Fiebings dye has arrived - I'll also be doing some trials on the maple off-cut

I'm beside myself with excitement as I had a new (to me) Jazz Bass delivered today. It's a 2012 model, with the Customer Shop '60s pickups and high mass bridge. This is a significant upgrade for me, from my Squier Classic Vibe 60's (which will soon be for sale) and the first American Fender I've owned for over 10 years (I had a USA Std Telecaster 6 string which I instantly regretted selling). It's also the first ever maple necked instrument I've owned and I love it! I've had it less than an hour and it's well...perfect!! Detailed tone, very growly. The neck is absolutely sublime and is set up with a really low action. I'd be tempted to say it "plays like butter" but I've never actually played butter, so I don't know what that's like. It's just a BEAUTIFUL instrument. Picked it up from Bass Brothers, who were great to deal with. That colour as well though 😵

Other option : keep the three holes system and drill the neck… install the neck, and use the body holes as pilot holes to see where the new holes should be drilled in the neck. three screws are enough…

And I'd add that the B6 and HX Stomp are very different animals in many aspects: B6 much larger footprint than HX Stomp B6 simpler to program and limited; HX has many options and allows deep diving parameter edits B6 doesn't allow much for programming control switching; HX allows for sophisticated switch programming B6 has a lot more switches with dedicated function; HX has only 3 switches that are multi-function B6 has an XLR output for practicality; HX does not B6 is dedicated as a bass modeler, though you could coax some guitar tones out of it if needed; HX excels at guitar modeling. B6 has separate A/B dedicated inputs with switchable impedance, dedicated switch, volume and EQ for each input; Not sure what HX offers there. B6 is a little less cost than the HX. B6 has no MIDI; HX does MIDI IMHO, you'd get the HX Stomp if you want a very small footprint don't need to do a lot of sound changing via footswitch don't mind menu-diving and appreciate a higher level of complexity of design need very specific programmed control of sounds/effects prefer deep editing of parameters want to integrate within an existing MIDI framework may want to use it also for guitar amp modeling are not concerned with having XLR output have the extra coin to spend All-in-all...different horses for different courses....etc...

This might be of interest to some here. This is very decent. Kim and Matt from Soundgarden, Krist from Nirvana, Bubba from Void and a couple a really good singers. The riffs are pure Soundgarden, never a bad thing, and it has received quite a few listens from me. Very good indeed. It's nice to see Novoselic playing again, I have to say.

Well, I've got my comeuppance! Lately I've been lucky enough to buy some very nice basses at some very nice prices, but my luck ran out with this BEX4. It's not so bad though as it was cheap enough and it can all be sorted. Last Friday @andy67 posted that he'd seen a blue BEX4 in Cash Converters in Edinburgh. I'd kind of low level been after a blue one for a while so jumped on it. With the bass being in Edinburgh and me in Cornwall, giving it the once over was out of the question. No biggy, Andy said it looked OK, no minter, a few scratches and needed new strings but OK, and the guy I spoke to at CC said roughly the same. In fact he said he'd just been playing and it played and sounded great. Well it would, it's a BEX4 😉. It arrived today and up close it's a bit of a dog, it's had a hard life and needs a damn good clean. Poor old thing. I'm undecided at the mo whether to just give it a good clean and polish and live with its roadworn state, or to go to town and fully restore/refinish it. It looks like someone's tried to polish the body with a brillo pad and there's plenty of dents and chips. The neck wear is quite odd with some excessive wear near the nut and loads of crescent dents up the dusty end, as if a thumb with a ring on had been curled over the top edge all the time. The rest is just green and grimey. Oh yeah, nearly forgot the strings, nicely fitted 😄. Nevermind, it was cheap enough and it will still play and sound great once cleaned and set up. Cosmetic plan to be decided. With her sister.

I've been playing my 4 string passive JP all evening and it's just wonderful. Plays like I've had it for years. One feature I love and wish I had on all my basses is this

Yes dude. His playing here is just wow.

Tomahawk Kid Sensational Alex Harvey Band

OK, here goes! The picture made me think of eavesdropping... did a bit of research and found stuff like a quote from Thornton Wilder (me neither!) : "There's nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head". Built up the lyrics with such ideas. God knows where the music came from 🙂! Technical stuff: Studio One DAW, Piano-roll drums with Red-Zep hits, Vantage Bass, Squire Tele gtr, Gibson acoustic gtr, Studio one strings, Behringer condenser mic. Lyrics in spoiler:

Should be fixed now.

If it helps - for the money that looks great as you got it - and I think you are going to make it even better!

Rise - Public Image Ltd

There's nothing more frustrating than a truss rod slot not long enough for a standard allen key - so best to measure it first. The spacer is a graphtec piece that will be cut to make the string spacer later on: Then out comes the jewellers saw - one shot to get it right so that it will be a gap-free fit when the magnets are fitted: And even for a headstock plate, you can never have too many clamps!

Meeting with the band tomorrow, I'll give it a thorough test then.

Yes, his wife Gabi drew the design. There were apparently a series of designs intended to be released but they ended up only doing this one (it does remind me of a mountain scene). I guess the cost of having to do the cut and match was enough for Cort so they went with a one piece top for the five string. I've had my Rithimic for about five years now. Probably closer to six. Still the best passive bass I've ever played and one of the best basses I've ever owned. I absolutely love the tone, the balance and the playability. It is also incredibly light, which I know matters to some players. In all the time I've had it, it's had one professional setup and has been absolutely mint since. Very low, very clean action with excellent fretwork.

Haha - that got a genuine LOL from me! 🙂

Have just received a comprehensive reply from John, suggesting the pot may be bent - which would be logical. I'll try to carefully bend it back, but if not looks like it can be replaced.

Wow, that takes me back. I bought one of these in 1977 to replace a Carlesborough 1x18”. I was young and strong and thought nothing of carrying it upstairs. Now I would need oxygen to do that. Best bass sound I had was with this and a Custom Sound amp. Here it is in 1979

I had a Gretsch Electromatic baritone. Odd thing. Drawn to it out of a 50/50 mix of curiousity and a desire of ownership. Found it to be neither guitar or bass, on the one side I suppose I wanted to do some odd/dirty drop-B stuff without going the 7-string route, or some kind of twangy Glen Campbell stuff. Not succeeding with either, I went the bass-six route and that didn't really pan out either, so I sold it on. Sometimes, it's not the having it's the getting that drives these purchases. Desire satiated, experiment was over.

The plot thickens when you notice that the HB JJ headstock is almost identical to the Aria IGB's, only reversed! WHAT CAN IT MEAN???

Likewise. John has been a friend long before i ever bought gear from him. Before he started East Uk. He's a one man band, is always inundated with work, as anyone can imagine with his global sales. Phoning is better, assuming he's not on holiday or something.

As promised a couple of pics of my impending big 70 birthday treat, sold to me as a ‘76, originally rosewood fretted neck, defretted soon after purchase. Around 1980, ebony board fitted and neck completely refinished and “new” decal applied. Now restrung with my favourite Labella Lt flats, spent some time on setup and fettling and it sings as it should.

I doubt many people here, if any at all, that build basses, have worked with an unknown like Richlite. So i doff my hat to you Andy. Lovely work

I’ve been exploring into Fernando Rosa lately, this guy has got so much groove and a fantastic player, check out around 5.28