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posh pub cum restaurant …I’ll give that one a miss then.

I bought this with my first check from a paying band. I was 19. A 1962 Precision. I’ve had other basses along the way that have come and gone, but this one stays. It fits in my hands perfectly.

Well, there are two phrases that come to mind: "Stick with what you know!" But if you do that, you will never progress and "Nothing ventured, nothing gained!" So I'm pleased I tried the Fiebings, and can see why folks would like it for certain jobs...but it's not quite the straightforward spirit stain that I thought it was. There's another element in there and that, for this particular job (or yes maybe, @Fishman , the wood), is what gave me the issues. This is after just the first coat of the Quink. And I know that I can add as many more coats as I like - and it will fully dry. And I know it will take varnish just as well as unstained wood. Result!

There’s the mathematically challenged “How great is our God”… ”The Godhead 3 in 1: Father, Spirit, Son, the Lion & the Lamb” Maybe it was written by Monty Python’s King Arthur?

Nope, a used (2019) fireglo 4003. Its a light one at 9.0 pounds, which solves one of my problems with my previous jetglo 4003 (which was the wrong side of 9.5 pounds). Now that I am more used to the vagaries of the 4003S, lets see if I can cope with the ergonomics of a 4003. We will see. Arrives tomorrow, hopefully

(Bass apparently played by Ricky Reed, of whom I am blissfully ignorant)

So I’ve been on a bit of a quest, and last week yielded these two fine basses from my fave 2013-16 range of Fender US Standards, a 2013 from our very own @vincbtand a 2014 from the ‘bay. Match very nicely with my fave 2015. All that was needed was A-String Retainers and Hipshot Drop-D Extenders. The 13 gets the gigging band, the 14 gets the classic rock band.

I should stop visiting this thread, every time I come here I end up looking for ABM600’s for sale! 😂

For what it's worth (that's to say : very little...), my 'Tip Of The Week' is simply 'Less Is More'. A convenient point of view for me, as it happens, as I have Official Cloth Ears (when I say 'cloth', think several layers of thick blanket under a duvet, not cheese-cloth...). I can't hear 1 db, and 'slight', to me, means 3db at least. I have tried 'tweaking' stuff, but for many years now have taken to using almost none of the bells and whistles which my PC has at its disposal. I use Reaper for DAW; the Cockos compressions supplied are always 'on', with a NY drum bus for any drums I'm using ('live', programmed or samples; whatever...) and a NY Glue on the Main (Output...) track. There may be occasions where Fx are used, as Fx, using my 'broad brush' technique, and I have on a few occasions resorted to mastering stuff such as Ozone presets or the like, but nothing I've ever found or used has made any of my sow's ears into silk purses. I listen, many times, during my composition phases, and judge, for better or worse, the results by this simple expedience. Of course, this can be realised by listening to my Challenge output, where the inate qualities of my music are marred by my inability to better the Production, which is why I garner so few votes, mostly. Those efforts that have won, on occasion, have, however, no better treatment than any other. My conclusion is, then : if it's to be voted on, the Production matters far, far less than the Composition itself (gauged against the Composition of the other entries...). As best as possible, then, but no need to overthink anything. Less is often More, and no-one will hear or notice that subtle 1db in the upper mids (least of all me...). Just my tuppence-worth.

Mind you, warm tar on the back of the neck would certainly encourage @fleabag to stay near the money notes ...

There is NOTHING I would change about this track!! Love it.

Hmmm...but there might be a Plan C I've started the removal. Using single-bladed razor blades as scrapers - and then a proper cabinet scraper - to remove the goop of the main part of the neck allowed me to start sanding without the paper clogging up within seconds. After an hour of sanding, I'm down to 'largely wood' where the black is from the first coat of Fiebings that was properly absorbed into the freshly sanded wood. But to get to fully clean wood will need a fair bit of wood removal. Which is fine - except for the heel where I don't want to lose any of the width. And that got me thinking. Long-term followers of my threads will know that my favourite stain is permanent fountain pen ink. Well, that was discounted on this project because it is generally not thought to be the 'blacker than black' that @fleabag is after. But...well, at least for the heel, worth a try? So here's what Quink does: Looks pretty black to me! And it's fully dry. And it has fully absorbed into the timber even though there is the residual Fiebings there. And I KNOW that polyurethane has no adverse reaction at all to it. For the sake of an afternoon lost if I'm wrong, I'm up for trying it all over...

Tone is very subjective isn’t it. All my short scale basses have heavier gauges than 40-90/95 and all sound fine to me, wherever I am fretting. My custom P/J has Labella standard tension flats 45-105. It sounds great all the way up the neck and incidentally that is the gauge it came supplied with from the luthier who made it. I have Labella Beatle Bass flats 50-100 on my violin bass and they are perfect for the bass IMO. My fretless acoustic has Labella black nylon flats 50-105 (or is it 110) and they really work on it all over the neck. That came with 45-105, so I assume Guild thought that was the ideal gauge for the instrument. I had 40-95 gauge round wounds on a Squier SS Jaguar and I thought they sounded really boingy. I changed them for 45-105 and it sounded much better IMO. On the other hand I kept the 40-95s on a Bronco, even after I had put a precision pickup in it. They just seemed to suit the bass. I don’t know if fundamentals and harmonics are better or worse with my choice of strings but they work for me, and the instruments concerned. My conclusion has to be that you can’t make a hard and fast rule about string gauges that will suit every instrument and every player.

I've got an Ibanez EHB1005SMS and I find it so easy to play. When I go back to 'standard' frets it just seems so 'last century'. I'm a massive fan (see what I did there

And it's on! New bridge in place - I need to shape the top of the bridge - and Copperhead pickup fitted. I've moved the A closer to the E by 2mm, personal choice after the previous bridge seemed a little too spaced. Chuffed.

I’m in the same club 😂 however, 1 thing I have sussed, is that to get a decent sound coming out of the DAW , you have to put a good sound in to it . Not necessarily the quality of the instrument , though I’m sure that is important , but playing technique is the thing, if it’s played well chances are it will sound ok. voice quality on vocals for instance, record a nice sounding voice , a touch of compression and reverb , set the level and that’s it ..... just like my voice 😁😁 I’m never going to get to the production standard I originally aimed at, but just try to get more competent at getting a better played recording , though that involves too much cut and paste at times 🤦‍♂️

The 14th South East Bass Bash will be on Sunday 23 October 2022 - 0900 - 1700 At Jubilee High School, Surrey, School Lane, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 1TE Get the date in your diaries!

Bb - Eb - Ab - Db - Gb - Cb => Gb major or Eb minor. Ebm in this case. You can play the entire bass line by tuning your bass half a step down, and ignoring all the flats (except for the Fb)

None more black.

I can't go to Ikea any more after a friend changed a line in Cornerstone to "I dare not trust the Swedish Frame". And my mother used to replace "Gladly, the cross I'd bear" with "Gladly the cross-eyed bear"

I shall sue you, sir, for damages caused my laugh-induced coughing fit!

Yeah, nice groove ☝️

Gluten It Be Nice - Beach Boys

What a delicious bass tone they've got going on here.... Love this!

You just need to get the scientists to develop Quink in Vantablack. 'So black it hurts' - Imagine pointing that at your guitarist, that'll stop 'em winding up for another unnecessary solo.

That looks as black as black can get, so if you think you can coat the whole neck, despite some faint residue of the Fiebings, then quink away sir. That could be a service for you in the future. " Necks quinked, enquire within " Yah ?

The depth of the unit went from 2U to 1U when they changed the power module to class D. I think all the Puma combos, certainly the ones with 'double height' amps, were A/B . I have a Puma 110 combo with the A/B sticker as above.

Met up with Norm to do a Musicman trade, my lovely Stingray classic for his equally lovely Stingray special.....Had a bit of a chin wag about basses ( is there any other subject ! ) and have to say he is a thoroughly nice guy and a credit to Basschat. Thanks again Norm

I don't think I've read any comments anywhere from trigger finger sufferers for a fan fret. On a FF the stretches for the low notes are longer so if that is an issue a long or extra long scale FF won't the the right choice but a medium scale might be like the Ibanez EHB1005SMS medium scale. But I think you'd really have to try one. It might be that a traditional medium or short scale is a better choice.

EQ on the vocals is a big thing for me and I sweep across the frequency range until I find something that highlights the best of my voice (rather takes the worst of my voice out) but as you say GIGO is fundamental.

One young worship leader used to use “There is a day” by Phatfish a lot. However he always sang “clothed in immorality” until some spoilsport pointed out that “immortality” was the correct lyric. The fact that his father (who was the pastor) didn’t notice, made it funnier.

Jesus Saves. My fave is Resurrecting by Elevation - "Your name, Your name, is Victor Reeves".

Yes, I’ve been following that thread since it’s inception! Great build, can’t wait to hear audio of the Rautia pickups with the Lusithand.

Brilliant. Comedic worship lyrics could be a thread within a thread here. One of my favourites was in the old days of acetates & OHPs, when on one song the word ‘desert’ was wrongly spelled as ‘dessert’. But my all time favourite is in Everlasting God, the line “You’re the defender of the weak”, which sounds more like something you’d hear on Match Of The Day

Personally I can't get enough of this groundbreaking trend of tired old men explaining what it is they don't like

First V2 build of my open source filter preamp in pedal form: Enclosure and UV printing from Tayda for this build, but I'm trying a semi-local US print vendor right now with more uptown Gorva S90 enclosures and should have a couple of new ones in by early next week.

Well here's a picture of my stack. Ashdown CTM 100 with Ashdown ABM115 Compact.