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Hi all, Many many thanks for the advice. Apologies I haven't responded sooner. So, the reason for the delay in my response is that I declined that teachers offer (bullet dodged there if your responses are anything to go by) and continued my search. I had certain parameters regarding cost, travelling time, time of day for practice, and what I was looking for in a teacher. I think I tried another 14 local schools and individual tutors around Glasgow since I posted my question to the forum. A couple of small music schools said that they don't teach bass, another said that they only have a bass teacher for 4 hours 1 evening a week. I encountered more pretend bass teachers similar to the first one. I'm on a bit of a fixed income so £30 per hour was my top limit (don't know what prices are like in the rest of UK - bet it's about £423 per hour in London lol). Some teachers were charging £40+ per our - those were usually eb and double bass teachers too though. I'm sure that they were well qualified, great players etc but £40 per hour ?...dear god. Anyway, I was loosing hope, I was on to the last one or two teachers on my list. I got in touch with one through 'firsttutors.com'. Maybe some of you know it or are on it. The way they work is, you can peruse the details of the teacher, experience, what instruments, availability etc and if you fancy what they're offering, you have to pay a 'finders fee' to the website to get the teachers details released eg phone no, address, full name, email address etc (you only get first names on their bios). Maybe it's a bit like a dating site lol. I paid the the site fee and got access to his details. I think I struck gold. He's a young guy went through Glasgow Conservatory did a BMUS in jazz. Apart from playing in jazz groups he plays DB with Scottish Ballet (as does his dad) Coincidentally, a couple of weeks ago I booked tickets for my wife and I to see Scottish Ballet's Swan Lake in Glasgow in April. What are the chances ? I had my first lesson on Monday afternoon - several days before the practice he sent me a PDF of what we were going to be working on - Hiatian Divorce by Steely Dan...dear god ! The end of book 2 beginning of book 3 of the Friedland tutor isn't near this level. I spent about 10 hours on it. Went to the lesson and there were maybe half a dozen wee things in the song (and my technique) had to be sharpened up - apart from that it was ok. I was surprised, I've loved SD for decades and didn't think I'd be ready for SD bass line notation before 2027 Hugely gratifying to work away on what, for me, is a very tricky bass line and it actually being pretty close to correct. (loads of times on the PDF I had to draw little up and down arrows under the bars to keep down and up beat rests and notes correct, and slow it down to a snails pace) So, sorry for the long epistle (oo-er missus) but so many great replies to my initial post deserved a comprehensive response. Onward and upward, Cheers all.

My goth duo did an acoustic showcase in Calne, Wiltshire last night. Some really good acts on the bill and we played well, pulling a few in ourselves, in what was effectively new territory for us. A bass free show; I was on mandocello and mandolin.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-67336495 An interesting find....!

Not the biggest board but certainly plenty complicated 😂 Signal path is easiest shown in a diagram, pedals aren't quite the same but same idea: This means I can get the Pre and Post DI signals from the capo while essentially having my analog pedals and the Capo preamp section as moveable blocks within the GT1000core. It's a little convoluted but means I can put the GT anywhere I want in the chain (except between my drive pedals) and have the option to apply cabsims through the DI while keeping my amp signal without.

Drunk

So, technically more me putting parts together than a build but first time I have done this, still a work in progress, I still need to add the pickup and wiring, the cream pickguard has to go(not a fan) also the nut height on the neck is on the high side so I need to lower that somewhat. Neck and body, I added the tuners and string tree ages ago Neck added to body Bridge, pickguard and strings added Nut is cut too high, I will need to address this, this is at the first fret with the 3rd fret fretted

Well, I have been really surprised by the number of "wood-Be" ( see what I did there 😂) DIY, novice Basschat cab builders wishing to have-a-go at building their own bass cab. After due consideration, (closed eyes and used a pin) two successful builders have now safely recieved their Beyma SM212s. I look forward to seeing a story of their builds in the Build Diary section. Apologies to those who missed out on this ocassion. Happy building and take care not loose any fingers playing with those power tools 😮

@theplumber you should change the thread title, since this is clearly nothing to do with a scam on basschat and it makes precisely no difference to whether it is safe to use the marketplace here or not.

Looks like it was a bank error after all! Got a phone call from our bank,Virgin after several weeks of phone calls and messages and making an official complaint we were told that the money that I sent to the person on this forum that I was buying a bass neck from had indeed went to someone else about 15 seconds after my wife pressed the pay button on the app! It,according to the bank went to someone I had sent money to...5 years ago with the reference ''bass''...The same reference we used for my latest purchase! As someone on this thread had pointed out it was some sort of computer glitch! That said the bank are still saying that it was something we had done wrong sending the money! Which with the app is not possible. I mean when the payee gave me his account details both my self and my wife checked and entered the details and according to what I read online,the bank app checks the details are correct ie proper spelling,correct account details then we press send and the transfer is away! Only after sending at around 10.30am it was marked pending all day and we checked with the seller only to check at around 4.30pm and find it had gone to someone else...someone I had bought something from 5 years ago! We have been told because we had pushed so hard to get to the bottom of this that they believe us and will refund our money whilst trying to get it back from where it ended up! So.....sort of result but as I suspected all along,the bank was at fault and won't admit it also customer service was shocking all the way through!

Just spotted that one of our very own, session ace @Kingbassist is the special guest on the latest SBL podcast. He’s talking about life in the business and what it takes to be able to hold your own in the pit or on a session. Sounds like a good listen!

Trouble with these reviews is they tend to get wrapped up with specs, because the main reason for buying a bass can’t be generally measured. All basses do a job to varying degrees, but does the instrument excite and inspire? That should be the deciding factor and is the reason why it makes more sense to try before you buy.

I hope this has come across from the tube. Quite good I thought. https://youtu.be/g0OgxixunK4?feature=shared

After 14 years playing with ‘The ELO Experience’ I am looking to retire in the spring of 2024. Subsequently the band are looking for my replacement, and I suggested putting it on here first to see if anyone is interested? I’ve posted more details in the ‘Bassists Wanted’ section, so please have a look if you think it may be for you. Many thanks, Pete.

Nice one. Sounds like you struck gold there. £30 an hour is a good price for face to face lessons. I was paying that to my so called teacher 15 years ago.

In my experience, you will only know if it's for you by playing it. Carey Nordstrand knows what he's doing, but if its not for you, or indeed Will (Lobster) - no problem. Manufacturers seem to be bringing out new short scale basses fairly regularly. Aa lot of these are short versions of their core range. I don't own an Acinonyx, but a positive for me, is that it is different.

So I got the good headphones on for Medúlla and turned the volume up and I think that's how it needs to be listened to - it isn't furniture music, it's meant to be immersive. Of course it turns out I do know some of the tracks, and could hum Who Is It, but this is still an album I'm not very familiar with despite having owned it for I assume the (gulp) 19 years since it was released. I do get that not everyone likes unaccompanied choral music, and I guess I do, but I didn't find myself thinking at any point ‘oh this is unaccompanied choral music’ - it makes a complete sound world that I was very happy to spend three quarters of an hour in, and the variety of what she does with it only really struck me afterwards - Vökuró for example is pretty much a straight classical choir piece, Oceania is drum'n'bass, and there's plenty in between. And of course not everyone likes her voice, and the way she sings each syllable as if it's the first time she's ever tried to pronounce it, but for me it all works - taking some time to really listen properly to something so complex and engaging was an experience I really enjoyed. And I have to say, I struggle to think of anyone else around at the moment who has had such commercial success with such bold and experimental music (suggestions?) My takeaway from this week then is that not only should I listen to Medúlla more, I should listen to Björk more, because she's done so much more since then that I also don't know properly (well it has been 19 years). Bring on next week!

I generally look bored and grumpy, but really I'm trying to count and remember what comes next.

I have one, and a ‘69 Mustang (purchased through the forum a decade or so ago). Even though the Pony is clearly based on a Mustang (and this is true of Vincent’s P and J basses also), there are some really clever design features which make them quite different instruments. They are incredibly even across the entire fretboard, and I find the zero-fret (instead of a nut) makes the open strings feel very controlled (and it opens up some interesting muting possibilities of the open strings with the left hand which aren’t possible with a regular nut). The honey-combed body makes the bass incredibly light in weight, and amazingly resonant (which is noticeable playing the instrument unplugged). The bridge gives you the option of traditional string mounting (ball ends through the back of the bridge), or they can sit through the bridge within the base on a piece of wood which is connected to the body to further increase resonance (their website could explain this much better than I’m doing!) For me, the best way to describe Vincents in general is having the dna of classic Fenders, but being a very modern/stable/consistent instrument at the same time. And they’re beautifully crafted (by hand), with all woods and metal (except for the neck) sourced local to their workshop. Out of the gate, the vintage Mustang has more low end heft and general bassy gooeyness (this could also be the 12 year old strings), but the Pony has a more modern attack/articulation (without been like an active bass, obviously), and you can dial in that extra low end after the fact with EQ/saturation if you want it. My Fender has over 50 years on the Pony (and their construction and components really are very different) so it’s a little unfair to compare, but the Pony totally stands up, and even does some things better. I’d definitely check one out if you were curious! Here’s a little video I made for Vincent after I received the bass.. full disclosure : I purchased one of their P-type basses and loved it so much I got in touch with them to ask if they’d make a Mustang-esque instrument. Turned out they’d already been planning to do so. They sent me this one when it was ready and I did a little testing for them, and didn’t want to send it back so ended up buying the bass.

I think you’re all dreadful and all the advice is worthless.😄 There, balance is restored.

Interesting:

...i usually am worried! not sure how i look tho'...

Yes. That was my rig for a while and it was great! As soon as I read your thread title my mind went to the RM too

Unbelievable ～ EMF

I would look at it the other way and try the one10 with the compact. Will get a lot more out of the MB @ 4 ohms.

That does appear to me to line up with where the original mutes were screwed into the body.

Thanks Mike, glad you had some fun with it - almost as entertaining as me consistently missing the D string on the 5 string Overwater you gave me a shot of! I doubt Thomann will pay any attention to me but I will feed back what I've done and who knows, perhaps there's still time to change the electronics before they start producing them for launch.

What are these 'effects pedals' of which you speak..? ...

100% of replies, over 2 pages giving you exactly the same advice. I don't think I've ever seen so many people agreeing with each other on Basschat!!

If he’s got 5 guitar amps he’s a guitarist who’s pretending to understand bass. Find a genuine bass teacher and you’ll be ok.