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Hello all, first time poster but I thought that this was something worth sharing, not just because I'm proud and happy with the bass, I've "recently" moved to the UK so wanted to be more part of the community but also because I want to plug the builder as well. I've been a massive Pearl Jam/Jeff Ament fan since I started playing bass and I've always, always, always had an infatuation with his Silvertone 1443 replica that he used to play in the early 2000's/very late 90s. I always thought that it would be possible to get one built, but - Living in Australia meant there was a very limited amount of luthiers, and a lot wouldn't attempt something like this. If I do something, I do it right, and part of building a bass like this means finding a Modulus neck with the Fender shape headstock on it and they're HARD to find. One day while browsing Reverb, I found a 'bitsa' parts bass from Japan that had the Modulus graphite neck on it with the original Fender shape headstock, I paid a ludicrous amount of money for it, but I didn't question it, it was never going to come up again for potentially years. Keep in mind, Modulus Jazz Basses come up all the time, but not with the Fender headstock shapes. It was in Japan, so I had to pay to get it shipped all the way from there to the UK. Secondly, I had to find the period correct Bartolini pickups from that time, I assumed the bridge and neck pickup was a Bartolini 9S set, as it was the original model that Bartolini released, but the neck humbucker was the mystery. I already have another Jeff Ament style bass that Mike Lull built for me about 10+ years ago, that had that humbucker in the same neck position. I emailed Spencer and asked about the model, unfortunately they lost a whole heap of data years ago due to some cyberattack, which meant they didn't have my build sheet for my bass anymore, so he didn't know the model. He suggested I take the pickup out and check for any markings, no luck. Absolutely nothing on the bottom of the pickup. Next step was emailing Bartolini - I emailed Bartolini who at first were a little dismissive at just suggested that the pickup was just a 1CB/1CBC model, I responded with dimensions and said I was confident that it wasn't a 1CB/1CBC model, there was some other email back and forth between me and them, and them also going back to Spencer at Mike Lull and eventually came back to me with this - I'm not going to say how much it was, but it was a bit. but I got 2 out of it, so I have a spare/option to put one into another bass. Once I had the pickup in my hands, I purchased all the hardware and bits and pieces for the build, and the next stop was trying to find a builder in the UK/Europe who could custom CAD/CNC machine design. I did some Googling and digging and emailing, and for the most part there was a lot of builders that weren't interested, didn't get back to me, or only wanted to sell their designs (which is fair enough). I fortunately came across Neil Haynes from Guitar & Bass Build/Haynes Guitars in (https://guitarandbassbuilds.com / Haynes Guitars) in Shenington. Neil was extremely helpful right from the start, he was open to working on the project, he was up front about pricing and more importantly showed interest and was keen in the project. Communication was a little bit slow/tedious at times over email, and I had to send a few follow ups to make sure my message was received and acknowledged but overall it was good, considering he's essentially a solo operator. I was travelling for work, and when I got back I actually went to visit him and we both sat down in front of his computer and painstakingly went through all the measurements and was very tolerant of my "1mm here, 1mm there, actually no back again". It was a great process and it meant it was EXACTLY what I wanted, and if it wasn't, I only had myself to blame. Neil was an absolute pleasure, and I feel for him only being a solo operator. Final result is attached at the bottom, it's pretty spot on, unfortunately the red sunburst head stock I couldn't do, and the dimensions of how the body comes up around the neck are a tiny little bit off, but its' damn close. For some reason, the phone has made the colour seem less 'red' and more 'sunburst', but it's definitely more 'red' in person. I love it, I'm so happy with it, and it's a good addition to the existing stock. Sorry for the essay, but I thought some people and fellow Pearl Jam/Jeff Ament fans might find it interesting.

Hi everybody, my name is Brad Lang and I'm a bass player. Thank you for welcoming me to Bassaholics anonymous. My attention has been drawn to a few contributors unaware of any work I've done apart from ABC's 'Lexicon of Love' album. Some suggesting that I only played the fretless parts on said album, and the fretted parts were either Mark Lickley or Trevor Horn. Let me set the record straight. I played both fretless and fretted parts on ALL of the album apart from 'Tears are not enough' 'Poison Arrow' and 'Look of Love'(synth bass) I must thank you for all the nice comments regarding my bass playing on that and further ABC albums. It definitely was a game changer for my career, I was aged 22 at the time. I had played on Philip Jap's single 'Save Us' (and other album tracks) which led me to work with Trevor Horn (with ABC, Dollar and Buggles notably) Natasha's 'Iko Iko' is another track I remember from around that time and of course Wham!'s 'Young Guns'. I also remember from the 80's recording with Jody Watley (Shalamar), Haddaway, Samantha Fox , Adrian Gurvitz, Alvin Stardust, Jermaine Jackson, Elkie Brooks, Gilbert O'Sullivan to name a few, some I can't recall... it was 40 years ago! Chris Tsangarides, Martin Rushent, Gus Dudgeon and Nigel Gray were producers I often worked with. Nigel Gray at 'Surrey Sound Studios' in Leatherhead I remember particularly fondly. Later I recorded albums with Black, Toyah, John Parr, Judy Tzuke , Ray Charles, Wishbone Ash, Gilbert Montagne, Ute Lemper, Barbara Dickson, and tracks with Brian May, Bonnie Tyler, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams (my first double bass session) I also worked regularly with Simon Brint who wrote the music for many TV shows in the UK. In case anybody is remotely interested... Thanks for listening to my story.

Rescued this from a pal’s studio, dusty and not working. Actually only needed a good clean, a tweak of the jack terminals, and a new mini switch. Put an old set of medium gauge Fender flats on, and tweaked the action over a day or two. Plays beautifully, balances well on a strap, and the series/parallel sounds from the Dimarzio pickup are very usable. I’ll be gigging it soon. Dry happy to bring such a lovely piece of woodwork back to life. The odd shape actually makes perfect sense when you’re playing it.

https://amzn.eu/d/2UuJoHo rechargeable transmitter / receiver in real plastic wood (thanks Peppa pig) cheap as chips and worked right out of the box. (Once paired) no noticeable latency or noise

I think something got in my eye...

Mine arrived earlier. Top tip for anyone expecting a Theremin, make sure you've got 6xAA charged up batteries on hand. I've just spent the last couple of hours charging batteries. Only just had a fairly quick go, I had to resort to the instructions to get the aerial working and I'm sure I could do a better initial set up once I'm a bit more familiar with the instrument, but so far it's a lot of fun. Using the slider and the button it's pretty easy to get a simple tune or bassline out of it. Using the aerial is a lot more tricky, but it's early days yet.

I put them on my Sandberg TT4 this evening. I cleaned them with isopropyl alcohol wipes first to get rid of the manufacturing stickiness. I’ve played for about half an hour and they sound very good. Certainly in the same ballpark as DTF but easier to play. Quite a chewy thick sound which is the sort of thing I really like. I think the truss rod will need a tweak but I’ll let it settle for a day before I do. So far, so good!

Latest development on my board

Lee Rocker takes issue with the premise of this thread...

We all have an Iris in our eyes.

In one of the bands I was in a few years ago, I got every single booking except one, which was a birthday party for the guitarists mate, and it turned out that it was his mate who asked our guitarist if we could do it, not our guitarist suggesting that we could do it even though he knew his mate was thinking about hiring a band. With all the bookings that I did get, I emailed and sent FB messages to all the venues that I knew hired live bands, I contacted a total of 125 venues, I still have a register of them all in my band folder, I think got about two from them, the rest I got from actually going into pubs and venues, having a drink and befriending the band hirer in the hope of getting a gig, and because I was actually going into venues, most of the gigs I got were within a 10 mile radius of where I lived, and believe it or not, the rest of band had the cheek to complain that all the gigs were near me, and yet I'd been forever asking them to do the same as what I do in their own areas, but not one of them made the effort. So like you, I thought I am not getting involved anymore, and not long after, the gigs dried up and the band came to an end. After that, I vowed to leave everything to the band leader in any new venture I got into, but I always found that if I don't do anything, no-one else will, so I still end up being the most proactive member. Now after five years of not being in a band, I would happily do all the work again.😉

I love the Aguilar vibe but the Bass control centred at 40hz is just too low to be usable in a live context IMO. A boost at that frequency is a real speaker cone killer. I would prefer something around 80hz.

Thanks. I’ll be able to sleep tonight 😀. As an aside, I wish there was an after market bass bridge that came with string mutes but I guess it would make manufacturing costs too high and it would have a small market. It would beat messing around with bits of foam, or fret wraps.

I tried most and my flat of choice is La Bella Deep Talkin. I found Thomastiks to be too loose, tension-wise. 760FL or the slightly heavier 760FS La Bellas are just perfect for me.

As well as performing ghostly sounds from under a white sheet this evening, I'm also performing at work in the kitchen in a couple of weeks

Make sure that you are in the right place at the right time, although that could be applicable to any age. Be prepared to wait for the right opportunity to come along. I had a year without a band from the point where it was obvious that The Terrortones were over until I found a band that I wanted to be part of. When you're 50 something or older a year isn't that long. I certainly couldn't have gone for a year without being in a band when I was in my 20s. Go to gigs and get to know the other bands and musicians in your area. The one time I have tried something different for me (classic rock covers) I ended up hating it. Over the past 7-8 years I have worked hard at getting myself known on the post-punk and goth scenes, so if both the bands I am currently playing were to end tomorrow, I'd probably be able to find another one fairly quickly. Also if you can bring something other than your ability to play the bass to the band that always helps. I don't own a car or drive, but because of the other things I can do that will benefit any band I am in it's not been a hinderance. I'm a graphic designer, I do all the drum programming and much of the sound design for one band that I play with. In the past I have been able to offer a place for the band to rehearse and recording facilities, the vast majority of the band I was in during the 90s' album was recorded in my living room.

I wonder if the custom shop could replicate this bass of mine The wear under the G string is casued by my third finger digging in when I play with a pick (mostly I play with a pick) This bass has done a lot of gigs in its 34 years with me. The wood is actually gouged out, not just the finish It's actually a '73 not a'75 (I have the original bridge with the long screw for the G string intonation)

Mine carry emotional scars due to my lack of skill! 🤣 Sam x

There’s little you can do with a DB but you can damn we’ll look at the audience! I learned to play reading music so my technique requires me to look at the audience. Smile, make eye contact, sing BVs - make the gig as fun as possible:

I got a notification yesterday to say mine had shipped , so fingers crossed, it might turn up today.

It’s pretty similar for me, we started my last band when I was 48 thinking a few Tues/Weds gigs, turned out to be so much more. I think being a bit more advanced in years and no longer interested in the free beer in the dressing rooms we just had a much more professional approach to it which enabled us to proceed quite well. Helped of course by writing some pretty decent songs too. But imo the main thing is to have someone driven steering things. With the same songs but me at the helm rather than our instigator we’d probably have done 10 gigs in 6 years and never recorded a thing, rather than the 200 plus gigs all over the country and Europe, plus the four albums and a few EPs. Drive and focus essential.

Some photos from Sunday at the Donkey And FrankenFocus... 1000018351.mp4