mcnach

One thing that I still want to do is ground the polepieces. They make a bit of a buzz when I touch them... something that does not happen often, but it annoys me. Just a 10 min job 'though.

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1357416639' post='1922464'] Pics or it didn't happen [/quote] You are right, you are right... so here it is. It's a shame that the original pickups had those big ears, so the Wizard Thumpers leave a bit of a gap... but in person without a flash it's barely noticeable.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1357415182' post='1922435'] Precisions can have such a knarly , clunky sound that , funnily enough , a lot of less expensive examples can end up sounding great in the final mix , especially with flats . Sounds like you have hit on a winning combination . Good for you Sir ! [/quote] The nicest P bass I ever played was my now gone Squier CV60 in fiesta red. Of course, as I'm not a big fan, I have not tried hundreds of them, but that Squier was very nice. EXcept... it was a Precision. The reason I kept the Sue Ryder ones was that... ok, £60 new... if I sell them, what am I going to get for them? So they are the ideal candidates for me to mess with. Hence, one is fretless now. Not the best fretless ever, but I had this and a CIJ Fender Precision fretles simultaneously... and sold the Fender (it was a better bass, but the Ryder does the job too). Another one... one day I will finish stripping. It's too much of a boring job to sand it all... I'm glad I kept one untouched... except cosmetics (pickguard)... I should post a picture or two...

[quote name='apa' timestamp='1357408385' post='1922305'] Your getting old before your time mate A [/quote] The P bass has a bit of an "old geezer's bass" whiff to it, doesn't it? Hmmm, well, at least if sunburst with tortoiseshell pickguard. White and black can be "punk" and have some "street cred".

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1357375013' post='1921685'] Yeah, i've seen the Chili Peppers a few times live now, and their "Jams" are clearly pre-arranged, as much as i love them, and hate to admit that. But flea does throw in a lot of spontaneous fills. [/quote] well, there's prearranged and prearranged. we do a few jams too... and some may say they are prearranged, but the only thing prearranged is that we have played that sort of beats improvising together a million times together, and we end up having a few "sections" that we can easily switch into and play as we feel like, whilst still improvising within that context... It still has the "jam" flavour, but you are a lot less likely to end up going nowhere, or being boring. I'm sure the RHCP jams are much along the same lines. If you play and jam for years with the same people, you build up a lot of melodies and rhythms together, and it can seem prearranged, because you are able to play the same or a similar melody today and a few months from now without any further rehearsing or anything.

I have never been a fan of the P bass. I have owned several, and they mostly languished unloved and were eventually sold. When the Sue Ryder Precision bass sale came along, I ended up with three of them. One was left untouched - white/rosewood, I just put a black pickguard on it. Another white one... I sourced a Ryder maple neck to swap, and turned it to fretless, with a DiMarzio Model P pickup. Another, a blue translucent/maple was dismantled for the body to be stripped... and I have not finished. So, the one left untouched... I put a set of Status flats on it. These are very dull thuddy type of strings. I really liked the sound, but the Precision is not a bass I ever felt fully comfortable with. When playing the E string, I like to have something to rest my thumb on around the area where a MM pickup is, more or less. And that sound, it was not something I wanted in my bands... so... I did not play it that much (although I did use it to film Sea Bass Kid's first music video ) Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. It seems a new funky project i going to start and I have been asked to join. It's meant to be original material mostly but with a few covers. I was told about a song by The Meters... "Chicken Strut". Now, I did not know much about them. Cissy Strut was familiar, but I did not like it. I knew some slow R&B style songs by them, which I don't like either... So I was not expecting to like this a lot. But to my surprise... The Meters have tons of great funky tunes! Now I understand why they are always mentioned with such reverence, pretty much alongside James Brown. So I have been listening to a lot of Meters and James Brown... and without thinking, plugging in the Sue Ryder P bass with flats... and I am really really liking it. So last night I decided to put a set of Wizard Thumpers on this bass. I had this pickup in my drawer for a couple of years or so. Not only did the bass look nicer than with the original white pickup... but the sound opened up quite a bit, and now I cannot put this bass down. With regards to the thumbrest issue, I have a small aluminium block stuck with double sided tape (thanks apa!!!) and it's just lovely. I think I may be starting to "get" the Precision. what a surprise! With regards to the Thumpers vs original pickup... the original pickup is actually quite nice, but a lot darker. It does a great deep reggae tone, as well as a double bass type of sound, better than the Thumpers do. But the Thumpers are brighter and feel a bit more balanced... so even with the Status flats you get a nice compromise between bright tones (think Iron Maiden) and dark ones using the tone control. Mostly, the bass is not as "boomy". Good midrange. But the original pickups are surprisingly good too, just darker and heavier. Now I wish I had not sold that Squier CV60s Precision in fiesta red... that was a lovely bass with a fantastic neck...

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1357313335' post='1920826'] where's Inti? I reckon he'd be interested in this thread.... [/quote] be careful with what you wish for!!!

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1357326116' post='1921189'] That explains why I have been waving my hand at my bass for the last three days with nothing happening . [/quote]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1357319158' post='1921019'] Source Audio also do a unit to convert the Hot Hand's output to MIDI data, so you can use it with any unit capable of taking MIDI input. Edit: Turns out it's got an output for expression pedal sockets too, so you can use it with pretty much anything. [/quote] really? I did not know. That´s pretty clever of them!

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1357156457' post='1918393'] That's an old video. Still good! I believe he just used a Boss SYB-3 & a multi fx unit (if my memory serves me right). [/quote] He is wearing a "Hot Hand" controller, so that means a Source Audio pedal of some sort was involved: envelope filter more likely.

I don't understand how so many people like cucumber, when they just taste of unripe melon.

I only recently "discovered" them. I knew Cissy Strut and a couple of other tracks that did not really grab me... but when my guitarist was talking about some Meters track a while ago I decided to investigate properly... I could not believe I had not paid attention to them for so many years!

I'm starting a new funky project and was listening to some old stuff to decide on a couple of covers to mix with our original stuff... and came across this jewel. I just had to share it... enjoy! [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKnr9sWivsI&feature=share&list=AL94UKMTqg-9AfLZyZKTNa916x_sQD3Sjk[/media]

[quote name='bh2' timestamp='1356990634' post='1916218'] I have a nineties Jap Squier 'Silver Series' P bass... is it a JV? [/quote] if the serial number starts with JV, it´s a JV... full stop. if it starts with E, it´s and E series SQ SQ series, etc etc. really...

[quote name='herman' timestamp='1356788351' post='1913593'] hello all, ive got a 2008 ebmm stingray 2eq, maple neck, up until now ive always used roundwounds on all basses that ive owned, so i have not got any idea which flatwounds to try? i find now that i dont want a bright, zing, clanky, sounding bass! playing mostly fingerstyle now, so any help on which strings to go for would be much appreciated!! gauge im using is 45 - 105 many thanks, herman. [/quote] I would try Fender flats. They feel and sound nice... If you want really thuddy and dull but big sounding, try Status Hotwires. I find Stingrays with flats a bit... "emasculated". But the Fender flats seemed a decent compromise when I used them. They can have enough brightness and bit if you want them to, but they have that warmth that flats are known for, and work well for all your Chic tunes

I know Steve Robinson, he´d be my choice if I were in Manchester too.

[quote name='umph' timestamp='1356793304' post='1913678'] THAT SINGERS A BIT NICE ISN'T SHE [/quote] yessss

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1356869779' post='1914428'] Funnily enough, I encountered some quite strong five string prejudice last night at the pub, just in conversation. A friend, who has always been quite strongly in the punk/alternative rock camp, commented that he'd seen a pic of me on Facebook, and that I was playing a bass which had "one too many strings". The others (one an alt rock drummer, and a Drum n Bass producer) all agreed that a five string is "not a proper bass". [/quote] not a proper bass? it´s MORE bass!!! (I don´t play 5 strings, but just because the need has not appeared and love my 4 strings... it seems extremely silly to put down someone for playing a bass with an extra string or two beyond what you expect traditionally)

[quote name='Bassmurf' timestamp='1356621005' post='1911704'] [media]http://vimeo.com/53136987[/media] Catchy tune! [/quote] nice one, looks fun! but the special congratulations go for getting the camera on you (Lozz) while the guitar was doing his solo... how did you manage that???

[quote name='gafbass02' timestamp='1356289723' post='1908873'] Found it. It's the song 'so long so wrong' I recorded this around 1999 using my blue fretted jazz bass plugged into a zoom 506 and set as above. It's not perfect, I was just going for a 'fretless feel'. [url="http://www.reverbnation.com/myriadsonix"]http://www.reverbnat...com/myriadsonix[/url] Tbh I didn't even know there was a reverb nation with that stuff on!! Gonna have a listen through now, I remember really liking the sounds I used on those songs. The best songs for bass sounds are the ones that start with an 'R' ...odd!! I was channelling Billy Gould in 'Redemption' Glimmer and sit and stare are ok too. What a nice find lol. And the singer is the guy that recently shot burglars with his shotgun and was let off thank goodness ( he's a better shot than singer tho;) [/quote] I would have really thought you played a fretless there if I hadn't read this, very smooth!

True, it´s overpriced... but it´s up to the seller to ask for whetever they want to, surely? They are not misrepresenting it. If you buy something, it´s also up to you to find the best deal... or not. In short: cheeky seller, but not a reportable offence, in my opinion.

thank you. I loved those OLPs. Some are horrible, but some are really nice, worth looking around a bit. I now only own the black one, which I fitted with a Stingray 2EQ preamp clone. It cost me 100GBP, plus the Basslines pickup (SMB4A) and the very cheap homemade preamp... that´s a hell of a bass.

For example... my black OLP... this is with the pickguard just resting on it, not screwed yet. You can see the bottom touches the bridge and there's a 4mm gap at the top. The gap was reduced by moving the pickup upwards a little. I did not bother with a chisel at the time similar situation here... and here so, not horrible... but there is a gap. If it's important, the gap can be eliminated by moving the pickup towards the neck a little.

They have slightly different shapes, and the pickup on the OLPs is placed something like 5mm closer to the bridge than on a Stingray, which means that you always get a small gap between the pickguard and the neck. Not huge, especially if you move the pickup neckwards a little (easy, as the OLP routing is huge, all you need is to unscrew the pickup, fit the pickguard as close as you can whilst leaving enough room for the pickup, and reinstall pickup. If you have a chisel, you could make it fit perfectly in a few minutes.