mcnach

We all have heard that, haven't we? Last week I played a late night gig with Sea Bass Kid [1]. We played two sets, and during the break we generally go out to get some fresh air etc. An "interesting" character approached us wanting to adopt us and putting a very serious amount of cash behind us (he says). Fully "blinged", wearing sunglasses at night, talking about how he's loaded and into music and we were the only band in 8 weeks that he has been in Edinburgh that he thought were good (well, thank you! ) bla blah, "here, buy yourselves a drink" says handing us a £50 note. Anyway, the full conversation with him belongs to a new thread on its own but the reason I started this one was for something he said. When he was giving us compliments, he said how there was a guy drinking next to him during our first set, and at one point that guy turns to our "interesting" guy and says "the bass player? the bass player... is a twat!!!" To which our "interesting guy" replied (he says) saying that he is the twat, and we are very talented and our music is great and this and the other and sent him out of the bar. And, you know what's the bit that I thought was cute? Not the fact that this guy "defended" me, but the fact the other guy had noticed me, the bass player. Even if it was to say I was a twat I'm serious I don't know why he disliked me... we had a guitar string breakage issue and one of the other guitarists, the drummer and I started to jam and I may have been a bit loud and even slapped a bit on that bit for a minute (oh, the horror!) so maybe he just did not appreciate that. I was also very tired and a bit ill and I think I did not play very well that night... maybe it was that. Ah, I'll never know, for our "interesting" guy sent him out before he got to heckle me, so I don't know who he was. But... hey! Someone noticed me! [1] here's a preliminary mix of one of our tracks from our new to be released first CD, in case you are curious [url="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/38169404/SBK%20recording%20mixes%20-%20121022/Gloria.mp3"]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/38169404/SBK%20recording%20mixes%20-%20121022/Gloria.mp3[/url]

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1350829938' post='1843928'] I read the description and thought "God that sounds awful" but it actually looks really good in the pics! Good job. :-) [/quote] I had the same reaction NIce result!

[quote name='DarkHeart' timestamp='1350755670' post='1843193'] Just bought an alder body, im gonna make myself another Jazz [/quote] oooh, looking forward to the detailed day to day photographs

I keep thinking of picking one of these up for my black/maple OLP... hmmm. I'd love to see the bits and how they all assemble to gauge how much work it'd require on the OLP...

[quote name='Darkstrike' timestamp='1350517689' post='1840103'] Who cares if it's "just a variation" when it's a variation on awesome? Eh? [/quote] Good point

[quote name='tommorichards' timestamp='1350506749' post='1839936'] 2 things. What oil? And why not a ricky neck pickup? [/quote] Casey's TruOil. It's what MusicMan recommends for the Stingray so I bought some a while ago. Why not a Ricky neck pickup? Because... I don't particularly like Ricks (even if I were able to find a pickup!) and also I'm not a big fan of neck pickups. I know, I know, this way I'm just getting another slight variation of the Stingray... but what can I do? I'm stuck in Stingrayland

[quote name='Ashwood1985' timestamp='1350434342' post='1838957'] LOL Thanks for all the great suggestions guys. I've been a little pre-occupied with work and mixing some album tracks between shifts so I only got as far as taking the neck off the body and leaving the bass in two on the sofa for the last week! When I manage to get the time to strip it back I'll make my mind up. linseed oil and gunstock wax sound like good hassle free solutions that should deliver the result I'm after. I'll be sure to update with any progress! Thanks again for all the contributions. They're appreciated [/quote] doing the same at the moment on the neck of my Retrovibe Vantage. In my case I'm using fine steel wool and Casey's TruOil. I also have some Casey's gunstock wax. I applied the oil last night, couple of coats. Looking already pretty nice, and simple.

[quote name='such' timestamp='1350428325' post='1838915'] the OLP (OIP ) looks like the real thing, they made two pickup versions towards the end of production. If it's one of those and it's really unused, the price is good. Still, I wouldn't do business with that shop. [/quote] I think there must have been a lot of OLP parts on sale after production stopped. I have seen over the past couple of years a number of OLP MM2 basses with a few odd bits, very unusual colours, the wrong type of pickguard, slightly different body shape, etc. I suspect various people/companies bought crates of parts, and some were assembled into "genuine" OLP instruments, while some instruments end up just having an OLP neck and some hardware etc

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1350429090' post='1838924'] Most of the time when people request songs that we don't know I just say "yeah sure, we'll play it after the next one". Truckstop [/quote] Playing with our RHCP tribute band someone asked for Pearl Jam. Well, as it turns out, we were a Pearl Jam tribute band for a short while, so we launched into Even Flow (only I did not have the fretless with me, but it works)

Behringer V-Amp2. One of the guitar amp models, stamped on the front was the "Amercian Blues". They fixed that soon... but mine is one of the "rare" Amercian models. I wonder if that makes it more valuable for collectors now

I got the steel wool and the TruOil out today. I only spent a few minutes with it... and I'm very pleasantly surprised at what a little oil does for looks! I only used the very fine steel wool on the back of the neck to smoothen it a little and remove the slightly coarse feeling it had, that "raw" feeling. Seriously, about 5min it's all it took. Wiped it all off, and it felt noticeable better. Then the oil. It looks nice, darkening the wood a tiny bit. I'll apply a couple more coats tomorrow and let it dry properly, then buff it. I need to apply some to the fretboard too, but that will have to wait until I change the strings. I have no neck pickup anymore. I have plans for a drastic look change, and I'm going to go with a single humbucker (for now, I might bring back the neck pickup in the future, at a new location closer to the bridge). So to force me to act, I cut all the wires and removed the pickup. watch this space...

[quote name='badboy1984' timestamp='1350409377' post='1838472'] check out this musicman copy. [url="http://thetopguitars.com/products/Musicman-4-Strings-Electric-Bass-.html"]http://thetopguitars...tric-Bass-.html[/url] [/quote] my eyes vomited.

[quote name='mark77bass' timestamp='1350315571' post='1837183'] Hi Guys, Does anyone know anyone who has one of these? [url="http://www.probass.co.uk/Vantage4.html"]http://www.probass.co.uk/Vantage4.html[/url] Be interested to know what you all think? Cheers [/quote] yup, got one a few weeks ago: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/185702-retrovibe-basses-i-dont-need-one-but/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/185702-retrovibe-basses-i-dont-need-one-but/[/url] I really like it. Mine was not perfect from the box, and I'm tinkering with it a lot (which for me is part of the fun). But basically it's decently made, the bridge pickup is great (not adequate, but great ) and it balances well, it looks great, unique... I hate the neck pickup. It is weak, and the position it's in lacks the "Jazz neck" sound anyway, and it gets in the way a bit when slapping (at least the way I do). I ended up screwing the neck pickup all the way in. Next step is... I'm going to get another pickguard and the neck pickup will go entirely. I'll put a Stingray-style pickguard and will modify the control plate area... so it's going to be a total mindf*uck of a bass: part Jazz, part Ric, part Stingray, yet none of them at the same time. Oh, and a preamp. Seymour Duncan STC-3M4 at the moment.

Listening to isolated tracks is very enlightening. I remember listening to the Blood Sugar Sex Magik album by the RHCP... when mixed it sounds great, but listening to the bass alone it reveals some less than perfect sounds at times... but it works. Also, the actual bass sound... it does not sound as "inspiring" as you'd imagine, by itself, but in the mix it sits perfectly and sounds really good.

[quote name='witterth' timestamp='1349799525' post='1830708'] Just after I'd finished playing on Saturday night a Bloke came up to me and said: "Oy! You!, whats the difference between playing The Bass Guitar and Pea Green Paint?" "I Dunno" I said. "Well", said he, "any F***er can Play The Bass Guitar" (True) [/quote] "well, can you?" is the reply that would be so tempting to give

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1349950411' post='1832540'] I can never understand why anyone would take a constituent of the whole and judge it in isolation. It's like enjoying a wonderful plate of food then eating half a teaspoon of salt and being surprised it tastes horrible. [/quote] Can I steal this? Great comment. I *will* steal it

[quote name='S9_S12_Bass' timestamp='1349976173' post='1833045'] Glad to see its going well, I've never been a fan of neck pups always sound too thin to me Would be interesting to hear this. Have you got any recordings with it at all? [/quote] No, no recordings. I'll probably record some rehearsals soon, but it would be a Zoom H2 picking up the ambient sound... so not exactly ideal to judge how a bass sounds.

Finally I had time to try the bass at rehearsal. I have not changed the electronics yet [1], so it's all stock. Overall: really good, actually. I'm liking that bridge MM humbucker a lot. It's very powerful, fat, meaty, with good definition. However, I really do not like the neck pickup. Not sure whether it's due to the pickup itself or its position, or both! But I don't care for it. I ended up screwing it down into the body until it's nearly flush with the pickguard. That way it does not get in the way, and it's better to slap (for me). It does not sound too Stingrayish, not even like the SUB I have, with the pickup wired in series. It has its own sound, which is nice, as I don't necesarily want two basses that sound the same. Definitely a one-pickup bass for me. I was thinking of having a red pickguard made, now that I have a good template... I may just do it without a neck pickup entirely, or perhaps move it closer to the bridge. Regardless, I like this bass a lot. Glad I bought it. One of these days I'll rub some very very very fine steel wool on the neck and put some Tru-oil, so that it loses that "raw" quality it has. [1] electronics... well, passive sounds quite good. Tone open, it sounds bright, crispy yet deep. Tone closed, nice fat reggae tones. I thought of putting a preamp in here. I bought a John East MMSR (Stingray) preamp off another BC member, but it arrived damaged So I'm waiting to sort this out. I have a 3-band Seymour Duncan preamp, but I really like the MMSR, with the midsweep... Yes, it's a cheap(ish) kind of bass. But it deserves it.

[quote name='Earbrass' timestamp='1349797095' post='1830660'] 26 and 28 for me. That rubbish "piano(?)" sound starts to grate pretty quickly though - surely they could have found something better? [/quote] 26 and 28 for me too.. but at the end I was just wishing it would end...

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1349516764' post='1827209'] Will do. I've messaged my old bandmate, as I can't find Jimmy's business card. [/quote] thank you

[quote name='stu_g' timestamp='1349467658' post='1826854'] i used to have an old session amp many years ago that used to cut out took it to guitar village in farnham and the bloke who did repairs remedy was to solder the internal fuse into its holder?the fuse never blew in first place! it was a mosfet fault of some kind, anyways amp never was repaired but i learnt my lesson and after invested my money into a trce elliot ah300smx which i still have today [/quote] Session? later Award-Session? I know the owner/designer, Stewart Ward. You could have taken the amp to him... he's in Basingstoke! I liked his amps. I don't own any of them, but all my cables were made by him

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1349465547' post='1826813'] An old bandmate of mine had a load of gear repaired by Jimmy Gillan (he works from home near the cathedral), and he seems to welcome transistor as well as valve stuff. I've not dealt with him myself, so I can't offer an actual endorsement, but my bandmate was quite happy. I don't think he has an internet presence, but I'm sure I can dig out his number if you want to give him a shot. [/quote] That would be good, sure. If you can find out and send me a PM I'd appreciate it. Thanks!