Rayman

Ooh….. if you have a set of tapes…. I’d be very interested. I can’t afford another new set…..

Yep, this one is active, nicely shielded cavity, neat and tidy electronics, sounds absolutely fab. Very very impressive, for a apparently modest instrument, that also cost me a ton. It’s a hundred quid well spent, and who knows where it’ll lead me. Possibly a fretless journey like you maybe….

No mate, it’s gone a lot darker with the wax, which is what I was hoping for, but you can still see the shape of the grain and the variations in the tones close up. Pretty sure these MIK ones were Mahogany/Maple bodies with a 5pce maple/rosewood neck and Pau Ferro fingerboard, with the info I’ve found. Happy to be corrected though

Absolutely marvellous thing this…. It’s turned out beautifully, plays and sounds absolutely lovely, despite the ageing Rotosound Monel flats I had knocking around (I hate coloured silks). Anyway, fabulous bass, very happy with it.

Come up very nice

Cheers for that, yep, I know all about wood treatments, I’ve been in the industrial timber coatings industry for 30 years. Yep, you can over do it, but used within the guidelines specified you’re usually ok. I believe the fingerboard is Pau Ferro but I can’t be certain. This is an older Korean model, so finding the specs is a bit tricky.

Thomastik JF344 flats The perfect flat. Lots of low end but a really nice punchy high on top. They last forever and feel like your favourite slippers.

First job….. Monty’s Fretboard Conditioner….. leave it overnight

But nowhere near as good 😆 I do love me an Aria.

I can only echo what others have said. Been there, done it. I used to work for a piano specialist, moving and installing them. These older family models aren’t worth much unfortunately, unless they’re great condition and made by a top notch maker, which they usually aren’t. Its very sad… I virtually gave my mums old piano away for nothing, but apparently it went to a good home. It’s a shame that nobody wants them anymore.

So the herd continues to grow….. I picked this up for peanuts, honestly expecting it to be majorly goosed, but it really isn’t at all. Nice clean bass, needs fretboard conditioning and straightening, and probably flats or even tapes. The previous owner dug into it pretty hard, but I’m going to give it a much more gentle future, and maybe fit a ramp. Made in Korea at the Un Sung factory, Grover tuners…. decent little bass, never had a Dean before. Anyway, best start working on my intonation eh?

The principal of spraying is pretty straightforward with a bit of practice on some scrap material first. To get an even coat you need to do two things…. 1: maintain the same distance away from the wood while passing over it. 2: maintain the same speed while passing over it. This should give an even coat. If you get closer and slower while spraying, you are applying more material, which will get darker in value (and probably run). If you move further away and move quicker, you are putting less material on, making it lighter in value. The principle of a fade, is to have an even coat in the middle, while moving further away and more quickly to the outside. Remember, less is more. Go easy and light with the fade. You can always go back with another pass if you want it a bit darker, but if you hit it too hard in the first place and go too dark, you can’t make it lighter again without a lot of sanding. Hope that helps

This ^ In a consumer age that relies increasingly on an efficient and professional online presence, and where human interaction is (sadly) a thing of the past, it is absolutely vital , that businesses handle their online presence and sales quickly and efficiently. Because the next company are waiting to steal your sales. I’m afraid BD seem to be failing, at this point, to cope. I don’t doubt that they’re great people, knowledgeable and friendly, but it’s a cutthroat world in retail. I really hope they can get it all together, but my brief experiences with them have put me off personally. 32 pages into this thread, on a major bass players forum, and the issues keep coming.

Looks like a standard set list to me in terms of what punters want to hear. As long as you play the songs well, they should be well received. I certainly can’t see anything wrong with the list.

Nice collection there…. For me though, also 40yrs down the road, I have a constantly fluid and ever changing bass collection. I’ve tried so hard to settle on a few, but can’t. To me they’re tools, and to be honest I rarely get attached to them these days, they come, they go…. If I inserted the current list here, it’ll be different in 6 months.

Scott Devine is clearly a workaholic and has a very clear business model. He’s clearly very driven and runs a tight ship that is very successful…. best of luck to him. I….. just find the barrage of emails, videos, incentives and constant presence overbearing and irritating. But that’s more about me than SBL. He (as the shop front) seems to be a nice fella and a good bass player, as does his is husband Ian Allison. Best of luck to the growing empire, it’s just not for me.