Rayman

If I was in the market for a Fender now, I wouldn't waste my time and hard earned on some long shot from 30 years ago, I'd just buy a new one, and by new I mean 2010 to present, because Fender are producing some really great basses right now that out play a lot of the driftwood from the 70s. Don't get me wrong, some of these old basses really do have some kind of voodoo mojo thing going on, but a lot of them really don't. Only my opinion of course.

More people are skint, and are unloading basses that are worth decent money because they need to is my guess. The problem with "Vintage" Fenders is that some of them might well be old and all that, but often they're really not very good, and IMO overpriced. I sold my old '78 Precision, admittedly a year or so ago for around £850/900 from memory, and that was a good 'un. They seem to be going for well into the thousands at the moment, which I don't get and won't pay, because I don't think they're worth it. I've played [i]some[/i] absolute dogs from the 70s. "Vintage" does not always mean "Good".

We open with either Vertigo, Learning To Fly or Monster usually.

Easy..... JJ Burnel - The Stranglers.

[quote name='Sibob' post='1228545' date='May 12 2011, 10:55 AM']He's a great player and a fountain of knowledge, new bass sounds ok dunnit, just like all other Foderas I think, which is certainly no bad thing. Would love to see some videos of him playing the hell out of his Precision, I've only seen it on one American chat show, and the mix wasn't great. Also, marginally off-topic, I'm sure I saw Janek playing on one of those horrible 'Sweet 16' tv programs?!, playing for a male American singer-songwriter playing acoustic?!. Anyone confirm this?! Si[/quote] Probably, he does all sorts of session work. I saw him touring with JEM a few years back.

[quote name='Doddy' post='1228543' date='May 12 2011, 10:54 AM']No...I have private lessons with him whenever he's in the UK.[/quote] AH ok.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='1228535' date='May 12 2011, 10:51 AM']I don't think you understand Basschat.[/quote] Exactly. This is just mad.....a nice thread is started by the OP, sharing pics of his great collection of basses, something the OP chose to share with us, and then someone makes a harmless quip about having a bunch of similar basses and the OP goes off on one?? My suggestion is the the OP doesn't get who or what we do here. We're all friends and strangers rolled into one. We share information, jokes, chat and have sometimes heated discussions because we choose to do so. If you're going to take offence to a harmless comment like that, then you're in the wrong place, and for me personally, this is a typical example of situations that spoil this forum for us all.

[quote name='Doddy' post='1228532' date='May 12 2011, 10:49 AM']He's cool-I've learned a ton of stuff I'm my lessons with him. [/quote] Do you subscribe monthly for that? I've wondered about it myself, but as someone without a lot of theoretical knowledge I fear I might be lost.

I tried a slap solo, on a Thunderbird, during a rock covers gig. I could actually hear someone in the audience going...."Oh no no no no".

Yeah, top job, looks like a nice grain on it too. superb bass, and well worth the overhaul. Can't wait to see the finished job.

Now this is a bass solo......at around 2 minutes in...... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dPf9GQEdes&feature=fvwrel"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dPf9GQEdes...;feature=fvwrel[/url] Andrew Levy is one of my heroes, and his playing on this track is almost perfect for me, and that includes the very tastefully brief solo.

I guess it all comes down to your definition of what bass playing actually [i]is[/i]. I like nothing better than a simple groove, repetitive, solid, something that makes you nod your head. To me, that's the antithesis of bass playing, drums and bass together, making you nod your head in time. Now on the other side of the coin, I like some of the solo players too, Wooten, Miller, Nitti etc etc, and I enjoy listening to them solo, but I still much prefer to hear Marcus Miller, for example, laying down a head bobbing groove than listen to him popping the lead melody on the G string. I think when you have low and high frequencies in a song, it creates balance to your ears. So if there's a lead guitar or keyboard melody playing the high frequency stuff, there needs to be the bass and drums taking care of the low frequency stuff to balance the sound, and certainly not a tinny bass pop thing going on at the same time otherwise the bottom end is gone. However that's in a band situation. If you had for instance a trio, of drums, upright bass and piano, the piano can play the low end stuff while the bass solos and visa versa and that works beautifully. To me, it's all about good music. Whether the solo is on trumpet, keys, guitar, and even bass, whatever....if it's enjoyable and stimulating to listen to, it has it's place in the world.

That is a sexy bit of kit for sure. Same layout as my clover but with one string less. I bet it sounds amazing.

[quote name='Wil' post='1224792' date='May 9 2011, 09:22 AM']I can't stand a bass with the action set too low for this reason - notes ring clearer, and seem to have more thump when the action is set higher.[/quote] Ditto. My basses have always had some daylight under the strings because I do clatter the strings pretty hard live, and they just sound so much better. For me a low action makes it harder to play and makes it sound worse. I guess it depends how you play. If you're a jazzer with a light touch, then maybe a low action is fine, but not for me.

I hasten to add, my choice was because the player in question was genuinely one of my biggest influences, not because she's a woman. I just wanted to be clear

Never thought he'd let that go, shame if it's just a need for money, but understandable if that's the case. I'd sell my house to buy that if I could.

Tina Weymouth [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIW4skg3Ceo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIW4skg3Ceo[/url]

Nah. Not a lot of point. It doesn't affect the bass at all and has obviously been like it for some time as it looks like someone has tried to fill it previously. My long term plans for the bass were to pull out the pups and mybe make it active, but it sounds so fantastic as it is I've shelved all that. Long term now I'll be thinking about a new neck, maybe a custom job, ebony board type of thing, but for now it's just great as it is. It's funny, I have 3 other basses sat here, but the Prose has become my go to bass at home.

[quote name='Johnston' post='1218794' date='May 3 2011, 04:37 PM']Can you not get Botox on your sweat glands or something daft these days??[/quote] Yes you can. It's quite common to get botox injections in the face around the forehead etc to help stop sweating, but I'm not sure how effective it is.

I sweat like a glass blowers arse (nice) during gigs. The drummer and myself are terrible, we look like we've been in a sauna at the end of a gig. Not much you can do for that, I've looked into it, but for hands you can try the suggestion above, and in extreme circumstances you can have an operation to stop it. A girl who used to sing with us suffered with sweaty hands, and she was mortified with embarrassment, and used to wear gloves. She finally had an op and was cured. There is a powder you can get, and could well be the stuff mentioned above, but I understand it's pretty unpleasant stuff in terms of the chemicals there in. So I just have a towel. Edit; a doctor explained to me that if you sweat, you sweat. It's healthy (although embarrassing) and good for you as long as you top up with fluids. If you do use something to stop sweating in a certain area, it [i]can[/i] make other areas of your body worse as the moisture still needs to get out. So if you use Driclor on your back, and pits etc, you're gonna need a change of undies at half time

[quote name='Gust0o' post='1218766' date='May 3 2011, 04:14 PM']I think it's the cachet of the ESP brand - they've always been a little heavy metal; still, don't half the metallers use Ibanezes? I love the Clover. The MM near the neck reminds me of my MTD. Great position, right where the strings are most taut.[/quote] Yes indeed, the Ibbys do get branded as rock basses, but they're a bit more generic and acceptable looking I guess. Strangely the "Rockest" looking bass I now have is an Ibanez, but not the SR505, the GWB-35. Everyone who sees it expects it to be a [i]monster[/i], and are rather deflated when I tell them it's the sig bass of a jazz fusion player. The Clover's just fab. I did look into the MTDs after you mentioned them before, but then this Clover came up, and that was that, and yeah I'm tending to play over the MM pup most of the time for a nice tight punchy tone.

Fralins are the best I've ever had. I had them in a Lakland JO4 which sounded amazing. Shame Villex disappeared, because I had some of those in an H1 Jazz and they too were incredible.