bassist_lewis

Hi Iain! thanks for getting in touch, and for letting borrow your bass, it was great! cheers L

I was up in Orkney this weekend playing the folk festival and borrowed a double bass with synthetic/nylon strings and they were amazing! they sounded great (i was playing for a bluegrass band) and they didn't tear my fingers up. I asked the owner what they were but he didn't know. They were a dirty brown colour with a white spiral looking core, don't if that helps anyone identify them?? anyway, I've decided i want to try nylon/synthetic strings but wanted recommendations first. thanks lewis

I play in two bands that demonstrate the dichotomy of personality (I'm reading showmanship/showboating) vs musicianship: Nipples of Venus (correct, that IS the best band name you've ever heard) is an instrumental band doing cheesy pop songs in a latin/salsa/afro-beat style. We all dress up and dance around, and always get a great reaction from audiences. However, because we're dancing around there are often mistakes from someone or other, but frankly it doesn't matter, we're not out there to show everyone how good we can play. On the other hand is Teek (indie pop/hip-hop/trip-hop): when we play we hardly move at all and we don't dress up, and we still get a great response from crowds. The music isn't technically much different, but there are definitely fewer mistakes. The only common thread between these two bands is great songs, and I think that's what it really comes down to.

cheers guys. The bass is currently with a technician being worked on so I can't send pics but will look in to the threadlocker stuff L

The saddle for the g string on my bass is constantly lowering on one side, I'm able to re-set it each time but I think the tiny screw needs replaced. does anyone know where you can buy tiny - like 1-1.5mm - threaded rods that can be adjusted with an alan key? Its a hipshot vintage 5 string bridge if that helps.

My Callowhill MPB, short-scale 5-string (that's a low B btw). Its the same size as a strat and fits in a guitar case. [sharedmedia=core:attachments:205533]

I've decided to add a jazz bridge pickup to my Callowhill P-bass. I love the tone a i have but more and more I'm missing that bridge pickup sound, especially for faster funk stuff. It will need routing so it'll go to Chris Mcintyre (wouldn't even think of doing it myself) but I wondered if there was anything else i needed to consider? As far as electronics go I'm torn between two volumes or having a three-way switch - whenever I've had a blend pot i only ever use it in 3 positions anyway! - any thoughts/advice on this would be great. thanks L and I'm pretty sure I want to use a Nordstrand NJ5SE jazz pickup

I just threw this together this afternoon, experimenting with two camera angles and all the random footage I've accumulated over the last month. https://youtu.be/dJWurxpGPMc

In my experience you get work with tribute and function bands because you know someone, which could be a player in the band who recommends you to whoever organises the band (this quite often is another member of the band) or you know the agent for a band, but getting work as an individual (ie not a solo performer) through an agent is much less common, as, again in my experience, agents don't tend to get too involved in the day to day running of the band, they just handle bookings. The answer, as always in music, is you have to know a guy (or girl). You could go through ads on gumtree or the like, but in my experience these tend to be amateur level bands playing a handful of gigs a year who don't know a lot of musicians. The full-time professionals I know ALWAYS hire people they've played with already or come highly recommended. Some agencies run free showcases for prospective clients to come and see the band, some bands do them themselves, or just do a gig at a pub and invite clients. But once you're in, you are IN. It takes a long time to get steady work but, after 7 years, I turn away about as much work as I take on.

Another vote for Notion. I tried a few of the free ones, they look crappy, are difficult to use and crash often. Notion is reliable and the learning curve isn't too steep.

The A is 12mm and the D is 11mm. At the end of the fingerboard

I've been playing consistently for about a year and I find my left hand tiring easy, particularly when I'm doing walking/jazz stuff, which is the majority of the gigs I do. I want to take the action down a bit and I have it booked in with the luthier next week so I wondered what was a "normal" height for predominantly pizz playing? Currently my action is 10mm on the E and 8mm on th G, measured at the end of th fingerboard. Thanks guys.

I've owned a few 5s, off the top of my head: an Aria, Lakland 5502, Lakland Darryl Jones and a Callowhill MPB. The latter is the best bass I've owned and also happens to be a 5 string. It's short scale - the B is killer btw - so it's super comfy to play, it's really light (everyone always comments when they pick it up) and I love the sound, kind of P-bass-like (it only has a P pickup) but maybe less 'grunt'.

I maybe highlighted my dislike of new strings a bit too strongly! I think it is something to do with the resonance of my new bedroom, I moved my amp through to the kitchen and the problem went away.

I've had a set of DR Lo-Riders (I think) on my bass for about 18 months and I was curious about the DR Sunbeams - nickel wound on a round core, supposedly more 'old school' sounding - so I changed them a few days ago. But now I seem to have a dead spot around the 7th fret on the E string, the notes don't seem to have as strong a fundamental as the other frets on that string and a slight dip in volume (could be because of a loss of mids rather than actual volume lost). This doesn't happen on any of the other strings. Does anyone have any insight as to why this would happen? And that's why I hate new strings, I had my sound nailed and now it's gone 😭 I might even get my old strings out the bin and put them back on!

The wombtone looks incredible but way more than I need. I don't go after synthy tones (...yet...), I'm more likely to be going for Anthony Jackson's sound on "For the love of money".