spacecowboy

My Funk, Soul, & Motown covers band played our first wedding reception last night at The Saxon Mill in Warwick. We all played well, Bride and Groom very happy, lots of singing, dancing, applause etc, we got a further gig from it so on that front the gig was fantastic and we were paid an hour after getting home. However... It was the first time I'd mustered the courage to head out with my Ken Smith, It's a bass I like to have in the home to practice more complicated stuff on, but I fancied playing it at this nice venue and at a wedding, however during sound check I just couldn't hear myself, we could feel the bass but It was impossible to hear the notes in the mix, thinking it could just be the fact the ceilings where low, I was tucked in a corner and the room had a carpet floor I switched out to my trusty Squier P (The wife) and soundchecked with that, and... there it was, louder, clearer, present and cutting right through the mix. So I was obviously very put out by that, I want to play the Smith, but it obviously needs a different band / setup to work well. Bum! Next gig this friday at our usual haunt in Leamington Spa where the Squier will do the hard work again.

They've spent a lot of money on sponsorships recently as every man and his dog on YouTube has one to sell you. Funniest thing was, even though Ian Martin Allison is an endorser of the Helix lineup he couldn’t understand the pedal that can only play one FX at a time… you know like a normal pedal does… I do see the benefit of not lugging all my back line around and everything being in one little box, but to my ears they don’t sound good enough to replace my gear just yet, especially not at those prices.

The build wasn't without issues though. The neck was a right sod, it hated the la bellas and the truss rod really struggled to counteract the tension, the truss rod was very tight so needed lubing and encouraging, completely loosening and then tightening up to get it happy to be moving again, I actually thought it could have been broken as I wasn't seeing any change at all, but after a day it began moving. I had to set the neck with the truss rod cranked to put a bit of back bow in it and let it sit a night without strings on just to settle it down, once I got the relief on the neck perfect (well to where I want it... which is barely any movement between fret and string, I blame my Ken Smith for setting up that expectation) I then couldn't get the strings low enough to the board because of the Gotoh bridge being around 3mm thicker than the Fender / Squier BBOT bridges, so a shim was ordered, ended up using the 0.5 degree shim and then the action of the strings and neck relief where perfect... but then a new problem, the pickup foam I had wasn't tall enough to raise the pickups to where I wanted them so new pickup foam ordered, bloody expensive, but worked a treat and now thankfully, everything is happy and the bass is ready to take to my next gig! I don't think the Gotoh bridge adds enough to warrant all the issues it caused however!

Very recently picked up some second hand bits and pieces for a bitsa P Bass build. It started with this Squier body, but as I already have a sunburst P Bass in the stable I decided I was going to refinish it. A pro told me there was no need to strip back to bare timber and that knocking back the lacquer would be enough with primer / top coat and new lacquer. I used some filler on the dent on the back and roughed it all back. Building up the primer coats slowly and flattening back each coat before the next. Until I had a nice even primed surface! Worth the patience. The final colour was an off white / grey, RAL 9002 to be specific, I'd had creams, oly whites, arctic whites on basses previously and wanted a different look, if I could have got it in good time I did want Porsche Chalk Grey, but this was a lovely colour too, and looked ace on the guitar. Not so many process photos but slow build up and flattening off between coats. Went with a satin poly lacquer so it didn't feel so glossy and after a few days of hanging up in a hot area curing it was ready to take home and add some hardware! Hardware time! The build got the following goodies installed; Squier CV60's Body Squier CV70's Maple Neck, black blocks and binding, came with stock tuners, nut, and string tree. Gotoh bridge (required me to buy a maple wood shim as it sits higher than a standard BBOT bridge. ) Aguilar AG4P-60 pickups, my new go to pickups, they are AMAZING, Kiogon loom Flat head tele knobs (which I haven't installed yet as I really like the pot shaft no knob look) New Squier neck plate and screws Red tortoise shell pickguard Comfort Strap Ernie Ball lime green strap locks (I have the same strap + straplock combo on all my basses) Cavity shielding La Bella Flats (The only strings I use these days, again they're on all my basses) Annnnd... she was done! Very satisfying putting it all together and it thankfully it sounds and plays just like a P Bass should! Gorgeous!

I’ve used Ableton for years it’s by far my favourite DAW, in my experience it’s just the most powerful and flexible piece of software I’ve ever used. I use it for recording, production, mastering, and sound design. I bought the suite edition of 11 and that’ll get me upgrades to versions 12 and 13 for free when released. I think that applies to every purchase level though too. Could be wrong!

Bought a precision bass neck from Matt, great comms throughout and neck came as described and excellently packaged. Buy with confidence!

It’s not a 1 off! It’s what they do?!

Oh is that what that is!? I thought it was some kind of weird switch mounting hole or something! that’s what I don’t get i doubt the routing is done by hand, in fact I’m sure they wouldn’t, but why do that shape?

£215!!

Hi guys, So I ordered a Fender player series p bass body (eBay) listed as brand new and unused… which is going to be returned as there is a dent above the neck pocket and a paint / wood chip off the lower section, but what’s really got me puzzled is the neck pocket route? It looks like it’s been over shot on both sides? But then it’s been painted and I’m sure QC’d and packed off. Is this the norm for Fender now? I know the pickguard covers it all but… I don’t get it it just looks wrong. The paint job isn’t brilliant either thick gloopy looking paint around the horn inners!? bad times.

@EddieGHoly moly what an absolute faff on. Feel for you buddy.

New pedal board to allow me to play my bass and my Novation Bass Station through the same rig. The Tone Hammer Pre is at the end for studio recordings or for when I go direct through the house but it's normally bypassed live and eq is done on the TH500 head.

I ended up using my spare bass on a gig and it sounded better and I had more fun playing it than the other one, so, it became my main player. A £260 Squier P Bass… so I don’t know what I’d take as a spare now, another Squier? Still haven’t had the opportunity to gig the Ken Smith though… definitely can’t have that as a backup to the p bass 🤣