dmccombe7

I now regret selling my WAL and twin neck Shergold (4 & 8 string). At the time i wasnt bothered tho. But they were back in early 80's. Dave

I'm much the same. Areas i wont tackle is fret levelling or nut height. I probably could tackle most electrical / electronic stuff but generally dont. Dave

That's a great link. Cheers for that. Lot of little tips in there. Dave

If its too heavy its a no no for me. I get achy back if using a heavy bass for too long these days. Dave

Just watched a great Youtube clip on the Variax 4 stringer. Loved the Hamer 12 string sound. The Fender and Ric sounds were pretty close too. Might keep an eye open for one see what they sell for. Dave.

Are they not quite rare to find ? I'm off to youtube them. Dave

I'm very biased as i love playing my Jazz and thru the Mesa rig at volume it just sounds so sweet to me. Gain is set to give me a slightly overdriven tone which brings with it a really nice Ric type edge when J tone full on. I might try a Ric next time i'm in Glasgow just to see how it feels. Lot of money even 2nd hand. Someone mentioned a Variax before and if ever i could try one it might work but my J having a narrow and slim neck it just makes it very easy to play. Dave

Well a wee update from rehearsals today and general concensus from myself and band members is that the Jazz beat the Precision hands down. Both drummer and guitarist think the J had far more clarity altho the P had more depth.. They prefer the Jazz tone. P bass relegated to back up bass tho but i guess i had to try it. I quite enjoyed playing it for a full 5 hrs rehearsal but when i switched to my very narrow slim Jazz it was like the sky opened up and sun came thru. It was far easier to play than the P but a P bass has its place and i'm gonna keep it. I'd like to have been able to use the P for most songs and have the Jazz on a approx 10 songs out of the set but i dont want to be swapping basses between songs at a punk gig. Now i'm wondering if the Ric bass might have been the better choice after all. Mmmmmmm thinking ........... Dave

Might be worth getting a decent luthier or shop to do a full set up if you're seeing so many issues with it. Dave

My Fenders are at 2mm at 12th fret and neck very very slightly concave but i play quite hard live. Dave

Are you hearing the buzz thru the amp as i have buzzing when i play unplugged but when plugged in nothing seems to come thru the amp. 3rd fret is my lower frets. Dave

I quite enjoy that kind of acoustic / "folk" style music. I auditioned for a Celtic folk band once. Its the only audition i've ever failed but i wasn't really sure and probably didnt put enough effort into it. Oddly enough they approached me a year later when the guy they picked left. I said no and that i wasn't too impressed with the girls in the band saying to me that the guy in before me was perfect for the band. Kind of put a damper on it right away. LOL Dave

What kind of music are you palying ? Dave

Have to say Skerryvore did ok with the island scene. Bit of Scottish Trad rock going on there. I think it all stems from that other trad rock foot-stomping band from Scotland Runrig but they are probably the exceptions to the rule. Capercaillie another great trad rock band. I know what you mean about the local scene in Oban or even Highlands for that matter. Inverness probably an exception there too. You'll just have to travel down to the big City. How unlucky am i that our first gig in 18mths with the Glam band is the night they shut off all the streets in Glasgow for the COP thing. Dave

Think there are always songs in a set i dont particulary enjoy or even like but its got to be a balance between what the band likes and what an audience might enjoy. My background has always been rock and prog. Its what i listen to and what i've played most over the years in covers bands. My current band is a 70's Glam covers band and it turns out i really love playing those songs from the 72-76 era. I was recently asked to join a 70's classic punk band and having never really listened to punk much i was sceptical about it but said i would give it a go. Turns out i really enjoy playing them as well and several of the songs are simply good ol' pop rock songs. Seems i just love songs from the 70's 😂 I've been in covers bands where i didn't think the songs would suit the band or audience but i played them anyways but didn't stay long in those kind of bands. Audience needs to enjoy what the band are doing or it could turn out to be a poor gig for everyone including the band. If the songs dont get an audience moving, applauding or appreciative in some way then the gigs a flop for me. Dave

Log-arithmetically 😂

Couple of mine that i still really like. WAL is gone tho.

I'm a big fan of wood finish basses like Alembics. Love a nice rich coloured wood. They dont fit with the style of music i play tho. Dave

I try not to press too hard as i have a nerve end problem on my index finger that feels like someone pushing a needle into my finger if i press overly hard too often. I'm trying to balance playing light with my left hand while digging in. Its an odd thing but when i used to dig in with my right hand i automatically press the strings harder with my left hand. Dave

That just sounds painful. What plonker actually thought of that........ Dave

My Warwick Thumb NT has individual adjusting screws below the strings. Its an early 89 one. Must admit i like the Sandberg zero fret idea. Dave

That's a measurement i never check or adjust as i've never known what is correct. My Sandberg has a zero fret so i'm guessing a nut could be adjusted down to approx a fret height. Would that be right enough. ? Dave

'm hoping you measured your own

Being an engineer i tend to measure things but i have adjusted basses to a point i'm happy with and then i just have to measure it. (its sad but i have no choice 😂) With regards the neck relief my quick way of setting it is when changing the strings i look down the neck without strings and adjust neck to be perfectly straight. When strings are added it draws the neck slightly concave. That would be my approx guide and from there i would then tweak it till i'm happy.................and then measure it cause i'm a sad auld git On hindsight i seem to have different methods of going about it probably dependant on how much time i have available to fine tweak things. Dave

Just bought my first P bass in about 40yrs and loving it. (2nd hand) I've set the neck to be very slightly concave and string height down from quite high when i bought it to 2mm. It sounds fine at home and will be taking to rehearsal on Sun where i will try it with a bit more aggression and tweak the height appropriately. When i get a bass i normally start at 2.5mm string height and slowly tweak it down to where it sounds ok with no fret buzz and no bottoming out when playing above 12th fret. As a comparison my Jazz was down approx 1.7mm and it was great at home. When i gigged it i found it was overly buzzing and raised that to 2mm and gigged again and it was fine. My Sandberg VM4 is very low at 1.5mm and has quite a straight neck. I dont tend to play this bass as hard as my Fenders (i cant explain why not......i dont really know) Dave