LukeFRC

do you know who is supposed to have made the body?

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1347049405' post='1796544'] that's amazing!!! and only £20?? IT has such a beautiful grain, and nice routing for the neck pickup so you can use it without pickguard... I have been wanting something like that for a while, but never saw anything, and when it's painted you never know what you will find underneath! I'm glad you will leave it natural. Natural and maple... if you ever want to let it go talk to me! [/quote] +1 (well not the talking to me first bit, Jose would kill me!)

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' timestamp='1347033524' post='1796297'] Regarding the comment about the Wal increasing in value, I would disagree, a wal bought in 1986 for £800, now worth £2500, in real terms is still a loss, I mean £800 in 1986 is alot more than £2500 is today. [/quote] according to the online inflation calculators £800 in 1986 would be £2012 today. While somethings like houses have shot up, other things, like mass produced bass guitars are way more affordable now. I can't think of something you could be sure would keep it's value. My warwick I bought cheap, so that will keep it's value- but you could apply that to anything that goes out of fashion at some point. I think buying to try and make an investment isn't really going to work for most people - but what you going to go for? Rick's two JV's wouldn't be a bad shout though, (ask nicely you can add mine for the entire collection!) but then you need other people wanting them for them to be desirable- and then you get into 'collectors' territory and.... well, my JV was bought by accident- not cos I thought it would be worth anything- at the time I thought I had over payed but got an amazing bass (thanks stevie) now the price seems to be going up... and suddenly I'm more precious about playing it- and for me that looses a bit of the fun.

[quote name='wishface' timestamp='1347033131' post='1796289'] 1.about 3mm 2. I didn't take the strings off to get to the pickup i loosened them. the strings slip when i put them on the first place. It takes a while to get them to stay in tune. Most of the strings go around a couple of times. 3. the saddles vary in height, not by much, but the highest is about a mm up. They don't have an angle as they are round shaped. 4. nothing, though i knew roughly about intonation before. the only problem is moving the saddles without using my fingers. [/quote] cheers. If that is 3mm from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string we've identified probably the main problem. Your neck has too much relief on it- which isn't that unusual. So this bent neck is making the action seem high, you've compensated for this by lowering the bridge which makes the whole thing not work quite as well as it could. So how to solve it.... well one thing at a time. (I'm going to presume the strings are ok.) If you do a number of things, and correctly in the right order then you'll sort it out- but don't expect it to work perfectly first time first lets get that neck straighter. To do this we need to tighten the truss rod. The "give it half a turn" advice is only half helpful. What you are aiming for is about 1mm. First things first some rules.... (1) if it doesn't move - don't force it. (2) don't turn it without taking the tension off it first. The strings are one spring pulling one way, and the truss rod is pulling the other. So when you tighten it do it in half turns and leave it for a bit. As you turn it, take the strain off it, either by slackening all the strings (you'll have to tighten them again though) or by my preferred method, by holding the bass body with your knees and pulling the headstock backward yourself and then tightening it. (does that make sense) Once that's down to 1mm or so we can do the rest. The saddles will probably need raising up from where they are now later. Oh and using your fingers to move the saddles is fine and dandy.

which one did you go for?

How did you do that mate? Ask around for a replacement MEC one. they do come up time to time and when they do they don't cost too much. New ones are silly expensive. Bart preamps seem to be stuck in warwicks a fair bit, aguilar for more agressive tone. IMO, and IME Glockenklang doesn't work well.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1347015065' post='1795978'] Back to the bass... Questions to answer: 1) Hold down the string at the first and last fret. What is the gap under the string at the 12th fret? 2) You said the strings slipped when you took them off, can I ask how many times they go around the posts of the tuners? 3) how low are the saddles on the bridge? - whats the downward angle like? 4) Can I ask what else you have been reading/watching in terms of setup, there is the possibility we are telling you things you already know and it seems patronising. [/quote] can you answer these please?

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1347014088' post='1795951'] Basically yes. The Tanglewood & Hudson stuff are definitely related (Tanglewood were a brand owned by the guy that owns Cranes in Cardiff & so are Hudson) & I think they (and many other cheap import lines) are built in the Cort factory [/quote] though so is Lakland, Squier and Fender built in Cort factories so Cort doesn't necessarily mean cheap

Back to the bass... Questions to answer: 1) Hold down the string at the first and last fret. What is the gap under the string at the 12th fret? 2) You said the strings slipped when you took them off, can I ask how many times they go around the posts of the tuners? 3) how low are the saddles on the bridge? - whats the downward angle like? 4) Can I ask what else you have been reading/watching in terms of setup, there is the possibility we are telling you things you already know and it seems patronising.

wishface, I was on this thread this morning and somehow since it seems to have dissolved into you calling people rude and berating them for not reading posts "correctly" can I suggest you have been given a lot of advice, and that, combined with research we would presume you are doing on the internet would have solved all the problems you have with your bass. The fact you say your bass still isn't any good gives the impression that maybe you're not understanding or following the advice correctly. Setting up a bass isn't just doing x, y and z - it's reacting to what is in front of you to make it work - from some of your responces it is pretty clear to folk who regularly set instruments up you're not doing this. For example tightening the truss rod - it's not a case of just tightening it, it's tightening it correctly. You were asked a few times by people for measurements that would help people advise you which you didn't do, maybe you didn't understand why they were asking or why it was important- which suggests again you need to go read something on how to set up a guitar. Fender have a guide I think on their website or google or your local library may be able to help you. Again when you said you couldn't lower your pickup further you were told why, the bit of foam. And I remember reading someone say that if needed you could trim it down a bit. You chose to read that as "take it out". Ultimatly pickup height is unimportant if the earlier stages of set up havn't been done correctly. The key word there is correctly. You're asking a bunch of people who know what they are doing to use their skills to help you out and save you £20 set up costs. May I suggest if you go away and research yourself what to do, and then come here to check that you've done something correctly or not it would produce an environment more conducive to it being set up correctly. Failing that if you would like to be taken out of your misery ill give you £50 for it.

wood pickup covers = more fidelity ???

if he wasn't switching to 5 string.... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fretless-Bass-Guitar-Unusual-Design-Variable-EMG-pickup-/160878760543?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item25751f125f&_uhb=1#ht_500wt_1219

whatever the first wee tune was in your clips, I found myself playing that the other day- only just worked out where I heard it!

[quote name='lowdowner' timestamp='1346791050' post='1793403'] too late.. too late... I'm doomed to drag my weak and starving body through the streets of england begging for pennies to pay for my GAS caused debts I'm too weak to resist [/quote] you weren't tempted by the one in the forsale section?

[quote name='wishface' timestamp='1346930789' post='1794901'] It's not about giving up. The instrument is intoned pretty well to be honest. What remains is the weird nature of the E string compared to the rest of the strings. IT has always felt a bit odd; flappy too, in a way the other strings aren't. I'd like the pickup to sit a couple of mm lower but I don't know how you'd do that or whether you can. [/quote] The way I see it you have a number of options.... 1) pay someone to set this up properly... 2) learn to do it yourself properly... this will entail doing things in the right order, reading a lot to understand what you're doing and why and taking your time. For example an instrument is either intonated correctly or it's not, "Pretty well" suggests it's not. Truss rod, possible shim, action, intonation is the order I do things in normally. The way the strings are wound on to the tuners can sometimes affect why they may feel "flappy"- you should read enough to learn what "break angle" is and means. 3) sell the bass as is and get something else. trade it on here even.

[quote name='guzzibass' timestamp='1346876400' post='1794461'] Nice axe Luke - I like it..!! [/quote] shortly before it found it's way to my hands it had a fret dress or something- it plays lovely, silly low action, Yummy sounds good even through the piece of poo £15 amp I have- I took it to my old church and plugged it into the very nice orange valve 2*12 and wooooo. I think that a valve amp and that tone is a good reason to be a guitarist

I'm kinda doing the opposite. I have two guitars that hardly get played- so one, and maybe both of them are going to go. Maybe in the future I may regret it but we shall see - I can't see the point in holding onto gear that's flipping awesome- but not played. If I do sell though and in the future come back to it I'll be kicking myself, I think I would have to spend a lot to find something as nice. oh well

[IMG]http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee497/LukeFRC/Acoustic%20fretless%20and%20others/DSC00591.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee497/LukeFRC/Acoustic%20fretless%20and%20others/DSC00589.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee497/LukeFRC/Acoustic%20fretless%20and%20others/DSC00587.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee497/LukeFRC/Acoustic%20fretless%20and%20others/DSC00595.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee497/LukeFRC/Acoustic%20fretless%20and%20others/DSC00592.jpg[/IMG] and of course you can see the control cavity cover I made.... with coil taps!

this of any interest to anyone? http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/1978-gibson-g3-bass-for-sale/1000795531

[quote name='wishface' timestamp='1346795047' post='1793483'] I did all that recently. I didn't have much choice over what strings to buy since the price of bass strings rockets each time I replace them. I think the intonation went (only a little) years ago when I first replaced the strings. I don't know why since that's all I did. I have never monkeyed around with majkor adjustments, just replacing strings and lowering the action. I use a medium guage set. It's just the E string feels 'out'. I don't know if it's normal for it to feel hard to play at the 12th fret, but that string in particular feels high and heavy at that point so there's a lot of noise when I try to play. Of course I practice to try and compensate for that, but I would like to know if that's something that shouldn't be there.I don't know any luthiers, and I can't be paying people I haven't got any money. I live in the west country. [/quote] The intonation is out because it will need to be re set up when you change the strings- I can set up a £50 bass to intonate properly, your one is far higher quality than that. The Height of the E string also possibly needs altering. To a lesser extent the way you wind the strings onto the headstock can change the tension slightly. The relief of the neck is also important. As for the balance... how do you hold the bass? is your left hand thumb resting on the centre of the neck and when playing are both wrists relaxed and more or less straight? I think, if I were to guess, that you have a badly set up bass played with bad technique. a lesson with someone who can set your bass up and give some tips on playing may help