LukeFRC

suscribed. the only 5 strings I've played have had crappy B strings, interested in this

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1339833039' post='1694991'] Link? [/quote] Edinburgh.gumtree.com type cort bass in the search box...

like it says, cort gb74 on the ed gumtree at £150- which is a reasonable amount of bass for the money

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1339770211' post='1694083'] I am determined when my hands a better to finish the one I started made from two bed headboards and a thin strip of mahogany and an MDF guitar. I did see somewhere the other day a thread where a couple of guys are building guitars Dano style with a Ply frame and MDF . But why would someone build something like that for commercial gain? As soon as someone seen it it would get bashed on the internet and they would lose custom. Instant marketing fail. [/quote] I wanted years back to make a ply body guitar like that (MDF would be too heavy I think) and got a fair number of people on here advising me not too.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1339766759' post='1694010'] Oh here! I do know something after all... 18 pages over 18 months & still no one has given a definite answer that the majority agree on! & if tonewood is important, what about full carbon bass? Does it sound the same as a bass made out of used firewood? [/quote] If I were a bass builder I would market the used firewood as "Roasted Ash" and charge extra for it

the 'standard' bass Eq point on a lot of the standard bass on board preamps is around 40Hz. Glockenklang 30Hz and 100Hz on a Warwick.

[quote name='paul h' timestamp='1339764126' post='1693938'] I find it quite telling that there have been a large number of up and coming luthiers concentrating on creating instruments out of low grade plywood and then installing very high quality electrics. Oh........ [/quote] do danelectro's lipstick pickups qualify as high quality?

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1339757987' post='1693785'] Oak instruments have been made in the past. They didn't catch on. Fodera use ash in their necks now, as well as their bodies and I believe MTD do as well. Wood grain and structure may or may not have an influence but I suggest it's moot unless someone can tie those differences into what is heard/felt. As I said earlier, its possible for two pieces of wood from different species to have similar characteristics. [/quote] one of the links someone posted earlier in the article were about different woods used in acoustic instruments and their relative merits (and lot of them were how they could be worked or not as opposed to purely what they did to tone) but a lot of the more interesting woods were concluded with "you could make a great instrument- but folk won't buy this wood"

[quote name='Doctor J' timestamp='1339746849' post='1693541'] I've come to accept that I'm a bass nerd. I get great enjoyment out of the little differences, out of the different design philosophies, the differing concepts behind the different basses I have. I love them all, just in different ways because they're all different interpretations of the instrument I have a passion for. I don't see the point or nobility in rationalising having just one. I am comfortable having more than one bass. It's great, to be honest. I spent many years with just one bass, which I still have and that's great too. Tell me this, is your life going to be any worse off for having the JV as well as a kick ass Streamer? Hell no. Do you think the day might come where the raw power of the JV will excite you just as much as the finesse of the Streamer is exciting you now? So why think about moving it on? Some days only the JV will do, some days you'll just need the Streamer. Smile at how great your life is and learn to live with the burden. [/quote] don't worry, I'm not going to go down to one bass. Just remarking on the oddness of missing the wick meant I was considering it, which is an odd place to be. Two is a good number for me, I tried 3 a few times but quickly go down to 2 again. It gets silly after a while as to 'really' be worth trying a new 3rd bass I would have to potentially 'beat' one of the ones I currently have. I've passed on some bargins cos I know that they wouldn't compare. Anyway. maybe this is a silly thread, I just found that not being able to play a bass for a long time had an interesting effect to how I think of them.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1339756882' post='1693765'] Its actually resonance that does dead spots, the structure is resonant at that frequency and takes the energy from the string. Its like that thing when people say somehting is 'more resonant' when they mean 'less resonant'. [/quote] i think you're saying the same thing i was trying too. apparently the first helicopters kept flying into things, they found that certain resonances of the copter (given by the spinning of the rotas) were the same as the resonant frequencies of the human eyeball....

[quote name='LawrenceH' timestamp='1339756219' post='1693749'] That's the same thing, just approached from the other direction surely? The stiffness in the structure is critical for the tuning of the string, if the wood vibrated substantially at low frequency you'd have too much interaction and pitch would wobble all over the place depending on how hard you held the neck! It would sound all weird and intermodulation-distortiony [/quote] apart from the weirdness I always thought thats what dead spots were? the resonant pitch of the wood and the string leading to cancellation or something

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1339747086' post='1693543'] Because our wallets are bigger than our ears. [/quote] I'm asking as someone with a small wallet.... [quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1339747194' post='1693544'] I can answer this one... The first wouldn't cost you a lot as is made with low cost labour, the second would cost you considerably more as is made by someone who needs to cover their overheads (& they might use better electronics ) and the third would cost even more due to shipping & customs & Warmoth parts actually work out pretty dear! Edited as I misread the 2nd Q. [/quote] But apart from cost.... imagine cost is irrelevant. And in this example we are ignoring cost. Fodera make a bass based on a fender jazz, as does mr shuker, Fender FMIC do, Cort make many, ACG does now too, as does overwater..... now if cost is irrelevant for this question... what is the difference between a good bass and a bad bass? Or put it anther way, I find a good jazz bass, say a good tokai jazz, what advantage would a custom builder bring to it? (or cheekily, take sadowsky who make bolt on instruments- what do they do differently in New York to FMIC in California?) [quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1339753893' post='1693688'] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]There's a lot to be said for setting limits. Wal did this with their mahogany bodied instruments and sycamore/hickory necks. They ended up with a very consistent product. ErnieBall/Musicman, Alembic, Celinder, Tobias and Ken Smith have too.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Bass making is like cooking. You can add yeast, water and flour together consistently and get a relatively consistent but boring product...bread. Add the same ingredients but use wholemeal flour...or brown sugar...or brewers yeast to replace one ingredient. How much difference does that make? These are like woods. What if other flavouring ingredients were used, like onion, herbs or seeds? These are like electronics, pickups or strings.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The important thing is to find someone who makes something consistently first, and secondly something that sounds attractive. So much of what I've tried has been inconsistent between instruments. I believe predictability is the most important quality for a bass guitar. Otherwise, go into a music shop and try something. If you like it, buy it. Don't expect any other instrument ever made in the history of creation to sound as good. [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]You pays your money and you takes your choice but none of us are there to fund a luthiers' training. [/font][/color] [/quote] there's a lot of sense spoken here Kiwi.

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1339745371' post='1693518'] Your fingers. [/quote] So why do Mr sadowskys fingers basses cost a lot and my bits bolted together would not?

So I want a bass. a bolt on bass. If woods used are negligible, and looks aren't that important...(for this example) I want a great playing and sounding bass.... imagine I'm already able to swap out pickups/preamps what would be the difference between an off the shelf fender jazz bass a custom built jazz bass type or a few bit's of wood from warmoth I've bolted together myself? What does make an awesome bass? or more what does a custom bass builder do, that me and my warmoth parts wouldn't

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1339713763' post='1693365'] Hmmm, although I love the idea of having only one bass, the thought of being without a backup option should I need it for whatever reasons won`t go away, so I wouldn`t recommend it. [/quote] no, i don't think it was a serious idea- but for years the JV has been my main bass, and the fact i could imagine life without it is a bit odd.