Marky L

Just a comment that there seems to be a dearth of natural wood finish P basses up for sale at the mo. Some on here, and on eBay too. This trend seems to have kicked off over the last few weeks. It's like dominoes!!

I wish I wish ... Both ears ringing, or whistling currently but I think my left is worse, yup I nearly always stand to the drummer's right. I usually sound check one or two numbers without ear plugs, but gig with one in my left ear and another half in my right. If I jam both in I just don't feel in contact with the music. Somedays the whistling is worse than others, certainly if I feel run down or have a bad stress headache then it's worse. My Dad is profoundly deaf due to tinnitus and all from shooting without ear defenders... no one had heard of that sort of thing back then!

+1 on the Devo steal!! And why did I first read his strap as "POOP" ??

Didn't this seller have something else listed a short while ago that seemed rather shonky? I imagine the reserve is set at a price level the seller wants to attain. The bass looks OK to me though a wee bit tatty, I guess that's a replacement pickgurad and no case? Finally, in the listing the seller does seem to prefer being paid in other ways than Paypal.. isn't that an eBay rules infringement?

Thanks everyone. Yes he certainly did used to have a small pedal stuck on his bass for a while, I thought it was a distortion pedal of some sort as he certainly laid into a distroted tone regularly. I do love them with their experimental stuff and no one did doom and gloom with so much skill and humour too. They were the proto goths and no-one IMHO has ever come close. So there!!

So I love me old Bauhaus stuff and David J did wrench out some interesting tones from his fretless P bass. Certainly some sort of distortion pedal was used, but what else?? Anyway, I'd love to know how he got the fruity noise used in this little ditty - St Vitus Dance - any ideas? (I'm a pedal doofus BTW!!) [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW2cmsMS4BU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW2cmsMS4BU[/url] Oh and how do you embed a Youtube clip??

Yes, I did say it needed to be a cheap n dirty repair as the bass isn't worth that much extra expense. He didn't have clamps with a long enough reach so that's why the bolt down idea developed, something he'd not done before so it was guinea pig time! Obviously use as large a washer as you can on the bolts inside the body before you wind the nut on. And of course this is pretty much a do or die repair as you can't really move the bridge if you want to reposition it at a later date. Still no movement to report so I think it'll hold just fine. Need to look at lowering the action next. I read that it's a case of removing the saddle and sanding a little off the bottom before slapping it back in.

Those wouldn't have fitted! The bridge is some way back from the soundhole and you need a minimun of 160mm really.

OK a quick update. The bridge fix was going to be too much for me, not having clamps with long enough jaws and the bridge also being fixed with a couple of nasty little self tapping screws that I couldn't access easily, I called a local luthier and popped it over on Monday afternooon. He's a great guy, very honest "This is a piece of crap really isn't it? Cheap parts and thrown together" and decided the simplest solution (and best budget one) was to drive a couple of holes through the bridge and use a couple of bolts to pull it down into place. Before doing this he would tighten the strings to pull the bridge up to enable a good squeeze of epoxy underneath it. Anyway I had a good old chat with as he started the work but then left him to it. Got a call yesterday midday to say it was done, tuned to concert pitch and the bridge was holding well. So I popped down, paid my £25 quid and took it away. Oh, he'd topped off the bolt holes with a bit of rosewood to finish it off. Trying it out properly at home and I'm 100% happy with the repair. It'll need a bit of tweaking to get it right for my required feel but for a total of £76 I'm happy. FYI. It's not loud acousticaly and I wasn't expecting it to be. Also the quality of the finish is shocking. One peghead not being in line with the others, rubbish paint finish on some of the edges, colour bleeding into some of the "inlay". But I don't care, for the price I'm not fussy!

Pickguard is incorrect for the year, could be a replacement of course, but the above evidence suggests it's what this NON 78 P came with.

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='1164926' date='Mar 16 2011, 08:21 PM']Glad you posted this, as I've a 12 string guitar with the same problem, but not as drastic as yours. What clamps are you going to use ? could need something with long jaws [/quote] Not sure on the clamps yet, I need to ask around and see what may be lurking in various friends tool boxes. Long jaws and not too deep. Ref glue, I had a look on the Titebond website and see they do a hide glue. Having done a bit of interweb research it seems this is a popular luthier adhesive so I think I'll get a bottle, unless there are other suggestions.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1164143' date='Mar 16 2011, 10:07 AM']It's worth bearing in mind that some lifting bridges need more glue than others. [attachment=74917:picresiz...wport_75.jpg][/quote] Some how, I just knew.......

Something like the good old Arldite? [attachment=74918:bridge.jpg]

So, I bid on and won one of the Aria factory seconds electro acoustic basses with two faults, a chip in the finish on the front and the bridge lifting from the body all for the grand sum of £51 What I wondering is what sort of glue/adhesive would be best for resetting the bridge? Clamping it after it's been glued seems straight forward, if I can find clamps to fit, but I want to end up with a good solid bond. Now... where me No Nails...!!!!!

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1162966' date='Mar 15 2011, 12:31 PM']Would be nice but my guess is that someone will see a bunch of vintage parts there rather than a neat custom or restoration.[/quote] +1 There are a few bits on there I could make use of. I'm sure it'll fly when it gets near to it's end time.

Thanks guys, my research has been made a whole lot easier now!

My stupid little netbook has a single input socket that will only accept a mic in. I have looked at the drivers etc but I am convinced it will only accept a mic. So I think my only option for a simple (stereo ideally) line in will be via USB. Does any one know of a low cost basic 3.5mm or 1/4" line in to USB thang that works?!?

Thanks for the replies. I had heard about the volume issue before and that is a concern, but it looks like there could be hope! I am quite tempted by the B grade gear that Aria are shifting on Ebay, though they require varying states of repair but there is one on there with damage to the body (no biggie) and the electrics not working which I'm sure could be solvable.

I want to get hold of a budget acoustic bass, ideally used to bring the price right down, but I really have little idea of what is worth considering or stepping well away from. Preferably something with a reasonable un-amped volume for some duet work with my singer (and his acoustic guitar) and also for an after school club teaching kids the basics. Any hints, tips, advice appreciated. Ta muchly

What's silly about that answer? It's an obvious thing to do, keep the empty packet in the case or gig bag, job done, problem solved.

Just to add my experience to the confusion... I run an Ashdown 500w head into both my Ashdown 1x15 and 2x10 and for live pub work it is way more than adequate. We're a four piece rock(ish) band and are quite loud (any more so and it would become an intolerable racket!) and with my input at around 9 o'clock (1/4) which gets my VU needle hitting red when I play hard, and the output at 12 o'clock (1/2) I'm plenty noticable in the live mix. Oh and no FOH for me. At some point I would like to get a 4X10 to give me a bit more oomph.

Nah, bollox to them, they're only bits of wood and metal. I usually flick the V's at the old ones and then snuggle up on the sofa in an unwhiolesome fashion with the new one. Well, it works for me.

[quote name='PaulWarning' post='1132489' date='Feb 18 2011, 05:34 PM']Great bass intro, but I think I read somewhere that the Capt played it, it certainly sounded nothing like that live, back in the day [/quote] No Cappy didn't play that. He did the middle bit of Antipope though.

And maybe a metal pick as per Algy Ward? My 2nd fav P bass tone [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPoYQHDi1HI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPoYQHDi1HI[/url]