neepheid

Once again I'll throw this in, only to be told it doesn't count for some obscure reason

Since 2009 I've had the privilege of playing with Chris in 3 different bands - he's my partner in rhythm. Also a couple of years playing with Luke - a terrific drummer with a real (and seemingly rare) ability to play softly. A couple of one-offs which worked great with Ben and Neil. Played for the first time ever with David in a total one-off (no rehearsals or anything) on Saturday and it was also great (seen him play many times, dunno if that helps?). Bottom line is that I've been very lucky in that every drummer I've ever played with has been great!

I like blocks. And trapezoids as well, but I guess that's to be expected...

2nd January 2016 @ The Tunnels, Aberdeen. A smiley bunch of 'Spoons whooping it up for my 40th birthday bash Photo taken by Claire Newton.

[quote name='EMG456' timestamp='1451388315' post='2940013'] The RD Artist is a slap monster - actually, a tone monster in general. The "money" bass was nice and would do you fine. And the current EB bass is also nice and versatile, All long scale, I believe. [/quote] Don't be daft, all Gibson basses are awful. Are you new around here?

Release an EP minimum (hopefully an album) with The Inevitable Teaspoons. Play more gigs than 2015. Write more songs.

Similar story of using up dead space - we changed from a traditional boiler and tanks to a combi. That left a space where the tanks used to be. Bass cupboard then.

[quote name='Doctor J' timestamp='1450801645' post='2936015'] Play the octave harmonic. [/quote] Could do that I guess, but I still don't think I'll bother unless it can tune open strings, only because it's contrary to how my pedal tuner would behave. I could see myself getting all wound up at a gig because it wasn't working before remembering to use harmonics

I've never really thought about it, the songs I write are called whatever Ifeel like call them. Always been a line or phrase from the song, but not always from the chorus

Boo, did some digging and the E-Tuner (actually a Shadow product) doesn't go low enough for bass - bottom frequency response is 66Hz according to docs. No built in cleverness for me then

Also see the Epiphone E-Tuner - built into the pickup ring. Again, a guitar specific application (I could probably fit it to my Epi LP bass though ) http://www.epiphone.com/News/Features/2015/Epiphone-Innovations-E-Tuner.aspx

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1450690028' post='2934815'] I am on a roll here. Surely someone could make a tuner which would fit into a volume pot. [/quote] That already exists, look for N-Tune. No specific bass version, so dunno if it's bass suitable (and I couldn't find an official website on cursory search)

Did that with my first bass - was playing sitting down and didn't notice that the lead was under my foot. Stood up and yanked the cord. Unfortunately because the jack is directly mounted in the face of the body, I ended up with a loose jack socket and cracked lacquer. Could have been worse. Never been that daft since!

Tried to play guitar when I was younger, didn't like it/get it. Years later (and mostly through a love of Cream/Jack Bruce) I saw an Epi EB-3 in the local music shop and thought "that's pretty". After years of pottering about, my wife to be basically dared me on stage to play bass in a makeshift band for a birthday party. Joined my first proper band a few months later, got down to the business of actually learning to play because I now had to. The rest is history

"his" tone is fine if he wants to play by himself. Record a practice and play it back to him. If he still doesn't get it - bye bye.

This truss rod was totally unable to move the neck even with no string tension applied, it had all the symptoms of being maxed out - couldn't turn the nut any further for fear of stripping threads/breaking the rod. FWIW, I used whatever wood blocks I had to hand but put cloth as padding between them and the neck. Cork sounds ideal though, good shout. I thought protecting the neck would have been obvious, but I guess it's good to mention it. Also, I don't think this will work for dialling out back bow if you have a one way truss rod. Without the application of heat - the wood will just spring back to its original position unless you have the counteraction of a two way truss rod to fix the change against. Pleased to report that after a day of settling the neck is looking good, relief is staying constant.

One of my basses had too much forward bow and I couldn't tighten the truss rod nut any more for fear of breaking it. At first I thought it was maxed out, but after some measuring of the threaded part of the truss rod and the depth of the truss rod nut I worked out that it couldn't be the case. I was simply asking too much of the truss rod to move the neck to where I want. So after a bit of googling I found this advice: Basically, tighten up the truss rod as far as you dare (this pulled it just about straight on my neck even with no string tension), then clamp it as shown and tighten that clamp until at the desired position then tighten the truss rod again to this new position. I am pleased to report that it worked, and worked so well that I actually had to loosen by a quarter turn once the string tension was applied. I'll admit it was total guesswork - I clamped the neck into a slight back bow because I figured the strings would pull it right and they pulled it straight, ready for me to dial in a little relief by loosening a quarter turn or so. I left it overnight and it's looking good. Relieved to have a much nicer playing bass with action more like what I'm used to without the high fret buzz

Ahh well, it's a pretty unusual/distinctive one:

If I was Fender, I'd be livid that this was even a discussion or that the question even needed to be asked.

Zoom H2n user here, and I'm very happy with the rehearsal recordings it picks up, including the bass. It accurately captures the PA and acoustic limitations of our rehearsal room Gain set to manual, gain wheel down to ZERO and it doesn't clip, but only just Placement in the room is probably important (like don't sit it next to the drums).

[quote name='AinsleyWalker' timestamp='1449743005' post='2926367'] Others have said this to me but a lot of guides give very varied advice. I'd assume all you need to adjust the neck and bridge would be an allen key and a screwdriver but most guides I've looked at say you need a load of tools.. I've also been warned that doing it wrong and messing up the truss rod can cost £££ to fix... Any truth to this? [/quote] I can only speak for myself. I learned how to do it myself, and I'm pretty sure I read it in a book, not got it from any youtube video. Loads of tools? Well sure if you want to set up many different basses but you have a Stingray, so you're right - you can do it with an allen key and an appropriately sized phillips/pozidriv screwdriver. You should double check (some Stingray expert please chip in here) but what I've read is the saddle height grub screws need a 1/16" allen key. The screwdriver is for adjusting the intonation (moving the bridge saddles back/forward). The truss rod on a Stingray has a wheel with holes in it that you can stick anything in (like the allen key or a suitably sized screwdriver) and turn it with that. So for your bass, 2-3 tools tops. A pair of snips for trimming excess string when restringing is useful if you're restringing as well. Regarding the truss rod - "messing up" is a pretty loose term. If you get it "wrong" (as in set incorrectly) then you will have too much or too little relief in the neck, causing buzzing. So set it correctly. Won't cost you a bean unless you actually break the truss rod and you really have to go some to do that and yes, it would be very expensive - like "might be cheaper to replace the neck entirely" expensive. I've never broken one. If it's giving you resistance, don't keep forcing it. Loosen a little first before tightening. Sometimes if they haven't moved in a while they will be sticky and move suddenly with a potentially alarming snap sound, but don't worry.

I'd say learn to do it yourself - you know what you like your bass to feel like better than anyone else and there are heaps of guides out there. Save time and money, get satisfaction from being all self-sufficient. A fortnight for a setup - ridiculous.

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1449532265' post='2924503'] ...but it is NOT the NE of anywhere! [/quote] Irrelevant, you can't take this moment away from me with your pedantry!

Yay, someone clarified which NE they're talking about in the title of a thread. Thank you, you've made my night