neepheid

John Entwistle on The Who's "My Generation" Mic drop.

Buying batteries every month? How often are you playing? Are you leaving the bass plugged in when you're not playing?

Well, I'm still in. No bass gear purchased so far in 2022. Of course that doesn't stop me purchasing other gear I treated myself to a watch. Somehow I won unopposed the auction on eBay for this guy: Maybe the seller was far too honest with the photographs - the crystal looks pretty scratched up in this pic and I thought I'd have to do some polishing but it looks way better in person. This is the titanium version so even though it's a much larger watch than the one I have been wearing, it's 6g lighter than that one. Was quite chuffed to see stainless steel versions of this watch selling on different auctions for more... Pretty pleased with it - solar powered, atomic timekeeping and there's something about the numbers on the face, the font used or something on the very dark blue background that I find very pleasing to the eye. Did have some fettling time with it - I had to remove 4 links from the bracelet because of my dainty wrists... cue Blackadder S02E03 "Potato" and the scene where Blackadder wishes to hire Captain Rum's ship - "you have a woman's wrist, my lord!" Anyway, I'm still in, just thought I'd share some alternative retail therapy I indulged in this week

The old tort pickguards have a tendency to react negatively with the air around us it would seem and very slowly disintegrate over time - possibly emitting gases which may have a negative effect on your pickup windings if they're not potted or covered/sealed in some way. I can only speak from an official Gibson Ripper point of view having only worked on those. Everything should come off the pickguard, even the choke - Gibson did it two ways - early ones had a bracket soldered to one of the pot casings to which the choke is bolted, later ones had a bracket which was attached like a washer on one of the pot shafts before it pokes through the pickguard. The 1234 plate is a separate piece and be very careful with it - they're super rare and it took me ages to source one for my Ripper rebuild! Yes, you can use it with a replacement pickguard - it's just a giant washer with some number on it at the end of the day. I can't guarantee that a pickguard intended for a Gibson Ripper would directly fit this bass. Your best bet would be to get the existing one copied. It's probably too brittle to send to someone in the post so a tracing would be the next best thing. I'm sure there are folk who can make you a custom pickguard from a tracing. Good luck!

I disagree with the aversion to rehearsals. While I freely admit there is a social aspect to them (for us at least) it is critical for keeping us weekend warriors sounding tight. It pays off too - in both my bands it has been commented upon on several occasions how tight we sound. This would not happen if we rehearsed once in a blue moon, especially the originals band since it gigs less than once a month on average. Also the originals band uses weekly meetups to develop new songs - but that's out of the scope of what most people consider "rehearsal" (again, another example where originals and covers/tribute bands differ). Play a new song (or, *shudder* songs!) having never played it/them together before the gig? No thank you. I consider that to be folly and horribly underprepared but maybe that just means I'm a crap player and my band(s) are crap too because I'm surrounded by like minded folk who wouldn't want to do that either. So be it, it's not my profession and it isn't putting food on the table - more of a hobby that mostly pays for itself. I'm bloody great at other stuff - funnily enough some of that excellence corresponds with my day job. Also, I'm a lazy git - if I didn't have weekly rehearsals, I might not even pick up the bass between gigs

Neotech user here - their Mega Strap made 12lbs+ Gibsons tolerable to wear for a whole gig. Even though all my basses are lighter now, I still like 'em. Haven't tried a Comfort Strapp so I can't comment on those.

But I am an amateur, pumping out the same old shite every week! Is there more? Should I be doing more?

You could just play the damn thing, regardless of whether or not it's a P bass?

I can't say I've heard that explicitly said, but as someone who has a foot in both originals and covers camps I've had the feeling that there's some bias towards covers bands. Nothing overt, just whenever things like fees are brought up or we're being entertained with tales of gigs there seems to be a default to things which pertain only to covers bands. It's a bit like the location thing that happens (and I'm sure this isn't the only "UK" site where it happens) - when people say "North" without qualification they often really mean "North England". As a resident of NE Scotland, I find that a little irritating but I can't do anything about it so I let it slide and content myself with a little chuckle at what most people consider "North". Now no-one's saying that anyone's anti-Scotland here, it's just a little disheartening for its existence to be forgotten about on a fairly routine basis...

I thought it was genius too, but during the heyday of amusing decals the preferred one seemed to be "Pretender Bass", which I always found to be a bit route one. Still, it's better than the one most frequently seen on Jazz basses...

Hey, I did that already. Although it was on a fretted Precision so it was more a self deprecating comment on the player rather than the bass...

I gig in 2 types of band - because I only get to choose one option are you asking people to choose which band they consider to be their primary one?

I'm pretty sure it was the headstock people complained most about - can't say I've heard any outright ire thrown at the Saddle Lock bridge... Trying to out-Fender Fender never works.

I play regularly with keys and I have no bother hearing myself. Nickel rounds on either a G&L L-1000, G&L Tribute LB-100, Epiphone Jack Casady or Epiphone Les Paul Standard with EMG-HB and BQC. If anything, I find the (now) active Les Paul bass to be the one I have the most bother with, vis a vis cutting through. Mids. More mids. Sad face EQ. Sounds crap on its own, sounds great in a live ensemble. I find steels too zingy, flats too dull, half rounds too weird, nickel rounds give me a good balance between thump and zing.

I'm happy - passive bass, nickel rounds, neck (or single central) pickup, volume 100%, tone 100%, get going My one active bass is set and forget for all its 3 band sweepable EQism. I occasionally put the mids up full and use the sweep to make a quacking sound for my own personal amusement.

I would say that operationally I don't have a #1 - I give all my basses a fair rotation, what's the point in having them if they don't get played? Over all time since I started playing though, evidence points towards my #1 being the Epiphone Jack Casady Sig. The evidence? I'm on my third one, and I regret selling the first two. I had your typical gold top first - sold it because I was fickle. Then I had a super sparkly Blue Royale one - sold it because of financial pressure. The happy end to this saga is that I now have a 20th Anniversary model. The red one with the flamed maple top. I think I may have snagged one of the last ones available from new in the UK because I had to go a bit off the beaten track to a smaller vendor to get it. If I won the lottery, I'd collect this bass in every finish it has ever been available in, just because I can. So yeah, I guess I'm a JC Sig fanboi then

In a single pickup situation, I doubt changing which coil is used in single coil mode would yield tonal differences worth the hassle. Changing inner/outer coils makes more sense in a 2 pickup scenario where it can alter the effective physical distance between the two coils remaining in service when both pickups are used together. Even then, it smacks of "because I can" rather than creating any earth shattering sonic revelations. When I did a single coil mod on a G&L Tribute L-2000, I simply decided that I'd use inner coils - that way I had a very rough approximation of an L-1000 in parallel and I dislike Jazz basses so I didn't see the point in doing outers. Turns out I don't even care about bridge pickups, but it took me a few years to figure that out In a single pickup scenario, just decide if you want it slightly more bassy (use north coil) or slightly less bassy (use south coil). I like my basses to sound bassy, so if it was me, I'd favour north in this scenario - but I doubt it makes much of a difference either way.

Wiring up rotary switches can be a mind-f. You sound like you're looking at 2P3T rotary switches. That gives you 8 connections total (2 for the poles and 2x3 for the positions). The 3 position Schaller switch probably only has 8 connections also, they were just too lazy to change the picture of the 2P5T (12 connections - 2+2x5) I prefer to label the poles with letters and the connections with numbers. In the case of the 2P3T, you'll have A and B, then 1-6. In general, it'll work as follows: Position 1: Pole A is connected to position 1, Pole B is connected to 4 Position 2: Pole A is connected to position 2, Pole B is connected to 5 Position 3: Pole A is connected to position 3, Pole B is connected to 6 In reality, you need to know how the switch you have works. Hopefully there's documentation, otherwise there's a multimeter and a bunch of head scratching. Now you need to know what the original 3PDT on-on-on switch is doing. All it appears to be doing is selectively connecting some of the pins to ground. This is borne out in the instructions. Should be a pretty simple wiring, coupled with the fact that you're only using one pickup. There are 2 connections on the pickup for voice selection, they are labelled Voice 2 (pin 1) and V2 MC Off (pin 3). Coil tap is a separate concern - use the push/pull provided to do that as per the instructions. For voice 1, neither of these connections should be connected to ground (ie. left open/high) For voice 2 (mid cut), ONLY pin 3 should be connected to ground For voice 3 (mid flat), at least pin 1 should be connected to ground. In the standard wiring, it connects both to ground and pin 1 trumps pin 3 which is handled by the pickup. I don't know if this is necessary, if I'm reading the wording of the instructions correctly. I'd connect both poles of the rotary to ground. Then I'd take pin 1 and connect that to output 2. I'd take pin 3 and connect it to output 6. To mimic them both being connected to ground in position 3 (if that's necessary), I'd make a link between output 2 and output 3. So in position 1 (red), neither of the pins are connected to anything (voice 1) (because the rotary is connecting A -> 1 and B -> 4) In position 2 (green), pin 1 is connected to ground, pin 3 is connected to nothing (because the rotary is connecting A -> 2 and B -> 5) In position 3 (blue), pin 3 is connected to ground (because the rotary is connecting A -> 3 and B -> 6). If you use the link from 2 -> 3 then pin 1 is also connected to ground in this position, mimicking what the DPDT on-on-on is doing. I hope that helped, and please someone tell me if I've got this horribly wrong. I've only done this once before, albeit a more complicated 4 way scenario with 2 pickups.

Shhh! Keep your voice down

My dealbreakers: Nut width under 40mm and shallow profiles (I like a chonky neck) Jazz basses (aesthetically yuck, sonically ditto (assuming passive 2x single coil), also see above re: necks) No neck pickup (so no single pickup Stingrays, G&L 1500/Kiloton for instance) - I'd prefer neck pickup only if I'm honest but the presence of a bridge pickup I'll never use isn't a dealbreaker No front markers (looks unfinished to me, dots at a minimum please, blocks yes please, crowns - yum!) Short scale (sorry, feels like a toy to me - I have tried several) Caveats in a caveat sauce with a side of caveats

I missed its 10th anniversary on 1st March! 10 years I've had this amp and I have not been kind to it - cranking it hard nearly twice weekly in rehearsals, been left in car boots, brought freezing into roasting venues and still wiping the condensation off of it 5 mins before we're due to play (oops!). Still keeps on trucking. Rehearsal tonight, gig on Saturday, this thing just keeps on keeping on. Far and away the best bass related purchase I ever made.

"Heavy is good, heavy is reliable. If it doesn't work, you can always hit him with it." - Boris the Blade

For a minute there I thought that word has got to Gibson that I was participating in the Gear Abstenance thread this year. Great April Fool, loved it.

Surely it's living proof of evolution that I adapted as a child to enjoy the coffee creams.

So, another month begins. Another scheme to make do and mend instead of buying stuff. I don't care much for dome top knobs, I think they look a bit cheap. Had some spare flat tops in the shed. Even though they're meant for solid shaft pots they gripped the split shafts on my Tribute LB-100 fine and I think they look a lot better. I located the grub screws so they act as a visual cue at 100%. I think that looks much better. Subtle change for sure but the crucial thing is that I didn't buy anything to effect this change