neepheid

Thinking about it, black has been the most common colour of all the basses I have owned. Here are all the ones I can recall (and have photos of): Gibson G-3 Epiphone Les Paul (not so) Standard Yamaha BB300 and BB614 Yamaha BB350F Gibson SG-Z G&L El Toro That's it, I think. Still got the Yamaha BB350F and the G&L El Toro. Miss the Epi a bit.

I think black is the most frequent (body) colour in all the basses I have owned. It's currently the most common headstock colour for some obscure reason

As far as I'm concerned, the different woods thing is so insignificant in real world applications that I really don't give a monkey's about it. Until one can measure it in a repeatable experiment then it's a waste of time to even debate it. There are no hard facts in this, you can't even say that two pieces of wood from the same tree, never mind the same species or locality will be even similar, never mind identical. Composition of the sound emanating from an electric bass in order of priority: Pickups (and that's probably something like three quarters of it), electronics, strings, then a heap of ill-defined other stuff like wood types, bridge mass, type of neck join, top loading or through body stringing (all of which I'd estimate contribute no more than 10% of the final sound). It's sound, even if you can hear a difference, it's impossible to measure or place a meaningful quantity of change on, so all we're left with is a heap of ill-defined statements like maple fingerboards having "more snap" and other similar, fluffy, vague proclamations. If you want to bat back and forth the minutiae of basses then be my guest, but it all seems pretty pointless to me when you could simply enjoy the bass(es) you have for what they do for you, personally. Sound is all subjective, and whatever effect (not denying there will be an effect) the wood types have on the final sound, you'll make more difference to the sound mucking about with the EQ on your amp anyway.

da man dat can.

What makes me avoid my local bricks and mortar stores almost completely? They rarely stock anything I'm interested in. That's fine, I know how economics work (and how much stock some manufacturers demand they buy in order to cement a trade agreement) but there's nothing more yawn inspiring to me than walls filled with nothing but Fenders/Squiers. Not wishing to reignite the "Fender is dull/boring" idiocy that has recently flared up, but it's just not my thing. Strings and things are often ridiculously priced. Guitars outnumbering basses by factors approaching 10 to 1 really pees me off too, I know guitar is more popular, but THAT much more popular? All these things conspire to ensure that I rarely set foot in my two local shops, and if I do, it takes 2 minutes to verify that the same basses as last time are still there and I can leave again. It's been a year and a half since I actually saw something in a shop I wanted to try. Oh, and have some decent ampage in there AND LET US TRY THE INSTRUMENTS THROUGH THEM. I'm unlikely to get the full overview of what a bass can do if you plug it into a wee practice amp in the middle of a noisy shop. In any case, I don't think I'm any shop's target market. I mostly because I'm not in the slightest bit interested in owning a Fender. Most people are, it seems, so stock as many as you wish and don't mind me. Mouths to feed and all that.

In my experience, the bass absolutely makes more sense in an ensemble. I owned a my first bass for 4-5 years. It was practically an ornament. Then I joined a band and my bass playing took off!

Well, I suspect that if you wanted one, you might be too late. Had a look on gear4music and their projected delivery date for the BT5110 combo is ... the 30th September. Riiiiiiight then. Mine had better not break now

I've tried the Rotosound Trubass 88. A LOT more compliant than the regular Roto 77 flats (which are like overhead cables in their recalcitrance), feel nice when you're playing them/sliding around and have a nice rounded sound. Using them on a Yamaha BB350F. They're pretty fat though, had to get a wee bit of work done on the nut (slots widened) for them to fit properly (thanks Rich!).

Bought some strings from Richard. Good comms, quick postage, all good!

[quote name='throwoff' timestamp='1363258944' post='2010508'] Why exactly? Unless rules have recently been brought in by the gods of bass I am pretty sure you can play however you want on whatever bass you want. [/quote] I think it's more a question of room between the strings and the pickup to get underneath the strings, or whatever it is you crazy slappers want to do. Anyway, no-one said it wasn't allowed, I think the commentator was referring to the relative difficulty of achieving some slap bass on the SG. No need to be so defensive

I'm maybe a bit late to the party, but for my little stab at fretless (which I quite enjoy, but haven't been brave enough to embarrass myself in front of either band yet) I got a fretless (second hand, cheap, a bit ratty) version of something I already had and was familiar with - a Yamaha BB. I just figured that if all the rest of the ergonomics were the same then the only weird thing to get used to would be the fretlessness

I only replace bridges in order to improve functionality (for instance, offering string spacing adjustment where the stock on doesn't - and usually in order to combat something like a less than ideal pickup position or a [i]slightly[/i] wacky neck angle. Top loading is a nice bonus). Or to get rid of a Gibson three point bridge, just because I think it's a deficient design in so many ways. Yes, it top loads, but you haven't even got individual string height adjustment, COME ON! In my opinion, replacement bridges change the sound in one's head mostly. Yes, scientifically speaking the parameters have changed so something must change, but if you want to beef up the sound of your bass, the pickups are your #1 target, as that's where (in my humble opinion) 80-90% of the sound of an electric bass comes from with all the other disparate variables - wood types, bridge mass, neck join, string type etc. making up the rest - yes I do believe it is [i]that[/i] insignificant. Oh, and try adjusting the pickups you've got first before drooling over some Lindy Fralins - are they the right distance from the strings? Second, probably strings. Different materials and gauges with interact differently with the magnetic field surrounding the pickups. THEN tackle how the string moves/interacts with the body/neck with different bridges. THIS IS ALL MY OWN OPINION AND SHOULD IN NO WAY BE MISCONSTRUED AS FACT. Ithankyou.

Sad about this, like many others have already said, Iron Maiden were a big part of my growing up (I think Iron Maiden, "Killers" was the second tape I ever bought by myself - I remember my Mum not being thrilled at the cover ). Always liked Clive's drumming, a damn shame what happened to him with the MS. RIP Clive. Off to listen to some early Maiden now.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1363196292' post='2009641'] Some dick with nothing better to do had reported to eBay and as copies are not allowed they removed it and all my other listings [/quote] WTF? How? I've reported many actual fakes to eBay and they've done the square root of naff all about it.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1363201789' post='2009780'] Of course, if you're selling it for a massive profit then you might have to consider capital gains tax . . . . [/quote] No need to worry about that at the moment

This is getting too personal. In the interest of keeping things civil it would be wise to back off the spotlight on BRX's personal taste in basses.

+1 - sounds like out of phase wiring to me. Output is good when the pickups are soloed individually, yes? Like the above poster says, rewire one of the pickups the other way round and see if that solves it.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1363104679' post='2008577'] I also think that Fender users are generally just happy where they are, and don't feel compelled to look down their noses at boutique fans (for example). Most of the comments seem to come the other way, this thread being a good example. Or am I wrong..? [/quote] You are wrong. There are plenty Fender owners who wouldn't spit on a Gibson if it was on fire and are quite vocal when it comes to voicing that opinion. There's even a Gibson headstock joke in this thread, and the thread isn't even about Gibsons. Don't talk to me about people looking down their noses, you don't know you're born.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1363102123' post='2008506'] I'm a little in the dark with this, still. Would a Fender hater care to chip in and let me know in what ways my performance (musical, that is) would be improved if I were to play another brand? Thank you. [/quote] You could turn this on its head and I could ask if someone would tell me why my performance would be improved if I were to play a Fender. I'll give you what I believe to be the simple reason - IT DOESN'T MATTER! A bass is a bass and as long as it's of mechanical and electronic integrity then it will make pleasingly rumbly low notes that make people dance and glue the drummer to the rest of the band. You know which "camp" I'm in, but I harbour no hate for any brand. Actually, considering the runaround I've been given recently in my attempts to procure a Grabber 3 70s Tribute bass that is fit for purpose (have given up), I'm not in a terrific mood with Gibson USA at the moment either

So, anyone got any [i]useful[/i] advice or comments for me?

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1363094884' post='2008289'] Oh? And why is that? I ask purely for info... [/quote] Opinion expressed as fact.

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1363086682' post='2008062'] Be much more useful as a porn store. Truckstop [/quote] Do people still stash porn in physical forms (paper/tapes/discs)?

Ever since we changed from a conventional boiler to a combi, we've had this empty, unused space in the bedroom where the tanks used to be. My wife suggested that I turn it into a "bass cupboard". Not a bad idea. Well, here's the space: Fly in my ointment - pipes sticking up from the conversion - I feel if I box around these I'll need to provide some means of accessing these, just in case something bad happens: Unexpected bonus - wiring just about all in place for a light in the cupboard: I guess in starting this thread I'm looking to give myself a kick up the butt to get it started (because this has been spoken about for a few months now), also looking for any advice that people can give regarding materials (like padding for the base and neck supports that I'll have to make).

I might have one. Can't make any quality guarantees, for what it's worth it's from an Artec preamp. If I can find it, it will be centre detented, is that OK?

If it's only catching a little, or in one particular place, I'd go down the sanding route. I helped a friend out recently with his Jazzmaster - the tremolo arm was pushing down and then sticking because the sprung loaded plate underneath the bridge plate was catching on the wood in the cavity. You could see where the scuffing was. I gently sanded those areas out until it moved freely.