neepheid

In my opinion, mostly snake oil. More expensive pots ought to be able to withstand more twiddling over time and maybe feel a bit smoother in their operation. The tolerance of the more expensive pots ought to be smaller than cheaper ones, which simply means it's more likely that a 500k pot is closer to 500k actual value. Other than that, I don't buy that using a paper in oil capacitor of the same value over a, say, polyester one is going to unleash some mythical tone beast that was lying dormant inside your bass. Also bear in mind that when your tone control is at 10, the cap is (pretty much) out of the picture anyway.

That's a nifty challenge. So far I've managed ... 4 Scottish council areas (Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Highland, Glasgow). Must try harder

[quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1364904823' post='2032355'] It's a Catch 22. There comes a time when you have to put your prices up or you go under. Shops are under the same inflationary pressure as everyone else. There's no point selling basses (or in my case jigsaws) if you're making a loss. Most shops have done the obvious cost reductions by now, laying off staff, reducing inventory etc etc, in the end you can be left with little option. Steve [/quote] Tough times. It'll probably end up being a case of survival of the most conservative during the boom years. By the way, I never said anything about making a loss. That would be daft.

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1364903375' post='2032330'] You could try something like these. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-set-Guitar-Bass-Neck-Joint-System-INSERT-SCREW-i-/390343756347?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item5ae24d0a3b"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item5ae24d0a3b[/url] [/quote] Both the bolt on Gibsons I've had (Victory, G-3) have had this fitted as standard and the RD Artist has these sort of things for the battery compartment screws. Threaded inserts are nice, especially for situations where frequent removal and replacement are required.

[quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1364887647' post='2032101'] The converse being that if companies don't make a profit they go bust. In some businesses there are other options, change product lines, manufacturers etc, but if someone wants a Fender they're probably not likely to accept a substitute so as a retailer you're between a rock and a hard place. Running a business costs money and there's only so much margin you can squeeze before you no longer have a business. A weak pound means that, irrespective of what Fender do, dollar goods are becoming more expensive and at some point that has to be passed on. Steve [/quote] All I'm saying is that above inflation price rises are not sustainable in the current economic environment, regardless of their motivation or cause. This point is particularly important for retailers of non-essential goods (into this category, much as we might protest, musical instruments fall), as these are the first to get cut back on when the axe has to fall. Who knows how long this economic stupor will last?

[quote name='onemanband' timestamp='1364893796' post='2032183'] Also doubles as a cricket bat I believe!! ONLY JOKING!! [/quote] Having owned a Danelectro (Hodad) I reckon that a cricket ball would probably punch a hole straight through

Am I seeing things, or are you using a neckplate for a shim?

What is there to say? It's an opinion, it shares some common ground with my opinions and differs wildly in others. And that's perfectly fine.

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1364845315' post='2031683'] Yes, I was meaning to agree with you and not to point out a problem. [/quote] In that case, I apologise for taking your post the wrong way and being stroppy.

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1364833230' post='2031443'] ... and long scale too. [/quote] This thread began by asking if going short scale would solve the weight problem. It is not certain that it would, it depends entirely on the bass. The principal problem the OP is suffering is weight of bass, not length of scale. People seem to have leapt onto the short scale part of this, somewhat unnecessarily. Of course, many semi-hollow and hollow basses are short scale (Gibson EB-2, Epiphone Rivoli, Guild/DeArmond Starfire, Hofner Club etc), so we may not be at such cross purposes after all. But my suggestion is both expedient (as in readily available) and correct (I can vouch for it being light) - thus neatly solving the OP's problem.

Oh yeah, I forgot. My Epiphone Jack Casady is pretty light

Just chuck yourself in at the deep end and see what happens. If you want to survive, you'll swim My first proper gig was an hour long set of ska/2 tone covers that I only had 3 rehearsals with the band, and one of those rehearsals was on the afternoon before the gig. During my first audition for a band I had to shift keys because that got sprung on me at the audition. Got the gig BTW The only way to improve is to push yourself, to put yourself under pressure. +1 for lessons - I didn't get any until I had been playing for a few years and it was a total lightbulb moment, tying together the stuff I had learned through experience and giving things names that I knew I did but didn't know what they meant. Best advice I ever received was from my wife. During my bedroom playing years I used to get really annoyed about making mistakes, and it's easy at home to stop the backing track and start again. Bit different live, when there are others are depending on you to keep it all glued together. My wife picked up a tea towel and said "See this tea towel? This is your mistake". She then scrunched it up and threw it over her shoulder. Gone. It's a fleeting moment in time and you've got to forget about it right away and keep it together. Analyse it all you want afterwards, but don't let it put you off your stride during a song.

Instead of changing scale (which won't necessarily decrease weight, the body won't be that much smaller and you're only losing a couple of inches of neck wood - it's still got the same hardware on it), have you tried looking at different materials? For example, I can't imagine a Cort Curbow is a particularly heavy beast with that tiny luthite body. Or try going headless?

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1364811853' post='2031055'] They probably don't have a great deal of choice if they want to continue selling imported instruments. The pound isn't doing too well against other currencies at the moment! Having said that I think I saw a passing mention that Fender were about to put their prices up. [/quote] They do have a choice - they choose to maintain (or increase) profit margins instead of taking a slight hit on margins in order to generate better profits through increased sales. They can't keep increasing the price faster than the average person's means. That is not sustainable.

I guess the least intrusive way to (maybe) get more "oomph" would be a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound single coil P bass pickup: http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/bass/pbass/passive/scpb3_quarterpo/ - might need some pickguard modification to fit, easy to check - the dimensions are on the site. But I can't comment on how much more "oomph" it would provide over the stock Vista Tone pickup. Anything else is going to require more extensive modifications, probably routing in the body and definitely pickguard rejigging. If you're going down this route then the world is your oyster basically - the pickguard will hide the work done to the body as long as you do a good job of the pickguard mods. You'll also probably end up screwing the pickup into the body unlike what I believe to be the current situation where it is attached to the pickguard. There's going to be a big change in your sound going from a single coil to a humbucker. Might be worthwhile getting one that has all 4 coil ends available to you - you could then maybe rig up a coil tap on a push/pull pot or something. That way you could still get something approximating the previous sound of the bass, and then oomph it up when you want it.

Companies in general had better watch out, the more they increase prices (further pushing up inflation) while the disparity between inflation and salary increases continues, the less people will be able to afford the goods offered for sale. I'm no economist, so excuse my simplistic view of the situation but it seems like a slippery slope to me.

Bought some tuners from Gareth. Sent promptly, well packaged, good communication. Everything you want from a successful transaction. Thanks!

There's already a thread in Bass Porn for this: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/112380-orange-bass-porn/

Nickel Hartke 45-105s almost exclusively. If they don't fit (ahem, RD Artist) then it's super long D'Addario XL nickels. Both have a nice feel, not too rough but not too smooth and they're plenty bright enough for me.

PHAT.

[quote name='Astrosmurf' timestamp='1364485882' post='2027158'] Got a battery box here, gonna try and fit it this weekend [/quote] I really must learn to read

Looks very similar to the saddle arrangement in ABM bridges to me. Little separate saddle that has two grub screws in it for height adjustment. No idea if they're the same size though. Could measure one for you tonight.

Yeah, somewhere to stuff the battery.

[quote name='niceguyhomer' timestamp='1364463421' post='2026733'] I don't NEED to sell it to buy the Jazz but everytime I've had 3 basses, one never leaves it's case so it's self imposed. [/quote] I have a brood of 9 with a rule - "all instruments are to be played". Not my rule, but I'm happy to comply - I play 'em all on rotation. I even keep a wee spreadsheet to keep track of how many gigs each one has done. Sad maybe, but I like to keep a note of every gig I played - when, where, who with, which bass.

And once again, eBay completely ignores reports of fake gear, I don't know why I bother.