neepheid

You should finish a maple fingerboard with something, even if it has frets. What that should be, I can't really help with - not that familiar with coatings for fretless. I'm guessing the finish should be hardwearing and not sticky at all.

My wife recently completed her BMus at Aberdeen University. I'll ask her for some info and get back to you. In the short term, look here: [url="http://www.abdn.ac.uk/music/"]http://www.abdn.ac.uk/music/[/url]

Welcome to the forum

[quote name='northstreet' post='620058' date='Oct 7 2009, 10:42 PM']What's really odd about this is that I'm not even very good - steady and reliable are the most appropriate adjectives I would use. Nearly anyone could play me off the stage. Turning up on time, learning the songs, and remembering you're rhythym not lead seem to have got me a long way. If you're still reading then I admire your endurance. And, if there is a moral to this story, it's if you're sitting in your bedroom saying to yourself you want to play in a band, then go for it.[/quote] +1 to all that. I joined my first band back in January and I'm loving it. I can't improvise for toffee - the guitarist comes in with a new song idea, I get the root notes then I work out the embellishments at home ready for next practice. I think I'm getting better though - the newest song was practically completed in 1 practice session, maybe I just liked the song and got into it. Or maybe I'm improving? I would guess that being honest, reliable, punctual, having wheels, being able to hack up myspace pages, and basically not being a dick will stand you in good stead with the vast majority of people out there. Bottom line is that I play what sounds good, but I don't know WHY it sounds good (beyond "it's probably one of the notes in the chord"). I'd like to get into that eventually.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum

I had one for a while. Perfectly reasonable 2 band active bass. Jazz width neck but chunky back to front, so felt pretty comfortable to me. I sold it because it didn't inspire me to mod it at all. If you're going for a new one, make sure you get one of the new ones with the 2 piece bridge as per their "grown up" Warwick siblings. Because these are pretty new, you should get a sweet deal on one of the old ones (one piece bridge) second hand.

Welcome to the forum

Where we practice it's £25 for 2 hours. Which makes it more expensive than the OP's deal (£12.50 p/h vs. £10 p/h) That includes drums, amps and PA. Used to include table tennis too but they're getting rid of that By the looks of things here, it's more pricey than most. Still it's only a fiver each, being a 5 piece band.

[quote name='WarPig' post='615809' date='Oct 3 2009, 04:06 PM']bump. Any updates neep?[/quote] Nope, but at least you've reminded me to go "remind" her about it Excuse #4432 - I moved house recently, so projects have been most definitely off the menu for the past few weeks.

[quote name='GreeneKing' post='615532' date='Oct 3 2009, 10:18 AM']We've also talked about his need to put the band down, particularly himself when talking to anyone listening. He thinks it's just being self effacing and the rest of us think it's totally wrong. Last night a couple of friends stopped by and off he went again To me it's saying 'we're not very good, and it you enjoy it then your taste is obviously suspect' and is a very dangerous thing to do. As I have said before I hang on in looking for something better. Over 12 months of practise (valuable in itself when you're coming from being a 'bedroom player') and only the one gig with a very 'gentle' audience. That says a lot. I know that my learning curve needs steepening and it's presently flattening right out.[/quote] Oh, that's a big no-no. NEVER apologise, NEVER cast doubt on the quality of the band. You don't have to tell everyone that you're the best band on the planet, but you certainly under no circumstances tell them you're the worst - even if you are. Reading all this stuff makes me feel most grateful that I'm working in a band where weekly practice time is used efficiently enough that there's talk of going down to a fortnightly practice unless we've got a gig coming up to prevent things getting over rehearsed and stale. I am also grateful that our guitarist (and main composer) comes to rehearsals with mostly formed song ideas (he'll have a verse and chorus at least) and communicates them well to us. He can rattle off the chords he's just played from memory so I can work out where I should be. He has ideas about where the bass should go (which helps a noob like me) but he listens to me too when I suggest stuff. He tells the drummer what kind of beat he's looking for, without telling him exactly what to do - which I guess would be rather patronising. We'll leave that rehearsal with a semi-formed song, as well as interspersing rehearsing the old songs so we don't get bogged down in working out the new stuff. Going back to your original point, I don't think you're out of order. I take the time to learn stuff ahead of time, sometimes to the extent of driving to our drummer's place (about 25 miles out of town) to work stuff out with him. It would really annoy me if someone had clearly not put in the effort to be at least half prepared. I can't comment on the delivery of your criticism to him. Ultimately, you have to look after yourself. It's a hobby not a profession - if you're not liking it, change it. If you feel you're looking for a tougher challenge then go find it!

Not done many gigs so far, but I have to say that I think I perform best with 1 beer prior to going on stage. Too uptight sober, and one time I tried 2 beers and felt that things were a little too loose at the start of the set, that it felt more of an effort to focus on what I was doing. I think I've found my limit. After the gig is another matter of course - if I'm not driving I'm probably pissed

You'd be amazed what a small shim can do. Try it first and see. I used a small scrap of 0.6mm zebrano veneer for my last shim and that sorted out the Badass "oh dear I've run out of adjustment scope because of this disgustingly thick base" problem no worries. All the info you need is here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=49897"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=49897[/url]

[quote name='~tl' post='612600' date='Sep 29 2009, 10:59 PM']You could try the more specialist electronics suppliers: RS, Farnell, Rapid, etc. It might also be worth sending an e-mail to EHX, they might be able to suggest where you can get spares...[/quote] +1 on emailing the manufacturer/UK distributor of the device in question - I picked up a Hartke 3500 head second hand for cheapness but it had a missing knob. I contacted the UK distributors of Hartke at the time to enquire about purchasing one and they sent me a replacement for free, which was damn nice of them I thought

I learned just by online information and books. Then I just went ahead and had a go.

[quote name='agoulding' post='608263' date='Sep 24 2009, 10:51 PM']That is lush. What kind of music are you playing?[/quote] Oh no, I hate it when people ask me to describe our music I guess it's rock with some folk flavours sprinkled on top thanks to the presence of violin. Perhaps the best thing to do is check out the tracks on the myspace link in my sig and make up your own mind. I'm not playing any scary metal music, put it that way. Traben seem to be associated with that kind of thing, but I don't think this model is too much in that direction - it's easily the most traditional looking instrument they do. The headstock's a bit pointy I suppose and the fingerboard inlays are a bit "metal" I suppose, but I think they're much more interesting looking than dots. I basically was after this model because it had a pickup configuration I don't currently have, a 24 fret fingerboard which while my current protozoic playing doesn't require it, it may become useful in the future, and I just like the way it looks in general. It also has 18V electronics (which I didn't know at the time), another first for my collection. To everyone else: thanks for the comments

If it isn't 4 or 5 mm I'd be very surprised. Definitely metric, I remember adjusting at mine long before I had to dive into the idiosyncrasies of imperial keys. Not exact, but it narrows it down.

I am looking forward to our guitarist's reaction to my Traben Chaos tonight - he does play a little bass but considers all basses apart from the Fender Precision to be unnecessary (although I reckon a few people here might agree with him ) Having said that, he wasn't too disparaging about my Gibson G-3 (even going as far as wanting a go of it) so maybe there's hope. Until I tell him the Traben's active...

Please excuse the iffy photography - it was late due to having to charge my camera batteries, and the light in the room isn't the best - very harsh from little halogen spots in the roof. As far as sound goes, I haven't given it a good crank up (got new neighbours to think of ) but I'll give it a good run out at band practice tonight. Good range of sounds with the 5 way, and the EQ pots are centre detented for extra win. I'm not a Jazz Bass man, but I'm sure Rich will be able to tell me how Jazzy the outer coils setting is when he gets his mitts on it

It's here! It was a little bit delayed due to a customs oops. I'm at work just now, I'll be able to give a better idea of how it sounds and looks later on. First impressions: Reasonably lightweight. The finish is more satin, less glossy than the stock pictures would suggest. It's also got much more of a pronounced sunburst effect over the burl top, much more vivid colours used than the stock picture - not that it's a problem (in fact it looks rather spiffy). Nice hardware - that chunky bridge, Grover tuners (Gotoh GB7 size), fretwork seems good. Neck feels comfortable. Only niggly bit so far is a couple of spots on the neck which feel a little rough to the touch, but I guess they'll polish out. 18V electronics, which I wasn't expecting, I've never had an 18V bass before 2 screws to get to the batteries though - no quick changes here Control cavity looks fairly neat and tidy, soldering looks decent, wires cable tied. Preamp is a sealed unit. More info later

I for one would be very self conscious about my standard of playing, also the sound quality is often poor on these things. Beyond proving that the thing works (which I would hope could be taken for granted from the esteemed users of this forum), I don't see that it's of much benefit.

It works, it's nothing spectacular, but it's reasonably portable, has dual active/passive inputs, CD line in and headphone socket. I take it to my drummer's place for "rhythm section homework" and it is enough to make itself heard over dampened drums (mats or reed sticks)

I was asked to get hold of a cheap starter bass for someone's son, I knew they didn't have a lot of money so I managed to get hold of something surprisingly playable for < £50, set it up so it played even better and passed it on. He said he's pay me back but I knew he couldn't so I said nothing more about it. I also gave my niece a nice old Harmony acoustic guitar which I had fixed up - she was about to move up from a 3/4 size nylon strung guitar to the full size so it made for a nice present. I don't know if I could do it with instruments of greater value though - I'm a kind person generally, but there's a limit