tauzero

[quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1383642952' post='2266817'] Does a guitar or bass [i]really[/i] get better or sound better with age? You may get more accustomed to it and it might "fit" you better, the more you get used to it. You might also get to hone the set up of it to your taste over time. But I very much doubt if it ever sounds "better" the older it gets. I suspect it will sound the same for most of its life until the components malfunction and it then will sound worse - or different when you have to change the bits. So, in my book, it should never be worth more than the money you paid for it in the first place. [/quote] By that logic, Penny Blacks should be available at better than two to the new penny. Some instruments are no longer made, whether it's the maker going out of business or the model being dropped from the range or changed. If it's a desirable instrument (for whatever reason) then the law of supply and demand will push prices up.

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1383589852' post='2266312'] You also have to remember the world went comparatively mad in the mid 70s with soaring inflation following fuel supply issues caused by politics and war. However instrument prices didn't follow that pattern as born out by the Stingray value. As Dingus said, that happened in the 80s and indeed I sold my Stingray for significantly more than I paid for it. [/quote] 70s Fenders were pretty cheap in the 80s - I bought my mid-70s P bass, which was somewhat cosmetically challenged, for somewhere around £200.

Line 6 Variax 300. Then she's got every guitar she'll ever need...

As an aide-memoire, incidentally, R = Right, Ring, Return, and Red. With a lead splitter, you should get a stereo jack to two monos, one of which will be red, the other either white or black. For stereo into two mono channels, Red is Right. For a TRS insert, Red is Return. And Red connects to the Ring.

[quote name='leftyhook' timestamp='1383329338' post='2263308'] oooOOOOooh you can afford to do that ? must be a programmer [/quote] I'm a programmer. What's "disposable income"?

It's one of Tony Tsai's more misguided instruments.

[quote name='Nick Riffed' timestamp='1382989957' post='2258915'] My understanding is that he could take a righty and just play it up the other way!! [/quote] In the documentary they mention that - just after a little clip of him playing a red right-handed Gibson SG 6-string which looked very much as if it was strung right-handed. Interesting documentary, using very high-tech ouija boards to not only contact Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell but also to film them.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1383064141' post='2259740'] Now you're just being crochety..! ...but I take your point, so... [/quote] You're just going to keep plying us with these, aren't you?

No, I still keep an eye out but haven't found anything ridiculously cheap.

Or used a sniping tool...

My word, that's ugly. $50k on a bass or £25 on a new pair of glasses? Should have gone to Spec Savers.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1382606275' post='2254178'] Feel and quality of the neck. The look. Cost. Balance. Manufacturer. General tone. [/quote] First three of those, followed by "will Mrs Zero let me have it?"

Welcome back, Jon! And in view of the way that manufacturing has moved around Asia in the last few years, you were appointed Captain Oriental in your absence.

[quote name='Phil Adams' timestamp='1382611099' post='2254279']Carping[/quote] Exactly. Time to move on.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1382451918' post='2252285'] Er, maybe it's not wired up correctly? There should be a massive difference, from [s]bright and clanging[/s] dull and thuddy with it fully up and dull and thuddy when rolled off. [/quote] Fixed that for you.

There's Best Practice, and there's a plugin for Winamp too - in fact, lots on Winamp plugins, just google "winamp plugin pitch shift". And if you have an Android phone or tablet, there's Maple MP3 player.

Interparcel are good for the booking side of things but with a ridiculously expensive phone number, so when I had some delivery issues I contacted the courier (UPS) direct, whcih cost nothing and meant I wasn't subject to more Chinese whispers than necessary.

[quote name='graham1945' timestamp='1382378302' post='2251489'] Surely a market for a new company to exploit the failings of all the others? [/quote] I've worked as a motorcycle courier for companies including Pony Express and TNT. TNT used to get the parels that ParcelFarce (motto: We can lose an elephant and break an anvil) couldn't manage to deliver because they couldn't find the destination. After ParcelFarce managed to destroy a hard case for a bass [1], fortunately not damaging the bass in the process, I've stuck with UPS via Interparcel. [1] One of those flat oblong wooden/board ones, not up to flight case or Hiscox standards but more resilient than cardboard

[quote name='JimBobTTD' timestamp='1382268044' post='2249799'] Excellent thread - thanks everyone! I'm also struggling with this and need it done in two weeks, so no great hurry. The singer wants us to play it in F# too, making it somewhat impossible to play along with any of the available tracks. [/quote] If you can get hold of an MP3 of it, there's quite a few ways of varying the pitch so you can play along.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1379868759' post='2217580'] Combined with a crap drummer, a bird who thinks she's Adele and an incontinent alcoholic guitarist with a messiah complex. [/quote] So it was you who took over from me in the club band then.

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1382125533' post='2248493'] I don't like everything Billy Sheehan does but I have been liking the Winery Dogs. His tone, it's not a tone I'd probably want but it definitely works for what he does. [/quote] The tone certainly works for that track and that band, but it's not something you'd want used, by, for example, Cream (when they next play the RAH). Very enjoyable.

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1382118453' post='2248330'] It's not just Fender basses you can get a good tone out of ya know [/quote] That's all very well, but does any bass burn better than a Fender? Fuel bills are going up, after all.

[quote name='leroydiamond' timestamp='1382116421' post='2248285'] If its a piece of piss then I am a an absolute penis. Took me ages to learn this a couple of years ago. Its a master bass line by a master player. The choice of notes, phrasing and groove, together is phenomenal. [/quote] Indeed. He throws in some octaves in the verse, for example, and I try putting them in but can't get close to the fluidity with which he plays them. I finished up going for the feel, as close as I could get it, because I certainly couldn't get it note-for-note.

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1381699639' post='2242671'] Off the top of my head I think it is (broken into phrases over chord) Eb-D-C-Bb. F-D-Bb-G (both descend from first note of each group of 4) Can't remember g run. Something up the pentatonic to octave. (This bit twice) Eb_D-C-Bb. F-E-Eb-D. C-Bb-A-G-A-Bb-C then pentatonic fills over the C then D. I think they are different each time. [/quote] That's about how I play it (which doesn't mean that it's right). How accurate you want to be is down to your own embarrassment level. We've done it live a couple of times but still don't feel we've got it good enough, whereas another band we've supported do it far worse than us with the bassist just playing root notes, and it's a constant in their set.

[quote name='Si600' timestamp='1381243124' post='2236289'] This probably counts as a silly question. I've got a P-Bass copy that I'm refinishing and I was wondering whether I could rebuild it as a 5er rather than the 4 it is at the moment. Presumably all I need is a new neck, pups and bridge? Will the new neck fit the existing neck pocket on the body? [/quote] You just need a Wilkinson 4+1 bridge. Goes on in place of the standard bridge, has a tuner on the bridge for the D string, there's a combined string tree/D-string anchor.