tauzero

It happened to me again today.

All my basses (except, ironically, the Aston that I got for use as the house bass at an open mic night) have small amounts of damage - a small dent or two per instrument. I avoid painted or lacquered instruments where I can, as they magnify any little ding hugely. I try and look after all my instruments but I'm resigned to them picking up a little bit of damage over the years - after all, a gigging environment is not the most risk-free place for a bass. My old P was pretty ratty (but played better than the less ratty examples in the shop), so I finished up stripping the cracked lacquer and sunburst off it. I suppose if I still had it that that would have been a mistake...

[quote name='Delberthot' post='252064' date='Jul 31 2008, 02:35 PM']One thing I don't think has been covered is that when you soundcheck, play exactly like you will play the gig: hard/soft/fingerstyle/plectrum etc.[/quote] +1. Preferably do a song which covers your entire dynamic range, if you have one. And keep an eye on the soundman, if he's got your balance sorted 30 seconds in and starts gesticulating at you to wind up, he won't be all that happy at you continuing for the remaining 8 minutes of your epic rock operetta. As elom said, don't wince at mistakes - also, don't all look over at whoever it was hat made the mistake. Just carry on and the audience will realise it was a jazz moment.

I have two left feet, and the future Mrs Zero has given up trying to go through barn dances with me because I'm worse than any of the dancers she normally has to work with. When playing with the covers band, I do go walkabout with the bass at some venues (as long as I'm wireless, of course), so I can illustrate embarrassing-dad type dancing to things like "Walk of life". This does necessitate some at least halfway decent totty [1] being on the dance-floor so I can shamble round them and they can imitate knob-twiddling. Why is it that they're so fascinated by knobs, eh? I bet they couldn't tell a splined 6mm from a grub-screwed flatted shaft. [1] Or at least in possession of two X chromosomes and not yet in possession of a bus-pass. Breathing is a bonus.

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='251642' date='Jul 30 2008, 08:58 PM']Did anyone noitice Victa's little response on his site? Very subtle & very Wooten.[/quote] So little and so subtle that I haven't managed to find it. And of course using a framed site means that you can't post a direct pointer to the page in question...

[quote name='cheddatom' post='251087' date='Jul 30 2008, 10:32 AM']I've had 2 guitar stands and at least 5 decent planet waves leads nicked at gigs.[/quote] Is there such a thing as a decent Planet Waves lead? Make a checklist that you can forget to go through when loading up. Spare PP3s are even more useful if you have the right tool to get into the battery box (if you need one). Either work out the optimum way to pack your gear in the car, or get a Mondeo estate, an Ashbory, and a GK microbass/Roland cube 100. Don't buy Planet Waves leads. If you have problems with a lead, make sure you coil it up and put it back with all the others so you can have exactly the same fun at the next gig. Make a note of which basses have dodgy jack sockets so you can enjoy the crackle from them next time. You might even consider changing them at some point in the future.

I suspect you may have the same double-neck as me - H&S or Atrics, some are two fretted necks and others are fretted 5 and fretless 4. And I was thinking about exactly the same mod, using piezo bridges from some Canadian ebayer. Will you ever want to have both necks active at one time? Would you want to use a toggle to switch between necks or would a rotary switch do? If you only need one active and could use a rotary switch, it gives the opportunity to simplify things by doing all the switching of the pickups first (so you select either the two pickups and piezo of neck 1 or of neck 2). That can then go to the piezo amp and to whatever volume and tone control system you're going to use - seems like an opportunity to go active with an Artec unit.

[quote name='spinynorman' post='250522' date='Jul 29 2008, 03:57 PM']I've got one of those. Seems lame to get excited over a stand, but it really is a superb piece of engineering.[/quote] You wouldn't say that if you were trying to hang a Hohner Jack on it... Headlessist, that's what it is.

[quote name='7string' post='248199' date='Jul 26 2008, 12:13 AM'][b]tauzero[/b] - Can I ask a couple of questions ? How long have you been playing the 7 and how do the people at your open-mic night react to the big bass ??[/quote] A few months, I haven't been particularly working on it though. And the reaction is generally astonishment All positive, too.

[quote name='Clarky' post='248464' date='Jul 26 2008, 03:17 PM']PS, you have the most drool-inducing avatar on BassChat[/quote] That could be a dangerous statement if WoT now changes his avatar to, say, Freddie Mercury...

As a student of Edward de Bono, I would say that the answer is to get bigger gigs.

[quote name='john_the_bass' post='249706' date='Jul 28 2008, 04:05 PM']Do you think it's possible to that there are basses out there now - current modern stuff - not vintage - which you could buy, hang onto and never lose any money on?[/quote] Almost certain. There is just the one slight problem - working out what they are. The quality of the instrument is, after all, no guide whatsoever - late 80s Warwicks are going for a song and 70s Fenders are fetching huge sums. [quote name='john_the_bass' post='249706' date='Jul 28 2008, 04:05 PM']What makes you buy a bass - do you buy one solely for musical or aesthetic reasons? Do you buy a bass for life or when you get one are you prepared to flip it for the next thing that takes your fancy and be fully prepared to lose money on the deal?[/quote] I buy them based on a wide range of reasons. When I do, I don't do so with the intention of selling them on, but I won't keep one hanging round that I don't get on with that well. There's an element of bonding there - I'm comfortable with the two Warwicks and the Tsai fretted 5 and 7, but the other instruments might get sold at some point. I don't buy a bass with resale value in mind (although I wouldn't buy one for a ridiculously inflated price, so I suppose that does avoid them making too much of a loss if I do have to sell them).

Know how long the drum solo is and how far away the toilet is.

[quote name='Jase' post='250280' date='Jul 29 2008, 11:06 AM'][quote name='tauzero' post='250279' date='Jul 29 2008, 11:00 AM'] I wonder who will be first with the page of paraphrased Chuck Norrisisms...[/quote] Explain? Chuck Norris? I'm lost! Did he say what I posted then? [/quote] No, if you look [url="http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/"]here[/url], you'll find a lot of Chuck Norrisisms, for example: Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants. When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down. When you said Jeff sees through the nonsense.....simple! it just reminded me of them. So I just wondered when we might get some Jeff Berlinisms, like, er: There were no such things as flats until Jeff Berlin hammered them out of naturals

[quote name='Jase' post='248582' date='Jul 26 2008, 07:17 PM']Jeff sees through the nonsense.....simple! [/quote] I wonder who will be first with the page of paraphrased Chuck Norrisisms...

The heat has been a bit intense - I was house bassist as per normal on Thursday night at the Roadhouse, and almost everyone wanted me to play for them (it's nice to be wanted), but they still have those old-fashioned non-LED lights so I sweated out an awful lot of moisture. The future Mrs Zero objected to me wiping my forehead on her, for some reason. Saturday was a barn dance in Nottingham for a young lady's 30th birthday - venue was one of the several rowing clubs along the Trent, and the room was upstairs with a big outside area, so with the heat we thought we might finish up playing a lot of tunes to an empty room. However, the future Mrs Zero was in full-on cat-herding mode, and managed to get a considerable portion of the attendees onto the floor for each dance. The birthday girl had asked us to do "Strip the Willow" [1] and we did, towards the end of the evening - it's one of those dances which really looks good from the stage when they get it right, and get it right they did, which was nice. [1] Must get Alyson Hannigan along to a dance...

[quote name='ahpook' post='249219' date='Jul 27 2008, 10:59 PM']practice the set you're going to play, in the way you intend to play it is what i'd say...[/quote] Which includes deciding where you'll be [s]haranguing[/s] speaking to the audience and where you'll be going straight on into the next number. As you're doing a bass swap, you'll want a bit of a pause there and whoever is at the mic needs to have some vague plan as to what to say. "Good evening, Wolverhampton" is a bit cliched but at least shows that you have more geographical knowledge than George Bush. Better would be something more along the lines of "hello, we're <insert name here>. This next one is about sexual angst [1] among very small computers and it's called 'Angst ROM unit'" after which speaker checks band members for preparedness and off you go into the next song. Don't explain every single song. Tell them where your website is, even if it's just one of those Myspace things. [1] All songs are, after all. Even "Yellow submarine".

The shape I'm not too keen on but it's not that bad. What puts me off (and it does tie in to the thread title) is that it looks like someone's wiped their bum on it.

I've decided to start taking the 7-string up to open mic nights with me, to get myself more familiar with it, seeing as I never seem to have time to do any practising at home. I've only got lickle hands, so having a shallow neck is very important for me. That's why my favourite 4-string is the Warwick, in fact - marvellously shallow neck, ideal for me. It's not so much the mechanical side as the mental - I know I'm not going to be able to remember anywhere near all the notes on the fretboard so I have to be able to navigate rapidly from a point I do know to a point that I want (generally by shifting up in octaves).

If you can find an Axl Tiger Pro, it's worth trying out. I found it very playable (preferred it to Ibanez and Yamaha 6-strings) but the electrics could have done with upgrading.

I'm working just up the road from [url="http://www.themusicking.co.uk/"]Music King[/url] and so I dropped in there the other day, partly to buy some stands and partly to see if they still do Ace Pro instruments. And they do. I had a plunk on the 8-string bass, which is pretty nice to play, with a through neck, and all for under £200. While that's not £50 off ebay cheap, it's not bad at all for what you get. Only trouble is, I can't think of a song I'd use it in. And the soon-to-be-current Mrs Zero might run out of patients.

[quote name='Geek99' post='245642' date='Jul 22 2008, 08:08 PM']I wasnt thinking about [i]that[/i] song in particular (it was one that kept going on about "having diamonds on the soles of your feet")[/quote] Diamonds on the soles of her shoes IIRC. Haven't heard it for ages - it is fretless and I think that he may be using short slides up to start each note to get that particular sound (just a semitone or less).

[quote name='Finbar' post='245475' date='Jul 22 2008, 04:11 PM']Wouldn't mind a Shuker shirt, but Jon told me he only has them in large. I am not a large. Therefore, no shirt.[/quote] If you're a mere medium, just eat more pies. All the T-shirts I wanted were in XL only, and I've managed to sort my shape out to fit them perfectly.

[quote name='Matt_UK' post='245609' date='Jul 22 2008, 07:10 PM']One quick question to anyone: If you were in my position (with the current state of the economy etc) would you buy a new $$ for around £700 ish, or wait (possibly a long time) for something incredible (i.e, SSI or FNA Jazzman) to turn up secondhand for the same mooolah?[/quote] I'd try and track down a Thumb from before around 1992. Some JD Thumbs have been going for prices only a bit above that £700.