tauzero

Police - Walking on the moon Cream - Sunshine of your love Simple Minds - Waterfront

[quote name='Beedster' post='298054' date='Oct 2 2008, 09:48 PM']I no longer feel the need to buy and sell basses, honest! [/quote] You've obviously been away too long.

[quote name='chrkelly' post='296731' date='Oct 1 2008, 03:21 PM']If I'd been any more awake this morning I would have told the postman, sorry there's no Steve Thomas here, and sent him away with my pickup! Concert Systems told me they had the pickup in stock when I ordered it, obviously not. Still no XLR cable though. What a surprise![/quote] Any minute now there'll be a Steve Thomas along to complain that Concert Systems still haven't sent him his pickup...

[quote name='lowdown' post='296204' date='Oct 1 2008, 09:25 AM']If you go down the software route. You might want to check out Computor monthly magazine. It has a Dvd with a complete virtual studio set up. Seq, Soft synths, fx plugins and sampler and samples. And its all free, with plenty of tutorials. Cost you £6.99[/quote] Is it available at the average W H Smiths? And is the name of the magazine just "Computor"?

[quote name='lwtait' post='293288' date='Sep 27 2008, 08:32 AM']in progress - oh dear. if theres an easy way to tell a mate that his band (that you play guitar for) absolutely sucks and you want to leave, someone tell me. (i play guitar in this band)[/quote] You tell him that you're overstretched with four bands on the go and you have to leave one, and that you'll make the sacrifice of leaving his band because you're holding him back musically.

Happy with the Warwick 4-stringses. Happy with number 1 fretted Tsai 5-string and with Tsai 7-string, the defretted one and number 2 fretted need some work, and the 6 needs completing. Happy with the Superfly. The 2x10 sounds good but has poor sensitivity. The AX3000B should do me for effects, and if it doesn't I've got a V-Amp and an RFX-2000 to play with too. Only true GAS is for a speaker and a 5-string fretless. When I get myself revved up sufficiently, building a pair of Omni 10.5s should sort the first out, and a bit of work on the neck of the defretted Tsai should sort out the latter.

[quote name='geilerbass' post='298279' date='Oct 3 2008, 08:41 AM']I don't think it would be unreasonable for authorities to publish the home addresses of known spammers on the internet, so that disgruntled recipients can go round their houses and cram the spammers' letter boxes full of pages from porn mags and flyers for viagra.[/quote] I think that's far too kind and advocate [url="http://www.tauzero.co.uk/other/spamurai.html"]harsher punishment for spammers[/url].

Funnily enough, the cellist that has played a couple of gigs with the ceilidh band I'm in has just started university, and he's at That London. Shall try to remember to contact him and see if he's looking for anything.

Condolences from me too.

[quote name='lowdown' post='291083' date='Sep 24 2008, 05:47 PM']Must be the first time i have heard the likes of Stevie wonder and Marvin Gaye cited as Mass-Produced crap....[/quote] It's a funny thing, but whenever I see Stevie Wonder lauded to the heavens, the jukebox in my head [1] starts playing "I just called to say I love you". And whenever I read about Stevie's genius and the wonder of Paul McCartney within ten minutes of each other, the jukebox in my head changes to "Ebony and Ivory". [1] We have all got one of them, haven't we? Or is it just me?

[quote name='4000' post='291149' date='Sep 24 2008, 06:51 PM']Bilbo's bang on about Jon's "impressionistic" lyrics, which are actually some of my favourites for that very reason. That's [i]art[/i], chaps. Even my mate (who doesn't really like Yes) agrees.[/quote] It isn't as if Anderson was alone in that - Bolan and Bowie wrote stuff that was almost as nonsensical. In fact, most song lyrics are pretty incomprehensible, or have some hidden meaning (apparently Radar Love is all about some dead bird, and for twenty-odd years I've thought it was about longing to get home to his missus) and the only straightforward writers I can think of off the top of my head who write straightforward unembellished non-allegorical stories set to music are Jim Steinman and me.

[quote name='Doctor J' post='290722' date='Sep 24 2008, 11:48 AM']You can pick up a Stingray, Sterling, Bongo, etc for about $800 on talkbass, add maybe $200 or so for shipping (though you can do it cheaper with USPS), maybe the guy might mark it down so you don't get hit too hard by the taxman. Either way, it makes paying £700 for one seem absurd.[/quote] Does it? $1k total, 2.5% duty and 17.5% VAT take that to $1200. That's around £685 taking an exchange rate of $1.75, which is about where it is at the moment.

[quote name='Merton' post='290754' date='Sep 24 2008, 12:15 PM']I;m bringing my Warwick Rockstand - it holds 5. But it's also going to be a raffle prize [/quote] I've found they're pretty good, unless you have certain basses which aren't so well suited to it. For example, Thumbs...

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='290737' date='Sep 24 2008, 12:00 PM']Anyone over the age of 50 has no choice but to cite The Fab Four as a massive, massive influence (even if they don't actually like them) because that's what they were ... half the music performed in the 70's and 80's had no choice but to be influenced by The Beatles, and Paul McCartney won [i]Bass Player Of The Year[/i] awards over and over again.[/quote] Let's see. I'm 50. The bands I listened to in the 70s and 80s were Focus, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, Yes, Hendrix, Floyd, Sabbath. It's difficult to see much in the way of Beatles influence in that lot...

Motown. Stax. Beatles. Jamiroqui. Primus. RHCP. Not sure about Level 42, I quite like the music but MK's voice doesn't do it for me at all.

[quote name='Prosebass' post='290625' date='Sep 24 2008, 10:17 AM']I own a Hofner S7B which is probably the rarest production bass here, to my knowledge there is only 1 other still in existence. Unless anyone knows different ?[/quote] So either Hofner only made a third of a bass every year, or they were so bad that most of them got used for firewood?

We had the same situation. Same set in the same order for two years and the singer not only couldn't remember the words, he couldn't remember how they got assembled into songs either (not helped by his copious alcohol consumption). Unfortunately, none of us are confrontational (I'm the closest to it, which is not very close at all) and so we didn't resolve it until the band was on the verge of breaking up, when the singer phoned the drummer and told him he was considering packing it in, and the drummer persuaded him that he should. If any of you are able to be directly critical of him to his face, in an unambiguous fashion, then do it. It could be he's perfectly capable and needs a kick up the arse, it could be that he's sh*te, in which case you need to be rid of him.

[quote name='Galilee' post='290109' date='Sep 23 2008, 04:56 PM'][quote name='tauzero' post='289922' date='Sep 23 2008, 01:15 PM'] Also wear the wedding ring from my first marriage on my right hand[/quote] How does your current wife feel about that? [size=1](Or were you widowed?)[/size] [/quote] She's fine with it. It's the ring from my first marriage - although my first wife is now dead, we'd been divorced for years when it happened.

I must say, this new idea of having a drinks cabinet installed in the upper bout seems a great advance to me. No more faffing round with your drinks on the floor, just reach in and there it is. Just the right size for a large Scotch, to suit the sophisticated tastes of those who play Warwicks. When I eventually get a double bass, I shall have to see about having a similar modification done. That would provide considerably more scope for storage - could probably fit a small wine rack in, in fact.

The offset shape of the Jazz is a pretty good conceptual solution to the problem of neck dive, as it has a long top horn and weight distributed to maximise the leverage to balance the neck. The Precision solution is simply to be heavy. However, rather than just using the concept and coming up with their own variant of the shape, a large number of high-end builders simply copy the Jazz shape, and then stick a Jazz control plate on. They show little originality of thought (or perhaps they're catering to a market that shows little originality of thought). The original thinkers address the balance problem by doing something about the basis of the problem, going to a 2+2 headstock (NS, Warwick), lightening it as well (Kubicki, Bass Collection) or dispensing with it altogether (Steinberger, Status). I keep trying to like singlecuts but the aesthetics jar with me. Which is a bit odd, because I've always liked the looks of Les Pauls.

I've always worn my wedding ring (when I've been married) to play. Current ring is the biggest so far, an 8mm barrel, but poses no problems. Also wear the wedding ring from my first marriage on my right hand, and that doesn't cause any problems either.

I did have a supply of Grolsch washers - not sure if I've got any left, nor where they are if I have. And the Roadhouse isn't giving performers free beer of a Thursday any more, so my stock will not be getting replenished...

[quote name='OldGit' post='289703' date='Sep 23 2008, 09:55 AM']"Cracking P p'up? That's an oxymoron, like 'military intelligence', or 'Microsoft Works' - the pickup is what makes the P so awful" I think you'll find that is a [i]subjective [/i]criticism .....[/quote] The truth is an absolute defence against accusations of subjectivity...

[quote name='redd' post='289065' date='Sep 22 2008, 11:53 AM']ps. anyone interested in a 5 string Ned Steinberger EUB? going cheap!![/quote] Do you a straight swap for an NS WAV-4 in the rare amberburst colour...

Covers band - [url="http://www.break-away.org.uk/"]Breakaway[/url]. Three-and-a-half piece band, 60s, 70s, 80s ish. Ceilidh band - [url="http://www.newcoronaband.co.uk/"]New Corona Band[/url]. Four of us plus caller (who is Mrs Zero). Some toons on the "Dances and Music" page, which are a little iffy on the quality front. Acoustic duo - [url="http://secondtimeround.org.uk/"]Second Time Round[/url]. Me and Mrs Zero (I play guitar and a little bass and keyboards). Some live songs on [url="http://www.myspace.com/secondtimerounduk"]our Myspace page[/url].