KingBollock

[quote name='Shambo' timestamp='1469008734' post='3094995'] Being approached by a total stranger as I walk down the street with a bass hardcase. Being cold called like a PPI claim. "Hello. You don't know me but I got your number off a mate (who?) says you play bass." I don't know who you are or what you want to play. You've never met or heard me play. Why would either of us behave so desperately? [/quote] That's reminded me of one I had forgotten about. I was seeing a girl who was distantly related to the local crime/gang family (the sort that are a one family crime wave who every one knows and don't want to cross. Most towns have one, I think), and they had a band. One of them approached me in the street, completely out of the blue, to ask if I would play bass for them. I told him I wasn't interested. The next thing I know people from all over the place are getting in touch asking why I turned them down and worried about my safety! I never heard another thing about it from the actual family, though.

A bloke, him self a very good guitarist, had seen me play a was very keen for me to meet his brother, who was also a guitarist and putting a band together. I went along for a rehearsal and it was just him and his mate on drums. They were obsessed with Hawkwind and weren't interested in anything else. It was boring. Another time a band turned up at my door (I don't even know how they knew where I lived) complaining that their bass player hadn't turned up for rehearsal and asked if I would jump in for him. I said yes because I was doing bugger all else that day. They were two guitarists, but one of them wouldn't even pick his up, he just wanted to sing, even though they had a singer there (neither of them could sing). The other guitarist was ok, as long as he was playing Enter Sandman and he was looking at the tab in his book, he fell to pieces otherwise. They said they had a drummer, but I knew who they were talking about and I also knew that he'd never owned a drumkit in his life. All the girlfriends and their friends that they'd brought along, were very enthusiastic... At the end they huddled together and then told me they had decided to fire their bass player in favour of me. Nope! Not happening!

Those look lovely and might well inspire me to finally get around to a project I've been meaning to do for ages. I have never done anything with oils on wood until very recently, so I know nothing at all about it. The stuff I used was Danish oil, is that anything like Tru-oil? I didn't use the Danish oil on a guitar, but I have got a headless Flying V that has a lovely grain on it. It was originally translucent red, but I stripped it, and after years of being buggered about with (it was purple and silver at one point (at the same time...)) a mate finally painted it banana yellow for me, but it's really badly done, so I want to strip it again and do a proper job of it with something that will show the grain well. The wood is a pale one (don't know what it is) with a nice dark grain. I used the Danish oil on pine and I love the way it came out.

[quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1467723827' post='3085630'] Don't heat the grub screw - it'll expand & be harder to move - heat the saddle which, hopefully, will expand more than the screw and allow it a bit more room to turn. G. [/quote] Surely if the saddle expands it'll squeeze the grub screw even tighter? Wouldn't it be better to freeze it? Although, causing any expansion and/or contraction might just be enough to break the hold on the screw. So, maybe, heat and then freeze?

Even I can do those chords! Now, if it did Bs...

You can try soaking in cola overnight. Then see if you have a flathead screwdriver with a tapered head that you can hammer into the Allen hole and try turning it. Other than that you'd have to drill it out.

[quote name='ColinB' timestamp='1467620995' post='3084831'] Would a [url="http://miaudio.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/12AU7-6111_Valve_Caster_Summary_Rev002.pdf"]Valvecaster[/url] be a good start? The twincaster has cascading pre-amps and there's a list of mods at the end, like using a 1Meg volume pot for a high-gain circuit. [/quote] Oh! I have only had a quick skim of that so far but it looks like it might be exactly what I am after. I am going to make time to go through all suggested links properly later today. I felt a little bit daunted before but I'm starting to feel quite excited about it now. So thanks guys. There may be more questions. I shall let you know how I get on. I actually put a bits box order in last night, just for enclosures, some pots and the odd component that I didn't have in stock. So next up are an Ibanez NB10 Noise Buster, ProTone Body Rot II and a Tubescreamer (which is what has caused the sudden interest in tubes). It'll be nice to get back to building actual effects rather than just utility pedals.

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1467611953' post='3084776'] I have a copy if you want to borrow it for a short while... [/quote] As much as I'd love a butcher's at it, because it does look good, I think I would rather see what I can find online before I ask someone to risk sending me anything through the post and all that that can entail. Thank you, though, it's a very kind offer.

[quote name='Passinwind' timestamp='1467604769' post='3084758'] OK, but how about a little more direction on whether you want clean, dirty, Fender, Vox, Marshall, and so on? The AX84 site I linked has full layouts and bills of materials for many different circuits that you could just omit the power section for. One dedicated preamp build that many people have started with is also detailed here: [url="http://www.dogstar.dantimax.dk/tubestuf/mctube.htm"]http://www.dogstar.d...stuf/mctube.htm[/url] . This uses a lower power supply voltage than many others, which may be a smart way to start out IMO. My tube bass preamps all use at least 300 volts DC, at which point decent test equipment and a little experience are surely helpful things to have. Another time honored way to get your hands dirty would be to find an old and/or broken guitar or PA amp on the cheap and hopefully make something useful out of it with minimal cash outlay. For instance, this one just needed a new input jack and it ended up being used professionally around Seattle for several years before I traded back for it: [/quote] The on,y thing I really know is that I want dirty. If I am successful I woul add a clean channel, too, but the main reason for this is for the filth. I don't know about manufacturer sounds, I shall do some research on that. I don't mind working with high voltages, back in the day I used to repair TVs, where many thousands of volts were involved. Though I would prefer something low voltage to start with while I experiment a bit. I meant to say thank you for the links but there was something else I had also meant to say and while trying to remember what it was I mangled to forget both. If you see what I mean. Thank you for giving me ideas to think about.

[quote name='Passinwind' timestamp='1467557649' post='3084521'] Why limit yourself to Basschat when you are wanting to build a guitar widget? Here are a couple of useful sites to get you started: http://www.ax84.com/ http://www.valvewizard.co.uk/ A kit will actually very likely save you both money and many headaches if you are needing to ask where to start, IMHO. Here's a relatively inexpensive one: http://www.paia.com/proddetail.asp?prod=9210K&cat=14 Good luck, and have fun. [/quote] This is the only forum I am an active member of. It's home. And I am cripplingly shy (is one way to put it...). I was hoping to see what parts I have (I do build other things, I have just never worked with valves) and what I could scavenge. I have never had any interest in valve amps, but I would quite like a valve preamp for guitar. I have seen ones that look very simple, basic preamps with just gain and volume, but not much in the way of details (there is always either lots of pictures and no information, or lots said and no show, never both...). I figure that if I could get a plan, layout or schematic, and a bill of materials, with some general advice for the circuit, it would be enough to get me started. There is such a wide variety, I was hoping that someone here might give me a clue before I just close my eyes, spin around and pick one at random. I have read that working with valve amps can be dangerous, but I am a safe worker when it comes to electricity, and I don't want the poweramp, just the preamp.

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1467550570' post='3084459'] have you got this book? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Designing-Valve-Preamps-Guitar-Second/dp/0956154522 [/quote] I haven't. Until the last few weeks I have had no interest in valve amps at all. My very first proper amp was a Laney Klipp, but only because it was cheap. I think it was probably something to do with having no access to information about them back then that caused it to blow up. And I had no idea until the best part of two decades later... That book looks good, but it isn't cheap, and I really don't want to spend much. If it's going to cost a lot I simply won't be able to do it.

I have been thinking about building a tube preamp for a while now, but I don't know where to start. I know you can get them as pedals but I have been unable to find a layout for one. I don't even know what section of BassChat to ask about it in, especially as it is for guitar not bass (my bass amp has a tube channel preamp, but I don't like it). I don't want to buy a kit because they're expensive and I'd like to spend as little as possible. At the moment all I need is a plan for the preamp part, I can figure out what eq stage to use later. The only requirement really, is high gain. Any advice? Even if it's just to suggest what sub forum I should ask this in (so I can blame you if someone tells me I've put it in the wrong place...).

I used Dunlop 3mm Big Stubbys for twenty odd years (most of that with the lexan ones, but later switched to the nylon version), but switched to the Dunlop Primetones a year or so ago. The Primetones go up to 5mm. They last longer than the Stubbys (which is good because they're £8.99 for three) and they are easier to grip.

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1467315021' post='3082822'] Last year I gave an as-new Cort T-34 bass (with a quite amazing finish) and a not-too-reliable Behringer head to a builder/aspiring bassist, in part-payment for a (bodged) concrete garage base. Otherwise I've actually made money on stuff I've sold, or just lost a few quid. I currently have a silly number of instruments sitting around and getting neither played or sold, because I know I'll lose money if I sell them now. Do need to bite the bullet, really. Jon. [/quote] I have the T-35 in, I suspect, the same finish. Some bloke had bought it for £350, as a first bass, four months later he decided it wasn't for him and sold it back to the shop. I then bought it for £220. It still had the plastic on the cavity cover and machine heads. I dread to think what he actually sold it back for for the shop to still make a second profit on it (and I don't doubt that they did).

[quote name='4stringslow' timestamp='1467221069' post='3082076'] I assume 100% monetary loss on everything I buy. I rarely sell anything, so it's the safest option. [/quote] I'm pretty much the same. I have sold a couple of basses, but one was my first, which was a Christmas present so didn't cost me anything, and the second was a gift from someone who didn't play it. I swapped a Carlsboro Stingray amp head for my first PC (a 286) but don't think I lost anything in that deal. I also sold a cab to a chap who gave it back to me, for free, after it spent a few years not being used in his spare room. I did sell a guitar combo that I bought new, but I can't remember what I paid or how much I got for it. It wasn't an expensive one, though. However, I have a couple of basses that I bought cheap, one new and one second hand, that never get played and they're not worth enough to go to the bother of selling. One is passive and has flats on it, so I could use it for certain stuff, or so I keep telling myself. The other I have had plans to de-fret for years, but haven't got around to it yet. So I am probably 100% down on those, unless I suddenly find uses for them.

That looks like the sort of bass you could truly make your own.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1467011824' post='3080340'] I love the ODB-3 when used at high gain, and into a cab without a tweeter (or through a cab sim). Nothing quite like it. Those that buy it thinking it's an overdrive like the label says are the ones that usually hate it! Other pedals I've tried and hated yet get a lot of love from others: - Fairfield Barbershop - Mountainking Megalith - EHX Bass Soul Food - Joyo Ultimate Drive - Ashdown James Lomenzo Hyperdrive - 3Leaf Wonderlove [/quote] The Ashdown Hyperdrive is the most disappointing pedal I have ever bought. I kept thinking that I'd eventually figure out how to dial a sound I liked into it, but I just ended up not using it at all. And it takes up an awful lot of room for nothing. They were still being raved about at the time. But then, as soon as I got mine, there's been barely a peep since. I feel like I was conned!

I have used Stand oil (boiled linseed oil), but only because I already had it (artists use it. And me, too) and I had a guitar that had spent several year in pieces in a box in various rooms and sheds, and the fretboard had become dry as kindling. The Stand oil really brought it back to life, so I went and did it to all my guitars and they all came up lovely. I've not had to use it since, and that was a few years ago now.

That's where thumb picks that have plastic picks attached to a metal band that goes around the thumb come in handy. I prefer those because you can squeeze them tight to keep them in place. Plastic ones don't fit me very well and my thumb gets sore very quickly when using them.

I don't use one and I'm not even sure where you'd get one, but Chris Broderick (ex-Megadeth) came up with the Pick Clip. It takes standard picks, so you can use various thicknesses (though I don't know how thick or thin) picks and you can replace them when they wear out. I think they're a really good idea and I would certainly be looking for one if I was in a similar situation. Edit to add: The metal thumb pick that I use for banjo has turned up edges so that it doesn't snag on up strokes. Not much use for bass unless you want a really bright tone, but I thought I'd mention it because it addresses one of your problems, and though it might not be suitable, it might give you other ideas of what to look for?

I think there is very little snobbery on BassChat where pick playing is concerned. When I first joined the forum there was some snobbery, which made me feel a bit defensive, but it's not like that now. I think you're more likely to be berated for insisting on sticking to a single style, but only if you were to bang on about how any other way is wrong. I have been playing with a pick for all but the first year of the 29 years I have been playing. Bass was my first and is my main instrument and, despite not coming from guitar, playing with a pick feels natural to me. I started playing with a pick because clumsy 13 year old me had started messing about with electronics and it's easier to hold a pick when your finger tips are covered in sticking plasters. To be honest, I can't really do traditional finger style, if I drop a pick I use thumb and first two fingers as I would with my banjo. I hybrid pick, too, using my middle and ring finger while using a pick. I do own guitars (just got another for my birthday) but I play them like a bass player. More recently I have switched to quite thin picks for bass (Dunlop Tortex .60) but I still play guitar with 3mm Dunlop Primetones.

Alas, 'tis the lot of the bass player. I say alas, but I think most of us love it really.

I am considering getting an expression pedal, probably the Boss EV-5, to go with my Boss GX-700. I love the GX-700 but it hates basses, and it feels kind of wrong buying more stuff that I can only use with guitar and not bass. So I was thinking that building an effects box that I could plug the EV-5 into, that has effects for bass, would be fun. Off the top of my head I can only think of Wah and volume, but I am sure there must be more that could be done with it. Unfortunately I can't find any plans for such a thing, so I thought I would ask you clever gentlemen for your thoughts and ideas.

How about a line of music with the notes of your favourite riff or section of a song on it? Obviously the bass clef would be at the beginning. You could have it wrap around your arm or have it wavy like a ribbon or even a spiral.

I can't find much online about top locking tuners. Is it normal for there to be no windings at all? If there should be at least a winding or two, I might just change the strings now, nevermind that these are new. I've seen some Elixirs that I like the look of. I love 'em on my five string bass, fortunately they're a hell of a lot cheaper for guitar. And hopefully the coating might be more gentle on my fingertips.