KingBollock

I hope Amazon don't cotton on to this! I often buy books for £2.81, and sometimes DVDs for £1.27, where all but 1p is postage.

Why not just grind the proud part flush or maybe grind it down so that it is lower than the surface and drop a drop of paint in the hole to hide it?

That just reminded me of another small venue. It was in the cellar of a restaurant in Warwick. It was lovely but tiny, we had to get rather creative with the lighting rig. The place was made of stone with vaulted roofs and actually had a door that lead to a tunnel that went all the way to Warwick castle. I remember a really annoying kid, with oblivious parents, who kept sticking his face in front of the smoke machine. There should be a thread about annoying audience members.

Try as I might I can't remember the name of the pub I am thinking of. It was in the Hillfields area of Coventry, a famously rough area full of prostitutes and drug gangs. The pub had the most fascinating clientele, if you've ever seen Pirates of the Caribbean you'll have a pretty good idea of what they looked like. The place was packed but there was only a handful of teeth between the lot of 'em. There was far too short a complement of eyes, too. Carrying the gear in through the bar was really, really scary, but then I was only 16. In the end, though, the gig was great and everyone enjoyed themselves. Oddly, the worst one was a disco gig in a massive, very, very posh and expensive hotel. Again, I can't remember the name of the damned place. I remember being tickled pink when, while we were setting up in the middle of the day, a waiter in full get-up, white gloves, the lot, came and served us tea with a silver service. I'd never seen such a thing before. The gig was a Christmas do for Travellers. There were over 300 of them. Every table had crackers, party poppers and streamers on them. The first people in were three kids, probably around 7 years old. They went 'round and took everything off the tables, destroyed the lot and dumped them in a huge pile right in the middle of the dance floor. And all night the little f***ers would threaten to get their dad to kill me if the DJ didn't play the songs they requested. Normally my job was to do the lights (the light rig for the disco was massive, the biggest I have ever seen for a mobile disco. Sometimes if we had booked three smaller discos for a weekend we could actually split it into three and each still be bigger than others we usually saw. It was brilliant, I loved that job.) but the boss was a coward and decided that that night he would hide behind the lighting console and stuck me on the stage to take requests, which was a job he made up just to be a dick.

When I first saw this it angered me somewhat, however it does actually make sense, in that it prevents all those that try to con Ebay by swapping the postage and article prices around to skip the fees. That can't work now, so I can't really blame them.

What a shame. Someone needs to throw dirt on this sh*t. I love Duff. If there was ever a gig I wish I could have been at or even played at, it is Guns & Roses live at the Ritz in 1988. That thing sends chills up my spine every time I watch it, which is often. And I am being a bit of a hypocrite here because I don't usually care if a band goes off in another direction or just goes to pot, because I will always have the stuff I loved, no one can take that away from me, but Axl has done nothing but piss all over the memory of Guns & Roses. He might own the name but the band left him way behind. He's the last person mentioned in the video at this link. I should warn you, some of those videos might make you cry. http://www.cracked.com/video_18831_4-musical-performances-that-will-ruin-your-childhood.html

[Dons golden underpants and starts singing/squawking] The sword of Damocles is hanging over my head And I've got the feeling someone's gonna be cutting the thread Oh, woe is me, my life is a misery Oh, can't you see that I'm at the start of a pretty big downer!? [shuts up]

When I was in school my parents bought me some trainers of the brand Purvey. Can you imagine the stick I would have got? I coloured the name in with a permanent marker and wore them for a full year, until someone sitting behind me in class asked if I had coloured them in. I hated those damned things, they were made of plastic and made my feet stink and had a plastic knobbly bit inside that hurt like hell. But what can you expect for trainers that cost £4?

I don't see the problem if it doesn't effect sound. Why waste a string if it actually works? Unless I was having to use it live and it was my only Bass, then I would be more inclined to replace it, if I had the money, probably best not to tempt fate when there are band members and an audience to please.

It's the kind of knot that works better the more pressure it has on it. I know it's not on the speaking length of the string but does it not effect the sound of the string? A guitar shop I used to work in had a bloke come in one day screaming and ranting that he was going to sue the shop owner. His son had bought a set of bass strings and when he tried fitting them he over wound by an octave. The E string broke and went right through his cheek! I have never had a string break like that, in fact I have only ever had a couple break at all, but normally it's just the core that goes and the winds keep it from flying about.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1395699140' post='2405346'] Hmm. I don't really get that philosophy. Why not just buy the best instrument you can afford? [/quote] I'm not so sure it's what you can afford, necessarily, but what you can justify. And if it's something, like taking up an instrument, where you're not sure that it will really be your thing, then I believe that what you can justify becomes less. If later on you decide that it is definitely what you want to do and you are playing regularly with a band, then maybe you can justify spending more. And if you decide to become professional where a much more expensive bass will pay for itself, then you can spend as much as you like. The way to justify something is to work out its importance in your life, it becomes a "What are you prepared to go without now that you wouldn't have when you first started?" question, because not everyone has the kind of disposable income where they can spend whatever they like on whatever they like. However, with the quality of basses, even at cheap new prices, now, I believe that it is possible to spend under £300 on a secondhand bass of a quality that might never need upgrading.

20 something years ago I was asked what my perfect bass would be. I described a black BC Rich Warlock with a Widow headstock. I had only ever seen Warlocks in magazines and music videos, and had only seen the Widow headstock on the BC Rich Widow bass. Last year, after never having even seen one in the flesh, let alone played one, I saw exactly what I had described on Ebay and I bought it. It was a complete fluke that it plays as nicely as it does, especially as I had never heard anything good said about Warlocks. The bass I did buy hadn't even started being made back then and had been discontinued before I bought it, having had a run of about 10 years. But then I live in a house that I had never seen before we actually bought it.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1395563622' post='2403621'] @KingBollock. Any chance you could tell us the makes and models of these basses? [/quote] My first Bass was a Westone Raider I (£100) Dream Bass: BC Rich Warlock NT (£265) Main 5 string: Cort T-35 (£225) Westfield something or other (not a P or Jazz copy) (£200) The Cort is probably the only one that people wouldn't automatically turn their noses up at, and those that would might change their mind if they played it.

My first Bass cost £100 secondhand. It was bought for me by my parents for Christmas when I was 12. I have four brothers and £100 was the maximum we were allowed each for Christmas presents, if it hadn't have been possible to buy a Bass for that or less then it would never have happened. If I hadn't have had to sell that Bass it would probably still be the only Bass I'd own right now. Even now, £500 is a hell of a lot of money for me, but then I am very lucky in that I actually own my dream Bass. It would have been a £500+ Bass when brand new, but it only cost me £265 (including postage) and that is the most I have ever spent on a Bass. I have another Bass that cost me £225 that would have been the best part of £400 new. I got really lucky because someone had bought it from the shop and after four months he decided Bass wasn't for him and sold it back to the shop, it still had the cellophane on the control cavity and the backs of the tuners and was in brand new condition. I have another Bass that cost me £200 brand new and it's a cracker, it plays beautifully. I had to upgrade the electronics in it and at some point I will change the pick-ups, too, once I have some spare from another project. If it hadn't happened that my dream Bass came up at a nice price, around my birthday, this Bass would probably still be my main four string.

[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1395352095' post='2401588'] This thread made me laugh when I saw it as funnily enough I was saying to KIOgan earlier that I should take up this or the recorder as it would be cheaper than fiddling about with basses lol [/quote] I've got a recorder but I can't play it, it's just no fun. But I have got a few penny whistles that I adore, and they're a lot cheaper than recorders. If you want something similar sounding to a recorder but is easier and more fun to play, you could try an ocarina. I love mine, but a decent sized one can be expensive, mine is less than 3 inches across and cost me £12. It's small enough to leave on a cord around my neck, say if I am camping or something, and I can just grab it and play it. Mind you, you probably need long hair and a tie-die t-shirt to really pull it off...

There's nothing wrong with the cheap metal ones you find in tubs on music shop counters. Especially if they also sell the replacement reeds. You can also experiment with them, by fixing different materials onto the ring of a worn out reed, to get different sounds.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1395283472' post='2400701'] I think the 80's were an interesting time for bassists. Hybrid amps, headless basses, exotic materials, effects pedals, string technologies - probably more advances in that one decade than in the previous 50 years and the years after. Some of the ideas have lasted the course, others have fallen by the wayside. Everything was trendy in the 80's. Except me - I've always been an old fart. [/quote] My music room looks like an 80s junk shop. I think the most 80s looking thing I have is a Cort headless Flying V guitar, in signal yellow (I painted it yellow, it was translucent red originally. Before I painted it yellow it had been green, and purple and silver). I once saw its Bass twin, it was only £140 but I couldn't afford it, I so, so wish I had bought it, though. I've never seen another since. Though topping that for 80s looking I did used to own a Westone Raider I in grey and silver glitter.

Another thought, If you want to play finger style but have the attack off a 50 calibre machine gun firing at a Tank. For Banjo I use metal finger picks, but I don't wear them on top of my fingers, sort of like a fake fingernail, I wear them underneath and bent back over the tips of my fingers. So it is basically giving you steel finger tips. It actually works on Bass, too, and sounds insane.

[quote name='Mark Dyer' timestamp='1395150512' post='2399195'] Check out the three fingered technique of Mr Billy Sheehan, you will never need a pick to play fast again. [/quote] Adrian Lambert, Biomechanical's current Bass player and former member of DragonForce, has an incredibly solid three finger picking style, he makes Billy Sheehan look positively sloppy.

A Damien Hurst Flea Bass.

So, you can't know if you will actually get CTS or RSI no matter what technique you use and it could take decades for it to show? So how do we know Carol Kaye isn't going too suffer for her technique in the future? How do we know it's her technique that has kept such problems at bay? Maybe she is just one if the lucky ones that wouldn't have got it even if using a poor technique? Taking such a hard line stance based on just one person seems a bit rash. Unfortunately my Bass history is severely lacking and right now I wish I knew more about other pick players going back as far as Mrs Kaye.

I got to the third page (of 24, don't know where I got the idea there were only 11) of the TalkBass thread and had to chuckle when the chap banging on about the Carol Kaye method confessed to having been banned from her forum. Not relevant I know, but it made me chuckle.

You could put the screws back in and if they stand out too much you could colour them the same colour as the finish with felt tip pens or a black permanent marker. It would be cheap, free if you already have the pens, and easily reversible if you don't like it. I'm sure there are better ideas, especially if you're prepared to make it permanent.

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1394917049' post='2396753'] Take a look at the "Talk Bass" link I posted in post #4. [/quote] Ok, well, I read the first page (I might read the other 10 pages if I find time) and I'm not convinced by his "If you don't play like Carol Kaye you [i]will[/i] get CTS!" attitude. And half of those saying he is correct confess to not using a pick. It sounds like the equivalent of telling boys that if they masturbate they will go blind, just because masturbation is seen as "wrong". Having said this I will mention my technique, such as it is. I have a weak right wrist anyway, from years of weight training a long time ago and an accident that chipped my scaphoid when I was a kid, but I have never, ever experienced pain in my right hand or thumb while playing Bass or any other instrument. My left thumb is another matter but that was due to mishaps that happened before I took up the Bass. I have used a thick, 3mm, pick, as the chap suggests, for over 20 years, and I don't always anchor my hand. I do palm mute and have had problems with proud saddle screws, but that was easily sorted. I don't always play by the bridge, either, more often playing almost over the P pick-up position and often straying towards the neck; I will do this throughout a song if I feel the need to change the sound in that way. I also play quite lightly, letting the Bass and amp do the work. I very rarely use just downstrokes and I am able to get the same amount of attack from an upstroke as a downstroke. The height of my Bass is lower when sitting than most because I have it dangling between my legs, rather than on my lap, and have the neck diagonal in a classical guitar position, I keep it at the same height when standing, too. So, it could be that I have averted injury by unconsciously using a safer technique. I could believe that staying in one place and doing the same motion over and over again might cause problems eventually, but I feel as though this would be more common knowledge among Bass players. But it could be that it isn't talked about for the same reason no one ever talks about the correct way to w***, it's wrong so shouldn't be mentioned...

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1394908202' post='2396608'] .....yet !! It can take many years for the problem to manifest itself. Just like repetitive strain injury does not happen over night. [/quote] I've been a pick player for 25 years, entirely without injury. In fact this is the first time I have ever come across someone even suggesting it. I actually started playing with a pick a year after I started playing Bass because of injury to my fingers due to other activities. If there's such a risk, how on earth do guitarists get on?