KingBollock

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1373578971' post='2139377'] Totally with you on this. In that other thread there seemed to be a lack of understanding about how one can make jokes within the context of shared knowledge about our history. Similarly, when a new female member introduced herself recently, someone (was that you?) made a lovely joke about her choosing to have a bass rig for ... wait for it ... the kitchen! [b]That and similar jokes are NOT sexist. It's a recognition of our sad past. It's funny too.[/b] As to the reasoning skills, the worrying part is that you seem to still doubt sometimes. Some people on every forum in the world are so thick that they don't even recognise superior minds when they see them. BC can't be an exception, and it isn't. Nice folks though. People here are (Generally) lovely! best, bert [/quote] Unfortunately the problems occur because it is still very much the present for some people. I would imagine that for the people on this forum it is very much in the past, but some people are more sensitive to it because they can see sexism still going on and making peoples' lives a misery. We can't make jokes about racism yet, because it is still very much a horrible fact of life for some people. I'm not sure that making sexist jokes should automatically be allowed because it is something that doesn't happen anymore, even if it didn't, is it right to make jokes about slavery? I'm no prude and my sense of humour is very skewiff to my moral outlook, I'm a Macc Lads fan... But I am never surprised if someone doesn't like that kind of humour, and I would be very careful about where I made such jokes. Maybe you're right and we should be able to make such jokes at will, but we're not as far along as you might think we are. This isn't meant as a criticism, more a possible view from the other side.

What a perfect opportunity for someone who has never tried them, but would like to. I switched to flats a couple of years ago, specifically Chromes, and I adore them. I wish I had tried them 20 years ago.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1373487721' post='2138268'] It's only the end of your world if you let it be. My grandfather lost both his legs above the knee as a recently married '20 something'. Never stopped him from getting the most out of his life for another 60+ years. [/quote] My legs are the best part of me, I wish the rest of my body was in as good a condition as my legs, but, and I know this is easy to say, I think I could cope with losing my legs. Not my arms, though. People say you would cope, because you have to, but those people aren't like me, they don't consider suicide a viable option. And I think that's what I'd prefer. In this day and age you don't need legs to see the world, but to not be able to pick up a book and turn its pages... Or scratch an itch...

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1373452789' post='2137689'] Sounds like you're the one who needs to go and buy a Stingray first thing tomorrow morning! [/quote] Yuck, no thankyou!

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1373479494' post='2138153'] 30p/watt [/quote] Same here. But that was secondhand, I have no idea what it would have been new.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1373463019' post='2137862'] To echo what Nigel has said , I too have noticed that if you take any half- presentable looking woman and put a bass ( or indeed any other musical instrument ) in her hands she is inevitably the target of Benny Hill - like attention from male Basschatters . I am all for people saying what they really feel , but why is it that women in music cause men to react in this way ? Do they see an attractive woman in the supermarket and think to themselves "if only she had a Fender Precision in her hands I'd give her a seeing to she'd never forget " ? Surely most men, even musicians ( even drummers ) , could develop a sexual fantasy around something more imaginitive that than their partner sharing the same hobby ? Do men who enjoy doing DIY fantasize about women who know how to do a bit of grouting and who clean out their own guttering at the weekend ? When I made this point in a ( hopefully ) humourous way in another thread recently I was , bizzarely enough , accused of gross sexism , racism and castigated by all and sundry . I have very serious doubts sometimes about the reasoning skills of some members on this site . Or maybe it's me . [/quote] I actually find the ability to wield a hammer, drill or welding torch quite sexy in women. I also like physically strong women. For some reason this scares some men.

[quote name='martthebass' timestamp='1373387795' post='2137013'] If you measured 'on the bass' won't they be elongated and therefore thinner? [/quote] Possibly. Argh! Too many variables!

I've been thinking about this. If I had either my index or middle fingers plus my thumbs, I'd be ok. I play with a pick anyway, so that wouldn't change. I think I would get me a fretless, I feel like the freedom it would allow would help. And I'd probably start playing hippy, whale type music instead of metal. I like meditative music anyway and listen to it a lot, if I had a keyboard I'd probably be recording that kind of stuff now, with all my fingers.

My main bass has a neck through design but it created more problems than it was worth, due to poor design. I could really have done with a way to shim it. It's also a shape that is prone to getting bits snapped off, so that's a worry, too. Though I suppose of that were to happen I could route out a neck pocket in the body and replace it with a bolt on, or if there isn't enough body at that point I could glue one in.

Does this include the thumbs too? One finger and one thumb on each hand and I don't think it would stop me playing. No thumbs would be a deal breaker, though. I'd just hope I could use my single fingers to build me a carbon monoxide generator.

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1373400070' post='2137223'] I tried using 12" drivers, but they couldn't see over the dashboard or reach the pedals so I went back to the normal size. Well someone had to say it ... [/quote] That reminds me of my brother and me at Flamingo Park. There was a "ride" where you could drive a little jeep around a track. But neither my brother or I were tall enough, but that didn't stop them letting us have a go... I sat on the floor pressing the pedals with my right hand and steering with my left while my brother stood on the passenger seat and shouted directions. It didn't go well, they cleared the track until we'd had our allotted time, which was nice of them, it wasn't a very busy theme park.

[quote name='chriswareham' timestamp='1373405998' post='2137343'] It's currently tuned for drop Bb, with the heaviest four strings from a five string set. I'm going to use strings designed specifically for detuning from [url="http://circlekstrings.com"]Circle K[/url] next time it needs restringing, and I don't think they have any silk windings at all which will look better than the red silk on the current set. [/quote] This might sound a bit daft, but... You could always take a black permanent marker pen to the silk. No one would ever notice. I quite like the blue of the silk on my black bass, but now I've thought of that I might just make them black.

[quote name='cloudburst' timestamp='1373323591' post='2136304'] Hey, I appreciate you doing that. But. I have to say it seems those particular calipers wouldn't tell me whether I had a 105/45 set or a 100/40 set. Dang! Thx, CB [/quote] If it is the callipers, then at least they're fairly consistent. You'd need a way to find out how short or long the tool is measuring. Unless you spend an awful lot of money on professional kit there is always going to be some discrepancy. And I did say they were accurate to .003mm, which seems to have turned out to be the case. And they were only £20. But yeah, looking at this thread, something already set up for the job you want, like the card, would be best.

I wish I hadn't done that now, I'm a little disappointed... Having said that, I don't know what to be disappointed in, I don't know which is wrong, the callipers or the strings. [font=courier new,courier,monospace]The strings are: .105 .085 .070 .050[/font] [font=courier new,courier,monospace]And I got:[color=#fff0f5]......[/color] .103 .083 .067 .048[/font] The strings are D'Addario Chromes. I'd test other strings but they're the only ones I even know the make of , nevermind the gauge.

I have to confess that I haven't used mine to check for string gauge as I haven't had to. Sorry. They're supposed to be accurate down to .003mm, but I have no way of knowing if they actually are that accurate because the only thing I have to measure them with is themselves. I can't even judge tenths of a mm with my just my eyes and a steel rule.

[quote name='Myke' timestamp='1373315426' post='2136135'] Well I'm glad you think so! Unfortunately it seems to be a slow starter as I can't find any plywood thin enough and I don't have a planing machine (not sure you can plane plywood, as it's made of layers) the thinnest available near me is 3.6mm. I may be able to get 1.5mm, if they can order it in, but that may still be too thick? [/quote] How about getting some veneer and some glue and making your own? I have never tried this so I have no idea how viable an option it actually is.

Digital vernier callipers?

I wonder if he'll stop adding the "but apparently I am!" after "I don't want to live for ever" when they play Ace Of Spades, live? At 68 he seems old for his generation of rockers but after getting this far it would be a shame of he couldn't eke out another 10 or 15 years. Perhaps I'm being selfish.

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1373059801' post='2133428'] I think you are very brave making your own saddles in the first place! Hope your fingers recover soon... [/quote] Actually it was cowardice that caused me to do it. The easiest thing would have been to just grind down the existing saddles, but as I have been unable to find the individual parts for sale I was afraid that if I cocked it up I'd have to buy a whole new bridge just to get those parts. This way it has only cost me £2 for the metal and a whole bunch of free time and pain.

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1373057683' post='2133395'] Actually, if you look closely, the top picture in the original post is also compensated (2nd string filed so the string is at the back of the saddle, etc) The trouble is, the saddle only gives you 1-1.5mm difference, and you need at least 3mm basic difference (just look at the saddle positions on a well-intonated standard bass or 6 string and put a rule along the mean) and then each string is a little bit forward or back from that - so generally the better acoustics have an angled saddle AND a compensated bridge. I know it defies logic, but when did our guitars do anything different [/quote] Yeah, I spotted that after I pressed post. I know all too well about intonating a bass right now. I have been making new saddles for my bridge and I have spent a lot of time messing about getting it just right. The stupid bridge is designed in such a way that once you've got the intonation right you have to remove the string to get at the grub screw that clamps the saddle in place. Making the saddles is a damned fiddly job, too. They're 12mm x 6mm x 4mm yet each one is taking over an hour to make! Tapping M3 holes is a pain in the bum and I've already broken one tap, another and I'll have to buy a new set. And the saddles are so small that I can't wear my gloves when making them, so until I've nearly done and can file and sand the sharp little edges off them they're bloomin' painful to work with. Fortunately I am a pick player because otherwise I wouldn't be able to play with my right hand right now because the tips are shredded.

It might just be the light, but that second (straight) bridge looks compensated. Like the second one here: I have one similar to the third one on my Spanish style acoustic guitar. It might be worth considering.

Looks like a good job. I'm not sure what to do about mine. It's an ebony fretboard but it's not totally black (the cheeky buggers at BC Rich had dyed it, which didn't stand up so well to my cleaning it. I can only imagine that the previous owner had never cleaned the fretboard. Mind you, the whole bass looked hardly used when I got it, it even has all it's corners, which I think is technically impossible on a Warlock over twelve minutes old.). I was sort of considering painting the markers black with the ink from a CD pen as it's a very permanent ink. Though, since I started thinking about it I have found myself using the markers because the ones on the side aren't so easy to see, but I was thinking of either replacing the side markers with some of that glow in the dark stuff, or one of those LED strips (I love pretty lights!). I don't know, I've got so many plans for it and they're always changing, so we'll see. I've had the thing for just over a year now and only just got around to replacing the bridge saddles and am about to replace the nut. Pick ups next, then the preamp.

Never been sacked but I got a phone call saying the band had split up. Then, a couple of weeks later, I got another call asking to join a band made up of most of the original band but without the lead guitarist and the singer. The whole thing was set up to get rid of those two. I was once in a band that went through members like crazy. I finally got the idea that it wasn't going to work when I turned up for a rehearsal and the only other person to turn up was a new drummer I had never even met before.

I had assumed he meant the dots, or blocks or whatever. I was hoping someone would come up with something because I would be interested, too. I know you can buy stick on fret markers that come with a pen to colour the current markers the same as the fretboard so they don't show through or around the new ones, but it's hardly suitable if you just want a plain board. I'd quite like my Warlock to have a plain ebony board but with markers at the 12th fret (a pair of silver mudflap girls).

I remember him talking about a procedure that Keith Richards had done where they take all your blood out and replace it with clean blood. Apparently, after tests, the doctor said he couldn't do it for Lemmy, he said that if he tried to replace his blood it would kill him and if they tried to put his blood into a normal human it would kill them! Was it 2005 when he was told he had diabetes? No one is indestructible, not even the mighty Lemmy. He was a major influence in me taking up the Bass and I've been buying his albums since 1987, it would be weird to not be able to anymore.