KingBollock

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1349904632' post='1832201'] For me it can be too much work for the money..Pubs are invaribly that.... so the gig needs to return. It is EITHER great fun or a good payer. If it is both then great, if it is neither, then that is a killer. [/quote] See, I can understand that. I'm an angler and I have a philosophy that goes: If the sun is shining and the landscape beautiful, I don't care if I catch or not. If I'm sitting next to a wet, muddy hole in the ground, then I want to be catching Fish. However, I still have to pay for my license, day ticket, bait, line, hooks and tackle and all I might get out of it is a wet head and slimy hands.

Money causes too many problems that I wouldn't want to have to deal with in the hobby I do for FUN. I don't want to have to worry that we're not charging enough, making us look crap, or charging too much, making us look arrogant. I don't want to have to worry about the singer wanting 2 cuts because he also plays a guitar, or a drummer wanting more because he has to carry so much, or because he has further to travel. I don't want to stress about being stiffed by the venue at the end of every gig. And I don't want to have to cope with paying tax and stuff. And if I leave all this to another band member, I don't want to have to worry that he or she is doing it properly. I have a few hobbies that I enjoy and have to pay for and don't expect anything back from. There are hobbies I would like to do but they're expensive, so I can't, I just have to accept that. I am far from well off and having to travel to gigs and rehearsals and replace strings and leads and such, would have to come out of my own pocket and I would have to go without other things to pay for them, but that's the price of a hobby. Not being bothered about making money at it does not make me evil or a lesser musician than you. And implying as much is just snide and smacks of bitterness.

Those who play for free won't get paid any less, so why should they give a toss? They just make those who think they should be paid prove they're worth being paid.

Well, I wouldn't play any venue unless I was being paid £10,000 per hour. So I am obviously a better musician than you.

Or hobby bands that demand payment are worse for pro bands than those who play for free. In these times, when cash is scarce, instead of buying a bottle of vodka from Aldi and staying in, someone might be more tempted to go out to see a band if it's for free. You can go out and see a couple of local bands for free and still have money for a ticket to see a pro band, this might help keep the Pub open too. Hobbyists charging are eating into the money that people might need to go see a pro band... If your band isn't getting the gigs it thinks it deserves and blaming it on bands not charging, perhaps your band isn't so much better than the free bands as it thinks it is?

For the wires that go through the hole from pick-up to cavity, I used the outer shielding from this kind of wire: Which I got from here: http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/silver-braided-gibson-wire---1m-283-p.asp I just pulled the its original wire out and fed the pickup wires though it. It can be soldered too, which is handy. A cheap and easy way to shield those wires would be to wrap them in tinfoil and then feed them through the hole. It can't be soldered, but you can stick it down with something like [url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/aluminium-tape-4098"]Aluminium Tape[/url], which is what I use to shield the entire cavity.

I currently own four Basses and have no intention of increasing the fold. However, if I still had my old Westone Raider I, which dire circumstance caused me to sell, over ten years ago, then I would probably still only have that one Bass. I loved it to bits and miss it like hell. Though, I have to admit, my Warlock is a much better Bass.

It took me over 20 years to get around to buying my favourite Bass, a BC Rich Warlock. In the end I went for the NT. I adore it, it plays beautifully and sounds ace, and I still have to catch my breath when I look at it, it's gorgeous! Even so, there are problems with it and I am going to have to tinker with the bridge to make it absolutely perfect. But I would never sell it. Well, if I lost both my arms and ended up living on the streets (again. The living on the streets bit, I never lost my arms.), then I might consider selling it. But if I'd only lost my arms I would very proudly mount it on the wall (well, I'd get someone else to mount it for me).

[b]Intelligent[/b]. I didn't finish school, so have no GCSEs, but, later, I did get myself into a college doing electronics and did quite well. [b]Introverted[/b]. I am incredibly shy, until I can properly relax, then I get quite loud. [b]Deep thinkers[/b]. Don't have much else to do... [b]Don't make eye contact[/b]. I don't play live, my playing never leaves this room, so no, no eye contact. [b]Prefer the dark to the light (night to the day)[/b]. I am naturally nocturnal, which rather confounds my Doctor (though, this summer, I have been quite good and only lapsed a couple of times and not for long). And other than an obsession with sparkly things and coloured lights (I have disco lights set up around my house, in fact I put together a mobile Disco purely to be able to play with the lights. And don't get me started on smoke machines and lasers...), I prefer the dark. [b]Moody[/b]. I shouldn't be, I take so many tablets every day, to control it, that I rattle. And I'm [i]still[/i] moody.

[quote name='steve-soar' timestamp='1348740111' post='1817508'] Bin those shades and get some large Ray Ban Aviators. Cool tats. [/quote] Those shades are genuine, £180 Gucci, Japanese imports! I didn't buy them, they were a gift. I hate Aviators. I do have some old Ray Ban style shades, with polarized lenses for fishing, but they don't look right with the hat.

[quote name='lowdowner' timestamp='1348691913' post='1817084'] Surely, *SURELY* you asked him how he knew i.e. what he recognised in you? Go on, spill the beans.... [/quote] I didn't, sorry! I was dressed like this, but without the sweatbands: Perhaps it was the Bass I was carrying that gave it away? Oh no, I'd left that at home...

In the summer I was in a Guitar shop somewhere on the Welsh coast. I looked around and commented to my wife (quite quietly but there was only her, me and the shop owner in there) that there was only one Bass in the whole place. The shop owner nodded and said "Bass player, I knew it! I thought when you came in that you looked like a Bass player.". I took it as a complement.

I quite often manage to get exactly the sound I want. The trouble is that the next time I play through the same rig, with the same Bass, in the same place, playing the same tunes, absolutely nothing different, it's no longer the sound I am after and I have to start again. I've been doing this for over 20 years, I just can't settle on one sound. I do know what sounds I don't like, which is a start.

[quote name='lowdowner' timestamp='1348601274' post='1815888'] Ah, now, that's interesting. Are you thinking some kind of electro-magnetic feedback of some kind? The answer is - I don't know! I will check it out in the morning and report back... funnily enough, I didn't think to experiment with that.... [/quote] I'll be honest, I have no idea... It happens to me but all my amps and Basses are squashed together with 2 running PCs and their monitors, and a bunch of different kinds of lighting, including strip lights. I'd be surprised if there wasn't some kind of buzz in here.

This might sound strange, but I'm curious... Does this happen no matter what orientation you are in to your amp? As in, if it happens when you are facing your amp, or the amp is right behind you, does it stop, or get quieter, when you turn so you are at a right angle to your amp?

[quote name='lowdowner' timestamp='1348513027' post='1814641'] surely this doesn't just depend on the length of your strap but the length of your *cough* as well ...? [/quote] I've got a bit of a chest infection, I can *cough* for hours.

When I played in band when I was young, I always had my Bass covering my gentleman's area, which is where I wear it while sitting down, I don't have it on my lap I let it hang down between my legs. After 16 years of not being in bands, so not having to stand up, and getting bigger and bigger as the years went by, I was surprised to find that when I stand up I can no longer have my Bass that low because my belly shoves the top of the Bass away from me so that the strings are almost parallel with the floor. So when standing, I have to have it over my bellybutton.

I once jumped to the wrong conclusion after I had bought a brand new 15" speaker. If I played anything below G# on the E string it farted really badly. I was gutted because I'd had to save up to buy the speaker. I went on a different Bass forum (didn't know this place existed) and complained, just for the sake of ranting. Someone suggested that it was the cab I had put it in but I said it wasn't (it wasn't). When I came back later that day there were 4 pages of people calling me an idiot and a liar! (despite the fact that there was absolutely no way for them to know what size cab I'd put it in). It turned out to be a hidden gain setting on my V-Amp Pro, it was set too high and was causing the DDT protection in my Peavey amp to cut in. I was very relieved when I worked it out. I gave up on that forum (I'd only just started visiting there anyway) and while searching for a new Bass forum I found this place, so it all worked out for the better in the end!

I think my assumption has been that the extra downward force on the bridge would create a better connection to the body of the Bass, allowing for better sustain by helping eliminate errant vibrations which would dampen sustain. I would worry about the break angle though, I think having the strings run from the end of the Bass, instead of from the back, would be better.

I know it's not a Bass, but I love this: Would love to get a Bass done in this design. Half my clothes have this pattern, be cool to have a matching Bass!

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1347622267' post='1803121'] unless the aim of the helium was to make it lighter and ive got the wrong end of the stick! [/quote] That's what I assumed, that it was to make them lighter, but I was wondering about other, unplanned for effects.

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1347618542' post='1803063'] A sealed 8x10 filled with helium ;-) [/quote] It would be interesting to hear what effect the Helium would have considering sound travels faster through it then normal air. Even in a sealed cab it's got to make a difference I would imagine.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1347619301' post='1803072'] Is the the topic question limited to bass gear? If not, I want to know about those hover bike things they had in Star Wars. [/quote] http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/video/2012/aug/23/star-wars-hover-bike-float-video

[quote name='MarkWJenkins' timestamp='1347458005' post='1801080'] Diolch yn fawr =) Not from the Valleys butty, Llanelli area [/quote] Welcome! (I'm an Englishman in Wales...) Not far from you, I'm in Cross Hands.

[quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1347482620' post='1801558'] It's just about the most fun you can have playing a bass! Freedom to do you own thing from pounding root to playing insane harmonies. No-one to complain that "you didn't play that Entwhistle" or whoever. Folk music is such a wide field that you can find kindred spirits to play just about anything in any style. Steve [/quote] To be honest, I'd rather grab my Banjo, Penny Whistle or Bodhran than my Bass for Folk or Country. Which is a bit odd as I love both genres and I also love the Bass. Bass is my first and main instrument, it's what I'm best at and I love playing it.