KingBollock

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1341442260' post='1719316'] so.... what was the problem? [/quote] Badly designed Bass. The neck, which is neck-through, is flush with the body, so there's only the height of the fretboard to make the action closer to the strings, as the bridge won't go below 10mm, meaning the minimum action was 4.5mm when taking the fretboard and gap to the lowest bridge setting into account. It turns out that this is to do with the design of the NT BC Rich Warlocks and the NT Mockingbirds, as far as I know.

The dread of the Truss Rod is drilled into beginners. I think it must have started out as a "Just be a bit careful, if you were to knacker it it's a pretty big deal" and went on to become "Don't touch it! It'll eat eat the first child of every generation you spawn from here to eternity!". I often wonder if it's professional repair people that helped spread the fear. Over the last few years I managed to shed that fear and have been setting up Truss Rods with no problems at all. But, a few weeks ago, I had a Bass turn up and I couldn't quite figure out what was wrong with it to start with, so I panicked and immediately blamed the mysterious Truss Rod. So I'm not immune. I mentioned it in a thread on here and even when I later figured out that it wasn't actually the problem I still had people insisting that it must be. It's not some odd, magical device created my evil Magicians in dark, damp caves at the dawn of time, made purely to confuse and unsettle. It's actual quite simple and easy to use if not abused. Unfortunately, a lot of people never get over the initial warnings and end up carrying it on to the next generation.

[quote name='JakeBrownBass' timestamp='1341315149' post='1716748'] [url="http://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-interval"]http://www.musictheo...es/ear-interval[/url] Standard ear training, it doesn't happen over night, As with everything, practice makes perfect. [/quote] I've just spent the last couple of hours playing with this. What I've been doing is let it play the note and interval and then I find it and play it on my Bass, making sure to identify the actual note. It takes away some of the interval training but it is helping me to learn more about the fretboard, what's where and how it sounds, and how it sounds in relation to other places on the fretboard. I think it makes a good exercise for a beginner or someone who has skipped this part for far too long, like me. It's also useful to know that pressing the spacebar will play the notes again, so you don't have to mess around reaching across and finding the button with your mouse, I just had the keyboard set near the edge of my desk to make repeating the notes easy. Some of the other exercises on there are really useful too, and it's good that you can customise some of them to better suit you and your instrument. A very useful site. Thanks for posting it. http://www.musictheory.net/exercises

[quote name='jackers' timestamp='1341341826' post='1717433'] Cheers guys and KB, I think that is really useful, thanks I might have to buy a set of Chromes when my strings die. [/quote] I think it would be more useful if lots of people use it, even if someone has already done it for the same set of strings, it would be better if we could get a proper consensus on each set. Actually, we need for it to cover where on the bright to mellow range each set comes, as well as their life span. I tried to do that to but realised they conflicted and I suddenly couldn't get my head around it, but I'm sure someone cleverer could come up with something more suitable.

I remember, 20 odd years ago, being told that flats don't die because they were never alive, they always sound dead. But this was by a Guitar shop full of Guitarists... Using that Bright Bar idea from the above video I have come up with my own. [color=#ffffff].......................[/color]Bright[color=#ffffff]..............................................[/color]Dead Roundwound: |--------------------------------------------------| Flatwound:[color=#ffffff] ...............[/color]|--------| The top bar represents the life of the Roundwound string. It starts off bright and gradually dies to a dull thud. The bottom bar is the life of the Flatwound string. It doesn't start off as bright as the Roundwound string but it isn't dead either and it remains pretty stable. My Flats are on their second Bass now and I haven't noticed any difference from when I first put them on the first Bass. The only Flats I have used are Chromes, so they start off, and remain, relatively bright. Perhaps people could use a similar bar device to represent how bright or mellow the makes of Flats that they've used? It's probably a stupid idea isn't it? (Hint: I've used full stops to make the bottom bar stay where it is and coloured them white so you can't see them.)

[quote name='fumps' timestamp='1341324114' post='1717018'] I'm glad you said that, being a DJ has taught me loads about timing & attitude towards music. It has been a big influence to me coming back to Bass. There are so many terms & stuff that is talked about on this forum I have literally no idea what it means, For instance I have no idea what a pentatonic scale is or a why the different scales have names that differentiates them from a normal scale.....if there is a normal scale. Here is how little my knowladge goes (gulp): if a dude plays a chord to me (Say for instance G) I know I can play G but I have no idea what other notes go with that chord.....I literally don't know.......I mean can you play anything ? .......say can i play G then D or would that sound wrong .......right now if someone says play G i'll just pump that note till the chord change. But i've seen other bass players play G.....then a whole lot more creating their own grooved bass lines that sound like a tune all of it's own.....how do they do that ? how do they know what to play ? this is all that I want to know, then I can stop this weird self doubt I am going through i suppose [/quote] I'm exactly the same, in fact some of my story isn't all that different to yours. I started in my first proper band when I was 13. When I was 17 I was in a band that I absolutely adored, every week, at rehearsals, I had the time of my life. Unfortunately, my time at home was hellish and in the end I had to disappear, which meant leaving my band behind. I haven't been in a band since. I've never had proper lessons, I know no theory. Embarrassingly, apart from a few obvious ones I don't even know the notes on the fretboard. Not playing with other people has made me a bit lax when it comes to learning theory, and I also take medications that make my short term memory shockingly bad, so it gets very frustrating, so it's difficult to see the point in struggling so much. Whenever I talk about this stuff someone will always comes along and says "Well learn then! There's tons of stuff on the internet, you've no excuse!". I wish it were that easy. I've been trying to get into chordal stuff lately but everywhere I go it is always assumed that you already know all the notes in every chord, and I don't, not at all. Why can't they show me the tab too, just to give me an idea? I would love to be able to sit down with someone patient and talk about it, have them show me what they mean. When we moved to Wales, about four years ago, I went into the local Guitar shop, and we got talking. During our conversation I must have given him the wrong idea because he said "You're obviously a musician." and before I could explain that I was no such thing, that I know no theory, a lad came in for his lesson and I left with him inviting me to a weekly jam they have at the shop. I haven't had the guts to go back since. I would love to play with people again, but I would be fine with chugging along. I want to play something heavy, to really go for it. But I don't have any ambitions to take it anywhere, I don't care about playing live, unless it's to a party full of mates, I don't want to make any money doing it, I don't care if it never got out of the garage, I just want to have a bit of fun with other people playing the same music. But who the hell would want someone like that? And I am cripplingly shy, too. I have no hope. Sorry, I didn't mean to go off on a ramble.

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1341270386' post='1716329'] Hi Phil,I say go for it, they are great sounding pickups, but... I like a dark tone, with less highs and sizzle,so theses pickups and flats are really working for me. So much so that I`m putting them in a second bass. If you need that modern top end on your sound, maybe they aren`t for you. [/quote] How hot are they? My Warlock has two sets of P-Bass pick-ups in it but I'm a bit disappointed with the bridge set, they just seem weak, with no balls. I've also been looking at the Seymour Duncan SPB-2. I'm a bit disappointed with the pre-amp too, I can get a nice sound out of it, but isn't very versatile. Turning either the Bass or the Treble knobs up even a little bit with either make it instantly muddy or bright enough to hurt your teeth, there doesn't seem to be any middle ground, except keeping them both off. Playing it with a pick and the treble up a bit makes it sound like you're hitting it with a spanner, no matter how softly you play. This is what happens when you buy a Bass based on aesthetics folks! Though, having said that, it plays like a dream, very fast and smooth.

Is it OK to bring spouses to this kind of thing? She's the only one that drives and, to be honest, I don't go anywhere without her. I'm hoping you'll pick a day when she's working so that I can't make it and won't have to fret about getting out and meeting new people. Assuming I'd be welcome. I'm getting the impression it's for anyone who can make it, or am I rudely inviting myself to a private party?

I'd just prise them out and refill the holes with some Rosewood veneer. Or you could drill them out and refill using Rosewood dowel (I'm assuming the board is Rosewood) and cut and sand it smooth. If I did that I'd probably shape the end of each dowel piece to a point to better fit the hole left by the drill bit, unless I used a Forstner bit. I liked the suggestion of sanding the whole board, that's probably going to be the cheapest way to make the dots completely disappear. Or, if you fill the dots with wood and they still show, you could try dying the whole board a slightly darker shade.

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1341221609' post='1715211'] Yes! A String Action Gauge! Thanks so much. Here, normally, you'd get plastic versions for free from a guitar factory stand at an instrument show, or an importer would leave some freebies at your local shop. This pro one seems expensive at 19 Mercan bucks. I'll do a search now I know what to search for. Thanks again! [/quote] Let us know what you find, I'd quite like to own something like that myself but I'd never seen one before. I keep meaning to buy a Feeler Gauge for checking the action at the Nut end when replacing or altering the Nut. These seem just like the sort of things that should come free on the front of magazines. Someone should start a thread dedicated to letting people know what free stuff comes with what magazine. Though I'm more likely to bump into Phil Lynott's ghost than find a Bass Guitar magazine locally.

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1341168940' post='1714655'] Hi, I`d love this sofa! I`m having a bit of a petrol in a diesel van type moment though and I may not be able to pick up for a few days,so if anyone else can shift it first then fair play. If not, I`ll have it! [/quote] My wife did that with our old Fiesta. She managed to get all the way home before she realised. It wasn't entirely her fault, the garage had changed the pumps around without telling anyone. She called them and complained and they just got snotty with her, the next day the forecourt was covered in signs saying that the pumps had been changed around... Anyhoo, we were waiting for a bloke from the RAC to come and tell us that it was going to cost £300 to get it fixed, which is what the RAC had said on the phone. Eventually an RAC van pulls up outside and we go out to meet him, only he's going to someone over the road, who'd locked herself our of her car, not to us. When he's done with her we go and ask him about us. He calls HQ, or whatever, and they'd sent the bloke they were sending to us, to a similar address 20 miles away... So this bloke says he'll do it. We tell him what's wrong and he cracks out this really dodgy looking gadget and sticks it in the engine. This gadget is chucking sparks everywhere and pumping fuel into a bucket, which he then dumps in the front garden of an empty house! I ask him about the safety of all the sparks and he says: "Yeah, that's why weren't not supposed to carry these anymore, they're illegal.". He gave us £5 worth of diesel and runs it through to make sure it's ok and buggers off, saving us £305!

Seeing those Duckface girls makes me want to have a Punt too! Meet the Punt Gun. Built for taking out as many Ducks in one shot as possible! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punt_gun

My latest Bass came with a 4.5mm action. It was 'orrible! The previous owner had put very light strings on it to compensate. The trouble is that the neck, which is a neck-through, so can't be shimmed, is flush with the body, so there is only the thickness of the fretboard to take up some of the action, which means that the bridge is twice as thick as it needs to be, even at it's lowest. I was able to take some parts out of the bridge to lower the action a bit, down to about 3mm, but will need to do something drastic to get it how I'd really like it, around 2mm.

[quote name='Nibody' timestamp='1341164366' post='1714571'] My mate has a Caddilac - not the one with the classic "Dean" V headstock. It is a very nice guitar [/quote] I've got one too, with the Shrimpfork headstock, in Blueburst. I hate it! It plays fine and sounds OK, but it's ugly and has a Floyd Rose trem on it. My wife picked the bloomin' thing, it's all her fault!

I have to confess that besides seeing her name appear on BassChat occasionally, I have been largely unaware of her. However, I know what I shall be trying tomorrow. I don't wanna be that plodding UK player no more! Anyone know where I might start to go about learning some of that chordal stuff? Unfortunately I learned all my walking stuff from a beginner's Blues book when I first started and, being a metal player, mostly, never really go around to trying to expend on it. Also, my theory knowledge is woeful to non-existent. P.S. Even is she isn't really a "proper" Bass player...

Yup, she's going for that stupid Duck Face thing that seems so popular. That "I've been stung by a Bee, it really hurts and I'm not bloody happy about it" look is sosososo sexy...

I love Off Topic, I think it's great, it feels like home, but then I do love a good moan, I always click Daily Annoyances before I click Daily Awesomeness... But in the end I do click both. I think the weather is sucking the life out of everything lately, even the economy doesn't seem quite so bad when the weather is nice. The weather was nice here today, but I spent the day hiding because the house is covered in scaffolding and men crawling all over it installing solar panels, and they'll be here again first thing tomorrow morning, fun, fun, fun!

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1340565224' post='1706348'] It isn't really a very practical exercise. First off, you need to make sure the bow is well rosined - that'll allow the bow to 'stick' to the strings, but also make the strings sticky to touch afterwards. Second catch is that the pickups aren't going to expect the string to be vibrating in the way that they will when bowed, so IIRC they need to be switched out of phase. [/quote] The bow was rosined and was working fine on my Violin. It occurred to me afterwards that I might have more luck with my Banjo, as the strings are similar to the Violin's. Though, again, I can't play over the body because the body is too wide and the strings too flat, so I probably wouldn't get much sound from it.