akabane

Okay, so apparently the settings are as follow, from a Smith manual:

"Original" settings: 

1-Off, 2-On, 3-On, 4-On, 5-Off, 6-On

"New" settings:

1-On, 2-Off, 3-On, 4-Off, 5-On, 6-Off

So basically, 3 stays on all the time per default configs, and the rest are opposites depending on whether it's the 'original' config or 'new' ones.

I just opened mine up to find ALL the switches to ON! Ahahah, the previous owner must have found their tone like that! (And to be fair, it's not a bad one!)

I'll put them in both settings and report back  

Just now, FLoydElgar said:

Been playing around with the frequency on my smith and thought I'd share a sound I like so far.

 

2 - 3 - 6 on

1 - 4 - 5 off

 

Sounds more 'Smith' to me 😜

You know I still haven't even checked what my freqs were set to? Maybe the previous owner completely changed them up. My Smith just sounds so good anyway 🤣

Now I need to go check though, you made me curious! Do you settings coincide with either the default 'old' or 'new' Smith settings? 

19 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

Then it's just bedroom fretwinkery. If someone a wiz in their bedroom but can't lock in with a drummer for real then their skills are pretty pointless

Let me state from the start I know where you're coming from, and I challenged it just as a thought experiment, as I think it's nice to do once in a while ; so let me ask again:

Why?

Solo artists perform...solo most of the times. Freeform time is a widely accepted thing too in those circumstances (if well done, obviously). You can argue that most bedroom bassists playing 'bass lines' can be as good as they can get, but playing with a drummer is different and a skill on its own. And I agree.

If the point is instead the idea that since they perform in their bedroom, they won't be able to put on a live show to - say - a paying audience, I think that is wrong again. There's plenty of solo bassists who get booked again and again to play a solo show. If you think about it, all those youtube views ARE their audience coming back again and again, and I bet they would go see them live if they prepared something. Why wouldn't someone prepare for such a show in their bedroom, at this point I ask myself?

So, what I'm left with is: what you say is true IF the following assumption is true: "A bass player is a musician playing the bass as instrument of choice, within the context of a real-time band, providing the foundational rythmic bass role to the piece at hand". Would that be correct?

My assumption was shorted, as in a bass player "is a musician playing the bass as instrument of choice".

Peace,

Em

2 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

Yep, Charles Berthoud is frighteningly top of the class for a young fella. I find Davie 504's  hamming up of the Italian stereotype humour gets wearing quite quickly although he's also a brilliant player. But, do these guys play in bands at all?

What if they didn't?  

You got yourself a bargain my friend! That machine will happily run Logic and Garageband for quite a while!

Make sure you get a nice USB-3 HUB (if I'm not mistaken it's got usb3) so you can connect most of your toys!

6 minutes ago, Rubbersoul said:

Thanks for the feedback. I’ll look into that, although I did try several different systems to check the mix, as did the other 2 guys in the band. Glad you liked it overall 😎

Ah, absolutely nothing bad to say about the song itself, I really liked it 

Agreed with ezbass, Alder would be a great first choice. You can keep a nice slab of slightly heavier mahogany for your second build! (Then make it a 6 string and sell it to me! )

I want to play too! 

You want wood, you get layers of wood, you sick bunch! 

8 minutes ago, Sibob said:

I was mainly talking about the OP’s email 😉

Si

Yet see, the only real thing missing from OP's mail that would have made it a 'polite' email is a sentence with "Hey, I received the bass - it's awesome, thanks - but I have some questions:".

The rest are legitimate questions, not even that aggressive or attacking. 

I find ironic how someone who has an 'online build configurator' like them can't seem to understand that what people see and what they think they'll receive might be different in some things, especially the ones not visible (ie: how a finish behaves over time, how volume pots blend), and it's ON THE SELLER to answer such questions. The FORTUNE of luthiers around the world are people who chuck thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of pounds on instruments they never even held in their hands. It actually *IS* the purpose of having the custom configurator online, like the one FBass has.

The difference is that if you order a Sadowsky, or even smaller or less known luthiers like Meridian or whatever, and order 'blind' (like most orders are), and you have questions with the results, they will be HAPPY to make sure YOU - the customer - are HAPPY. So you don't need even to bring up examples of things like Foderas or Marleauxes (or well known, very high end boutique places) as you wouldn't even be in a situation like this in the first place. 

Additionally, the OP seems still overall very happy with the bass and doesn't want to return it. It's not like he's even trying just to be difficult. A NBD is supposed to be joyful and happy - when it's riddled with doubtful questions AND the luthier either doesn't respond or responds dismissively, makes for a painful experience instead. Let's not forget the 'perception' factor in business, shall we? Their business practices SMELL like (which doesn't mean they ACTUALLY behave like that, but it is the impression they give) "Well now I've got your money, so..."

25 minutes ago, Radchenko said:

Hello,

Do you think it's ok the knobs only work between 8 to 10?.

From 0 to 8, nothing ocur, even with the tone. 

Thank you.

Are those supposed to be the two pickups volumes? It certainly does NOT sound normal.

Do you mind opening up the back of the electronic box and take a photo? I'm curious at this point.

37 minutes ago, therealting said:

Absolutely - on the one hand you have true gents like Sheldon Dingwall and Roger Sadowsky who are both brilliant luthiers and friendly people, and then on the other hand you have eccentric geniuses who are obsessive about their craft but perhaps less communicative. I have instruments from both camps, and in some cases have tolerated less-than-awesome communication because the product was so good. But I’m at the stage where it’s got to be easy and at least good, or so good as to be worth the hassle. 

Agree with you here. The only reason why politeness and positive customer feedback *could* be looked over, is when the end result/product is IMPECCABLE. It has to be the literal definition of having a product that 'speaks for itself', because it transcends any sour taste dealing with a luthier can bring.

Maruszczyk, of all luthiers, has NOT reached the status of offering such products - and is a common thread I see every time I see a community of its owners come together. They are great instruments, IF you are graced with the luthier's willingness to pay attention to making it and following any kind of quality control. Absolutely not something I would be willing to risk thousands of pounds/euros on. I would have hoped that after a few of those types of feedback from its customers, they would have started to change somehow; apparently not.

13 minutes ago, Sibob said:

Of course there’s nuance, but come on, I can write a polite email in French and Google Translate it. I don’t write a stark collection of short sentences just because that’s all my knowledge of the language permits lol.

Si

Absolutely agreed on this, and was my point also. 'Nuances' and 'lost in translation' do not apply in this case. 'Do you like anything with this instrument or you find only stinky poo' sounds an uselessly and abrasive a concept for a phrase, regardless which language it was spoken from.

Edit: props to the auto-corrector for that 'stinky poo' up there. 🤣

I'm curious about how this will develop.

For certain, the maker's reply has been what I would consider very bad. That level of service alone would not make me look at my instrument the same way. Adrien's job should have been, given he was dealing with a potentially unhappy customer (who, by the way, has all the rights to ask all the questions he wants - even the ones that might sound stupid like foam in the trussrod), to make the customer understand how things work (ie: regarding scratches on a thin nitro finish), and why some things could have happened (and most importantly, don't put the responsibility of errors ON THE CUSTOMER, especially since Maruszczyk is KNOWN for not stellar build quality or quality control, sometimes). However, I know I'm one to overreact for some things.

2000+ Euros are a LOT of money. For that money, you can and SHOULD get a PRISTINE bass, built well, with love, and most importantly a level of understanding from the builder. It's not like OP told him to go sod himself and his bass. He sounded worried and confused as a customer is when receiving something that doesn't match expectations and that cost a lot of money. 

I don't care about being 'lost in translation' - and I can say that as a non-native English speaker, who wouldn't communicate like that even when my level of english was "the cat is on the table", especially if that level of money was involved. It's all cr4p especially at this 'basic' level of communication. There isn't really justification to that answer and personally, I would now just tell him to take the bass back and give the money back - and would contact an actually reputable builder to make my instrument, who cares about making the customer happy. 

On 07/05/2020 at 08:11, CamdenRob said:

My two all naturals...

 

Those two are GORGEOUS! That 6 is probably the prettiest Wal I've ever seen.

On 28/06/2020 at 19:29, Eldon Tyrell said:

got some dark wood

I also love those dark finishes that leave the grain show thorugh. Really nice! 

You are very lucky this is not 6 strings, otherwise I'd be drooling and actively GASsing for it! 

53 minutes ago, Mikkoantt said:

Hi from Finland

Heres my BT 6 from 1990 with macassar ebony top.

- Mikko 

Hey Mikko!

Your BT looks beautiful - very elegant - and still shines like new! 

Punchy!

Oh it still kicks donkey: without a direct reference to the original, there's no way I could have told  

Hey! 

Respect, I really liked it - and brought me back a fair few years 😅

As far as feedback goes, I would just say in terms of mix, in the original you can hear the bass going at it much harder than in your version - bring it up! The bass line on this is nice 

In terms of sound, your guitar sounds very 'thin' compared to the original, not sure why though. Yours might be very mid-highs heavy whereas the original feels more bassy. Perhaps try a different amp emulator or a different distortion? A cool 'cheat' could be copying the guitar track, adding a sub-octave to one of them and keep it distorted? I wonder how much 'bottom grit' it would add...food for thought!

Well done though, it's something you really don't hear much more these days!

Really liked it. Catchy melody - the verse melody specifically got stuck in my head after listening to it

Really like your sound! 

The only feedback I can give (and unfortunately I can't help with a solution technically as I'm not good at mixing), is that on my monitor headphones the mix sounds killer, but on second listen through on different headphones (a pair of Marshall over ears and after a pair of AirPods), the instrumental still sounds killer, but the voice gets somewhat lost - just tried again A/Bing back with my monitors to make sure it wasn't just an impression. Not sure if just raising the vocals level a bit would help, or position them slightly different in the pan, or add a bit more higher freqs back in the eq - or if this is actually useful feedback at all 😅

Very well done though! 

I love the sound, well done! You got my like 

Onto a bit of feedback: your face is one of the most bored I've seen anyone play that tune with. It makes sense, given how overplayed and how you consider the line to be 'sputtanata'. Every bass player played that line hundreds of times now does it as muscle memory for most of it! Remember that youtube is and audioVISUAL experience though. You should convey some sort of interest in playing your instrument and that music, otherwise just don't put a video up? I like what I heard, but I got BORED just by looking at how bored YOU seemed. Makes sense?

Edit: just to be clear, I'm not 'bass face shaming' anyone! Let me give you a comparison: in your rendition of The Final Countdown you seemed to be much more into it!

I already have a 6 black Smith, so I do not need another.

But why are you doing this to me! This is one of the most beautiful Smiths I've seen! 

1 minute ago, Happy Jack said:

If only it had fanned frets ...

 

Hah actually that would look very pretty - reverse fanned frets that 'meet' in the middle of the two necks

I find all exploration interesting in terms of instruments.

However I am wondering why they went like that at it - I can see so many practical issues with this thing.

I mean - if I were to do a 'multi' anything bass I'd try to do a bass version of Metheny's Picasso guitar, so it would be a multi scale, multi necks things that would have many more strings and tonal possibilities - if I have to have an unwieldly and uncomfortable instrument to play, I better be able to get out incredible sounds out of it. Just a 'fret' and 'fretless'? Not convinced.

I do appreciate the reverse necks for different tuning possibilities and approaches. 

I don't think anybody is calling them up ordering those things. I see it as one of those 'proof of concept' instruments that eventually will die off or evolve into something actually practical - so I see no problem anywhere!

Oh man, I can hear the artificial harmonics sliding from here!

A beauty!