pete.young

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1340360560' post='1703243'] Thanks. The ebay one could be a great bass for the money. [/quote] I think £500 is on the high side - in these troubled times you might pick up a not-for-export MIJ/CIJ Fender for that sort of money.

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1340374800' post='1703622'] I think I'd look at this from a different angle, say 47 degees. You arrive at the Dog & Custard pub and the landlord says to you, "Lovely evening, I'll have you playing in the beer garden tonight". What do you do? [/quote] You say, sorry, we don't play outdoors, equipment is too valuable .

I'm with AndyTravis on this one. Don't do it. Makes me regret even more that I didn't buy it when it was up for sale. Besides ruining an unusual and interesting instrument, what you're proposing to do won't work. It will never sound like a traditional fretless jazz bass with those horrible strings on it, whatever pickups you put in it. If you absolutely have to do it, take it to a proper luthier to get it done - I've seen so many original '70s Precisions that have been destroyed by cack-handed routing in a vain quest to make them into something they're not. [quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1338556966' post='1676320'] I have a router, if I get a good template I might just go at it myself. [/quote] Oh well.

Would the 5th string be a low 'B' or a high 'C' ? I think it will be difficult to achieve a decent low 'B' with a 32" scale length.

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1339503734' post='1689367'] If you are using a Roland Pickup (GK3B) then yes you can use the original bass sound along with synth/sampled sounds. Roland pickups have a three position switch. Synth/mix/original sound. Can't speak for other systems but I would imagine that would be the case with those too. [/quote] GK3B is not Midi. You would need to fit something like a hexpander to it.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1339706663' post='1693240'] I think you might be right there. Just read that the V Bass (not VB 99) doesn't transmit note data through midi. [/quote] I can confirm that you can't use a V-Bass as a synth controller - just about all you can do with the Midi is save patches.

The Bed's Too Big Without You, Sly & Robbie featuring Sheila Hylton. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh76luVPpw0

Johnny McDonagh in his prime at the start of this show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbGEYLOacV4&feature=related

Two Tribes. We've been working on it. It's nearly ready!

[quote name='Jesso' timestamp='1338229618' post='1671237'] Maybe an 8 ohm EBS 115 will work better. Hmmmmm...... [/quote] An 8 Ohm Tecamp 2x12 extension cab would be the way to go. And repeat after me "Tweeters are the work of the devil....."

To me, practice includes working on a skill, a technique or a short passage from a piece, that you're having difficulty with. Take it down to component parts, understand it, build it up until your fingers know where to go. Then start to put it back into context by playing the few bars leading up to it. This is a bit different to just playing along to stuff or rehearsing your set (there's value in that sort of thing too of course). It's hard and takes concentration, but definitely pays off. I'm also a firm believer that practice is more effective if you can develop the habit of listening critically to what you're playing. One way to do this is to record yourself and listen to the playback for missed notes, off-timing etc. It's really painful sometimes to listen to yourself but it will improve your skills.

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1337432187' post='1659837'] My stuff is priced so well that it's worth the journey from within 200 miles easily to come collect it IMHO. [/quote] At current fuel prices, it costs me 20p/mile in diesel, so a 400 mile round trip would cost £80 in fuel alone.

Glad you're having fun Wayne! Heres a sad story with a happy ending. I bought a really nice Eko mandolin off the bay a few weeks ago, one of the new-old-stock instruments that Roberto Brandoni is assembling. I took it to a gig where we had a request for 'Maggie May'. I opened the boot of the car, the mandolin case fell out onto my foot. When I'd stopped hopping about in agony, I opened the case to find that the headstock had broken off , the same way that Les Pauls with mahogany necks do. Turns out that the OK-looking case was (a) chipboard and ( b ) not supporting the neck of the mandolin, so that even a small impact transmitted the shock right to the weak point of the instrument. The happy ending - I took the broken bits to the local luthier and guitar genius, Colin Fulton, who has done an incredible job of fixing it. If you know where to look you can see the repair, but it's stronger than ever and I think it looks pretty good. It's been strung up for a week now with no apparent signs of moving so I think it's going to be OK. Photos, some before, some after the repair, can be found here: [url="http://photobucket.com/ekobrokenheadstock"]http://photobucket.c...brokenheadstock[/url], not for the faint of hearted! A new case is on order. The old one will probably be made into a pedal board!

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1337779273' post='1665311'] Well, the actual description is "ex Black Dyke Mills Band owner, old and rare", although whether it's the banjo or the owner that's old and rare is open to creative interpretation. I thought pete.young must be making some reference to political correctness, as I'm sure that there would be great exception taken to a Black Dyke band these days if it didn't contain a significant number of Afro-Caribbean lesbians. [/quote] I haven't seen them play for a while, so they might well. I've had a nice chat with the seller who seems like a thoroughly nice chap, and he's edited the description. I was just baffled by the idea that anyone could think Black Dyke would have a banjo player, but maybe I'm too Brass Band geek for my own good.

Sometimes you just wonder, and shake your head. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150820923661

[quote name='Hutton' timestamp='1337586251' post='1662193'] What is the difference between 'export' and 'non-export' CIJ Fenders. I only ask as I am about to receive a personally imported Fretless Precision 62 RI. [/quote] Non-export are made out of ash or alder instead of basswood, and have US hardware.

An update - like KingBollock I couldn't get the stripping tool to work, so resorted to separating the strands for an inch of the cable and stripping them individually. All soldered back together, but I still have a mostly-dead amp on my hands. There is some output but very very faint, when gain and main volume are on full you can just about hear it. I think I've about timed-out on this, so if anyone here is interested in acquiring a dead Crate Power Block for the cost of postage please let me know. I'll stick it into the 'freebies' thread in a couple of days if no-one here wants it.

I bought a Madarozzo gig back for the Prosebass headless, on the strength of seeing the one that Happy Jack's Status came in. I thought it was good value for money. Like any gig bag, you wouldn't chuck it into the back of a van and expect it to survive, but the padding and protection was pretty good. There has been some criticism of the zips, but mine never gave any trouble during the time I owned it.

TRB 1005 is nice, a TRB 5P Mk 1 is better still. Made in Japan, through-neck, ebony fretboard, perfectly balanced, fantastic sound. You can see why mine's not for sale!

Almost right, it's "The best thing to play on a bodhran is a flamethrower" :-) Not everyone sees things the same way as oggiesnr, unfortunately. All too often the bodhran finds its way into the hands of people who want to join in but aren't interested in investing any effort in learning the basics or listening to any of the other musicians. Worse still, they frequently hunt in packs.

[quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1336406643' post='1645148'] Just a thought - perhaps it failed because it was too short and under stress. Consider replacing with a longer bit? [/quote] In an ideal world, I would. A contributory factor appears to be that the cable had a very sharp bend around the pre-amp PCB, so that it came in through the front of the board. Instead, I'm going to run the cable in from the back of the PCB so that it should be long enough and not be under tension. Replacing the ribbon would require me to take the amp completely to bits, remove a load of silicone sealant, break and remake a perfectly good joint at the main board end. I'd rather not do this unless I have no alternative.

It might also be worth having a chat with Lean Business, they stock a good range of drivers including Celestion.