spinynorman

You lot never fail to exceed my lowest expectations. Bow and arrow neck

They wanted to do something radically different?

BaCH have many fans over on the [url="http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?board=6.0"]Last Outpost [/url]and there are several threads there about various models, not sure if the Ricks feature though. Generally it seems they make good basses for the price, but most people have done some mods, if only to create more accurate replicas. Rob (Bassvarken) on there imports them and it might be easier going through him if you want one.

It's odd, isn't it, that Apple doesn't sell "Made in America" iPad's for twice the price. What reason could there be for MIA guitars to be higher quality? It's not like the wood is locally sourced, or the Far East doesn't know how to assemble electrical components. Are American CNC operators more skilled than their Mexican, Japanese or Chinese counterparts? Somehow I doubt it. So, it looks like a marketing trick the US guitar industry has been getting away with ever since the Japanese started beating them at their own game in the 1970s. Even then it doesn't make much business sense; if you can make the same product cheaper in another location, business school 101 says you should do it. The only theory that stands up is that the country music fraternity will pay a premium for a US made instrument, even if it isn't as good. Oh, and before I get flamed

I dare you [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Precision-Bass-copy-replica-4-string-/150657867516?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2313e89efc"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Precision-Bass-c...=item2313e89efc[/url]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1357601' date='Aug 31 2011, 02:55 PM']Be careful ... parties produce drunks, and drunks have very little sense of humour. Some guys I know were playing a pub in Kingston last year (I was there for their gig) when a drunk in the audience started calling for [i]Smoke On The Water[/i]. It wasn't in their set, and they had no intention of playing it, but they all knew the riff (strangely enough) so they played a couple of bars for a joke, then stopped and went on with their set. The drunk wasn't happy and called for it again after the next song, and the next. So they played a few bars, just for a laugh. Only the drunk wasn't laughing. It ended with the vocalist nose-to-nose with the drunk for a real face-off, and the situation suddenly defused and went away, but it could just as easily have ended with a glassing.[/quote] Long ago in a previous incarnation of our band, someone called out "do you know Smoke on the Water?". We certainly did, in all its glory, we'd just left it out because it didn't seem like the sort of thing that would go down well in that particular pub. So we played it and it was only later, thinking about the stoney silence that greeted it, that I realised he was taking the piss.

I've got a Kent Armstong rebuilt pickup in my Ripper and was trying to get some information as I thought it was wired wrong. Emailed from the KA website, got immediate reply from Kent, saying he'd forward to question to his son, who built the pickup. Got nothing back, tried again, politely, still nothing. Must be doing something wrong. The pickup was wired wrong. In the end I just took a very deep breath and rewired it the way I thought it should be. What could go wrong? Luckily, nothing.

[quote name='Thurbs' post='1347226' date='Aug 21 2011, 03:49 PM']I would join a Jazz band... you will quickly put all that theory in to practice and think of lovely ways to go from Cmadd9 to Bb and so on...[/quote] Serious suggestion. Are you playing with other people? If not, find a band or an open mic night or something, anything, that gets you out playing with others.

I've had a couple of situations recently where the song starts with a solo bass line and I've temporarily had no idea how it goes. Happened at the last gig with I Wanna Be Adored. I knew which notes, but the rhythm had completely gone. Took 3 false starts before it came back, and there was nowhere to hide. I guess it's age.

[quote name='chris_b' post='1350917' date='Aug 25 2011, 12:21 AM']If you can't tell the difference between good and bad sounding pickups base your decision on the price. If you can tell, get the best sounding pickups you can afford.[/quote] Sound advice if you can hear the pickups before you buy them, or at least a review. With no-names, that's probably not going to be an option. I'm assuming that it is possible that no-name pickups could be as good or better than a branded known quantity, though I guess some people would think that unlikely.

The most I've spent is £650. The best bass I've bought is my MIJ P which cost £235. For me, there isn't so much of a relationship between price and enjoyment that it's worth spending more than £350.

Well, at least it's not just me being old grumpy guts again. In one I saw, the bass player listed his influences as Flea, Geddy Lee and Jaco, adding "'nuff said" for some reason. Only, it was a wedding band. I suppose you can be influenced by them and still play Agadoo every week. A former member of our band has his biog on his new band's site and has not only listed the previous bands he's been in - which hardly anyone will have heard of - but also name checked every single member of those bands. And not one of those people is Jimmy Page, or even close. I can sort of see the point of "I played in The Running Snots in Lewisham" if you're still somewhere near Lewisham. But why do it when you've moved to Grimsby?

From time to time I look at other bands' websites for "inspiration". The section that always makes me cringe a bit is the band member biographies. They seem to fall into 4 types Straight facts, usually related to gear: "Fred plays a Fender bass...." Life history: "Started singing at the age of 4 ... played lead guitar with the Running Snots in Lewisham from 1982-1985...." Lists: "Favourite food: pizza." Whacky, off the wall, humorous: Generally just demonstrate why these people are in a band, rather than doing stand-up or writing sketch shows. Has anyone got a decent model for these? Are they even needed, or just there to boost band members' egos? I wish I knew.

The random sprinkling of caps and fonts makes the description look like a ransom note.

I fitted the bridge cover on mine by feel, that is, if nothing is touching the bridge, that's it. I felt very pleased with myself for quite a long time, until someone pointed out I'd put it on the wrong way round. And I'd spent ages looking at pictures and was convinced I'd done it right. I still think the right way round looks ugly.

[quote name='hillbilly deluxe' post='1328428' date='Aug 5 2011, 10:53 AM'][url="http://www.guitarpartsshop.co.uk/acatalog/Select-by-EMG-SEHG-Humbucker.html"]http://www.guitarpartsshop.co.uk/acatalog/...-Humbucker.html[/url] EMG Select.[/quote] Isn't that a guitar pickup?

I wouldn't even think about trying to get parts for anything from a UK high street retailer. Always go on line and, unless it's very simple like a jack socket, assume I'll have to get it from the US. It isn't just bass stuff. I've lost count of the number of times I've come back from the shops empty handed and bought whatever it was from Amazon. Life's too short to waste walking or driving between stores looking for one that has anything you'd want to buy in stock with an assistant who knows what they're selling.

[quote name='dc2009' post='1324297' date='Aug 2 2011, 02:31 PM']You are right on the Alpine front, I didn't read the thing properly (I do know it's Alpine but wasn't paying attention and picked a word beginning with A that sounded cold and white!) I have a problem, in that I very much like the look of the silver hardware on the body, but love the look of the black hardware on the headstock, I'm considering making some b*****d child of the two, though not set on that. As for the pups, I think I'd be replacing them regardless (though there is a vague chance of me keeping them if I bought the non-terrible vintage guitar pickuped one). So I guess this then begs the question, which of them will best fit the custom pickups I want to put in, or do they both have the same pickup route? I suppose I could always buy a black hardware one, as I'd get the headstock hardware I like, I could replace the bridge with a chrome badass or similar, and the stock pickups are at least passable until I upgrade. Then the only difference is the knobs, and if I really wanted to locate 3 vintage RI epi knobs I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult. Question: is this one (black hardware one) the korean version, which I would personally imagine to be better?[/quote] The black hardware one is the Korean version - no longer made, so you are at the mercy of eBay, unless one pops up here at a sensible price. There's a clip on Youtube of a standard Epi Tbird fitted with SD SSBs, but the guy does say they're not a drop in replacement. There were some Bartolinis, iirc, that were designed as drop ins for an Epi TBird, don't know how good they are though. I think the routing would be the same between a standard Epi and a Korean white, but I don't know what they might have done on the new chinese ones.

[quote name='Dad3353' post='1321903' date='Jul 31 2011, 02:17 AM']Of course, what else..?[/quote] You can see the aura around that bass needs a damn good scrubbing.

These seem to be attracting a lot of attention. According to [url="http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=5610.0"]this thread[/url] those pickups are actually six-pole guitar pickups and the recommendation is to replace them as soon as you can. If you know a guitarist with some kind of cheap Les Paul guitar they might actually be quite pleased with them. However, replacements at a sensible price could be a challenge. There's a clip on Youtube of a standard Epi TBird with SD SSBs fitted, so it's possible, but he does say they're not direct replacements. Don't know if these LE TBirds are routed differently from the standard ones.

I think you'll find it's Alpine White (pedant alert, but I got pulled up on that once). The original Korean ones are very nice basses, finished to a high standard and with decent hardware and electronics. The new Chinese ones look nice, if you like a bit of chromey bling, but the pickups are, as someone suggested above, guitar pickups and, just to make the point as strongly as possible without actually shouting [b]**[url="http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=5610.0"] bloody awful[/url]**[/b]. (That's a link, by the way, in case you don't believe me). This is classic Catch-22, as the only reason to buy one of the new ones is the chrome pickups, but as soon as you get it you'll have to replace them. They are both described as limited edition, as in mass produced in China for a limited period.

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aria-STB-series-Bass-Guitar-Metalic-Red-/120755315266?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item1c1d93e242"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aria-STB-series-...=item1c1d93e242[/url]