Silvia Bluejay

Blog finally here!

Have you seen THIS? Works UK to UK too.

TIs have been the lowest tension flats I've tried, and I love them. I've got them on my Hofner violin and they sound great. A few years ago I also bought a 5-string set with the intention of putting them on - I think - that same Fortress 5 that now has the Labellas. However, the low B did not fit in the hole in the one-piece bridge, not even if I had tried to mangle it, so I had to get a set of Chromes (Labellas low tension didn't exist at the time). I installed the Thomastiks on one of my 4-string Corvettes and kept them there for a long time. I must still have the low B somewhere, unused! Having said all that, the TIs do have the tendency to be floppy, especially the B and E, so in my experience they are slightly more limited in their use than the Labellas or Chromes. In terms of tone, they have their own recognisable sound, so it's a matter of taste whether or not they suit the music you play.

You mean you have fitted Fender flats to your bass? If they're your first ever flats, be aware that they are the stiffest set of flats I've ever had the misfortune to try on (and almost immediately whip off) a bass of mine. While their tension may be all right for your hands, their tone/sound will almost certainly be different from the very high quality (and rather more expensive) Labellas.

You can try lowering the action but, depending on your playing style and other factors such as saddle and pickup height, you may end up with buzzes and/or distortion. Easily fixed by taking the time to set up, obviously. As for the tension, I know that I find the normal Labellas (which are on most of @Happy Jack's basses) too stiff for my liking, but I love the low tension Labellas, even as a player of D'Addario Chromes and Thomastiks (both notoriously 'soft'). I do realise this may or may not help you; apologies if it doesn't.

I'd also recommend Low Tension Labellas. I bought a 5-set at Bass Direct at the LBGS to put on my Warwick Fortress with old-style one-piece bridge, as I was fed up with having to mangle the D'Addario Chromes low B and E in order to make them fit in. To my ears the low tension Labellas sound rather like the normal tension Labellas, to be honest, as well as very different from the zingy D'Addario Chromes (which would emphatically NOT be the sound you're looking for). While I still prefer the tone of the Chromes, I am thoroughly impressed with the feel and clarity of sound of the low tension Labellas. They will definitely stay on my Fortress.

I think we're talking about deleting information from topic titles after selling/withdrawing. That's what seems to be most irritating to users and problematic for searches. The actual text of the advert is indeed up to the seller, but once again, it would make everybody's life easier if enough information was given to start with, without requiring a series of PMs or posted questions.

I spent half an hour this morning going through the first 25 pages of Basses For Sale, locking sold threads AND re-instating subject lines that had been changed to just "Sold" or "Withdrawn". Guys, we mods can do that, and will do that - usually, but clearly it hadn't been done in those instances I worked on today. But do show some consideration, not just for us mods but for your fellow Marketplace users too, and DON'T DELETE THE EFFING SUBJECT LINE in the first place. I know that some of you think that leaving the info in the post is good enough, but it isn't, as searches are quicker if they scan thread titles only. To those of you who delete the whole bloody lot, title and text, when they sell or withdraw, well, just stop it. Stop it immediately. Thank you.

There's a previous, similar thread that may also be of interest.

That assumes people will take notice of the air horn. There was one at the LBGS last weekend, but nobody seemed to stop playing when they heard it.

Same here, see the other LBGS thread!

It was definitely a busy and, at times, highly confusing day. Thank you @mangotango and all the others who stopped me to say hi, comment on what was going on, talk about Basschat, check out the left-handed basses on show with me. That's one of the reasons I enjoy going to the show, no matter what its organisational failings may throw at us. Speaking of which, did anyone else receive an email this morning 29/09/19 with the subject line 'Final Call for Advance Tickets to the London Bass Guitar Show'?? No, it's not a fake message or a scam, the source for the familiar-looking HTML message looks very much like it's coming from the real thing. (Text here.) It's only, erm, at least eight days too late to be of any use. 😮

Their Facebook page gives this address: Unit 20 Old Surrenden Manor Rd, Bethersden, TN26 3DL Ashford, Kent. Event here.

That means there were a number of young visitors who are already excellent bassists. That A Very Good Thing.

Incidentally, and this confirms absolutely everybody's complaint about noise, I've just reviewed my audio-only recordings of the day, and the ones I took at the Luthier/tone Zone, despite placing the Zoom audio recorder as near as possible to one of the speakers, are almost painful to listen to. Only good for transcribing for a written article, if BGM needs them, but I would not want to subject anyone to a listen. What an utter shame.

Was your daughter the blonde girl also playing bass with headphones at the Stonefield booth, and putting all of us to shame with her chops? If yes, hats off.

Far too late, sorry. I don't think we're arguing among ourselves either, are we? PS Refers to @cetera's post.

LOL!! I'm sticking with the OCD theory, and I'm having an episode, after I've counted the other threads. I'm confused enough as it is, I won't touch the Merge button! 😮

No fewer than FOUR other threads in this subforum on this year's show. This is the fifth.

I think it's just because we've got another - or is it two other? - thread(s) on this year's show in this subforum, and we're a bit OCD about it all? (I certainly am...)

I have found my bag of popcorn...!

Haha! Where's my bag of popcorn?