Silvia Bluejay

That's good stuff! Another quick update: nothing has been recorded on the Saramonic since I posted here last - it's a very high-quality solution but a right PITA so I use it only when nothing else will work. We have, however, continued using the SX40 and the Zoom Q2n regularly. The former still beats the latter into a cocked hat on pretty much everything, especially the video quality (as in, light and colour handling, not resolution), but the wide-angle function of the Q2n is very useful indeed for band+audience footage. I have found a way to sort-of-remedy the Q2n's dismal handling of low-light gigs, and especially of those using coloured lights, by converting the MOV files into MP4s and turning up the movie's brightness by at least 20% in the process. The Q2n's performance in daylight is also different from the SX40's, again mostly from the point of view of the quality of the colours, which are less vivid and, in like-for-like comparisons, reveal a brownish hue. Of course we wouldn't notice any of this, or of the above, if we didn't have footage from another camera to compare it with.

I was stood next to the camera, and Jack and I were exchanging meaningful looks (and smirks) throughout the gig! Incidentally, my other camera took footage of several punters happily dancing to most of the songs. To most people who are out to have a good time and aren't musicians trying to peer-review, the gig would have been fun. It was a pity the very good pro band were on stage before Jack's guys, as opposed to after them.

A couple of images in context, to show you the relative size. The guys at NAMM had them stacked, but they didn't look too secure, to be honest.

No idea. Maybe a public question on their FB page might get a reasonably fast reply?

There were no lefty Dingwall models at the LBGS after all, so I couldn't give the NG another try. Hopefully I'll see another one in the flesh, sooner or later, as and when they become more popular.

Quick bump - just over two days left in the auction.

Bass Guitar Magazine has been raising funds for pro bassist and staff writer Ellen O'Reilly, who has been diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer and is undergoing all sorts of unpleasant chemotherapy, keeping her off work until she is better. LBGS exhibitor Strings&Things donated this bass with a view to getting it signed by as many stars as possible and then auctioning it for Ellen. This is the link, in case any of you would like to own the bass, and help. Many thanks from all at BGM! (Yes, I have Ped's permission to post this.) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Totally-Unique-Sterling-By-Musicman-SUB-Series-Bass-Guitar-See-Description/222980908977

Warwicks with rounds don't need the springs taken out. Warwicks with D'Addario Chromes do! The low B is too thick to go through the holes in the old-style bridge, and just able to settle down properly in the new two piece bridge. The E isn't quite as bad, but still a pain to intonate if the spring is still in place in the saddle. My other preferred make of strings, Thomastik, have an even thicker low B, although the E is slightly better. I don't do rounds at all.

Thanks Mick - I've got all my (black!) truss rod covers in a tidy bag - I'm not replacing them on any of my basses until the season has finished turning... which may take a while (sigh). Edit to answer your other question: no, i like the natural look, it's the chrome hardware I was bored with.

Stop triggering my OCD, Jack!

Rather than 'can't', I guess you should read 'won't bother to'...

And here is the finished article, minus the new black strap buttons (see further down for those). All screws and components tightened properly, strings reinstalled. Complete with strap buttons! Not the security lock type, which I'm not keen on - just normal buttons. Now I have black hardware, black pickups, and an almost-black fingerboard (after oiling); the only mismatch is between the silver-coloured strings and the gold-coloured frets. I can either get myself a set of black D’Addario tapewounds, or indeed decide that that would be overkill, and learn to live with this look instead! I like my Corvette much better now than when it had chrome hardware. What do you guys think?

The new hardware was now all in place. The fingerboard, however, looked a bit dry. I gave the frets and the Warwick Just-a-Nut a good clean, and then oiled the fingerboard. It was now time to turn the bridge from righty to lefty by swapping the saddles, making sure that their angled grooves still faced the correct side of the bridge. The bridge had clearly been spray-painted and dried in the factory with the saddles already in place. Continues in the next post!

Time to look at the headstock. It was fine, only in need of a clean. I inserted the new, black tuners, screwed them in lightly at the back and hand-tightened them at the front of the headstock. Then I installed the single knobs. They are retained on the spindle by a grub screw operated via an allen key. I made sure to place the dot so it marks the centre (balanced) setting on the pickup blend, and indicates full volume on the volume knob. Continues in the next post!

Removal of the strings and the hardware revealed the need for some TLC on the fingerboard and a bit of cleaning on the headstock. While installing the bottom part of the Warwick bridge I hit the first glitch of this job: the screws provided with the new bridge were smaller than those I took off with the older one. Since their colours don’t match, I couldn’t re-use the old ones. I had to insert some wood shavings in the holes, allowing the new, thinner screws to bite properly. All was soon well. The base plate for the second section of the bridge went in without trouble. The saddle plate could now be installed on top of it. I made sure to take off the springs from the saddles for the low B and E strings – experience has taught me that’s the only way to be able push the saddles all the way back to obtain the correct intonation on the D’Addario Chrome strings I was going to re-install at the end. However, I somehow failed to notice that the saddles have grooves of different sizes for different-sized strings, and that the replacement bridge had the saddles laid out in the wrong order: a right-handed bridge. I discovered and corrected the problem later. Continues in the next post!

I can’t justify buying yet another bass guitar. Considering my apparent fixation for the tone, shape and small size of 5-string Warwick Corvettes, I know that, regardless of my efforts, I would simply end up buying one more Corvette – perhaps in a different colour or with slightly upgraded pickups. I decided instead to re-vamp one of the Corvettes already in my possession, namely the one I play most often: my 5-string Corvette Pro in natural oil finish, with ash body, ovangkol neck, and a wenge fretboard. It’s a beautiful model, but my OCD has always been slightly bothered by the excessive number of different colours – the chrome hardware, the black pickups, the dark brown fingerboard, the gold-coloured frets – all to a certain extent competing with, rather than complementing, the gorgeous natural body. The way forward was to replace the chrome hardware with identical black hardware. The entire collection of original Warwick tuners, knobs and bridge is very affordable in terms of cost, and available from the ever-reliable Thomann online store, as well as from Warwick Distribution. My Corvette’s original look Admittedly, I didn’t make things easier for my OCD by adding yet another colour variation to the palette – that personalised knob in brushed aluminium from Sever/Tonetech. I found a better home for it and its companion on my RB Corvette 4, below. Back to the Corvette Pro – this was its original headstock. The only thing I won’t be able to replace is the bolt-on hardware on the back of the body. Everything else goes. Continues in the next post!

Oooo! Keep us posted!

Excellent!

The first of May is a holiday in most of Europe, hence the delay. I ordered some items from Thomann on Wednesday last week and they all arrived on Friday.

No prob! That just takes a mod a couple of clicks to do, no worries.

Great stuff! I'm moving this thread to the Live Music and videos subforum, where we keep all the others.

I think this is what Paul meant to post:

I've also been following your posts on Facebook about the tour, Paul - great stuff. Good to see you on Basschat too!

Thanks Roger! I am in a couple of those pics taken by the wide-angle, fixed camera.