peteb

[quote name='mep' post='925924' date='Aug 15 2010, 10:17 PM']Have you tried pushing the pole pieces in yet? They will end up flush with the pup as your thumb is larger than them. They will go in, even though at first you may not be sure. You can then adjust the height for the G string. Job done. It worked a treat for me and has given my 92 Ray a completely new lease of life![/quote] When I have tried to push the poles down they just spring back up! Will take the pickguard off and have a proper attempt (any advice welcome) when I get back and before I shell out for a new pickup! Cheers.....

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='925845' date='Aug 15 2010, 09:05 PM']This is what I'd do. However I have 4 MM pups spanning the decades from '78 to '06 and none of them seem to display this problem. I can't even imagine how you can be hitting your fingers off the pole pieces seeing as they are directly below the strings. [/quote] Ou7shined - for your information: Try anchoring your thumb between the screws at the top of your MM style pick up and playing the 'g' string with alternative fingers (index & middle), which will be directly above the rear pole pieces. As you pluck thru the 'g' string your finger will come to rest on or actually below the 'd' (this is the same with the 'd' & 'a' strings but not so apparent with 'a' to 'e' due to the position of your hand on these strings). My middle finger is longer than my index and tends to catch on the back pole piece, especially when raking from string to string I usually have epoxy covered pickups set quite close to the strings and the idea is that your fingers glide just above the top of the pickup cover – this is quite a common technique and is used by Billy Sheehan (he talks about it in one of his instructional DVDs) & I’m sure many others (but probably not by those playing bleedin’ stingrays)!!

Would be a great idea if you could calibrate it for the preamp in your particular bass and if it worked on 18v!

[quote name='ahpook' post='925762' date='Aug 15 2010, 07:07 PM']have you thought of talking to wizard pickups ? i believe they do a 'covered' MM pickup that's not as costly as a bart, and if their p-bass pickups are anything to go by they're damn fine replacements.[/quote] Cheers for that suggestion - I will look into that Does anyone know how the various options (EMG, bartolini, wizzard) compare?

[quote name='mcnach' post='925631' date='Aug 15 2010, 03:22 PM']You could always ask in the Ernie Ball MusicMan forum... JOKING! No! Don't even think about it!!! I don't wish the response you might get on my worst enemy I've played MM-style pickup equipped basses for a while and neevr encountered your problem. I'd have imagined that lowering the pickups would sort that issue, but if it hasn't... I'd just suggest using a pickup without the exposed polepieces, like you suggested. But it does strike me as a little odd. I wonder if the polepieces in yours are unusually high. Can you post a picture? None of my MM-type pickups (Five. Including a Stingray) have polepieces flush with the cover.[/quote] I have been reading the other thread on the EBMM forum and believe me, I am sorely tested, just to see exactly how bad the response would be!! I do think that the pole pieces on my 'Ray may be unusually high - I didn't have this problem with the sterling that I owned and I haven't noticed it to be so bad when ever I have picked up one belonging to someone else, thru to be fair I have never really played one for a long time either! Will have to consider looking for a bartolini on ebay or getting an EMG from thomman when I get back off holiday (or does anyone know of anywhere else you can get bartolinis cheap??)

The other 'Ray issues to which I allude are mainly that even if you have it set up well with a nice low action, if I put it down and pick up my Warwick Stage 1, the difference in build quality is immediately apparent! BTW – the first thing I did was to lower the pick up on the stingray as much as possible as soon as I got it The ‘g’ string issue is annoying and leads to you trying to play harder on that string, which is less than ideal and is a design fault that should have been sorted out a long time ago! I can understand why lots of people like ‘Rays – they do have a distinctive sound, etc but there are obvious faults that just shouldn’t be there on a bass that is by no means cheap if you buy one new……

It appears that I just don't have the technique to play a stingray! TBH - I always thought that my right hand technique was reasonably strong, but I have a low action, play over the pickup and tend to rake a lot (a la Sheehan in that respect at least) and the pole pieces do tend to get in the way more than somewhat! I might just drop a EMG in it if I decide that it's worth the effort / cash - a very frustrating bass, a great unique sound but several annoying flaws.......

[quote name='Bilbo' post='924011' date='Aug 13 2010, 03:19 PM']This isn't a response to your band, Jake, but I have a bit of an issue with the word 'entertainment' because it is often used as a justification for 'lowest common denominator' in terms content. Many musicians make decisions based on their [i]perception[/i] of 'what the people want' and fill their sets with old faithfuls like Midnight Hour, Lady Marmalade, Son Of A Preacher Man and so on. Jazz bands are no different and they fill their sets with the tried and true; Autumn Leaves, Fly Me To the M n, Bye Bye Blackbird, Fever, Moondance etc. What happens, whether it is rock or jazz, is that something vital is made bland and predictable and many of the people who want to be entertained are put off. When I look out at weddings, I see dozens of people dancing and hundreds of people not (the quality of the band has no real bearing on this). I did a recent wedding where my little Brazillian project had a field of people buzzing whilst a major London 12 piece with horns, backing vox etc doing 'those' tunes failed to ignite them (people kept coming up to us and saying, 'we wish you were playing, you were much better'. So what, says you? Well, the Brazillian band's set consisted entirely of tunes they didn't know sung in Brazillian Portuguese. The band always goes down really well wherever we play. It just escalates if there are any Brazillians in the audience People want to be entertained not bored. Don't just give them what they want, give them something to get excited about, something they have not heard 1,000 times before (your Charleston gig would be a new experience to most people, Jake). A regular jazz gig I did for 5 years used to mostly act as background noise to an ambivalent audience (the drummer insisted on keeping the material 'familiar'; 'those' tunes again) but the audience (mostly 18-24) only ever sat up and listened when we took it out and did something a bit heavier: Coltrane, Monk, Ornette Coleman; something with some energy and vitality. I have no problem entertaining people and, like everyone else, I like to see people dance but it is a much better feeling when what you are doing is also a bit different, edgy, fresh and engaging. So many of us are no better than cheesy cabaret bands in wolf's clothing. Live music in the UK sometimes feels like Sky TV; every channel is pretty much the same as every other and, with 800+ options, you still can't find anything you actually want to watch. Jazz bands are just as guilty of this as function bands. Its sucking the life out of it. Entertainment is like politics. Everyone heads for the middle gorund to get the most attention and, as a result, nobody gets what they want![/quote] Good post - pretty much hits the nail on the head and applies to any genre!

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='925096' date='Aug 14 2010, 07:10 PM']I think you can adjust them but I dont know how and if you screw it up you will need a new pup for sure,It should have the rounded edge pole pieces if its the original EB one of that vintage anyway? Do you have any pics?[/quote] Certainly not rounded edge pole pieces! The guy I got it from reckoned that it was one of the early EB ones but I really wouldn't know I'm hoping that someone here will be able to confirm that the pole pieces are adjustable and if so let me how you go about it - I would probably get a mate to do it as I would probably knack any pickup I tried to take apart! I did briely have a Sterling a few years ago - that didn't have the same problem i.e. the poles were flush on that one.....

I recently acquired a 90s MM stingray in a trade and it's not a bad bass - plays OK, sounds great, etc However, I do have a bit of a problem with the pickup (apart from the usual 'g' string not being loud enough) - the exposed pole pieces are nowhere near flush to the casing and as I anchor my thumb on the pickup and I keep catching my fingertips on the poles, which can get a bit annoying, not to mention painful after a while! Does anyone know if there is any way of adjusting the height of the pole pieces so that they are flush to the casing?

The top of the range Streamers, Thumbs, Dolphins, etc are superb basses - my Stage 1 is great in all depts (sound, feel, looks, construction) Some of the mid range & cheaper ones they produce are not that great thru.....

Bilbo, you think too much - you're obviously a musician!

[quote name='silddx' post='910421' date='Jul 30 2010, 04:49 PM'] It was reading his interview that prompted the post really, but it is something I've thought about for a long time and I have my own thoughts about it. I know plenty of "people who play instruments" to a high technical level but who are primarily songwriters/composers, often they are multi instrumentalists. I also know "people who play instruments" to a high technical level but who can't compose or write songs, or even improvise much. They need to be told what to play and they play it beautifully. To my mind these are two completely different types of people. Zappa's ex band members, some of them are very good at composition and make a living at it, some are pretty poor going by what I've heard. I really believe it's important to make the distinction, especially if you are auditioning band members. It is probably easier to have people who don't have compositional ambitions in your band if you are a control freak and QC all your music yourself. Sometimes you may want band members who can contribute compositionally or improvisationally. I have to be a mechanic in one of my bands, but that's fine because I can still control the dynamics and the tone choices and that's very important. The other band allows me to compose my lines and luckily they go down very well. I am very sensitive to the needs of the song, the singer and the writer. I think I have good compositional skills for pop music and I write pop rock songs and lyrics. I'd be crap at jazz or classical or R&B, Hip Hop, blah blah, though, so there is another distinction one can make. My OP was very poorly worded wasn't it [/quote] I think that you can over intellectualise what being a musician is about? You're role in a band is likely to change from gig to gig (as you say above). If you want to be successful at any level and you want to be the guy that people call for a gig then you need to: learn to play; know enough about music to understand how to put a bass part together; and be the sort of person who the rest of the band can stand being stuck in a van with on a 5 hour trip to Carlisle or wherever! This applies at any level (witness Scott Thunes and Zappa again)! Doesn’t matter how good a player is – if they can’t get on with other musicians, they won’t work! What most bands want is to work with someone who can play who they can have a beer with (but preferably not a raging alcoholic)!!

Nige, i think that you are in great danger of turning into Scott Thunes here! By your definition I am both a bass player and a musician, not that I necessarily accept your definition of musician - the lead violinist in an orchestra may not compose or improvise but still may be a stellar musician! The only instrument that I play to performance level is bass and I play better than I've ever composed so I'm quite happy to be called a bass player!

[quote name='Doddy' post='905676' date='Jul 26 2010, 12:30 PM']It also says something that Zappa was willing to break up the band rather than get rid of Thunes. His playing speaks for itself.Some of his playing was just brilliant,and his growly P-bass with a pick tone is uniquely great.[/quote] Great player, but so was everyone else in that band It's never easy playing with a sociopath, no matter how good they are.........

[quote name='silddx' post='905670' date='Jul 26 2010, 12:28 PM']Regarding your first point, you don't know the story, I don't mean this in a bad way, but you need to read Zappa's view, and the Thunes interview to get a picture of what, as far as we can tell, really happened. Re you second point, that's exactly what Thunes means.[/quote] I have read both the interviews with Zappa and with Thunes, and I think that I can get a pretty fair idea of what did go on - thru to be fair, Zappa didn't have aproblem with him, just everyone else in his band! Don't get me wrong, I was a fan, but I don't see how ST's outlook was any more valid than that of Chad Wackermann et al, who let's face it, were all at least as equally talented!

[quote name='silddx' post='905637' date='Jul 26 2010, 11:55 AM']Nice one Doddy. Other than the Zappa interviews and books I've read, it's the only interview with a mucisian that makes sense to me, and it has taught me so much about what it is to be a musician. Scott Thunes speaks his personal truth in such an open manner and with such disregard for others' opinion about him, that it causes you to examine yourself very deeply, not just musically either. The interview in 'In Cold Sweat. Interviews with Really Scary Musicians' is half the book, and absolutely fascinating.[/quote] I would personally be loathe to base my ideas on what it is to be a musician on Scott Thunes, a guy who has clearly lost the plot and who was in a band full of top musicians who all hated his guts and refused to play with him (thus breaking up one of the best bands ever assembled)! That’s not to say that he hasn’t got a point, but surely getting your particular sound on an instrument is a component of your own personal (musical) voice….

I always kinda assumed that it was a fretless

Has anyone tried a Little Mark Rocker amp yet (the LM with a tube overdrive circuit)? I'm just intrigued as to what they sound like – do they sound like a souped up LM crossbred with a Boogie, like you might hope??

A bit surprised about people here preferring the high hat side of the kit as I always go stage right with a right sided drummer so that I can hear / feel the kick drum! I know that Billy Sheehan always insists on being on the same side as the bass drum, as do most other guys of that kind (just look at any live shot of Van Halen, Ozzy's band, Whitesnake, etc) I always play to the kick drum rather than the hi-hats – dunno, it might be a bit of a rock thing......

I do find it difficult to understand this - surely the reason for buying a great bass is so that you can play gigs with it?? One of the reasons that I would never consider buying something like a 60s Fender (even if I could afford it) is because I would be too scared to take it out!