Jean-Luc Pickguard

[quote name='Zoe_BillySheehan' post='513613' date='Jun 14 2009, 09:58 PM'][/quote] Which one is you?

That's expensive for a bunch of Allparts bits that have been dragged behind a car.

I used to hang an onion from mine which was the fashion at the time. Anyway, about my washtub. I just used it that morning to wash my turkey, which in those days was known as a walking bird. We’d always have walking bird on Thanksgiving with all the trimmings: cranberries, injun eyes, and yams stuffed with gunpowder. Then we’d all watch football, which in those days was called baseball.

Its just a bit of chrome plated steel. If its the right size it'll work just as well as any other. Standard 4 hole Fender-sized ones will work on guitars & basses. No functional difference between a 99p no-name or one off a squier affinity strat and a £400 one off a 1952 tele. I like the 70s style 'F' logo fender ones though and will probably get one for my CIJ mustang - but only for logo - the plain one on it already does the job just as well.

Flats don't get dull. They get better with age. They don't start with that horrible clanky harpsichord-like zing some people like though.

I just got back from my trek there with Mrs JLP & two kids. Sat in on a very interesting introduction to GarageBand. I only went in for a sit down and I had already discovered all the stuff the chap was demoing as I use GarageBand a lot since I got a MacBook, but it was new to wifey & kids. The Mrs was very impressed and although she has always ignored my wittering on about how much I like my MacBook & GarageBand she was impressed with the demo and now wants her own Mac. Roland were doing an introduction to their new v-drum set. I sat at a kit with little JLP (7) at another one along with a class of other people & a chap instructing at the front. We were all led through how to do play a rhythm & fill and use the kit. It was great fun and if I had half a mind to become a drummer (apparently thats all you need) and a spare £750, I'd have bought one of the kits on the spot. Little JLP bought a pair of drum sticks later. Not sure what he's planning to drum on though. Also tried a vintage distressed strat & jaco-alike jazz fretless on the JHS stand which were both very nice. Then I had a chat with Trev Wilkinson & mentioned that the guitarist in o5b had recently fitted a wilkinson compensated bridge to his MIJ tele & was very chuffed with it a our gig last week. There was a very nice blonde laminated double bass on the stentor stand, The string height was set nice & low but it was a 4/4 and seemed to have the same crappy stock stentor strings that came with my stentor 1950 bass. I'd love to try a 3/4 version with decent strings. Stentor also had a lovely Les Paul style uke. I saw Steve Vai as he walked past with about half a dozen minders. I said hi Steve to him and he smiled back. I only know him from Zappa - particularly the song about groupie antics: 'Stevie's spanking', so its probably just as well that there was no opportunity for a conversation. Miss JLP (11) got a recorder & High School Musical song book. Anything that encourages her to make music I s'pose. Mrs JLP was very taken with some of the Saxes. Who knows maybe she'll get around to take lessons and learn to play the Yamaha Alto I bought her a few years ago. She also quite liked a Farina parlour guitar and actually had a go - I had to put her fingers on the fretboard to make an E chord though, but that's more interest than she shows at home. I didn't buy anything, but got a nice freebie steinberg lanyard to keep my cubase dongle on. Plus a load of stickers, pleckies, music mags & catalogues. Poor old Jim Marshall was in a wheelchair and didn't look very well. I couldn't be arsed to queue up for an autographed poster this year. A lot of companies I would have liked to have seen were conspicuous by their absence: Fender/Squier/Gibson/Epiphone/Ashdown/Simms/NI/Line6/Status/Daisy Rock and the retail village was three traders with nothing to tempt me. Overall the show seemed to be less than half the size of last years, but still an enjoyable day for all of us. Not sure I'd have wanted to have paid full price though - two tickets were from a tesco clubcard points deal and the other two I won in an Arts Council competition.

One of the albums I played on got compared to Holger Czukay in a magazine review in the mid 80s. Unfortunately it was referring to the tape cut-ups and weird noises on his solo album rather than the cool bass grooves though.

If you pump out a steady stream of 8ths or 16ths when they run through the songs and shout out the root of each chord to you, then you write it down and can do the same when they're not shouting out the root that's probably the minimum technical ability needed and you can build more interesting basslines at home if you record the rehearsals. Go for it - if you do get invited to join, you will be amazed at how your playing will improve. Good Luck!

I have a few behringer pedals which I really like - The silver preamp thing and the green limiter, so I really wanted to like this synthbass pedal but I tried it out and it was utterly useless. Tracking was very hit & miss and I couldn't get a usable sound out of it.

Just a guess and I could be wrong, but did you compare with the amps set flat? When you set all the knobs to 12 O'clock on a LittleMarkII or combo containing the same amp, the eq is flat but the VLE & VPE filters are not - they need to be fully anti-clockwise to not alter the tone. If these were at 12 O'clock, the highs would have been cut hence the perceived woolyness compared to another amp set flat.

If you don't like grolsch or want straplocks that aren't big & red, shower hose washers do the job just as well and you can get enough for 10 basses for a quid.

[quote name='Linus27' post='510705' date='Jun 10 2009, 10:28 PM']As in this?? [url="http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500001501&langId=-1&searchTerms=fishing+trolley"]http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/s...fishing+trolley[/url][/quote] I have one of those argos fishing trollies which I used to use when I had an Ashdown rig. I don't use it anymore. Make me an offer if you're interested.

Keep a good head and always carry a lightbulb.

I've had loads of orders from them. It used to be $6USD for delivery, but now it seems to have increased to $15USD. I never had to pay any extra on delivery. The stuff was sent USPS and delivered by the postie with the usual post.

Why are you lot doing carrying your own cabs? Don't any of you employ a wife to do that as part of their duties?

You can just about make out the 'Made in Japan' (or possibly crafted in japan) on the body end of the back of the neck. My MIJ '62 resissue is from about 1990 and that is alder, so I'd be surprised if it is basswood with a sunburst finish. Pretty blummin' obvious that the relicing/fcuking-up job was done with tools and it has a much harder finish than thin nitro. My favourite word for today is 'numpty', so consider it used for the line "The tape isn't necessary however I feel it adds more character to the guitar" if nothing else

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='509725' date='Jun 9 2009, 11:15 PM'][/quote] Any plans to slap a decal on that? I was originally going to leave mine blank, but it looked a bit bare.

Nice. Reminds me of the brandoni neck with ebony board on my [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=51295"]fretless bitzer P[/url] just upgraded with lollipops. I made that nut from an ivory-coloured chopstick.

[quote name='donhills' post='509554' date='Jun 9 2009, 09:08 PM']PM me when you're ready and I might be ready to sell[/quote] I'd never get permission to buy another bass unless I sell a few first.

Great choice of Rig Bob - I play through an LMII & 1212L as well. Have you experimented with the VPF (Variable Pre-shape Filter) & VLE (Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator) yet? If not you're in for a treat. I hardly ever need to touch the eq - I can usually dial in the perfect sound with just these two.

[quote name='BenK' post='509437' date='Jun 9 2009, 07:45 PM'][font="Tahoma"][center]Thanks for the advice i was a bit weary about buying second-hand as a mate of mine got a really dodgy guitar once but the people seem quite friendly here[/center][/font][/quote] Secondhand is the way to go to get vfm & if you buy from an established BassChatter you certainly won't get a dog of a bass as BassChatters are the finest human beings you'll find anywhere.

[quote name='BenK' post='509337' date='Jun 9 2009, 06:00 PM']I'll end up doing some modding but is the woodwork,fretwork and finish good?[/quote] The ashton acoustic guitars I tried had no redeeming features. Their ukes were terrible as well I recall.

Nice one - I think you got a great deal on it at the price it went for. If I'd had any money and a forgiving missus I'd have been bidding against you.

[quote name='BB2000' post='509352' date='Jun 9 2009, 06:14 PM']I've always preferred the look of lollipop tuners to elephant ears. It's surprising that only Hipshot seem to offer them.[/quote] I've been after a set for this bass for a while for a cool as I put on a set of schaller BMLs which looked a bit too compact. The original 1966 mustangs had small plate lollipops. If Hipshot did a set of those to fit my CIJ mustang including a D-tuner I'd buy them in a shot as that's my main gigging bass at the moment. [quote name='BB2000' post='509352' date='Jun 9 2009, 06:14 PM']Nice bass - looks like you have a quarter sawn neck there.[/quote] Cheers! Mmm could be quarter sawn - I've never thought about it, but I always thought it had an unusual grain pattern compared to my fenders, there's a smattering of birds eye on the back which looks good. Thanks again John. Did I mention I'm really chuffed with these tuners on this bass?