Jean-Luc Pickguard

The 'found in Entwhistle's loft' has got to be the biggest load of BS I've ever seen on eBay. As if John would have taken a halfords rattle can to one of his bitzers. Utter bollocks.

[quote name='lowdown' post='575702' date='Aug 20 2009, 03:59 PM']The funny thing to me is that there are plenty of Musicians who do not like the idea of tracks But will post MP3's of them selves all over tinternet Jamming or telling us they are being creative, [b]Playing over loops etc[/b], that they put together in Logic, Reaper, Cubase or whatever. Thats using trax aint it.[/quote] That's a recording not a live performance. Isn't this thread about using backing tracks in a live situation? Personally I couldn't give a rat's arse if someone uses a backing track as long as I don't have to listen to it. The worst offenders I've ever heard were buskers with more gear and bigger PA than the average pub band doing earsplitting panpipe karaoke to backing tracks. Terrible.

[quote name='thebeat' post='575030' date='Aug 20 2009, 06:12 AM']Lead free solder needs a higher output, temperature wise, soldering iron...that's why you've been having problems.[/quote] Strange that Maplin only sell solder that doesn't work properly with the irons they sell. I even bought a new 30 iron from there when I had problems with my 25W one and it still didn't help with the unleaded solder. I've also saw Tin/Lead solder for sale in B&Q last week, but I don't know if its as good as the [url="http://www.clasohlson.co.uk/Product/Product.aspx?id=134361262"]60/40 Tin/Lead stuff[/url] I got from clas ohlsen.

The output socket went a bit hit & miss on my CIJ mustang, cutting out when the cable was nudged. Rather than getting a cheapo no-name socket from maplin I went on ebay & hit the buy-it-now on a P Bass rewiring kit consiting of a Switchcraft socket, pair of CTS pots, sprague orange drop capacitor and some vintage-style cloth-covered wire. Last time I did a bit of soldering I had a terrible time getting maplin's lead-free solder to work on the back of pots and although I ended up with something that worked, it looked like a modern sculpture so I tracked down some proper lead/tin solder (from clas olsen in Croydon) and put a new tip in my iron. Result: it was embarassingly easy using proper solder - this is the neatest rewire job I've ever done and the bass worked perfectly first time when I put it together & I plugged it in. I'm not sure whether the cool orange-drop cap improves the tone at all - the bass already sounded good with the old bits and still sounds good. The pots feel much smoother and don't crackle like the old ones and the new socket feels like it'll last forever. I wish I'd done this before - its a great upgrade for MIJ/CIJ fenders or any other bass with cheapo wiring/ passive electronics.

That's one way of using up offcuts

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Wilkinson-black-bass-guitar-tuners-No-12-or-13_W0QQitemZ140325330591QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Guitar_Accessories?hash=item20ac0a9e9f&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Wilkinson-black-bass...id=p3286.c0.m14[/url] These Wilkinson ones should do the job.

Got D-tuners on a precision, a jazz and a thunderbird. When they're properly adjusted and setup they work very well.

My daughter thinks he's busting for a wee

Flats. Preferably TI JF344 (JF324 on the mustang) If I wanted my instrument to sound like a harpsichord, I'd play a harpsichord. I prefer my bass to sound like a bass

Mail sent

Just an idea: I don't know if there are many players going that don't already do their own setups, but If anyone wants a free setup on their own bass while learning how to do it as a one to one tutorial including trussrod tweaking, bridge & pickup adjustments and possibly neck shim, I'm happy to do that - maybe we could have a setup bar if there's much demand & anyone else wants to throw their hat into the ring?

If the main consideration is to a something electric that sounds good for pizz, but is played upright, look at how 'horizontal basses' are made and which ones give the best DB sound and maybe use ideas & elements of their construction in the EUB. Out of my bass collection I'd say my danelectro longhorn sounds best for blues etc and can sound more double-bass like in a band setting than my ns cr5m even though it has a 30" scale and the body is made of ply & hardboard. I think this may be because the body construction gives less sustain and a dull thud-type tone.

Shingai in the Noisettes uses one

All of my Planet Waves cables came from sound control iirc. The spring on one did cause my musicmaster socket to develop an intermittent crackle/cutout - Turns out the socket had been replaced at some point with a cheapo flimsy one. I put a proper switchcraft in and its perfect. Never had an issue with these cable in a bass with a switchcraft jack.

Hopefully it was a shill bid and he bought it himself. Its been reported to ebay, but i wouldn't be surprised if it pops up again. On reflection it looks like the body etc was probably from a Squier Classic Vibe 60s P, but the neck isn't the correct one for that bass and still looks like a cheapo copy.

If is ever was a £600 bass then I'm a banana! [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Road-Worn-Style-P-Bass-Precision-Bass_W0QQitemZ150364739772QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item23026fd8bc&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]Fender Roadworn-style bass[/url] It looks more like a £100 Jim Deacon or similar chinese bass wrecked with a clumsy relic job & he's trying to pass it off as a fender, but spinning a yarn to distance himself from the consequences. edit: sent him the following: [quote]Sorry Mate: Looks like your missus should get a refund - she was ripped off. This looks more like a cheap chinese copy. The headstock shape is totally incorrect for a Fender as is the truss rod access. Its was probably worth about £100 before being trashed.[/quote]

I use Thomastik TI JF344s flats on mine. Blummin' perfect. Works well with the D-tuner on it as well.

Denmark street isn't worth visiting for me these days. A bloke in Wunjo (when they were around the corner) once told me that I wrong and the Precision in the window was DEFINITELY a '79 as it has an S9 serial no. Of course any self respecting fender geek will know it it could be as late as an '81 and to be sure you'd have to take the neck off to check the date stamped on the body end. Later they wanted £1300 for a 70s mustang bass in trashed condition. It didn't look reliced in a cool way, but like it had been found in a dumpster. It was filthy and had nail varnish over paint chips. It was totally unplayable chunks out of frets & rusty strings. What a joke! Apart from that I find Wunjo the friendliest and best of the street though. Music Ground offered me £200 for a '80s MIJ tokai korina flying vee & flightcase a few years ago. It would have probably sold for at least £600 retail and they weren't interested in a commission sale. I sold it privately the next week for £550. I bought my 1990 MIJ '62 reissue Precision in Andys. I think I probably paid over the odds for the time, but it was exactly what I was looking then (about eight years ago). I later definitely got ripped off with a shoddy & overpriced setup & soldering job on another bass by the miserable cnut that used to have a workshop in Andys - which prompted me to learn how to to that stuff properly for myself.

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='566080' date='Aug 11 2009, 05:58 PM']I've got one a millenium bxp 5 string and it is indeed pretty good. It plays well, sounds good with the active pickups and it's proven to be reliable. The string spacing is a bit narrow but for £200 really it's not a big problem at all.[/quote] If thats what you're playing in your avatar Edward, I have one exactly the same down to the colour. Excellent value for £200. I used to have an irrational dislike of Peaveys, but this one won me over when toured all the Music shops in central London one Saturday & played every 5 string bass under £600 originally intending to buy a G&L tribute.

crapcore more like

[quote name='grumble' post='561629' date='Aug 6 2009, 12:16 AM']are they 'fun' to play ?[/quote] Oh Yes! Great rubbery fun with a deep fundamental tone. Great fun for turning up with to jam nights. Often people that have never seen one before take the piss a bit and then come back to ask all about it once they've heard the massive rich bass tone flowing from the speakers. The most important thing to remember though is that although it has lines, it plays in tune if you treat it like an unlined fretless and play on the dots between the lines.

If you're plugging it in and putting it through fx that might make it feed back, you could try reducing the feedback by sticking a CD over the soundhole woth blu-tak. Also might get a better sound by fitting a magnetic pickup.

The rick-shaped one is cool, but a dano longhorn one would be even better. I enjoy playing my stock ashborys, but whenever I turn up somewhere and someone has not seen one before I always get the same 'fisher price' comments followed by astonished looks when they actually hear it.

The Wizard thumpers are well regarded around these parts for replacing a stock precision pickup.