bass_dinger

I was once asked to play that. If the music is out there, I might look at it again. And to keep On Topic. 1. Pick a tune - always for fun and for stretching myself (and never for a band). 2. Write it into an A5 book (double page for each tune). 3. Write a short list of 3 songs I am working on. 4. Practice each of the three, daily. Write progress notes into the book (",played Good Times at 80% speed. Can't get all the notes in on the A chord section at 90%. Watch out for the transition between the verse and chorus") to remind me of what I am working on. 5. Rinse and repeat. That said, the reality is that my progress is not so linear.

I shall be using my chest hair to manufacture the world's smallest violin bow.

A cunning way to stay in the Gear Abstinence challenge, the next time someone with a hip replacement needs a bone nut!

The bluegrass version sounds like the original, correct version - the lyrics, the chord structure, the main theme played on violin. All lend itself to the genre. The more familiar version sounds like a modern cover version. There seems to be a whole bluegrass industry dedicated to covering pop songs - without derailing the thread: Rocket Man; Put a Ring on It; You Rocked me all night long. All are out there on YouTube, and arguably sound better (or at least, historically older) as a bluegrass version.

Another Serial Reworker is Paul Simon. Here, his bluegrass version of Gone at Last. And the original recorded version. So difficult, that even his live bands can't manage it!

The first mainstream re-version that I heard was the Beatles Revolution. Loud overdrive version on the B side of a single (hey Jude, I think) Acoustic guitar version on The White Album. I won't even bother looking them up on YouTube, as Beatles stuff is taken down. You could go back in time to The Reverend Gary Davies (American blind country blues guitarist 1930s to early 1970s), and listen to Candy man, as the straight 4/4 version, or a waltz in 3/4, or a stop-time (buck and wing dance) version. However, that's probably too obscure. So, here instead is Hugh Cornwell's Mariachi version of Golden Brown, more familiar to listeners when he performed it as part of the Stranglers.

So, I did have The Chat with the senior Sound Guy, having listened also to the broadcast and not heard any bass there either. It turned out that the Scenes on the desk had been adjusted, and there was no bass at all in the mix. Or, more accurately, no bass being input to the desk - there was no bass channel. The week after, the same problem with the second electric guitar. I don't understand why the sound team can't hear that an instrument is missing. It makes me and the guitarist want to stick with on stage amps, thereby removing any possibility that the sound team can control the sound in the room.

So, what happened? Any news?

20 hours? No wonder he has no time for basschat.co.uk! The fool!

Am I allowed to agree with that statement, even though it is my bass? It gives me the Wavy Hair/ White Ebony effect that I originally wanted, but looks like the pattern was designed for a fretless bass. Dark on the edge that has the fret lines, wavy on the playing surface, and a black area to prove that it is ebony. Now that I have measured the neck pocket, the luthier is able to carry on with the neck carve. That allows me to focus on the next step, of the missing parts. The machine head screw is likely to be easy to find. That leaves the saddle insert. Four options for me. 1. Make do with the homemade saddle insert in the bridge. Cheap and easy. 2. Buy the correct new-old stock bridge from the neck luthier. Bin the existing bridge and saddles. Expensive and perfect. And frankly silly.... 3. Explore the possibility that you @LeftyJ have actually found the company that made the bridge saddle manufacturer, and approach them. If it's correct, then it's a cheaper solution, and certainly less wasteful. 4. Today, I had the neck pocket measured by a nice chap with a vernier, and access to a railway workshop. Lathes, drills, lumps of metal. If options 1 to 3 don't work, then I plan to ask if he might make a replacement saddle. Bonkers attention to detail - and perhaps over-the-top.

Fretless fretboard... Unblack ebony. Unmetal frets. Unshaped neck. Uncanny.

She must be home from school by now - any updates? She must have been delighted to see it waiting there for her!

Rotosound strings have such a reputation for damaging fretwork, that it had to be packaged so as to protect your letterbox, the delivery van, and the sorting machinery.

My wife; the wife of the sax player; the guitarist (who was in the congregation this week). All professional listeners!! 😀 They also commented that the singers were too quiet. And the week before, the desk forgot to turn up the singers on the broadcast - it was like The Shadows, without Cliff Richard (and not as modern and contemporary....). I would ask other members of the congregation, but they generally say that it sounded good (when they actually mean that they couldn't hear the mistakes!). As for limiters, we have P16s (little desks from Behringer, that allow each person to mix their own sound). Apparently, they have limiters built in, so, I will turn up the limiter for next week.

Ouch. In ears, and plugging in the piano, do not mix well. The pianist had started playing, but forgot that the piano was not plugged into the sound system. He plugged it in without warning, and the resulting thump was so painful, that I shouted out loud. (After the service, someone asked, genuinely, if I had been electrocuted). My ears still hurt a little now. Moreover, the in-ears that I used did not cope well with low notes on my 5 string. And, to make it properly and entirely awful, the sound of the bass in the room was poor - the sound team had not turned up the bass in the house mix. My guess is that they heard something (some leakage from my cab on low volume, and a little from the drummer's monitor), and assumed that it was okay. So, hearing problems for me, and low volume for everyone else. There's not much point in playing, if that's the standard of the sound.

So, the board is only cut for the inserts. It doesn't yet have any markers. I prefer ebony, and the luthier is suggesting maple. Maple - A clear contrast (light on dark)? Ebony - a hidden marker (blackest of ebony on macassar Ebony, only really visible to the bassist)? Any thoughts or warnings before I commit? Edit. I decided on the maple.

I don't think that the fingerboard above is made from any of the blanks that were shown to me! It may be that the colours and contrast have been enhanced by the finishing - maybe @Andyjr1515has an opinion on whether that is likely, or even possible. Or it may be that I simply don't recognise the slab of wood now that it has been shaped. However, if it is different, it is certainly prettier than what I was originally offered, and actually works better for what I wanted - fret lines hidden in the dark area, and lots of features and curls in the playing area (to act as markers for note positions). I shall be true to my word - " if the wrong one turns up, I shan't be hugely fussed." and " Let's see what turns up!" Edit- it is indeed a different board. The luthier writes "Different board. Thought this one looks better with your top and headstock" and "The other board is cool but the black figuring doesn’t go all the way through the back of the board, so it would have changed the dark patterns after I radius the FB. This one the figure goes all the way to the back of the board" A bold move on his part, but I very much approve.

Now, the fingerboard is shaped, and laid on the 5-piece neck blank. Very striking! Ooh - I just spotted the fretboard markers, so subtle that I initially missed them.

Now with a truss rod.

I am 2nd Tier out - a purchase of a second hand Hiscox Lite Flite mandolin case. Too good a price to pass up. It doesn't fit my current mandolin, but I am hoping that it will fit the mandolin that I am intending to buy... Edit - it does fit, apparently.

I sometimes see some lovely money in my hobby-stuff bank account, and think that it would make a nice bass.

I received an update this morning - I will share the comment from the luthier, and the photos, and let the images do the talking: Opposing quartersawn grain

Instead of a saw, he could have used the Axe of the Apostles... So, the ex Worship Leader _actually_ sawed a guitar in half, or did so symbolically?

Here is a hypothetical situation for church bassists to comment on. Let us say that you are on the rota for a particular week, and on the same week, the Young People Band is playing a single song. The day comes, and it's time for YBP to play their song. They jump up on stage, and the bassist doesn't have a bass with him. His assumption was that it would be supplied - and he is looking at your Wal / 57 P bass / Harley Benton / Skip Rescue. This is news to you - you were not involved in the arrangements. Do you let them use your bass (or guitar, or saxophone, or violin etc)? How does one react? Is the bassist like the 5 virgins who did not prepare the oil for their lamp? Or, having been asked for your coat (Cort?), do you hand over your shirt too? Discuss - extra marks for real-world examples!

Make sure it's for the right reasons - not just an opportunity to play music, but a church which lifts, supports and nurtures you. Let us know how it goes