geilerbass

+1 for Ibanez - the SR range have a very narrow string spacing and the necks are very slim and playable. Old Bass Collections are also worth considering as they have very slim necks and are also seem to be quite cheap when they appear in the classifieds here or on Ebay.

Just for my own amusement, I tried hanging a bag of coins from the bridge-side strap button and whaddya know, it set the balance perfectly, for the angle I like. Kind of annoying, is it's just not practical to have something hanging off my bass while I play. Maybe I could just try taping some weights to the body and see if that helps...

That's totally awesome. I actually love him. So cool that he signed your scratchplate - I'm jealous!

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='203476' date='May 21 2008, 08:48 AM']The flute wasn't a waste of time, mate. She tried it, she learned some stuff about music (reading?, listening, playing in time, bits of theory - there's loads of transferable skills here). She decided she didn't like the flute - could be because she didn't connected with it. Could have been a bad teacher (there are LOADS out there), could be that the teacher only threw classical stuff at her when she wanted to learn more popular music forms, could be that she couldn't identify with the genres she was being introduced to. She may find out later that she does want to play the flute (or saxophone?). There are 1,000s of top notch musicians out there, professional players and celebrity musos alike, who started on one instrument and later changed to another, sometimes several times. Its a journey and many kids don't get the instrument right the first time. It woudl be a shame to ditch the whole idea on the basis of one bad decision. I know its a pisser when you are spending money but, as someone said, you could sell the flute (or play it yourself). The gift of music is priceless and the outlay relatively cheap (what does an ipod cost? Or a weeks holiday?).[/quote] YES! Bang on the mark with this post. I played recorder when I was about 5 and gave that up after a year or two. I then started playing trombone at age 11. I was able to pick up the trombone much more quickly and grasp many of the concepts a lot more easily than I would have done, had I not played the recorder, since the latter gave me a rudimentary but fundamental grasp of the basic concepts of music. A few years later I picked up the bass and got to grips with it very quickly. I already read music (bass clef, no less!), had played in a brass ensemble, so knew about playing in a group and was generally a lot more comfortable with many of the more abstract concepts of music. Every little bit of exposure that I've had to playing has contributed to the player that I am today and nothing has been wasted. Especially not the recorder lessons! So while it may not seem that this is the case now, if your daughter does end up getting on well with the bass and goes on to play in bands, she will not look back on her brief experience with the flute as wasted. Bilbo's comment about good/bad teachers is also a very valid point. I had 4 trombone teachers in my school days. Two just went through the motions and I could quite easily have quit while being taught be either. Though one teacher, who only taught me for a year, showed me music in a totally different light and completely changed my approach to playing. I'm certain that without his inspiration, I would not be posting on a bass guitar forum today... Sorry that was a bit melodramatic...

Nice one! I think Wooten is a must - I saw him with Bela Fleck last year and he was awesome. Would be great to see the guy with his own band.

[quote name='E_MaN' post='202966' date='May 20 2008, 04:12 PM']whats the point? seriously, do you really NEED to change from fretted from fretless mid song?[/quote] There are a couple of songs I play with one of my bands in which I could do with jumping between fretted and fretless - the sections just work better on one or the other. That said, I can't really see the point of having two necks of seven strings. I would have said that you had every eventuality covered in one bass, but this guy appears to have a million Conklins!!? Either way, it looks absurdly great. More silly basses please!

I think it's a common problem with Soundgears - even the top end ones. As I said, I think they're designed to be played at a more horizontal angle. Which is odd since their biggest advocate, Fiedly of Korn, pretty much plays his K5 in a vertical position.

Some quite novel suggestions there! 3) and 4) look definitely worth trying out, despite the fact that I'm going to look pretty silly with a bag of washers hanging from my bass I really don't want to sell the bass, since it's perfect in every respect apart from this one. Thanks!

That seems really obvious, but I never thought of it Thanks!

I find the most comfortable way to play is to have the neck of my bass angled quite steeply (at least 45 degrees to horizontal). However, my current bass (an Ibanez) has a bit of neck dive - I think it's designed to be played at a more horizontal angle, which means I have to hold the neck up a bit with my left hand. I don't find this to be good technique, so I'm looking for a way to get my bass to sit at a more comfortable angle for me. If you check my profile [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showuser=2450"]picture[/url], you can see the kind of angle I like to play at. Does anyone have any experience of this? Is this a fundamental problem of the way the bass is balanced? Would moving the strap post on the bridge side of the body further up towards the top of the body help it hang at a better angle? I also have a Warwick Streamer, which has the strap lock socket further round the body, and sits at a perfect angle, so I wonder if repositioning the strap post is the way to go, though I'm reluctant to start drilling into the side of my beloved Ibanez. Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated.

I'm sure I remember reading on talkbass about removing screws. I think you should be able to use something like [url="http://www.google.co.uk/products?hl=en&q=screw+extractor&cr=countryUK%7CcountryGB&um=1&ie=UTF-8"]this[/url], though will probably need a very small drill bit to get in there in the first place. Broken screw heads have to be amongst the most infuriating problems ever to be encountered...

I never had a problem with the neck profile. My first bass was a Bass Collection, which have very slim necks and I went straight to a '97 Streamer LX and didn't notice any problem with the neck profile. In fact it felt more comfortable and was easier to play than my old BC. I keep reading things about people not getting on with Warwick necks - either they feel too long or the profile is odd - but I never experienced this at all.

If loosening the truss rod doesn't work, it might need a fret-stoning - particularly if you're only getting buzz on one note on one string. Hopefully you don't have a warped neck - though I'm sure you'd be getting more buzzing if this was the case.

I'm sure it won't be a problem - though it's amazing how different flats can feel to rounds. If you've been rehearsing with them for a while and been getting on with them fine, it shouldn't make too much of a difference live. Enjoy the slick, slippery fun of playing flatwounds live!

[quote name='dood' post='201833' date='May 18 2008, 11:18 PM']The BBC ran a few nights of documentaries, including this Arena episode, a US documentary called 'The Decline Of Western Civilisation, Part 2' directed by Penelope Spheeris (not entirely sure what Part 1 was!! lol) and, Guns n' Roses - Live at the Ritz.. one of their best performances.. when they were young and still 'hungry for success'!! - I seem to recall there was an Ozzy Ozbourne concert and something to do with Maiden as well.[/quote] Part 1 was called the Punk Years and dealt with the US punk scene (bands such as the Ramones). I haven't seen it, but it's supposed to be pretty decent. Part 2 is considerably more well known and a classic, must-see documentary. If only for the sight of WASP's Chris Holmes pouring vodka on himself, while floating around on a air-bed in his mum's swimming pool.

I've never found the sweat to make things more difficult, though I've only played live with flats a few times. I guess if you sweat a lot, it could be a problem, though I would have thought it would be the same with roundwounds. Are you playing fretless? If so that could be more of an issue, since you have to be precise with your intonation, though on a fretted instrument, I can't think it'll be too much of a problem.

I tried a Corvette out. It was a typically quality Warwick instrument - felt very solid to play and had a potent sound - though didn't really blow me away. I think it was going for about £800ish, which is pretty good value for the calibre of the bass. On a very pedantic note, it really didn't stand up to the older Warwicks of that price range - someone else mentioned it lacking the 'growl' which I kind of agree with.

Thanks for all the advice! Again, I know people find this subject a real bore - I've read through numerous threads about ohmage and power, both here and on talkbass, but I've not really been able to get my head around it. It seems the general advice is: don't push your amp too far and listen out for distortion. I'm pretty sure I've run my rig with both gain and volume on about half and had plenty of volume with no distortion. I don't really have room for another cab at home, so I think I'll stick with this set up until I notice that it becomes a problem. Then you might be seeing an Eden D210T appearing in the classifieds here...

Yes, that was the first place I looked, though there's nothing there to give me a conclusive answer. Am I right in thinking that this is not an exact science and therefore, I'm going to have to rely on luck to an extent? I really doubt that if I were to get a new cab, I'd have the opportunity to try it out with my amp. Based on the Wiki it looks as though I would need a cab that takes 500W RMS at 4 ohms. I haven't seen any cabs at this kind of rating from any of the main manufacturers, so that's why I was enquiring as to whether I'd likely get problems with a lower or higher rated cab.

I've searched around on here and elsewhere for information regarding amp/cab power ratings, ohmage and their associated compatibility and have read a great deal on the subject, but haven't been able to figure out the answer to my specific questions. I have a 350W RMS (700W peak) Trace Elliot AH350SMX head, with the 350W rated at 4 ohms (it's minimum impedance). Currently I run it through a David Eden D210T, which has an impedance of 4 ohms and is rated at 250W RMS. So far, I've never had to put the amp particularly loud, since I've always played small venues and the rig has almost exclusively been for on-stage sound only, so the sound has been fine. However, it looks as though I could be playing some bigger venues in the future, with a requirement for more onstage sound and so I have three questions. 1) Am I likely to kill my Eden cab if I have to push the output up on my head, to achieve louder volumes? Obviously there will come a point where it is driving the cab with more than 250W RMS and will definitely peak higher than that. 2) If I were to get a replacement cab (say a 4x10) what is a sensible power rating to go for? 3) Most decent cabs that I see available (Mark Bass and Eden for example) seem to be rated at 800W. I've read that pushing a lower rated amp to it's limits when driving a much higher rated cab can cause damage to head and/or cab. Is this true? And if so, would this likely be a problem for me were I to keep my head and get a cab rated 800W at 4 ohms? I know there are so many threads/queries regarding power ratings, so apologies in advance, but despite much searching I can't find any conclusive solution to my problem. Many thanks in advance.

The Gallery in London charge £70 - I got my old Bass Collection done there a couple of years ago and Martin did an amazing job (as usual). I'm not sure how that compares to other places though.

[quote name='Jobiebass' post='197925' date='May 13 2008, 01:08 PM']Id prefer flats cause I love the feel of them, apart from Rotoflats. My Jazz initially came with some awesome flats, mint green ends with a gold ball, other side didnt have a colour. If I knew what they were id get some of those for my P.[/quote] I found Rotosound flats to be pretty shoddy too - I may have just got a set from a bad batch, but they sounded crap and felt really horrible to play. Put me off Rotosound for life!

I'd recommend some La Bella Deep Talkin' flats, though I also found Elites flatwounds to be pretty decent.