uk_lefty

Hi Kate Firstly, hope your recovery goes well. My mum fell and fractured her arm really badly and had wore work fitted. The recovery didn't go well but she had a second op and has recovered a lot of movement and strength that she thought she'd lost forever. So hang in there, it might take time but don't give up! To answer your questions... I think us lefties are more adaptable to going to RH. I am only truly left handed for writing and playing musical instruments, but if you asked me to play cricket left handed I'd do better than most RH people going lefty, but us lefties grow up in a right handed world. I think it's doable but would potentially be very slow of you're not naturally already quite ambidextrous. Secondly, look on ebay for the Hofner and similar copies. Almost zero weight and a nice short scale too. Also, lovely lovely Beatles tones!

Agreed. One of my guitarists often boasts about his fourteen guitars. Problem is most of them are cheap rubbish. He should sell off 12 of them and make sure he has two or three good quality and reliable instruments for the bands he's in. And reliable amps and pedals. IMO of course.

Either accept the quirks and limitations of one bass, go with it and make it yours, your core sound, and really bond. Or have a fluid attitude to it, buy and sell within the limits of space or budget and play within that trying new stuff out just to scratch the itch.

Here's a bass I can never sell.... My 1984 Aria Pro II SB Elite 1, bought it as a wreck, did it up, enjoyed it but then had second thoughts. Sold it on Reverb, DPD lost it in their system. Buyer got a refund after three weeks. A week later the bass arrived with him. He re packaged it and dropped it at a depot to ship back to me. I got it back with the knobs missing and electronics not working. I got a Kiogon loom in it and new knobs. It plays like a beast, the wiring really brings the best out of the pickup. Great. I want a new expensive bass so this has to go. Its been for sale on loads of sites just waiting for an 80s mad Aria loving left handed bassist. This, thus far, is the bass I can never sell.

One step ahead. He'd already provided the pots, we've had a discussion on it and best way is to adjust the body somehow.

Well this is frustrating isn't it?! The screw holes for the bridge were not thick enough, no screw holes for the strap buttons and I needed to drill a new pair of holes for the strap buttons, as well as new screw holes required for the tuners... So I've got the drill out! First things first, held the screw up against the drill bits to make sure I've got the right width then set about widening the bridge mounting screw holes, fitted the bridge. Strap button screws are the same width so they're drilled and the strap buttons are on. I'm feeling good about this. 1/4 inch hole required for my series/ parallel switch so I look up the measurement in mm, attach a correct wood drill bit and drill it out. Frustration strikes. Existing pot and jack holes are not drilled wide enough, so out comes the file. Then disaster number two... This bass has no pickguard. Therefore the pots need to come through a piece of wood, not a few mm of pickguard. I think I need to remove some material from inside the control cavity so that the pots, switch and jack can all protrude enough to then be screwed on securely. I have no clue how to do this!!!! Aaaaaaaaargh!

Know what you mean! Almost everything seems to be out of stock and I've got the proceeds of a bass sale burning a hole in my pocket.

Sad to say it but RHCP again. 2012 in Knebworth, awful. No energy, no excitement and no vocal from FOH. Josh Klongerhoffer just didn't belong in that band either. Flea tried his best to generate some excitement but it just came across a bit sad. I thought maybe Anthony was ill but the mp3 of the gig had good quality vocal, shame the sound crew didn't want those who'd paid to be there to hear it. I should add the t shirt I spent 35 quid on was not worth 35p. Logo printed off centre, far too small and shrank more in the wash, logo deteriorated within weeks. Ripped off.

Yes. Live at the Roundhouse, his last ever gig.

Thanks, that's far better than the info I got from a different retailer!

If he will do me a left handed hollow or semi hollow for less than £800 I'll pay my money down right now.

Please. Make this happen.

Me too, almost! I started another thread this morning specifically on this issue. (long story shortened the retailer I spoke to basically said Gibson/ Epiphone deliveries are pot luck what gets sent and when they'd arrive). Trying to find another semi hollow solution now...

Yes absolutely agree there, hence why I didn't name the retailer. It was just the way they talked about Gibson/ Epiphone was that it seemed to be a general lucky dip, open the delivery (it's a surprise what day or month it arrives) to see what we've got an try to sell it, rather than place an order for stock you want to sell. I am sure that the Fender estimated dates will slip out too, but at least there's a target.

I'm hankering for a new bass and haven't fully decided yet. Some of the Fender models I want need to be pre ordered and the wait if I order now is to early June. Its a long wait but at least there's a date on it. If I can't raise the cash for a US Fender I may go Epi Jack Cassidy. And apparently I can pay a deposit now to be "first in the queue" BUT, this is what I don't understand, Gibson / Epiphone might deliver at some point in future, might not and nobody knows what will be in the crate. Knowing their poor record on lefties this doesn't fill me with confidence that I will actually ever get the bass, nevermind when. Has anyone got "better" info on this from a retailer perspective? Is it really a lucky dip with Gibson/ Epi deliveries for what they will send you and when?

It's like an ESP stream without the contouring on the body. I like it.

Jealousy.

Never the bass line but I've had an audience go off drunkenly singing my backing vocal part all round a hotel for an hour after the gig finished. It was the woooooaaah-wo-woooh-oh-oh but at the end of You Give Love a Bad Name. That was fun. Singer claimed he never heard it.

I'm finding all of this discussion interesting and I'm learning a lot. But for me simplicity is key: If my band is running a vocal only PA in a pub my amp does all the work If my band is running a huge PA for a function or playing outdoors where we run the PA I trust the guitarist who is also our soundman to do whatever he wants or needs to get a decent bass sound. Usually he DI's from the back of my amp and good quality bass tone comes out the PA. I've heard recordings, he's very good, it used to be his full time job in the past so he is 100% trusted. If I'm at a festival where you've got to rush on, plug in and play your allocated time, I just make sure I can hear myself in the monitor. Now I have a Helix I might ask to DI out of that so I know what's coming out, but even then the Sound-person can and will do what he or she wishes with that signal, life's too short to worry about it.

Love it!!

Likewise! Off the original topic but I find a lot of the free to download patches really hit and miss. I found a site called Dr Tone and downloaded a handful but the best ones are really just starting points to adapt from and the others were rubbish. I've not got my head around paying for patches yet...

I've tried the cheap route to synth sounds... Boss SYB something. Awful. No use-able sounds, bad tracking, sold it pdq. Digitech Autosynthwah thing, similar experience to the boss. EHX Bass Mono Synth, had some good sounds but tracking was way off, you needed the cleanest string pluck and to let each note ring, if you needed to play any kind of fast passage you were doomed, missing some of your notes or tracking way behind. The best synth like sounds I have had I made myself on a Boss GT10B by combining fuzz, octave, chorus. I've now got a Helix Stomp and at some point will need to try to create my own synth patches, or hope that someone has posted good use able ones out there for free. In short, the cheap options aren't worth it.

I like the approach here! I would like to have a "here's my tone, this is what I play, this is ME" but I tend to just do this: ramp up the mids if I'm playing fretless (currently with flats) or a song like Crazy Little Thing Called Love, otherwise I go a little mid scooped and like a bit of string clank and some grit in the sound. Then the sound man makes me sound like "whatever it's just bass, you done yet I've got a flipin hour mic'ing these cymbals?"

Any idea who is selling these in lefty? I can't find it online

Relies on the American pronunciation of "mirror" being "meeyurh" which they all do, weirdly.