Maude

In the City - The Jam

I'm not vying to take anyone's crown for slowest build because that's far too much like hard work, and it wasn't a build anyway, just a make over, but I started my Longhorn in 2016 and only got round to finishing it in the first lockdown last year. But it is finished. My contender would have to be my flip top combo I'm 'building'. I had an old dynacord valve amp kicking around with all the front missing and some old early 70s celestian 15" drivers. The plan is to rehouse it all in a flip top combo style. So far I have taken all of the internals out of the amp at the end of 2019 and put them in a cupboard, now I'm not a hundred percent sure how it all goes but fear not because the amp apparently runs a very high voltage to get 80watts out of the two valves which would normally give 50watts, or something like that, so it shouldn't hurt too much when it tries to bite me. I haven't got time for the amp though because I've got a precision/jazz/ray I started last summer (shelved temporarily) and a Hofner I'm doing now. 😂😂😂

A dependable ar$e? 🤔 😉 😁

Born to be alive - Patrick Hernandez

A fine upstanding pillar of the band. A stable constant that can always be depended on to provide the effective solution to any problem without having a complete meltdown. Happy in the knowledge that while not always as obvious as his bandmates, his presence is what keeps the band functioning. The singer is the face, the guitarist the arms and the drummer the belly, but the bassist is the internal organs, without which the band would die. Oh OK, keyboard players are the derrière. 😁

I'll be pop back in seven years and see how it's going. 😁

@TJ1, how old are you and what kind of music are you into? This isn't meant as some stereotyping, condescending rant in any way, so apologies if it might seem like that. While I put my old man 'what on earth are the youth listening to' hat on I'll say that I think, in pop music, the bass guitar has kind of lost its way. Of course there will be exceptions and this is purely my opinion, and very generalised. But, in pop music bass really started to make its mark in the 60s. With Motown and Stax, The Who, Spencer Davis Group, The Animals, some group called The Beatles all had fantastically prominent basslines, some of which were the foundation of the song. There was also the first wave of Ska and Bluebeat which was very bass centric. The 70's continued this but added in disco and funk, and the end of the 70s beginning of the 80s saw the Mod and Ska revival with bands like The Specials, The Jam, The Clash etc absolutely killing it on the bass front. The Clash bridged Ska and Punk, as did a few other, again with great bass, and a few of the bands lumped in with punk really knew the power of bass like The Stranglers The late 70s into early 80s also saw the rise of post punk bands like Joy Division, Gang Of Four Devo, Talking Heads, Killing Joke, etc, again showcasing songs with massively prominent basslines that the songs just wouldn't work without. The eighties rumbled on with the emergence of goth with bands like Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, The Cure, guess what massive domineering basslines. 90s grunge, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and others, bass you get the picture. They started in the 80s but came into their own in the 90s really, Red Hot Chili Peppers. The 90s also saw Rage Against The Machine, massive basslines again. It goes on and on. But slowly over the last twenty years bass seems to have lost its way in pop music. There are exceptions but maybe a twenty year old today would question the role of bass based on the popular music they've grown up with. Disclaimer, I've missed out loads but hopefully you get the jist.

I'm feeling mischievous this evening. 🙄 😁

And mine, so we'd better hear it. 🙂 Also, showing my love of a good pop song.

Ouch!

Not sure. I've bought individual strings to make up my own sets but they were rounds. I just assumed they did the same with flats, maybe not then. Sorry.

Fatty Fatty - Clancy Eccles

As you've mentioned the Quarter Pounders, maybe the Entwistle Neo pickups might suit, and not break the bank trying. I've always said the PBXN is very similar to a 1/4 pound P but even more modern sounding. Still definitely P but not vintage P. I also have the JBXN's in a jazz and really like them for same reason, powerful and foucussed. Don't let the low price sway you, they are very good pickups, just not traditional vintage sounding.

Front the other current string ID thread, Dunlop have black silks at both ends, LaBella only have them at the nut end.

Just to add, LaBella sell individual strings on their website. 🙂

Labella flats have black silks. I'm not sure if they all do but their set for Hofners do. Beware though, I needed a replacement D string as it snapped fitting it (LaBella replaced FOC) but it had a grey silk, so they might've changed them all now. A black sharpie soon matched it too the others though.

Sounds like a plan. 🙂👍

Personally, if I was going to do anything with that I'd use nail varnish, well I wouldn't I'd use paint but I have access to a mixing scheme, but the point is a clear coat of any kind will seal it but not hide it, nail varnish will do both. It's completely your call as only you know your abilities. If you use nail varnish and it looks bad then it's easily removed with, guess what? Nail varnish remover. 🙂 I can't see it getting any worse if just left as it is though, it's your call. Just to add, nail varnish remover (weak acetone normally) is fine on a poly finish but I wouldn't go near nitro with it. I'm assuming that's a poly finish.

Yes clear nail varnish or superglue will seal it in and hold it all together. Any cracks will still be visable but they lose their white edges a bit, if that's how it looks now. Get a picture up but I'd guess you're over worrying about it. 🙂👍

A chip out of the finish won't normally grow by itself as such, but it'll never get better either. If catch the edges on clothing it's feasible you could flake off another little piece so there's absolutely no harm in touching it in to seal the edges again. Nail varnish is indeed great for this, easy to use, vast range of colours and not a double application of a coloured basecoat and a clear lacquer as a lot of paints would be. Superglue can certainly be used as a clear lacquer if the colour is intact, you can easily flat and polish superglue to get an 'invisible' repair as well. I wouldn't use an accelerant with the superglue though as it can cause tiny bubbles in the glue and turn it milky. Quite often nail varnish is a little soft to flat and polish, unless left for a really long time. Unless you're really picky there's no real need to flat and polish anyway, as long as you apply it nicely. Hope that helps. 🙂

Firepit GAS, or should that be a gas firepit? 🤔 😄

Police and Thieves - Junior Murvin (Robin')

Falling to Pieces - Faith No More

I've never really had any bad luck with couriers, a couple of times things have happened but we all make mistakes / have accidents sometimes. Being down in Cornwall everywhere is a long way so I use couriers a lot. I've recently bought a bass on ebay and arranged for a courier to collect it. North Yorkshire to Cornwall £12.50 including insurance as an instrument. This was DPD booked through Eurosender using the forum discount, 2 days door to door. I once received a bass wrapped in a single black bin liner, no damage amazingly, someone must have been extra careful with that one. Worst I've had was a Squier Bass vi from GAK, bent control knob, could've happened at any point in the supply chain, quickly returned and the next one was delivered in perfect shape, and a doublebass from Gedo which arrived from Germany with the fingerboard popped off, possibly courier handling, possibly manufacturing error as it was only where the glue let go.

Arabian Nights - Siouxsie and the Banshees