Maude

I did something silly a couple of weeks ago which resulted in me owning this gorgeous bass. I've always said the only Rickenbacker I'd ever own is a 4005 due to me not really gelling with any 'normal' Rick basses I've tried, but the 4005 being one of the best looking basses ever made, IMO. The price of 4005's being what they are meant I'd never be owning one anyway so it was kind of a running joke with our guitarist who owns eight Ricks. This bass popped up on my fb feed on one of the selling pages, one of those random posts that pop up from pages you don't really follow, I thought 'ooh that's nice', but it was in Chester and I was in Cornwall. Gigging commitments meant I couldn't go and look at it and I couldn't expect someone to post it really, could I? Anyway who knew what it would be like being a custom build and it was more than I wanted to spend, plus I was didn't need any new gear being happy with my own. Roll on 24hrs and I'd agreed to buy it 🤣 It's a faithful tribute to the 4005 (ok ok a copy) built by the luthier ***** *****(the names have been changed to protect the innocent😗), whom I've never heard of, body I assume is maple but would like any thoughts from the experts on here, it's got some nice grain and quilting, block binding, maple and walnut laminated neck, partial genuine hardware, not sure about tailpiece but it looks the part and the pickups are custom wound House of Tone toasters to give a Macca neck, Geddy bridge mix. The previous owner (don't know if they're on here) sent it by Parcelforce to arrive before midday next day, after a tense three days it arrived at work (Christmas backlog) and I'll admit I was a little nervous unpacking it, firstly was it in one piece, secondly what was the build quality like? It was in a Gigblade semi hard case which is actually a very nice case and when opened I had a wave of relief wash over me, it was beautiful. The quality of ***** *****'s work is awesome, the woodwork is great and the fit of everything is excellent, my only slight bug is the lacquer finish but it's not as bad as I thought from the sellers pictures. Most people wouldn't see anything wrong but I'm a fussy tw@t when it comes to paint. Too be honest it's not really bad enough too bother refinishing but time will tell if it bugs me enough. Anyway pictures, you must be bored of my ramblings. A couple close ups to try and show the quilting, as always it looks better in the flesh but you can see a bit of it. In real life some of it almost looks like velvet, it has a real depth to it. The neck is really well made, maple and walnut, bound and crushed pearl inlays. Lovely signature Rickenbacker carving around the bout. As you can probably tell I'm over the moon with the looks, but, and it's a big but, I don't like how it plays. Given that I don't gel with Ricks it's no surprise but my thought when I bought it was with it being a copy I won't feel guilty fiddling with it. Some of you may have noticed the thumbrest, it's a very crudely chunk of wood I've doublesided taped on to just try out. Because of the style of bridge the strings are very long way from the body, nice low action on the neck but string to body is huge and using pickups as thumbrests isn't working for me. Using the bridge PU as an anchor is just too close the bridge and using the neck PU just feels too sloppy for my style of playing. It has to be right or I won't end up using it. I'll make a nice wooden rest and tape it on so that it can be removed if sold. I'm making a new nut as the string spacing is wider than I like and the strings are very close to the edge of the neck, a few times I've slipped the G string off the neck while playing. Now for the sound, it's very nice but the PU's are quite low output, it doesn't seem to have a lot of punch but that's probably down to the placement, reading up a bit this seems to be the way the real ones sound. Either PU on its own sounds good but together I get that Jazz phase problem only worse and the volume drops. I might wire a series switch in and call on the electrical guru's of the forum for help. All in all I love it and once I iron out a couple of niggles, which are my fault not the basses, I'll be over the moon. It's certainly imposing, it's massive, and although I'd never claim to be the real thing with the mojo of the real thing, it's quite possibly better quality than the real thing and certainly doesn't look like your average Rickenbacker copy.

I use a clip on tuner on my doublebass (on the bridge) and it struggles on the E string if there's lots of noise, it reads B even though it's in tune. I'd tune it at the '12th fret' if I knew where it was. As said above, possibly a low signal, the lower the note the worse this problem is usually. If the bass is intonated correctly I'd just tune at the twelfth fret for the problem strings.

Just goes to show how closely related Celtic languages are. In my nearest town there is a huge Christmas decoration strung over the main street which reads 'Nadelik Lowen' which is Merry Christmas in Cornish. Merry Christmas everyone and I look forward to updates on these when the weather improves.

Is it acoustic though?

If you've got a vibraslap then all's good 👍

It's an illness, it sneaks up on you when you're not looking and causes you to make irrational decisions. It doesn't discriminate, it cares not of wealth, colour, sex, race or age. Be careful folks, it hides around every corner and pounces when your guard is down. I was totally happy with all my gear, even started working out what to sell in order to downsize to what I really need, and this time I really am going to sell stuff. Then in a 24 hour period I'd seen, pondered and spent the most I've ever spent on a bass, without even holding it. As I said be careful out there folks, beware of the classifieds, FB selling pages, instrument shops, even mates of mates who 'have this bass for sale', it's too late for me but if this cautionary tale helps just one person then it's been worth it. Stay wary! 😁

I can't see any family resemblance but I'd go along with it if she's certain.

Not quite 80's (91 I think) but I reckon Primal Scream's Movin' On Up would work well with an acoustic guitar and lots of youngsters singing.

Being the sort of person that sits and thinks about this sort of crap, I'd say yes, although so small it's negligible. The strings are constantly trying to pull the head and bridge together. If a bass is stood on something, stand, floor whatever, then the bottom is supported and gravity will help the head move towards the bridge under string tension. If the bass is hung then the head is supported and gravity (the weight of the body) will help resist the pull of the strings. Very basically, if stood gravity tries to compress your bass, if hung gravity tries to stretch your bass. String tension tries to compress your bass and anything to counteract this has to be good, no? In reality the forces are so small it's not worth worrying about, but that's the way I see it.

Fair enough. I don't really know what qualifies anyone as a legend. Yes she started as one of the multitude of SAW acts but the rest fizzled out pretty quickly. She's as, if not more, popular thirty years down the line, and not just relying on a back catalogue, as she was at the start of her career. Her music's not my cup of tea but that's not bad going in the fickle music industry. Wether that qualifies her as a legend? Well who's to say. She'll go down a storm in that slot at Glastonbury though and that's what matters I suppose.

To be fair they'd both get it!

I was going to say "westcountry"? Glastonbury's over two hours north from me. Eden is westcountry. (Tongue in cheek disclaimer for the argumentative types) I don't know why anyone gets upset over these Glastonbury bookings, it's a mainstream pop festival and Kylie is a mainstream pop star whose been churning out hits for three decades. I'd have thought that qualified her for 'Legend' status in the eyes of the average Glastonbury goer. I'd be fairly content to have had her longevity and success, as would many more on here I'd imagine. Never mind keep knocking her.

The 'aerosol overspray' around the pickup route ruins it, if it weren't ruined enough already.

I have an Ignition Club bass. The Ignition is the cheapest, then the Contemporary (which is also known as the HTC, I think) then the full fat real deal. (There may well be others). The Ignition is fully hollow with Chinese 'Vintage' pickups, cheaper versions of original ones. The Contemporary has a solid centre block and modern sounding pickups, hence the name. The real deal is out of my league. I went with the Ignition as it's closer to the original in sound and construction and is half the price of the Contemporary. For the money it's amazing. I put LaBella flats on it and it sounds perfect. Finish is good but not exceptional, but I am mega fussy about that sort of thing because of my job. Perfect size for picking up and noodling at home and being hollow doesn't need plugging in if you need to be quiet. Plugged in it sounds like it shouldn't be able to produce such a big sound.

The worrying thing is most of the bands mentioned are at least 30 years old.

Backing tracks containing sound effects that can't easily be replicated, helicopters, machine guns, church bells, that sort of thing, is absolutely fine. Any lip syncing or instruments on backing tracks I'm not happy with. If you can't play the song properly live then move over and make way for the boys and girls that can.

Yes, but not quite. Next best thing hopefully, luthier built replica. I won't derail this thread and will do a NBD when, and now looking like if, it turns up. Bloody couriers. I only said R related 😁

I've had several acoustic basses and as far as I can tell the bronze strings are 'for acoustics' because they're the loudest strings out there, but loudest in terms of the played notes and finger noise, fret clatter and every other unwanted noise. I'm happy to sacrifice volume for sound quality and have settled on Fender tapewounds (9120), nice slick feel, very little unwanted noise and sound great both plugged and unplugged. I really don't like the sound or feel of bronze strings.

I needed nothing music related this year as I am totally happy with all of my kit. Then in the space of 24hrs I'd seen, pondered and paid for a (hopefully) dream bass, it'll be here on Tuesday. I would do a NBD as it'll be an interesting one but as it's R related I'm not sure I'm allowed, and the model doesn't end in 0,1,2,3 or 4. Oops 😁

Oh no, that's a shock. He couldn't have been that old could he? Maybe noise annoys, but not the noise you made Mr. Shelley. Thank you.

Good on you Sir! Long may it continue 👍

As nice as that looks I just couldn't play an energetic gig after eating that. I don't like to eat closer than two hours before gig time, even then nothing heavy. I had to clean all sorts off my pedal board but my dinner isn't going to be one of them.

I just can't get used to the standard Fender style headstock on an acoustic bass/guitar. It wouldn't stop me playing one but it just looks odd.

Budget twins(ish). Aria STB Series Jazz and Precision. The necks on these are lovely. The J has Entwistle JBXN pickups, a series switch and rounds, the P has a Quarterpounder and Chromes. For a pair of forty quid basses plus some upgrades they are awesome.

I use the Boss TU3 one, seems good enough and it's free.