Maude

[quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1379281551' post='2210909'] what a venue to play a gig at, should be a good one. [/quote] Really looking forward to it but it's going to be a long one, we have to do two 1hr sets with the acoustic band (doublebass) and then two 1hr sets with the electric band (electric bass) but that just means double money for me

I've just found out that I can 'feel' a timing but cannot 'count' a timing. We've had to learn the unplugged version of 'I kissed a girl' by Katy Perry (yeah I know) for a gig and the intro is basically 'Take 5' by The Dave Brubeck Quartet. To me it seems perfectly natural to play but the two guitars are having trouble with the timing (5/4) and are asking me to count as I do the intro so they can come in and stay in time. I can't seem to count and play to this but I can't see what their problem is. In the electric band we have the same problem with 'Sex on Fire', the guitarist (same one in the acoustic band) can play it fine but when the drums and bass comes in he completely losses the timing, again I know exactly what he should be doing and when but can't count it to him. He's a really good guitarist normally, just gets thrown by strange timings. I don't know if it's good or bad that I know timings but somehow can't explain or 'count' them .

Oh and I've also got to learn this week for a big gig at The Eden Project, 'Dancing in the Dark' and 'Make me smile (come up and see me)' at the request of the CEO of BT Cornwall ............... hmmm, still BT are paying big bucks so I don't mind

I just been learning 'Stuck' by 'Caro Emerald', 'Here comes the rain again' by 'The Eurythmics', 'If it wasn't for love' by 'The Steeldrivers' and funily enough 'I kissed a girl' but the unplugged version with Dave Brubeck intro for our acoustic band (doublebass). Were doing the Steeldrivers one with a rockabilly feel which is always fun

Cool, I'll stick with a bit of ply then, if I cut it right and sand the edges it will fit in the large back pocket on my case, you could fit a bloody crash cymbol in there! Re: strings ubassman, I'm looking forward to them, hopefully I can try them out at this gig.

Evenin' all, We have just had a very last minute booking for an engagement party this coming Friday, it will be held in a marquee at the hosts property and we will be playing at ground level with no stage or wooden platform. Apparently the marquee went up yesterday so the ground will be dry but it will still be soft. I haven't done a gig like this with DB yet and wondered what do you folks do about your endpin sinking in the ground? I was just going to get a square foot of 18mm ply (because we have lots spare at work) and route a little pocket in the middle to locate the endpin in, or is there a special piece of equipment just for this? I've seen the things on ebay that look like 'fancy ashtrays' but they look a bit poncey for my liking. What's your thoughts folks?

1952 , I would never have thought the EUB had been around that long. Is this brand the earliest or are there older ones about? Sorry to barge in with questions , I like the look of it though .

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1379175285' post='2209518'] Played the Fender Pawn Shop version today. I liked it a lot, but I don't know what I'd "do" with one musically. £600 for a Fender one is probably out of the question, but a second hand squier might sway me... [/quote] That's how I feel, I so want one but I don't know if I'd use it in a band situation. Hopefully a lot of people will do the same and buy a Squier one because they're so cheap and then not use it, I'll buy it second hand for peanuts ................... if I can resist buying a new one .............................. oh who am I kidding? I'll have an Olympic white one please!

Ok Daf I'll hang on to them for a bit and see who wants them. Roll up roll up, get your free trial of the wonderful Innovation Honeys here!! I liked these but still prefered my Rockabillys. The honeys, to me, sound more refined than the RABs with more sustain but that just caused me problems with a touch of feedback, nothing major but it was there. The slap sound was more harsh than the RABs although I prefered the slightly higher tension, I get carried away when not meant to be slapping, giving a slap of the strings against the fingerboard between notes and the Cajonist (is that even a word?) gives me 'the look', I can still do this with the Honeys to give a certain feel to the timing but it doesn't give a loud clack as easy, I haven't described that well but maybe you know what I mean . For me it's still the RABs but that's probably because the music we play calls for a nice dark, gutty sound and I don't need a refined sound so although there is good and bad about both sets, the RABs just clinched it. Ultras next, they could be 'the one' .

Hi Daf, I PM'd ubassman over a month ago as I was worried they'd got lost in the post, "apologies and I'll post them A.S.A.P." was the reply but still nothing . This free string trial is a fantastic idea given the price of strings and the variation in sound between strings and basses, it would be a crying shame to see it end because some folks can't be bothered to send them on when they're done with them.

This is one of the reasons I always play naked.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1378658534' post='2202875'] Strangely enough, nothing at present. I must be ill. [/quote] I was in that place and was quite content until I saw the new(ish) Squier VM Bass VI, I'll take one in Olympic white please. Absolute bargain if there as good as they look.

We rent the basement in an old office building in a nearby town, it costs £80 a month but the two bands I'm in and the drummers other band all share it so that's split three ways. It's great because we can leave all the amps, PA, drums etc set up, just bring your instrument and plug in, and obviously we can rehearse as often as we like.

I'd only just bought a new double bass, which cost twice as much as the one I showed her when she asked 'what does it look like', well it does look like that just a bit dearer. Anyway I got away with the DB purchase by saying I'd sell a couple of electric basses to cover the cost, I still have them all though. A week later a Yammy Bex 4 came up on here for sale and I've been after one for a while but I knew I couldn't swing it after the DB, I thought I'll buy it and get it sent to work and then take it straight to the rehearsal room, where I'd leave it until it was safe to smuggle home. The only problem was I was paying with paypal and the email address linked to that comes up on her phone, she wouldn't log into paypal to check as I'm always buying bits and bobs so I thought I'll just say it's some strings if she asks. I send payment and her phone goes off, 'what've you bought now' she says, 'oh just some strings from someone on basschat' I reply, 'what, for £280!'. I didn't think the amount would come up without logging in, oops. I just said that they may still be attached to a bass. I told her it's ok because I'm going to sell a few others to cover the cost of the DB and Bex 4, I've still got all my basses.

I have found this a few times as well. If I use one finger to hold both strings it just sounds bad but if I use one finger and then another it leaves me in a strange position to move to the next note. On EB I'd just use one finger to press down both strings but should this be done on DB, or is it just if it works, yes, if it doesn't, no?

Thanks. I added that and the detail around the scroll, I've always liked black basses with cream binding. It emphasises the curves to help it look a bit more DB-esque.

I'm glad there's nobody next in line as I was hoping to keep the Honeys on until the Ultras turned up (which should've been weeks ago) to save swapping back to my Rockabillys inbetween. I assume I just send them back to you Daf when I'm done if no one steps up?

Could be a wait for these, I haven't received them yet

Here's another one of me with the Harley Benton, I really like the light in this one, just a shame about the cheesy smile [attachment=142882:Photo1.jpg]

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' timestamp='1378061633' post='2195367'] I won't. EUB all the way. Why? [/quote] One main reason why ............ the spectacle of it . I went through all that before I bought a DB, trying to find a real reason why I needed one over the EUB, there weren't many. But it's the best thing I've ever bought, though sadly the EUB hasn't been played since I got the DB. Also no reason you can't jam along using a gadget, I practice our set with the bass and my phone plugged into my Line 6 pedal board, and while it's plugged in I am tempted into using effects . But yes, the feedback thing is a big disadvantage.

I went for the HB because I felt it would be more like a real DB to get to grips with as it's inevitable that the real deal will follow. The HB has a tighter radius to the fingerboard (I think from research, I haven't played a Stagg), a taller DB style bridge with adjustable feet and a longer afterlength of string, all of which help to make it feel and play more like a DB than the Stagg. The neck is also angled out away from the body like a DB but not quite as far which if bowing seated will help it feel and play more like a DB, also the body is chambered which help give it a more 'woody' tone. It's also a little more DB shaped with it's flared bouts and scroll top. I didn't like the on board pre amp so I just bypassed it by soldering the two wires from the peizo straight to the output jack and it's loads better, lots more low down thump, I can just plug straight into my Ashdown mini-rig and it sounds really good but some amps will need you to use some sort of pre to sort the impedance problems of peizo pickups. All that said, the Stagg appears to be a mighty fine instrument and has lots of good points, I'd imagine you'll be happy with whichever one you go for. There was a side by side comparison of the two on youtube which was helpful when I bought mine. I'd also ignore a lot of the 'common problems' with both instruments as the Stagg doesn't seem to have any of the old 'issues' and my HB didn't need any of the 'online fixes' doing so it would appear QC has improved or something. I lowered the action at the nut on mine which seems to be the norm on any new instrument which hasn't had a proper set up, and I also bent the decorative scroll of wire on the tailpiece as two bits of wire are resting against each other but not fixed, this could be the ringing down there that alot of folks talk about, I did this before even playing it as it just made me feel better knowing they couldn't vibrate, it may not have been a problem. Anyway, enough waffling, go for whichever one you fancy, there's not a lot between them.

I don't have any gig pictures of the DB yet so a EUB pic will have to suffice ................... no hat either, very poor I realise [attachment=141809:photo_11.jpg]

Your best bet is to let me have it cheap and let me worry about selling it, save yourself all the agro

Update time! I sanded the brown finish off the front of the body back to the light plywood and sanded the fretboard down removing the black paint. No pictures of the body, sorry, as I went straight ahead and put a coat of dark wax on it. I sort of knew the wax wouldn't work as I left some of the sealer coat on the plywood but I thought I'd try it and see what happens, it can always come off with some white spirit. As I smeared it on it made a fake wood grain of sorts which from a distance looks koa-esque . A couple more coats may darken it up enough to get away with but we'll see. Some shiney new black tuners turned up and were fitted after reversing two of them to get a 2+2 headstock. Reversing P tuners is really easy, just undo the screw on the back, remove the screw, gear and plate underneath, take out the 'elephant ear' worm drive and flip over, then refit the plate, gear and screw. [attachment=141687:160820131092.jpg] [attachment=141688:160820131093.jpg] [attachment=141689:160820131095.jpg] As I can't use the ferrules to take the strain off the tuning posts I fitted the lower two with the post resting against the lower edge of the headstock slots and the top two are fitted so that a piece of dowel can be slotted through the original tuner holes to take the strain off of them. I don't think it was needed as the strings are very low tension but better safe than sorry and it was an easy thing to do. [attachment=141690:160820131097.jpg] I've got some strap buttons on their way which I will screw through body into internal braces to take the strain of a strap, it's not heavy so should be fine. I think the neck strap button will have to go onto the back of the headstock to balance it, it will have massive neck dive in the conventional position. I have a new nut to go on once the fingerboard is done, I'm just trying to decide what to fit into the fret slots before refinishing the board in black. Laminate shims or just fill them with a sawdust/glue slurry. Shims will be neater as the edges of the slots are a bit untidy. The slots look worse in the flash of the camera but should be ok if shimmed and then stained black again. [attachment=141691:160820131098.jpg] That's it for a minute, as I said it won't be a thing of beauty but it should be functional and quirky . As time allows I'll do some more and update. Oh yeah, nearly forgot, I've just ordered some black Pahoehoes from Road Toad Music in a longer scale to fit the slightly larger than Ubass neck/body. These are what are fitted as standard to the Kala Ubasses. See you all next time on 'Lets bodge a Bass up!'

Ok where shall I start? Firstly how competent are with manual tasks? Don't take that the wrong way but if you're not a hands on type then it might be best to take it to someone. Secondly, if the white is flaking then it hasn't been prepped properly and will all need to come off or you'll be fighting a losing battle. Thirdly a proper candy paint is not something you can really do yourself with rattle cans, it consists of a metallic base coat (usually silver or gold) with a tinted lacquer built up over the top to give you your final colour, the amazing depth of colour is achieved by building up layers of lacquer. As the translucent colour is in the lacquer it needs to be be applied in very even coats or it will look patchy, something which aerosols don't do well. Also because aerosols harden by the solvent evaporating as opposed to adding a chemical catalyst you run the risk of the finish never hardening properly, the many layers of a candy will just harden on the outside and not let the solvent underneath evaporate. You could choose very metallic or pearlescent paint which could be applied by aerosol easily with a couple of coats of lacquer which would work fine, there are some quite crazy colours out there that are standard 'clear over base'. Painting it shouldn't affect the sound really as it's already painted, you'll be removing the old paint and replacing it with fresh.