Maude

Welcome to Basschat . I don't know if you're just starting out on bass or if you're just new to the slap style but either way I'd go with your 'heart and groin', as long as it's a good bass and in your price range, rather than your head. Sure your head might tell you the sensible thing but if you don't love it, especially when new to it, you won't want to play it. You shouldn't be able to walk past it without feeling the need to pick it up and play it.

I bought one of those really cheap ebay jobbies, they seem to be labelled 'Swift' now I think, mine was an earlier one ('Atrics' I think) but is identical. £60 brand new for electro acoustic or £50 for acoustic so I thought why not? With a bit of fettling, lowered action, adjust trussrod, better strings it's actually really quite good. I only wanted it for bumming around at home with but have done a few acoustic jam nights with it and it's fine, sure there's gonna be better ones but it's basically a Saturday mornings overtime and it's all paid for. I put Chrome flats on it two years ago and the neck's been fine with the tension so build quality wise they're ok too.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1374948876' post='2155176'] Wear silk gloves. I never have that problem of sticky sweaty necks now. And the massive bonus is the gloves make you look like a right slag and people notice the bass and ask you questions after [/quote] I hope they're the type that go up past your elbow ........................... erm .... sexy?

Electric bass for 'Cloud City Rebels', rock covers pub and function band, And double bass for 'Triptych', acoustic fivepiece alternative covers band.

Yep, I've always found just taking the gloss off the lacquer helps a lot, still leaves the lacquer to protect the neck but it's the glossiness that makes it sticky. A nice fine scotchbrite will do it. Over time your hands will polish it back up slightly but a quick rub will sort it again, easily reversible if not happy as long as you don't go too mad with the Scotchbrite.

Yamaha RBX 374, I think they're great basses for not a lot of cash. Nice modern sound for slap from the pair of 'Stingrayesque' pickups and will do everything from old motown thump to bright, grindy modern tones.

Please don't take this as trolling because it really isn't but I just can't get my head round Stanley Clarke. I'm pretty open minded about all types of music and like to think I take influences from all genres, I bought the 'brown album' about 15 years ago and it really bored me. On the strength of this thread I've just tried it again hoping I may have 'matured' into the sound but nope. Granted he is fantastic at what he does but what he does just doesn't do it for me, I'd like to like him but I can't. I'd like to be able to learn and take something from his playing to add to my influences but I just can't listen to him. Just goes to show what a force of nature music can be to stir such different emotions in different people. My loss really. Enjoy SC for me.

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1373390304' post='2137050'] Hi, Myke Never made a bass uke but I doubt that you want to be thinner than 1.5mm... Most Ukes seem to be between 1.6mm and 2.5mm so I am sure a bass would be no thinner (and probably the upper end of that range). An acoustic guitar comes out at around 2.4mm and (I gather from the attached link) that a bass uke is similar or same scale length as a 3/4 size classical. I'm sure you can get some 2mm ply from the internet but why not go for the real thing - mahogany? It usually comes thicker so you have to plane / sand / scrape it down, or the attached idea is no bad approach - start with a second hand 3/4 classical: [url="http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Bass-Uke/"]http://www.instructa...d/DIY-Bass-Uke/[/url] 3/4 classical guitars are usually bought for younger musicians who either abandon or grow out of them - very cheap good ones can often be seen on ebay or gumtree. The advantage is that the wood will already be the correct thickness, there or thereabouts Andy [/quote] Wow! Thanks for that link on converting a classical, that's my new project. Should be really cheap depending the price of the strings It'll be perfect to take places so I can keep up with practices.

Wow, really nice looking bass for a bargain price, well done. You like the sound it makes and it puts a smile on your face, job done, enjoy .

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' timestamp='1374267449' post='2147139'] [url="http://www.musiker-board.de/attachments/f3-musik-instrumente-know-how//f76-bass-forum//f11-e-baesse-bass//21087d1140822464-yamaha-attitude-special-attitude.jpg"]http://www.musiker-b...al-attitude.jpg[/url] Like that? [/quote] That's the puppy! I never knew if it was a budget Attitude or not, as far as I recall it didn't have Attitude on it anywhere, just the big Yamaha decal on the headstock like in your picture. The player had attitude though . I quite like it back in a silly sentimental way .

It may seem a strange question but bear with me. My first bass was a horendous SG copy, the body was so thin I thought it would snap, action you could comfortably have a picnic under and strings I'm sure were nicked from a farmers fence, BUT, I was hooked. I knew nothing about setting up basses or strings so I just assumed it was sh*t, it probably was but curiosity now makes me wonder if it may have been alright with a bit of fettling. Anyway I digress, with my new found love of bass I saved my pennies and went to the closest shop in Plymouth, which I'm sure was Mansons at the time, to have a browse and a mint green sort of P bass copy caught my eye. I was informed it was a Billy Sheehan signature bass, Billy who I thought, anyway it was ,I think, £200 and after playing (read 'looking' as I couldn't play) with it for a bit I got it for £175 (in 1996). Happy days. I learnt on that bass and started gigging with and it was brilliant, but one day I fancied a 5 string and couldn't afford another bass so PX'd it back to the shop for a brand new Yamaha BBG5S, which was also fab. Now my dilema, all the Billy Sheehan basses I see are far more expensive than the one I had, and I've never seen another like mine. It was that mint green with a maple neck, the neck had the typical offset Sheehan black fret markers (not carved into the board like most), white pickguard with black P pickups and a huge white slab neck pickup, chrome hardware and only a single jack socket on the side of the body, not the twin one on the front of the body. Does anyone have one of these or know of any? No real reason for this, just curious as to what type of Sheehan bass I had without really knowing it, now I know I reckon it was a pretty cool bass to learn on and start gigging with.

I picked up an Aria STB P bass for £40, with 1/4 pounders and Chromes it's awesome, tort pickguard and a bridge cover and it looks awesome, my opinion? This bass is awesome . I want a matching J to go with it. They play really well for the price,I'd say they play really if they were four times the price.

Also, not a tribute as such but the name made me chortle, while in a pub in Woolacoombe there was an ad for a mariachi band called 'Juan Direction'

'Pearl Glam' I want to start a band doing Pearl Jams songs in a glam rock style . As Haircut 100 have been mentioned, our drummer was asked by Nick Hayward to be H100s drummer when they were on the up, he turned it down as, in his own words, "they were sh*t"

I have a Yamaha BBG5S which I've had from new but hasn't been played seriously for about three or four years now. After buying a new doublebass I'm going to have to sell a few basses and this will be one of them. I know you said you didn't want a Yam, I'm just putting it out there .

I've just noticed Johnny Dissident is next on the list before me.

Message sent. Nice timing indeed .

Thanks Daf. I haven't tried fitting them with black silks yet though . Looking foward to trying these, I've a feeling they could be 'the one'.

[quote name='ChrisF' timestamp='1373813135' post='2141845'] I got a block of wood and shaved off some slivers, and used that as a shim. Wouldn't rubber deaden the sound ?? ....or am I missing something ??? [/quote] Yes I suppose it should really, I might try wood then. The 'done thing' on the Palatino/Harley Benton EUB is to put a shim of rubber under the peizo to get rid of the harshness so I just used some I had kicking around, it gave a nice gutty thump with the Rockabilly strings and Jtone so I was happy. I'll give wood a go just to see, it's good to experiment .

Just to prove you need a DB, we did an acoustic jam night last night, a couple of guitarist/singers went on first, then our band, I got a cheer from the crowd when I carried my DB in and we went down a storm, the venue booked us today for a proper gig. Moral of the story, folks love a doublebass . Enjoy the Stagg, I had to choose between a Stagg or Harley Benton and only went with the HB as it has a taller bridge and chambered body so I assumed I could get a more DBlike sound from it but in reality I don't think there's much to choose between them, just down to personal preference in the end, both great instruments for the money.

Pete I have the same J Tone pickups and the treble side is tighter than the bass with no noticeable difference in volume between E&A and D&G. I think the J Tone has a double peizo, back to back, in each pickup (but I could be wrong) so it shouldn't make any difference which side the cardboard is, try rubber like a piece of bicycle inner tube as a shim, I found it to give a better sound on other peizos I've fiddled with. I'm going to get a lapel mike to try, I like the sound of it and our mandolin player has been having problems with nasty peizo clatter too so it could be the answer to his problems as well.

I have Chromes on my P bass and love them, but on the strength of some opinions in this thread I have just ordered a medium set of Laklands to try on my Yamaha Bex 4. If they don't suit I'll put them on my fretless P

Can I be next in line when they become available please, thanks . Oh, and I like the sound of black silks on black strings

Thanks Daf, I prefer a darker thumpier sound sound than a bright jazzy one, excuse my definitions, so I'll try the Honeys when they're available and will put my name down for a try of the Ultrablacks in due course. I've had another proper look at my bridge and although the feet look to be in good contact the bass side will twist relatively easily compared to the treble side which won't budge without considerable pressure (which I didn't want to try), adjustable bridge by the way, so I assume it must be pivoting slightly on a high spot in the centre, a bit more fettling tomorrow as we have an small acoustic gig on Monday. I'm happy with higher tension as I've always prefer a higher tension string on EB, the whackers only went on the EUB as the strings it came with weren't my thing and the the whackers are cheap to try, but they sounded really really good with the rigidity of an EUB, made it more DBlike. The band want me to bow on a couple of tracks but it'll be a while yet, just long, low notes which isn't too bad, anything higher up the fingerboard and it sounds like whales mating . I'll look foward to trying the Honeys, it's fantastic being able to try strings first with the price they are.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1373709302' post='2140768'] NOFX are the (IMO) definitive modern punk band, despite going since the early 80s. They just do exactly what they want, when they want. [/quote] And they don't sell butter! This whole punk debate isn't very punk isn't it, trying to categorize everything and put it in it's place with nice tidy label. I love most of the bands mentioned already, old and new, and don't care what it's called, but it will all be put under the 'punk' tag by most and I don't care. I love Gallows first album and wether someone considers it punk or not won't change my opinion of Gallows, just of the pedantic twat trying, and failing, to make everyone agree with him.