lownote

Trouble is I like me bare ends short so nothing sticks out and touches other wires. But then I've got too little to twist. Again... like we did last summer, dum de dum.. last year....

I can't remember where've we've got to but I'm quite old and haven't long enough left to read 22 pages of thread. So can I ask if you've done or checked the other things, like relief (truss rod) and string and pick up heights. Being a Sire these were likely OK 'out the box' but knowing about checking and adjusting these things can be handy and we're all happy to give you probably conflicting advice and then argue amongst ourselves.

As discussed above, really. The clue to the Electric Bass's core technology is in the name. So upgrading the electrons is a major factor in the sound it makes, more than messing around with hi-mass bridges and other minor bits and bobs. Puts Fodera quality in a cheap-as-chips bass whose makers are likely to build down to a price. Going to @KiOgon is worth at least 50 points for Gryfindor. But 5 points will be taken away because he doesn't always tell you that quality modern pots need a 3/8" hole. OK he did tell me but hasn't in the past, which assumes you have some means of enlarging your current holes. And another 5 points will be taken away because while his looms are solderless persuading the bridge earth wire to go in the same screw-down hole as one of the pickup wires can take a while and a lot of uncouth swearing unless you're lucky - one keeps jumping out. It would be handy if he supplied some sort of crimp-over adaptor to make two wires one. Or you can use a soldering iron, if you have one, to solder the two wires together before inserting them in his solderless gizmo.

Rhythm. Tick. Notes. Tick. Engaging pres skills too! Bah, hate talented people

I was just agitating for a wind up, ignore me . Although that's my view, privately. I think the bass makes a far better bass guitar than a melodic drum.

Anything which gets bass away from being the rhymthmic anchor of the band and exploits its real strengths gets my vote. Leave the dull thump to the upright guys.

There's a Vintage V940FL unlined up on ebay at the moment. 8lb, active PJ config. What's not to like? I expect that to go for around £140 too.

Go for it. Unlined is far less of a hoohah than you might think. Top teachers like Scott Devine and Steve Lawson will tell you to only buy lined. But my experience is that if you have half an ear you quickly get used to unlined. I look at the fingerboard far less than I used to with fretted, amazingly. Finding the right note only gets a little tricky above the 12th fret, but how often are you going up there? And both slap and chordal work are probably not best served by unlined fretless. But you gain so much more control, and great tone. Edit: if you're buying from the BG, ask them to check that yours has dots in the right note places. For some reason my 12th dots were out by 10mm.

If you'll look away from combos the Phil Jones Cab 27 (2x7") is small, light and fairly pokey. £250 new. Marry that with say a Markbass 250, or a Trace Elf and you'd be within budget and well provided for. But you would be mixing and matching tones so it would be slightly more of a lottery.

Due diligence, yeah, I haven’t seen rougher routing since my brief excursion into Harley Benton. Real raggedy Jane. And I had to have the 12th fret side dots moved because they were a centimetre out. But you get what you get. I’ve owned much worse for more money.

Try sax, where you can't even consign most things to a moveable pattern as you can on bass. On sax, unless you can recall letter sequences, and lots of them, you're sunk.

Strong and hot, without losing their Pbaciousness. I use it in blues jams, and its extraordinary how the bass's tone slots right into the mix. HOWEVER, I should say I added a KiOgon loom from the off, so I can't speak for the quality of the OEM electronics. It's also not a small bass. The neck is old school baseball bat and the body is larger than I'm totally comfortable with as a short, fat, little old man. But the build quality is what impresses me for the price. Not just for the price, in its own right. Sometimes with a cheap bass you go 'OKaayyyy... but I can live with that for the price' ( I even did that with my first Sire), but I never felt that need to qualify my regard for the Rev.

Even the authorised version can be ridiculous. I was in a folk worship band in the early 70s and one of the solemn responses was written to the exact tune of 'Knick knack paddy wack give a dog a bone'. Something of a late Friday afternoon job by the CofE composers, whoever they were.

I have the fretless P bass, one of just three go to basses I've had in the 40+ I've owned. £199 new is crazy value for money: IMHO they considerably exceed Squier for quality, and the Entwhistle pups are excellent. One of their main dealers is the Bass Gallery in London, one of the UK's most respected top end bass shops and luthiers, which must say something.

Weeelll Captain KiOgon, he say Wilkinson pups will benefit from being pacified.

Well, good question. This is why I think it may just be an idle fancy and a fiddle too far. OTOH, I have a passive Revelation fretless which is capable of many subtle tones. Wile the active Vintage has many tones also, they're all a trifle artificial. Plus it gives me something to do.

I have a gorgeous little Vintage V940fl. It's active, with Wilkinson pups in a PJ configuration, with a mare's nest of old wiring and battery in the back. Now, KiOgon has said he can en-loom me with new pots, jack, etc etc. for £60, taking it from an active to passive, with V and T controls on each pup and with a little extra money, a switchy thing that allows me to go series or parallel. Although why the last I'm a little unclear still. Any road, if you are a grownup and have done this type of active to passive conversion, would you say it's worth doing or is it all just one bored fiddle too far?

If I was interested in playing music I'd likely easily define a good all rounder and stick to it. As my primary hobby is sending and receiving carboard boxes, clearly the unitary approach won't suffice.

+1

Yeah, the sticky feel goes quickly.

Love the mandoliny stuff. Real eye opener how nice Bach sounds on ‘modern’ instruments. Surprised more musicians don’t do this. Goes to show how deep the lacuna is between the classical community and most of us is. It also raises the question of what musical excellence is. I’m a competent blues bassist. But listening to this am I a musician at all?

I have tried to copy your achievement. In four days I have stumbled slowly through eight bars. I think I won’t get much further. Greatest respect to you.

In an era of great video resources I find books so yesterday and boring. Wrong media for the medium. But then I'm a ridiculous old fart.