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NickA

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Everything posted by NickA

  1. NickA
    Bottom F#. That's erm.. 23Hz!! Can you hear it or does just do strange thing to your innards (sub sonic weapon style)
  2. NickA
    Taken me over a year to get used to a 5-string (also a Wal) ..and still sometimes hit the wrong string! The extra neck width (the Wal mk2 5 is quite chunky and my fingers are short and stubby), suddenly having to contend with right hand damping and having an extra string after 50 odd years of playing things with only 4 strings make things harder than I'd expected. Still have to look at my fingers now and then (BAD habit) but it's worth it to be able to stick in a low D and better still not change position so much. I think the recommended technique is to base your hand with the first finger on fret 5 ( ie play "bottom" Es, Fs and Gs on the B-string ) but on the Wal Mk2 at least, you get a different sound from when you play in first position (index finger on fret 2) so I still move my hand back along the neck, even if the note could be reached on the B string. So many options!! Don't think I'd every buy another four string.
  3. NickA
    ... or as it turns out ....not.☹️
  4. NickA
    No exemption for 2nd hand goods from abroad it seems. Basically, Vat hasn't been paid in the UK yet, so you have to pay it. The rather thin trade deal did include zero duty though, so we're saved that at least when buying from the EU.
  5. NickA
    Buying from the EU: see https://www.simplyduty.com/import-calculator/ a £1399 bass (assuming that includes shipping) will cost you £1678.80 though the shipper might charge you an admin fee on top of that. Seems there is not duty to pay (not sure why) but there is VAT @ 20%. If the seller is VAT registered then they should knock the local VAT off the price - but private sellers tend not to be. It's a sad thing that private sellers are now disadvantaged over commercial sellers.
  6. NickA
    Impressed with the thickness of ebony on that. After getting the board shot at Electric Wood, my fretless Mk1 has only 2.5mm left 😞 .... even new they only come with around 4mm.
  7. NickA
    Correction: if the bass comes from the EU then there is no duty to pay. Only VAT and admin fees! Not so bad then. No "tariff" on goods imported from the EU; but you sure as hell have to pay VAT on the declared value of the item AND pay customs duty AND pay the shippers admin fees for doing all the stupid paperwork. Makes no difference if it's 2nd hand or not. If the seller is VAT registered then they can knock the sales VAT applicable in their own country off the price, then you pay the UK VAT when it arrives. Sadly most of us are not VAT registered ... the company I own is VAT registered, but the basses are mine not the companies. Importing from the EU is now a lot just like importing from the USA (https://www.homeoftone.co.uk/blogs/news/im-importing-a-guitar-from-the-usa-where-do-i-even-begin) The example in that blog concludes " For a guitar that is $2500, you are now looking at a final landed price into the UK of $3454. " HOWEVER: found this useful site that works it out for you : https://www.simplyduty.com/import-calculator/ For someone in the UK, this lovely Alembic would cost £5950 + 20% = £714 Of course you can try cheating the system by taking a cheap flight to Croatia then trying to walk into the UK confidently carrying the bass as luggage (it works fine with laptops and cameras etc bought in Asia ... because everyone has a laptop and a camera) ... a bass might be suspicious as even if you did take it abroad with you, you should have had a Carnet, stamped at every stage of the journey to prove it left with you and is coming home. PS: My wife suggests getting a really cheap bass off ebay, getting a carnet for that one then doing a swap before heading home, chances are the customs oiks won't know an Alembic from an Ibanez. The shipper can try writing "gift of zero value" on the packaging of course ;¬) Brexit just keeps on giving .. but more, taking away.
  8. NickA
    Oooo Black Hardware!!! Beats scuffed gold lacquer any day.
  9. NickA
    Read a great article by two blokes who built a double bass with a fully carved maple back (https://maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/topic/328014-making-a-double-bass/). Initially they didn't want to use a router, but then realised that even Stradivarius had a router ... called the junior apprentice (apprentissimo). "Take this chisel laddie .... see that 4x 2ft piece of wood over there"
  10. NickA
    You know what? Pete Stevens never took such care. 😆
  11. NickA
    My dadarrio hybrid strings are 20 yrs old, my Spiro's came with the bass 32 years ago. Only last year I upgraded to a 2nd hand set of Spiro's from a basschatter .. those may be less than 10 years old! They last forever really; only change them when they break or when I fancy a change of sound.
  12. NickA
    Off topic .. I have often wondered if the traditional wooden things with all those fancy and expensively carved curly bits really is the optimal design ... But got to beat that instrument of torture!
  13. NickA
    Wtf?
  14. NickA
    Yup
  15. NickA
    Whichever one @owen has is pretty much as good an eub as you can get. Does the big fretless sound with the magnetic pickups and a pretty good dB sound with the piezos, very playable too. Forget which model, perhaps the man will let us know.
  16. NickA
    We already had this discussion . My 4/4 bass fits easily in A Skoda citigo ( neck in the footwell method ) with an amp ( pjb flightcase) in the boot. Any car will do.
  17. NickA
    Check the weight of the kk mind. Nothing baby about it .. if that's an issue. Big solid body on them. Re dots on the fingerboard ... . No dots on a double bass as they were invented for classical music, and when you're reading music you can't look at your fingers. You don't really need them as the heel of the neck gives a good reference to where your hand is and muscle memory kicks in with practice. Can be harder on an eub as they don't all have that reference point ( you can add one though). Even us classical musos add pencil marks ( or even drill tiny holes ) on occassion though; used for finding a difficult note after a 45 bar rest!
  18. NickA
    In the orchestra we make sure not to change direction at the same time ... doesn't work if you're the only bassist of course! Helps to ease the pressure at the end of each stroke too. A slight variation in volume being better than loud, silent, loud, silent ...
  19. NickA
    A better use for the necks IMHO. That twin 5-string must be unliftable (chambered or not).
  20. NickA

    Acoustic Basses

    NickA replied to MS93's topic in Bass Guitars

    True. I stand corrected. Looked it up. His Eflat Bari goes down to A, which is really a C , so my double bass goes a whole sixth lower and the 5-string ebass a whole 10th. Proportionately, that's a lot of Hz difference.
  21. NickA
    Still wondering how @fishman came upon a pro 1e without its body or bridge! That carbon strip in the neck btw is unique to early Wals. The customs, mk1s, 2s, 3s and pro 1 reissues don't have it. The necks changed from hornbeam, mahogany and maple to just mahogany and maple at some point too. "Engineered" indeed.
  22. NickA

    Acoustic Basses

    NickA replied to MS93's topic in Bass Guitars

    Regarding double basses.. also not very loud. I think they have to be that big not so much to get the scale length as to get a body big enough to couple such low frequencies into the air and project them away from the instrument .. and THAT determines the long scale. Same reason a 1x15" cab will generally project better bass than a 1x 8" and why my not that loud pjb rig needs 10x 5" speakers. it's about impedance matching and diffraction to be technical. So yes I agree, depth probably isn't a major factor, but size of the table surely is. Hence a shortish scale but big bodied Mexican guitarra is louder than an abg and a double bass louder still. ...doesnt explain, though, how my mate's barritone sax has a bottom note lower than my double bass, yet is much louder, despite a bell diameter of less than 6"..
  23. NickA

    Acoustic Basses

    NickA replied to MS93's topic in Bass Guitars

    Look good. Bigger usually being louder. 6" or 8" depth! ( my tanglewood is only 4" at the top and 5" at the bottom. bet they're quite pricey.
  24. NickA

    Acoustic Basses

    NickA replied to MS93's topic in Bass Guitars

    Me too. Of everything I could find to try in shops, this was the best. The fenders only worked well plugged in. I'd have had an ovation if I could have found one ... the sort with the round hole very good acoustically and the b768 style great plugged in. The tanglewood is a big beast, so comparatively loud, but still too quiet to be heard against even a couple of guitars and a fiddle. Interested to hear I could use electric bass strings on it. Might try an old set of nyxls.
  25. NickA
    Bryant's are notoriously playable ( once the "fixes" have been applied, and this one is all fixed up ). Scale is usually 40.5 inches ... My own bass is 44 inches ... So definitely 3/4. One of my orchestra colleagues has a 5-string Bryant soloist, she's about 5ft 1" and plays it much better than I manage my big German beast. Less character than mine, I think, and quieter .. but also maintenance free. Plus getting one with a swell back ... If I had the space to put a second double bass, I'd be racing you to Hebden Bridge! Plus Bryant has retired, so prices will only go up.
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