chrkelly

Bought one of these blind off the internet last week and would would like to say hats off to Squier for making an incredible instrument at a truly incredible price. If anyone has ever wanted a fretless this is definitely the place to start looking. I always need one for work, but having borrowed my friends' basses for the past few years, I finally figured I needed my own. Being completely skint and having a show with a pretty difficult fretless part coming up fast the Squier seemed a good deal at £219. It obviously needed a severe set up and new strings when it arrived but apart from that, damn this bass is good. Slightly uneven fingerboard around the botom C on the A string that needs careful fingering to avoid a bit of buzz but apart form that, stunning! Tons of mwah and the usual passive jazz versatility. I've used it on a few rehearsals this week and this bass definitely cuts it. I'd also happily turn up to a recording session with this bass, it really sings! I'd prefer to have a rosewood/ebony fingerboard (the ebanol is a tad bright and synthetic for my liking) but for that price I can't complain. I know the quality of cheap far eastern instruments vary a lot, but if you get a decent one, for £219 its an absolute steal!

Reading is definitely the best thing you can learn. If you can sight read very well, and are a decent player, you can make money doing so.

Most stock cheap plywood basses have never been set up properly and have a completely unplayable action so I wouldn't use them as a comparison. However, I play with a very high action on my double bass. It's a lot harder on the left hand but if you play regularly you'll get used to it within a month or so. Main advantages are having a lot more space for the string to vibrate, less noise from the string hitting the fingerboard, you can really dig in to the string, a hell of a lot more volume and a beefier sound. It requires a lot more effort to shred though. Don't expect rapid Eddie Gomez style lines to come easily, think more Larry Grenadier. Another way to get this sound is keep the setup the same and change the strings to Spirocore Stark or similar. The much heavier gauge will help. I find light jazz strings way too sloppy on 3/4 scale eubs (the ones that come on NS design basses are awful). Hope this helps, Chris

If anyone's down at the festival this week pop down to the avalon cafe stage late thurs night, or the main avalon stage on sat 12.45 for beers and good tunes.

click the link [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1833"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1833[/url]

Here's my big rig before it turns into something a lot smaller. I'm goin to really miss it. 1972 Fender Precision EA iAmp 600 SWR Henry the 8x8

+1 on that. Got a lesson in school when I was 10. 14 years of practice later I'm a professional bassist. If you love the sound get yourself a few lessons. Most teachers will let you use their bass in the lesson, so you won't have to fork out a load of money on an instrument before you've decided if you really want to go for it.

[size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Fully qualified with a BMus degree in double bass and LRAM teaching diploma both from the Royal Academy of Music. Extensive gigging & recording experience with many major label artists, orchestras & West End shows. Teaching experience includes the bass guitar teacher job at Marlborough College & various school workshops with the likes of Britten Sinfonia & the Aurora Orchestra. Fully CRB checked. I do both double bass and bass guitar lessons in any style of music & tailor lessons around each student's specific needs. [/font][/size] [size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]A brief CV can be found at [url="http://maslink.co.uk/client-directory?client=KELLC1&instrument=DOUBL1"]http://maslink.co.uk...strument=DOUBL1[/url] Price is £30 per hr or £20 per 1/2hr & I'm based just off the S circular in Catford, London SE6 Can also do Skype lessons if you're too far away. Get in touch if you're interested. Cheers, Chris[/font][/size]