EliasMooseblaster

[quote name='bassjim' timestamp='1494258940' post='3294445'] ...I think because the gitard seems to be happy to carry on regardless to the point I wonder if he can even hear it, and I dont want to be like some gitard.aint nobody got time for dat so I like to keep it in check... [/quote] Ah, well if it's a case of "lead by example," then fair enough I say, nobody wants to hear an out-of-tune lead guitar! I've heard the "we tune because we joke" plenty of times, and I do wonder how often it's shorthand for "we tune because we want to our guitarist/bassist/violinist a gentle reminder the (s)he's sounding woefully off-key." Must admit, having read this thread before last night's rehearsal I felt quite smug, as I got my Thunderbird out of its case for the first time since the 25th of March, and found it was still in tune!

[quote name='Sonic_Groove' timestamp='1494242748' post='3294210'] Dave Gilmour, saw him play bass with Sam Brown in the mid 90's B [/quote] ...and allegedly quite a dab hand with it on a lot of the mid-70s Pink Floyd albums!

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1494257175' post='3294409'] If you have to tune up between numbers there is something wrong with your bass. I tune up before each set and once about half way through, when the heat has got to the strings. [/quote] This. Or it's a sign that your strings are knackered! bassjim, you've made me genuinely curious: do you actually find that your strings are noticeably out of tune between songs? Before my own setup became more elaborate, I used to tune up just before going on, and could just leave the tuner in my pocket for the rest of the gig - and I don't exactly have a gentle playing style. In fact, so confident was I of the robust tuning on a bass, that I only added a tuner to my pedals because I realised there was a combined tuner and A/B available (Korg Pitchblack Plus) so that I could swap between 4- and 8-string basses more easily. Unsurprisingly, I find it's always wise to check the tuning of the 8-string since those thinner octave strings are more likely to deviate. Admittedly, the tuner at your feet is a convenient safety net to have, especially if you don't want to interrupt the flow of a gig with an emergency re-tuning! But unless your strings are actually getting on for a quarter-tone out, I'd have thought most people would struggle to hear any minor discrepancies, especially when the whole band is playing together.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1493753776' post='3290474'] Dessert rock? Like The Sweet? [/quote] Not quite, more like these guys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAhZGjUdlQI

[quote name='alembic1989' timestamp='1493823878' post='3291000'] See Grangurs link on this thread. [/quote] I really quite like that - did you add the fret lines yourself? (Not sure I've seen a lined one before)

One from this parish, now I think about it - Clarky (not to be confused with Clarky72), who was once quite regular on here, played DB for a group called All The Queen's Ravens. I thought their first album was quite wonderful - sadly, a second one is looking unlikely from what I've heard. https://allthequeensravens.bandcamp.com/ if anyone's curious

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1493359945' post='3287682'] Is this a follow on from the Pick Yes or No question that often appears on here? [/quote] I'm always disappointed that there's only one option for "No" on those thread, because generally I prefer to have the option to pick my noes. /coat

Just a quick update: thanks to you all for your advice; after checking the terminals on the pot, and thoroughly cleaning what was left of the outside one, I'm delighted to say that I had all three pickups working yesterday evening! Early tests suggest a nice broad palette of sounds, but the pickups were only loosely screwed into place so I'll adjust their heights this evening to try and improve the balance between them all. There's some life in this experiment yet!

[quote name='Bass_Guardian' timestamp='1493046909' post='3285166'] Creedance Clearwater revival.- Only active for 5 years. They had some great stuff [/quote] This seems to be an easy thing to forget about a lot of well-regarded bands from that era: The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Doors, Free - all got a hell of a lot done in quite a short space of time.

[quote name='hubrad' timestamp='1493036194' post='3284996'] I don't think WIB meant to reverse the pickup wires, but the two terminals on the pot V1. Thus Hot->middle lug, left hand lug -> output to V2. [/quote] Sorry, I should have phrased that more clearly - I have indeed reversed the terminals on V1! What I meant was that I'd had to put some new wires on the pickup itself (the original ones fell off...) so, as it's now not giving me any signal, I was wondering whether it would make a difference if they were the wrong way round.

[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1492980512' post='3284637'] Would it be worth looking for a wiring diagram from a Yamaha sheenan bass I think they are wired in the same way that you want [/quote] I thought the Yamaha Attitude was wired for a stereo setup? (Or am I thinking of the wrong model?) Latest: as per Woodinblack's suggestion, I've swapped the wires from the P-pickup on V1. Now the two J pickups work independently, but I've got no output from the P...which makes me wonder if the wires from the P might be back-to-front. Is it possible to wire it up the wrong way round at the pickup end?

Indeed, it is not what I wanted! See, I had the two non-Earths the other way round initially, and I got no sound from the P-pickup, though the two Js worked independently. Could have been a stray filament shorting one of the terminals of course (my soldering is not the tidiest!) so I'll try swapping them back again.

Indeed I have - I personally like Jazz basses (and Thunderbirds) best with the front pickup on full, and the back wound off to about 8ish - or basically just below where the output drops off and the tone gets really scooped. This was the main motivation for having individual volume controls. I've played around a bit with the combinations available where all 3 are active at once - it certainly creates some interesting sounds! But I can mainly see myself using only one or two out of the three at any given time, so I might consider a switch once I've got them working properly.

Perhaps against my better judgement, I decided to overhaul my old Frankenbass and give it not one, but two more pickups. Trouble is, the wiring's been driving me mad. I've attached a diagram but I appreciate it's a bit of a sod to follow. Current situation is that I can blend all three pickups, up to a point: the volume control on the P-pickup (V1) seems to be acting like a master volume control. Obviously I'd prefer to have the option to solo each of them, and have combinations that don't involve the P being on full volume. Previously, I had the wires reversed on V1 (hot to middle terminal, output from left-hand) - then I had no sound from the P-pickup, but the two Jazz pickups worked perfectly well together. Should I reverse the wires on the other two volume pots, or was it a bad idea to daisy-chain the Earth wire across all the pot cases? Or have I got this all hopelessly wrong?

[quote name='steantval' timestamp='1492781417' post='3283199'] Usually go for a pee before I start playing... [/quote] I saw the first part of this sentence and began to worry where it was leading!

I've owned both. When I started with an unlined RB Corvette, I became quite confident below the 12th fret, but my intonation definitely became quite dodgy further up. The following year, I traded it in for a (lined) Fender Jazz, and was quite surprised by how much the lines didn't help! They certainly gave me some reassurance as to where the notes were supposed to be, but if anything they emphasised how much a subtle nudge or roll of the fingertip could throw off my intonation at the top of the neck. Last summer, I part-ex'ed the Jazz to pay for the unlined Tony Franklin I'd been dreaming of. The dusty end is now a bit more of a tightrope without the visual guide, but if it forces me to train my ears rather than my eyes, that surely can't be a bad thing. Plus that blank ebony board does look lovely!

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1492119580' post='3278177'] Gong had some good titles for songs, 'Squeezing sponges over policemen's heads' is one I can remember without looking anything up! [/quote] Taken from the same LP as "Fohat digs holes in space" and "Wet cheese delirium," if I remember rightly!

Interesting choice of scale length! I've often wondered whether a longer scale (32 or 34") would have improved on my Hagstrom (30"), but then wondered if it was more likely to have issues with intonation on the octave strings. So I will be very interested to see how a 28" pans out - really looking forward to seeing how this one turns out!

[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1491663521' post='3274650'] Dawn was supposed to contact me to say they're out of stock! So it happens all over really! Not many other choices really! [/quote] Is it just me, or is it invariably "Dawn" who was supposed to call me when somebody's warehouse has run out of those particular strings/that DVD/that beer? Always been very content with Stringbusters' service myself. But then I've never had to press them for anything urgent, and my usual order is for half a tonne of assorted Rotosounds, so I'm not exactly pushing them into the dustier corners of their stockroom.

I'd long suspected I was a minority in this respect...

I've only seen this once: when I opened the box of a Fender '62 RI pickup, to install in my Precision copy, I found it had a piece of copper mounted on the back. At the time, I assumed this was to help with earthing. Admittedly, I've not opened up all my basses to check, but I've changed a fair few pickups in my time and I've never seen it done anywhere else. I'd dismissed it as a bit of a curiosity until I saw this article: https://www.fender.com/articles/how-to/asked-answered-the-difference-between-strat-and-tele-bridge-pickups?tag=electric which claims that the "ashtray" around the bridge pickup of a Telecaster affects the tone. Unfortunately, my own Tele is a variant on the classic design and has no such ashtray for me to test this hypothesis. On the other hand, I have found that the '62 RI pickup has made my Precision a lot more growly - though I'd always this was down to how it was wound. From a physics point of view, I can see how the magnet might well interact with the metal around it - but then by the same logic, people would surely start to favour chrome or plastic pickup covers for tonal reasons...anyone care to stick their oar into this one?

Perhaps I should have read the whole thread before voting. But yes, I support this initiative to keep it going - I would like to get more involved in things like the Composition Competitions, but more often than not I don't have the time, so the Noodle Bar was a good backup option for me.

A couple from Pink Floyd: [i]Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk[/i] [i]Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict[/i] Shame those two aren't particularly good songs, though [i]Careful with that Axe, Eugene[/i] is quite excellent.

It looks like a first draft of a Dead Can Dance album cover. Just strange enough to be quite charming, in the same way that I've been quite taking with some of the more peculiar Wishbass designs, in spite of my normal preference for "classic" Fender- and Gibson-style designs.

As others have mentioned, it does depend a great deal on the sound you want, and the kind of music you're playing. Just to throw my hat in the ring, I have played rock gigs with a 30W valve amp (Ashdown LB30) into a 1x15. It did the job remarkably well until our guitarist upgraded to a Blackstar amp!