kerley

Although flatwounds are expensive they do last for years so the overall cost is pretty low when broken down to a monthly cost versus a roundwound that may be change more often. To compare cost properly would require a spreadsheet with the longevity vs price for each string make and model. Surprisingly, people always say that I am overly obsessed with spreadsheets...

I would also think you need to quantify the 12 months. Quite a bit of difference between 4 hours a day for 12 months and 2 hours per week for 12 months. What amount of time would you realistically being putting into it over the 12 months?

I started about 3 weeks ago and would say it is easily possible in 12 months given the correct level of effort. I practice reading for around 30 - 60 minutes most days and have seen definite progress in that 3 weeks. The fingers are already falling on the notes without much thought. Can now sight read a lot of material at a slow tempo (40bpm) although getting to grips with keys is the hardest part for me, especially the keys with lots of sharps or flats and tracks with changes in them. I am finding it a much more enjoyable way to learn pieces (always used tab before but now look out for notation only) and it gives a more 'musician' feeling to the process. Well, whatever makes me feel better...

You shouldn't need to shell out any money and it always surprises me that people (not you) can't follow a process and adjust a few nuts and screws. Check neck bow first and adjust truss rod to get correct bow (lots of info on net for that). Truss rod should not be used to lower action, it should be used to get neck near to straight against tension of strings. It will lower the action if the neck was upward bowed but that is a side affect. Once neck done see if has had the side affect. If action still high then shim as nothing else can be done if bridge saddles at their lowest (other than changing bridge) but much cheaper to use some free card and shim it!

I have owned around 10 basses over the last 2 or 3 years and only 1 was actually played before buying! Not sure what I would have gained from playing them first as they are never setup in the way I like and no shop/owner is going to let me start messing around with the nut on a bass I don't own! I had a BTB470 for a week or so in December and for the first few days loved it. Liked how it played, loved the neck etc,. But after a further few days I was finding the 35" scale to be a hindrance so sold it (at a profit - bought from eBay and sold on eBay - difference being that I sold it properly with loads of photos) Without sitting in a shop playing it for a few days I would have still bought it after trying it. I have got pretty good at setting basses up to my liking after tinkering with so many and yet to buy one that I couldn't get comfortable with (bar the 35" which I couldn't do much about)

Just picked up one of these used for £90 literally in as new condition. The quality really did surprise me and it looks and feels like a much, much better bass than the £140 they are new. I was expecting it to be a bit rough around the edges for such a low list price but I can't find a single fault with it. From reading other reviews I thought intonation might be a problem but it was spot on without touching it. The only thing I have had to do was take 1 mm off the nut as it was too high (that seems to be a common problem as I like strings as low as possible at the nut as it makes the action lower all along the neck) The neck dive comments are true (even sitting down) even with the short scale. The huge headstock and massive tuners are not going to be helping there. The sound is subjective but I actually like it. I thought I liked modern active tone but after having a BTB for a few weeks in December I proved myself wrong and I actually like old thumpy tone. So if you like the sound and want a short scale very well finished bass for very little money this is a good option.

Put it on eBay with a reserve high enough to please you if it did reach it but knowing it probably won't. You will then see what the highest bid was at auction end. eBay has the largest audience you will get and potentially the highest selling price. It would only cost you a few quid to list with charges for the reserve price.

Agree. I changed the pickups in my Crafter Cruiser to some Kent Armstrongs I got used from eBay for £15 and the improvement was very, very noticeable. Much clearer and refined sound. I recently bought a much more expensive Ibanez which although played as well as the Crafter, did not gel with me as much so only had it two weeks! I only own one bass and it somehow feels wrong to own one that cost £60 (used) but it plays and sounds as good as any others I have owned. I just keep having to tell myself that as I am constantly drawn to more expensive basses. Must become more of a buddhist bassist I think and find contentment with what I have...

The process for a return is that he returns the guitar to you and then you give the refund. When you suggest that you may never hear from him again! If he sends it back then guess it isn't a very good scam.

I have just tried it out with a switch and kept the switch inside the control cavity to see if I liked it before going for push/pull. The answer is yes I like it a lot and imagine I will keep it in series from now on. Maybe it has just told me I prefer a P Bass sound over the thinner jazz sound.

It is a great time to buy on eBay at the moment as prices seem pretty low (guessing just before Christmas with peoples money going towards other things) Few examples I was watching Couple of G&L Tributes didn't sell for £330/£380 Yamaha TRB went for around £300 (£800 new) Ibanez BTB470 went for £200 (£450 new) None of these might be your cup of tea but if you look outside of Fender then many bargains to be had. (Fender seem to be unaffected by seasonal buying!)

I have recently upgraded a starter pack bass. Picked up a Crafter Cruiser 32" scale for £60 and have spent another £60 on pickups (got a pait of Kent Armstrong on eBay for £16, new tuners, new bridge, knobs and pots). As others have said, I would still be lucky to get the £60 initial purchase price back! It plays and sounds as good as any other bass I have owned (Warwick Corvette, MIM P, MIM Jazz etc,) that could be down to the scale, maybe that slightly shorter neck just suits me?. But it still bugs me that I am playing what is essentially a £60 bass and I will no doubt be getting a higher priced one again soon in the full knowledge that the higher priced one will probably be no better to actually play. I guess the shallow part of me just likes to be playing a higher priced instrument for no reason other than branding!

Agree that they do sound great, I have a PJ set that I put in last week. They compliment each other very well but also sound good on their own compared to the stock pups I had so very happy. The only downside for me is the on the looks, the plastic covers look cheap and the poles could do with have a slight round edge put on them. I ended up using my existing covers so no big deal and the sound is the key part!

Having messed around with it yesterday seems like an earthing problem as noise goes away when pressing pretty much anything (pots, shielding etc,) with a screwdriver. Not sure how that could suddenly happen but I have started a bit of a rewiring project (to the point where I have run out of solder so need to continue tonight after buying more!) Thanks for the advice anyway.

Got a Yamaha RBX a few months back. Was a bit hummy but easily removed just by shielding. Until last week was totally quiet. Then last week the blend pot went a bit strange and whilst still working only made a difference in the first 1-2mm of off centre position, the rest of the turn made no difference. And also started to get some crackle at the same time so had to roll tone almost completely off to remove it (also went away a bit when touching bridge,strings etc,) Replaced the blend pot this weekend and although the blend is now better I still have very bad crackle if tone anything above 1/4 of the way up. (crackle gets louder as tone goes up) This is not just annoying background noise, this makes the tone unusable. Anyone any ideas what could have suddenly gone wrong to have caused this? (all the wiring feels okay but I will double check it all again today.) Could it be one of the other pots or is this not a symptom of a dodgy pot?

Hello. After some feedback from anyone that uses an After 8. Start to get hissing when volume goes past 1 o'clock and gets worse as volume goes up. The hissing stops if I put on full volume and press the extra bass button but I don't like that sound! This is all with the treble turned right down (gain doesn't make much difference to hiss) Do they all do this, am I expecting too much or is there a likely fault? Cheers, Chris.

Acoustic basses are great for playing in the house (which is all I do). They are however very large which is why I recently bought one of these from eBay for £150. [url="http://www.fizzypeach.co.uk/bass.html"]Hudson[/url] Doesn't feel much more awkward to play than an electric, whereas my first acoustic was so big it was uncomfortable as soon as you started to play it. I like the acoustic tone and if volume isn't needed then they really do the trick for me. No need for an amp, cables, messing around with settings etc,. Just concentrate on practising/playing.

My hummed quite a bit as well so I fully shielded with copper (the pickup cavitys, the routing between pickup and control cavity and the control cavity) and the hum has gone 100%, so nothing to do with the single coil pickups for me. My MIM P Bass also hummed until I shielded it. Maybe I am just easily annoyed by humming, my Warwick Corvette is the only bass I have had (only had 4!) that didn't hum. Guess they are made to higher standards! Apart from that, have to agree it is a very nice bass.

I have a Standard Ash Passive and recently tried some Wizard Pickups. They sounded slightly different but not any better as such so have taken them off and sold them. They also didn't work too well with the pan control, didn't seem to blend properly? Anyway, guess what I am saying is that the MEC's are not bad pickups...