Clarky

Funnily enough I've just been sorting out my bridge. The action on mine was way too high so I took a knife and sandpaper to it and lowered the height and cut deeper notches - yep, you guessed it, I cut too far on the A string so that it clicked against the fingerboard and buzzed like hell. In this case either you can raise the bridge by shimming some hardboard under the player-side foot (should really be glued) or do as I do which is to get hold of an adjustable bridge with wheels on it so raise and lower it. Just fitted the latter and I think I've just about got it right. If its the fingerboard that s the problem unfortunately that needs professional straightening (re-shooting). Maybe you could do a bodge job for now and put something in the A notch to raise the string slightly?

Can I just add, I am not Boris

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='974746' date='Oct 1 2010, 11:41 PM']Andy Fairweather-Lowe? He's class, and very stylish.[/quote] Trawls memory banks - wasn't he the guy that did Wide eyed and legless around 1979? Looked a bit different then, but didn't we all!

[quote name='Marvin' post='974747' date='Oct 1 2010, 11:42 PM']Stylish! Wearing that tie?[/quote] You can't see his dayglo orange Bermuda shoots and electric blue winkle-pickers from this photo, Marvin

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='974721' date='Oct 1 2010, 11:26 PM']Would it have [i]killed[/i] them to put black tuners on it? The black-on-black-on-black of the body makes the headstock look completely washed out.[/quote] Did a quick google - his most recent bass ( he seems to have had a number of black Ps including one with cream Dimarzios) has black body hardware but chrome tuners. So I guess they are trying to be faithful to the real McCoy. I won't be buying one mind.

Based on pricing I assume it's made in Japan or Mexico ( if that matters)

[quote name='Twigman' post='973869' date='Oct 1 2010, 01:00 PM']Most originals bands give up before they get the opportunity to experience this - I'd agree. .....but what if they hadn't given up?[/quote] We've been going for two years but we're a minority interest (originals punk) and we've never had a crowd bigger than 100 (of which perhaps 30-40 to see us, the remainder the other bands). Last year has been a disaster with crowd sizes falling sharply (recession, I'm sure, especially on weekday nights) and its been tough to get any joy out of it. We played a gig a few months back where we ended up as the entire crowd (the three of us and Mrs Clarky) for the headlining band, a reasonably well known punk act from the '70s. If you play to 1,000 diehard fans you are a lucky sod. Like WoT says, you are DEFINITELY in the minority

I have played for over 2 years in an originals punk band (the songs are very good IMHO). There's a limit, however, to the number of times you can play to a handful of people without thinking about the more instant gratification you get from seeing a crowd loving the music because they are familiar with it. If you're not doing it for a living its supposed to be about having fun isn't it? Playing late on a Monday night in a Camden bar to around 10 people (4 of whom are from the last band on the line-up) knowing your alarm goes off at 5.30am isn't always my idea of fun!

Not exactly funky either but I'm quite partial to Don't Take me Alive

Completely agree with the above but in my OP I was making the point that with my current rig I was getting feedback even with the gain almost completely off and the master very low - barely even loud enough to compete with an acoustic guitar, let alone a relatively gentle drummer! Hopefully the Fishman will sort this

[quote name='fatback' post='973648' date='Oct 1 2010, 10:07 AM']By Monday your BG is gonna feel like a ukelele [/quote] ... and as for your knob ... Sorry to lower the tone but its Friday (its 5 o'clock and its Crackerjack!)

[quote name='Gareth Hughes' post='971720' date='Sep 29 2010, 01:55 PM']On a fully carved bass I had once I had to wedge a foam rugby ball between the tailpiece and the body, putting pressure on the top table to stop it from vibrating too much.[/quote] Blimey, Gareth, the things you DBers carry in your gigbags - now I am expecting a glut of foam rubgy balls for sale on BC!

We can start the exclusive BassChat punk rocker with a double bass club!

Wow - I was expecting one-sentence answers! Thats really above and beyond the call of duty, Rev! Many, many thanks for going to all that effort. I will certainly take your advice on board. I still haven't heard back from the Aria's current owner what strings are on it - given cost considerations I hope its one of those sets you mentioned. What ever happens I don't think I will ever get near the Velvet strings you mentioned (from a quick internet search, £270 a set, good grief)

All very helpful gents. So if I were looking for a 'growly, plummy' type sound in a band setting, playing slow/medium-paced blues/ragtime type music (with piano, drums, horns, backing singers, guitar, vocals) which would be your preferred strings, Silver Slaps, Honeys or one of the others mentioned?

[quote name='walbassist' post='971677' date='Sep 29 2010, 01:20 PM']Low tension Innovation Silver Slaps transformed both my playing and the sounds coming from my Aria - for the better in both instances! The fact I can't use the mag pickup with them (no metal content) is far outweighed by the benefits.[/quote] Thx Walbassist. I had a set of Weedwacker nylon strings on my DB a year or so back and found that they persistently went out of tune (they are supposed to take some time settling down but weeks later they were still stretching!) and they had very limited volume/sustain on the E and A strings (just a staccato, thin thud) - as Silver Slaps have no metal content would they potentially have the same issues or does the Kevlar core mean they behave like metal strings, only with lower tension?