petebassist

Could be the next David Bowie, you never know. Or could be a David Brent. As to what next, when my current band fizzles out, I'll look for another one, start my own, write and play instrumental music, accompany singers at open mics, learn new stuff, basically keep on truckin...

cow poop alarm going off big time. If it was me I wouldn't give my bank details to a complete stranger. As to showing good faith, I'd wouldn't waste my time pursuing this....sorry. Good luck.

@Djooh Welcome to the forum! There're a lot of people here who play both double bass and electric bass.

https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/#date=2018-11-21&event_id=49536 Cruise into the night on Bristol's harbourside, starts around 7.30 PM.

@bassbiscuits Inspiring stuff, gonna listen again and check this out, as I haven't listened focused on the bass before. I've got all my Bowie albums in an old 1970s album box that I call "the Vault" :-)

@CyberBass Well done mate, fantastic bass. I was in there myself looking at Ibanezs a week back and I asked the guy if I could try the MJM, just because I'd seen the MJM video and fancied getting one before. I loved the way they've worn the neck and frets so it instantly feels comfortable and played-in. Looks ace too, bet it sounds fab. I'll bet you can't put it down :-)

Nice to hear there're people around who can do this type of thing - and it looks ACE! That's a very nice looking EUB, I'll bet it's a very usuable instrument.

You're right, I wouldn't say common but upright players with gut strings sometimes don't like the response from the E & A gut string, so they have something like a Thomastik Spirocore metal would E & A and a pure gut D & G. Also upright strings, especially guts, are more expensive (often £150 - 300 a set) so tend to get reused/resold/repurposed more than electric bass strings, though I just priced up some La Bella tapewounds for an electric and they aren't cheap either...

I see today that this story has been recycled in the Grauniad. Not quite the Great Rock n Roll Swindle, but this guy's gonna be temporarily very famous/infamous. Sounds like he might be looking for a bass player if anyone's free at the moment...

@mangotango I don't blame you for being p!ssed off from the sound of it - they sound like a couple of nobs. One thing though, snobbery aside, with electric uprights there're no standards and so many different types, compared to acoustic instruments e.g. shorter scales, non-concave fingerboards, different body & support styles, so it doesn't surprise me that some tutors would be dismissive. Some EUBs are designed to feel exactly like a (typically 3/4 size) acoustic upright, e.g. the Yamaha, SLB and some are not, e.g. NS Designs. I think from the look of the Bassix, it's probably in the former camp, except for the bouts, but I haven't tried one. Being a bit let's say person-adverse, I stick to online lessons & a DVD that I learnt from, Ed Friedland's jazz upright bass, which showed me all of the basics. But but keep on looking, you might get lucky and find a brilliant tutor. Good luck mate!

Yeah I did look at a few Godin clips myself but could only find those with a fretless EB sound, so I guessed it was the tone dialled in with more of the the magnetic pickup, but I don't having not tried one. The only thing I thought I'd miss with the Ibanez was the thumb-rest so I did think about buying one from RedDogMusic on eBay and adding it myself, but so far I've just been doing my usual thumb anchored around the end of the finger board so probably won't bother. The AeroSilk piezo seems to do the job & works nicely with the stock strings (D-Addario ECB81 flat wounds), which growl and resonate nicely.

They sound similar gauge to mine - just got a new Ibanez and it came with stock D'Addario ECB81 XL Chromes Regular Light strings, which are also 45-100s - awesome feel and tone,.

I tried out the MJM signature Mustang the other day while I was in my local music shop - the worn neck and frets felt great, but I found the stock string tension a bit too heavy for my taste, I'd like to try one with the lower tension La Bellas. Great giggin bass, pleased it went well.

@Jezyorkshire I nearly went for the A4 on eBay at the moment, I bet they sound fantastic, but couldn't get over there to try it out. Very happy with the Ibanez though, in fact I like it a little too much. The build quality and neck on mine are first rate & I like just having the piezo pickup.

Double-bass purists look away now - After spending ages looking for an EUB for rehearsals and the occasional tiny-gig where the big guy is too much hassle, I happened upon one of these Ibanez hollow bodied electric basses in my local music shop, and ended up buying a fretless four string. After tweaking the truss rod and raising the saddle height for the E and A string to that I can dig in, and adding a bit of sponge to dampen the sustain, I'm getting a very usuable tone that does a good impression of my amplified acoustic upright. It even growls on the E string. I found this clip in YT that shows a nice example of what it can do.

Hi mate, I don't know about getting more volume, but a preamp is worth trying out if you can get hold of one. I use a KK Pure Preamp with my upright and it enables me to dial in a nice tone even with the crappiest house PAs. It's got a volume & three tone controls, nice & simple, and clips onto my belt, so I can tweak the volume if the sound guy doesn't get it quite right (surreptitiously of course 😉 ).

@4000, hi mate, I've just bought the 4 string fretless today. TBH I preferred the top colour of the fretted, but I wanted the fretless tone so compromised on the aesthetics. I spent an hour trying it out, and took my KK Sound Pure Preamp to see what I could dial in, in addition to the built it tone control. I like the simplicity of the single volume and tone, and I got a really nice sound without my preamp from the piezo bridge pickup. It's gonna be my rehearsal/tiny gig instrument instead of the upright, so looking forward to trying it out.

Thanks for the update @Sambrook, d'you miss having a thumb rest? i usually play with my thumb on the end of the neck to get a mellower tone and on the fretless I tried in the shop the action was too low for my heavy hands (I usually play upright). I thinking about putting my own thumb rest on, you can buy rosewood ones on eBay. And interesting about the strings, I was thinking about some labella tape wounds, as I mainly play jazz & rootsy stuff, will lookup yours.

Anyone bought one of these, I don't think they've been out long? There's a fretted and a fretless version too. I like the look and the sound, though I wish they had a thumb rest above the strings a bit like on the similar Cort B4 FL MHPZ, which has a Fishman Piezo and a Bartolini mag pickup instead of just the piezo on the Ibanez, I don't think you can order the Corts in the UK, only from Thomann.

When I bought my bass new it had a fixed bridge, so when I went for a setup at Bassbags with an adjustable bridge they simply converted the existing one. Presumably any luthier could do the same, but I'm no expert. Maybe they could shave it down to remove the deep notches at the same time?

Love the tone on this & the bass line. For me being able to hear better adds to the character. My favourite bass line of Macca's is I want you from Abbey Road and the only track I know with a glissando in the bass line. Lots of isolated bass tracks on YT but I love this version on a Rick 4001. I want one!

The lightest strings I've used were Presto Jazzicatos. They used to mellow-out my old Stentor 1950 acoustic bass nicely, and felt soft under the 'fretting' fingers as well as being easy on the plucking hand.

Difficult to tell from the photograph, but it sounds like your bass doesn't have a waist extension arm at the back to hold the bass away from your body? If not, you might want to concoct one yourself so that your bass isn't too near your body and you can hold it more comfortably, like on the Eminence here. The bass should be stable enough so that you can move your hand freely up and down the neck with only a light pressure from your thumb to stabilize your hand, without having to press your thumb too hard, which I believe can cause hand/arm/shoulder strains. Small bodied/stick basses are also prone to swivelling, hence the T-shaped foot on the Eminence, which you might also be able to copy.

Yes :-) They're even more unstable in tuning though...