XB26354

Gary Sinise from NY actually plays bass - wonder if he's a member on here

[quote name='Doddy' post='805257' date='Apr 13 2010, 07:43 PM']I'm going to be slightly controversial again,but as I've probably said before,an electric bass will never sound like an upright. You can do things like roll the tone off and palm mute,or stick a big lump of foam under the strings which will change sound and the sustain,but it won't sound like an upright. However,to get a 'thuddier' sound,I'd try palm muting. Lay the side of your hand over the strings,and then drop it down so that you are plucking with your thumb. Also roll the tone knob right off. It's an easier way than having to stick a wedge of foam under the strings,although that is also a cool sound.[/quote] The OP wanted to replicate a double bass sound with an electric, not make it identical. The palm mute was originally an Anthony Jackson invention (although "Fender" players had the knuckle rest to thumb along with too) as he wanted to imitate the Ampeg Baby Bass used a lot in Salsa without having to play one. I use it a lot, not to mimic the upright, but to provide a less obtrusive bass sound. Hard work, though. If Dave Swift was able to fool Van Morrison into thinking he was playing an upright then it's worth a try! Of course no electric stringed instrument will sound like its acoustic equivalent, but at least the case fits inside the average car

Not based on the twenty plus Warwicks I've had over the years. Also bear in mind that the Warwick bridge has spacing adjustment, meaning a couple of mm either way. I've got one 5er set up at 16mm for pick playing (just that little bit easier) and my Stage One 5 sits at 20mm for easier Fender-feeling fingerstyle.

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='805550' date='Apr 13 2010, 11:42 PM']Yes, you're correct Gareth. The Stingray 5 is 17.5mm. The Warwick 5's are usually very narrow spacing - Something like 15mm. Not nice, anyway.[/quote] You need a better ruler The standard spacing is 17mm (Corvette, Thumb, Streamer LX) and Streamer Stage 1 5's are 20mm. You can specify a narrow spacing from the custom shop The only bass I have ever come across with a stock 15mm spacing is a Peavey Cirrus 6-string.

In terms of bang for buck Warwick are hard to beat s/h as the market seems so depressed. I've picked up some real bargains recently, and every one is a belter. I've never come across a richer, more even tone across the board, or a tighter B on a 34" scale. Of course they are marmite basses - you either love them or hate them. I'd steer clear of Fender 5's as the bottom B just doesn't cut it. MM stingray 5's can be very good, but I feel they're a one trick pony - I've had two and left the selector on the neck coil the whole time as both the other settings sounded tinny and thin (not like $$, or the even better Fender Roscoe Beck V). Of course you could try a SR5 HH but good luck finding one s/h as they seem fairly rare (and way too much for your budget new). Laklands are worth a whirl, not my cup of tea really but well made and tight B-string. Also check out some of what Cort makes - not shabby at all. Ditto MTD Kingston.

IMHO all scale books are a total waste of time and money. Do a search online and you will get this info for free. If you're still stuck come back and I'm sure someone will make a list. Then the rest (i.e., practice) is up to you to explore each sound. Writing them out will help to learn them too.

Going back to the original question - an ear for music - it is logical to suggest that being able to speak, read and listen to any language will make you most fluent and therefore better able to communicate. Depending on the genre, you can busk your way with one of these skills, but at some point, if you play with enough musicians, you'll come up against limitations in the other skills, which in turn will limit your success as a musician. If you stick to one genre you may only need one of these skills. It all comes down to what you want from playing bass. Also don't forget the British distaste for anyone that is actually good at something

Living above a luthier makes me rather tempted if you do keep it and then decide you don't want it I do love restore jobs. I'm about to undertake sanding out some marks in a SS1, not a major job but [i]lots[/i] of work...

That board is 100% wenge.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='799140' date='Apr 7 2010, 07:52 PM']Sorry Mat not wishing to derail the thread or pick an argument BUT MECs have been used in Warwicks from the late 80's alongside EMG/SD/Bartolini and the metal used in Warwick frets is 'renowned' for being a very hard metal. It's not unheard of for the odd Warwick to have a truss rod issue, especially some of the earliest ones but to have had a 50% failure rate on your Warwick truss rods... that's about as unlucky as you can get! [/quote] I stand corrected! I'm not sure that the metal in Warwick frets is that hard. It depends on exactly what combination they use but bell brass (or bronze) is not a particularly hard metal. They mark easily (I don't mean discolouration but scoring and flattening of the fret). I mentioned MEC's because I've seen tons of early- to mid-90's models and not one of them had MEC's! /end-derail Compared to the original retail price it's very cheap, but in the current climate for s/h Warwicks I think it should be the price paid [i]after[/i] all the work is done at the very most. If the OP likes it then I'd get £150 off. If he still doesn't like it I'll have it

[quote name='thedonutman' post='798983' date='Apr 7 2010, 05:41 PM']Last weekend I saw this Warwick Thumb 5 NT on Ebay for what I thought was a pretty decent price. I made an offer on monday and the seller accepted it. It was posted out on Thursday and, after spending the Easter weekend in the TNT depot in Rotherham, arrived yesterday. So in short, ITEM NOT AS DESCRIBED!!! I took the bass to Jon Shuker out in the peak district today and he said it would probably need a refret and a serious setup. If there are truss rod problems it'll get very very costly. I also sent of a lot of emails to various luthiers to get their opinion. General consensus is that it needs refretting and a setup at the least to fix the frets and nut. I sent he seller a very polite email detailing all of these issues and suggested that he could either give me a partial refund for me to get the bass repaired or he could give me all the money back and I'll send the bass back to him. I really love the sound of the bass and I've been after a thumb ever since I started playing bass. Part of me is telling me to just get it all repaired and maybe even get it back to a natural oil finish (and get rid of those strap buttons) but another, more sensible, part of me is telling me to walk away when I still can because there might be other issues that I've not identified yet. Please advice, Basschat![/quote] This is most likely a custom shop Thumb - metallic paint job and (probably original) inlay on the board. The nut was probably originally a plastic Just A Nut II, which is a bit wider than the brass JAN I, and was replaced, leaving a gap. The truss rod cover was screwed flush with where the original nut was glued in (I'd get a JAN III and get rid of the brass nut as it is a PITA when changing strings and doesn't add anything to the tone). It's unlikely to be an old Warwick as it's looks as if there is a volute on the back of the neck and the pickups are MEC's (old 90's ones had Bartolinis and no volute). The board looks like a very light wenge (got one on my SS1), needs about a litre of lemon oil. I don't think it needs a refret, but a fretstone - bell brass is very soft and Warwick frets mark easily. They don't look that low, just need profiling. The rod can be sorted - probably half of the 20+ Warwicks I've had, new and old, have had hard to move truss rods. The burning question is how much did you pay for it? That's the only way to tell if it was worth keeping or replacing (PM me if you don't want to make it public). Cheers Mat

The key of a piece is almost always determined by the melody rather than the chords (which can belong to several key centres). One other reliable method of finding the key is to look at the first or last chord. One or the other is likely to be the "key" chord. The fact that that melody may use a certain mode doesn't alter the key. So if the mode is Dorian or Aeolian, the key is still minor.

Try four fingers per string (well, three on the G but you can go a tone above the second octave to make it loop). In one of his videos the jazz guitarist John Scofield recommends playing more horizontally (i.e., up and down the neck instead of across the fingerboard in one position) to open up the possibilities for even the most mundane exercises. Chord Studies for Electric Bass, a Berklee book by Rich Appleman and Joseph Viola, is a fantastic look at getting up and down arpeggios over wider ranges. Not scales per se, but a 13th arpeggio is just the corresponding scale in thirds. After playing two octave scales try all the intervals over two octaves - thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths and sevenths (if you have enough strings/frets). Then go up the first interval and back down the second etc. Most bass solos are mind-numingly boring because of a lack of interesting intervals. Chord tones with approach notes and intervals relate more to everyday conversational music than just running up and down scales...

+1 on the audio interface - the built in audio is fine for playing back iTunes through small powered speakers but a decent interface sounds so much better. MOTU are rock solid - I've been using them for years (828, 2408, 896 and now Ultralite). They're not super-cheap but the latest ones come with DSP effects and mixing built in (meaning you can use them with speakers as a bass amp without having to turn your computer on). Garageband is now really Logic Pro Lite so should work very well unless you need the pro features - not bad for a free program!

Good lord! I had a us deluxe 5 and it was about 8.5lbs, as have most of the ones I've tried. Maybe they're going all late 70's and using mega-heavy ash

Raking originated on double bass. It's far easier to rake descending lines on alternate strings than to strictly alternate the index and middle fingers. However, you need to work hard to make sure you're totally in control, or it ends up sounding sloppy. Check out the Jamerson book for several masterclasses in how to make a bass line in a flat key sound more interesting by raking off open strings.

FWIW only one manufacturer makes a single cutaway bass that I like the shape of: Fodera. Then again they did come up with it! With all other designs the bottom horn is too short/small, making the whole bass look unbalanced. It all started with Anthony Jackson. He plays sitting down. It does feel ok when you stand, but looks a bit odd. Anyway, it's all academic as I'd never pay Fodera money for one!

Up until late last year the Corvette Standard was made in Germany. I'm not sure what their business plan is as they have renamed them the Warwick Pro Series made in Korea, stuck a couple of ekanga veneers in the neck and upped the price by about 35% - putting them squarely in the US Fender/Musicman and at the top end of Lakland Skylines. The only plus side I can see is that people wanting to sell German-made Corvettes can now ask for more than they paid for them new

I've long thought that there are too few decent 6-strings for sale on the forum. 5-strings, yes plenty. It does reflect what people tend to play, and move on. Lots of Fenders, Musicmans and Warwick Corvettes in the last year or two. Bear in mind that Fenders seem to be by far the most popular for sale and tend to go fairly quickly, leaving behind those basses that less people want to buy (maybe [i]that's[/i] 5-strings?)

So?

Er... page 1 of the Basses for sale has 27 basses, of which 19 are 4-strings.

Maybe you find it dull because of Basschat? Most of what would go in a magazine is here already. The reviews weren't great but then why bother with reviews full stop? It won't make me buy anything as everything is there on the Internet to see already. In what way is there an elitist whiff to this issue (or any other one)?