Lenny B

I've just bought an 8-string (cheers Derek) and I'm going to have it de-fretted, because the only 'official' fretless 8-string I've seen is made by Pedulla and costs $3,000

I compared my strat and P-Lyte last night, and to my absolute surprise, this could be true, they're very close indeed The strat is slightly bigger, particularly on the lower horn, but the width and length are almost identical [[url="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/40/plyte3.jpg/"][img=http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/4180/plyte3.th.jpg][/url] [url="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/405/plyte2.jpg/"][img=http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/3159/plyte2.th.jpg][/url] [url="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/651/plyte1.jpg/"][img=http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/1821/plyte1.th.jpg][/url] [QUESTION - Why won't my photos embed?] I think the links now work, will look again at embedding later...

Ricky's explanation (email to Bob Lefsetz) [url="http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/"]http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/[/url] From Ricky Wilson Of The Kaiser Chiefs Ricky Wilson, the lead singer of the Kaiser Chiefs, did not want me to print his e-mail, as you can tell by reading his missive below. But I thought it was important. I asked him for permission, and he relented. We live in changing times, and we’re most interested in those who try new things, who take risks. And the Kaiser Chiefs are doing that. I’ve gotten a bunch of e-mail about this and I thought it best to hear the story from the horse’s mouth. Ricky was anxious, worried about how he came across, but the sheer honesty was riveting, it gives you insight into the mind of the creator. And in this modern era, where there is no barrier between act and fan, why should you hear the story from a middleman, who too often gets the facts wrong, never mind the nuances. So, unedited, here is the original e-mail: Hi Bob. Ricky from the Kaiser Chiefs here. You well? Good. We had this idea about a year ago. We wanted to do something a bit different for our 4th album. We also wanted to do something that involved the fans a bit more than usual. Take a look: www.kaiserchiefs.com Thought you might be interested to see where we’ve ended up, and to be honest we’d love to get your thoughts on it all. To start with we thought it’d be great if everybody had their own unique album. You know, not just the music but the artwork too. That sort of rules out a physical release as it was going to cost a fortune to print and burn each one. It would have been a New Order ‘Blue Monday’ all over again. I think we actually had a giant robot painting the album sleeves in a warehouse in our early plans. That was met with a lot of frowns at the label. So yeah, it’s a digital release. What we did is record 20 tracks and people can pick 10 of them, in any order they like. It’s all done through a website. We had objects built that represent each song and you sort of wire them up to a machine to make your album. Then we got an artist to do an oil painting of each of those objects which people can use to piece together their artwork. So it’s a very tactile and old-fashioned looking way of making a digital album made up of computer data. It’s £7.50 to buy. Seems fair to us. But we wanted to try something a bit different with that too. Now here’s our favourite bit (also the most unbelievably complex thing to build). Once you’ve bought your album, you can sell it on. For every album you sell, we’ll give you a pound (or a dollar in your case). We’re giving people posters, banner adverts, a website, Facebook tools etc. etc. All to help them sell these albums. If you sell 8 you make a profit. We’re quite excited about this. Why not make an album yourself? We wanted to reward the fans for being our fans and thought this could be nice. We just sold all our tickets for our first two gigs exclusively on our facebook page, which worked a treat and we’re going to be getting fans to use Facebook polls to help us pick set-lists and stuff. God knows if it’ll work. We’ve used a load of our own money to hire some really clever people to build the site and market it so we’re hopeful. This definitely isn’t some sort of two-fingers-to-the-system thing. In fact our label Fiction have been very supportive. It’s not supposed to be a massive statement to the world or a fight against anything. It was just fun and we needed that to be honest. After three albums you need to shake things up a bit we think it’s led to our best ever music. I just wanted to draw your attention to it. I’d be over the moon if you made an album or talked about it, but I’d rather you didn’t publish this letter as I’ve been slightly more candid about the process than I would normally be in the public domain. I really respect your opinion on such matters and look forward to hearing back from you. Cheers Ricky

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' post='1255097' date='Jun 3 2011, 09:47 AM']To be honest, i'd be happy to lend it, but the pickup wires need soldering to the pots. The wiring harness is complete, and soldered, but not the p'ups. I've soldered fender wires to pots, which is easy, as its solid core, but with Rickenbackers, its braided wire, and i wouldnt have a clue how to do that, and i dont know anyone local who i could take it to. I must try and organise it, and if you're gigging later on, then i'd be happy to farm it out for action, no probs there at all.[/quote] That's very generous of you, but I was only joking! For one song, it wouldn't be worth it, but if I end up doing at some point a whole set of Mani, I may take you up on that... Cheers Len

Flats on P (LaBella) Flats on fretless (TI) Rounds on J (whatever)

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' post='1254875' date='Jun 3 2011, 12:12 AM']Thanks Lenny, good luck with the 'Bangs' cover, i hope the gig go's well. Oh, and yes, it is a great album, true classic.[/quote] Any chance...er... I could possibly.... borrow... the Mani Rick for it...?

That looks fantastic, what a great job I'm playing She Bangs The Drum at a gig in a couple of weeks, so have been dusting off the 1st album and rediscovering it - great stuff!

No fretless?

Still using mine after 20 yrs - now fretless, still loving it. Great basses (red one in the middle of my avatar)

Led Zep 2 and Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Although, looking back a few years later, I'm not sure that I nailed it 100%...

Damn - I didn't know about this. I used to love Gretchen, great album. Damn again

On the same day I was given Milestones, Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme. And that was it.

[quote name='RhysP' post='1190643' date='Apr 6 2011, 04:24 PM']They just don't like strangers...... [url="http://www.hamerfanclub.com/forums/"]http://www.hamerfanclub.com/forums/[/url] It can be a bit temperamental - sometimes it'll say you are not permitted to access the site, other times you can get on there fine. Patience is needed. It's a great forum (VERY US-centric though). I haven't been on there for a while since I sold my last Hamer guitar.[/quote] Great, thanks again

[quote name='RhysP' post='1190629' date='Apr 6 2011, 04:09 PM']Might be worth a look here too: [url="http://www.12stringbass.net/"]http://www.12stringbass.net/[/url] Also, Mark Egan used to play a fretless Pedulla 8 string - might be worth looking for some info on that.[/quote] I heard about the Mark Egan one and had a look at the Pedulla site - they offer one, but for $5,000! I came across the 12 string site just before, so will ask a few questions there. I haven't found the Hamer forum yet, I think it may have shut...?

This is why I'd really like to try one or speak with someone who has one. Will have a look at the Hamer forum, thanks

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='1189504' date='Apr 5 2011, 07:26 PM']I reckon you'd definitely want inlaid lines on the fingerboard, just to keep you straight. Worse still, any failings in your intonation will be made all the more obvious by the higher of the pair of strings as they'll be easier t hear due to their higher pitch. Add to that any "beating" sounds caused by a variance in the pitch between the two octave strings, and your technique will have to be spot-on to avoid these issues. Don't be down-hearted. Fretless guitars exist. Vigier make them. If you're playing chords on those, You'd have to be Sh*t hot to get them to ring true. Still, if guitards can cope....[/quote] All true - I think defretting a cheap 8-string and seeing what happens will be the way to go...

Fantastic, well done

[quote name='DaveB' post='1189034' date='Apr 5 2011, 02:19 PM']if you want a cheap 8 string to buy to de-fret see my sig matey [/quote] Thanks, got a bit excited there, but it's the other kind of 8-string - I'm talking about the type with an accompanying string up the octave. Can't believe that no-one here is tempted by yours though!