Chownybass

Some thoughts on this: There's more to it than sound. For a fretboard wood to work it helps to have certain qualities. * It needs to have a pocket grain and not a linear grain - dense enough that it can hold frets. * It needs to be hard. * It needs to polish smooth (if it's not going to be laquered) * ideally be naturally oily. This means that you end up with about 3 practical fretboard woods. * Rosewood * Ebony * Maple So maple is of course blonde - and looks dirty when heavily used. Ebony is expensive. So rosewood was always a practical choice. Yes - there are a fair number of other woods that you can use. But the cost of transporting them to where the factories are (generally in the east) is high and of course it's not very environmentally friendly. We are looking at Laurel and Bhilwara (both of which grow locally in India where we manufacture our instruments) Indian Rosewood is sustainably managed - so this new CITES change has been particularly hard on their industry. I believe work is afoot to exclude Indian Rosewood from inclusion in Appendix II

Hope your bass gets there soon. Don't be shy with your opinions when it's in your hands.

On the active passive front - we are strongly considering for 2018 to do away with the "Active" and "Passive" split and just have one option. And that'll be "Active" but with a Push-Pull Volume pot that switches between active and passive.

Not one of the kids who came and played the bass at my stand did anything douchebaggy. They just banged out some tunes. Just because that's what gets them interested doesn't mean that's what they're going to do.

Sure - he's not for you. You are in no means in his demographic. You may as well spend your time getting annoyed with TV adverts for CBeebies. As a guitar manufacturer. And also as somebody who has worked with Davie504 - I think you're missing something very important. People like him are VITAL in getting young people interested in playing the bass. Kids (largely) don't care a stinky poo about what famous rock star plays what bass. But what kids DO do is watch a lot of youtube. I have kids coming to my stand at guitar shows *specifically* because of Davie. So what that recent "The Guitar is Dead" article https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/the-slow-secret-death-of-the-electric-guitar/?utm_term=.ce7968ff795a didn't take into account was the effect that these youtube players are having on sales. Just my 2 cents. **EDIT haha. love the censorship applied to my post. "stinky poo"

[quote name='0175westwood29' timestamp='1510094793' post='3404033'] Ill be there! probs with a camera for the youtubes! [/quote] Just too late to have a go on the Octave Pedal (which only arrives a few days AFTER the show)

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I will be flying the flag for bass players at the Mansons Guitar Show in Exeter on the 11th of November.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Will have most of the range with me[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]* CHB-1[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]* CHB-2[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]* Davie504 Signature EVO[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]* SWB-1[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]* SWB Pro[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]* Volante[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]* Vantage[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]And the Fuzzster Fuzz Pedal.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Hopefully see some of you there. [/font][/color]

Ok. The original SWB-1s that Scott was making had hotter pickups. We sacrificed a bit of that for better articulation. Your boost pedal sounds like it's doing the trick though.

Did you drop me a mail? Apologies if I missed it. Are the two older SWB-1s Chowny Branded ones? - Stephen

Car all packed. Found all cables and plugs and basses and gadgets and am ready See you all tomorrow.

[quote name='mark76' timestamp='1505819457' post='3374506'] It's neck and neck so far. [/quote]

Hi Guys (The mods have kindly given me permission to ask here) Busy moving production of the CHB-1 basses from China to India (better quality by FAR) and need to choose fret marker inlays. I can have blocks or crowns? What would your pick be?

A couple of things... Bass Guitar Magazine will be giving me some magazines to give away. So look out for those too. And... does anybody have a Tonehammer 500 they can bring? I want to check it out (as I'm using one for NAMM and I've never played with one before) - S

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1505256916' post='3370625'] Any chance of bringing a long scale semi model to compare... [/quote] I am out of stock of the CHB-2 but I'll try find something.

[quote name='silverfoxnik' timestamp='1505203086' post='3370105'] [b]Raffle Items:[/b] 01. Gotoh FB30 bass machine heads. Never used 02. Chowny Fuzzster Pedal 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. Please add any items you would like to donate to the Raffle here. Thanks [/quote]

Hello all I know I'm a bit late to the party... but I will be attending too. I'll have a bunch of our basses for you to try out.[list] [*]Chowny SWB-1 [*]Chowny SWB Pro [*]Chowny CHB-1 [*]Retrovibe by Chowny EVO [*]Retrovibe by Chowny Volante [*]Fuzzster Pedal [/list] Look forward to seeing you all there!

HELLO! I was summoned and I have appeared. So Retrovibe and Chowny are working together in an official capacity. We were already using a lot of the same production facilities and working fairly closely together. So it made sense to combine it all. This allows us to consolidate orders, shipping, manufacturing buying power and marketing, have a central UK contact for the factory etc. It's a growing enterprise and works very well for all of us. So currently we make all the Retrovibe bass designs under license - and Retrovibe work with us like a sort of in-house design team. We still have our own models. And we also have Retrovibe models released under the banner of "Retrovibe by Chowny" We have a similar arrangement with Scott Whitley to make the SWB basses under license. Working together EVO has been redesigned and greatly improved. We have a version with Davie504 (linked above) and also an upgrade to the existing one here [url="http://chownybass.com/product/evo-standard/"]http://chownybass.co...t/evo-standard/[/url] . Both of these feature the Retrovibe Stinger '77 Pre-Amp as standard. All of us (Scott Whitley, David from Retrovibe and I) will all being going to NAMM together. Which will be a laugh I hope that makes sense.

*discreet cough* [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/310941-fs-chowny-chb-1-purple-burst-l375/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/310941-fs-chowny-chb-1-purple-burst-l375/[/url]

Thanks for the kind words all. We worked REALLY hard on these.

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1503079199' post='3355602'] Never played one since Chowny took over production but I had 5 of the original Retrovibe basses and they were great basses. Really wish I hadn't sold the Evo [/quote] David and I have redesigned the EVO from the ground up. New manufacturing in India, better headstock, angled tuners, stinger pre-amp as standard. You should check it out. ;-) http://chownybass.com/product/evo-standard/ for the standard EVO or http://chownybass.com/product/evo-davie504-signature/ for the new Davie504 Signature EVO.

[quote name='Japhet' timestamp='1492194677' post='3278659'] I'm after a fuzz pedal to fill out a bit of the sound when the guitarist solos. Basically, I want something that sounds like a chunky rhythm guitar underneath that keeps plenty of dry blend in the sound. [/quote] Something like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnbqpDI_4Oc

[quote name='GazWills' timestamp='1494937063' post='3299728'] Having played a prototype, I agree that it's a decent sounding muff, and definitely worth the price - but to the best of my knowledge it's not 'built in the UK' as that review states! [/quote] Hi Gaz! You're welcome to have a play with the new Octaver too if you like - would love some feedback. I can send it to you via Simon who is frantically setting up 30 basses for me this week. And yes - you're right. It is most definitely not made here. Designed here. Made in China mostly. (The artwork and boxes and sleeves are all done here in the UK).

Thanks for that Gear News piece. I hadn't spotted it yet. A couple of videos with it in use here from Danny Sapko (who deserves a subscribe on his youtube channel). [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mnTMw_HlK4[/media] and [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnbqpDI_4Oc[/media]