NancyJohnson

I was sitting in the extension this morning and my white Gibson Thunderbird was just propped up against one of the sofas in there. It just looked lovely... P

Well amazingly, it's been listened to and I'm onto the next stage. P

Pre-stretched? Good-f*cking-grief! Seriously? Honestly, what a bunch of nonsense. [Edit] What sort of regimin are these mysterious 'techs' going through? Stretching takes a couple of seconds. World gone crazy. Sigh.

I guess Leo Fender was head of a company that was lucky enough to get some momentum behind it. No idea whether the Fender headstocks are right or wrong, but I suppose it just works. Of Fender headstock design, I prefer the early Precision/Telecaster bass design over the more current/traditional Jazz/Precision design. Moving along, I adore the Spector NS headstock...reckon you could put that on anything and it would work. On the familiarity comment, Status; I loved the headless design, but the headstock on the other models just lacks the dynacism of the body design. Finally, bad design. I've never seen a Cort bass that I didn't hate, but man, that headstock looks like someone took a bite out of it. Wrong. Symmetry.

[quote name='LZD56' timestamp='1477499342' post='3162634'] Where are you based? [/quote] Crowthorne, Berkshire. A few miles east of Reading.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1478026400' post='3166169'] Paul, I know you have your action set pretty low, but have you tried setting the intonation using harmonics, rather than fretting the note? Just thinking it might eliminate the matter of string stretch as you fret and test for other issues. [/quote] Hey Rich Tuning on the D and G is spot on when the string is both open and the harmonic is pinched. It's only when you fret that it's out.

I did give some thought to the pickups being too high and dropped the bridge unit a couple of mm, bit to no effect. There's a pack of Elixir Nanowebs incoming, so I'll swap them over when they arrive. The old set of Elixirs were on for nearly a year and the only reason I changed them was the E was getting dull...the rest were OK. I did a bit of searching online and found a thread on Talkbass where a guy had the same issue with a set of DRs. I just don't get how a string can be dodgy, let alone two in the same set. Hopefully, when the new set arrives, problem will go away. I'm kind of done with Dunlops now. You get what you p(l)ay for, I suppose.

Unsure whether here or repairs and technical. I run a few basses and am a bit of a stickler for making sure the notes are as spot on as they can be on the neck (including up in the dusty parts thereof). I'll prefix the issue I'm having by saying that I do know how to do the general set up poop, truss rod, action, intonation, just to let you know I'm not a[i] foole[/i]. Anyhoo, I recently put a set of Dunlop Stainless Steel 45/105 Super Brights on one of my basses (my previously cursed Lull) and noticed in passing that the intonation at the 12th fret on the D&G strings was off, whereas previously, it's been fine. Tiptop and dandy as they would have said a hundred years ago or less. 'That sounds a bit flat,' I thought. Meanwhile, my £10 Aria Pro II is laughing its sock off. Adjusted the bridge (it's a two part bridge) and it just won't intonate on those strings. I've adjust the saddle back and forth (to a point where the strings should be very sharp) and it's really weird, the 12th fret on both strings is just flat irrespective of where the saddle is. I'm at a loss. Strings? Living on a ley line?

They will send you some if you need spares. Just contact them (I did). You can't buy anything off the shelf that seems to fit. P

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1471769818' post='3115630'] First bass...CBS/Arbiter SG shaped thing. Had flats on it. G-string broke and all I could afford on my paperboy wages was a cheapie roundwound. Couldn't believe how bright that string sounded, so I used that string almost exclusively. It was rounds from then on. [/quote] Twice now. 2nd time about a month ago. Dunlop Nickel 0.40. It was new too...hadn't been on the bass more than an hour; I was at a rehearsal and wasn't even playing at the time (the bass was propped up against my amp). The damn thing broke at the ball-end too. I was so pissed at the time that I took the photo below and emailed it to Dunlop. Guess what happened next? Yep, they sent me a new set of strings. Not really. Not even an acknowledgement. I don't hawk around trying to get free stuff, but this really annoyed me. Grrr. Bad Dunlop. Bad Dunlop.

I do like the look of the switches, but I'm really not so much of a fan of active guitars. Clearly there's a degree of reinvention at work (with this bass), but ultimately it's just a P/J in different clothes; like most gear, don't you just find a bunch of settings you're happy with and stick with those? If I ever landed one of these (probably unlikely), I'd look at just installing a stacked knob plate.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1477852389' post='3164848'] Years and years of trying stuff and refining things. [/quote] This. You read, you listen, you try, you buy, you sell on. And repeat. I guess you really need to be happy with what you're plugging into it it first.

[quote name='gs_triumph' timestamp='1477756886' post='3164330'] I did use search and in three pages of results there is nothing about new york mainly because the words 'new' and 'york' bring up a lot of results individually. I wasnt really looking for the normal things as they are covered in all the tourist guides. I was thinking about things off the beaten track that have been off interest to fellow musos. [/quote] Okaaaay. To search on a string, try using inverted commas ("New York") and limiting your search to the General Discussion and Off Topic forums. I found five or six threads in about ten seconds. Seriously, New York has honestly been done to death. There's a ton of strong information already. Trust me.

[quote name='gs_triumph' timestamp='1477732817' post='3164072'] Hi guys, I'm heading to New York for a week next month and wondered if anyone knew of any music stores that were worth making an effort to get to? (or any other lesser known things that are worth finding) [/quote] Love the fact you're going for a visit, but the New York thing has been covered here a ton of times. Do yourself a favour and use the search facility, you will find all the answers you're looking for. Shops, eateries, itineraries, factory tours, things to go up and how to get around.

If anyone wants to a/b the Matrix at my house, give me a shout. I'm near Reading.

I honestly have no idea about damping or any of the acronyms at work here...life is too short! The Matrix is outstanding. It's a belter; plug in your pre-stage, plug in your bass, power up and booooom. That is all.

Sorry about weighing in late here. My signal path is (in the main) a Sansamp RBI into a stereo 2U Matrix GT1000. I've been playing for years and years and bar none this is the best poweramp I've ever used. It's loud, transparent, lightweight and runs very cool with little or no fan noise. It comfortably fits into a shallow Gator rack. I spoke to the Matrix guys and they said the 1U version is a bit noisier, but performance is similar. Take a bit of advice from an old soldier; spend a little more and buy a 2U Matrix. It's a wonderful bit of kit.

The Red Fighter is in my extension at the moment. Anyone local wanna test drive it? Come onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!

I've uploaded it to BBC Introducing. Will be expecting a rejection any time now.

Yeah, but a microsecond is all it takes to throw a song off course. On occasion, you'll not recover.

OK...hopefully this will work. Have a listen. I know it's not going to be everyone's bag (and I appreciate that). I've always been happy with the overall arrangement, I know that parts of the vocal are a bit hokey, so just accept that as it is... [url="http://soundcloud.com/paulanthony-1/christmastime-has-come-to-town-original-guitars"]http://soundcloud.co...riginal-guitars[/url]

Not certain whether this is a general discussion or an off topic. Anyhow, here goes. About three years back I wrote something seasonal that we could roll out at Christmas gigs. When someone asks whether I have any band recordings, my wife always says 'Play them the Christmas song,' so irrespective of the month, I tend to play people that song. I figure people get (to repeat an overused quote of mine) [i]warm and fuzzy[/i] about Christmas and you know, I've never had a detrimental remark about the tune. Most people will also follow it up with something akin to, 'If you can get <insert name here> to listen to it...' So I fired up the multitracks this morning (I haven't listened to it for about a year) and I'm suprised how good it sounds. I mean better than good to my ears. I don't know how to write a million seller any more than the next guy, but I would just like to see if anyone would critique it. Recently, we did some gigs for Musicians Against Homelessness/Crisis and I suppose if there was a way of generating monies for this, I'd like to do it. Anyone got any ideas?

Listen to you guys. We fired our last drummer for a number of reasons, but insofar as following him? Get out of town. We asked him what he actually listened to when we were playing ("Just the drums, maybe the vocals"), which we followed up asking by whether he actually knew how the songs went after three or four years of playing them (cue embarrassing silence). There were many times where I just wanted to stop the song and start over. Dropped sticks, fills on bar three, hardware failure, timing etc. He's a lovely, lovely guy, but no way should he have been in the engine room. By the end we just expected things to go awry, so we just kept going in the hope he would realise where the song was and catch up. Our guitarist summed it all up quite succinctly by saying the difference between Blink182 and Busted is Travis Barker.