NancyJohnson

I've been bitten by the Lakland bug and have exchanged a few mails with Lakland about cobbling together something from stock parts. They've inferred that they're happy enough to sell me parts for what I want to achieve (and for what I can't get, I'll buy from a third party). I've thrown together something in Photoshop...essentially a JO body, Duck Dunn neck. I'm a sucker for block inlays. Looks kinda yummy. Good or bad? Opinions? Or should I just get a Geddy Lee Jazz? Cheers P

[quote name='Stingray5' post='356413' date='Dec 16 2008, 09:44 PM']Ah, of course.... I knew Tempo rang a bell for some reason. You reminded me that it did indeed become Flying Pig, which is where I bought my TE combo 10 years ago. I remember the ads for Allbang & Strummit but I don't think I ever made it to the store itself.[/quote] The Pig was over near Ealing as I remember. Hanwell W7. I bought some Trace stuff there about ten years ago...they had some nice used gear (a six string Yamaha was great). I remember peering through a door at the back of the shop to see the contents of a store room - that appeared to be the size of the warehouse at the end of Raiders - just loaded with gear. They're closed now I think. P

Also in a musical bent, does anyone remember a basement record store a couple of hundred years from Centrepoint called Simons? They were on the Wardour Street side of Oxford Street. I always remember everything was hideously cheap in there...usually European imports. The shop always smelt fragrant (not in the dope way)...something they pumped through the air-conditioning. Fruity. I got in someone's car the other day and they had a smelly thing in there and I was transported back to 1980 again. I just kind of blurted out 'your car smells just like a record store I used to go in in my teens'. P

I started going up there 1977/78. Cheap day return from Egham to Waterloo - early 80s was all about the Virgin Megastore, Forbidden Planet, a swift visit to as many guitar shops as my then girlfriend/now wife would tolerate, then over to the Hard Rock Cafe for a late lunch/beers, then home before the rush started. I remember a lot of the places you've mentioned. I do remember a dealer that was in the building on Charing Cross Road that became Turnkey (there's an alleyway by the side of it)...for some reason I seem to remember it as being FD&H Music (may be wrong). They were a big Ibanez dealer - I bought my sunburst Ibanez Roadster bass there and my then guitarist bought his Ibanez Paul Stanley Iceman. I remember when they were closing down they had a few Gibsons going at very low prices - I remember a pink Gibson Flying V for £225.00. Have avoided the area for some years - wasn't there a shop called Rhodes Music? P

[quote name='tombboy' post='355044' date='Dec 15 2008, 02:29 PM']Love it! Thanks very much!! [/quote] Sometimes I just love Photoshopping stuff. I mocked up my avatorial Bass Player cover and also a great one for my old drummer on the front of Modern Drummer. Do me a full sized scan/flat photo of the Dummies book (@300dpi) and a full sized scan of that photo of you I used and I'll do you a proper graphic (suitable for framing); my Christmas gift to you. P

Heh. Photoshop, five minutes. Now it's worth keeping. P

[quote name='tombboy' post='353447' date='Dec 13 2008, 11:27 AM']Thanks for this. I am toying with the idea of using the material you described (commonly known as 705) as an outer skin before we cover the external marine ply in shiplap, just for a little extra re-inforcement. All cabling will be surface mounted in conduit as you described, just in case we need to get to it at a later date.[/quote] Sorry - I added to my post while you were adding the reply. There's more! P

[quote name='tombboy' post='344326' date='Dec 3 2008, 04:42 PM']Any advice on acoustics would be most welcome. Although we will mostly be recording digitally including drums (Roland TD20) we may well do some acoustic/analogue (sp?) stuff. The drum/vocal room will measure approximately 2m x 3m, corridor 1m x 2m and the live/mixing room 4m x 4m. There will be an internal double sealed unit window between the vocal booth and the mixing room for visual cues etc. Forgot to add... floating wooden floors throughout, recessed lighting and a stella fridge!![/quote] I'm late to this thread, so maybe late on the advice. In 2001 I helped build a home studio at the rear of my then drummers house. I was only going to throw in my two cents insofar as the in the wall insulation goes. He has a huge Tama kit and the primary requisite for him was that he could leave the kit in situ, fully microphoned up and wired into the desk. He wanted the kit in a booth on an outside wall to take advantage of natural light from a large window. He went/we went with the hard stuff - you've probably seen it - the big slabs of compressed fibreglass insulating board. You can get this stuff from Wickes. It's sheets 2x3 feet sheets - about two inches thick. He/we used that stuff on [b]every [/b]internal and external wall - doubling it up in the external walls. It offered great heat and sound insulation and stopped any leeching when we were recording. We used to rehearse there as well...full gear...and used to go through until midnight and none of the guys neighbours ever made a complaint about the noise. It's no use having a place like this if you're limited to when you can use it. He also ran all the cabling in conduit about three inches off the floor. Easy access for upgrades and away from any possible flooding. It was a very sensible thing to do. You know how it is...you have everything done, then sockets aren't in the right place etc. Looking good! P

I need a little advice on strings for a DJ5 - despite playing for twenty+ years, this is the first time I've gone strings through the body - so I need a little advice. I've used D'Addarios pretty much exclusively for the last ten years, so in anticipation of the new bass I bought some Pro-steels to restring it, but discovered the taper on the B-string starts before the nut, so they're no good. The bass came with a spare set of Lakland strings (45-128), I put those on and while they're fine for now, the low-B (@.128) is a little flappy. So I just need some advice. I'm a roundwound kind of guy, and tend to use a .40 on the G. I'd just like to know what's available rather than trawling Stringbusters/Strings Direct etc. and buying sets that aren't long enough. The bass is 35" scale and evident from the old B string, there's 2-2.5" of string passing through the body before it hits the bridge, so I need a string of c.37.5" length before the machinehead taper. Any advice greatly appreciated. Cheers P

Thanks for the comments. I'd been gassing for one of these for about a year - in anticipation I actually bought the pickguard in the spring! I've been noodling on it most of the day - I was supposed to have been playing at someone's houseparty this evening, but that didn't happen (which was disappointing as I was looking forward to using it there). Neck profile is delicious...it's a very comfortable, playable bass, with nice grunt. My Precision is officially retired. P

As I posted last week, I collected this this morning. Swapped the white guard over for a Jeannie's black pearl (fantastic fit BTW), put on some Dunlop strap locks, and restrung. Sounds lovely. VERY happy. Lakland hard case as well. Bless my good lady. P

I will not be using Thomann again. Whilst the goods (an Ashdown 4x10) may have been in perfect condition when it left the warehouse, the cabinet got damaged en route (OK, not a Thoamnn problem but...). Their customer service was dire, the replacement goods got lost in transit and then after a lot of chasing on my part were located. The whole process took around two months. I'm sure this isn't generally the case. I was just pretty unfortunate. There's a thread about it here somewhere - just look up Thomann and Damn! Damn! Damn! P

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='344867' date='Dec 3 2008, 10:41 PM']I'm staying at my friend's house in Wokingham (near Reading) [/quote] I'll be in Wokingham <checks watch> in about 40 minutes. Work. Sheesh. P

Damn damn damn! In the unlikely event that it's not collected, can I have second dibs please! Cheers P

I've got one of the new Honda CRVs. With the back seats up, I've been able to get all my kit, the (ex) drummers kit, a Marshall head, plus aforementioned drummer and me driving. The bass actually rides across the car width. I think with a bit more jiggery, we could have got even more in. To be honest, I nearly went for a Nissan Qashqai - it was huge in the back. P

...I've landed a Lakland DJ5 in black, rosewood board. Collecting it Saturday. P

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='334718' date='Nov 23 2008, 09:02 AM']A near miss for me... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180305668863&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=008"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...A:IT&ih=008[/url] In the end I didn't bid, so admittedly the final price may have been higher but £200 for a 12 string Hamer is pretty damn cheap. Had it been the TP model I'd have been all over it.[/quote] Just get a Waterstone...you I love mine. They have some great new finishes and blocks on the neck now as well. P

That's pretty yummy. P

[quote name='Telebass' post='332302' date='Nov 19 2008, 02:04 PM']Mental female vocalist? That always spells doom to me! And has done. Twice. [/quote] This will be my third girlie singer experience. First one awful (nails down a blackboard...ruined our songs), second one great (like Judy Tzuke), this one is bonkers in the way that she's just VERY confident and nuts. And Scottish. P

This isn't a bump as such, but are there any bassists on the list (who are in the Reading area) looking to do anything that fits my original demographic if I took on guitar duties? I do, as they say, swing both ways, but bass is my main instrument. I have a mental female vocalist on board as well and several drummers to call on. Thanks for reading. P

I had read somewhere that as soon as Fender purchased Kubicki, they couldn't get the electrics of the Ex-Factor into a production Jazz bass model. I see he's mentioned this in his advert. I hadn't been able to firm this up, so it's interesting seeing it again. As for that bass? The finish is pretty horrific. Doesn't do anything for me and I like jazzes. P

Never used Fast Fret - used Finger Ease for a while. Don't know whether they still even make it! P