NancyJohnson

I have little desire for more basses (cheap or otherwise), I have bought two Thunderbirds through Ishibashi in the past. These were ridiculously cheap compared to UK market value at the time. My main draw to Japan would be guitars, I'd just like something Gibson; little desire for a Les Pauls/SGs, so something pointy, a 50s style V, Explorer, Futura, Moderne.

I think there's a point here. Yesterday we're in the back garden, music going and I hear someone knocking on the front door. My wife is, 'How did you hear that?' Maybe we're just receptive to noises that buck normality.

I follow a channel on You Tube called 'A Flash Flood of Gear'; the channel is run by a Floridian musician called Alex Budnik, quite a few videos of buying trips to Japan along with a lot of US guitar show footage. Very interesting insight to guitar shopping in Japan, presented by a very calm, knowledgeable guy. Yen/GBP exchange rates are lowest (or most favourable) for about ten years; 100,000¥ will buy you £530.00. Granted there's shipping/taxes involved, but search around...the Japanese used market seems to be priced very low and there's a lot of stuff that are Japan only exclusives. I spotted a fully specced 5-string NS Radius (fretless) for £1k... immaculate. UK price, £3k. Bonkers.

It took one extremely loud gig with a punk band I was playing in for me to wise up that I needed to protect my ears. I bought some of these layered latex things (no idea of the manufacturer, but they're flexible/one size fits all, and are of a multi-cup design with an air channel)...the most important things for me were the cutting out of the overall volume hitting my eardrums and more importantly wiping out the high frequency stuff entirely (cymbals, snare, guitar solos), which is the stuff that does the damage. They cost me about £50. My wife was horrified at the cost, but despite my exposure to so much damaging levels of volume, my ears are in remarkably good shape, no discernable frequency loss (or if this is a measure of what's actually hitting my ears, I have zero requirement for ramping up the volume on hi-fi/TV for instance). Ultimately, any protection is better than nothing.

Oddly enough, while searching Spotify for a song for my wife, I happened across the a recent/theatrical German version of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang soundtrack. It's just glorious.

There's been plenty that I've desired, been lucky enough to own most of them. Thing is, while there's a few I'd still like to get my hands on (Rickenbacker Blackstar/Hamer B12A/Gibson Thunderbird II), I'm happy with my lot. Desired a Spector Thunderbird for a long while (that happened last year); my Lulls are delicious as are my Hamers.

I've popped Dark glass and email; I just want to confirm there's nothing sinister in the supplied pots and that it's ok to not use them (their loom is solderless connections).

Yup. I kind of like the added oomph from a preamp. Wasn't always the case, mind.

I'm looking to swap out the pre-amp on one of my Lull basses (currently there's a John East unit in there); it's got two Lull 60s-style Thunderbird humbuckers. I have three pot-holes and a small micro switch hole. I'm reluctant to drill additional holes. Ideally (as I've had reasonably good results from these), first choices are a Darkglass Tonecap or a Spector Tonepump, but these both seem to require 4+ pots. Question is (and whether anyone has done this), is whether it's possible to wire the pickups to a stacked-knob pot, then take this feed into a couple of additional stacked pots (for whatever the preamp does bass/treble/mids/whatever) and use the micro switch to just turn the bass off or just leave it installed doing nothing. Help!

I've got an Epiphone Phantomatic... it's a bit of a lightweight thing, but fine for writing/home demos. If I needed something better/robust, roadworthy or, more importantly, a workhorse, I'd try and source a Yamaha SG1000/2000/3000.

I suspect the farty may have been the bass. Spent a bit of time in the Spector control cavity and rolled back the Tonepump, which has improved things significantly. I haven't hooked the HB up since doing this as of yet (it's also had a positive effect through my AO900).

I have hands like shovels; in truth I struggle with ukeleles, but beyond that I'm fine. What I don't get is people will go, 'Tsk! 1.64" nut, no good for me!', but in truth, unless you're playing a bass with a non-tapering neck (viz. Rickenbacker 1 & 11/16"), what happens when you get up the dusty end where it's half inch plus wider?

Never understood this obsession with nut width. This is pretty much P-bass width and barely a 1/15th of an inch more than a Jazz Bass. Reckon Jeremy Beadle wouldn't even have an issue.

I worked for a huge global business and I can assure you that Amazon are buying from manufacturers; sure there's probably are traders operating out of their back bedroom, but for us (and many other businesses) it was a no-brainer considering the crap that we had to deal with in the name of customer service dealing with High Street chains and family run shops. It was a pretty good deal for us; they ordered, we supplied product by the pallet-load, they paid on time and handled everything from a logistical perspective.

There does seem to be people taking this (frankly pointless) moral stance against Amazon, based off taxation, work conditions, dealing with suppliers etc. To be brutally honest, customer is king. Why should I pay £55 for a set of Elixir Nanowebs from Strings Direct when I can get the same product for £15.00 cheaper from Amazon? Same thing applies pretty much everything that comes in through my front door and they'll always be the first point of call for pretty much everything we buy. I honestly couldn't care less if Jeff Bezos doesn't want to contact me about my choice of lawnmower or water filter, it's all about how much you pay and how fast you can get it. If employees are disgruntled at the working conditions, then leave. That's their prerogative. Look, I used to by an awful lot of books from a two independent booksellers and was frequently told that once the independents shut down the book market would crumble. What actually closed their businesses was the council hiking fees rates and the collapse of the net book agreement (which kept books at an artificially high price). The book market hasn't crumbled, far from it, and in part Amazon is keeping many publishers in business. Elixir don't care if they sell into Strings Direct or Amazon, sure they'll make less money selling to Amazon, but they're selling way more that they would through Strings Direct. As a society we're conditioned to sneer at success; it doesn't matter whether it's Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Jobs/Wozniak or any number of entrepreneurs. These people got to where they are because they either had an idea or the tenacity and drive to make their business succeed while others didn't diversify and fell aside. Sure they ruffled a lot of feathers, but as my mate's dad used to say, "that's business, you won't get anywhere just sitting there with your thumb up your a$$." Nobody is getting all tetchy about the people who own and run Samsung or Sony or Walmart or Vitol or Cigna Health, because they're not in everyone's faces or trying to put rockets into space. I know this all sounds cold and harsh, but if you want to spend 30% more for the same product, then knock yourself out.

With apologies to my neighbours, I've had what could be classified as a good ol' noodle this morning; I've been inside the control cavity, rolled the Tonepump right down and done a few 1/8th turns on the trim pot and have hit paydirt. It works brilliantly with the AO900, the DI-2112, dUg and the BDDI. I'm asking myself why I haven't been in there and done this previously. It just seems to be a fine line between nothing, sweet spot and unusable mush. It was kind of odd, I know different cabs have different characteristics, but with all the three I have, there was this somewhat unpleasant thing that sounded like something was loose/rattling. That's disappeared now, thank god.

😃 I have no idea how anyone would get usable tone with it at 100%>

Loaded question on the Tonepump. Anyone adjusted theirs down? Odd one, maybe my ears are changing, but I've been happy with the Euro-X for the last year or so, just put some new strings on (Elixir Nanowebs) and it sounds quite harsh. Never really experienced such a tone change. Took a look in the control cavity, rolled the Tonepump right back and reintroduced it a little. All good. Was really surprised at how hot it was when ramped up to full. Just nasty.

This. Wonderful stuff. Arrived today. It was a RSD release a few years ago, CD came out in Japan.

I'd not really given the TC Electronic BAM200 a single thought until earlier. Understandably, I really don't want to keep chucking money at these things; I just want something titchy.

Just an update on the Harley Benton. Spent a bit of time on it yesterday, I have some studio stuff upcoming and give my recent bout of sickness (see elsewhere), I've not played much. Used it for about an hour, fairly loud, plugging in various devices, started to get some farty overtones/weird distortion; wondered whether it might be the cabs (nope)...it just doesn't seem to like a hot input. Went back to the Darkglass and it was fine. I realise the AO900 is undoubtedly going to be more robust, but in conclusion, I guess it's fine for short-term playing, but not for longer sessions.

We went with 3m x 2m. I'd have gone bigger, or more to the point wider, different aspect ratio, maybe 4m x 2m. It was a very thin nylon material, ring-holes in the corners. It folds up to something about the size of a box of muesli.

The idea of putting a capo on the first and going to whatever fret is simply just a way of having a straight bit of something to see which what the neck is bowing. If you watch some of Ted's stuff, you'll see a similar measurement, but he'll also measure string height/action at the 12th fret; he'll adjust the truss rod and then remeasure, tweaking individual bridge saddles.. Ultimately set ups are a very personal thing; I favour a low/rattly action - this just adds a certain characteristic to what the pickups output. (Big Crewdson fan here. Happy to report we've got the entire published works. If you get the chance, watch the Brief Encounters documentary on how he captured the shot.)

What you're trying to do is determine the neck relief, straightness, front/back bow. These factors alone are just part of the overall setup process (along with fret levelling/bridge adjustment etc.). I would honestly take any recommendations from Fender's site with generous pinch of salt; even in these days of CAD design and machine production, there's still way too many variables in woods/hardware. If I can offer a bit of sage advice, delve into a couple of You Tube channels; https://youtube.com/@davesworldoffunstuff?si=RAgkdoZcedKyvx08 https://youtube.com/@twoodfrd?si=chpdAfMoK1FhUKXi Dave's World of Fun Stuff and Ted Woodford Instruments offer a lot of advice, albeit their delivery couldn't be any more different. You'll find a wealth of information about setups/repairs on both.