SubsonicSimpleton

Regardless of which brand/type you choose to go for, it's probably a good idea to get light tension - it takes time to build good technique and develope the strength in your fingers and build those callouses. Worth having a think about whether learning to play with the bow or rockabilly style slapping is of interest to you, because some strings do pizz and arco but not really slap friendly for a learner, and others are better for pizz and slap but not so easy to bow. Most important is enjoy your DB adventure, there is a lot you can influence about the sound you make by how you play regardless of what strings you end up choosing.

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1447171799' post='2905514'] The truss rod is quite deeply inset, impossible to access with a dremel. I had considered cutting a small length off an allen key and gluing it in the socket with a strong epoxy [/quote] This is definately worth trying as a non invasive solution - I would use chemical metal rather than regular two pack epoxy for glueing duties, and it would be important to sleeve the trussrod nut to prevent issues with excess adeshive squeezeout. The worst case scenario (assuming you are careful and don't glue everything solid by failing to control squeezeout) is that you discover that the truss rod nut was rounded off as a result of a different mechanical issue - if the nut was rounded of as a combined result of soft material, badly fitting allen key and hamfisted cranking with the bass tuned to pitch then you'll have restored full operation.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1447242270' post='2905993'] Spiders! If I was looking in a filthy cab, I'd look for spiders. [/quote] Can't beat a good old fashioned mouse nest, stale pet urine or a nice mould forest IMHO, spiders just aren't stinky enough.

Serious answer is live with it for a little while and then make a judgement on what it needs. Getting the right strings and setup would be my first port of call, might need to try some different gauges to get the tension and compliance that you like, then start addressing any weaknesses after logging some practice and rehearsal time.

Buy a WAL instead

Depends a lot on your speaker cabs - efficient speakers need a lot less power to drive them. edit: Also not all bands are equal in terms of volume levels.

Get a good luthier to sort it and it will play buzz free with very low action, but you might want to get an adjustable bridge(or get adjusters fitted -about £20 pair), as varying the action height changes the pressure on the top, which in turn influences the acoustic output - I currently have my action lower than I would prefer as I've been rehabilitating an injury, but on my DB there is a definite sweet spot related to the action height/string tension relationship. I haven't had chance to test with different strings (e.g. if I swapped to spiro mittels from the weichs I'm using atm, would my bass hit the sweet spot with the action at a lower height as a result of the change in tension & mass). The loss of acoustic volume might be a non issue if you are regularly using an amp, but at least with an adjustable bridge you would have options.

Wouldn't a rack that stores them upright be much more space efficient? My folding rack holds 7 instruments and is half the width of these units by eye.

Make sure you buy a bow with good quality horse hair(avoid the very cheap bows which usually come with artificial hair which won't grab the string effectively), Yita and Violins4You both use decent hair on all 3 tiers of CF bow. Finding a good classical teacher would probably be very helpful, as it is much easier to learn good habits than correct bad ones, it's also usually best to use the same type of bow as your teacher, so you might want to find a teacher first before commiting to french/german grip. Arco isn't easy, but it's very rewarding - you'll need to be patient with yourself, and you'll also need a full length mirror to practice in front of (really helpful for developing good technique).

Very short song, but the Ballad of Jimi Hendrix by Stormtroopers of Death must win this by % terms. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTOskBmoOqE

Looks to me like this is being overcomplicated massively. There is no F# in the bars notated as D7, and there are no accidentals at any point on the score, so just follow the instruction to play the piece in open position next to the nut and make use of open strings where necessary, and flatten the Bs and Es as per key signature, no position shifting is required. Apart from reading the piece accurately, you might want to look at the arpeggios for each of the indicated chords, and then see how they relate to the bassline, paying attention to how the chord tones are being targetted, and how the line moves between them.

According to this guide http://epiphonewiki.com/index.php/Epiphone_Serial_Number_Decoding your guitar was made by [b]J[/b] - Terada Gakki Seisakusyo (Japan) No idea how accurate the guide is however.

Maybe time to start considering just music rather than playing bass - e.g. doing something like singing in a local choir is going to develope your musicianship in ways that sitting down with your bass won't necessarily, but you still get to reap the benefits of the ear training and improved vocal confidence when you pick up your bass and want to transcribe a line, or sing BVs with the band. IMHO if you try making music with other people in a situation that is unlike what you are used to, it really stimulates the learning process.

A watt is a watt is a watt, but there is no set in stone standard for measuring amp performance, so manufacturers often choose to measure the performance of the amp using say a 1Khz tone which doesn't realistically say anything about how much oomph it can deliver the lower octaves where it really matters.

Maybe try messaging on facebook, his last update was fairly recent, so he might just be busy or on holiday. https://www.facebook.com/4114effects

Just a thought, but when you see people posting N[B/A/C/FX]D threads proclaiming [insert item] to be absolutely the best thing since sliced bread, then the same person is listed the aformentioned item for sale shortly thereafter, or an expensive item gets flipped repeatedly by several members in short succession, it doesn't really inspire confidence for the buyer IMHO. If you also consider how much hyping the current flavour of the month goes on in the forum, this must have a knock on effect psychologically in buyers minds - if the latest[XYZ] is so much better than [ABC], why would you want to buy a used [ABC] with no guaruntee or right to return that might have been thrashed to within an inch of its life at 80% the cost of a new [XYZ]?

Just stumbled on this on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar30KyQFnIc Thought I'd leave it here and see what the basschat massive think of it.

Don't forget to budget for a servicable bow with good quality hair, and a decent set of strings that are appropriate for the relative amounts of arco and pizz involved. If it's a paying gig, I'd be keen to get a sense of what the MD is expecting sound wise and tailor string choice to suit - nylon/silk core strings sound quite different from steel core ones.

Go see a professional audiologist and get a hearing test in a sound proof booth with properly calibrated equipment. I would recommend the expense of custom moulded plugs, I have some ACS ER26 which is the strongest removable filter, and normal conversation is quite possible when wearing them, they really do reduce the incoming volume enormously while retaining clarity and are much more comfortable to wear than generic foam or silicon mushroom plugs.

Classical DB pedagogy has a big emphasis on shifting up and down the neck accurately - Simandl modern method book 1is probably worth a look, along with Hrabe 86 etudes, and there is a youtube channel where a very helpful japanese person has put the Simandl 30 etudes book in video format where you can read the score and play along with piano accompaniment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2OnFTI3tCg

Personally if the P-pup sounded really good and the neck and body are well matched, I would dump the innards of the J-pup(to save a little weight and reduce magnetic pull on the strings) but remount the cover to act as a thumb rest and enjoy it as is - sometimes it's better not to try fixing something that isn't broken IMHO.

Sing. If you can sing a phrase accurately, then you'll be able to figure it out pretty easily - beneficial both for working out other peoples music and realising your own ideas. Investigating the world of moveable-do solfege has many benefits, and it ties in neatly with functional ear training. This site http://www.miles.be/ has a good free ear training software, and some really good information about ear training. I used to think I had a pretty good ear, but when I started taking ear training seriously, I discovered that I was confusing certain intervals quite consistently, which was a real lightbulb moment and explained why I had real difficulty working out certain things while others seemed simple.

What about the layout that Billy Sheehan used on his first P, and the subsequent Yamaha attitude signature basses - P in normal position, and a mudbucker(or similar) near the neck.

£349.50 worth of crack cocaine and an old tennis racket for 50p from a local charity shop.