Cato

Daft question but have you considered stringing a shortscale 4 stringer for BEAD. I've not tried it myself, no idea whether it would work on a cheaper bass, but given that there are shortscale five strings it seems like it might.

I've not tried this particular model but Squier have really raised their game in the last few years. Quality is top notch, they've started offering classic models in some seriously funky colours rather and they're putting out a couple of models each year which don't really have an equivalent in the Fender range, the double humbucking active Contemporary Jazz being a case in point.

Depends on the exact models, but generally Ibanez =lightweight, thin neck, modern sound Fender = varying weight, chunkier necks, classic sound. I'd expect both to be of pretty much equal decent quality at the eqivalant price points, so I suppose it comes down to whether you want that vintage or modern feel and sound.

When I was a student in Plymouth I used to go to a Chinese restaurant that always used play Chinese language versions of British and American pop songs with Chinese instrumentation. The one that sticks in my mind for some reason is 'Like a Virgin'

Squier Bass Vi I've barely put it down since it arrived, it's just so much fun.

With the US as polarised as it is I can't imagine any comercially minded band or artist wants their work associated with either Republicans or Democrats. It's just going to alienate half their potential audience.

Fair enough. I look forwards to another one of your excellent build diaries.

Re: neckdive Before you do anything drastic it night be worth trying a really grippy strap that'll resist the pull of the neck. Something like this maybe. (This is the first wide neoprene strap I found on a google, there are very similat products available for less money). https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ernie-Ball-Neoprene-Polylock-Comfort/dp/B07N8S47HL?th=1

When I first got into music my favourite bands were Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Megadeth. By my early 20s grunge had happened and I was mainly listening to the like of Dinosaur Jr and Mudhoney with a few British Indie bands like Carter USM and the Wedding Present mixed in. I also started listening to a fair bit of hip hop, mainly fairly mai stream stuff, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem etc My tasted mainly stayed in that direction, although as time went on mainly skewing towards British bands like Arctic Monkeys, Editors and Maximo Park until around 2010, when I realised I was bored with guitar led music. The last decade or so I've been on a bit of a journey exploring 70s funk and soul and a bit of modern jazz. Stuff like Chaka Khan, Sly and the Family Stone etc and the likes of Snarky Puppy and Kamasi Washington. The last week or so, inspired by a couple of threads on jere I've been listening to and very much enjoying The Cure. I'd listened to a few albums and other bits and pieces when I was younger but never really appreciated just how very clever their music is. I do now.

Looks like your duelling diary is going to be full for a while.

Presumably there was some sort of mutually agreed on points system by which you determined who was best?

I've been a member here since, I think, 2016. Pretty sure this is the first time I've ever seen someone challenge someone else to a 'Bass Off'. This is surreal. As you were.

I used to think that my habit of muting the e string with my thumb sometimes when I play slap was a result of my self taught poor technique and I was fine with that. A few years ago someone on here posted a link to an old Stu Hamm instructional video where he demonstrated the exact same technique. If it's good enough for Stu Hamm...

ACG does short scale 5s and 6s. Not cheap though. This is just the first example I could find 30.5" scale. Other body shapes are available.

I've spent over a grand on new USA made Fenders in the past. The two basses I've played the most this year are my first gen Sire V7 fretless which I think was around £3-400 new and the new Squire Bass VI I got a couple of weeks ago for around £450.

Double post, dammit.

In some ways it was ahead of it's time. They were designed to be tuned E-C the idea being that users could play across the neck rather than move their hands up and down the neck. But because Fender didn't think anyone would need to play up the neck anymore, they only gave it 15 frets. You have to wonder if they'd gone with 20 frets or more it might actally have caught on.

Isn't it just a different implementation of the Dingwall concept of having a longer string on the B string so that it's under more tension and doesn't feel as floppy as a 34' scale B. Having played neither a Dingwall or a Fodera I have no idea if there's any truth to that, but it sort of makes sense in my head.

Slightly dissapointed. With a name like 'Batking' I was hoping for something a bit more black, spikey and gothic. Like a sort of BC Rich Warlock Uke. Oh well, congratulatioms on scoring yourself something that looks like it'll give you a lot of fun.

For some reason that single pick up version works much better than the PJ ones aesthetically for me. Looks less like a Mustang knock off gone wrong.

I went through a phase on skinny stringer where when I played barre chords I'd often inadvertently pull the top e string over the edge of the fret board. Never once did I think 'Ooh, that sounds good'.

'If it looks too good to be true...'

A quick google search brough up this interview https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/level-42s-mark-king-running-16482167 “Yeah, there were a lot of drugs but I’m quite a speedy person and never enjoyed it that much"

There's been a bit of 70s funk/soul revival going on in the pop charts for a few years. Bruno Mars and Lizzo among others have been mining the decade for inspiration. I tend to think it's mainly a positive thing, at least it's bringing the spotlight back onto things that sound like real instruments even if it's all actually done on a synth and a laptop.

This is one of my favourites, written for the film 'The Crow' I'm not sure it was ever on a Cure album.