skankdelvar

Thank you, that's very kind. With luck, around the year 2023 I should finally settle down somewhere.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1395079171' post='2398417'] I may want to buy a neck because the truss rod has gonein of mine. If I cacan't fix it then I may replace it or sell the body. [/quote] Shame; hope it all works out. It's pretty straightforward getting a new neck compared to the days when after-market parts were almost unheard of. [quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1395081354' post='2398452'] I like Precision basses but prefer Jazz width necks. I have a Mighty Mite Jazz neck on my MIJ P body and it is really nice. [/quote] My next project may be a 51-bitsa with a Jazz width neck and Tele-type headstock. Mr Jazz headstock ... meet Mr Router.

It's a perfectly good question and to a certain extent you've answered it yourself: [quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1395076098' post='2398371'] gets bored ... because there's something about it that didn't suit the owner ... if you changed a bass to fretless ... cheap copy basses, where folk fall in love with the body (after upgrading it?), but then want to get a respectable neck? [/quote] To which one might add: changing fingerboard materials (e.g. maple > rosewood or vice versa) in a quest for 'tone'; replacing a damaged neck (e.g. a snapped truss rod); buying separate parts and screwing together a bitsa. Two more reasons are (i) because we are incorrigible fiddlers and (ii) because there's a demand from people who want to buy necks. Which leads to the next question - why do you want to buy a neck? As for whether MM necks are better or worse than Squiers or Fenders, I expect someone will be along in a moment who knows.

Ta for the review, Jules! Happy Session-ing! If I can stop moving house every 5 minutes I might well investigate one of these puppies - and Mr Ward's upgrades. [color=#ffffff].[/color]

The Carol Kaye method may avoid RSI issues but it's done nothing for her memory. Like a Swiss cheese, it is.

* Get used to muting with the edge of your 'picking' palm. That's pretty essential for faster single note parts. * False harmonics are entertaining. On a downstroke, the edge of the thumb strikes the string immediately after the point of the pick at 5, 7 or 12 frets above the fretted note. Pingggg! * All the usual stuff applies about where to 'pluck'. Nearer the neck for quieter and 'round', nearer the bridge for louder and 'twang'. * If the clicky attack of the pick sounds a bit nasty and planky, roll the tone well back on the bass and turn your highs up a little bit on the amp. All picks are worth trying once. If you can't find any of the big, heavy equilaterally triangular-ish types, PM me and I'll send you a few. [size=3]Not life-size. [/size]

I remember seeing Jay Stapley gigging with a Sessionette in the Dublin Castle in the 80's. Absolutely stonking sound and not a valve in sight. Enjoy your amp when it comes home

Here's another Hungarian slab; step forward Mr Mickey Hargitay, father of toothsome Mariska Hargitay out of LorraNorder SVU

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1394641878' post='2393636'] However for me, on a cheap bass many of those adjustments are either not possible or financially viable. Maybe when you bought your 'beginner' bass you picked one with a neck profile or width that you were comfortable with at the time. That may now be the limiting factor. Change the neck and machine heads? Fine, but maybe the pickups and tone controls aren't quite right either, the body might be a bit heavy. These are things you probably didn't consider when you first bought the bass.. [/quote] Excellent points which I completely overlooked.

[quote name='LiamPodmore' timestamp='1394645118' post='2393688'] Not sure where you got Stockport from though Skank, they're in Preston. Much easier to get to. [/quote] I'm sorry; I'm from the south. Preston? Stockport? It's all north to me

^^ Sweet Jesus, what did I start? As for 'shallow bodied acoustic guitars with a Danelectro lipstick', one might scour the world for a Danelectro Convertible. Not [i]quite[/i] a Taylor in the sense of construction and playability yet bizarrely expensive whether original or RI: [size=3][b]Danelectro Convertible[/b] - 'crafted' from premium grade pine, fibreboard, glue and spit.[/size] Anyway, good luck in your search for inexpensive Taylorhood, Liam. Let us know how you get on. [color=#ffffff].[/color]

It's always nice to have a new toy but - IMO - the most important contribution to a player's musical self-improvement is a well set-up bass. Stuff like 'tone' is interesting but all a bit subjective and in most instances is only of importance when soloing a bass in a quiet environment. Like many older players I went for years in complete ignorance of nut-depth, relief, action and intonation. The first time I had a proper luthier's set-up, the difference was like night and day. My fingers seemed to fly round the board and I postponed all ideas of getting a new bass. Over the years I discovered further enhancements: changing string gauges; actually [i]using[/i] the tone and volume knobs; shimming a bolt-on neck to improve break angle over the saddles; dressing the frets to permit a buzz-free low action. Of course, using a luthier to do all this stuff soon adds up to the cost of a new bass, so one might as well learn to do this oneself. At this point, one realises that (i) one is more interested in tweaking one's existing bass than in buying a new item and (ii) one has entered a whole new world of nerd-hood. Buy another bass or tweak the old one. It's all good.

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1394558728' post='2392696'] I kind of agree, but starting out he may need to learn these as their are a serious number of bands who pick them and that might be the route into playing with a band at this stage [/quote] Indeed. One should learn all the old chestnuts: Sweet Home Alabama, Mustang Sally, Red House, Down At The Doctor's, Blue Suede Shoes, Jumping Jack Flash, Get Back, Sweet Home Chicago, Summertime Blues, Whole Lotta Love, Pretty Vacant. In fact the beginner should learn [i]anything[/i] that gets slagged off on BC for being a cliche song or a cliche artist. They're cliches because they get played an [i]awful[/i] lot, whether we 'like' them or not.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1394560933' post='2392750'] Unfortunately, yes. My elder brother had a buddy, a bit of a giant beanstalk frame, and regulation creepy bottle-bottom thick-rimmed specs. [/quote] No, not that type at all. I mean someone in a smoking jacket and black nail-gloss; owns an agreeable apartment with Chinoiserie-themed decor; bust of Aleister Crowley on the mantelpiece and an ormolu box of jazz cigarettes. [color=#ffffff].[/color]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1394559429' post='2392717'] I'll have that fiver back, please, if you're going to go into all these details. [/quote] No, really. The guy was just like Jarvis Montgomery, the aristocratic roue of Baddiel & Newman fame. You've almost certainly met the type. "Oh yessss ... Rock'N'Roll ... young men [i]performing[/i] on stage. Come and sit over here. Do you like [i]videos[/i]? The sort they don't show on TV?"

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1394374989' post='2390777'] There is an interesting add in the current Guitar and Bass magazine......Wanted Brown Haired bass player in to heavy rock....must have long hair and be over 22 years old........I assume talent, experience, number of limbs etc are all of less importance then I don't for a second imagine the guy placing the add would be some kind of control freak [/quote] I saw that! I also noticed almost identical ads presumably from the same guy wanting (iirc) a young blond, longhaired guitarist and a young black-haired drummer. I suspect it's got nothing to do with music; just some pervert wanting a four-way. I only mention this because this was pretty much what happened to me on one occasion back in the 80's when I was a beautiful youth. Answer a similarly worded ad, go round to this bloke's place, hand on the knee, that sort of thing. [size=3][b]Wanted[/b]: Nice young men[/size]

Since Christmas there seems to have been a deluge of interesting stuff in the BC marketplace. Some of it so nice I keep forgetting that I'm supposed to be unloading gear ATM

Black one in The Music Cellar in Stockport [url="http://www.themusiccellar.co.uk/crafter-slim-arch-series-sa-tbk-translucent-black?keyword=crafter&category_id=0&model=1"]according to their website[/url] Mind you, that could mean 'Yes we've got one, except we haven't got it in the shop and it's still somewhere in China'. Good luck with your search

[b]Taylor T5[/b] [b]Crafter SA - Circa £500-550[/b] Bout-mounted controls / pick-up in neck position. Maybe worth a try?

[quote name='Back to Bassics' timestamp='1394298941' post='2390065'] . with all the noncy reissues they've been doing you can't be too sure ... [/quote] That would be the thing.

[quote name='Jono Bolton' timestamp='1392937782' post='2374595'] .How often do forumites change their strings? I've had mine on since Christmas Day and they sound a bit dead. [/quote] For me, it depends on how much use they're getting. An hour or two every other day and I'd change my Elixirs about once a year. I've had a set of those lads on a bass for seven years now and they still work fine.

[quote name='Back to Bassics' timestamp='1394224508' post='2389402'] Dunno about guitar porn, but here's an organ donor I keep in case a bass needs some spares (like a pickup ... or a tailpiece ...or even just a knob ). [/quote] Oh my! And proper toasters too.

[quote name='badboy1984' timestamp='1394206273' post='2389171'] I did contact Roland in Salford about checking the amp out, the gig is on Saturday and I can't do it till next week so I'm taking a gamble to on Saturday and hope it won't fail on me. [/quote] Don't worry. You really should have no cause for concern unless the amp is making funny noises or you've hammered it at full beans every night for the last six months. We aren't talking about fine china here. A well-designed and constructed valve amp should last for years and so will the tubes if used sensibly. I just sold a 1977 Marshall head which IIRC was last re-tubed in 1990. Switched it on the other week after 10 years in storage and it worked fine. As has been pointed out apparently your LB30 doesn't need re-biasing, which in turn relieves you of the need to worry about 'matched pairs' of output valves (which some believe to be a bunch of snake-oil anyway). Forget about the power tubes unless you've got an audible problem. Short of some serious work which will be entirely beyond you, what it comes down to is whether you stick a new pre-amp valve in the front end and - if so - whether it's a different 12AX7 or a 12AT7. You [i]will[/i] notice a bit of a difference but not compared to turning the amp's gain up or down.