Doctor J

It's got 24 playable frets, my favourite kind of frets!

Dah woz o'mally sally!

The Variax concept is quite the revolution, I reckon. They've overhauled the guitar to largely positive press, should they do the same to the bass it could be quite interesting.

None taken, you know this site reads like an episode of Eastenders?

[quote name='Mog' post='1032801' date='Nov 22 2010, 04:12 PM'] Never had that in the Phoenix myself!? Were ye on the bill with Spitting Bones? Ragin I missed that session, heard it was savage.[/quote] That's the one, yeah it was a very enjoyable night, apart from the aforementioned dramas. It was my first time seeing Spittin' Bones, really enjoyed their set. [quote name='cheddatom' post='1032811' date='Nov 22 2010, 04:16 PM']Is everyone else enjoying imagining this conversation complete with accents?[/quote]I'd understand if one us had said "Top o' the mornin" or "To be sure, to be sure, to be sure"...

[quote name='Mog' post='1032635' date='Nov 22 2010, 02:06 PM']Sounds like Fibbers? Dodgey power in that place. Seen something similar a few times in there.[/quote] We played there twice in the last few weeks without problems This one was in Kildare

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='1031943' date='Nov 21 2010, 09:36 PM']Only drawback is, I may have to move something on to appease the other half....[/quote] Don't worry, once she settles in to her new place she'll forgive you eventually

Had a bit of a technical nightmare on Friday. Current gig is on guitar, but just hear me out anyway. We were band 2 of 4, so no soundcheck, bit of a rush to set up, very dark stage. Plugged in my lovely Fryette head, turned it on to warm it up all good, went about setting up pedals, no problems. I don't have that much crap to plug in, just TU2>Wah>Tubescreamer>Flanger>Delay>Noisegate>Amp. That was fine, had tuned the guitars during the first band's set, plugged in and went to take the amp off standby. No power light. I quickly checked it was securely plugged in at the back. Yes. Made sure it was securely in the plugboard. Yes. Was the power in the plugboard? Yes. sh*t, had I blown a fuse in the amp? Managed to find another IEC cable and plugged it in. On came the power light. Thank f***. OK, let it warm up, took it off standby, started playing. Sounded a bit quiet. I had checked the ohm rating of the cab before I plugged in and adjusted the amp to suit. Still very quiet. Bugger. Made sure the pedals were all securely connected, they were. Clock was ticking. I bypassed the pedals, straight into the amp. There it was. OK, quick check, reseated everything, made sure the power supply for the pedals was properly plugged in, it was. I played again, it finally sounded like it should. At last. Then, a horrible "something electrical is dying" sound... maybe it's the battery in the wah, which wasn't powered off the mains. Even though it was a reasonably new battery I took out the wah, everything sounded fine. I wa still concerned by the power disappearing from the amp but OK, let's start the show. Halfway through the first song, the amp went silent. Hadn't time to troubleshoot, the power light was still on, so I just plugged straight into the amp from the guitar, started working again. It'll do. Got through the rest of the set without any more shenanigans. One of the best crowd reactions we've had, too. I tried plugging the amp in on Saturday using the same IEC lead and plugboard... it worked. I've no idea what happened with the power. Turns out a planet waves lead was behind the lack of volume and then the bizarre electrical noise (which was fine before the gig, I always check everything at home the day before) and that's most likely why the sound died. Still, such dramas make you appreciate the times when everything runs smoothly.

And how come the thread title is in LOWER CASE?

Wait a minute... George is upset... Tim is upset... what ill fate has befallen Julie, Dick and Ann?

That was a really good read, thanks for posting the link

I quite liked the first album, Follow The Waves in particular was a fantastic tune.

Give it another 10 years, it's got nothing at all to do with quality, just got to be at least 30 years old and American made. When I started playing the general consensus among older players I knew (who would have started playing in the 70's) was the 70's Fenders were junk. Bear in mind that this is the era of the lawsuit bass, of Japanese instruments taking huge chunks of the market while Fender's (and Gibson and many other US maufacturers who had let quality plummet through the 70's) sales suffered accordingly. Has anything changed? Has time made a once poor instrument good, or is it the exclusivity and the whole "riding another man's ass groove" of a kid playing an instrument made before he was born which is mojo'd, has a story to tell, however you want to describe the lure of an aged instrument. It's funny how that point where good became sh*t keeps creeping... staying thirty years or so behind. When I started playing in the late 80's, the pre-CBS were good, anything after was bad, then all of the 60's were great and all of the 70's were sh*t, black and white. Then good crept back to the mid 70's now it seems the early 80's ones were good. Funny, I don't remember anyone saying that in the late 80's. The legend of the 83 Smith strat, when finally enough was enough, strat design got back to basics, no more cutting corners, yet that horrible plastic control plate Jazz came out around the same time. Ahhh it is amusing. Look at any FS section and an early 80's US Fender will be two or three times the price of the Japanese Fender/Squier/Other which was clearly the superior instrument of the era. A 70's Fender also seems to be part of the Indie uniform, which will help to stimulate demand. When the full on 80's revival kicks in all of a sudden we'll be back to bright green BC Rich's and and Kubickis! For f*** sake, even pancake bodied Les Pauls are desirable now, any old crap will sell once it's 30 years old and Made In USA

Popping and slapping gives funk a bad name. There, I said it

13 posts on funk P-Bass and no-one has mentioned Paul Jackson?

[quote name='Marky L' post='1023948' date='Nov 14 2010, 08:51 PM']Was just watching a bit of Motorhead live on youtube (2010, Rock In Rio - Portugal) and noticed in a shot how high Lemmy looks to have his action. I grabbed a pic and you can really notice it on his E string (can't recall the song but he was battering away at the A and D). Does it make hammering away at chords on a Ric easier?[/quote] That's not high action, that's the string recoiling from him beating the sh*t out of it. Look at the G string, were the action as high as the E string suggests it wouldn't be that close to the edge of the frets in a picture taken at that angle.

It's pretty good. To a Cheap Trick novice it's a bit rockier than I was expecting, a bit more Beatles-ish than I was expecting too, but I like it, I must say.

I was browsing the music mags today and noticed Classic Rock magazine has an album of theirs for free, what a great coincidence. Picked it up, will have a listen tomorrow.

Try putting something with a straight edge, like a ruler but shorter, long enough to cover three frets, say on 6-7-8, see if it will rock when you put weight on either end, then 7-8-9, same again. See if there is a notiable gap on 9 if you put it on 8-9-10. Put it on 9-10-11 and see if it rocks when you put weight on 9 and see if it's fine on 10-11-12 That will let you know if the frets are the problem - ie if 9 is low or if 10 is high. You don't want to file a bit off 10 and then have that buzz off 11.

[quote name='silddx' post='1021310' date='Nov 12 2010, 12:46 PM']What lengths [/quote] Let's say 2 metres, blind test, who's in?

[quote name='neepheid' post='1021250' date='Nov 12 2010, 12:07 PM']Heh, was idly trawling eBay and stumbled upon the Godin Shifter: [/quote] That is actually quite nice. Might have to investigate that. Nice one!

[quote name='silddx' post='1021292' date='Nov 12 2010, 12:36 PM']Um I would posit that your cable makes more of a difference to your tone than paint ever could.[/quote] Silk Road vs something good, sure. Do you reckon you could hear the difference between two high quality cables though? Do you reckon Steve makes sure the mic leads and PA cables are the same, to ensure his tone isn't tainted by non-Steve Vai brand cable?

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='1021174' date='Nov 12 2010, 11:27 AM']Over the years I've met hundreds of people and read thousands of posts from people who can look at a guitar and once they know what it's made from can go on and on about how their super human ears can tell things that are undetectable in a lab my instruments many times more sensitive than the human ear. I have never met a single person who can only listen to a guitar or bass and tell me what kind of wood is used or anything about he finish or metals used on it. Over the years I've met hundreds of people and read thousands of posts from people who think they are psychic or have supernatural powers... These claims are so often beyond ridiculous it's like people saying they can see molecules. Anyone care to listen to a clip and tell me what woods & finish are used?[/quote] Steve Vai has a signature cable, you know. Can't get that tone without it. I hear he's got signature solder on the way.

I picked up a SR1300PM last week for about the same price so I'd say do it, definitely. That should have EMG's too. Just check the neck is straight before you commit to anything.

A friend of mine has a couple of Fujigen guitars, a strat and a Les Paul, very decent they are too. Not mindblowing, but a good standard of build and good parts, got them both for around €500 each 2nd hand off Ishibashi.