Doctor J

Hey, guess what... https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/nevermind-baby-is-still-suing-nirvana-1284031/

It's all about perspective isn't it? Chris Square is a legend if you look at bass from the right angle.

First thing which came to mind was the Washburn and Rudy Sarzo gurning with one. Then I saw Steve's post and it's bang on. What is the thinking behind the string guide on the G string, is that extra bind point really necessary?

Elixir stainless steel 45-105

That white ESP Phoenix in the FS section. I have no need for it and it's absolutely ergonomically catastrophic for how I play a bass. Still, would you just look at it 😍

Apparently? To reference something you posted earlier in this thread - "if the same thing had been said about, say, West Indians all hell would break loose" Do you think a negative generalisation is ok to say when you're not saying it about black people?

There was someone on the forum here who posted a pic of their Ibanez many years ago. It had really old Elixir strings on it and the coating had degraded to such an extent that it looked like they were coated in white fur and were ready to go and live in the forest 😂

It's worn Elixir nanoweb coating, no?

I have, more than once, then my tastes and requirements have changed and I'm on the hunt again. Those moments of contentedness are quite delicious, however.

He used a Steinberger XM2 and GK head to record AJFA.

His drumming isn't poor, it's genuinely terrible. He was decent, back in the day. Definitely. After the black album, he stopped practising and he's really, really bad. Once Metallica became 'tallica, that's where it turned to sheeeeite. Listen to any of the live stuff from the last 25 years in where he chucks in one bass drum strike per verse on the fast stuff. Nah, I don't actively dislike the guy - he's the only one who cones out of SKOM with any credit at all - and he does come across as immensely dislikable quite frequently, but I will not stand idly by and watch people defend his drumming. No. I'm not having that. On a related tangent, Mustaine has claimed that Metaliica had Dave Lombardo lined up to replace Lars at the end of the Puppets touring. Cliff's death stopped that from happening, of course. Lombardo was out of Slayer at the time so there a whiff of plausibility to it. When Lombardo played Battery in 2006 with them (I think) we caught a glimpse of what might have been.

Just because one is dim doesn't mean one can't be nice.

I saw Gorerotted many years ago, supporting Cryptopsy. They had a song called "Masticated by the Spasticated", which made me chuckle. I give it to them, that is a truly spectacular song title. I was more offended by their music, really, really not to my taste. I've played on bills with plenty of Grind and, even better, Goregrind bands. A lot of those lads spend more time coming up with manky titles than writing riffs. Very few of them lived out their lyrics, I'm quite sure. Getting offended over musical fantasy is like getting offended by horror or gore movies and books. Intent is everything. Art does not mean the artist lives it out in the real world, or wants to live it out in the real world. There are, of course, plenty of bands using music as a means to push a shitty political agenda which they genuinely believe in. Get offended at that.

So yeah then, considering they never played The Frayed Ends of Sanity, Dyer's Eve or To Live is to Die when Newsted was in the band so there were no live performances to watch or listen to 😉 It's a fine effort, a really fine effort, but the three or four solo tracks of Newsted's original playing are absolutely ferocious and you can't replicate that without using a plec - and I say this as someone who plays with fingers 99% of time.

Here's the other side of that story "We had to get the drum sound up the way he had it. I wasn't a fan of it. So now he goes, "See the bass guitar?" and I said, "Yeah, great part, man. He killed it." He said, "I want you to bring down the bass where you can barely, audibly hear it in the mix." I said, "You're kidding. Right?" He said, "No. Bring it down." I bring it down to that level and he says, "Now drop it down another 5 db." I turned around and looked at Hetfield and said, "He's serious?" It just blew me away. https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/interviews/steve_thompson_when_lars_asked_me_what_happened_to_the_bass_in__justice_i_wanted_to_cold_cock_him.html

The real crime was not getting it mixed properly, at last, for the 30th anniversary edition. They could have had a remastered disk with the original mix and a second disk with whoever giving it a decent mix. They could have righted a very big wrong but, rather spitefully, stick to their guns. They were wrong, they know it, and still refuse to acknowledge it. Those "with bass" albums, as far as I'm aware the only Newsted studio tracks which ever came out were the 4 or 5 on Guitar Hero, so there is no full album with Newsted on every track. Everything else is some dudes playing what they think the basslines are. The irony of "...and Justice For Jason" was that Newsted still couldn't be heard on it.

Some of the roadworn models sported it too, quite bizarrely. When the guitar solo goes on so long you can't even get back to your smoke, oh the humanity!

Pluck the string the other side of the nut, is this the same sound? Also, while fretted, pluck between where it's fretted and the nut. I think the sounds you're hearing are there.

I love how Ibanez (and several other Japanese instrument manufacturers) operate, continual evolution. They're not content to regurgitate the same old stuff year after year. There are some retro orientated instruments but they're continually pushing the range forward, keeping it contemporary. It's not for everyone, granted, but they stake everything on their instruments being modern and technologically up-to-date. It's a brave way to do business in a frequently backwards-looking and overly-sentimental industry. I'm gassing badly for a nice RG at the moment 🙂

Perhaps some Eerie Von stuff off the first 4 Danzig albums? Great songs but no fretboard gymnastics required in order to play along.

Probably less than what it looks like they did, which is fix an additional wood laminate beyond the nut, as it's not a nut in a slot, it is at the end of the fretboard.

Obviously, flush mounting clock hands so they don't clear the G and A tuners would largely, if not entirely, defeat the purpose 😂

Four Sabbath song titles in two sentences? I doff my cap in your direction.

You're into watches and such? You could fit a clock motor on the back, mount the hands through the hole where the D tuner used to be and, voila, a precision timepiece for a homestead wall.