SpondonBassed

[quote name='Elfrasho' timestamp='1508740821' post='3394031'] ...I know there's more to setting up your bass than raising the saddles but it works for me. [/quote] I bet you didn't know you could use a banana as a gauge though. If you like root vegetables I'd suggest a prize-winning parsnip. [attachment=256056:PrizeWinningParsnips.png]

[quote name='BobVbass' timestamp='1508655374' post='3393511'] No we haven't got anything on you tube and our websites is about 4 years out of date - I really must update it as its a bit crap not to really - we should get some decent recordings and videos as well - but we're already booked out until this time next year so it's hard to convince the other two that we need to when we haven't got any spare slots if it generates any new business. [/quote] Yes. I saw the site you list in your sig file. Being fully booked out for a year is not the worst complaint to have. I would side with your band mates but then I do [i]not[/i] like social media. I need a secretary. I'm at the stage where I am going to have to work up a couple of songs for bass and vox only. I might need to practice stomping too. I like [i]Queen Bee[/i] but it might be ambitious and meaningless to an audience without blues guitar.

[quote name='steantval' timestamp='1508716788' post='3394014'] I can slip a banana between my pick ups and strings, do you think my action is to high ? [/quote] No but if you progress to a grapefruit I'd say you ought to write to an agony aunt.

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1508707436' post='3393970'] Cheers bud, you saved the day there. And they were jeans converted to west coast flares with a paisley V to make them bell bottoms. [/quote] You're quite sure there wasn't a tartan cuff on those I suppose? Still, flares flapping wildly over enormous plastic platform shoes would cause a similar effect amongst onlookers. Heeheehee. I never tried flares.

[attachment=256037:Action17thFret.JPG] My Pitbull. If you squint, you should be able to make out the lower edge of the B at 4.5mm on the 17th fret. It was more but I made a crude shim for the neck. Even now I am running with the outer saddles sat right down on the bridge plate. Oddly for me, I was getting on okay with the higher action too. It will probably get another rework at some point but it plays and the neck is faster than I've ever had on a bass. If I levelled the frets properly and actually had skills playing I'd be dangerous. Not bad for an inexpensive kit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKJQd65aFvo

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1508636468' post='3393498'] Cos they don't pass the BBC's 'trendy' test. [/quote] How very [i]seventies[/i] of you was it using that adjective? Were you wearing tartan turn-ups as you typed it?

...and Disco Ducks absolutely do not [b][color=#800080]SUCK!*[/color][/b] *[size=3](Oi Steve Dahl! Have you [i]ever[/i] seen duck-lips? They've got beaks for gawd's sake. Go start a bowel movement instead.)[/size]

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1508609595' post='3393345'] Zombie Thread time - blame Huey Morgan for playing this on 6 Music this morning - what a corker! [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fd0dbn27cY[/media] [/quote] Good old fun-lovin' Huey! It's a while since I've had time to listen at that time. I know there are streaming options but I still like to think of today's so-called radio as [i]in the moment[/i].

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1508612078' post='3393370'] I was joking, hence the grin. OMs can be a lot of fun. Please ignore me, I'm having a weird day. [/quote] It's okay my friend. The only thing I will ever ignore is the smilies because I find them hard to understand. Then that's just me having a weird life compared to the "normals". Keep the quips coming mate. They can't do yer for it.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1508607298' post='3393318'] Must be a new definition of 'enrichment' I'm not familiar with. [/quote] Please bear in mind that as a musician, I have led an overly sheltered life. I stand by my definition because life has been a bit difficult until recently and I hadn't been getting out much at all. What do you say about OM?

[quote name='BobVbass' timestamp='1508608671' post='3393334'] ...we're all old farts that have played most songs people request anyway. [/quote] I am not sure if the [i]About Time[/i] clips on YT are yours. One thing is certain. This set of yours might count as news in Milwaukee even if it doesn't quite match a four hour stand with no breaks. I like your band's approach.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1508601569' post='3393245'] Dunno. Are you feeling as grumpy as me today? [/quote] That I [i]can[/i] answer. No. I've just come out of a down and I wont bore you with it as I want to get on with things now that I am well.

Personally I see a gig as a commitment to play whether money is offered or otherwise. I wouldn't count open mics so much. I prefer to think of them as enrichment as you don't always know what's going to happen. It's interesting to read Dad's definition.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1508584854' post='3393086'] And your explanation for Dancing In The Streets being a 1980s song? Note that it's the Martha version, not the silly charity version. [/quote] Have I [i]got[/i] to answer that?

[quote name='BobVbass' timestamp='1508510485' post='3392693'] Here's our current set list I either sing lead or backing on - its a bit out of date but we normally do 70 or so a night... [/quote] [quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1508520747' post='3392771'] ...some very dodgy decade allocations there... [/quote] Not that dodgy when you consider that punters watch Vintage TV and similar mass media platforms and believe it when they give the release year for a song on a music vid that was made more than a decade after the song last hit revenue thresholds (charts, if you will). If you looked for the first release of every song in a set I don't think there would be many musos that can say without question that they cover the first released version of ALL of the songs therein. You might have to be both muso and pedant with a tendency towards OCD for it to be a serious niggle anyway. This could be discussed further on a Punters vs Pedants thread but who cares? I have a big [size=5]respect[/size] for bass playing front men and women doing songs from any decade[size=5]*[/size] you'd care to mention. @ BobVBass; How long are your sets please? 70 songs a night must be heading towards [color=#0000cd]Blue[/color]ish territory. Three mins per song would make 210 minutes with no breaks and that's three and a half hours! Tell us more. [size=3]*This statement is limited to decades after the fashion for singing tripe like "[i]With a hey and a ho, hey-nonny-no![/i]" died. Other decades are available.[/size]

[quote name='honza992' timestamp='1508526731' post='3392825'] Thanks fftc & Andy. Well blow me down. As Andy says, the same thing does happen with a conventional bridge. If you play an open E then adjust the saddle so the string gets longer the pitch (of the open E) actually goes up, not down! Weird How could I never have noticed this before.....I think it must be because before moving the saddle I would de-tune, move the saddle, then re-tune, so I never actually noticed what the effect was of moving the saddle. I'm still a bit unsure as to exactly why. And does the fact that I'm using a secondary bridge to hold the strings mean that they act differently (and will intonate differently) when the strings go through the body? Or is it completely irrelevent what happends to the string once it's gone over the saddle? [/quote] Calm down, calm down. I understand your frustration. I was puzzled by this too. It is of no relevance to what you are doing and if you overthink it like I did once, you may be at risk of a minor stroke. The reason you noticed it from what you've said is that, in this instance, you did not slacken the string before moving the saddle. In my humble bumblings I say that is better practice to detune until the tension is enough to retain the string but not enough to cause much static friction between saddle and string. Static friction being greater than dynamic friction, you will find fine adjustment to the saddle is facilitated when you reduce the tension of the string because you wont get that sudden release and overshoot when the bridge starts to move. Without going into Applied Mathematics, that's as simple as I can put it. On standard bridges, if you keep the string at tuning tension, there is the additional risk of bending the longer grub screws in the saddles or damaging the finish beneath the screws as they are dragged by the string length adjustment. For those reasons it would be counter-intuitive to keep string tension on standard bridges during fine adjustment. Of course, on a standard bridge you also have string height to consider every time you change the string length. Have you any provision for that on yours or are you aiming to file the boney bit (saddle-nut?) to a final height for your chosen strings? The unexpected phenomenon that you're describing is worthy of a topic all of its own... if anyone wants to take the job? Maybe a BC masterclass on bridge and saddle placement has been done already. When we have the migration behind us the forum search engine might throw up some improved results from our older topics.

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1508537575' post='3392900'] There's a law in Scotland forbids me from wearing spandex. I take that law seriously [/quote] I'm quite sure that is in case you need to wear a kilt over the top for a formal occasion. It would be a bit of a fashion foul-up on windy days with nothing weighting down your sporran.

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1508510861' post='3392695'] http://duhvoodooman.com/Musical/humbucker_mods/humbucker_mods.htm You can do basically any of these mods. Most of which require a switch - either a toggle switch (meaning extra holes) or you can get a volume/tone pot with a pull/push function to preserve the look of your bass. In all honesty, on a two pickup bass the only one I would personally add is a switch for both pickups in series (FAT sound), or a switch to coil tap if its a particularly beefy pickup, this will drop the volume but add more treble. With some exceptions, coil tapped humbuckers don't sound as good as true single coil pickups though. The trouble with most of these mods is that can dramatically affect the volume output as well as the tone - so if you're on a gig it's not always a simple matter of flicking a switch to get a different sound, you'll need to play with volume controls too and possibly adjust your amp tone controls. [/quote] Many thanks. I shall study that a bit more. That's a lot like a pdf someone else posted from DiMarzio which also mentions switching the phase of one of the paired coils. I understand the point about volume changes when switching from one configuration to another. With the coil split, in theory I should be able to use any of the four separated coils in any combination shouldn't I? I wanted the series/parallel option already so it's good to hear it recommended.

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1508448662' post='3392359'] No, it was mentioned quite often - have another read! [/quote] May I add that much of the criticism was of the neck for both the Jazz and the Precision. They're like Marmite and Bovril for me. I never got a taste for either of them, not even on toast.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1508437349' post='3392249'] Shame but think they could have found another band who look and sound the same...? [/quote] I see what you've done there. Unfortunate choice of band name in this instance. I hope they recover their schedule and manage to cover their losses. It isn't all that great for the fans either but my thoughts are with the band. http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/15599254.Placebo_cancel_Tuesday_s_Swindon_gig_at_the_Oasis/: From the article - "The band have temporarily halted their 20 Years of Placebo tour while lead singer Brian Molko sees a specialist and finds out what's causing the vocal issues." Have they really been on tour for twenty years? How does that work?

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1508424895' post='3392118'] I have been using lead-free solder, and my iron melts that easily enough, but then I think I paid all of a fiver for it in Maplin. Perhaps it's worth me investing in some of the fancy silver stuff! [/quote] That suggests that you aren't getting the heat to where the fillet metal - the solder itself - is quickly enough. The pot back-shells may be sucking heat faster than your iron can supply it. I don't see any value in replacing the solder if your iron is working with the stuff you've got. It might also be that the wires are tied around the posts in addition to being soldered. Some people I know like to make a secure mechanical contact before applying any solder at all. If you have a desoldering tool to take the solder right off the connection it should be immediately apparent if this is so. Going back to the original question - is there an industrial strength solder - the answer is yes. There are two that I know off the top of my head but I know of no situation where they have been used in electrical applications. They are Silver Soldering and Brazing. The temperatures necessary to melt the filler metals (brass in the case of brazing) are high enough to destroy most electrical components very quickly. They are more for mechanical applications where a solid joint is required without melting of the parent metals. Silver Soldering; http://www.pollymodelengineering.co.uk/global/technical-notes/basic-silver-soldering.asp Brazing; http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/brazingjoints.htm

If this is already dealt with in another topic please forgive me and reply with a link to it here. I have two unknown-make humbuckers on my Pitbull. I like the sounds they make in the simple configuration that was in the kit's wiring diagram but I am interested in opening up the options as far as possible without putting in a preamp. I know I can split the output of the coils as they have four wires each. What I am not sure about is how many different ways the separated coils can be wired and switched and the benefits that result. Currently there are four pots wired as separate volume and tone for each humbucker. Can anyone suggest what might be needed in terms of a wiring scheme and additional components to expand the range of sounds I can get from the pick-ups supplied please? It's something I'd like to understand better. If it helps to see the bass a link to its assembly topic is in the sig file below but to be kind to mobile 'phone users (a first for me!) here it is; [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/308684-ibanez-tribute-kit/"]http://basschat.co.u...ez-tribute-kit/[/url]

Like Discreet says ^

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1508327758' post='3391364'] I've been using an 18W soldering iron for thirty years and never had a problem. As has been said, melting some fresh solder onto the iron bit can help, but what I always find helps with stubborn, old joints, is melting fresh solder right onto the old solder. I know it might seem odd, adding solder to an area where you want to remove it, but it has always worked everytime for me. [/quote] That's because the additional metal from your new solder absorbs heat and then that extra heat is transferred to the joint almost instantly through conduction through the larger contact area that is made by the softened metal.