mybass

Yes. Always the right spot in a room for hearing the best. I’ve been in some big rooms and wondered what on earth the engineer was mixing up until I stood behind or next to them. Glad you got sorted.

I was looking out for a decent 5 string for a bit of home studio( or using a 4 string with low set of strings) and found these basses, liking the satin finish Midnight Blue/ roasted or is it baked maple neck and a similar satin Burgundy colour with other options. I found several on UK /Euro websites for sale but we’re not actually available or were coming to shops in the future later in the year. Has anyone got one and what would be your experience of it?

On the second night I stayed to the end of their second set and got to speak with Neils over a pint at the bar .... a very nice man.

I’ve saw him a few times at Ronnie Scott’s, once on two consecutive nights in duo with guitarist Joe Pass. The interplay was incredible, which was why I went back a second night. His intonation, timing and subtlety was superb. Indeed, one of the greatest double bass players.

You may want to put up a link about this to the MU website?

Another problem with frets to watch out for with measuring.....I have two different makes of metre long steel rulers marked with inch and cm/mm. I’ve recently put them side by side and they are out with each other. Currently looking at expensive proven rulers!

Tell me! That’s why I’m interested in finding a place that has an in situ machine!

Really?

There is a certain amount of space within the saddle for the screw to alter where the saddle will sit...ie, it either 'unscrews' / forwards the saddle until and saddle falls off the screw or it screws backwards and the screw will reach the limit it can turn within the saddle. I found filing the screw down a few mm (on a Hipshot) bridge helped pull the saddle back a little further.

I have filed the screw shorter itself to gain a little extra backward movement but the filed end has to be smothed off to allow it to screw easily back into the saddle. May I add that pictures may help us out here to see better....?

The 'dampit' I have I think was a D'Addario one. It doesn't drip or leak water, the tube slowly 'expels' moisture and shrivels in size when dried out. I think its better than nothing (as pictured above, I also use a couple of drill hole lidded containers). My double bass tutor of many years ago made his own ‘dampit’ from a piece of plastic tubing, about 1" wide with holes drilled along the length. It had foam inside to soak up water, blocked both ends with one end having a piece of wood or plastic across it to stop it falling through the F hole, simply left it in his DB, this was way before commercial companies made them.

I may give David a call on this, thanks.

Yes I use the Stewmacs thanks....I do cut fret slots by hand but I wondered if there was anyone with a 'spot on' setup who already cuts them as a business so I could call and order same week type of thing.....and in 33" scale, which none of the current people I find will do due to having to set up a new jig.

Strings.....are they in good order or old? Try a new E string as an old one can be ‘out of tune’. Bridge....take the old one and try and line it on top of the Babitz to see where the saddles line up or not. I think the same the same screw holes are used? Have a look at this website....https://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator and it should be showing you where frets for a 34 inch scale bass should be set and at the bottom of the page is their measurement from the nut (where the fret side of the nut) to where a Fender bridge SCREW line should be set....there is a small plus/ minor degree measurement. Good luck....

Strings.....are they in good order or old? Try a new E string as an old one can be ‘out of tune’. Bridge....take the old one and try and line it on top of the Babitz to see where the saddles line up or not. I think the same the same screw holes are used?

I want to get a fingerboard with a 33" scale with the fret slots cut. Does anyone know of a UK (preferably) place that does the 'scales'. There are a couple on Ebay but they stick to long and short scale for bass only.

I also use a couple of smallish lidded plastic containers. Drilled multiple holes across the top lid, fill with water and place on the floor underneath the bass. Picture below, not great but you get the idea. I’ve one of the humidifiers you mentioned, it’s a good ten years old and I forget to refill it, must try it again!

I assume Fender are talking about Swamp Ash here, a lovely tone wood in itself but different to a degree with Ash as in European/UK Ash which is generally a heavier and tonally different to swamp ash. I've used both 'types' of ash for bass building but usually go for Ash with its slightly 'tighter mids'. Swamp ash though is an easier wood to work on and still sounds great. I'm not so sure with the Fender idea of Alder over Ash.....but theres another discussion!

Yes, the sweet spot may well be where the pups were originally placed. I became more interested so looked at Fender’s website, not much there to be found but moving on this was found.....beware, takes a while to read through! http://www.till.com/articles/PickupResponse/

Very interesting to read this topic as I’ve always been a jazz pup person. I recently made a single ‘P’ pickup bass guitar (not a ‘P’ bass replica) and reversing the pickups position was something that was proposed many years ago as I’d wondered why that pickup was placed where it is by Fender. I tend to think there was no real science back in the darker ages of bass guitar manufacture and that jazz and precision pickup placement was made simply because they sounded different to each other in those positions and looked good there ... possibly! So some tracks have a wonderful P bass sound and others not as good......maybe the player, the amp, the recording quality, the actual song or size of band trying to be recorded? My thoughts for a new bass focussed on best pickup placement for a single pickup bass for recording and live, giving a tighter note off the E and A and hopefully matching the ‘bass’ tone given off by the D and G. Sound pretty good too with it’s Bartolini offset poles ‘P’ pickup but I’m putting in a Nordstrand one (bought on Basschat) as the bar magnets will straddle under the strings better....the problem with moving the pickups is the pole pieces don’t quite line up under the strings, something I never thought of, you learn all the time, but they still sound great!

Pickup (Nordstrand) from Ben, real quick efficient sale and post, received the next day. Marvelous....cheers Ben

Micro mesh is also used by guitar builders, especially acoustics, to highly polish the (top) wood pre oil or spray finishing. This is how I heard about it through David Dyke’s Luthier Supplies. Micro mesh doesn’t really take away any layer of wood but after sanding hopefully leaving no scratches, micro mesh is used starting normally from 1500 (or is it 1200?) working up to the final piece in a 9 pack that looks like a shiny piece of material itself. However, using this stuff can also highlight scratches unseen at the end of normal sanding as the polishing effect brings them out so before oil or spraying a clear finish, those damned scratches can be looked at.

iI know Ebay have their own postage thing going but how and if it’s in the UK I’m not sure. Sending stuff overseas can be done through Ebay. Check their options? They have a warehouse in East Midlands somewhere that handles their international posting hub.

Roasted Maple, um, sounds scrummy! Jury in my house is still sitting on a decision but I lean towards it looks good, possibly like very aged necks and sometimes that does help us feel good about playing it. I’ve had and made single maple piece necks that are still strong and true today and then one or two single piece ones that were not that good ..... so my theory is it’s in the wood for a start, not so much in the roasting, if it’s a decent piece, dried correctly and maybe even wants to be a neck, as I’m sure wood sometimes has its own mind!