mybass

Top dealings with Gary, all fast done n dusted easily, cheers.

Thanks for the heads up....I'm mini festival'ing that day, hope it goes well.

Just play fretless all the time! This way you will really have to ear train yourself to intonate better than you ever have. Ideally practising on double bass is the way forward. Double bass technique books can help, they show the exercises in ‘position’ playing, ie half position, 1st position etc. The frets on a fretted bass play the notes for you. On fretless ‘you’ play the note which is why intonation becomes of paramount importance.

The latest today: $100 million lawsuit filed over Universal's 2008 warehouse fire As expected, a lawsuit has been filed following recent revelations in the New York Times about the scale of a fire at an LA warehouse storing Universal Music owned master tapes all the way back in 2008. A legal filing made last week, which seeks class action status, says that the major breached its artist contracts by failing to keep the master tapes safe and then failing to inform said artists about the damage caused by the fire. Citing internal Universal Music memos, the NYT article alleged that up to half a million master tapes containing recordings from the 1930s through to the 2000s were lost in the 2008 fire at the Universal Studios Hollywood. This contradicts statements made at the time of the blaze when the record company played down the extent of the losses. The major has denied many of the claims in the NYT report. However, Universal Music chief Lucian Grainge said in a memo to staff last week that the company now had a duty to be super transparent with affected artists. While insisting that lots of speculation that has followed the publication of the NYT article is without substance, Grainge wrote: "We owe our artists transparency. We owe them answers. I will ensure that the senior management of this company, starting with me, owns this". However, the artists participating in the new litigation - who include Soundgarden, Hole, Steve Earle, and the estates of Tom Petty and Tupac - want more than answers. The lawsuit is seeking compensatory damages "in excess of $100 million", arguing that Universal failed in its obligation to keep the master tapes containing its artists' recordings safe, and then instigated a cover-up which, the legal filing adds, basically continues to this day. The lawsuit also notes that, while in public Universal played down the significance of the 2008 fire at the time, that didn't stop it from suing the Universal film company over the blaze and making a significant insurance claim in relation to its losses. Law360 reports that, in Universal Music's largely sealed lawsuit against the other Universal company shortly after the fire, the former accused the latter of failing to keep sprinkler systems properly up to speed at the Hollywood site where the music company still stored its tapes. It also said that the Universal studio business had ignored safety recommendations made after an earlier fire in 1990. But the music major itself should have been ensuring safety measures were up to scratch at the facility, the artists' lawsuit argues. Not least because when the 1990 fire occurred, Universal Music and Universal Studios were still parts of the same company, so the former would have had access to the safety recommendations that were made. Moreover, the legal filing goes on, "at a minimum, these alleged dire [safety] conditions were observable to UMG on even the most cursory inspection of the warehouse and its location". As for the way Universal Music communicated the impact of the fire to its artists, the lawsuit lists various allegedly false statements the company's executives made to the press back in 2008, all of which played down the scale of the damage. And as for how the loss of the master tapes could in turn impact on the artists pursuing the litigation, the lawsuit adds: "Master recordings - the original sound recordings of songs - are the embodiment of a recording artist's life's work and musical legacy. They are the irreplaceable primary source of recorded music". Universal Music is yet to comment on the legal action. If it gets to court, there will be various questions to be asked. Firstly, exactly how many master tapes were actually lost? Then, how many recordings on those tapes don't exist elsewhere? Then, has the artist still suffered a loss even if their recordings are stored in another format? And, perhaps most importantly of all, what are Universal's contractual obligations to artists regarding tape storage?

https://completemusicupdate.com/article/universal-master-tape-fire-revelations-could-result-in-litigation/

I met Lee many years ago at Aria when they were sited near Heathrow and then near Guildford. He is a very nice person, I'm glad you got this sorted, top stuff Aria.

I’m surprised these cheap bridges were ever used on those basses!

Interesting stuff neilp ... I was in a bass repair shop once and the owner let me try a very old and very heavy full size bass. I had difficulty getting good bow volume out of it but he explained that this bass projected far beyond the player’s area and actually had a huge sound......in the right hands!

Ah, not ambient’s clip.....yes a quite novel hand position for French style bow, I must try, I’m in the throws of changing to a German style, perhaps even practising the DB again though I don’t know if I can get the Bach cello concertos playing as well as Ibragimov!

I seem to remember a story that after Koussevistsky passed away, his wife offered his double bass over to Gary Karr. I saw Karr play in London in the 80’s accompanied by piano and it was awe inspiring especially his harmonics playing.

That is a ‘German’ style bow, it has the wider frog so the grip is different.

Mine was sold on to a shop in Shepherds Bush, London back in the 70s, looks like this colour too.I think I tried a Ricky but then went for a Gibson Les Paul Recording that I had a long scale neck fitted perfectly by Richard Knight guitars down Weybridge, Surrey way. That bass has a bass clef at the 12th fret......(anyone got it now?)....So, when and where did you get this one?

Interesting zero fret Combi nut on this site, I’ve never seen one like this.

Find a reputable osteopath, really. My man (Hindhead, Surrey) is excellent and has seen many musicians. ie....I had a bad knee problem once, it turned out it was my ankle that was out of alignment and a single visit sorted it all out.

String sale to Reggabass Tony for his bass restoring project, great dealing with you, cheers.

Gotoh tuners to Gary, all nicely done, cheers 4pwclm.

Hiwatt and Fender valves in the UK and Jansen in NZ.

Maybe that particular cables doesn't have decent wire in it so bin it. I make up cables from quality stuff and always use Neutrik jack plugs for a proper contact area for bass or pedal inputs as some jack plugs from 'other' countries are inferior quality and just ever so slightly less in circumference than Neutrik.

I’m not so sure Cites is pertinent as far as the age of this bass is meant to be....contacting Shecter with the serial number might work. I recently sent a pic of some real old rosewood I had to a luthier supplier and he said it’s not possible to ascertain exactly what wood it is unless he has it in his hands and even then it may not be possible to exactly say what and where it came from.