Tokalo

Back in the early 80s, my French exchange “partner” gave me a home-recorded cassette of Charlie Couture albums. I absolutely loved it, and still play the albums every summer. Im not sure that I was meant to like it so much - he seemed to enjoy this song most of all. I can’t speak French, but I’m sure this was barbed.

I once became a person of interest for a bored Italian intern at work back in the 90s. She said she loved opera, so I organised tickets for a group of us to see La Boheme at The Little Theatre in Leicester. As we were going in, she said “this had better be in Italian.” Needless to say, it was in English (and a pretty dreadful example of an English local opera group, tbh). She never mentioned opera again. OTOH, I once saw The Magic Flute at the ENO. So it was all in English, but I still never understood a word.

Because I’ve got a bass, I was asked to play “I wish I knew How it Feels to be Free” at a charity do two weeks ago - with no time to learn it by heart. (I’m just a one-chord-per-bar kinda guy). So I had to read those dot things on lines across the page. Including such weird outcrops as G#s and D#s. The part is all one speed - crotchets all the way: but because it walks through so many chord changes if you miss a single note, you’re completely adrift. I hung on all the way through, although the singer started a bit late in verse 2 so I beat the pianist to his mini break by two bars (result!). Funny thing is, nobody noticed, it went down really well and the charity got lots of donations. Luckily, I can now return to the AC/DC covers band. And relax.

You are correct. I found a thread with this comment: “It is there on purpose...According to Jeff Beilke from Fender, "That [hole] is indeed a byproduct of the routing machines utilized in our Mexico factory. I believe that's where the CNC machine actually holds the body in place in order to assure the correct cut. https://www.talkbass.com/threads/mystery-hole-under-pickguard.1569035/

It’s still happening… This is on a MIM jazz from 2019

Thanks for all the suggestions. Upgrading will be a fun project to brighten up the dark winter months. The pickguard arrived today. The original wasn’t shielded; I presume that’s normal (because it doesn’t sit over any wiring?). For me, it makes a very satisfying improvement.

I’ve avoided Fenders since I took up bass 7 years ago because the broad opinion here at BC is that you can quite easily get more bass for less money. But this MIM came up at a low enough price that I reckoned I could sell without losing if I didn’t get on with it, so I took a punt. First impressions were: 1 It’s really light (8lb/3.3kg on bathroom scales); 2 Played acoustically, the tone is phenomenal; 3 It’s grimy (yuk) - it’s 3 years old; 4 Through an amp, the alnico 5 pickups might as well have been made of jelly for all their supposed punch. However… I then noticed the neck pickup was set really low - over half an inch from the strings. I guess it hadn’t been setup since it was purchased. So I swapped the full old strings for Pressurewounds and did a full setup (using the Fender Owner’s Manual for measurements), including raising the pickups to their recommended height. Oh boy is it good now! I don’t understand why the pickups are so noiseless (through headphones), but I do now understand how these pickups were pushed as an upgrade to the Standard series. They’re very direct and resonant. And talking of upgrades - that seems to be something smart about a Fender: replacing parts is so easy (there’s a black pickguard on its way already because the white one looks like it’s yellowing - and I think all black will go better with the maple fretboard). I have a couple of questions, if anyone can help: 1 What is the ratio of standard Fender machine heads? These move a bit inconsistently especially compared to the tuners on my G&L Tributes; 2 How do I degrease a gloss maple fretboard- I don’t think water alone will cut through the grime? Several reviews elsewhere mention sharp frets and dead areas on the fretboard, but that’s not the case with this example. And isn’t that the problem with MIMs? You just don’t know if you’ll get a duff one. As for me - I feel very lucky today.

Resurrecting old thread because I had the same issue this morning with a MIM Fender Player Jazz truss rod. I found a spanner in my bike toolbox that fitted really well. It's a T30 Torx (in Imperial, that's 7/32" but the tip is graduated so it gave n excellent grip).

According to Rod Liddle in today’s Spectator, the average age of punters is 40 (and of performers is 50). I suspect they are trying to change this - probably before all the middle-aged regulars lose their hearing (or they find out how much they will have to pay for their kids to go to university).

Our drummer (in his 60s) has a form of motor neurone disease. The band has given him a sparkle that he’d lost through redundancy and other misfortunes. He was fine up to lockdown, but his deterioration has now started to affect his playing. He knows, and we know, that he’ll have to leave soon - but none of us want to have the conversation. It’s heartbreaking to take away one of the few things that gives him a sense of fun.

I was looking at buying one last year, but came across a video in which the bassist said the humbuckers were way too noisy. It put me off, but when I saw Lobster’s video recently it made sense. If I hadn’t seen that video, I could have purchased the bass and got lots of wrong idea about humbuckers and controlling noisy pickups etc. I’ve just checked a few UK retailers and most have the old text (I’ve messaged Andertons, PMT, Mann’s, Peach and my local - Coda Music). Only GuitarGuitar seems to have corrected their site.

I’ve bought a G&L Tribute Kiloton, a Guild Starfire I and some Thomastik flats over the past 5 years, all with no issues (shipped from Germany to my address in England).

Would a Fender Aerodyne fit the bill? (Way above my budget, but gives me GAS) I’ve recently partaken of a G&L Tribute SB-2. This is a PJ with a jazz neck, with the added bonus of being passive; the pickup sounds awesome. I imagine a US version would be top notch.

Same here. I think I could do almost every Pink Floyd song between 1971 - 1979, due to a teenage obsession. But when I heard (unannounced) Foo Fighters cover of Welcome to the Machine it hurt my brain - I knew I recognised the notes, chord progressions and so on. But it took about a minute to name the song because of the different tone/instrumentation.

That’s me! I’ve found throughout this forum that members who fit this archetype are always ready to laugh at themselves. Some of those things I can’t change about myself, but for what I can (overspending and playing bass) I find the underlying criticism implied within the humour to be a great motivator.

I occasionally find myself up at the 14th/15th fret, but only because I have to play a high B or C. I have an aversion to touching thin G strings - the A string just feels more bassy. (It also justifies the time spent getting intonation right 🏆😉)

I got a response by email from Wendell at Sire: Batteries will drain as long as the bass is plugged in, however, it doesn't drain fast enough in passive mode compared to active mode. (not sure quite what to make of “fast enough”)

I’ve just discovered that my Sire M7 works in passive mode with the batteries removed. I’m assuming that if Active is switched off, batteries are completely disconnected. (It would be handy to know this for definite, but it doesn’t seem to be included in any specs).

We do a reggae version of Trading My Sorrows (at practices only). We can’t play reggae, so it must sound dreadful. But it’s still great fun!

Please excuse this if it’s complete ignorance on my part, but is it usual for basses with an active/passive switch to play (in passive mode) without any batteries inserted? It turns out a Sire M7 will. I was under the impression that with active bases the battery was always engaged, regardless of the mode selected. It appears the Sire M7 is really a passive bass with an optional active mode. I like it even more now I don’t have to worry about battery failure!

I also purchased an SB-2 from GuitarGuitar in January: the surf green version with a maple fingerboard. I changed strings immediately because the EXLs felt scratchy against the frets. Once it was loaded with TI flats however, it became a thing of joy, beauty and wonder. Such a pleasure to play. Then I read this thread and thought I should take the protective film off the bridge because it looked a bit “bumpy”. But… there is no film on the bridge. I guess it must have been a fault with one of the layers below the chrome - see pix - and (eventually) I swapped it for a replacement, which is fine (i.e. awesome!)

I’ve just found this thread thanks to @northstreet and I owe Mick a huge thank you for giving me boxes to post a bass I was trying to sell 4 years ago in 2018 (so I owe him an apology for the delay as well!) He had no need to help, and took no payment: a real gentleman, and a brilliant introduction to the BC community.

Bought a case from Keith today. Got to say, he’s a generous chap regarding both my purchase and with his time - chatting about playing bass: plenty of good advice given kindly! Thanks.

Double the Tribute (which may have been a severe punishment in Roman times, but it seems rather brilliant today). The SB-2 arrived yesterday while my wife was away on a work trip.

I quite like the Bach before 7 slot on Radio 3. I find it keeps the rage incidents on the morning commute down to single figures.