Stub Mandrel

I could make one of those rescue sets in my workshop...

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/tools-by-job/tools-for-truss-rods/stewmac-truss-rod-rescue-tool-sets/ Yours for just over $300...

Unscrew the nut completely and look at the thread? Generally speaking the rod strips as it is weaker (slightly smaller diameter) 😞 so it might be time for a ridiculously expensive Stewmac tool....

My default preference is passive. I mostly use hand position and playing style to achieve tonal changes, so quite happy with a single pickup, vol and tone maxed and set the basic sound I want using my amp's controls. With a two pickup bass I will use variations of blend for some songs if I feel more 'bite' or 'mellowness' suits. Of course this means large variations in how different basses sound, but that's the reason for having different basses! Unlike most people I don't want consistency, I enjoy making different basses fit the music. I only have two active basses; my feling is that the controls tend to be far too aggressive so the useful region is around their middle settings. But it can be fun to use some more extreme settings, especially if doing some bedroom blasting.

If the singer was any taller you'd have to raise the ceiling!

⅞, for example... 😁

Nearest I get to sparkly is my CAR Jaguar SS and this beasty:

Forget me not. I'm trying to learn it as an example of 'tasteful' slap. My goodness it is a task to get the phrasing right. And for dome infernal reason it requires an insane amount of concentration not to slip into playing what I think it should be instead of what it is. Haven't even looked at the variations!

It wasn't meant as a direct quote, it was meant to indicate I was paraphrasing.

The classic fail is foil Rifa capacitors that crack and degrade. The BBC computers were made to very high standards, but many 'barn finds' haven't been plugged in for over thirty years and these often have electrolytic failures.

BBC computers are notorious for the caps failing in the psu. They date from early 80s. The main issue is that electrolytic capacitors 'reform' the insulating layer when used, it is years (or decades) without a chance to reform that causes failure. More likely with a home computer that gets left in the loft than an amp which gets an outing every year or two. I have a three-phase motor variable frequency drive. The instructions say to make sure it is switched on for at least half an hour once a year to reform the capacitors. The status of the big capacitors is monitored and it is expected that they should be changed after a certain amount of use. So... USE YOUR AMP!

Ah wonderful Grauniad. Who else would use Yes and Gong as examples of 'revolving door bands'?

I first experienced 3D printing when sent a Dremel machine (targeted at schools) to try out. It produced very good prints in pla, but eventually I had to send it back. I then made a Prusa i3 clone from a kit and with minor upgrades got outstanding results although thermistor and hot end cable breaks were a not uncommon issue. I wrote a book based on my experiences, including things like comparing the strength of different layer orientations, screw thread pullout strength, various ways of joining parts - all with a view to using 3d printing as part of a home engineering workshop. Since the Creality sent me Halot One Plus, Halot Mage Pro, resin washer/curing machine and a K1 max (ffd), for review/demonstration at a trade show. Yes I am a very lucky bunny. As a result I have become a bit of a 3d printing obsessive. I regularly make print for practical purposes or as models. I make LOTS of mistakes but work hard to learn from them. I have an article on faults in resin printing in the works... To give an idea of how much I do, I have worn out the LCD screen of the Mage Pro, I think it has had up to 2,000 hours of use but now light leakage keeps making thin films of set resin that get pulled up and tangled in models. Currently I am designing a whole load of military-related model subjects in Alibre Atom 3D with a view to selling the STL files. Lots of fun a bit frustrating as what would print in four hours on the Mage takes over ten on the One Plus. Missiles are about 75mm tall Halot Mage Pro resin printer and washer/curer. 1:35 tank hull. 1:72 jet Case for component tester

I have their Pearl White (a Snow White autowah clone). It is really good. The copying of circuits that a lot of time, effort and therefore expense has gone into designing is dubious. But if the circuit designs aren't patented then it isn't protected. Copyright applies to the visual depiction of a circuit embodied in a schematic, but not the circuit itself. In other words it doesn't appear to be ilegal to copy a circuit functionality as long as you design the circuit board from scratch.

A better anology for the suggestion that 'jazz is the way'? Tunnel vision?

I can't argue studying charts wouldn't make you a better musician as I have learned a lot by studying tab and understanding some of the underlying theory. I'm sure that would be easier if I could read notation but I can't. I do think it's short sighted to claim the study of jazz has some special merit, however. Much jazz is uninspired and insipid and the focus on technical skil and compositional complexity* over musicality can become a waste of talent where jazz musicians play for other jazz musicians. That said, I can enjoy and appreciate Weather Report and Dizzy Gillespie, for example, but save me from bands with word 'jazz' in their name who play from 'the book' and seem to repeat endless variations on the same set of individual solos for each song. *I recently saw a gig promoted with the statement that the musicians played "sophisticated chords" - 'nuff said...

THIS is excellent, real world advice.

Oh, I hadn't previously noticed the jazz snobbery. Anyone who thinks THEIR music requires greater 'accuracy' than someone else's is deluded. Now I'll crawl back into my cave and get back to learning to play Sound Chaser properly. Just starting to crack it after 40 years trying.

I think you may be (1) taking me too seriously and (2) have a very narrow view of what opportunities there are for developing bass playing skills. Sight reading has only one purpose- to be able to play something you have no prior knowledge as was intended. This is a great skill and one I regret I will never have as I appear to have a type of dysmusia that prevents me interpreting pitch visually. But for 90% of bass players this is not a significant barrier to their musical development, and the effort and application required can get in the way of developing other skills. For most performance it doesn't matter if you learn pieces by ear, tab or notation. If you want to drop into a jam and join in, being able to improvise a bassline in an appropriate style is probably the most valuable skill. Theory helps a lot with that. The sad emoji was how I felt when once again someone suggested to a beginner that they tackle something that has killed the joy in music for do many people. I can't count the number of times I beat my head against notation when trying to learn various instruments. Thank goodness I discovered you could take the theory from tutorials without having to read the notation (largely by visualising a piano keyboard which makes sense to me in a way a stave never will). Maybe I am biased as I am used to learning things by determination and effort, and musical notation is the one thing I have battered against as much as anything else without success. No doubt you have more expertise than me, most people on Basschat probably do. But I do have fifty or more year's experience of learning music, including lessons of all sorts.

Scored tickets to see Walter Trout at the Tramshed in May.

My B2 solution (I tried 'carbon' wrap, and both blue and silver metallic finishes first...) was 'stone paint'.

I would imagine a bridge mode class-d that had the outputs fully synchronised would be better able to see the advantage?

Sadly I can't read pitch from notation despite fifty years of intermittent effort. Any progress evaporates with a week of inactivity. I fully understand how it works but as my brain refuses to associate note positions with pitch.... I took about three minutes to work out a simple two-bar melody on a napkin the other day. And even then I wasn't sure I got it right. Understanding keys and modes, how chords are built, how harmony works and resolves and a better understanding of rhythm (oddly I can read rhythm readonably well) have all helped my playing develop. It does mean I cannot sight read, but it's never been an issue standing in at a jam night.