Stub Mandrel

Ohio. CSN&Y.

Shite?

Despite originally having a poor opinion of them, I've come round to the Fender Rumbles.

Metal knobs on Jazz bass >eurgh<

That's why I said 'any bare steel'...

General advice is to avoid heating rusted fastenings too hot, as they will lose their temper and soften. Ideally don't let any bare steel discolour beyond a pale brown colour (this will only develop outside the flame).

Sometimes I think it's easier to list those things that DON'T remove rust than those that DO!

There are lots of definitions of 'professional' out there. For once I think the Cambridge dictionary has a the most apt for this situation: used to describe someone who does a job that people usually do as a hobby In other words the reason for doing it is as a job, that is it is at least part of how they make a living. It might be their lesser job, but they do it as a source of real income; this excludes those of who do or have made a small income from music that is probably (often much) smaller than what we what we spend on it.

On relicing - it's a purely cosmetic exercise, so rusting up parts to the point of seizure is ridiculous.

Lots of ways to clean up rusty mechanisms and items. A soak in dilute citric acid or, better still dilute molasses*, for an extended period will work. Low strength brick cleaner is faster but the fumes cause rust... Whatever you use, lubricate as soon as it comes out to prevent rapid rusting of clean surfaces. *Most rust removal uses acids, but molasses are gentler as they chelate the rust into solution.

It's good we don't like all the same things 🙂

I think Jack's suggestion was to use a looper to save you having to play it all the way through. I'd try using a lot of distortion (it sounds like a 'square wave' is the starting point) but with the tone rolled right back and perhaps some very slow flange or chorus at a low level, which will help stop it from getting too monotonous.

You don't want to try that in the UK! 🌩️☠️🌩️

The problem with using pedals to generate a rhythm is that drummers get upset, as I found when using a tremelo pedal to excatly duplicate the sound of Boulevard of broken dreams. (Echo is better for the rythym as you can get it near enough and 'reset' at the start of each bar, but then it spills over the chord changes).

TSK!

Well I have both and I know which I prefer. 🙂

Works best with ginger nuts.

Not if you are playing darts 🙂

While I feel that the headstock is not pretty, it is far from the only ugly one. And remember the hideous G&L headstock is one of Leo's so he didn't get it right every time... Although the Bite design might put some people off, there are a few things stopping a change: Inertia. The impact of 'validating' the criticisms, especially when there are clearly some customers who are happy with it. The sort of people who spend hours picking apart their design and business model probably aren't their target audience. Dare I say they might be seeking younger and more adventurous musicians who want a cost-effective route to a 'custom' bass (and I would argue they are more 'custom' that Fender CS basses which are really 'limited editions' not (potentially) unique to the customer ones). Cost of a new design. Existing stock. It's quite brave - compare Ashdown being equally bashed about for their similarly priced basses being even closer copies, is it possible to win? Upsetting early adopters who may in future show brand loyalty. Emotional investment, especially if one of the owners of the brand invented it. It has achieved it's main functions - being recognisable, memorable and (unlike most) actually relevant by the link to the brand name (in twenty years, if I'm still around) we will still be saying 'do you remember Bite headstocks!) With all that lined up, assuming that they are achieving the sort of sales levels their business plan projected it could be quite brave to change horses midstream. That said in time, a revised or alternative design (perhaps one that makes a 'fender-like' shape by taking the bite out of the bottom) may be used to extend sales. All in all, although that headstock isn't to my taste, I wish them luck because any diversity in the market is a good thing.

So it's a compensation for badly cut nuts 🤩

Blimey, you have darts in the USA? I would never have thought!

Are you going to go for a D or Eb neck? 🤣

In my mid thirties I was in a band whose BL wrote really good songs, the sort that really could have done something. When I joined he'd written many of the bass lines and they were the sort of thing I enjoyed learning and playing, interesting but not overwrought. I was secretly convinced we were all too old to make it in a world of 'bright young things'. I left when I took on a new job with a lot of responsibilities; I offered to help a new bass player into the role but they never got in touch. I fear my leaving may have kyboshed the band, and I still wonder what we could have done if I'd stayed.