Stub Mandrel

There's more going on than simply the amount of harmonics there. There are some really complex mixes. Lots of even harmonics will tend to give a saw-tooth shape like the 0.055 string. This will sound smooth and rich (like bowed strings) while lots of even harmonics will tend towards a square wave (fuzz box) and sound harsh. A pure sine wave tends to sound a bit 'meh'. The fatter strings aren't really looking like square waves but loook harmonically richer across the boards. It would be interesting to see a spectrum analysis that shows the energy in the different harmonics and with the odd and even series mixed in. As has been mentioned, moving towards the bridge increases harmonic content. In theory a pluck right on the end should give a triangle wave but in my experience this works with washing lines better than basses....

Oh dear, this set of elites on the shelf are 45 - 130... Fortunately for a headless bass...

Suspect lead after no power. If the insert has died there are ones on eBay for about £14 which are of decent quality - as well as lots of 'boutique' circuits that are probably as good as the Rode one is if that's what's died. to check you need a mate with an oscilloscope who can trace the signal back and discover at which point it 'dies' I'm going to build an insert and circuit into a B800 shell (£10 of amazon including mike and accessories!) - this seems to be a popular way to get a studio quality mike in some circles.

Isn't it great to have a drum machine? And you only have to punch the rhthym in once too 🙂

Only in private. It can be brilliant, letting pedal strings ring at the 5th or 7th fret without the open boom can sound great, fuller and deeper than a guitar.

Since my late teens when I got hold of a couple of cassette tapes made from a reel-to reel recording of Woodstock I had a an ambition to play a 'festival'. While the 'Rock for Life' sort of counted, the landmark gig for me was playing the Jamaican Independence Day festival on the 'green' nest to the Talbot Inn in Leamington Spa. We were more Indy-psychadelic than reggae, but the whole band were regulars in the pub and it all went down great (and the food was amazing!) Playing in a proper big club in Coventry (rather than the Valleys working men's clubs) was also a big moment for me - the only gig where I invited mates from afar to come along and watch!

Nah! They're just pulling your plonker 😉

Fender performer. P + J noises plus more, super slim neck.

I trawled some definitions off the web. I won't provide sources. A musician is a person who plays a musical instrument as their job or hobby. A musician is a person who plays a musical instrument or is musically talented. Anyone who composes, conducts, or performs music is referred to as a musician. A person who plays a musical instrument, especially as a profession, or is musically talented. Anyone who plays music can be called a musician. Whether you're playing the cello on stage at Carnegie Hall or playing the harmonica on a subway platform, you're a musician. Someone who is skilled in playing music , usually as a job.

I got arthritis in the balls of my thumbs - the most common place, apparently. Diagnosed after a bad virus which made it flare up for several months really bad. Ibuprofen gel helps, or taking a good dose of ibuprofen pills every four hours for a day knocks it right back. This age-related arthritis often hurts but the pain goes with movement. I've actually found playing, especially acuostic guitar, helps. I also had the beginnings of carpal tunnel syndrome, went as far as seeing a specialist, eventually sorted out by a mouse mat with a gel lump under my wrist. So... worth having a discussion with your GP, they may be able to help or advise exercises.

Fitting a nut isn't hard. Plenty of guides on You Tube. You'll probably benefit because you can get it exactly how you like. The neck has no tuners on it and with no body, they can't check the slot depth properly without strings fitted. You could ask them to fit the nut but not slot to full depth.

Oxford Reading Scheme Grades don't count 🙂 Confession, I did music up until 11 in school. I had violin lessons. I've been playing guitar since the 70s. A few days ago I signed up for the Open University introductory music course which is supposed to take you up to level 3 equivalent. I got as far as the bit where it explains the notes on the bass and treble clefs and expects you to memorise them. So far I can do GABC on the treble clef and middle C. That's where I got stuck 25 years ago... I genuinely think I've got musical dyslexia.

The Jack Custom V is 42mm so skinnier than the B2V. I would have expected them to be the same hardware.

I haven't, but there were plenty of rumours around that some people preferred Hohners to Steinbergers, of course in part it may have been inverse snobbery! It was my first band's trade mark that the guitarist and I both had headless Hohners when they were still pretty unusual. I cant resist posting this 🙂 Us on stage with Benjamin Zephaniah (OK he was only introducing us and was not quite as well known in 86). I think this was the only time we ever played as a 3-piece. Jon, the guitarist met my brother by chance - they had only met once over 30 years before - and it turned out he still had the video and had ripped it to DVD:

And can you explain what these are, sir? 👮‍♂️

My feeling is that the Jack is pretty tapered - at the nut it's about the same as my p-bass, but the bridge is spaced the same as the 4-string, which seems bit odd. Does take a bit of getting used to. Just remeasured, the Jack V is 44mm at the nut, 16mm string spacing and 26mm thick at the 12th fret compared to 24mm for my jag. That means the B-G string spacing flares from 36mm to 64mm.

Received a couple of nice Fender straps today. Posted out quickly and wrapped well, condition of the 'used a bit' one almost as good as the virtually new one! Thanks!

I'v tried Chordify a few times. Whiles it's a great interface, I assume it is working out the chords 'automatically' it seems to get confused an awful lot. It seems to randomly insert minor and 7th chords, or put in wrong ones at random before a real change (perhaps confused by a bass run or similar?) Or is it accurate and my ear that is out?

I always wanted a TE back in the day. My Laney has virtually the same controls but not that special something 😞

Seeing how most basses have 24 frets and few rock songs go anywhere past about 19, it surprises me how few people do this, although lots of 'heavy' bands drop a whole tone.

I've had a Hohner B2 (four string) for about thirty years so when I found a virtually mint Hohner Jack Custom 5 for £130 (with case, strap, strap locks and lead!) it would have been rude not to get it. It was a cheap lead though. I'd assumed the advantage was diving low, but what I've found, from relatively little practice, is that five strings gets you thinking more about scale shapes across the neck. This seems to have helped me in visualising scales in different positions when back to four string. I love skinny four-string necks though.

You want to see the arguments about 'engineer'. In mainland Europe 'engineer' is a protected title, like 'Doctor'. Over here our 'technicians' are 'engineers' and we have plenty of 'hobby engineers'. the professional institutes have given up the cause and rely on chartered engineer to make the distinction. In plain english, a musician is just someone who make music. I like the idea that ANYONE can be a musician simply by making music - it's too glorious a gift to keep it to an elite few. Worrying you aren't good enough is classic imposter syndrome - I know I suffer the salmons of self-doubt myself despite having played plenty of gigs in my younger days. There's no professional body to decide who is and isn't (thank goodness) but there are things like graded exams and the obvious distinctions of pro and amateur for those who like to classify, but the question for any classification is how useful is it? Clearly it makes sense to identify professional musicians as those who make a living (or part of a living) from their craft. What about the bands who (truth be told) don't make enough to cover the costs of strings, gear petrol and rehearsal space? (P.S. it might be useful for mere mortals in smaller bands to know you can turn over (i.e. total income) £1,000 a year without having to pay tax on it from minor trading. That's £4K a year for a four-piece so I doubt most small bands playing a pub or small club once a month or so need to worry about tax).

He probably can't do alternate picking and failed his shredding exams, so he's p****d that you can. I don't like using a plectrum much. I like nice low action so it tends to make a bass sound clanky, and I can pluck faster with my fingers (my one and only flash move is a Sheenan-style three-finger trill). I also play guitar fingerstyle more often than with a plecky.

I'm working hard to get back my mojo. I put on Planet Rock and try and play along to whatever comes on. If I get stuck I pull the chords up on Ultimate Guitar. If I 'click' I pull up the bass tab and try and learn the main parts properly. No ones listening so if I just bash root notes to 'The Real Me' who cares? It's great practice for (1) identifying the keys of songs and (2) learning to anticipate chord changes. And yes it will amaze you how many songs are basically just I - IV - V so it's worth googling what that means!

Some late thoughts on this. I can play fretless but I am not brilliant at it, but I have a decent ear and no-one has ever told me I'm playing it out of tune (even when I have been!) First, accept that its harder and that lo and behold you won't hit notes dead in tune every time (that's why Leo invented the 'precision' bass LOL! The secret is in putting your fingers into the right place NOT constantly trying to adjust to get dead in tune. Even on a fretted bass strings typically sound high and drop in pitch a bit, this seems even more true of a fretless and also the timbre of the note changes. These things not only give fretless playing its distinctive sound (apart from slides etc) but help to cover small errors. My bass only has side dot markers. I've set the intonation so that I'm in tune when I play dead in line with the marker. With the amount of adjustment on any fretless you can can move this 'right spot' around a surprising amount by fiddling with intonation. I play one finger per fret, and try and hit just behind the fret in all positions (I have big hands, my one big advantage!) It makes a bit more discipline to keep accurate spacing on a fretless but its the only way to hit the right spot for unmarked notes. It takes time but try and get used to how your fingers need to close up as you move up the neck. DO keep reference to how you sound and be prepared to shift your playing position a bit to keep in tune rather than fudging individual fingers. In summary, I'd say fretless is really about developing 'muscle memory' as much as your ear and don't expect to find it easy, I feel it is a lot harder. If you despair - think about violin, no markers and you need to be about three times as accurate in placing your fingers to be as accurately in tune (no wonder violinists always use vibrato!)