chris_b

In 1998 the Bass Cellar, Denmark street, had Martin Kemp's JG Wal, with the leather pickguard, for sale. That was the best sounding bass I'd heard up to that point. It had the switches (series/parallel?) on the pickups. I was told it was sold to someone in Wales. I asked Pete Stevens to build me a 5 string bass that sounded that good and he said he couldn't. Apparently there were subtle changes to the sound when they had to switch to using metric wire in the pickups.

I believe that Lakland have the same business approach as Sadowsky. If you want the special options, a hand made instrument or just a bass made in the US then they do that. If you don't want those things the Asian basses are made on a production line from the same components and built to the same high standard, with the price reflecting the lower costs of building in the Far East. My Japanese made Sadowsky Metro is a fantastic instrument. I have no interest in the US version at all.

3 options. . . . 1 in, 1 out!

Depends on the bass. As the price goes up so do my expectations. I'm usually looking in the £1 - 2k range. Right now I think I'm at a point where, within my budget, my basses are pretty much unbeatable. I've owned one bass for 12 years and the other for 8 years. I'm still keeping abreast of the bass market but I may have already bought my last bass.

After chatting to my postman I discovered the PO wants to switch all deliveries to van owning contractors, who will undoubtedly be on minimum hourly wage. I can sympathize with the guys who are striking for their jobs.

Fodera are amazing hand made basses. I played a couple in Bass Gear. The tone of one was good but the tone of the other was wonderful. Both were way beyond my budget.

Jeeeeezzzzzz!!!! Fully booked in 2023! I'm officially jealous!

Watch any bassist out there in a pro band and they'll all be moving their thumbs from one anchor point to another.

Russell B Jackson's Precision bass. In the mid 80's I saw a video of Russell B Jackson playing with BB King. He was the first guy I saw with a modded Precision. The P pickup is hidden under the cover but he's added 2 Bartolini Jazz pickups. I was so intrigued that after several visits to the Bass Centre I installed a Bartolini pickup on my Precision. That was a 1000% improvement and the first time I'd owned a bass that sounded like my records. I've never owned a bad or even average sounding bass since, all thanks to Mr Jackson.

You are right. I was playing the right notes and writing down the wrong ones!!! Sorry @bloke_zero

. . . . Clinic and Fish Market. I had that on a T shirt many years ago.

Main section The riff is the same notes played twice in every bar, but played slightly differently the second time. C D D A D (the low D is followed by an open A then a D) repeat with slightly different timing on the first 2 notes. Middle 8 C C# D low G. Bb to B (hammer on the B). This guy seems to be playing a low F and sliding to the G, but the original just hits the G, which makes more sense to me. That's it.

I amended the seconds after I found a calculator that included leap years. . . !!

My first gig was 20th November 1966. My last gig was 6th December 2022. 56 years and I'm still loving every second of being a bass player. And just because I had nothing better to do. . . . that's 1,768,694,400 seconds!!

We had a similar situation, the bride's dad was a fan of our blues band and booked us for his daughter's wedding. I tried to stop them saying yes, but failed. We played the whole night to an empty room and the reception was effectively held in the car park.

On my last gig we did a Christmas song, written by the singer. It was only a 12 bar but had people singing along in the chorus. So I guess it was successful, but if I got a vote I'd suggest Christmas songs are unnecessary, even in covers bands. The one thing I always and absolutely refuse to play is Happy Birthday! Wish someone the best, but you'll play Happy Birthday without a bass line if I'm on the gig!!

Checkout a Palmer Pocket Amp Bass. Plug in your sound source, bass and headphones and you have silent practicing with a quality sound. https://www.palmer-germany.com/en/products/guitar-effects/5140/pocket-amp-bass

My TI's have been on for about 5 or 6 years. I wasn't planning to change them for at least another 20. I dread to think how many thousands of pounds a set will cost when I finally go looking for replacements.

The B string is no different to any of the other strings. The 5th fret doesn't sound like the same note on an open string on any of them. 5 string basses are not heavier than 4 string basses. My Lull PJ5 weighs less than my 68 Fender Precision. Some basses are boat anchors and some aren't. The number of strings is irrelevant. Muting isn't more difficult on a 5 than a 4. Learn what you have to do and it becomes an automatic technique. I knew a bass player who had inherited and sold his dad's trucking company and was comfortably a millionaire several times over. He told me he wouldn't play a 5 string bass, "Do you know how much a set of strings costs?" I just laughed. Stop making it a thing! Just play the bass that gets the job done. If that's a 5 string bass, just get on and make the changes that are necessary. The only "issue" is a player's willingness to relearn some techniques and add some new ones. Apart from that there are no downsides to playing a 5 string bass. Not even little ones.

I smiled when I read what Lee Sklar said. I had already decided the same thing. I play a 5 string for everything, because I don't want to chop and change basses. I want to get comfortable with one bass and use it for everything. I have zero interest in trying to copy the gear that was used on the original recording. The idea that there are 4 string songs and 5 strings songs makes no sense to me. Just buy the best bass you can find, the one that does the best and most complete job for you.

IMO Precision and Jazz basses dominated like they do in every decade. Personally my 2000's was dominated by Lakland. A rather splendid 55-94.

Fender started it for me. They were the aspirational instrument for bass players, so IMO find the right one and they are very hard to beat. I've owned a Fender Precision since March 1969. Nothing's changed much for me. They still have the sound and the look. Sadly, I discovered that Fender were late to the party when I went looking for 5 string basses in the 90's. These days it's FSO's for me.

I've owned a Precision since March 1969, so you could say I'm biased, but while my current Mike Lull Precision is an amazing instrument, my Sadowsky Jazz is my favourite bass of all time. Not because it's a Jazz bass but because of the pickups and preamp. They create a huge sound.

If the bass fails whatever tests Customs use they won't just fine you they'll confiscate the bass. They might still do that with your new materials. If they don't know what has been used, they could demand you prove nothing on the bass is prohibited before they give it back. Can you do that? That'll be going into another country and coming back here. You could go down the path of getting a CITES permit for your bass. Without one it is a risk and the easiest solution is not to take the bass out of the country.