Obrienp

And seven! When will this stop? 😀

I hate to promote Bezos but D’Addario prices on Amazon are normally pretty competitive. Thomann also.

I’ve used their guitar and resonator strings but never bass. Might check them out.

Hard to go wrong with D’Addarios IMO. The nickel rounds seem to last for ages, are relatively cheap and are available in SS, MS, LS. I like their chrome flats as well and even their black nylon tapes, which I have on my Sire U5 fretless. The chromes are quite bright for flats, nothing like as dull as LaBella and half the price. Rotosound flats are really bright to my ears and not too expensive if you shop around. I went into a bit of a panic when Trump was threatening tariffs over Greenland and people were organising a boycott of US goods. What would I use instead of D’Addarios?

Interesting, that must explain why things don’t seem to get that much louder when you turn up beyond 3 o’clock on the master? That’s with two cabs with a combined rating about twice the output of the amp.

I agree with you. I always feel we sound frantic and the vocals do suffer a lot of the time. I’m all for playing stuff at dancing tempo but even the most dedicated dancer needs a breather every so often!

We do key changes and then detune a semitone for most songs to suit the singers. It can make it quite difficult to reproduce the original bass lines on a 4 string in some cases. That said we are not trying to be a tribute act, so I don't always stick exactly to the bass line unless it's a really integral part of the song. It would be hard to recognise, e.g: How Long, Keep on Running, I Gotta Get Out of This Place, if you didn't play the original bass line. We also have a lead guitarist who is obsessed with tempo, so we end up playing everything around 10 beats faster than the original. He accelerates during the set as well. Its pretty impressive that he manages to get the solos for Sultans of Swing and Come Up and See Me right, while playing them significantly faster than the originals, Lol! I saw a band locally where the bassist didn't play the original bass line to How Long, in fact the only thing that was the same were the words. It took me most of the song to realise what they were paying. Personally I think that is a step too far. There is room for interpretation but fundamentally changing a song seems either wrong, or lazy.

I always fancied one of the 360 12 strings for some reason. A triumph of hope over experience. My experience with 12 strings being you spend the whole time tuning the things and very little actually playing them!

Well, I’ll join under the existing rules then. My ambition is to get down to 5 basses, which requires selling off 3. I sold a couple last year, so I feel I am on a roll. Also sold a BF cab and an amp. Loads more stuff to go to get down to what I actually use. 🥴

Belatedly joining this at least for Tier 1. Can you do a sort of carbon offset deal where you get credit for selling bass gear? Thinking something like selling two basses gives you a pass on one bass purchase? Asking for a friend.

Shocking! I would be inclined to just return it for a refund and stuff them. Don’t get these issues with LFSys and their 10” cabs are definitely a cut above BF IMO.

Sorry, I seem to have started a hare running! I have no idea where I would get decent timber in my part of Norfolk. There must be places but the nearest to me are the usual culprits and even as a complete woodworking novice, I can tell the quality of the solid woods on offer is abysmal. The pine looks not much better than balsa wood and there aren’t any sheets wide enough to do the panels of a 12” cab (yes, I’m posting in the 8” thread: it seemed more active). My gut says 15mm ply but not from my local B&Q: the sheets there are all bashed about, full of filler and voids and most are warped. I am thinking I might have to order online from further afield. Big risk; as any pre-cut sheets might arrive dog eared from courier handling. If anybody has a good experience of this and can recommend a supplier, I would be really grateful. My mate has been making open back guitar combos: I don’t think he has realised the dimensions I will need for a closed, ported 12” bass cab. He might change his mind about solid timber when I show him the dimensions, besides I’m paying, so I get the last say. I will definitely go for the finger joints though. I might also need to seek advice about port size and length in due course.

Thanks for the feedback folks. Said friend has built a few guitar combos this way. He does reproductions of a Selmer combo he liked when younger, including building the valve amp. They are heavy for their size but I think that is down to the valve amp. The finger joints do look very cool (he just varnishes the combos). I think he has just used pine but at least 15mm, possibly 20. I’m a bit wary about pine TBH. All the stuff I’ve seen in the usual outlets is very green and I’m sure would be subject to shrinkage, cracking and possibly warping on drying out. I guess I could source furniture quality from somewhere to avoid this.

Thank you very much for the offer. Would the port pipe for a 12” cab be the same size as an 8” cab? I hope to be getting round to the build in about a month. I have a mate who has an impressive workshop full of woodworking machinery. He is pressing me to have finger jointed panels instead of using batons (he has a machine for that). He is also suggesting solid wood rather than ply. I’m not convinced, especially regarding weight.

I have all the bits, except the plywood ready to go for a 12" cab. Unfortunately, illness over the last few months has prevented me from doing anything. I don't have the wherewithal to accurately cut the ply, so I am looking for a local supplier that can do it. My local B&Q doesn't but having seen the quality of the ply they sell, I wouldn't want to use them anyway. Congratulations @rwillett. I found your journey very inspiring. I might eventually get round to building the cab after all!