Paul S

Defret - never tried that..... Black strings. Yes, that would look nice. Rotosound flat nylons for that real 60s thud!

Ta. That was easy. I wondered if I might get a knock on the door from the string police...

Silly question time. I have a set of long scale flatwound strings - can I put them on a short scale bass and just snip off the excess? ta.

I know it has been done a thousand times before but I thought I'd walk you through my latest bout of turd polishing! I was GASing for an SG type bass and also had never tried a short scale, so an Epiphone EB-0 seemed the obvious solution. And, as GAS goes, pretty light on the wallet. A decent one appeared on eBay - unwanted present, good condition etc (yeah, ok) in black, my favoured colour. BIN £95. So I BINd it. Arrived - surprise! - in original packaging with all the bumpf, too. Plastic still on the rear cover and in excellent nick. Maybe the description was true? It ticked many of my boxes straight out of the box - it was lightweight, slim neck, black (did I mention that already?) decent enough finish. A bit neck heavy but nothing major. I even like the mother-of-toiletseat 'inlays' on the head! Used at rehearsal the sound was not so good - pretty much as I expected, thin, weak and muddy and the tone pot might as well have not been there for all the use it was. But comfy and worth doing up - given my liking for fiddling with cheap basses. So - pimping these is a well trodden path, so I searched the forum to read up on the best bits to use. I got a DiMarzio DP120 Model One pickup from Thomann for 78Euro. A Wilkinson Supertone Bridge from Basschatter Mike110 for £65 (bargain!) and a new wiring kit from Ki0gon for £23. Did the transplant the other day and encountered a couple of minor issues. The shafts of the new pots were larger than those of the Epi, so I had to drill them out a bit. My fault entirely, I should add. It ended up being very straightforward. The pickup has various wiring options depending upon whether you want it the two coils of the humbucker in series/parallel with an option to split the coils in/out of phase. Whatever that means. I wanted it simply wired as the humbucker with coils in series, so soldered the two wires together as directed in the instructions. So far so good. Scratch plate pickup cutout wasn't quite big enough for the DiMarzio cover so I decided to ditch it completely - I had managed to make a mark on it anyway. Bridge was simple - bolt straight on and set up. Plug in - wow. I could hardly believe the improvement. I haven't rehearsed/gigged it yet but played loud when Mrs S was out. Really nice. Huge tone, huge output, huge sustain. Overall it cost me around £250 and, for the money, it sounds and plays brilliantly. Timing is good, too - a short while after I bought it I started talking with some guys about getting a bluesy-rock type band together playing late 60s/early 70s stuff - Creedence Clearwater, Doors, Fleetwood Mac, Traffic, John Mayall, Free, Cream, early Stones. This may be a one trick pony but it is the perfect trick for this project, if it works out! [attachment=125786:DSCN1950 (758x1024).jpg] [attachment=125788:DSCN1958 (753x1024).jpg] [attachment=125787:DSCN1952 (752x1024).jpg]

I like the cut of your jib, sir. I have recently taken some tentative steps into the world of BVs - something I would never have believed 2 or 3 years ago - so maybe anything is possible? Maybe I'll see Tinkerbell sometime soon.

I would like to play bass and breath at the same time. Anything additional I am completely in awe over so much respect to you folks. Practice. I sort of thought that might be the key, but I think your brain has to be wired in a certain way first.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1356280150' post='1908729'] I have used quite a few lighter weight options these last few years and [/quote] Including Barefaced Cabs? From the few I tried, BF were head and shoulders above the others.

I did this exact thing - went from a huge Trace Elliot set up to lightweight because of a back injury. Light in weight, but not light sound. I cannot recommend the Barefaced cabs highly enough - they are superb - I have a Compact and Midget used singly or in tandem. They are very transparent and so whatever you put in is what you get out. Changing the head will change the sound and, really, that is the aspect of it that needs more consideration IMO. You need to try and hear different gear to know what you want. I started with a TC Electronic Clasic 450, which was great. I bought a Genz Benz Streamliner 600 and prefer that, so I use it as my main amp now. Maybe I would prefer something else, if I were to hear it, but this will do me for now! Really the only thing you sacrifice is money - it is not a compromise to get lightweight gear.

I went to a line dance social evening last night (yee haw etc) and the entertainment was a duo (guitar/bass) playing along to backing tracks. They are called Plain Loco or the Loco Boys, depending upon their mood I think, and are exceedingly good. The guitarist has a lightness of touch that is staggering and between them they raise playing to backing tracks to a new level. The bassist sang lead vocals most of the time, harmonies when he didn't, and rarely looked at what his fretting hand was up to. But one thing stood out for me - he played a harmonica solo during a couple of rock n roll numbers whilst playing a fast walking bassline. How is this possible? So far as I can see it requires a skill beyond singing and playing. Has anyone ever seen this anywhere else? Or anything more complicated - are there violin playing bassists out there? Obviously, this wasn't whilst singing and he had one of those frames around his neck rather than holding it.

Bought Nick's surplus P-Retro. In fact he read that I was after one and got in touch. It arrived next day (today), perfectly packed! Cannot ask for more! Cheers Nick.

Anyone care to venture an opinion about his oddity? [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110992053835?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649"]http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1423.l2649[/url] Looks a bit like a Westbury Track 2 body but not quite - rather clumsy around the neck pocket plus controls/scratch plate are a bit more Star Trek looking. And 26 frets?

More feedback for Mike - I bought his surplus Hipshot Supertone Bridge for a very good price. It was packaged and sent off promptly, a nice smooth transaction. Nice chap, too. Paul

Not poppy, not jazzy, more bluesy, but this John Mayall cover of the 'classic' track Hideaway has some lovely basswork in it. [url="http://youtu.be/UvI0P6o_H8k"]http://youtu.be/UvI0P6o_H8k[/url]

FWIW I have bought and used ER20s and then bought moulded ear plugs - for me, there is absolutely no comparison. I have very poor hearing and have to wear hearing aids in my daily life. I am trying to preserve what hearing I have left for as long as possible and don't consider the moulded plugs to be expensive - they are priceless!!

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1355786767' post='1902856'] Phew, thought you were me for a minute! [/quote] We are.

Not quite - a 'Sterling By Musicman SB-14'. One of the herd, anyway, and very nice it is too.

Streamliner 600 into Barefaced Compact plus Midget. Pre-valve change on the GB - I had everything on the amp set at 12 o'clock except the mid level, which is 9 o'clock. That is with the mid selector at 600. Whatever that means. Post valve change I think the gain is going to be different but nothing else. For most stuff I play - classic heavy rock - when using a SBMM SB-14 I have the on-board 3 band eq bass and treble *just* the + side of the indent and the mids *just* below except for one or two tracks where I fiddle about. So you have guessed I prefer a mid scoop sound. From reading on here about boosting mids to cut through I always used to assume it was a foible of mine and no-one in the audience would hear me but I've had a few people say nice things about the bass sound (but not the playing) when set up in this way.

Aha! I'm ahead of you on that one, at least. It is hard to oversell the barefaced kit, IMO. I have a Compact and a Midget and those two purchases have been the single most significant improvement in my sound. And overall health of my lumbar region. Either, on its own, is superb. Together they are the mutts.

Well, I just did the transplant. You are right - even a technophobe like me could manage it in 5 minutes. The trickiest bit was finding an allen key that fitted! In all the excitement I forgot to look at your post and hence didn't have a look at the original 3 valves - the one I have removed says JJ. On the basis that I should quit whilst ahead I won't take the cover off again but, with the amp switched on, I can see through the window at the front that the middle valve says Ruby on it - the one on the right doesn't so I guess it is different? My wife is at work, so I was able to give it a bit of a run just now, having first noodled around before the change to keep the sound fresh in my mind. OK, not at gigging or rehearsal level but loud-ish. My impressions are *exactly* as you have detailed. More useable volume without distortion, even if the actual volume is decreased. For my purposes - classic rock rather than metal - I have more than enough of an edge to the sound so the loss in gain is not a problem. W ith a P-Bass fitted with SDP-1 pups it gives the same warmth to the tone and glassiness to the highs that it did before, but as you have greater sweep before the distiortion cuts in it is more controllable. The change is more noticeable wiith my SBMM SB-14, which is aggressive as heck with massive output - I used to find I had to dial off the gain a lot but, as with the P-Bass, there is now a greater range of useable space on the gain control. So - a huge thank you, 4strings, for getting me a tiny step further towards 'gear nirvana', whatever that is. And to Mr Foxen for getting the valve off to me so promptly.

I have recently parted company with a band I helped start 4 years ago for this very same reason. It all started off fine, we were a democracy and all decisions were joint ones. But gradually things changed - latterly everything had to be done the singer's way, all the suggestions made by other band members were vetoed if it didn't fit into his particular template for what we should do. He'd had a few promotions at work and seemed to carry this sense of self-importance into the band. As we were setting up at our last gig he again spoke to me like an office underling - once too often - and we had a major row over something totally inconsequential just before playing. I threatened to throw him off the fire escape, as I recall. Which, with my back, was only ever an idle threat He made it known afterwards he didn't want me in the band and, as he is a pretty good front man, I got the push and the others stuck with him. Which actually saved me having to quit. It seems a shame that four years have gone down the swannie, plus I got to be fairly good mates with the other band members and despite assurances all round that we will keep in touch I am sure this will dwindle in time. But, well, that's life.

Sounds like it would need to be a trial and error thing, which would be an expensive error if it didn't shape up! Nowt wrong with my Mighty Mite neck on the bass I have in mind, so maybe I'll leave it. Ta

How does the weight of a graphite neck compare to a wooden one - say, maple with maple fretboard? I am concerned, possibly unjustly, that a graphite neck might make a lightweight bass neck heavy. If not, well, it is tempting...

I do it whenever I listen to music or even run through a tune in my head. But I always air bass fingerstyle yet play with a pick.

John made me a wiring loom for an Epiphone EB0 I am pimping. The usual excellent service! Cheers John.