Paul S

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120665203094&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]Here is the listing[/url] Seems cheap for a MIJ Fender.

Been fairly obsessed recently with listening to Undertow, Mr Big. I've just got outline permission from the rest of the band to cover it, so yesterday I started to get the feel of it - I'll have a little bash later today bit probably won't touch the fills etc yet. For me this is a pretty busy bassline - I'll also be playing it with a pick, so it will sound different.

[quote name='Slipperydick' post='1069540' date='Dec 26 2010, 11:55 AM']Bit of Christmas for you...always liked this. Surprised me at the time. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGU63KqXuZk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGU63KqXuZk[/url] Cor blimey guv'nor ![/quote] I don't usually read the comments on Youtube clips but this made me smile: 'Clapton was thinking 'fnck me I wish I could play that fast'....and then he stopped watching Dave on the bass and watched Albert Lee!!!!'

When I first upgraded from my practice amp to something giggable I bought new. Then almost immediately I upgraded again and took a MASSIVE hit on the price I had paid. I was uncertain about buying secondhand but using the classifieds here on Basschat is really as safe as you can get IMO. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=115170"]This[/url] is what I would buy with your budget. Maybe not fashionable but Peavey kit is by reputation indestructable and reliable. You might just get an Ashdown combo too - there is or was an EBO 300W for sale in the Basschat classified for £200, which would be a steal.

I'd recommend a simple mod of one of these for getting it into and out of your car:

[quote name='BigAlonBass' post='1068398' date='Dec 24 2010, 12:03 AM']I honestly don't see what the problem is. I work regularly with three different Bands, two of whom de-tune all the strings on their instruments by a semitone, to allow the vocalists to hit some of the more difficult notes. We all de-tune, but fret the "normal" notes. I practise and learn any new songs by listening to C.D's at home, and have a POS old copy Bass that is tuned "normally" so I can play along with the songs I'm learning. When I go to the Rehearsal/Gig, I take the de-tuned Bass, and play the "normal" notes I have just learnt, which are the same notes as everyone else in the Band. It may sound like a G#, but we're all fretting the G. Not too annoying, unless you have Perfect Pitch! It's not a case of "Telling you what to do", it's just the Band being helpful so that you don't have to transpose every note in every song down half a step on the fly. [/quote] ^^^^^ This I play in two bands. For band A we all detune half a tone to help the singer, band B plays as is. I keep one bass detuned and use that for band A when we rehearse or gig, but learn and play along to the tracks in regular tuning. As I am a complete dunce, and learn simply by the relative positions of my fingers in relation to the little dot thingies, none of this complicated theory stuff gets in the way. I just pick up the instrument and make the same shapes.

I actually quite like the look of them and posted a while back about them but the lack of response made me think they weren't popular and probably not worth attention as a result.

Play with other people. You are good enough. I have only been playing bass for a short while, I am old (53), I don't know my arpeggios from my elbow, I play in two bands, we gig, and I have immense fun.

Steep learning curve for me. Played guitar as a yoof in the early-mid 70s then stopped. My first bass was a Pervey Millstone through a secondhand TKO 80. Played extensively in the spare room for about a month in 2005 and then abandoned. Picked it up again in 2007, practised like mad, bought a Hayman 4040, joined a band and bought an Ashdown MAG 300 rig. Changed the Hayman to a Fender Jaguar, changed the Ashdown to Trace Elliot with which I am more than happy. Joined a second band. Bought and sold several other basses in search of something special and currently have a Fender Power Jazz Special that I am bonding with majorly. But have also developed a casual affair on the side with JapCrap and in the new year will be pimping my Washburn Scavenger. That and the two Fenders should keep me quiet for a while. Good fun innit!

There are heavy basses and heavy basses - what is heavy to one person is light to another. But one thing is certain - if you have never had a back problem it is impossible to understand how it affects even the simplest of daily tasks. Before it happened to me I used to think that people used 'bad backs' as an excuse and had no conception of how totally helpless it can make you. When the lower back muscles go into spasm, putting on socks becomes an act of torture. Going for a crap - worse still the paperwork afterwards - is a nightmare. Difficult to get your wife to help with that - socks are just about acceptable My 'usual' bass is a Fender Jaguar, which is around 9lbs. My favourite bass is a Washburn Scavenger, which is heavier. usually no problem at all. BUT. I have a recurring problem with a sacroiliac joint - where pelvis meets spine. Since clearing snow a fortnight ago and royally buggering my back again I can't stand with anything heavier than my Hohner B2A for more than 20 minutes. It will get better, and I'll go back to the others, but when a back is bad it is BAD.

Red might be hot, but black is cool [attachment=66922:DSC_0003.JPG]

The danger is that the cash will burn a hole in your pocket and you'll just fritter it away on stuff you don't really need but buy on a whim. Just like I did - sold two basses and a guitar in the last couple of months. Do I have any cash left? Nope.

[quote name='lowdown' post='1065312' date='Dec 21 2010, 12:11 AM']Why would want to be named after a magazine? Garry[/quote] 'OK' would suit me...

But at least it is fixed with a quick flick. When you detune manually, then forget to retune, it is more of a problem... and, yes, I have done it.

Could someone with a MIA Precision and/or Jazz please step up here? I am trying to sell this bridge on and could really do with the information. Thanks!

[quote name='KevB' post='1064512' date='Dec 20 2010, 12:29 PM']I'm pretty sure 'Alibi' is a Flanger,[/quote] Ah. That would be why I haven't got the sound I like yet using the chorus, presumably... I believe there is one in there, somewhere...

Well, how about that - looks like Lawrence and I are the only people here who own fender basses. Who'd have thought! Anyone else able to chip in with their measurements? So to speak?

99.9% just plug and play. One band covers Hysteria, so I am trying to get a decent fuzzy sound for that. The other band does Song 2 so, again, trying to get a fuzzy sound for that, too. Probably end up with the same fuzzy sound, to save being complicated. That's about it. Now I have the effects pedal - a Zoom B2.1u - I think I'd quite like a little chorus from time to time - we do 'Waiting For an Alibi' and 'Sweet Emotion' and it seems right for that, but I haven't worked out how to do it to my liking yet.

Just looked at the Warmoth website and that measurement for the Gotoh should be 70mm. All of which helps me for buying a proper one but gets us no closer as to why this one fits a Fender Standard Precison when the measurement seems wrong. Confused.

Lawrence - thank you. Just measured the new bridge and the centre-to-centre distance between outermost screw holes looks to be around 75mm, whereas the two MIJs here are the same as yours, around 71mm. The plot thickens!

Strange thing. I bought a Gotoh-a-like bridge from Stevie D who assures me he fitted it and removed it from his Fender Standard Precision Bass with no problem, which has now been fitted with a BadAssII. Today I tried to fit it to my Fender Power Jazz Special and here it is: I also lined it up against my MIJ Jaguar and it wouldn't fit on that, either. Anyone have any ideas? Do MIJ Fenders have different screw hole spacing to other Fenders? Anyone want to buy a bridge?