Velarian

I think it was around 1981 when I had this. I started my first proper job at the end of 1980 and as I was still living at home, paying very little board, I was able to afford it. I’ve just remembered that my guitarist mate had one too so we were able to do some rudimentary ‘multitrack’ recording by recording two tracks on one machine, bouncing them both to a single track on the other one and then adding a third track etc. I’m not sure we did many iterations of that because it was a PITA, the quality wasn’t great and you effectively had to mix the recording with each pass. Still, happy days. 🙂

I used to use a Teac A-108 cassette deck which allowed you record left and right channels separately. I would have loved a 4-track portastudio but they were outside of my budget.

As others have alluded to this, I would suggest that the best decade would be from the mid 70s to the mid 80s, so yes, it would definitely include the Stranglers in my book.

I know Jack about this sort of thing but but WTF! has the the mix/mastering engineer been given some sort of executive control over your material? Surely the decision to replace your parts should remain with you?

It’s impossible to unsee that now and it would annoy the hell outta me. 😖

Paul has already admirably covered everything nicely. All I would add from my own experience is that the critical measurement (for a standard long-scale bass) is that the breakpoint of the G string saddle should be 34” from the front edge of the nut. It’s not likely that you’ll need to adjust the G saddle much if you get that measurement right so maybe just have the saddle a few mil short of the furthest forward position which leaves plenty of adjustment backwards for the E,A,D strings. In my case the pre-drilled hole for the ground wire was further forward than I would have liked so it was a fine balance between getting the saddle in the right place (34”) whilst allowing the bridge plate to cover the ground hole. A combination of of correct scale length, with the bridge properly centred at 90 degrees to the centre line should get you there. My body didn’t have pre-drilled bridge holes either so it was a case of measuring many times before committing to drilling the holes.

This one? Not a metal control plate though (one day I’ll get one made)

This puts the cat amongst the tonewood pigeons: - “NITROCELLULOSE LACQUER FINISHES These vintage finishes not only let the body breathe with its true tonal character, they also age in a distinctly personal way.” All those poly finishes must be suffocating the tonal character of your instrument so those arguments about which wood is better are pointless if you don’t have a nitro finish. 😮 Who knew?

If it helps ease your conscience, I think you’ve done the right thing. 👍

I love the philosophy behind this build. Life is too complicated and getting back to something simpler is a great goal. I hope it’s had the therapeutic benefit you were seeking.

How about Tony Hart? (oops, wrong thread) 😉

JJ Burnel

What a great idea! Thanks for creating this, I’m sure it will be extremely useful. 👍 I’ve had a very quick play with it and my first thought is that it would help to set the start and end points for the loop if you could see the actual playing time of the video as it’s rolling. I think this would make fine tuning the loop length easier. I may have not have grasped how to use it properly though so please let me know if I’ve missed something. Awesome job 🙂

Wow! What skill.

I managed to make it through January without buying anything. I also didn’t drink any alcohol for the entire month. Hmmm, I wonder if there’s a correlation? 🤔

I think I’ve just made a connection in the depths of my memory. Years ago my mates band supported the Damned at a local gig. I was on the desk FOH and towards the end of the set this stroppy American girl came up to me and demanded to know when they were going to be finished because this set was going on a bit. Not long I said and off she went. Next thing I know is she’s on stage playing bass with the Damned. She must have been Patricia Morrison right?

What a great first fretless to have. It looks lovely. Unlined and a reverse P pickup too.

Good point. You do need two devices to read them in, one to display and one to scan the code in.

Thanks for that, it sounds great. Do you know that it’s easier to share patches using the QR code?

It would be handy to put on the fire during this cold snap?

Serious answer: - BMW = Bongo

Hopefully it will arrive safely but if it does, I think it’s still worth complaining about the misleading information you were given and the anxiety it has caused.

frank.jø[email protected] has got to be worth a try, no?

I had a thought about this kind of thing. If I was buying an expensive bass from a private seller and couldn’t collect it personally, I’d be tempted to get an Apple AirTag (or similar), register it with my phone, send it to the seller and ask them to include it in the package. That way I’d have a reasonable chance of tracking its location if it was delayed or went missing.