Beedster

Folks, love these tales, thank you. I posted this thread having spent a few days sorting out some recording gear here ahead of some voiceover work I'm doing, and having had to move the important gear to a new location, I realised that in no more than a 4u rackcase and a rucksack I have more gear than I could have dreamt of in the 70's/80s - 8 lovely mic pres and a whole lot of digital processing emulations courtesy of my UAD Apollo x8p, a rather special analogue processor in the shape of an SSL Fusion, and in the Townsend Sphere L22 a mic that can get pretty close to replicating many of the classic mics of the last 50 years. But there's a part of me still wants to do it all with two of these

Our synthesist spent 80% of gigs in a completely different key to the rest of us 😀

Glorious stuff, love the creative approach to setting pitch, are you suggesting that you synths stayed in tune?

Sound? Luxury, in my day….. 😀

Strings, who mentioned strings, luxury, all I had was a fret 😀

Although you're right Luke, I'd not pay £300 for that particular neck I think it's quite low-spec for Warmoth (there is a 'Best Offer option, I'd put in a cheeky £150, you never know.....) Having said that I steer away from 'not new but unused' necks, as the whole idea worries me. Why has someone bought it new, drilled holes, attached tuners etc, yet not used it?

Especially if I were de-fretting, I'd be buying the Warmoth

Tuning! Luxury. When I were a lad….😀

Not for the £3-5k basses these days, Masterbuilt possibly but they’re way north of £5k

I always did, and still do, find that video alarming, and for so many reasons. But it really is a damn fine song 👍

You are joking? Luthiers at Fender? You mean CNC operators and 'build technicians' who screw things together and check the really nuanced stuff like the strings passing over the PUP poles and not straying off the neck. the PUPs work and the pickguard fits (OK, In the case of Custom Shop there might be some skill in selecting woods, as there is also in relic finishing, although the work of @d_g here is as good as any I've owned from FCS),. None of this is luthiery. But anyway, Warmoth are also US built as are some Allparts, and assuming these often better than Fender necks and bodies don't build themselves, I really don't see any logic to your point. You buy Fender Custom Shop 80% of what you are paying for, as was correctly identified above, is the writing on the front and back of the headstock 👍

So, inspired by this....... ...and by some reflections recently about just how easy it is to play music these days, and especially to record it, I thought it would be interesting to see how folks made do in their early playing careers? Fpor example, in the early 80's I used to multitrack using two cassette tape players, record a rhythm track using block of wood, play that back on one cassette machine while playing the bass part and recording that and the rhythm track on the second cassette machine etc, as you can imagine after four or five tracks the noise floor was not low 🤔 Did I mention that the 'bass' was a down-tuned guitar

I would not put Allparts and Mighty Mite in the same category, IME Allparts necks are often better than Fender MIM and USA necks and on a par with Fender MIJ/CIJ necks, while the more expensive Warmoth necks of £300 upwards compete comfortably with Fender US Custom Shop. I bought a Fender aftermarket neck (MIM) for £325 for a build during lockdown and it went straight back due to poorly dressed frets, a badly cut nut, and a general sense that, without wishing to be overly technical, it was flipping stinky poo. There is not one component of a Fender bass that can’t be bought at far higher quality for lower price. A Fender US quality bass can easily be built for £500-£600, Custom Shop quality for £1000, and that’s a new prices for the parts, shop around in eBay and here and it can be done much cheaper 👍

Now, how did I overlook this in my first post.........?

1 note

You can cheap out on a body but not a neck, Mighty Mite OK, Allparts better, Warmoth outstanding. You'll know why once you've owned all three brands for a couple of years, the Warmoth will be rock solid, the Allparts probably rock solid.....

Nothing of the sort 👍

Take that to the ‘rock bands playing funk’ thread mate, this is disco only 👍

No link it didn’t happen Clarky 😀

I’m feeling a setlist coming on here 👍

Early 80's for me were define by that nasal funky fretless thing, two very different instances of it below

Nope, always been king

So in another thread 'I was made for loving you' by KISS was being proposed as their greatest track by one of the sites more discerning members (@me) and it got me reflecting on that rather special late 70's/early 80's period in which record companies quite literally instructed producers to ensure that there was a disco track on the album. I've always wanted to forma rock disco band, and have just the drummist for it, so am looking forward to seeing what pops up here. Heres my top three for starters. Miss You, the definitive disco statement, but SO Jagger that it slipped under the disco radar for many years Nothing under the radar about this baby however..... Hollywood Nights, i didn't recognise it as disco until it appeared on our setlist, and it's also the moment we realised that our indie/punk drummist was, at heart, a dancer

Oh come on