hubrad

Just got a bridge from Pete. All went without a hitch. Excellent communications, and item and delivery just as described and discussed. Many thanks!

"Back on because buyer pulled out last minute" ..or possibly because buyer had another look at the pics? That neck pocket!

Meanwhile, this certainly sounds like an intriguing project. Re the red part of the fingerboard length, remember the FEB is something like a 14th fret neck joint whereas the double bass is somewhere around 10th, so the "12th fret" is already overhanging. Edit: Looking more closely at images of FEB, it looks like 17th fret joint. Still an intriguing one!

Dill Katz.. I saw him with District Six and bought this LP. IIRC he was on a fretless J most of the time.

In My Life, recorded by Gina LeFaux. Having been friends for some time, she came along with me to check out my first double bass. IIRC she'd not long since put a new bridge and soundpost on it it for me when this was recorded. "I'll get you an album credit with Martin Simpson", she said, "It'll look good on your CV!"

Excellent!

It's likely part of it. Setup is a right ould balancing act of nut slots, saddles, neck angle, relief and evenness of board, strings.. Try raising the saddles, having a similar effect to shimming the neck although it means the string being further from the body so a slightly altered picking position. If that has the desired effect in higher positions, you'll find the rest of the action has also risen, so need to look at relief and nut. If the picking position is now a problem, it's worth shimming. Lighter strings will buzz more easily than heavier; also old strings can end up with enough of a kink that, even under tension, they end up causing buzz. Nice colour bass!

If it's where your head and heart are at the moment, switch your main focus to guitar, but I'd suggest to keep bass in mind as well.. I play a few instruments and while bass has been my main focus for quite some time now, I have not completely forsaken any of the others as I find each contributes to my musical approach and understanding. As someone said further up, enjoy it!

Dagnabbit.. missed them! Went right back to the start, too. Apologies.

Nobody seems to have mentioned fingernails yet.. mine seem to work so that , depending on finger angle, I can use pads or nails as I wish.

Of course, you're right.. before the advent of electricity, the term grounding (from the old Norse Grundig) referred to impeding the passage of slugs. Maybe Leo Fender had viking blood?

I always think of it as the old school method. Is it some vintagey model?

Earthing strip.

I've been using and enjoying Reaper this year, having got a Focusrite interface about 2 weeks before lockdown in March.. unusually good timing for once! The focusrite has a direct monitor button, which makes a small but audible difference. If I don't mute the active track in Reaper, I get a kinda chorusing effect. I'd imagine that if I didn't use the direct monitor (no latency, as I'm coming straight back out of what is an external soundcard) I'd be consistently just off. Same result whether on desktop or laptop.

That's probably why we here spend so much time chasing some elusive sound..

What an excellent project! I suppose this year, of all years, the idea of some folks having too much time on their hands goes out of the window..

Just came across this, courtesy of the Similar Content section.. I don't even particularly know Toto stuff but this sounds grand!

The occasional ceiling dink makes it look like you've actually had a gig! 😄

Get a pair of those cheap reading glasses. Great for close up work, plus if you get a little bit of solder splatter..

USA Peavey.. obviously the T40 is the well known model, but the more basic models are excellent workhorses. I picked up a Predator (Str@t type) a couple of years back, and love its feel; the weak link was the pickups, but that's one of those things we all swap around anyway! Cost me just over a ton, so if I can retire on the proceeds that'll do nicely.

Sounds to me like it's acting like a large wooden reed and contributing a load of unwanted bass resonance. I'd try damping it with something removable.. if it works, you win; if not, try something different.

This diagram is from Knut Guettler's excellent book A Guide To Advanced Modern Double Bass Technique. Sadly now long out of print but it crops up used occasionally.

Practice, I'm afraid! I can't claim to be particularly great at doing this, but better than I was a few years back. Best thing I heard was thinking of your whole arm, shoulder down to fingers, as a connected system like the pistons and rods on a steam loco. Aim towards a smooth circular motion, the end result being the least possible interruption to the flow of the bow. At the reverse, your shoulder switches first, followed by upper arm and so on with the fingers being last to switch direction. They're the smallest and lightest bit of the system, thus least noticeable switch. A little easier with French bow than German due to the extra flexibility of your fingers, but same idea either way. We'd better both get practicing!