BottomEndian

[quote name='Johnston' post='1107528' date='Jan 29 2011, 07:10 PM']Did you get told the first pic is a google images pic?? Seems odd to put up a googled pic when you have pics of the real thing :/[/quote] Yep, that's exactly what he told me... "cos I hadn't taken a pic then".

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=109677"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=109677[/url] and [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=111397"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=111397[/url] In a nutshell, they sound nice and look crazy. The coating's supposed to be much more hard-wearing than the previous generation of coloured strings too.

Chris May is scheduled to attend the Moffat Bass Bash next weekend, and is hopefully going to be bringing some of these basses along, so with a bit of luck one (or more) of us will be able to have a fiddle and post some opinions. Unless someone gets their hands on one in a shop first, of course.

[quote name='Johnston' post='1105975' date='Jan 28 2011, 10:36 AM']anyone asked yet which bass is for sale?[/quote] Just asked, yep. Wait and see...

You have to bear in mind that (unless you're very lucky) the bridge will only intonate properly for one particular set of strings. If you change gauge, material, type (flat/round/whatever), construction or even brand, chances are the saddles would need a tweak on your average bass, both for intonation and height. On a bass with a fixed bridge, that's obviously not possible. If you know exactly which strings you'll want to use for the entire life of the bass, that may be fine. If, like me, you're a serial tweaker... well, I just wouldn't have a fixed bridge. Here's a thought, though... would it be possible to have the bridge essentially free (like a DB bridge), with only the downward pressure from the strings passing over it holding it onto the body? (Like a nut that hasn't been glued in.)

John Martyn

[quote name='Spoombung' post='1097694' date='Jan 21 2011, 03:48 PM']You can hear it quite clearly in when then 'solo' starts in the middle of the track. That's all done using that sound and a combination of the mag pickup.[/quote] Ah, got it. It's got a sort of... "sparky" quality, for want of a much better word. Like it! (Like the track too!)

[quote name='Spoombung' post='1096739' date='Jan 20 2011, 08:19 PM']It has a trump card; a piezo under the nut which picks up all sorts of unexpected harmonics and multiphonic effects...but [i]you've got to know what you're doing with it[/i]. [/quote] Intriguing! Could you do us a quick audio sample of the nut piezo soloed (if that's possible)? I'd love to know what kind of noises it makes.

[quote name='MythSte' post='1095092' date='Jan 19 2011, 01:15 PM']Fortunately I've just bought a new amp[/quote] Update yer signature then!

Here's a curveball... Thomastik Jazz flatwounds. Flexible as hell, really full bottom end but surprisingly zingy for flats. The gauges don't [i]look[/i] light (standard long-scale 4-string set runs 43-100), but they're so, so playable.

[quote name='jimmyb625' post='1094862' date='Jan 19 2011, 10:10 AM']Series 1&2, series 2&1, parallel, [b]coil 1, coil 2[/b]...[/quote] As in soloed coils? Surely on a split-pickup P, if you solo a coil you'll effectively be switching off 2 strings? Could be useful for punk bassists, I suppose. *dons tin hat to protect from the incoming black/black/maple Precisions*

[quote name='simon1964' post='1089264' date='Jan 14 2011, 01:05 PM']I took the original post to mean that the buyer was saying this was not a genuine Gibson serial number, which in fact it is.[/quote] Do we actually know this though? As I said, the Guitar Dater website will respond to any old number. Just because it dishes up information doesn't necessarily mean that it's a genuine number (after all, I'm pretty sure the Gibson with s/n 12345678 hasn't yet been made ). The only people who'll be able to confirm anything will be Gibson themselves... and only if they've kept proper records.

[quote name='simon1964' post='1089246' date='Jan 14 2011, 12:53 PM']agreed - link here: [url="http://www.guitardaterproject.org/gibson.aspx"]http://www.guitardaterproject.org/gibson.aspx[/url][/quote] The trouble is that you can enter any old 8-digit number and it'll interpret the numbers according to the Gibson rules. For example, I just gave it 12345678... [quote]Your guitar was made at the Nashville Plant, TN, USA August 22nd, [b]2015[/b] Production Number: 378[/quote] You could make a fake Gibson, use that site to figure out what serial number you'd need to make it look a certain age, and then whack that number on the headstock. It's certainly no guarantee that the serial number itself isn't fake.

I find it hard to separate the feel of a certain radius from the general feel of the neck anyway. I certainly find my flat-radiused ACGs easier (and more comfortable) to play than any other 5-strings I've had or played, but they do of course have Alan's asymmetric neck profile on the back. I certainly can't tell how much either aspect contributes to the comfort, although I definitely find it easier to "reach" the B-string. I suppose it's just that little bit closer, because the radius isn't "falling away" from your fingertips. It also seems to encourage me to keep my thumb on the back of the neck. If I go back to something like a Ray, the symmetric neck profile and fairly small board radius seems to be an invitation to grip it like a sword. I assume it's a fair bit easier/cheaper to produce a uniformly flat plank than it is a uniformly radiused fingerboard, so I guess that's why it's starting to crop up as a standard option. Of course, when you start charging US$999 for a different radius (*cough* Fodera *cough*), that's taking the piss somewhat.

[quote name='charic' post='1089128' date='Jan 14 2011, 11:36 AM']Combine it with an acg EQ02 circuit for true insanity[/quote] Lord, yes. I'd sell my first-born for an ACG preamp with recallable presets.

[quote name='Conan' post='1085310' date='Jan 11 2011, 11:40 AM']If it goes down to 2 ohms...[/quote] It does! Also, Blacksmith + 2 Vintages is possibly cheaper than a full set of explosives and diggers for quick demolition of a rehearsal studio.

[quote name='Conan' post='1085137' date='Jan 11 2011, 08:12 AM']Yep. This is getting into the realms of penis envy... [/quote] Indeed. That said... that thing would be absolutely beasting into a Vintage. And it would help compensate for my tiny penis.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1081045' date='Jan 7 2011, 01:42 PM']I do think shops have to match online prices though, as most the time they are online themselves. There is still a profit margin there, and a sale with some profit is better than no sale at all. Plus the customer may come back [/quote] There isn't necessarily a profit margin there. I get asked to price match now and again, and we usually can, but sometimes I'll be asked to match a genuine retail price (people send me web links) that's below what we paid for it wholesale. I'm generally not keen on making a loss on a sale. I'll do it sometimes, though, if I know I can claw it back on accessories or other items in the same transaction... or if I'm desperate to shift the stock anyway.

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1080670' date='Jan 7 2011, 01:30 AM']...I rang and found out that it hadn't even been sent yet (with some pathetic excuses about weather affecting delivery companies, even though it hadn't left the warehouse).[/quote] If that was in the recent snow madness, I know that some of the couriers round our way were refusing to do any pickups until the backlog in their depot was cleared, or at least significantly reduced. So there were delays in both pickup [i]and[/i] delivery. I received a delivery that had taken 11 days on a "next-day" service, first because they couldn't/wouldn't pick it up for two days, and then because it was stuck in two different depots on the way.

[quote name='Lozz196' post='1079261' date='Jan 5 2011, 10:20 PM']As an extra point, I ordered a cover for my Ampeg SVT410HE from these guys [url="http://www.hotcovers.co.uk/"]http://www.hotcovers.co.uk/[/url] Very good cover, and arrived within 4/5 days (and this was during the worst of the snow, and they are based in Scotland).[/quote] I ordered a cover from Hot Covers on 23rd December... and it turned up the following day. Christmas Eve! Quality product too. Quite different from the Roqsolid covers (more like I imagine the mythical Silverstone covers to be), and really well padded.

This certainly isn't the first thread on BC bemoaning Silverstone's lack of service. Shame, because they look like great covers, but I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole after reading so many negative reactions on here.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='1066707' date='Dec 22 2010, 12:48 PM']Even with a sustain block, the air (as opposed to wood) in the wings is going to do wonders in keeping the weight down. Maple isn't particularly light either![/quote] Indeed. A quick look on the Warwick website (why didn't I think of that before? ) [i]claims[/i] that the bubinga and maple versions are both 4.3 kg (4-string). That's about 9½ lb... but of course there'll be big variations around that average weight.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='1066693' date='Dec 22 2010, 12:37 PM']...the fact that it's hollow body and consequently going to be a lot, lot lighter than a slab body...[/quote] IIRC, it's got a solid "sustain block" or somesuch right through the centre (a bit like a neck-through with hollow wings). I'd be interested to find out how much it weighs... and the weight difference between the bubinga and maple versions. Of course, that extra weight in the body might help counteract the neck-dive from the short top horn.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='1062439' date='Dec 18 2010, 01:33 PM']...my gig at Warkworth, up the Northumbrian coast, is very much on. [/quote] Get out fast when you finish though. Snow's supposed to be coming in from late evening onwards...

Stops me in my tracks every time.