BottomEndian

[quote name='BigRedX' post='868923' date='Jun 16 2010, 12:29 PM']I prefer stands that support the bass from the bottom rather than ones that hang from the headstock as I've had a couple of nasty experiences with those. However because most of my basses are unconventional shapes, I need something that is adjustable/swivels at the bottom to allow for different asymmetrical shapes.[/quote] Do you need the stand to support the neck? If not, you might be surprised by how secure [url="http://www.herculesstands.co.uk/product/85317/GS402B%252FW/Floor_Stands/Mini_electric_guitar_stand"]one of these[/url] is. It does the job admirably for me, with a very asymmetrical body: Just sit the bass in where it naturally balances.

[quote name='Spoombung' post='869774' date='Jun 17 2010, 11:26 AM']Very nice bass profiles and good pics. I have played that ACG bass - it has a very unusual feel to it - and a great sound[/quote] Thanks. With the ACG, I think the combination of asymmetric neck profile, flat fingerboard, 33" scale, single-cut body and balance point/position on the strap conspire to produce a bit of a WTF-moment the first time you pick it up... and then it's all sweet from there. It's just brilliant for little wombat guys like me (wombat terminology shamelessly stolen from Eude). Now, of course, I have the same WTF-moment switching back to the other basses.

[quote name='aonindy' post='869501' date='Jun 16 2010, 10:02 PM']Anywhooo ... I was wondering if you might be so kind one of these fine days as to put together an MP3 (or fifty!!) of that delicious singlecut and post them for our general collective self-torture?? ... I'd also really like to see it against another chunk of bass to see the relative size of it ! (can be deceiving these thangs!)[/quote] I think recordings of my playing would be considered crimes against humanity. However, just for you lot, I'll risk incarceration under international law and get something recorded at some point. Not any time soon, sadly, but I'll certainly get round to it. Nowt flash... mebbes some Jamerson, fretless-stylee. As for pictures, that I [i]can[/i] do... but not until later. I'll endeavour to take a quick snap tonight.

[quote name='cd_david' post='869087' date='Jun 16 2010, 02:42 PM']We could do one in studio 1 (was studio 8 to you) Lovely big live room and the potential to record.[/quote] I'd be well up for that. As you say, great live room. What's the John Marley being used for these days?

[quote name='Conan' post='869034' date='Jun 16 2010, 02:05 PM']I didn't understand a word of that! [/quote] Then my secret remains safe! Mwahahahahaaaa! :ph34r:

[quote name='Conan' post='868985' date='Jun 16 2010, 01:34 PM']I presumed it was "Ian" - as in "Bottom End Ian" [/quote] No, I'm not that clever. For the non-computer-scientists*, it's a very bad bass-related pun on [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness"]endianness[/url]. * And I'm certainly not a computer scientist.

[quote name='Conan' post='868980' date='Jun 16 2010, 01:32 PM']I'd be up for that! Not that you lads with all ya posh gear would be interested in my low-rent stuff... [/quote] You kidding? I want to try the Cort and the LH500! BRING IT OOOOOOOOONNNNNN!

[quote name='cd_david' post='868941' date='Jun 16 2010, 12:47 PM']Hmmmm yes[/quote] Lovin' the enthusiasm there. [quote name='cd_david' post='868941' date='Jun 16 2010, 12:47 PM']Well, as you know im a greedy collector, even back then (1984) this was my 3rd bass, Kay Ric copy first Hondo 830 deluxe 2nd then this. You got the 3rd but better one, the one i kept had dimarzios in but this had the Grover machine heads and better neck but less sentimental attachment though.[/quote] Yeah, the neck on that Hondo's proper comfy. Needs a fretjob now, but it's still holding up, even after a good few years of down-tuned abuse. [quote name='cd_david' post='868941' date='Jun 16 2010, 12:47 PM']Love the look of the AGCs tried one out a few years ago and would love to gig one, you will have to let me know when your next local gig is would be great to see you and tim again.[/quote] Will do. I'll put a thread up on here when I've got something organised, and I'll try to remember to draw your attention to it. [quote name='cd_david' post='868941' date='Jun 16 2010, 12:47 PM']You still up at Hexham way? we should organise a mini bass day if you get down the coast over the summer, Tea, biscuits and bass, not necesarrily in that order.[/quote] Aye, living Corbridge, working Hexham, now with two little 'uns. But a [b]mini[/b] bass day? Surely it's time for another proper North-East bash! Where's the North-East Chapter's social secretary when you need him? Michael? Michael?!

[quote name='cd_david' post='868918' date='Jun 16 2010, 12:23 PM']Owain? Bloody hell, never made the connection, how you doing mate?[/quote] I'm good, cheers Dave. Got a new lawn, anyway. Enjoying playing bass, may have some local gigs coming up in the near future with a very lovely and very talented acoustic singer-songwriter type (and still playing with Tim, although I'm drumming these days). How's you? You still at the college? BTW, can you confirm... was the Hondo your first bass? And what year's it from?

[quote name='Conan' post='868705' date='Jun 16 2010, 08:04 AM']Lovely basses mate! Just think though, all that time taking pix when you could have been mowing your lawn!! [/quote] I was wondering how long it'd be before someone mentioned that. Brand new lawn (garden just landscaped), so we haven't been able to step on it for a few weeks while it's been settling. Within 20 minutes of my photoshoot, Mrs Endian decided she'd had enough, so she got mowing. Lawn now under control.

[quote name='Stingray5' post='868641' date='Jun 16 2010, 12:31 AM']Thanks BE, you've made me dribble all over my desk and keyboard! [/quote] Let me guess... it was the Hondo that did it for you?

The full details are [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=91819"]over here[/url], but here are my main culprits [i]al fresco[/i]. Now I wish I'd set the camera to manual so the exposures weren't slightly different for each one.

[quote name='aonindy' post='868579' date='Jun 15 2010, 11:11 PM']will young oliver ever get the leg operation he needs so badly ??? .....[/quote] Not while that Cringean fella's still making basses...

[quote name='aonindy' post='868531' date='Jun 15 2010, 10:23 PM']Up until this very moment, single cuts simply didnt do it for me, but damn... that ACG is very very strangely beautiful![/quote] I was like that too until [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=72396"]Eude's ACG[/url] converted me. I've never named a musical instrument before, but somehow my ACG is crying out to me to be named... Myrtle, maybe?

Last and definitely least, but still with a strong place in my heart... the Hondo Deluxe Series 830. My first bass, bought from our very own cd_david when he was my college lecturer (and I believe it may well have been [i]his[/i] first bass too, back in the early 80s). I've whacked the EMGs in (battery wedged in the rout under the scratchplate ) and put a new bridge on (the old one was pitted to hell and back). Currently strung with Chromes in standard tuning, but I've abused this one a lot, taking it down to drop-A and drop-Ab in the past, with correspondingly heavy strings. Still fun to play now and again, but I might just give this one to the kids if they take an interest in a few years. Fingers crossed. (As you can tell, it hasn't been living in a case recently, hence the almighty dust buildup.)

The Music Man SUB. I love this bass completely. It's that simple. It's served me well for many a year, and it always tempts me back after I put it down for a while. Aggressive, thick, meaty... perfect for heavy music. This one's completely stock, apart from the fact I've taken the hideous pickguard off. Oh, and it's strung in fifths, C-G-D-A (bottom to top). I've used the outer four strings from a 5-string set (D'Addario nickel rounds) to keep the tensions sensible, and it works beautifully. Allows me to play ridiculously angular lines, and chords across a couple of octaves in one position. One more...

Now for the OLP. It's the Tony Levin signature 5-string with quilted maple top, but it's undergone a few modifications with a previous owner (it did the rounds on the For Sale forum here before finding its way to me). It's now got a brass nut, a Nordstrand pickup and a John East preamp. In all honesty, with that pup and preamp, it's a better-sounding bass than my "proper" SR5 (and more sonically flexible too). Shame the neck's a bit more baseball-bat. Frets and roundwounds... not really me, but this bass has its uses. DR Sunbeams on this one. There's nowt to see on the back, but ah well... Still a couple to go...

Thanks for the kind words! Next, the 1993 Music Man StingRay5 fretless. Legend has it (i.e. I've heard this third-hand) that the original pau ferro fingerboard fell apart, so the original owner got it replaced with ebony and had the new board polyester-coated. Also (according to the EBMM forum), it's one of the latest SR5s that Ernie Ball have seen [i]without[/i] a phantom coil. Just a plain ol' humbucker there. Looovely bird's-eye maple neck on this, and I've obviously retrofitted a Hipshot Xtender on the low B, just for those extra-doom drop-A moments. Status half-wounds on this, keeping enough top end for some serious mwaaah, but giving it a touch of flatty thump too. Great strings. More on the way...

All of a sudden, the planets aligned. The house was empty, the light was right, it wasn't raining... so I took some pictures. First up, the ACG Skelf single-cut. It's a strange beastie, this one, but it's absolutely stunning to play and it sounds incredible. Myrtle top and back, chambered swamp ash body, ash/wenge neck and Indian ebony board (with maple fretlines... and wenge facings on the front and back of the headstock). 33" scale length... and no magnetic pickups! Piezo only, courtesy of the Hipshot bridge with Graphtech saddles feeding into the awesome ACG EQ02 3K/S preamp, which is amazingly versatile. It's strung up with TI flats, B to G. No flappiness you might expect from the B on 33" scale. If anything, it's tighter and more uniform with the other strings than my SR5. I got this bass about a month ago, and I've only picked up one other bass since. And then I put it straight back down again after one song. More to come...

[quote name='Wil' post='868051' date='Jun 15 2010, 02:56 PM']I would have thought the key would be sharp? Boom boom![/quote]

[quote name='Faithless' post='867851' date='Jun 15 2010, 11:09 AM']If I'd put capo at the 1st fret on my current bass (34 scale), and tune to E again, how would that adjust scale lenght (it would probably become less like 33', right..) and sound issues..? Just curious about that..[/quote] On 34" scale, the first fret is 1.9" from the nut, so you're actually creating a 32.1"-scale bass. Fret 2 is 3.7" from the nut, so capoing there gives you a 30.3"-scale bass. Quite a useful little experiment to see how you feel at medium and short scales, especially in terms of fret spacing, but it doesn't give the whole story of the feel of a purpose-built shorter neck, and the string feel (in terms of compliance/flexibility) will be quite different.

[quote name='eude' post='867794' date='Jun 15 2010, 10:02 AM']Lucky bugger [/quote] Ah, you like Grolsch Blond too?

[quote name='sk8' post='867782' date='Jun 15 2010, 09:31 AM']you may be surprised[/quote] Forget being surprised. You'll be placing an order before you've thought about it. I'll personally vouch for the brilliance of my 33" ACG Skelf... as will the seemingly endless hordes of Basschatters who had their hands on it before I bought it. I've barely picked up another bass since I got it a month ago (and when I do I put it down again and go straight back to the Skelf). In fact, my field of vision has looked pretty much like my avatar for the last month.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='867481' date='Jun 14 2010, 09:30 PM']Totally ludicrous Kasuga: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-KASUGA-FUSION-FRETLESS-BASS-/400127422317?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item5d2973ef6d"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-KASUGA-FUSIO...=item5d2973ef6d[/url][/quote] WTF? I've never before seen a fretless with a fingerboard made of faeces.

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='865829' date='Jun 13 2010, 11:56 AM']Oh, and learning to read helps enormously, too! [/quote] Excellent. I can read. Am I 90% on the way to being Ray Brown? I wish...