EssentialTension

'Keep the volume down because we don't have a licence.'

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1422860111' post='2677540'] 'You aren't tall enough to play bass.' [/quote] [quote name='seashell' timestamp='1422879772' post='2677768'] 'You remind me of Suzi Quatro' [/quote] These could be from the same conversation.

If it's not what you want then leave. Shallow has nothing to do with it.

[quote name='Stompbox' timestamp='1422875013' post='2677704'] But it has to be "just so" for each individual ... [/quote] I'm more 'that will do' than 'just so'.

'You aren't tall enough to play bass.'

[quote name='arthurhenry' timestamp='1422822344' post='2677234'] "Why don't you play properly - y'know, slap bass?" [/quote] That must be slap on a five string.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1422809724' post='2677002'] I've been told that a lot of shows specifically ask for a Fender bass. [/quote] Often, during the sixties and into the seventies, especially in the US, the electric bass was known as and even credited as the Fender bass.

Punter: My friend plays bass. He's a proper bass player. Me: Proper? Punter, Yes, five strings.

[quote name='JPJ' timestamp='1422803644' post='2676908'] ... Do you ever stray away from building a certain body shape because it feels wrong to use someone else's design? [/quote] I don't build basses but on the general issue of artists and others borrowing or stealing or copying ideas from others ..... ... it's both the norm, it's how art operates, and it's morally and aesthetically right to do it. The great artists all did it.

[quote name='fatwull' timestamp='1422798275' post='2676829'] I sold it on here and got £800 for it and the lad was well happy. Sounds like times have changed, must be a lot of bands that look perfect in every way.... I must really be out of touch with reality after 25 years away from gigging [/quote] If a shop were selling a used Bongo for £800 they'd have to allow for profit and VAT and general overheads like rent/wages, so giving you £500 (i.e. about 2/3rds) on a trade-in would be about normal. You can expect less if it's going to take longer to sell. I'd actually say times haven't really changed much and they are much the same as they always were, i.e. four string Fenders (or similar) are the norm and certain basses (e.g. coffee tables and pointy things) don't look right in e.g. a C&W band.

[quote name='fatwull' timestamp='1422722411' post='2676078'] Just imagined Mark King being told "sorry mate, we don't like that slappin stuff" [/quote] That would have a been a big relief for many of us - and he is a very good fingerstyle player.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1422731634' post='2676282'] I can't remember which series it was but there was actually a range of Planet Waves cables that were notorious for falling out really easily ... [/quote] I had a couple of those Planet Waves cables; they were a total waste of time and money and I threw them away.

[quote name='fatwull' timestamp='1422721455' post='2676056'] Visited Kennys music in Dundee when i was home last and took in my Musicman Bongo 4 to be checked over before selling. I was looking for a decent second hand 5 string after buying a cheap one and liking the extra string, now they don't have many 5 stringers in the shop and he started telling me how 5 stringers were not as fashionable as 4 stringers these days and not as common so that's how they don't stock them, i thought that comment was a bit silly considering how many 5's are on here. He also started on about what he would give me for the bongo if i traded it in..£4-500 which they will try on you anyway, then he started on about how guitars that look different are hard to sell and even said he knows people who have had to change their guitar as the rest of the band didn't like the look of it which really put me off the guy as personally i think that is just crap. Has anyone experienced this problem of "sorry mate, your sh*t hot but that guitar just doesn't look good enough for our band"....... [/quote] Five strings have never been as fashionable as four strings and have always sold many less items. I'd say the guy was correct. In a shop, around £400-£500 trade on a Bongo sounds about normal to me; if anything a good deal. You'd perhaps get more selling it privately but it's definitely a buyer's market just now. I'd say the guy was correct. Guitars that look different are harder to sell and harder to resell. Most people want a Fender or a Gibson or a clone of those styles. I'd say the guy was correct. Bands have images and the kind of guitar or bass is part of that image. You may think it's crap, however I don't think it's crap. Besides which I'd say the guy was correct whether or not you think it's crap. I've never been asked to change a bass myself but then I would either try hard to turn up with something suitable or I wouldn't be interested in the band in the first place. I do try to use a different instrument for a different band. Otherwise not much point having different instruments.

[quote name='The fasting showman' timestamp='1422702796' post='2675765'] Are they similar to the pickups in your Lakland? Probably a good reference then for what a big single coil sounds like. I always thing P90s sound great in Gibsons. [/quote] They are similar and - to the OP - Hanson (who make Lakland pickups) do various pickups in various shells and I think you can have the single-coil Chisonics in MM type housings. You can also hear Chisonics at the Lakland website. Again there is a cost.

[quote name='Osiris' timestamp='1422699419' post='2675711'] Errr, oh yeah, I guess the 2 halves of a P pickup do make a humbucker! To be fair, I'm no expert on these things so apologies for the confusion or apparent contradiction. When I said that I've yet to find a humbucker that I actually like, I had in mind those pickups that have 2 adjacent coils in a single enclosure like the MM style domino. Hope that helps. [/quote] OK, I wasn't trying to cause trouble; it's a common misconception.

[quote name='The fasting showman' timestamp='1422701289' post='2675742'] ... A massive single coil pickup like a Darkstar but in a MM case could be good...no forget that, gonna cost way too much! ... [/quote] Other than cost, this might work well. I don't know whether the MM case fits but even with a bit of routing could soudn excellent and be still saleable. Bisonic/Darkstar style pickups are available from Curtis Novak.

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1422662094' post='2675514'] He might mean the '51 style pickup. [/quote] Indeed he might but it doesn't read that way with the mention of reversal of the '[size=4][font=Calibri]P configuration with the bridge side of the pickup covering the E and A strings and the neck half of the pup covering the D & G'. strings.[/font][/size]

[quote name='Osiris' timestamp='1422553104' post='2674054'] [size=4][font=Calibri]...[/font][font=Calibri] P style single coil ...[/font] [font=Calibri]...[/font][font=Calibri] I've yet to find a bass humbucker yet that has a tone that does it for me, I just prefer single coils. [/font][/size] [/quote] Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but the Precision bass pickup is not a single-coil pickup. The P pickup is a split-coil humbucker pickup.

Spicey.

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1422484523' post='2673388'] This isn't my actual bass, but mine's identical. A '64 Höfner Artist II, bought from my metalwork teacher for £20 in 1982. [/quote] I started on one of those too in 1974. I paid £30 if I recall correctly.

The pic appears to be from the Marvelettes 1965 UK tour. Other than that I have no idea.

I'm hearing some bizarre and extremely unfortunate views of young people here. Has it never occurred to some of you that you might learn something, might even enjoy hearing something new that a young person might introduce you to? Well, it's your loss. This lack of time and lack of respect for young people is highly reminiscent of the attitude in the 1960s of my parents' generation to young people of that time who are today the ones over 60 and who really ought to know better. There's absolutely loads of great new music being made by young people around the world and you are missing out on it just as your parents missed out on the great music of the 1960s. Many young people are listening to old music, just not all of it rock. In my experience they are on average much more interested in old soul, hiphop, reggae, ska, klezmer etc.than rock but nonetheless even old rock is listened to. And if young people are walking out of guitar rock bar gigs then, given the attitude of some on here, those young people are making a wise decision - why on earth would they be interested in ageist rockist boring old farts. [quote name='ubit' timestamp='1422368485' post='2671711'] All I know is kids will hate what their parents listen to. It's the law! [/quote] In my experience this is wholly not true, but then I am neither ageist nor rockist in my musical tastes.

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1422212005' post='2669920'] ... Roger Sadowsky and Mike Tobias ... They also confirmed my understanding that the neck rigidity and fingerboard material probably account for most of the difference in tone between basses. ... [/quote] I'd allow that a neck needs some rigidity, as does a bridge and even a nut, but are you (and they) really certain that most of the difference isn't down to the player, or the pickup, or the pickup placement, or fingers, or plectrum, or strings, or EQ, etc.? Do several basses, lets say a Precision and a Jazz and a Stingray, all with maple neck & rosewood fingerboard really just sound alike due to the neck/fingerboard combination?

If there is a difference, it's not a difference that interests me.

[quote name='jtotheltotheo' timestamp='1422119030' post='2668920'] Is there a production short scale bass out there that can hold coming down a step without horrendous buzz? [/quote] The buzz is because the bass needs setting up for the new tension - just like any other string change. If you are going to tune down to D-G-C-F then you'll be best off with a heavier higher tension set of strings but there is no reason it can't be done. Newtone will make you a set if you aren't happy with any other set. It's true that a 34" long-scale bass with a capo at the second fret will be operating as a 30.3" scale bass, but if you want it tuned a whole step down then you would need the long scale tuned C-F-Bb-Eb, so that doesn't solve your problem.