EssentialTension

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1408472207' post='2530551'] I could be wrong but I think Warwick makes the Starfire now.I looked at one before I decided on the ES-335. Blue [/quote] Recently reissued by Guild ... nothign to do with Warwick ...

I played a Dearmond Starfire with Hammon Dark Star pickups for several years in the 2000s. I also play a fully hollow Takamine B10.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1408462442' post='2530436'] I think for some guys gigging was never there thing and thats fine. Me, I can't imagine a weekend without work. What would I do, read a book, watch TV, go fishing, go to a movie. I would be lost. I really think for my age I'm a minority in more ways than 1. Blue [/quote] I woudln't want to be gigging every weekend, once or twice a month will do me.

I read somewhere Jones was getting $50,000 per week on tour. Could be nonsense though.

[quote name='Dr.Dave' timestamp='1408442478' post='2530106'] ... if we're on a bill with a band of 20 year olds they're more likely to be in bother than we are ... [/quote] I was playing in an 'average age 40-something hard-rocking psychedelic blues three piece' a few years ago. We had been booked to open for a group of '20-something full-time music students progressive metal band'. We were nervous of their technical abilities but they liked our equipment - we provided the backline. But our drummer counted 1-2-3-4 and the sound of our experience hit the back wall. I think, they found it much harder to follow us than we would have done to follow them. Having said that I wouldn't want to follow my 20 year old son's eight-piece gypsy dub band (as they call it).

62, but I've been doing my best to avoid playing 'rock' for a long time. Other band members are in their 40s or 50s. I too saw Johnny Winter and BB King standing up but I also saw Muddy Waters and Bukka White and Brownie McGee and Sonny Terry etc all sitting down. Sitting down or standing doesn't really matter and there's excellent music now just as there was fifty years ago and a hundred years ago etc etc.

I thought Bb too but I've been wrong before. Anyway playing the B just gives a different flavour. Your last phrase 6-5-6, I would play using open string 1-0-1 - if you see what I mean.

Tune down your 34" scale bass to DGCF and put a capo on the second fret. You now have a 30.3" scale bass tuned EADG. Try it to see if you like it.

Ed Friedland playing the Lakin Precision and Jazz ... [media]http://youtu.be/OGtVl_USw6s[/media] [media]http://youtu.be/rx1JohQXBSk[/media]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1407950582' post='2525680'] Ed Friedland makes everything sound good. He also tends to make everything sound like Ed Friedland so I've stopped listening to his demos as they have little relevance for what I'll discover when I play the instrument in question myself. [/quote] Yep. I agree.

It does sound good when Ed Friedland plays it ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsuiVj3B9E0

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1407778052' post='2523942'] I was keen until I played one in GAK about 3 years ago and then I lost interest but I don't recall why. [/quote] I found what I said '3 years ago' .... [quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1298383014' post='1137100'] I played a fretted Zenith today in GAK. I was disappointed. Body finish looked nice but I was less keen on the feel of the neck - had a cheapish feel to it, whatever that means, but sort of reminded me of 60s and early 70s Japanese stuff. I played through a Markbass combo and at first was suffering from some crackling/rattling - I wasn't sure whether it was the combo, the bass socket, or the lead but either way it didn't help - but seemed to right itself after a while. The action wasn't bad but I think many people would want it a little lower which, with no bridge adjustment other than filing down the saddle, would probably mean a neck shim. Sound was pleasant enough but the difference between the magnetic and piezo pickups was less than I'd hoped given that having those two options available would be my reason for buying the bass. The feel of the pots was feeble and I suspect the electronics are the real weak spot of the bass. The blend control seemed to run quite unsmoothly from piezo to mag and back. I'll be going back to try out the fretless version when they have one but my experience moved me from 'maybe a fretless Zenith would be nice' to 'I doubt if I would buy a Zenith'. [/quote] I never did go back and try a fretless version and I am sure I would prefer the fretless and some flatwound strings but as you can see I wasn't impressed.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1407945047' post='2525608'] Its because on *some* guitars---with a steep headstock angle---having the strings at full tension can make it (the headstock) more likely to snap. I suspect its more likely to be a problem with Gibson style 6-strings like Les Pauls and SGs that have notoriously fragile headstocks. Even then I'd probably only loosen them a step or two. Most bass guitars would be OK I reckon. [/quote] OK, I get your point ... although I'm not sure I am convinced that it's the string tension that's breaking (for example) Gibson headstocks. My son broke the headstock on his Epiphone Casino by falling over drunk on the way home from a gig. I don't think loosening the strings would have made any difference. Anyway, it's stronger now that it has been fixed.

[quote name='geofio' timestamp='1407175368' post='2518085'] ... remember to loosen the strings so there is less tension on the neck for transit. [/quote] I don't get this and I would always have the bass tuned normally for transit. If you loosen the strings then the tension of the truss rod is no longer balanced by the string tension and I can't see how that is in any way advantageous.

TI Jazz Rounds

[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1407781538' post='2523995'] If you see Peter Noone, give him a slap for I`m Henry the Eigth I Am . That was truely awful. ... [/quote] Not awful but just music hall or what was referred to above as vaudeville. My grandfather used to sing Henery the Eighth to me when I was a child in the 1950s - originally Harry Champion circa 1911.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1407774285' post='2523872'] Just curious about the Zenith bass as IMHO they look really nice. There aren't many threads on them here. Mostly for sale or wanted threads. I'm not going to be buying one, but am curious about what they are like. Does anyone have one? If so, what do you think of this bass? [/quote] I was keen until I played one in GAK about 3 years ago and then I lost interest but I don't recall why.

Doesn't look real.

Very nice.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1406977744' post='2516381'] Fingers crossed you never have to claim for a damaged instrument . [/quote] That would be a standard and normal risk but, anyway, the money I've saved over the years not insuring instruments will easily cover any future losses. The point of course is that whichever courier you can name there's good and bad stories about all of them.

Well, he claimed to have rung the bell but we were too clever for him and Mrs ET caught the DPD man as he was about to drive off and forced him to collect our parcel. So, no thanks to DPD.

Regular 4-stringer here but I did have a G&L 2500 briefly. Excellent bass but I really didn't get on with the narrow (to me) string spacing,

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1406208201' post='2509325'] I've had things delivered by DPD, they do seem to be rather good, it's nice to know when to expect them, they send a text message on the day of delivery giving a time frame of when to expect them, you can change this if it's not suitable. [/quote] See my story about DPD above. No message, no collection, no service. [quote name='ambient' timestamp='1406208201' post='2509325'] Don't use Parcelforce, as mentioned earlier, they'll take your money for the insurance, but they don't cover musical instruments. [/quote] I've used Parcelforce many times and never had any problem except one late delivery for which I got my money back.

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1406225930' post='2509590'] I have had a good few dealings with DPD recently I have to say I have been impressed with their service and their excellent communication, I have not had anything go wrong so far so I don't know how they would be with a claim [/quote] I've had nothing but bad experiences with DPD and another bad experience today. I spent 40 minutes on the phone to them yesterday trying to arrange the collection of a computer for service. Eventually got a booking for a collection between 09.00 and 17.30 today. I sat in the front room all day. They didn't turn up. Except they claim they had tried to collect. Booked again for tomorrow. I'll let you know if they bother to turn up this time.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1406818832' post='2515004'] What is it (link on my computer doesn't even show an image, let alone play any video)? [/quote] Search 'Daniel Romeo - Getting Into The Details' at YouTube