EssentialTension

Lucky it wasn't a diesel.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1397735783' post='2426920'] Thanks! I'm enjoying everything about it except the ugly generic Warwick paddle shaped headstock. If I can the cash spare it would be off to a reputable luthier to have it restyled into something more in keeping with the rest of the design of the bass. [/quote] I remember you saying you didn't like the headstock, which I kind of agree with you, but the gold with gold hardware looks superb despite my common resistance to gold hardware.

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1397632043' post='2425745'] From a BBC news report "The bass crashed into you like a steam train. I had a pain in my chest." [/quote] That sounds more like a kick drum than a bass.

And if you do this you will devalue the Lakland and make it less sellable.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1395059286' post='2398089'] Warwick Pro-Series MiK Star Bass. [/quote] That looks fabulous.

I can't say I've tried it because, to be honest, (1) I think the Lakland bridge is fine and (2) I think the Badass bridge is pug ugly, and - in your case - (3) you're really happy with your DD P bass. So why are you even considering it?

[quote name='PeteFromCorby' timestamp='1397670080' post='2426326'] Is it not useful to know that every C# is between a G# and a F# [/quote] I do know that C# is the 4th of G# and that F# is the 4th of C# etc. and it's good to know the cycle of fifths (and indeed fourths in reverse, and your scales etc.) but none of that tells me where the notes are on the fingerboard. In fact, once I am playing a certain key, let's say C#major, then I'm not even thinking where is the F# note, I am just playing the fourth because I know on the fingerboard where the fourth is in relation to the root. And if someone were to say to me, 'hey, what note is that?' I'd be as likely to reply 'fourth' as 'F#'. However, the problem with your original observation is not that it's unwise to know the circle of fifths - quite the opposite, it's very good to know it - but that's not the way to learn the fingerboard. You might equally as well have said that in standard tuning the bass is tuned in fourths e.g. BEAD at the 7th fret. OK, totally correct, but it doesn't learn me the fingerboard and never will.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1397650620' post='2426022'] Dunno! Can't see it. It was Ben Allison's 'It's Only Just Begun'. The cover is barely recognisable as The Carpenters. [/quote] That's the one. [quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1397650620' post='2426022'] ... A good song doesn't have to be a 'classic' to be a good song any more than a 'classic' has to be a good song to be a 'classic' (that does make sense if you read it enough times !!) [/quote] Were you thinking of [i]Moondance[/i]?

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1397603993' post='2425677'] I'm not, The reason being that to know the notes "cold" i.e. well enough to be useful in say a gig situation, you cant rely on a system that involves having to work through a sequence from some other note. [/quote] Yes, if someone says C#, then I need to know where they all are without spending time working it out.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1397645100' post='2425930'] Interestingly, you can be very creative doing covers and very predictable doing originals. A lot of Jazz originals are astonishingly formulaic (12-bar bebop blues, bossas etc). Creativity is creativity. Catch this Carpenters song.... [url="http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=t0Wf2SP0rJ4"]http://m.youtube.com...h?v=t0Wf2SP0rJ4[/url] [/quote] Link not working, did you mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Wf2SP0rJ4

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1397586786' post='2425462'] At least he admits it... [/quote] I cant see what's to admit, it's a normal thing.

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1397582226' post='2425406'] ... Pino is the perfect example ... [/quote] ... yes, here he is playing a cover while stealing from Stravinsky ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju_a2-Pve4g

[quote name='cclowend' timestamp='1397568408' post='2425204'] ... I just don't get why some people only play covers. [/quote] I don't actually care one jot who wrote the song (by which I mean the lyrics and the melody) as long as it is a good song that I can assist in performing well. I just don't get why some people think who wrote the song makes any difference to whether the music is any good. For centuries anyway composers and musicians more generally have copied, borrowed, stolen re-arranged, etc. etc. while still managing to call it their own.

[quote name='cclowend' timestamp='1397541018' post='2424866'] The book analogy is a good one. There are thousands of good books out there that have never been read. A sad state. Also, if a book has already been written, why write it again? [/quote] Rewriting books/stories has been standard common and normal for thousands of years. Shakespeare, for example, did it over and over again. Hollywood, for example, also does it all over and over again.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1397517025' post='2424822'] To get back to music rather than continue with an analogy: I doubt there is anybody playing in originals bands who hasn't sat down and worked out some of their favourite bass parts from other peoples' records. I've only ever played originals but I've certainly spent time at home, especially when I was younger, working out other peoples' bass parts. The point is that some people eventually began having their own ideas. [/quote] True, but having your own ideas doesn't necessitate them being good ideas and having your own ideas is not intrinsically good. Besides which, really original ideas are extremely rare because there is almost always a debt, a standing on the shoulders of others.

[quote name='tonybassplayer' timestamp='1397515929' post='2424819'] Just had a couple of hours working some bits out for tomorrow's rehearsal and quite pleased so far. All the lines are very basic at the moment as I am getting used to the chord structures and the format of the songs etc but better to play something simple and solid first then elaborate ( if required ) later I believe. If nothing else it has definitely got me playing more and buying equipment ( collected new practice amp today, fretless arriving Thursday and looking for something effects related at the moment ) Tony [/quote] Very good.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1397513885' post='2424778'] If you don't finish the rubbish one you'll never write a good one. [/quote] ... and you're more likely to write a good one if you've read some good ones.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1397503338' post='2424615'] AFAICS every other manufacturer of basses with maple necks and rosewood boards seems to be capable of making them without the necks twisting. In fact this is the first time I've actually come across this explanation. I's have thought it would have been simpler just to season the wood properly before constructing the neck. Does anyone actually have a twisted Fender neck with a slab rosewood board? [/quote] I have a lovely untwisted one.

[quote name='The Bass Doc' timestamp='1397502530' post='2424596'] The second explanation is the most acceptable imo, particularly as Leo Fender told me himself [/quote] Go on, show us the picture again in case anyone missed it. Do you think Leo was correct then because the slab board is still around on my 62 reissue neck?

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1397499455' post='2424545'] What's the reason for the "veneer" style board? I can't help but think it would have made the production of the neck unnecessarily complicated - something which would have gone agains Leo Fenders philosophy when it came to building musical instruments. [/quote] Two explanations sometimes given are (1) it was cheaper because rosewood cost more than maple, which doesn't sound convincing, and (2) maple and rosewood expand and contract differently and so there's less likelihood of a problem if there's less rosewood, which also sounds unconvincing. No doubt someone will be along in a minute with a better explanation. And no doubt someone will say that one (or the other) sounds different and better, or not.

Many years ago I was playing in a 'mostly originals' (for want of a better phrase) blues rock three piece. At one gig - where alongside our own songs we did play rearrangements of, IIRC, a Hendrix song, a Willie Newbern song, and a Robert Parker song - as we came off stage a punter says to me: 'That was great.' Me: 'Thanks a lot.' Punter: 'Have you always been a tribute band?' Me: 'Tribute band? What makes you say that?' Punter: 'You played a Hendrix song.' Me: 'Er .. yes ... so?' Punter: 'So you're a Hendrix tribute band.' Me: 'Er... no.' I'm guessing that he was unfamiliar with Willie Newbern and Robert Parker or we would have been labelled a triple tribute band.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1397487454' post='2424388'] In which case it's now actually less useful than it used to be... [/quote] Definitely although the price is not bad and no doubt a replacement bigsby could be sourced.

Also in the description[size=4]: [font=Arial,sans-serif]'TAILPIECE Bigsby®Licensed B50 Vibrato Tailpiece - removed when converted[/font]'[/size]

Ah hang on , it's had the tremolo removed. You can see the screw holes.