EssentialTension

[quote name='TheRev' post='613228' date='Sep 30 2009, 08:06 PM']For a more uprighty tone you need to lean towards hybrid or orchestral strings or synthetic core. Obligatos might work well, Velvet compas would work very well but at £350 a set, it's an expensive experiment.[/quote] OK, thanks for that (well, not the £350 set ) Would the Obligatos be these? - [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/pirastro_obligato_kontrabasssaiten.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/pirastro_obligato...abasssaiten.htm[/url] But let's hear some more suggestions please. And would I need 3/4 rather than 4/4 for the WAV4?

[quote name='mrcrow' post='612196' date='Sep 29 2009, 05:01 PM']what position and frets do 'we' all use to execute that rock bottom scale of bass tunes[/quote] Where I played it would depend on where I was coming from and where I was going next?

My WAV4 still has its factory fitted strings (I believe). I'd like to try some new ones but I'm not sure what to choose or how to choose. I'm playing pizzicato (although I might get a bow at some point) in an amplified acoustic band doing a mix of blues, country, and folk, sometimes with a jazzy feel. I'd like to sound as much like an upright as possible and less like a fretless bass guitar. Any suggestions?

[quote name='ezbass' post='613073' date='Sep 30 2009, 04:11 PM']Had a day off today and so decided to drive the hour to Brighton to visit GAK. Now I haven't been there for nearly 10 years back when I was playing guitar, so wasn't sure what to expect on the bass front at all. OMG what a great time, Mark at the shop was super helpful and let me try anything I wanted (even though he knew that I wasn't spending any money today) in a room on my own. Guess what? When I come buy my new bass (oh yes there is definitely a new one in the offing, I wasn't just taking the mickey) GAK are going to be right at the fore of my places to buy from. How hard was it to give decent service? Not hard at all, just a pleasant word and attitude and a willingness to help. Bass Cellar, if you're reading this thread at all and you should be, this is how it's done.[/quote] +1 on GAK, I've never found Mark anything but friendly and helpful.

[quote name='lee650' post='612500' date='Sep 29 2009, 09:31 PM']Dave (essential tension) a small word of warning, if your using it on the WAV the fingerboard is actually dyed, i gave it a clean with some dunlop guitar polish and a load of it came off, to show a lighter coloured wood underneath (prob still ebony just not jet black) just a thought mate!![/quote] OK, thanks for that, Lee. I had thought it had dye on/in the fingerboard wood because it sometimes gets on my fingers. So, do you think the fingerboard is a sort of 'pale' ebony or is it something else?

[quote name='henry norton' post='612332' date='Sep 29 2009, 06:54 PM']I think alot of people 'hear' what they want to hear when it comes to instrument mods. I also think the change in appearance can make people play differently, more aggressive or maybe more sensitively. Maybe making your instrument look woodier made you play in a more 'woody, mellow, warm way'. Not in a 'wooden' way by the way After all that work you'd want to 'hear' an improvement after all. I'm pretty sure taking off a thick layer of polyester will have some effect on the sound but after the strings, pickups, wood, construction and electronics have all had their say, it'll be tiny fractions.[/quote] +1 on that.

I'll be bringing my Radial Bassbone.

[quote name='peteb' post='610294' date='Sep 27 2009, 08:15 PM']How would you define "woodier"?[/quote] I'd probably try to avoid defining it if I could, but as you insist... ...bassier to some degree, with less tightness in the mids and highs, and perhaps a greater low-mid warmth. Mind you these things can be very difficult to describe at the best of times and it was in the mid-eighties that I did this so, although I recall finding it more 'woody' at the time, I don't now recall exactly what it sounded like. I think it would be fair to say, however, that the difference would have been small.

[quote name='7string' post='610431' date='Sep 27 2009, 11:04 PM']If you go back to stringing though the body, file a gentle ramp where the string comes out from the body and over the bridge itself. Hopefully, this'll cure the string breakage problem.[/quote] Thanks, I've heard that before. I did only break one string but it was the first in about 30 years.

[quote name='jj1234' post='610423' date='Sep 27 2009, 10:55 PM']ET, you just saved me a lot of money.[/quote] Nice to be of assistance. Fell free to send me money if you have too much.

Also, a good place to ask about this would be [url="http://bassoutpost.com/index.php"]The Last Bass Outpost[/url] forum which has a lot of Gibson/Epiphone players who will definitely know about this.

[quote name='brucie286' post='610378' date='Sep 27 2009, 10:00 PM']I've got a 1990's Epi Rivoli which has just had a 1960's USA EBO pickup put in it. The reason for doing this was to get an overall better tone and more output, but now i've got a really loud bass mush/mess of a noise. Its output is alot higher which i wanted, but i have to roll all the bass frequencies virtually off on the amp and boost the treble end to get anything barely useable. Only thing with this is that it now has a horrible tinny buzz. Also if i use a drive pedal some of the notes (paticuarlly A string, 12th fret) are so distorted it doesn't ring properly and sound terible. Now what can I do? Is it down to rubbish original wiring/pots/jacks? All i want is a woody 1960's psycheldelic tone that people have told me with the pickup swap i should be able to achieve. Anyway, enough waffle, any help out there?!?!?!?![/quote] I'm not an expert on this (so someone may be along in a minute to correct me) but I think the 1960s Epiphone Rivoli had a so-called 'baritone switch' which cut the bass frequencies from the mudbucker pickup but then, with the right EQ, you got the sound of, for example, Paul Samwell-Smith in the Yardbirds or Chas Chandler in the Animals. I'm guessing a 1990s Rivoli does not have the so-called baritone circuit fitted. That might be a factor in your problem.

[quote name='peteb' post='610268' date='Sep 27 2009, 07:50 PM']Can anyone explain the effect on the tone of a bass that a solid paint finish has (obviously compared to a natural finish)?[/quote] If the solid paint and the natural were both lacquered I don't think it would make much difference. I stripped the lacquer off a natural finish Aria once and it did sound woodier.

[quote name='Tait' post='610192' date='Sep 27 2009, 06:32 PM']jeff berlin is so full of nonsense. when i play fretless i dont sound like jaco, but thats because i dont play fusion jazzy stuff on fretless (and i'm not good enough to sound like jaco ) and because the only time i ever play fretless is when i'm doing acousticy stuff. i've hardly listened to any jaco at all, i get bored after a few minutes because its all just him twiddling around and i find that boring.[/quote] +1 on all of that.

And, by the way, I'm sure TI Flats will sound great on a '51P.

[quote name='mrcrow' post='610180' date='Sep 27 2009, 06:22 PM']strange since flats were all that was available...way back when but i thank you for that since my 51P is TBS and i want to try flats will probably use TI thinks...maybe way back then is when bridge stringing needed to be introduced...ie the flats..good one cheers geof[/quote] Yes, I recognise the anomaly that back in the fifties it was all flats. I almost always use TI Jazz Flats and they are generally said to be OK through body and I have used them through body for a long time myself - but then I broke an A string at the bridge. Of course it happened at a gig, two bars into the second song, when I had (unusually) not taken a spare bass with me. Since then I've been going through bridge but perhaps I need to risk it again and remember the spare bass. I've used D'Addario Chromes through body too without any problem but I've heard La Bellas and GHS flats are not good through body.

[quote name='mrcrow' post='610156' date='Sep 27 2009, 05:52 PM']a small piece of sellotape just enough to make the ferrule tight again wound or partially wound round the tubular part glue could affect the paint finish another tip is a tiny bit of blutak...and wipe away the excess...[/quote] Thanks for the suggestions. [quote name='mrcrow' post='610156' date='Sep 27 2009, 05:52 PM']why not TBS?...thats what they are there for...and you can throw away any thoughts on the bridge giving full tone leo wanted it that way[/quote] Flatwound strings and an experience of breakage. Plus I can't actually hear any difference.

[quote name='TheBlueFalcon' post='610125' date='Sep 27 2009, 05:04 PM']Don't forget those before and after shots. [/quote] I can't find the camera.

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='609385' date='Sep 26 2009, 05:03 PM']I've got the urge to do this now but can I find my lemon oil? [/quote] Found it

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='610059' date='Sep 27 2009, 03:31 PM']Would getting 2 set-ups done be greedy?[/quote] Not greedy, just expensive.

I string my Precison through the bridge so the through-body ferrules are not held in by the string. One of them keeps falling out and I either have to keep retrieving it from the floor or store it elsewhere so as not to lose it. Any suggestions besides super-glue for keeping it in place?

[quote name='YouMa' post='610013' date='Sep 27 2009, 02:38 PM']dark star is a great tune.[/quote] +1

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='609944' date='Sep 27 2009, 12:33 PM']Should really point out that it's not mine but it is a lovely bass (even though it looks hideous)[/quote] Ah, I can see now that you never said it was your Bongo, merely that you had 'added' it. And +1 on the hideous, now I know it's not your bass.