EssentialTension

[quote name='Sarah5string' post='357282' date='Dec 17 2008, 07:58 PM']But I can't get into the shop til saturday!!!!!! Dooooooooooooooooooh![/quote] Frustrating. I know. I waited 17 months for my Decade. It will be worth the wait, Sarah.

[quote name='s_u_y_*' post='357263' date='Dec 17 2008, 07:26 PM']Man... my New Year's Resolution of not buying a new bass ends in a few days. Now I know what to put on the top of the GAS list![/quote] Yay!

[quote name='GЯДИК' post='357255' date='Dec 17 2008, 07:09 PM']looks good, is it solid under the pickguard? I reckon it'd look even better without[/quote] The US model is available without a pickguard but I can't find a pic of one. Personally, I prefer the pickguard. Basses without a pickguard look funny to me. The specs for the Skyline Decade were sorted by me and six others at the old Dudepit and this was to be a Dudepit Limited Edition of thirty only. The DPLE fell through for several reasons, not least of which was Dan Lakin liked it enough to make it the Skyline standard. From what I've heard they have sold in excess of a hundred of them already. As far as I know this is the only one in the UK and one of two in Europe so far - the other belongs to a guy called Mauricio in the Netherlands. Anyone know of any others?

[quote name='lonestar' post='355267' date='Dec 15 2008, 06:47 PM']I'd love to see an old Bells catalogue from the mid '70s. it was my porn of choice when I was a kid.[/quote] What? You preferred it to the Freeman's catalogue with Lulu?

Or if you can run to it a Fender American Deluxe Precision has P pickup in the sweet spot and a double J at the bridge. Expensive new but s/h can be got for £600 or so. I love mine.

[quote name='artisan' post='357143' date='Dec 17 2008, 04:46 PM']nice looking bass--even if it's not a Fender [/quote] Thanks. I tell you what, I'll do you a special picture of it next to my Fenders. Possibly with the cooker in the background.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='357167' date='Dec 17 2008, 05:19 PM']That's a seriously nice cooker. [/quote] I thought someone would notice our excellent new Rangemaster. We have the matching Rangemaster American cooler too. But I still had two take away curries in the last two days.

Thanks guys. It's hard to capture the exact natural colour - probably my rubbish photography.

[quote name='martthebass' post='356251' date='Dec 16 2008, 06:15 PM']A man after my own heart - you mean there are notes above the 12th?[/quote] No I meant above the 7th.

Mmmmmmmmmmm .... tractor

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='355728' date='Dec 16 2008, 10:37 AM']+ another one - its either laziness or [b]a pitiful attempt to hide the fact that they don't actually KNOW what key the song is in[/b].[/quote] +1. Or even don't know what the chords are called.

[quote name='lozbass' post='355748' date='Dec 16 2008, 10:51 AM']Oops, should have looked prior to my initial post - here's a link to the 34" version - not really to my taste and I doubt the 30" will be much different in terms of styling: [url="http://www.lakland.com/decade.htm"]http://www.lakland.com/decade.htm[/url] Still, nice to see another quality manufacturer entering the short-scale market.[/quote] It will be the same I believe except for the neck of course. I'm not aware of any publically available pics of the prototype yet.

I've got nothing against busking it when necessary or a nice jam but when someone new asks what's the chord sequence or what's the arrangement or even what key do you want it in, it seems to me unsupportive not to have a straight answer and not the kind of band I would want to play in.

[quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='355510' date='Dec 15 2008, 11:42 PM']+1 And having read some quite sensible posts, I am pleased to see how others, like me, discovered the benefits. And having only a few "extra notes" really isn't what it's about, for me. It means adding a different feel, or [b]putting in a contrasting octave to a pattern[/b] and so on. What I'd hate, is if there was to be a perceived inferiority thing about 4-strings. That would be nonsense. Like having low profile tyres and a spoiler makes you a superior car driver . I really think that an instrument should be used to suit the band you are in, regardless of format. In my case, I have one 4-string fretless, and one roundwound 5-string for rock/funk (+ a back-up) and another 5-string with flats for a quiet band. It just helps to have different tools in the toolbox. [b]And, I can't wait for an excuse-cum-funds to get a nice sixer again[/b]. But back to Molan's OP. I hope you find what works for you in the band context you are in, and find the tool that fits the groove.[/quote] I don't dispute any of this - except my line about 'extra notes' being taken more literally than I intended it should. It does seem to me though that if you follow the 'putting a contrasting octave to a pattern' argument you end up with a six-string - as you said. I do have an urge for a Bass VI type instrument but only so I can buy some picks, go all twangy, and annoy guitarists.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='355476' date='Dec 15 2008, 11:14 PM']That's what I thought until I actually had one in my hands and it dawned on me that what you get isn't just 5 paltry extra notes but a whole extra slice of a neck. Now a E root starts on the 5th fret instead of the open and it follows that all the scales down to B occur in the same way with the added bonus of the extra notes on the 5th string - the G string. [/quote] Well, point taken but I didn't mean to start a row about it and I didn't call the notes 'paltry'. It was a throw away line really. I've got nothing against people using five or any other number of strings but I'm happiest with four. I'll go BEAD if necessary for a song and I can manage well enough without the G string (but then I rarely go up the dusty end anyway). At a gig last weekend, during the interval, the drummer and I were talking to an old friend of his who he hadn't seen for years. Turned out he used to play bass. Later after the second set the drummer says to me about his old friend 'He was a very good bass player, he could play a five-string properly and all that'.

[quote name='charic' post='351944' date='Dec 11 2008, 05:02 PM'][b]they refused to give me any basic chord structure or anything of the sort. [/b][/quote] That's the point at which I would have left.

[quote name='flychris' post='355102' date='Dec 15 2008, 03:10 PM']I'm not so sure about that, cause now, I'm the newbie, and the victim... by a non newbie member... I posted in Off topic concerning a trade by now... So I think it's more related by honnesty than to be a newbie or not, isn't it ?[/quote] +1

[quote name='neepheid' post='355099' date='Dec 15 2008, 03:08 PM']Already done: [/quote] Hmmm .. so imprecise it doesn't have tuners.

[quote name='Dr.Dave' post='355006' date='Dec 15 2008, 01:45 PM']Ha! Considering the posts before you 'fretless Precision' is a bit of a contradiction in terms , isn't it. I suppose , at the time , the basic Precision the fretless was modeled on was too well known a name to mess with. Who wants a 'Fender Precisish' ?[/quote] Fender Imprecision?

FYI, according to Lakland endorser Jauqo, Lakland will be introducing a short scale 30" Lakland Decade (US only, not Skyline) at January NAMM. Personally I'd like to see a Skyline 30" Decade Bass VI with vibrato.

[quote name='BigAlonBass' post='354679' date='Dec 14 2008, 11:20 PM']1968-16 years old, dead caterpillar on top lip, playing as part of my Dad's "Resident Band" at a Local Working Mens Club Dance Night. Second-hand, hand-painted Artist Bass. God, how the time flies. [attachment=17264:My_Pictu...date_070.jpg][/quote] My vague recollection of my Artist bass is that it was actually quite good.

[quote name='bumnote' post='354473' date='Dec 14 2008, 07:11 PM']Thanks for sharing those I used go and press my nose against shop window and dream about the futurama I thought it looked much cooler than the only fiesta red strat in portsmouth at the time. I later bought a hofner president for the sum of [b]46 gns[/b] and later a marshall 4x10 blues breaker combo for [b]110 gns[/b]. Wish I still had the amp.[/quote] And for you youngsters out there, can I just say that was a lot of money in those days.