EssentialTension

I have a Crafter SA which combines characteristics of an electro-acoustic with a neck more like an electric ... http://youtu.be/nvLyQFvbKu0

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1461329873' post='3033753'] Such a vast eternity that they decided it would take too long to include links to their music in the ad, and simply suggested that we google it ourselves if we're that fussed. To be fair, they possibly have form for using guitarists as bassists - if that's their previous bassist in the picture then he's doing a pretty good visual impression of dear old Keef! [/quote] Looks like one of Bill's basses too.

A week is a long time in politics.

[quote name='Japhet' timestamp='1461316417' post='3033559'] I wouldn't recommend an unlined fretless to start out with. You have to have a very good ear or have spot on technique to play one. The purists will frown on a lined fretless but to me it's about the sound rather than the look. With a lined neck you'll know exactly where you're supposed to be fretting. With an unlined neck it's likely you'll spend a lot of time wondering why it doesn't sound quite right with no points of reference to help you correct it. Just my opinion. [/quote] I beg to differ. Lines on the fingerboard can get you in the region of a note but they do not tell you exactly where to put your finger tip. Only your ear can do that, lines or no lines. Anyway it's common for a unlined fretless to have side dots - hopefully at least roughly at the correct note position and not misleadingly between the notes - and side dots are as good a guide as lines, i.e. imperfect. When one is standing up playing, then the lines, especially for the D and G strings, will not be seen at all or will be seen at an angle of parallax that really won't help and may be very misleading. Of course, people can play whatever they like.

Just get a cheap fretless (preferably without lines IMO) and practice. Anyway, there isn't a fretless sound anymore than there is a fretted sound.

The wiring issue sounds a particularly bad to deal with on a hollow body. Nice that you sorted it but you have slightly put me off buying one.

[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1461229677' post='3032597'] This. I put LaBella Deep Talking flats on my jazz when I realised that Joe Osborn played on so many tunes of that era that I thought had an amazing bass sound. [/quote] ... and played with a pick I believe.

[quote name='LeftyBiskit' timestamp='1461068185' post='3031098'] Mine was a Hofner Artist-I bought it in 1978 off a mate for a fiver, It came in bits as a project, as I'm cack handed I had to modify it a bit I still have it and occasionally plug it in the one in the pic is how it should look. [/quote] I too had Hofner Artist. I paid £30 if i recall correctly, which was about two week wages. It was quite playable although imperfect in intonation at the dusty end. I gave it to a friend when I got a Hayman 4040 for about £100.

[quote name='AustinArto' timestamp='1460937122' post='3030010'] I've never bought a signature bass. I don't think I've ever liked a bass player who had a seemingly-inimitable sound. [/quote] The only 'signature' bass I ever owned was a Fender Tony Franklin Precision Fretless. I had never heard of Tony Franklin and I still haven't heard Tony Franklin's playing. It's the only unlined fretless Precision Fender did. That's why I bought it. I wouldn't mind a Lakland Jerry Scheff. Nothing to do with Jerry Scheff himself, but I like the widely spaced lipstick pickups. Most people with a Les Paul have no idea who Les Paul was.

[quote name='EmmettC' timestamp='1460905840' post='3029664'] ... Mark Hoppus ... he uses a capo on his bass........ [/quote] And he uses frets, what an amateur.

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1460904233' post='3029649'] If fender priced their bases more keenly ... [/quote] Surely, that's why there are CS, MIA, MIM, MIJ, Squiers etc.

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1460903671' post='3029646'] Isn't it "patent an item, copyright an idea"? In the bottom of Leo's drawing there he's making a claim for the design of a "bass guitar", which iirc was the unique part of it. I thought - from having seen the original Tele application drawings in books that he was claiming things like the one piece bridge, detachable/replaceable neck - and such. It's all in various Fender books but I can't be bothered looking for them. [/quote] That sounds about right to me. There are, as you say, lots of Fender patents if you google for them.

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1460897959' post='3029590'] The stuck on stencil relicing on the Rory strat is awful imo,have you seen one in the flesh? [/quote] Same goes for the Joe Strummer Telecaster. Awful from a distance and gets worse as you get closer.

Surely it's a patent not a copyright and in the case of the headstock a trademark.

I couldn't care less if it's a so-called 'signature'. I would happily play a Les Paul.

Very nice ... but I am suggesting cream pearl pickguard and lollipop tuners.

17 is not a date but it is the code for a Mustang bass or Musicmaster bass neck.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1460550323' post='3026693'] Which ever one has the best look for the band. They all sound like basses in the mix. [/quote] I agree with this. I tend to have articular basses for particular bands.

Sounds nothing like Spirit ... http://youtu.be/FNE75XznfIE?list=RDJcYeLRI76No

Ha ha. Never liked it anyway.

When I briefly had an L2500, I had the E string through bridge and the other four through body because the E string was slightly fat for the ferrule and, when through body, the silk was over the nut. I prefer through bridge anyway so I wasn't bothered. The ball ends weren't a problem though.

My son uses flats on his Epiphone Casino (13-56) and on his Fender Jaguar (11-50). You probably aren't going to bend them much but they sound real meaty. I've read that John Lennon even had Pyramid Gold flats on his Gibson acoustic.

[quote name='olliedf89' timestamp='1460297678' post='3024428'] Yeah I thought I'd fixed it, but apparently not. Just come back to it and it's playing fine except that E string, every time you hit it with anything other than a light tap it vibrates all over the place, initial attack looses low end before it starts phasing. Almost like very hard dip & swell limiting, but without a compressor. I'm really not sure what I'm doing wrong but I'm keen to try and understand. The string is only a 105 so I'm finding it hard to believe that the gauge is wrong as it's not anything crazy. [/quote] Could the E string be broken somehow inside the winding?

[quote name='acidbass' timestamp='1460216636' post='3023748'] Thanks guys! I think I will just send em back. Don't want to cut them and potentially be unable to return them as a result. [/quote] I agree don't cut them, but you can see if they fit without cutting them.

I got round to listening to those at last. Thanks Dave and nice playing. The main thing was, for me at least, they all sounded wholly acceptable. By which I mean I could have used and worked with strings that sounded like that. Having said that I liked the La Bella and the GHS most, strings which I have regularly used, along with the DRs which I am using on one bass at present. There's something about the EBs and the D'Addarios I like less (but I bet I could not spot it in a blind test). But, never mind the sound, all those strings feel different under the fingers. For example, the DRs are slightly rough to the touch while La Bella 760M are very smooth. Tension and compliance vary a lot so, even having heard the sound, I think you can only finally decide after playing them. By the way, GHS don't, as far as I can see, do a 50-105 set. Should it be 45-105 or 55-105?