EssentialTension

You can achieve the same effect by not tuning up accurately and then bend each note as you play it. If it's fretless you don't need to tune up or bend ... just go for it.

... mind you, it's 3.57 but seems like 9.57.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1451734069' post='2942852'] Without You - Nilsson [/quote] I can imagine The Junkyard Dogs doing a Badfinger version. It would need to be placed carefully in the setlist. http://youtu.be/PPco24LS31A

You can cover any song if you have a way of rearranging it. http://youtu.be/V4WGsMplGxU

Very good but what colour? I usually avoid effects but I'm using a Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1451668260' post='2942271'] ... I'm going to try the TI Jazz roundwounds too, when I've sold the house. [/quote] I used to have a bass tuned BEAD with TI Jazz Rounds ... it was fat.

Very nice ... made me smile ... if I had to pick a winner it was the TIs ... but see discreet's question.

Actually forget the friend and the barre and the capo. Just tune down to DGCA and then never play open strings or fret one. Hey presto! It's a life hack.

[quote name='DavidMcKay' timestamp='1451588385' post='2941744'] ... Anyone have a life hack for an impromptu capo?!?!? [/quote] Invite a friend to barre all four strings at the second fret while you play at the third fret and above.

[quote name='pfretrock' timestamp='1451588642' post='2941749'] But I'd have to catch a bus. [/quote] If I suggest getting a taxi, or maybe walking, is that a life hack?

[quote name='DavidMcKay' timestamp='1451588385' post='2941744'] ... I don't even have a capo! ... [/quote] See! Told you!

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1451588011' post='2941737'] And it's not a life hack. The easiest short-cut or trick would be to play an actual short scale by buying or borrowing one or trying at a shop instead of farting about with a long scale. [/quote] Especially if you didn't possess a capo and had to go to the shop to buy one.

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1451586753' post='2941721'] [b]Life hacking[/b][color=#252525][font=sans-serif] refers to any trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method that increases productivity and efficiency, in all walks of life. -[i]Wikipedia[/i][/font][/color] [/quote] So, that's a new phrase for something not new at all.

[quote name='DavidMcKay' timestamp='1451412285' post='2940302'] Thanks Essential Tension - I'm pretty sure that qualifies as a life hack! I'll give it a try. Cheers, David [/quote] What is a 'life hack'?

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1451565505' post='2941559'] I cannot imagine calling an LM2/3 'sterile' sounding... [/quote] No.

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1451572095' post='2941618'] Maybe just be happy someone actually noticed your "tone" , doesn't happen every gig [/quote] I don't really want anyone 'noticing my tone'. I'd prefer they liked the band.

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1451515193' post='2941228'] Mark bass known for a rather sterile sound ... [/quote] In which universe?

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1451512572' post='2941206'] ... What do you guys think? ... [/quote] I think 'tosser' and 'f**k off'.

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1451559946' post='2941488'] Is the string spacing at the bridge wide like a doublebass or more guitar like? BTW, thanks everyone for the replies and info. [/quote] B10 measured E to G at the bridge is two and five-eighths inches. My Precision bass is slightly short of two and a half inches. My upright is three and a half inches. The difference arises I think from the longer scale length on the upright. Mind you I play finger-style over the end of the fingerboard where the string spacing is more like two and three-eighths on the B10.

I continue to play them.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1450973977' post='2937563'] Loving it to bits. Planning to debut it on NYE. [/quote] Have a great gig .... and report please on the Thomastiks.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1451557607' post='2941452'] Never yet had a string "go dead" on me. Not once. Sounds to me like you need to make the move to flatwounds. Beware though ... it's a one-way ticket. Once you switch to flats you'll not want to play rounds again. [/quote] Agreed.

I don't see how needing replacement strings can be a reason for selling a bass. I only ever change strings because I want to try something different. I like old dead strings.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1451554863' post='2941406'] So you actually play it while standing up Dave? I have to say that I think of this as purely a lap bass. It's so big that even disregarding the weight I thought it would be too much for a standing gig. [/quote] Yes, me standing and bass strapped and horizontal. No problem. EDIT: I say 'no problem' but, of course, I did have to get used to it, like any new and unusual thing. However it didn't take long and was 'no problem'.

I have a Takamine B10, the predecessor of the TB10. It was Clarky's before me but I think it's not the only one he had. I bought it from him in autumn 2011, IIRC. It's unusual in that it has had lines and side-dots added, after factory but before I bought it. I hate the side-dots because they are, IMO, in the wrong place. I also wish it was still unlined. I have even considered having the fingerboard replaced but the expense puts me off. I have exchanged the complicated to use standard pre-amp with a simpler but also Takamine pre-amp. I have gigged the B10 regularly for about four years with a folky-cum-Americana band with acoustic guitar, acoustic tenor guitar, electric piano and a percussionist, sometimes with full (but small) kit sometimes only cajon. I use old La Bella 760FS strings through a Mesa Walkabout 112 combo. The band and at least some audience members always comment positively on everything about how the B10 looks and sounds. I play it horizontally and never upright. I added a strap pin on the neck heel for this purpose and it balances unproblematically. The experience of playing it and its sound are both somewhere between a fretless bass guitar and an upright. Although any upright afficionado is probably not going to be impressed. The action will feel high to most bass guitarists but, IMO, that's partially responsible for the sound produced. The bridge is not adjustable and the intonation is in your left hand. The body shape does not allow for proper arco playing; so if you are looking to bow it then I wouldn't waste your money. The case is very large and, with the B10 inside, is very heavy. I use a (not cheap) soft but heavily padded cello case and the actual B10 case is in the loft with the end-pin. Here it is with the rest of the collection .....