Alemboid

Andy's a great chap. Just bought his Tascam DM-24 and he was wonderfully tolerant about waiting for me to return from my extended break abroad. Delivered it in person too! Trade with utmost confidence! B.

[quote name='budget bassist' post='278147' date='Sep 5 2008, 07:30 PM']I can't remember to be honest! Alemboid sold it me, if you're reading this what is it? Also i don't like black hardware so i'm getting a chrome control plate and tuners ASAP[/quote] Ah! That's a ceramic one. I have the alnico SD stingray pickup on my something-ray. Both are very good, if slightly different sounding. B.

That was a good three years ago that picture, and she's grown a bit since then. Still plenty of awwww... evident though B [quote name='Gamble' post='245723' date='Jul 22 2008, 10:19 PM']And judging by your avatar, a very cute kitten! awwwww........[/quote]

This is all interesting, and I wouldn't disagree with what anyone has said. My thoughts though... In my experience a truly low action, making the assumption that a very low action is A Good Thing, comes down to two fundamental variables, both of which must apply (if one excludes bridge, neck shimming, truss rod, nut and other geometric set up issues): 1. The quality of the fret job, assuming the fingerboard is capable of being flat. 2. The stability of the neck, both in terms of long term (hopefully) lack of movement and immediate rigidity. In principle, 1. can be achieved on any bass given given quality control, care, luck or failing that the ministrations of a good stoner (various interpretations here I guess ). 2., however, is much more fundamental to the construction of the neck. The best I've had in this respect have been either graphite, or particularly well put together traditional construction. Of the graphite monsters, my low action winners, in my experience only (!), have clearly been in the order of: Zon; Modulus; Status then Steinberger. I've yet to find a stable low action better than my fretted Zon (and other Zons I've played) - yes, the frets are essentially perfect, but the neck just refuses to move, at all, ever, yet... Which is all wonderfully reassuring. Moduluses share the stability, with perhaps 90% of the fretting quality (still usually excellent), with the less than honourable exception of some of the very early ones, which make up for being bannanoid with exceptional tone. With all of these, the dynamic stability, i.e. rigidity of the neck, plus the absence of constant truss rod fiddling, make a seriously low action achievable without constant niggles about whether it'll still be the same when you come back to the bass. But the Alembic series wooden necks, and others, get terribly close. Whether this is down to multi-laminate construction, which must help, and/or using genuinely seasoned, not cut down a couple of weeks ago, timber is open to question. I imagine both play their part. It's extraordinary how some wooden necks move seemingly hour by hour (not thinking MM here particularly.... well I am actually) and others, Alembic, top end Yamaha (thinking TRB-Ps here) are utterly rock like. Anyway, your mileage may vary, each to their own, etc, but my faves in this respect all seem to come from Northern California. Hmm, I suspect this is an entirely different discussion B. (have had two Zons, four Mods, three Stati, one Steiny, four Alembics, + the rest)

It's one of [url="http://www.chrometrader.co.uk/ViewProdDetails.asp?prod_code=76%2E8&Prod_name=SERIES%2076%20OGV%20ANGLED%20OPEN%20SOCKET%20WRENCH%208MM%20LENGTH%20114MM"]these[/url] in fact. I didn't get it from this firm, so no endorsement is implied! If your bass is similar, no amount of fiddling around with 8mm sockets and handles will fit unfortunately. B.

If it's like the BB3000 fretless I have, then it's an 8mm nut. I had the same problem and ended up getting a rather nice Facom cranked open box spanner thingy, which does the job perfectly. You'd probably need to go to a [i]good[/i] tool shop to find such a thing, but it's much better quality than the freeby junk items they bundle with the bass, not that you even have one of those . B.