dlloyd

[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1316437477' post='1377950'] Never mind... I went for the medium gauge instead of standard gauge. [/quote] Ordered 2 o'clock yesterday... they're already on my bass. How's that for service?

Never mind... I went for the medium gauge instead of standard gauge.

So there is a difference other than the length?

I want to string my jazz bass with flats. I had Labella deep talkin flats on my Stingray a good few years ago and really liked them... Stringbusters don't have the standard length in stock, but they have extra long scale... would it be okay to fit these to a Fender Jazz? I just cut them to length, right? I'm not missing anything here? (I don't remember them being taperwound or anything.)

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' post='1375063' date='Sep 16 2011, 12:20 AM']OK, so what do we consider valid criteria to be called ‘vintage’? Sure there’ll be lots of varied opinion on this. Please bear with me….. Reason I ask, is that I’ve seen a few late 70’s Fender basses advertised recently as 'vintage', and I’ve never considered these to be 'vintage' instruments. My guide has always been pre-CBS for Fender as being a real ‘vintage fender’, but then there’s Musicman Stingrays, I wouldn’t have an issue with someone describing a ’77 Ray, as vintage, because as far as Ray’s go, the pre-EB models are desirable, collectable etc, and because of the pre/post EB being easy to separate, its an easy line in the sand to draw.[/quote] Vintage, in the case of guitars, just means old and collectable. When I started playing guitar and bass, in the mid-late 80s, pre-CBS strats were already described as "vintage guitars" These were in many cases less than 25 years old at the time. People had been told they were better than the current ones and they could see that rich, successful musicians played old, beat up guitars. So "old and beat up" became desirable. A lot of it is smoke and mirrors. The Les Paul standard got taken off the market in 1960 when nobody was buying them. Then in the mid 60s people saw the likes of Eric Clapton playing them and there was suddenly a demand for them again, so Gibson brought it back in 1968. But of course it was the old ones people wanted... I remember reading an interview with Eric Clapton around 1990 in which he was asked about the Les Paul... his had been stolen in 1967 or thereabouts and he switched to various other guitars: An SG, a Firebird, a 335, then strats. Why hadn't he bought another Les Paul? He wasn't able to find a decent one. This was more than 20 years later. How much do they cost now?

I would leave well alone and enjoy the bass for what it is, which is a vintage instrument. It might not affect the value too much in the short term, but these things are increasing in value year-on-year... in a few years time it might make a significant difference.

I doubt it adds anything to the value. Was it just an amp that had been signed by him, or was it an amp that he had used on a tour or recorded with?

If you were to take two stingrays, identical in every way except for the fretboard, and recorded them identically, that anyone here would be able to tell which was the rosewood and which was the maple, unless you have the kind of ears that can tell the difference between duracell and ever-ready batteries.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='1323954' date='Aug 2 2011, 10:39 AM']I've never really dug the Variax shapes (bass or guitar) to be honest but have spent many hours looking at people's projects shoehorning the electronics into something more pleasing.[/quote] +1 I'd quite like a Telecaster with Variax innards.

Just awesome... The backing track used for live performances sounds (to my ears) to be a different recording, although the bassline is almost identical, barring pitch differences (tape speed?) Given that Jamerson is said to have improvised all his lines, could this have been transcribed from the original recording and recorded by another group of musicians (perhaps in California rather than Detroit)?

[quote name='flyfisher' post='1294708' date='Jul 6 2011, 01:36 PM']. . . if you're lucky, or takes a thin layer of skin off your fingers if you're unlucky. [/quote] You'd have to have freakish forearms for that to happen.

Superglue your fingertips to your inner forearm, then rip them off... takes a thin layer of skin off the arm to cover the wound. It sounds brutal, but it doesn't hurt at all (you're only taking dead skin).

[quote name='toneknob' post='1284734' date='Jun 27 2011, 10:34 PM']Here's all four sales - [url="http://shop.ebay.co.uk/markking4beaulieuhouse/m.html"]Mark King on eBay[/url] The bass is already £3k+[/quote] Yes, but it's been driven up early by some 0 feedback bidders. I'm guessing that it won't go much over £4,000.

I had one for a short while about 15 years ago. Can't remember much about it other than it was heavy and had an unlined fretless ebony neck. It was well constructed and sounded good... unfortunately my intonation wasn't up to scratch.

[quote name='skej21' post='1212114' date='Apr 26 2011, 09:59 PM']PJ Harvey on Jools tonight. Always been a huge fan.[/quote] Me too but that was on the nuttier side. The Unthanks were great.

[quote name='Doddy' post='1205325' date='Apr 19 2011, 10:53 PM']The band probably does know what it's doing,but I'm not sure that she did. She certainly didn't know when to come in.[/quote] She seemed a little unsteady...

[quote name='Hector' post='1201723' date='Apr 16 2011, 12:08 PM']Hi all, I want to buy [url="http://www.shermusic.com/new/9781883217662.shtml"]this[/url] book, but I can't find it to order online from a store in the UK. Does anyone know anywhere that might stock it? Shipping from US seems to cost more than the book itself! H[/quote] Blackwells Music in Oxford is about as good as they come.

The "weak G string" issue is nothing to do with polepiece alignment. It's all in the design of the preamp: [quote name='Sterling Ball']This trait has been around since the first day of the stingray. Its is NOT a byproduct of wood. It is due to the active preamp used on the bass. The output isnt actually lower the response is thinner sounding or not as fat. IT is one of the things you get used to with a Sting Ray or not. Believe it or not it was a complaint of mine in the beginning when I worked with Leo. The emerging slap and the old school country click players loved it. That thin snappin G sound helped the Sr take off. You can try flats and it will help, but chances are that you will get used to it by playing ...[/quote] [url="http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-basses/11343-weak-g-string-output.html"]http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-...ing-output.html[/url] It was something that used to drive me nuts at band rehearsals in a particular studio room and I traced the problem to a mismatch between my Stingray, the eq settings on the bass as I had them set and the Ashdown amps in that room. On Ampeg and Trace amps, I never had the problem to the same degree, particularly when I learned that "turning all the knobs to 10" on an active preamp isn't an intelligent way of using eq. If you're experiencing problems of this sort, change the eq settings on the bass and amp flat (centre detente on 3 band preamps) and see if it makes the issue go away.

A couple of scenarios come to mind regarding outing "overpriced" instruments. Let's take Stingrays, which apparently have a market value of £800 now. Say I see one in translucent white listed at £900... I listed mine for £750 and ended up selling for £600 a few years ago. I've seen loads of them go for less... okay I haven't been looking at the for sale section for a while so don't really know what they've been going for recently but, I'm going to state my opinion because, damnit, justice must prevail... to a newbie, I might look like I know something they don't... Maybe I do know something they don't and know that trans white is pretty rare and is certainly worth £100 on top of market value... but maybe I want it a bit cheaper and have no scruples... maybe if I sow an element of doubt in prospective buyers' minds, the buyer might be forced to sell for less... hey, I could even put a fake listing of a similar looking bass for £700 on Craigs List and mention it in the thread...

The cantina band from Star Wars.

[quote name='tauzero' post='1191633' date='Apr 7 2011, 12:40 PM']But couldn't you simply ask on the thread "Is this the same bass as is advertised here?" and put in a link? You're not commenting on the price, just asking for some factual information, and after all there are scams where information and pictures are gleaned from one advert and used to sell an entirely fictitious instrument.[/quote] I had something like that happen to me. I was selling an OLP baritone and someone posted a link asking if it was the same model as one advertised elsewhere for a cheaper price. It wasn't, it was a higher spec'd version, but the damage was done and a couple of offers were withdrawn.

[quote name='farmer61' post='1189009' date='Apr 5 2011, 02:02 PM']Looking very seriously at a Broadkaster. Any experiences good/bad??[/quote] Nice looking, but... hollow body? How loud do you play?

[quote name='steelman' post='1190110' date='Apr 6 2011, 09:18 AM']I've only ever bought off here and have had nothing but good experiences. I like to think I might have got the odd bargain too What spoils it for me is the odd seller ( usually the same ones ) who advertise a guitar at what initially looks like a grossly inflated price - only to reduce it a week later by £150.00 because they're now 'desperate' to sell!! There's nothing wrong with trying it on, and anyone with experience will leave well alone - but the young or inexperienced are likely to be ripped off on what is at face value a really good website with largely top people posting on it. C[/quote] There's a few ways to look at this, but if you see something priced higher than it should be, ignore it. Second hand items are worth what people are willing to pay for them. I've advertised instruments I've really needed to sell at what I've considered to be a fair price only to get no takers... sometimes you have to drop the price. It isn't always an indication that you priced it too high originally. What I can't stand is people trying to sabotage an ad by saying it's priced too high.

I first found bassworld around 2002, but didn't stick around... it got one post a week or something like that. The newsgroup rec.music.makers.bass alt.bass, and uk.music.guitar were better at the time. bassworld was offline a lot, I seem to remember, then there was a fall-out with the absentee landlord, and basstalk.co.uk was formed... which upset talkbass

[quote name='risingson' post='1188777' date='Apr 5 2011, 11:26 AM']Absolutely incredible paint job! I do not like Ritters but that's really something else.[/quote] Is it a paint job? I was assuming it was a vinyl wrap.