ikay

"..what makes a sound musical - or not..." First you need to define what you mean by 'music', for example: - the expression of definite or abstract ideas and emotions using rhythm, melody, harmony and timbre/texture, sometimes in conjunction with words, using any source of sound including silence Any sound used in the above context can be considered musical (even silence) Any sound not used in the above context isn't IMO

Aha, that looks like them! Thanks discreet

Yes that old chestnut! I've searched around but having difficulty identifying these (see pics below): - roundwound (feel like nickel) - red silk at peg end - no silk at ball end - coloured coded ball ends Any ideas?

Beautiful, thank you

Template for standard Fender neck pocket with hole positions in attached pic in case that's of any use as a reference (taken from Warmoth site).

You can buy slotted metric grub screws from here but min quantity is a box of 200 - [url="http://www.avonstainlessfasteners.co.uk/misc-stainless/slotted-grub-screws-flat-point-m3-m10-a4-din551"]http://www.avonstainlessfasteners.co.uk/misc-stainless/slotted-grub-screws-flat-point-m3-m10-a4-din551[/url] There's a good chance that yours are imperial slotted screws anyway as most metric ones are hex. Here's a quick way to check. Vintage US Fender slotted screws have UNC 6-32 thread which is the same as the long saddle intonation screw. Try removing one of the intonation screws and see if it fits the height adjuster thread. If it does then it's likely the whole bridge assembly is imperial and the vintage slotted screws should work.

[url="http://www.bassplayer.com/gear/1164/tech-bench---mod-squad-potent-pot-mod/27204"]http://www.bassplaye...t-pot-mod/27204[/url] See fourth para 'cooking with pots' (not tried it myself)

How about one of these (the split coil one) - [url="http://g-l-online-store.myshopify.com/collections/pickups/products/mfd-sb-2-bass-pickups"]http://g-l-online-st...-2-bass-pickups[/url] I'm just about to put a G&L MFD humbucker in a P as a sort of homage to the L-1000 but wish I'd bought an MFD split-coil at the same time to try that as well. I can feel another visit to the G&L shop coming on ...

"... strap button on back of bass" I've just found that Dingwall do this with a flush mounted Dunlop strap pin on the back of the body.

I can't offer any advice (need some myself) but there are some good pointers here - [url="http://truefire.com/blog/guitar-lessons/10-bass-solo-tips-non-soloist/"]http://truefire.com/blog/guitar-lessons/10-bass-solo-tips-non-soloist/[/url]

Excellent!

This thread from the LR Baggs forum mentions this preamp - [url="http://www.lrbaggs.com/forum/showthread.php?132-Mystery-Baggs-preamp"]http://www.lrbaggs.com/forum/showthread.php?132-Mystery-Baggs-preamp[/url] It gives a contact at Baggs who might be able to help with the wiring connections - Bryan McManus (email: [email="bryan@lrbaggs"]bryan@lrbaggs[/email] Tel: 805-929-3545 ext 111) Maybe worth dropping him an email

Apparently moving the bridge strap pin partway up the lower bout (as on a Spector - see pic below) helps to counteract neck dive

I think the original double cutaway acoustibass was made from 1990 to around 1993. Lovely looking bass

The CX range was a lower cost Charvel offering from the early 90s, made in Japan and a bit of googling suggests decent quality. There's one on Gumtree at the moment - [url="https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/charvel-cx-precision-bass-p-bass-guitar-w-fender-headstock/1134445471"]https://www.gumtree....tock/1134445471[/url]

Thanks Chris and that's good to hear. Eternal are pretty easy for me to get to as well. Cheers

It works fine with a low B but is a bit sensitive to where you clip it on the headstock. In some positions it picks up a harmonic rather than the fundamental.

This [url="http://www.jazzstudies.us/"]http://www.jazzstudies.us/[/url] is a great free online resource for 'standards' charts. You can even change the key (see drop down box under 'Fake/Real Book Index Search)

Hmm, I'm not sure how reversible the individual barrel saddles are. I wouldn't think they are reversible but best thing is to ask the very nice chaps at Graphtec support. I've asked them loads of questions in the past and they were very helpful.

What sort of sound are you trying to achieve with the piezo? If it's a full range 'acoustic' type sound then a Hipshot/Graphtec bridge with piezo saddles is a good option. Or you can buy Graphtec piezo saddles which should retrofit on your Gotoh bridge - [url="http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/parts-c4/pickups-c108/bass-guitar-pickups-c396/graph-tech-graph-tech-ghost-p-j-bass-style-pickups-4-string-p4228/s4270?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=graph-tech-ghost-p-j-bass-style-pickups-4-string-pn-8304-00&utm_campaign=product%2Blisting%2Bads&gclid=CjwKEAjwsvmvBRCT5ozK-dmY7D4SJACyIoJmPcX07pbt8bdh6CMpdlWMcCdaryhqNsSxmfXG00omnRoCoo_w_wcB"]http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/parts-c4/pickups-c108/bass-guitar-pickups-c396/graph-tech-graph-tech-ghost-p-j-bass-style-pickups-4-string-p4228/s4270[/url]. An undersaddle style piezo strip really needs to be fitted under a floating acoustic type saddle to function properly. With either type you'll need a buffer amps of some sort to get the full range out of it (particularly the lows). I have a Hipshot/Graphtec bridge with an East MPM-01 buffer in my ACG fretless 5. I tried the Graphtec Ghost preamp and a Shadow preamp before settling on the East which gave the best results. The Ghost preamp has a built-in eq scoop which lost all of the mid-range definition. The Shadow was better but introduced a little noise. The East just gives a perfectly clean and flat response. The mag pickup on the ACG also goes into the MPM-01 buffer. Separate piezo and mag outputs from the buffer then go to a standard balance control and to an East SPM-02 3-band eq with a mid-freq sweep. The output from the buffer/balance could just as easily go to a standard passive tone control or direct to the output jack if you want a simpler set up. I find the mid-freq sweep on the SPM-02 very useful though, a little boost at the right frequency can really bring the sound to life, particularly for fretless.

Grangur, the frets in general are in very good shape but there are some signs of wear on the lower frets and a couple of very slightly high/low frets further up. It's a 30 year old bass and would definitely benefit from a fret level and dress. Chris b, The Gallery is a little bit of a treck but I hear lots of good things about them. Thanks for the GB suggestion which is more in my neck of the woods. I'll add that to my shortlist so far of Cadillac Guitars (and possibly Joe White).

Thanks Dave, I'll add Robert to my short list (of one so far!). Cheers