Rich

Heard on the radio earlier, "What Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me)" by Rod Stewart... I don't know who was responsible for the vile bass on this appalling crap, but they want kneecapping.

I've got them on my Wal and Jazz. They are brilliant... the single most useful mod you can make to a 4-string bass. Mildman, it certainly sounds like yours may be FUBAR.

[quote name='The Burpster' post='26704' date='Jul 3 2007, 08:20 PM']JB, I use GHS Fast Fret (£4.99) on my flatties after I have played and they are sliky smoooov when I come to back to play....... Like baby oil on a freshly shaved bea.............. (porn alert!)[/quote]...r

I've sent three basses so far via parcel2go... all arrived safe and sound, on time and totally unscathed. Their insurance goes up to £1000.

After playing PTP's gorgeous Lakky Skyline DJ5 I'd really rather like, errm, a Lakky Skyline DJ5 ;-) Pref. with the active bits like Pete's. It's got that Marcus tone absolutely nailed. Yum.

Christ, you can almost feel the mojo leaping off the screen. I'd give it house space any day.

[quote name='RichBowman' post='27327' date='Jul 5 2007, 09:59 AM']Excellent find there Rich, I'm going to have a look and see if I can find some suitable ones for mine. I take it I've got 1/4" like you - Best check when I get home! Now, what do you reckon - ebony like yours or shall I try and get some darkish maple to match the bass? Rich[/quote]Ahhh, see that's where I got caught out... they were all 6mm EXCEPT the pickup pan which is 1/4". Check to see if they're splined or solid shafts. The splined are 6mm, the solids aren't..! If you could get them to match the wood top on your bass, they'd look fabulous. I had to go for ebony cos he doesn't do sunburst ones! Very happy with the ebony ones though.

Some of us still have to buy [i]everything[/i]. Grrr. Actually, most of us.

[quote name='Dragonlord' post='27106' date='Jul 4 2007, 07:12 PM']BTW, which are the usual shafts? 6mm or 1/4"?[/quote]I understand the rule of thumb is that splined shafts are 6mm and solid shafts are 1/4". That's certainly how it worked out in my case. Brian W has a quick guide on his shop pages.

Your wish is my command [attachment=1040:knobs_.jpg] Forgive the rather brash colour, but that's the flash for you! The knobs are pure black under normal light... only when you look really closely or under very bright light can you see the faint brownness of the Gaboon ebony (for such it is). As you can see, one of the original metal ones is still on. I'd love to pretend that it's there purely for a before-and-after comparison... but unfortunately it's there because I ordered a 6mm knob when it should have been 1/4"..! But splendid chap that Mr.Williams is, he offered to sort it out if I posted it back to him, which I did -- airmail for about a quid. I had an email from him today to say that it's in the post on its way back to me. So not only splendid product, but good customer service too.

I've recently fitted some lovely ebony control knobs to the Shuker... they're beautifully made and look about a million times better than the original black metal ones. I bought them from a chap called [b]Brian Williams[/b] in the U.S. -- [url="http://stores.ebay.com/Exotic-Wood-Knobs-And-Guitar-Parts"]check his fleaBay shop out[/url], he has pretty much every wood you could want. And with the strength of the £ against the $ at the moment, they are absurdly cheap. Five of them delivered cost me less than 20 quid. NB - I have no connection with him other than as a v.satisfied customer!

Speaking of Herbie Flowers, I thought of another one this morning: Jeff Wayne's masterpiece 'War Of The Worlds', specifically the Horsell Common/Heat-ray theme (the bit where the bass fades in gradually as the cylinder is unscrewing). It's just 12 picked notes repeated, but the sheer menace it conveys... perfect.

[quote name='Phaedrus' post='26378' date='Jul 3 2007, 10:18 AM']It Bites - Dick Nolan[/quote] Good call! What a superb band, especially live.

Well just to be difficult, my favourite 'band' is any line-up of Mike Stern's live quartet... so the bass player(s) is any one of Lincoln Goines, Jeff Andrews, Alain Caron, Anthony Jackson, Vic Wooten... for me, Caron is the pick of the bunch. [i]Genius.[/i]

[quote name='andy_$$' post='26323' date='Jul 3 2007, 01:13 AM']Comfort Strapp and Dunlop strap locks. The only way forward! Andy[/quote] +1 Although I do also have a nice 4" wide no-name brown leather strap I bought off the bay last year for next to nowt. Has a padded bit on the inside so very comfortable. The Comfort Strapp is the preference though.

[quote name='David Nimrod' post='25610' date='Jul 1 2007, 03:35 PM']Funny you should mention MK... most of his basslines are good, But some of the solos seem to loose the timing and the groove.[/quote] +1. MK is the master (well, one of the masters) of the truly melodic bassline. Often his lines carry the melody of the entire song AND pin it down too. But I agree, his solos aren't great. Grooveless for the most part.

Can't remember its name, but there was some crappy rap 'tune' which ripped off part of the vocal from Foreigner's 'Cold As Ice'... just the "you're as cold as ice/willing to sacrifice" bit. The bass came from god knows where, but was horridly distorted and not even in the same key. It caused me pain to hear it. They even used it on a Colgate advert on the telly, and I had to change channel every time it came on. My other candidates are 'Baby Please Don't Go" by KC and the Sunshine Band, and "He Ain't Heavy" by the Hollies. Tuning is crap and the timing is worse.

[quote name='Aussiephoenix' post='24811' date='Jun 29 2007, 11:51 AM']I've got one of those warwick 5 instrument stands, thats where I keep the ones that I use the most.[/quote]+1. I have one of those, hiding in the shadiest corner of the study. Marvellous things, except when the foam wears through... that grey foam pipe-lagging stuff from B&Q is an excellent replacement though.

[quote name='OldGit' post='24777' date='Jun 29 2007, 11:12 AM']Rich on this board has a very nice 5 string Shuker jazz style with a gorgeous maple board ... and you aren't that far from Sheffield [/quote]Awww shucks Doodle's is even nicer. Nick, that's beautiful... how much did you have to cough up in terms of duty/customs/VATheft..?

G'wan Finn, start one in the OT here too...

I haven't bought anything else off Pete, but I just thought I'd like to reiterate what a nice guy he is. We all sat and had a lovely chat round at Si's the other night, was a great way to spend an hour or so. I had a go on his fabulous Lakky too, and now guess what I'm GASsing for? And there I was, thinking I was all bassed up. Pete's just a nice bloke to be around.

1964 Höfner Artist [size=1]*[/size] '70s Columbus Jazz copy [size=1](nicked from me by a supposed friend)[/size] Wal Pro II-E [size=1]*[/size] Jaydee Roadie 1 f/less [size=1]*[/size] Squier HM-5 Maison 5-string [size=1]#[/size] Tobias Pro 6 Squier Jazz [size=1]*[/size] Yamaha RBX765A (defretted by Jon Shuker) [size=1]*[/size] Status S1 5-string [size=1]*[/size] Wolf 6-string f/less Ibanez BTB406QM [size=1]*[/size] Shuker custom J5 [size=1]*[/size] SX Jazzebel project [size=1]#[/size] Overwater Skool Base project [size=1]#[/size] [size=1]* still got[/size] [size=1]# still got, but in bits[/size]

[quote name='chris_b' post='23486' date='Jun 26 2007, 12:47 PM']This is a quote by Lee Sklar, which pretty well sums up my approach as well: "I am using my Dingwall fanned-fret 5string only. I am not one for dragging around a half dozen basses and always changing. If the song was done with a fretless in the studio, I just try to emulate it stylistically."[/quote]I see what Santa Sklar is saying about dragging loads of kit around, but I would never want to emulate a fretless part with a fretted bass. It wouldn't feel right.

[quote name='OldGit' post='23206' date='Jun 25 2007, 08:40 PM']Well it looks absolutely brilliant anyway [/quote] Agreed. Flippin' fabulous.