converse320

I get the MOJO thing. I wouldn't want to lose it. But would like to maybe moderate it just a little bit in places. I was thinking that where the varnish had been smashed off it would probably be possible to steam the dents out a bit before touching up the holes. But yes, its a great bass as it is. Needs a damned good clean - bits of former owners all over it. I found some serial number info and think its October 1980.

I have just bought my first very good bass. Its an Aria Pro Batwing SB700. Well, pretty sure it is - please tell me if I'm wrong. It is generally in great condition, meaning that its all original, with nothing missing apart from one strap button. But, it has been pretty beaten up in a couple of areas of the body. I've tried to photograph these with no great success, but what we have is a very thick gloss finish over ash (?think so), with some very bad dents and holes through the varnish. Most of the rest of the bass is fine, but I'd like to do some small localised repairs to the worst dents and gouges. Any advice on this? I really don't want to have the whole thing refinished, as the areas are limited to the bottom of the bass, and the back - its almost as if it was being slammed into a badly built homemade stand with bits of brick of brick sticking out of it. This is it below - I'll try to get some competent pics of the damage for advice. This

I'm just outside Horncastle. There are local bands, but thin on the ground. I think you're going to have to travel. Open Mic nights Weds and bands on Saturday at Old Nicks in Horncastle. http://www.oldnickstavern.co.uk/ Other than that, there's the arts place in Lincoln - sort of music school/studio space/practice space. That's all I know of. Must be something going on in Hull though, surely? City of culture and all.

woodinblack, you are exactly right - the endless possibilities of a computer next to her means she spends 5 minutes playing and an hour messing about.

Thanks for replies. We don't have an ipad, but she does have an ipod touch which i think runs ios. I'll check out the Ivory 2 Piano to see if that would work. She's using my old macpro laptop at the moment, with the included Ableton live. Connects to pc with a single usb cable. I then run the computer into a bass amp for sound. The set up it is not working too well for her as there are too many distractions available on the computer - Dan Tedium in particular. Functionally (if you don't care about cables etc), its great. Great sounds, and she can record and play back with Ableton. .

I bought my daughter an M Audio Hammer 88 to continue with her keyboard grades. This is a good quality budget controller, with no inbuilt sounds. The plan was to use my old laptop with the free stuff that comes with the keyboard as a sound source. And indeed, it sounds great like this, particularly the DB-33 organs etc. However, not it is not conducive to domestic bliss. The complaint is: too many many wires, computer encroaches on space, takes too long to fire up, she'll just go onto Youtube etc etc. So, whats the absolute cheapest way of getting some sounds out of it without using the computer? There seem to be new modules on ebay for £60 or so, or alternatively I could buy an old module at the same sort of price. Any thoughts? I just want something small and discrete that will make it work simply like her old keyboard.

I've got one of these and use it for nearly every router based job now. Tough, reliable and capable piece of kit. My big 1/2" router is overkill for nearly everything except fitting locks. I think it would work a treat for cutting pickup cavities etc.

I'm doing my grades on my own, no teacher as there really aren't near me, and I've started using Noteflight (a free basic notation package) as a way of tackling some of the music I'm struggling with. You can type in the relevant bit of the score and it plays it back to you. I think its helpful to do it like this - it forces you to think about it as you're typing it in, and you can at least hear a basic version of what its supposed to sound like.

Ok, now I understand the issue. Shame.

My head is from a combo and fits in perfectly - sorry if I'm misunderstanding

I don't know if this is what you are asking, but this one is the right size for my GP7 head, other than being much too long. http://cpc.farnell.com/pulse/rksl-2u/rack-sleeve-2u/dp/DP32669?CMP=TREML007-005 But its a perfect fit otherwise. I'm going to peel the felt stuff back a few inches and cut it down so its not quite as deep. But its easier than starting from scratch and its only £17 shipped.

Yes, the Word doc on the village website has them down as playing on the Monday. This really has to be one of the strangest UK festivals. Backed by Lord Harlech and Stanley Baker (presumably the actor??), it was held in fields at a tiny little village which even now is in the middle of nowhere. In 1972, middle of nowhere doesn't even come close to describing what it would have been like. I'd love to understand how this event came about. The Byrds played the same venue the year before incidentally. Ive been there recently - fields and a plaque commemorating the event.

How does TE manage to be so loud? I opened my old knackered TE GP7 15" combo last week to put the amp part into a sleeve to work better with the cabinet I'm using now. There really is almost nothing inside the head at all. The case is mostly full of air.

Speaking of unlikely music festivals, how about the completely insane Bardney festival in Lincolnshire early 70s? Again lashed by rain and a sea of mud, but some big names. Heres a poster: https://community.lincolnshire.gov.uk/bardneyvillagehistory/section.asp?catId=23001

Find a friendly local metalworker? I'd just be worried that if the araldite/jb weld etc fails, you're then stuck with parts covered in glue thats so hard to get off its basically scrap. TBH, it would probably be better to buy a single tuner if OP can find an exact match.

Silver solder would be a much better bet than epoxy I think, unless its made of some weird alloy.

Best wishes at a difficult time.

I watched a chap on youtube doing this with cyanoacrylic glue = superglue. Is this better or worse than the other finishes mentioned?

Gamble, can you post a picture of the damage? I'll try to help. It might not be as bad as you think.

+1. I wouldn't glue screws in under any circumstances. Asking for trouble.

In my opinion, it's not just a question of how long the note lasts (sustain), it's also a question of what it sounds like. To my ears, basses that won't sustain a note well sound different (and worse) than ones that will. There is less richness and interest to the note, presumably because the mechanism that is sucking out energy and shortening the note is also sucking out harmonics.

Well, again, just to be argumentative, I have a bad tuner on one bass that keeps coming loose, and you can tell. It just kills the string when it does. I don't think you need exotic materials or components, but you need components and a neck with some sort of structural integrity. I had a bass with a big wide shallow neck once, and the whole thing felt whippy and dead compared to deeper, stiffer necks.

Dan - I'm 100% agreed about tonewoods and most aspects of construction - I don't think any of them can make much difference given the way an electric bass/guitar works. Things that I would have expected to make most difference are - neck construction and particularly stiffness - neck joint or absence of one - bridge construction and how well it attaches to bass - tuning pegs and integrity on bass I'm sure I've read a paper showing that there was no impact of neck construction on sound - through/set/bolt on all sounded the same. Anyway, thanks for comments