4 Strings

[quote name='Crikey!' post='1296368' date='Jul 7 2011, 08:07 PM'] This is the best pic i could find of my rig... Fender Precision> Fender Tuner> Russian Big Muff> Behringer EQ> Boss SYB-5> Boss LMB-3> Orange Bass Terror > Ashdown ABM810. LOUD. The ABM is ancient... thinking about going for an SVT pretty soon, they seem to work better with the Orange. Considering trading the Precision too.[/quote] You're the T.Alan bass player! Sweet! Saw you with Fishtank in Gillingham the other week. Yes, it IS loud, my head is still ringing from your rig! Great gig all round.

[quote name='sk8' post='500044' date='May 28 2009, 05:04 PM']Just found out that the Terror bass has a switch on the side to allow 500 watts output at either 4 and 8 ohms.[/quote] Don't all valve amps have this? My old Hiwatt and all valve amps in my experience had a plug at the back and you just plugged it in the correct holes for your speaker impedance. Normally selections for 4, 8 and 16 Ohms. Its only tranny power stages which can't do this and give reduced power with increasing impedance.

If you can source 10 from Omeg maybe the manufacturer would be pleased to take those you don't want

Hi, hope someone can help my lad. Hartke HA3500, when plugged into a speaker gives out a whistling noise from the speaker, but no sound from a bass if plugged in, just the whistle. Tried different leads, speakers etc, just happens when plugged into a cabinet regardless of anything in the input. (Fortunately there was another amp at his gig but this was a sudden thing, ok in the afternoon, whistling in the evening). I wondered if this was a typical symptom for something? Not the valve as it still whistles without it. It starts after the relay(?) has clicked inside releasing the output. Any ideas anyone? All gratefully received as he hasn't the money to leave it at our local amp man. Cheers

Practice combos go very cheaply on ebay, doesn't need to be a good one, just one with a headphone outlet. Plug in your 'phones, the speaker is almost always disconnected when you do, and away you go. Get one with two inputs and you can plug in your mp3 player to accompany. I bought a Hartke 20W combo this way, still in its box for £10. Here's an example: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Peavey-MicroBass-20-Watt-Practice-Amp-/320724396904?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item4aaca9eb68"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Peavey-MicroBass-20-...=item4aaca9eb68[/url] and here's a bass: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Starfire-Bass-Guitar-/280705984838?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item415b616946"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Starfire-Bass-Guitar...=item415b616946[/url] Can't see too many bids going on these, could do it all for less than a fiver! Edit - couldn't resist, here's another: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Stagg-Electric-Bass-Guitar-and-Amplifier-/320723390903?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4aac9a91b7"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Stagg-Electric-Bass-...=item4aac9a91b7[/url]

Next string change I'm going rivet.

ooh, just being thick, my mind was on string type not notes!

[quote name='dc2009' post='1293728' date='Jul 5 2011, 06:39 PM']In my old metal band my lowest 4 strings got used frequently, with my G only seeing action on maybe 50% of songs, so I guess I could've got away with a 4 but it would have to have been strung BEAD! 6 String bongo that thing must've looked like something from outer space! Please tell me he had it in that metallic orange with that weird stripey brushed metal effect look pickguard[/quote] If he had I think I would have bought him a beer no matter how manny strings! It was a dull metallic blue colour. Very nice. Didn't even now they made 6 string Bongoes, had to look it up when I got back. Think he has a rich dad too. What do you mean by 'strung bead'? See pic and Stig Pedersen (spelling?) have the number of strings about right

I was just going to post 'Orange, orange orange!' and there it is in its glory! I think it looks absolutely great! I have one with a bitsa body and might do the same thing. (Only work so well with the maple neck)

1. BMW cars. 2. BMW car drivers

[quote name='dood' post='1291650' date='Jul 3 2011, 11:29 PM']e.. It's actually 90% of bass players are getting rid of their 4 stringers because 5 and 6 strings are far more useful!!!![/quote] Had some fun the other night, a youngster's band with plenty of Dad's around, bass player had a Bongo 6! It was huge and a real Musicman (any copies of those yet?). I couldn't help but have a little fun counting the number of strings he used, he used two for the first three songs, eventually two others chimed in a couple of times. Didn't use the top two at all. So although the 5 and 6ers may be more useful, not by much! (I get away with a Hip Shot at Csharp)

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1291639' date='Jul 3 2011, 11:22 PM']Now that you mention it, my Thumb bass has 26 frets, so the highest note is an A. If you had a 21-fret bass with a high C string, the highest note would be the same A. But as some clever clogs will surely be along to point out, the main benefits of more strings are polyphony and additional range without changing position, rather than absolute extended range (although the fifth below is useful, the additional fourth at the top isn't, so much).[/quote] This was Fender's thinking behind their first 5 string in the 60s. Only 20 frets irc.

[quote name='dc2009' post='1291595' date='Jul 3 2011, 10:49 PM']..., not saying your gear enthusiasm is directly proportional to your bass enthusiasm, but it is a correlatoon with some I think.[/quote] Perhaps the correlation is between gear enthusiasm and number of strings.

You say around 10% are for 5 string basses, probably about right. Someone mentioned about noticing 5s and so they seem more, I agree. There certainly are plenty of fives around but in my experience 4 is 'a bass' and a 5 is 'a 5 string bass'. Also, in my experience and sweeping statement here, 5s are played by people who are gear enthusiasts. That's my experience. Greg

Just a quick thought on the shimming, you need to change the angle of the neck to the body joint by shimming only the closed end of the pocket, as opposed to lifting the neck within the socket. Usually a millimetre here or two here represents 5-10 at the bridge adjustment. A shim a millimetre thick, the full width of the pocket but only 10mm or so deep, not the whole depth of the pocket.

[quote name='lojo' post='1288140' date='Jun 30 2011, 07:55 PM']If you wAnt the sticker off , take it off and stick it on the handbook , that way it's still part of the case candy[/quote] Play it, enjoy it. Fender basses are not sacred.

2 quickie comments: For more dense shim than fag packet for the shim I've cut a bit of plastic milk bottle to the appropriate shape. May need two. (Can't be many Fenders without one) Careful about lowering the nut, it only effects open strings but too low can make them buzz. Cut a very little bit at a time.

oh yes, baby, yes!

OP didn't want to pay for delivery costs so s/h perhaps limited to very local. (otherwise I'd have to advise s/h too.)

I think it's a sign of our materialist times that we buy something to use but treat it as if it's only to sell on. I've caught myself doing it. In the old days we couldn't wait to get all that sort of thing off to make it 'ours'. One day it probably will be sold on but in the meantime enjoy your bass as if it's yours (also consider your actions in using the bass but trying not to scratch the sticker!) unless you bought at as an investment as a future collectors item. While is still smells new things like that seem important but after a couple of weeks rehearsals and a few gigs it will (should!) become less important, other things will identify your bass. (My wife released me of such thoughts, I once dropped a nice Olympus camera in New Orleans and it scratched. Seeing my forlorn expression she said that the scratch will always remind us of NO and our time there. It did.)

[quote name='Highfox' post='1284133' date='Jun 27 2011, 02:23 PM']I just visited my Luither today and asked him about aging in instrument's woods and the differences it can make, he reckons as the wood gets older the canals in the wood open up more and form small bubble chambers, the sound can then resonates in (more, many) different directions throughout the wood and thus he reckons opens the sound up more. No idea but thats what he told me and he loves his wood As many people have said it's how it sounds and feels to you that makes the instrument special.[/quote] Excellent work, asking someone who knows. There is definitely something in this sort of thing which is why old violins etc become so valuable. However, ALL the noise from acoustic instruments such as these comes from the wood which has been fashioned into special box shapes with varying thicknesses along their length to make the most from its properties. The wood for the valuable instruments has been specifically selected for each component etc. Our massed produced electric basses (mostly made on assembly lines by many people in large factories) are solid lumps of wood an inch thick where the noise comes from electronics, even the route to the wood is through metal frets and a bridge etc, the route from it is through pickups, cables, amplifiers, speakers and eventually against a high background noise of drums and guitars. The almost immeasurable acoustic subtleties of these canals, and there's no question of their existence, are going to be lost a long time before it hits our ears. The acoustic properties of our solid basses are far too clumsy and crudely devised to be compared to those of a quality acoustic instrument.

Is Glasto still called a Rock Festival? Kool, Streets, Beyonce, we're rocking out! Ok, Queens of the Stoneage now

Here's a thought. Fenders have poured out 10s of thousands of guitars every year, hundreds knocked out each day, probably the largest manufacturer in the world. Their basses are designed for mass production not for luthier workmanship. The choice of woods is based on world market prices and ability to deliver enormous orders by the tonne to certain addresses in the States, Mexico, Japan and Korea. The organisation makes decisions based on maximum return on investment of its shareholders. Your local luthier will be buying very small quantities of wood, each lump individual and eventually selected for each project. The properties of each type of wood would certainly be known by him, assuming a he's a good one - its his business after all - and carefully crafted into his product. Decisions are based on his reputation and, of course, to make a profit for himself, but reputation will be everything. From which source are you more likely to find the magic, the guitar with the fabulous sound, the one you can't put down, the one that shows the best effect of the wood? Are Fender products really so individual, so mystical, so dependant on wistful things such as age, years of vibrations. Why aren't those made in Mexico considered as such? Why not Squiers, they've been around for 30 odd years or more, aren't they becoming old and magical? Or is it only the US factory that can cast such a spell? (Just to show I'm not bias, I have 4 Leo products in regular use and one from a small luthier)

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='1283269' date='Jun 26 2011, 07:45 PM']Nope.... I've had my Precision 32 years, and my Acoustic rig 31. No doubt it still sounds the same as it did in 1980, but that suits me just fine. I now own several basses and an Ashdown rig. TBH, I doubt that I would be able to tell whats what in a blind listening test, some people might, but not me, my ears aren't that good! All I know is, that I like my old bass and my old amp, and that I liked them when I bought them![/quote] I've had my Jaydee for getting onto 30 years, it started sounding better to me when I thought that it was becoming an old guitar and so would sound better. No idea what the comparison to new would be, my playing has progressed in that time.