LawrenceH

In terms of being difficult to replace, if they're any good then it's the singer. In terms of what people actually dance to at a gig, it's the drummer. In terms of making the difference between a crap gig and a brilliant one, then quite often at big gigs the monitor engineer.

I think in this instance you will be ok but in honesty I do feel a bit of sympathy towards the buyer - I don't think you can assume that just because you have a particular attitude to buying cases or whatever that a buyer will have the same assuptions and tacit understanding, since you haven't mentioned it in the ad. I'd certainly feel a bit miffed if I bought a bass with a case, and then it came in one that was in significantly worse condition than the bass, unless the advert made this fact clear. In the end, was the bass sold at a fair price for the bass alone? If so it seems fair to me - but a half-decent case adds at least £15 to the value of a bass, after all, and I certainly factor it in when bidding/buying.

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='1114157' date='Feb 3 2011, 05:14 PM']Now contradicting what others have said, Nitro Mors was the only thing I used. No chisel, no heat gun and no power tools. This is the thread to the last one I did and it contains lots of progress pictures[/quote] The natural finish with cream dimarzios plus tort looks damn sweet! I'd bet that they were polyurethane finishes as opposed to polyester like on many (all?) of the MIMs though. My understanding is that the latter is more inert.

Oh and definitely, several days of horrible nitromors fumes versus 2 hours with the hairdryer and scraper...not knocking anyone choosing to do the former but I'd say my way is definitely worth a try first. It's also very satisfying every time another great big chunky of shiny black peels off!

[quote name='Kinder' post='1114023' date='Feb 3 2011, 03:50 PM']Thanks guys, that's great. Lawrence - your build diary is a great read and what an amazing result! It looks superb. I'm really not sure if I've got the patience to put the effort in that you did with all the primer and paint coats though, it sounds like a real labour of love. Do you think it would look crap if I stripped it down and then applied a finish to the natural wood? I actually quite like the look of yours when it was stripped-down in your first diary post.[/quote] Ta! I'd say the wood could look alright natural with a suitable shiny finish to maintain that wet look - mine certainly looked ok to me with the sealer coat. I think I had to do so many coats because I had a poor spraying technique partly due to the crappy nozzles on the Halfords cans, and also despite it being alder I really should have used a grain filler to get the finish truly flat before spraying. I'd definitely recommend that! Obviously depends what colours you're wanting but the opaque light blue really benefited from the primer first - it dries much quicker than the colour, and you'd need a ton to get it opaque. Also a word of warning, if you use the Halfords clear and spray too thick it takes AGES to fully dry and shrink down - mine is still a bit soft! For a natural finish I'd think about one of those brush-on varnishes, you can probably get them on thicker and it'll be easier to flat - in any case that matters less when you've got a texture like grain underneath it, it's the opaque finishes that show every imperfection. If I was doing a rattlecan job again then I'd probably go for the nitro cans. Using lots of filler, getting it all REALLY flat and sealed before priming will mean you need less coats and less work in the long run. Just pick a colour that doesn't show dust/pubes(!) unless you've got a dedicated workshop...

[quote name='alexclaber' post='1113797' date='Feb 3 2011, 01:07 PM']the difference between 400W and 900W is not terribly large, once you figure in power compression it's less than 3dB. [b]Those extra few dB can make the difference between being slightly lost in the mix and sitting just right[/b] but it isn't a substantial increase at all.[/quote] This is an important point that often gets lost when people are talking about doubling wattage or similar. The whole '3dB being the lower limit of detection for changes in loudness' only really applies when you're talking about a sound in isolation - it makes a far more noticeable difference in clarity when comparing multiple sounds together. Playing around with multichannel recording mixes I've found even 0.5dB in the right place can make a difference in a decent monitoring environment, though admittedly playing live that kind of subtlety will be lost.

I had this issue last year when stripping a Mexi jazz. If it is a Mexican bass then the finish will be polyester (not polyurethane) over a thin clear sealer coat. This is thick, hard and chemically very resistant. Sanding through would take ages and probably require such a coarse grain that you risk going through and digging into the wood. Too much like hard work for me! The way I did it, and would definitely do again, was to use my wife's hairdryer on its hottest setting as a gentle heat gun. This softened the outer poly layer and seemed to start to melt the inner sealer layer. Once I'd worked into the paint with a chisel (I'd suggest you could just start chipping away around a screw hole) I was then able to use one of those paint scraper things a bit like a spatula and lift off the paint in patches as I heated it. Managed to avoid damaging the wood at all except where I tried chiseling initially before discovering this method. The advantage of the hair dryer was that it didn't get hot enough to scorch the wood unlike a proper heat gun would, but still softened the poly sufficiently to lift it off. Stripping this way took a couple of hours probably, left a clean finish on the bass and avoided nasty fumes I put it into a build diary here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110990"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110990[/url] Hope that's helpful!

[quote name='icastle' post='1113247' date='Feb 2 2011, 11:33 PM']That's a real pain, but in all fairness, he's not claiming they are 'originals' and he's put some (presumably) accurate measurements in the description...[/quote] I bought the jazz pickup covers from him, they needed a bit of fine sanding particularly around the screw lugs and corner radii, but I got them in ok in the end and they looked fine. I'd get them again, it's the only place I've found that supplies aftermarket cream covers.

What's that strange but cool looking bass used by Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords? That definitely looks a cheapy.

[quote name='Bloc Riff Nut' post='1112839' date='Feb 2 2011, 07:06 PM']OP here, The last time we played I had a really woolly/muddy sound. After talking to other musicians afterwards it was suggested to me that I could try- 1. cutting some bass fequencies from the guitars and 2, try to remove some frequencies around 100 hz as this would help with the kick drum. You guys all seem to disagreewith number 2(and I can't do that with my amp anyway) so I'll ignore that advice. Thanks for clearing it up. So I'll go with removing some bass from the guitars next time we play. What would be interesting to read would be how other bassists go about getting their live sound. What are the things to look out for eg. hollow stage = whatch out for too much low bass frequencies.[/quote] My first port of call in your situation would be the VLE/VLF filters on your Markbass amp. To start with make sure they're fully off, which means fully counterclockwise (NOT 12 noon like normal EQ controls, confusingly). If you've got too much of them on then they'll really wool up the sound. In general I always found doing sound that a bass guitar with plenty of mid/high frequencies in it, to the extent of sounding far too harsh in isolation, would come through in the mix very nicely. 'Wooliness is often around 250Hz in my experience, maybe a shade higher. A little cut of your low mid control could help sort this out, go too far and it'll sound thin. It is always good to get the guitars to cut their bass, guitarists hate it because it sounds thin in isolation but again, in the context of the whole mix it works.

[quote name='Johnston' post='1112304' date='Feb 2 2011, 01:08 PM']I've heard that as well and was going to try it (If I found someone with one) but I also read a lot of plastics have something in them so the UV doesn't affect them any more.[/quote] They use UV inhibitors, but blast them enough and they should still discolour. The only downside might be if it makes them more brittle.

Right, time to sort this once and for all The best bassist theoretically possible would be Flea's adopted son (biological father Mark King), who would play a particularly obscure piece of vintage Fujigen JapCrap that You Can't Buy and even Bassassin has only heard of rather than physically touched, with quadrophonic active double MM phase-reversible pickups and a Sadowsky/John East collaborative custom pre-amp. It would be strung with DR Moonbeams (silver alloy round-core roundwounds) which he'd change every gig despite costing £300 per set, and played through an all-valve Class D micro head linked to a Barefaced Big Arse vertically aligned 8x12. He'd frequent talkbass where he'd make unequivocal statements on which gear was best with sycophantic fan boys to protect his sacred word. His closest rival would be Mark King's adopted daughter (biological father Flea), who would apparently play a beat up defretted '61 Fender P through a pair of Peavey Eurosys stage monitor on their sides. Despite using flat-wound strings and a foam mute, her slap tone in particular would be inexplicably awesome. She would never appear on basschat or any other sites and the secrets of her God-like tone would remain forever a mystery, her Fender signature model utterly failing to get anywhere near. He'd be PC, she'd be Mac. He would use ketchup and she would have nothing, not even vinegar. Neither would touch mayo

What kind of 'agro' is the OP talking about? If it's bass guitar inducing acoustic resonance in the kick drum then it's a very different situation to the kick drum being swamped by bass guitar or vice versa.

Tanning booth? Seriously

Heheh disappeared and reappeared under the correct title...for £200 more than before!

There's a Marcus Miller jazz fs on here that also has this [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=121136"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=121136[/url]

[quote name='tom1946' post='1111115' date='Feb 1 2011, 03:20 PM']Is it normal to have crafted in japan on the bottom back of the neck as well as Made in Japan on the headstock? cheers.[/quote] My 90s 75RI has exactly that

[quote name='gary mac' post='1109925' date='Jan 31 2011, 07:38 PM']Don't think he's being unrealistic with the price. Although I didn't think they were over a grand when new.[/quote] Were and mostly still are for the 3TS option, if you look around - google reckons £700 but that is actually a mistake as it's the un-road worn version in all cases. £1030 seems to be the going rate

If I wasn't all the way up in Edinburgh I'd have had this the second I saw it. Someone should bag it quick! [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Jazz-road-worn-bass-guitar-/330525395583?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4cf4d94a7f"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Jazz-road-wor...=item4cf4d94a7f[/url]

compromise with C-F-Bb-Eb-Ab!

My two main playing positions are dead over the bridge pickup and floating just a smidge behind the neck pickup. Covers look bling-tastic but they'd b****r my tone right up! Probably good for resting a hand on for pick players who're feeling a bit lazy though.

Can't see that clearly but it looks to have a lovely flame on the neck - good price too given that the Jap basses seem to have shot up in value recently. Great find!

[quote name='Bankai' post='1105825' date='Jan 28 2011, 05:12 AM']Probably the best response would be a copypasta of my earlier post: [i]We take a DI from the guitar as opposed to the amp for these reasons: -Protecting against failure of the amp -Musicians will often be changing settings during the show on an amp, this will of course affect the DI coming to the FoH and mean constant adjustment down this end as well -A DI from the amp will be EQed for THAT amp and cab, not for a FoH system[/i] If you want amp sound then you use a microphone to the cab but in conjunction with a DI from the guitar so you still have the positives listed above, but with the added tones chosen by the bassist.[/quote] Point four - random mysterious earth loop-style buzzes that only appear on the amp DI and not your proper, transformer-balanced DI. Oh, how many times have I had those...

Try a Fender Road Worn if you can live with the relic-ing effect. Made in Mexico but they are the absolute tone beasts of the Fender range as I'm sure others will testify. There was one floating around secondhand recently.