Jackroadkill

I've never played with anything other than roundswound strings, so it could be. Are they known for being harder on the fingers than flats?

I hadn't thought about it that way; it doesn't feel like I'm overdoing it when I pluck the strings, but after an hour or so of the string sliding over the end of the fingertip it's definitely starting to get sore, and on a couple of occasions has resulted in a small blister. I assumed this was due to friction that I'm not used to, but after reading what you said above, maybe I need to refine my technique. This is just my right hand index finger. If I'm playing something fast I will use the middle finger to take up some of the work, but it doesn't get enough use to cause any problems. Neither is there any problem on the fingers of my left hand, but they've had years of guitar playing, so maybe the skin is thick enough that any nickel sensitivity is reduced. Ow, that doesn't sound nice at all. Thankfully mine don't do anything as unpleasant as that, I just get the world's smallest carpet burn on my fingertip.

That's great - real world experience is worth a hundred YouTube "reviews"! Thanks very much for taking the time to respond in detail.

Not as far as I'm aware; I've played guitar for years (badly!) and used nickelwound strings without issue.

Thanks Douglas, that's great. I'll try that method. I know that playing is the only way to develop those calluses, I suppose, but the how is what's been beating me so far. I think I may have to for certain songs, as much as I'd prefer to use my fingers. I'm not Robert Tujillo yet!

How do you find it in general?

No, I'm quite old-school in that respect. Occasionally I will if dealing with sharp edges on fabrication work, but that's about it.

Hi all, this is a new thing for me - I'm having trouble with the skin on my right index finger and am not sure what to do about it (or whether I just need to be patient). I'm new to the bass and I keep burning the tip of the finger when plucking the strings. This then hardens off nicely, but after ten days or so falls off, leaving a soft and very sensitive layer of skin thus exposed to the strings. I'd hoped that this would have developed into a permanent callus by now, but seemingly it hasn't. The tips of my fretting hand are perfectly happy and have maintained the calluses they got from playing guitar, and my hands are used to manual labour (I'm a part-time farm labourer). So, my questions are: 1) what am I doing wrong; and 2) what can I do about it, if anything. Any advice is very welcome. Thanks, JRK

After some thought I'm down to a shortlist of two, the Laney Digbeth and the Tech 21 VTDI . Thanks very much for your input, everyone, it's much appreciated.

I've modded guitars for plenty of reasons, but since picking up the bass all I've done is add a genuine Fender thumb rest to one of them, so I'm not sure that really counts as much of a mod. I thought I might upgrade the capacitors but the sound I've got is pretty good so I've talked myself out of that idea.

Yeah, it would seem that way:

Same here (well, it was a Telecaster) and I was very pleased with the result. It's surprising how good a finish you can get with nitro from a rattlecan when you do the prep properly, isn't it?

There's nothing wrong at all with budget instruments, Thomas. If you enjoy what they do for you they're better than an expensive instrument that doesn't light your fire.

I leave mine at the foot of the speaker cabinet; I only use a tuner and an Ampeg Scrambler overdrive, so I leave them out of the way. If I have them at my feet I always feel like I'm going to fall over them. When playing guitar I have a bigger board with PSU, switcher and seven pedals on it and I have to have it under my mic because I spend half the set tapdancing on the bloody thing.

I'll take the Junkyard relic 51 Precision, the Orange Terror Bass 1000w head and the Little Bear fuzz, please.

Not much difference between these two, other than colour and scratchplate type the main difference is that the black bass has a Himass bridge and the white one doesn't. I've added a thumb block to the white one and if I enjoy it will do the same to the black. They're just bog standard Player basses and I love them. Simple, effective and they play and sound great. The black one is for standard tuning and the white one for full D / weird tunings (one of the guys in the band keeps talking about Soundgarden covers and I'm hoping the bass can cope with the demented tunings required).

The XL one that I mentioned above is properly XL, Adey. I use mine on its shortest setting. I'm only a mere 1.8m, but I reckon it would probably do for someone your height.

I use a Rosedale extra-long padded leather strap that I got from Ebay for thirty quid; UK designed and made, and very comfortable. It's 60mm wide, padded but not too thick and is made of nice soft leather: I also have an old leather Levy's strap which I love but it's just a bit too short, so I think I'll order another one of the above straps for my other bass.

I think a family of ravenous hamsters lived in it for a while, and somewhere along the line the back half of the casing went walkabout. I inherited it as a project and haven't done much with it yet. That said, I'm beginning to think about getting it up and running, at which point I'll give it back to the original owner.

I've got two-thirds of a Mutron III in my attic, where it's been for years waiting for me to rebuild it. Sod's Law says that when I investigated it last week with a view to actually getting it going it made this happen.

Thanks for all the suggestions - I'll have a butchers at the videos suggested this evening.

I use a T-Rex Fuel Tank Classic; not the cheapest but very reliable, solid as a rock, has no impact on tone or function of pedals, creates no interference or anything like that. They can be had for about a hundred pounds new, and supply 1.5a of current, so you can run plenty of pedals simultaneously without sucking it dry.

Thanks very much to everyone who's contributed. I'm slowly working through all of the suggestions and watching Youtube videos (if only every video was clear and simple, and wasn't just an opportunity for endless widdling...) to get my head around what I actually need. A decent DI driven by a proper pre-amp section is probably the most important aspect as I have an overdrive pedal that I can stick in front of it if needed. I'm tending towards the Laney Digbeth DB-PRE, the Tech 21 VDTI or the Bass Butler at the moment, but will keep looking because I want to get the right pre-amp. I'm not really interested in one as a pedal, it's to replace my amp when space is at a premium. Again, thanks very much to you all - I really appreciate the time you've taken to help a newbie out. JRK

I bought some strap locks from Alain and can't speak highly enough of him - he even went out in the snow to post them to me so that I'd get them as soon as possible! I thoroughly recommend dealing with him. Thanks, JRK

Thanks chaps, I'm at work now so I'll have a proper read of your suggestions when I get home this evening. Thanks very much for your input - it looks like there are plenty of candidates for consideration.