Conan

I donate all my old strings to my school's music department. The kids are always breaking strings and I have no use for dull, dead strings*. Everyone's happy! *When I say "dull and dead", that's by my standards. For some people on here they would just about be starting to be "played in"!!

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1372268' date='Sep 13 2011, 06:31 PM']What do these people base their opinions on? A couple of YouTube vids? Something they heard in the pub?[/quote] Probably. Or a general dislike of slap. Or toppy bass tones. Or someone who can play better than them...

[quote name='gothpugs' post='1372050' date='Sep 13 2011, 04:13 PM']its not fully fretless but has markers[/quote] If it has no frets, it's fully fretless - markers or no! Some people find that the fret markers make the transition easier... others find the opposite. I find that as long as there are fret-accurate markers on the top of the neck it makes getting used to fretless easier. After a while you might stop using them though. Fretless bass guitar is still bass guitar. There are things you can do easily on a fretless that are harder on a fretted and vice versa. Try one and see! Unless you're Les Claypool (which I assume you are not), you need to be more accurate with your "fretting" hand on fretless. Get it slightly out and the note will be out of tune. Do this on a fretted and it makes little difference except maybe a bit of buzz...

Smallest - 2 people who left at half time. It was a rather isolated pub (The Beamish Mary for those in the North East) in the middle of winter. It had been snowing all night and when the audience pissed off after the first set we spoke to the manager who agreed that we could pack up and head home so as not to be snowed in! Largest - around 1000 people in the Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle. Different band. Power went off half way through the first number. The singer, fortunately, had a brilliant sense of humour and always fancied himself as a bit of a stand-up - so he managed to entertain the crowd (that's a word I don't get to use very often in describing the number of people watching us!) for about ten minutes until the electrical supply was sorted out! A great night in a sadly missed venue...

[quote name='JTUK' post='1369329' date='Sep 11 2011, 12:43 PM']What is it with rockabilly bands...???? [/quote] That's a whole different question of course...

[quote name='JTUK' post='1369329' date='Sep 11 2011, 12:43 PM']Know the player and the circumstances... In your shoes, the very least is the borrower should be told to call you and have the chat..!![/quote] This! He's the one on the cadge so it's just polite to ask in person rather than get some third party to ask on your behalf. Where's his own gear? There may be a perfectly logical reason why he would rather use yours, but surely it's better for him to explain this to you in person? Bad manners in all forms irritates me - so for that reason in these circumstances I might well say no... but if he asked nicely and promised to take care, I could be persuaded to accept. Problem is, I never see myself in the position of needing to use anyone else's gear - so unless there is a sound reason I don't see why I should be expected to lend mine out.

[quote name='Monckyman' post='1349916' date='Aug 24 2011, 09:12 AM']Morrissey said in court that he and Joyce were as "replaceable as lawnmower parts".[/quote] Yeah right. Tracks like "This Charming Man" and "William..." really owed nothing at all to the bass parts... Just goes to show that all singers are tossers.

Strings? They make a massive difference to overall "tone". What do you currently use? As others have said, use of effects is not going to give you a tone you like if the starting tone is not there.

[quote name='SS73' post='1355971' date='Aug 30 2011, 09:30 AM']Have used the very same set up and it does go very very loud, not sure if it's Reading volume though. On the other hand it does mean you can bring your cab and amp to the gig in one go single handed.[/quote] You can carry an 8x10 in one hand?!?!