Jerry_B

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='740132' date='Feb 9 2010, 04:40 PM']My current theory is thinner teardrop shaped ones probably work better for people who don't use them all the time and big thick triangles work better for agricultural players like me who don't use fingers.[/quote] Well, the big triangles were a bit of nightmare for me - and I'm an agricultural player too! Always had them slip out of my fingers when shredding during long playing sessions. I used to have really strong hands and fingers at the time because of factory work I was doing. I prefer teardrops as they're faster for me to use. That said, up until recently I did use 1.14mm Tortex picks.

They were very good when I ordered a bass from them on-line recently.

Every time I read various crap on the YouTube, I always have a mental image of Something Awful's [url="http://www.somethingawful.com/hosted/jeffk/"]Jeff K...[/url]

'WTF?! Teh G*d pwnd me! Lol XD' etc etc...

Well, you can say '1990s vintage' in the sense that it's something from a period in time before now. But if it's not very old using 'era' would've been better than 'vintage'. Then again, the seller might be in his late teens - I've had students of that age call things from the '90s 'retro'...

I replied to your other post about this [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=76501&st=0&p=738417&#entry738417"]here...[/url] A custom job is a viable option, that doesn't have to be expensive.

That sort of rest comes in quite handy on fretless basses, I've found.

I will try to come along if possible (depends on how knackered I am from teaching all day).

If it goes back on sale I might be tempted...

Yep, I agree

[quote name='geoffbyrne' post='737463' date='Feb 6 2010, 06:08 PM']On my own instruments, I sometimes give the fretboard a quick wipe with a bit of Tung oil on a cloth, then polish it straight off again. Tung oil dries hard & tends to seal the pourous wood, but can be easily removed using a light oil like lemon.[/quote] That depends on whether you mean actual pure Tung oil, or what's sometimes sold as Tung oil (but is a mixture of a few things with Tung oil). There is a difference. Pure Tung oil tends to rely on rather warm conditions in order to set. If it's left somewhere that's cool it takes forever to dry - even more so if there's a certain amount of humidity. Even then it can tend to dry unevenly.

Yes, it is very tasty.

So perhaps it's really all down to the bass+amp equation? Or can we agree that certain types of bass can sound a bit different, because of the pups (i.e. Jazz or Precision)...? I tend to agree with you that nothing really hardcore is going on, deep down. Too many variations are possible.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKsw6xaw9n0"]'Passing Complexion' by Big Black[/url]

I do find it amusing that people buy so-called 'road worn' brand new basses. Can't figure that one out at all.

Sometimes wear and tear can work in your favour. I own two basses because of this factor, and they're both my favourite basses. The first is my trusty Westone Spectrum DX which, when I got it, had been sprayed very badly with a combat green colour and was covered in crud. This is why I got it for 35 quid, because the bloke in the shop thought it was nasty bit of tat. But all I had to do was clean it and strip down to the very nice maple underneath, and it makes for a really good bass. The second bass is a 1989/90 MIJ Fender Jazz fretless (i.e. an unmarked fretless). I was at a party a few months back and spotted it in a room surrounded by loads of other crap. After a few inquiries I found the owner and had a look at it. It was absolutely filthy and had various dents and scratches on it. The owner wasn't a fan of it, so I said I'd take it off his hands. So he let me do so for 150 quid, which to my mind is a bit of a bargain (perhaps I'm wrong). When I got it home, it took a fair few hours to take it apart and clean it. The wiring was, well, shot to hell and most of the connections had just fallen off (but it still worked a bit through an amp). The worst thing was the crud all over it. The pickguard had to be wedged off the bass once all the screws were taken out. The same went for the bridge. They both stayed on because layers of sweaty skin crud were holding them there. Still, after a thorough clean, some delicate restoration on the fingerboard, and a replacement pickguard, it looks and sounds bloody marvellous. Sure, it has a few dents and scratches, but it still looks way way better than it did when I rescued it

[quote name='2x18' post='735804' date='Feb 5 2010, 08:38 AM']Avon Grabber copy [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-1970s-Avon-Gibson-Grabber-Bass-Copy-MIJ-Japan_W0QQitemZ320484181010QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item4a9e588412"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-1970s-Avon-G...=item4a9e588412[/url][/quote] Now that [i]is[/i] ugly. Looks like it should be launched out of a 1980's-era Battlestar Galactica mothership

Oh, I dunno - I've seen worse on a bass. I think the whole thing's rather nice.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='735653' date='Feb 4 2010, 11:34 PM']Is it the bass "tone" in and of itself or the space it occupies in the music though? Most of the time you can't even tell what the bass would sound like in isolation, yet we tend to worry about it. I've found lately that I rarely need anything above 500hz in my sound, 1k if I'm feeling modern! I doubt anyone notices that a huge chunk of my sound is missing - I certainly don't.[/quote] You can get occasions in a song when a bass is just on it's own, with nothing else (not even drums). The problem then is what happens to it when everything else kicks in, and whether the bass still retains that singular presence.

I like a bit of both. Not that I'd call it 'tone' as such. It'd be something I'd expect along with 'whoomf' and 'chunk'. And I'd say that non-musicians can still appreciate it. After all, to a certain extent someone else's sound probably drew us to playing the bass in the first place. As for looks, that's a personal option - mind you, there are alot of popular basses makes out there that I think are either dull or ugly, from a design point of view.

I agree, not worth 70 quid if you don't know what it is. I'd say even 50 quid is pushing it a bit. But it may be full of surprises once it's done up. I'd be interested to know what it sounded like, given all of the stuff that it seems to be stuffed with.

Snapped up the ol' 80s-era Boss HM-2 'Heavy Metal' pedal he had for sale. It arrived nicely packaged up and is in very good nick, and was sent along to me nice and quickly. Now to play around with it for hours, grinning from ear to ear...

Sounds like a nice modification for a Jazz.