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My first thought after reading the thread title was ‘defecate in the corner’. I think I need to speak my therapist 🤭

I've told this before. . . . A friend was looking for a guitar as a 50th birthday present to himself. The guy in the shop got down a US Strat and Rob, who was mightily impressed, said, "But this is only for playing in my bedroom." The shop guy said, "Mate, 90% of the guitars we sell are to people who play in their bedrooms, and the other 10% should do."

Whenever I buy a car, I test drive it by first revving it as hard & long as I can, hoping that people notice me. Once I have their attention I attempt a doughnut manoeuvre I saw on YouTube (I stall quite a lot, but I think I look cool). It never occurs to me to check if the breaks, clutch, gears, lights work, or if the cars structure is sound...or, heaven forbid, it fits any practical needs. OK, so my cars never leave my garage (but no one in the showroom knows that, they all think I'm the Stig maaaaan)

I'm part-way through a big long epic of a day today - more of the stars have arrived, so we're working though the tunes with them at various allotted time-slots. It's a huge production and logistical operation, with a massive crew - the band are just one cog in the wheel. Every song has to be rehearsed for lighting, camera positions, VT cues, walk-on choreography... if one part isn't right, we do it again! Like I say, I can't give anything away, but I've had a couple of OMG moments today... and I get to do it again - for real - tomorrow. Get in :-) Here's some arty shots I took during stolen moments...

This fella is 1st go to, somewhere between 200/300 gigs. It's seen SEI's, Sadowskys, Alembics, Ricks, Status, Am Deluxes all come & go. But obviously, as many tell us, it's a crap Mex

My favourite was a guy who bought an Epi 335 and a lead to go with it. Came back in complaining his new electric guitar didn’t work. he’d gone home and somehow wired a household plug onto the end of his newly acquired cable... he’d been plugging it into the mains. how he didn’t die I’ll never know.

Excellent start to the kebabing weekend, got some pussie as well. Very tasty chicken burger meal inc. chips and a drink for less than three and a half earth pounds. By default as it was the first takeaway we came across trying to escape Bolton, lost as we always are trying to get out of Bolton as they were close to closing and it was all they had left. Would defo go for this again. This little fella was in the quiet bar round the corner on his stool as he usually is keeping an eye on proceedings.

Don't let your wife/girlfriend/ significant other know that you just bought another. Safeguards the bass and your nads.

Typical bass player doing it up the corner, come on why not right by the front door near the till!

Specific measurements are all well and good, but action is subjective. If you're getting buzzes and rattles then it's too low, if you can't play properly because it's too much effort to press the strings to the board then it's too high. If your bass is sounding good and is comfortable, it intonates properly and it feels right to you, then it is right.

Happy Christmas 😟

They probably assumed it was Eighties and gave you the benefit of the doubt.

If it’s bespoke stuff you want,you need to try Stagewear Unlimited. Based near Rotherham, you can get pretty much anything made to order, and the boss Neil Crossland has a mass of experience making stuff for all sorts of bands as well as theatrical costumes for televison and theatre. Tel. 01709 892893 www.stagewearunlimited.com

So long story short. My band (State of Ember) entered a competition last year as an easy way to gain more fans. The prize was top 10 bands end up on Wreckfest by THQNORDIC. We only went and finished 2nd and now we're being featured on their official trailer! Oh and they are giving us 1000 Dollars. Madness Facebook link below should work! https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=617813701889412&id=369063106512335

F*cking slap. It's so boring to hear the same thing in any shop...

I've noticed that the only time I get GAS is when I'm not playing or practicing as much as normal, or if i'm stressed with some other part of life. I'm sure this doesn't just happen to me. Usually happens if I'm tired from work overload, so my playing is either uninspired or lacking energy, and my brain tries to blame the instrument. It's difficult to feel excited when you've not had a day off work for weeks or you're short on sleep. Also happens if you keep playing the same stuff rather than learning something new. It's just boredom and lack of inspiration. I find that GAS completely goes away if I get a good night's sleep and focus on learning something new. But it took me quite a few years to work this out.

Hi guys, Just wanted to say hi and thanks so much for the kind words, I'm humbled.. I feel really lucky to have been asked to play in some great shows and don't take it for granted.. I played in 'The Book of Mormon' for 3 and 1/2 years and the MD of that show was leaving to start 'Dreamgirls' and he kindly asked if I wanted to move across with him.. I'm glad I did as it's turning out to be a really fun show, and a great play for a bass player.. It hasn't been done for 35 years but still sounds fresh in my opinion.. In Amber Riley's defence, we appeared on the Graham Norton show before the musical had even opened.. We had just met her and read the chart down that morning.. She had zero experience singing with a band at that point and was extremely nervous I think.. She's quickly settled into the show and sounds amazing I have to say, and with that confidence comes a bit of light and shade in her performance.. I think if you saw her live now you'd be really impressed, she brings the house down every night! Regarding gear, I exclusively use Overwater basses now. I have two Jazz 5's and a hybrid Jazz 5 fretless.. They're all wonderful and I highly recommend them, Chris May and the guys at Overwater have been honing their art for many years now and the results are there to see.. A lot of West End players use them as they're reliable, extremely playable and free of hum/buzz/interference which is important in theatres.. I'm particularly impressed with the John East Uni-Pre at the moment and that's in the black bass in the clip above.. Check their basses out at http://overwaterbasses.com (and no I don't get a tenner for saying that!). Well thanks again, all the best....

He has been playing drums since the age of 2 and is studying grade 8 at the moment, so decided to teach himself classical guitar (can play Dee by Randy Rhoads level in 2 months..!!) and now bass....... I jokingly said "here, try this then!" and played him the bassline for MUSE's Hysteria - He had it more or less done in a day....... On a our full size Fender Jazz...!!!! Sorry, I don't know how to embed, so just hit the YouTube link....! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rhuYoWsOdM

If the low pass filter is fully (or almost) fully closed then you’re only letting frequencies probably around 20-40Hz through (bass A string is 55Hz). Those close to 20Hz are around the limit of human hearing so if their amplitude (volume) is low, as were ALL frequencies in Down signal of the V1, then you’ll struggle to hear them. (Volume can be also thought of as proportional to the back-and-forth distance your speaker cone moves; small back-and-forth movement equals lower volume as the air isn’t being pushed as hard. Frequency is how many of those back-and-forth motions happen per second.) Can you shoot a video clip of this happening? The volume (amplitude) of ALL frequencies in the Down signal has been boosted, hence when you roll in the filter, thus stripping out the higher frequencies, the remaining lower frequencies are at a louder and more audible level (ie have a bigger amplitude) than they were on the V1. In simple terms, the Down signal is louder/hotter. Low frequencies at the edge of human hearing are difficult to hear unless they are given a bigger amplitude.

I don't think so. I play a lot but I have no problem with touch screens... I think some people just have thicker skins and adding a callus may just take them over the edge of sensitivity?

For furthermore clarification, VOLUME is amplitude of the waveform, that is the height of the peaks and troughs (vertical distance). (Frequency is the number of times the waveform repeats per second, and is intimately related to the horizontal distance between two adjacent peaks.) Higher harmonics are naturally at a lower volume compared to the fundamental. So by turning down the VOLUME knob you will get to a point where some of those high frequencies become inaudible. By contrast, a low pass filter REMOVES the higher frequencies ALTOGETHER, but leaves the lower frequencies intact (their volume remains unaltered). Since extreme low frequencies are difficult to hear anyway you might PERCEIVE the applying of a low pass filter as a reduction in volume (as the higher, more audible frequencies are gradually removed) but that’s not what’s actually happening as it is not modifying the amplitude of the fundamental waveform. I can understand how you’ve conflated these two phenomena, after all, the end result is that the audible frequencies become inaudible. However, the reasons why that is so is different in both scenarios - low amplitude versus not being present due to having been filtered out altogether. I hope that makes sense.

It cheers me to know that there are actually people who can afford to buy items of this sort. If I was one of them I'd probably buy something equally inexplicable to onlookers like a hat made out of dodo skin gloves or summat. Seriously though. It is a beautiful thing.

Yes, in theory more relief would solve this problem but then the neck will be quite concave leading to higher action in the middle. Amazon delivery of new strings has just arrived so will put them on and see if the problem goes away.

I played for a year of pub gigs with the 1x12, but not sure if the 2x8 would be the same.

Don't drop 'em or let the guitarist hold it (same thing)

Oh so true. I've never yet "flipped" - I have two basses I'd sell if I could be bothered, but only because I now have similar better. But I'm so horribly aware that any time I buy a new bass (which isn't that often - oh well to be honest, three in the last 12 months) I somehow still believe I'll immediately be able to play it as well as in my dreams. When what I need to do is spend far more time with the wonderful basses I already have literally in arm's reach.

Very good.

I've got a 2016 Deluxe Special in white/rosewood. I love it to bits, it's pretty much all I play these days. I've not tried the US Elite, I'm guessing it has upgraded pickups and preamp, but other than that I have trouble thinking what improvements they could make for it to be £1000 better. I've got the MIM Deluxe PJ and two Mexi Telecasters, all three of them are superb instruments.

I recall getting asked..well the singer... getting asked if we did Call me Al by Paul Simon.The same woman asked after every song for a bout 6 songs in a row. Every time she asked I played the bass line and she never once noticed what I was playing. I was very tickled indeed! So in conclusion, and my final contribution to this thread... Sometimes the punter doesn't even recognise the SONG they have just requested let alone our tone! We've had people request a song, then play it only to have them come back and ask for it! Drunks eh! Now to start a new thread Do punters even know what music is?

DR should have called them Smaug strings. Then we could desolate them.

Well for folks who prefer an alternative to Fender shapes, there are some fantastic choices out there, including the much loved (and rather wonderful) Yammy BBs.

Alan Lancaster

Hi there, Thought you may be interested to hear about my latest job at 'Hamilton: An American Musical' which is playing at The Victoria Palace theatre, London. It's a hip hop musical and I get to play 4 instruments on it! My main bass is my trusty Overwater 5-String Jazz bass; I also play a 4-string Lakland Hollowbody bass strung with flatwounds and played with a pic; I play my double bass with it's newly fitted 'Low C Extension' (for the super low notes needed for this style of music) and also an Artruria Keylab 25 controller keyboard for the synth bass stuff. It's a demanding show but I'm really enjoying it, and the songs written by Linn Manuel Miranda! I'll upload a picture of my pit set-up.. It's a lot of fun! Cheers, Ian

Why would you fit a component to your bass that's going to make it heavier? Especially when there's no obvious benefit to your 'tone'? Well... you have to agree that the Hipshot Kickass bridge looks pretty cool, if nothing else. And it is well-engineered. And the lateral adjustment for string spacing is more than useful. And if you have a [i]little[/i] neck dive (like I have) then adding more weight near the bottom strap button can only be good. Can't it? Fact is, the Kickass weighs around 7-1/2oz ( 212g), so it's not exactly light. Which is the whole idea of a 'high mass' bridge. But subtract the weight of the BBOT that was already fitted, i.e. 3-1/4oz (92g) and you have a net addition of 4-1/4oz (120g). About the same as a small bar of soap, or a spoon. Hmm. Was it worth it? I'll let you know. While the strings were off I took the opportunity to shim the neck, so the bass is playing better anyway. To be honest, my main reason for fitting this Hipshot is because (in my opinion) a KickAss looks much better on a Jazz than it does on a Precision. So now I can use the Kluson 70s bridge I took off the Jazz for my upcoming 70s P Bass build... Thing is, as suspected, I still have a [i]bit[/i] of neck dive, so I bought some Hipshot Ultralites, which I'll be fitting in due course. Then I can use the current Schallers on the Jazz for my upcoming 70s P Bass build... see a pattern emerging, yet? However, they're not a straight swap as the Ultralights have narrower tuner posts than the Schallers. There's a whole raft of threads on TB about the implications of this, and various solutions, but I have my own ideas about it. Involving [i]PVC tubing[/i]...

bought a pedal from Steve, all very smooth and easy. many thanks!

Just done a couple of deals with Steve and things couldn't have gone smoother. GREAT communications and highly recommended. Deal with confidence. Thanks Steve.

What a really pleasant bloke!! Steve bought my Zoom B3 & made the whole sale a breeze with great comms & a swift payment. Deal with confidence folks - no worries.

Sold an OBBM cable to Steve. Great guy to deal with, thoroughly recommended.

Top bloke - bought my GK amp and EBS cab from me. Great communication, unfailingly polite and courteous. A pleasure to deal with.

Steve bought me a bass, the communication was fluid and everything very clear. Recommended! Many thanks!

Just bought Steve's TC Electronic RS210 Cab arrived safe and sound with a top job on the packing. Very easy chap to deal with, great communication all the way through and really happy with the described condition Thank you again for a very easy and pleasent transaction

[size="3"][color="#000000"]Sold my 3leaf Enabler to Steve and he was a pleasure to deal with – instant payment and great comms. Thanks![/color][/size]

Bought a Darkglass Super Symmetry Comp, great guy, he also ship me a cool Monster cable, well packaged too

Bought an Ebs Microbass and it was so well packaged not even a tank would have made a single dent on it.

Deal with Steve in confidence that you're working with a 100% grey guy :-)