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My 9yr old daughter has been bugging me to build her a guitar so I thought I'd better get started on it She's a bit too small for a bass at the mo so I had an old strat copy kicking about she wanted it orange after seeing my Jazz I'm just going to put a black pickguard on it and back cover and chrome hardware

I'll be along shortly...... once I've got my whole list together...!!😂😂😂😂

Sides trimmed and mahogany front and back blocks glued on: And the (unsanded) back also cut - leaving it oversize to allow both wiggle room and for the contraction when it is dished to its 15 foot radius: Much of the build will be done with the sides remaining in the mould: The top wood (sitka spruce) and bracing / kerfing wood is on order so not much more can be done on the body at the moment. While I'm waiting for the wood to arrive, I'll start on the neck and fretboard. Busy tomorrow but I should be able to make some progress on Wednesday

I'm surprised that this bass is recyclable. Everyone knows that Hofner basses are stuffed with dead cats and sawdust. Much like DFS sofas actually.

He does that. It’s mildly annoying as you end up planning your own projects- but in my case without the skills

Well today was a good day, one of those days when I remember why I like making things First job of the day was to get the necks glued on, a bit of masking just in case I got some glue seepage (I did and was glad of the tape) then some titebond and clamps and there they were, two bass shaped things Then after a couple of hours I gave the tops a light sanding and proceeded to spray, a total of three coats went on today. By the time i cut back the second in readiness for the third my worries from the other day about grain filling were completely put aside. Then the third coat went on and I have to say I was very chuffed, I'm not an experienced luthier by any means and I was very surprised how good it was looking, in fact I spent an embarrassing whole hour just looking at them. Days like that are far and few between, I hope all you other makers get them too, sadly its something that you just get used to doing and the novelty wears off eventually, that is a sad thing I think

The Parable of the Lost Bass Player. Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred guitarists but loses the bass player. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost Bass Player until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost Bass Player.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one Bass Player who repents than over ninety-nine (self)righteous guitarists who do not need to repent. We welcome you back, oh lost one....😂😂

Tell her that even fewer people will like her if she looks like Adam Ant.

Saw Chic and Nile tonight. Very enjoyable, they know how to put on a show. Bass player wasn't bad either lol. Actually, he was top notch. I was air bass-ing it tonight, sadly enough. I slap so much better without a bass.

Although I am currently MM-less, here are my previous 'Rays:

"Hey, you sass that hoopy Bluewine? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is."

Here's where I'm up to. Reshaped Headstock, decal added, tinted neck, sprayed scratchplate cream. Just a bridge ashtray and then I'll decide if I wanna smash the body up a bit! It's been fun.

hi guys & girls !! I'm joris and I leave in France and I salute all the members of Basschat who read this lines !!

In days of yore, there were way-stations, taverns and lodging houses all along every highway of this island. Travellers would be compelled to stop at one or other of these inns, as travel was on foot, on horseback, coach or bullock cart, and there was a limit as to how far one could go without feeding and watering both the rider and the steed. With the advent of alternatives, (rail, cars, motorways...), some vestiges of these services remain, albeit much evolved, but anyone trying to do things 'the old way' would have a hard tome of it, I suspect. Times change, and the services one needed, even in pre-war days, are now redundant, or so changed as to be no longer recognised. Farriers are now rare, in a not-so-distant future, local filling stations will be just a memory (already the case in some areas...). It's the same with local commerce, whether music shops, book shops, cobblers... There will be a place for niche outlets, but they will no longer be dependant on local trade, I suspect. There's no going back any time soon, so best to leave the sentimentality and nostalgia behind and make the best of what's 'now' and tomorrow. Is it a Good Thing..? Does that matter, as it changes nothing..?

This picture from my archive must from 2004 when I had a thing for Musicman basses. The last of these, the Pacific Blue Burst SR5, finally left two weeks ago. Its place has now been taken by a natural Sterling, the third I've owned over the years - I'll never understand why I ever sold the others.

The Sterling HH switching is the same as the 'ray, except the coils are in series. The 'ray is wired parallel.

Lot's of lefty basses in a limited space. This picture was a experiment with a extreme wide angle lens, just to see if I could make a acceptable picture with all the distortion going on, not a bad result I think.

I've had a good laugh here, you just make that look so easy! I'm impressed

Calling @cetera... I believe he has one or two bass guitars, if memory serves...

Buy it and find out...I'm fairly sure that Sylvia will "adopt" this long before you get the chance. 😃

Ha ha.... I need to rename the posting as I have done the measurements, basically using my trusty calipers on a picture of a Thunderbird at full zoom and then transposing measurements to full 34” scale. Thank you maths... the P is staying a P. As I do not want to tamper with the graphite neck I cannot get the front pickup in the period correct spot exactly, but very close and the back pickup I can get just right. Thunderblackstone it is! Project estimated start date end of August on a build diary near you , will focus on the build element first but if it turns out right I will also do a repaint in TB Pelham Blue at a later stage.

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I think that's endemical on post 2008 Musicman Stingray5s/Sterlings. Back when the 3 coil ceramic PUs in Sterlings/Stingray5s there wasn't such volume or EQ mismatches as there are now with the 2 pickup models. Overall this Sterling5 HS sounded thinner than my old ceramic Stingray 5ers, most notably in the two "classic" Musicman positions (just the humbucker, series or single coil). I think the post 2008 redesigned EQ has something to do with it, modern Stingray5 basses also sound thinner than my old ones. In fact Ernie Ball seems to have played a real crappy marketing move lately, they sell you the 30th Anniversary Stingray5 with a "redesigned preamp", but it's in reality a pre-2008 3-coil ceramic PU Stingray5 with the preamp it had back then, exactly like the SR5s I own, just with the added binding and fancy roasted maple. I've tried 2 and they sound exactly like my old SR5s, the EQ acts the same (in modern Stingray5s, besides the obvious change to alnico, the EQ is more tame somehow, in old ones a little boost or cut goes a longer way). To summarize, you should expect not that much of a volume mismatch but certainly be ready to boost some bass on the onboard preamp when moving the switch from anything neck or neck+bridge to only bridge.

For me the HS is the best of both worlds. It retains 2 out of the 3 single PU tones you get in a regular Sterling H (series and single coil, parallel and single coil on a Stingray5 HS) and still offers 2 flavors of J (sorta') plus the neck pickup soloed. A tad more diverse than the HH model (which has 3 J-like tones, and series for each pickup soloed -parallel on Stingray5 HHs-). Here's a sample of the 5 positions it had (neckside to bridgeside, clean & compressed, then positions 1 -sorta' P- and 2 -sorta' J- picked widh SansAmp crunch). Also, here's a sample of the 9 positions in my current Ray35 "HS" (quite modded). I much prefer this bass. Half the price, similar weight and I added that single coil pickup (AliExpress creature -very decent sounding-) in a position that makes it a little nicer at the P game. The tradeoff of the closer distance between it and the stock humbucker is that J-like tones are a little "Spectoresque", there's a certain "metal friendly" but indeed nasal scoop to it, and also some combinations don't humbuck (there's no phantom coil in this so single coil is real single coil), not a bummer in any way as it's hardly noticeable. I also prefer this bass to the Sterling5 HS because I can mod it without remorse (it's intended in fact to be my "Sagrada Familia", a living creation) something I'd never dare on an EBMM (my Stingray5s, both old 3-coil ceramic, are in fact modded but nothing as invasive as adding a pickup).

This isn't the topic I expected.

Well I hope you are all happy with yourself. If it’s not bad enough having the loss of Barry Chuckle to deal with, Rock n Roll is a tall order.

I was doing my first summer season back then , I’m old now but was a great time to be learning bass lines .. Remember playing loads of Nik Kershaw in our sets ..The Riddle , wide boy .etc Also Level 42 , Toto , Prince and many others of that era ..I’d only been playing a couple of years so there were some challenging basslines to learn for me at the time .. I went on to work in many bands after .. but think this was my favourite time being a bass player .. skin tight jeans , yellow converse and a bleached mullet .. the fashion however sucked 😀

At least since its recyclable you won't feel so bad when it quickly goes in the bin.

I've never understood the "not versatile" thing, there must be an example of one being used in every genre of music to good affect. I think there are players that have a fixed way of playing that are used to being able to adjust from front to back pickup along with the tone or EQ controls to get a variety of sounds, imo it's the player that lacks the versatility not the bass.

Andertons - ordered beginning of April. On the twin pick up SR4s and SR5s, for the different selections you are picking up signal from a different section (s) of the string - with elements of the two humbuckers selected together there's an element of phase cancelling going on. So yes, the EQ is your friend and especially the mids control. I did a little experiment at a jam I provide the bass gear for and I had my 4HH Stingray with me - after the jam there was a pretty accomplished bass player there who plays the Mark King sort of stuff so he played and I selected the coils and twiddled the EQ - we started with it flat - with a heavy slap line we got every sort of sound you could want, with decent volume balance - BUT - with both pick ups on H mode the mids needed a boost - with the neck H the treble needed a boost but it got in Alembic territory there and with the outer single coils plus bass and treble boost an acceptable Marcus Miller sound was achieved - along with the stock Stingray and Sabre sounds using the bridge H - the inner coils get towards a P bass sound especially with mids boosted. Very versatile basses - not quite so easy to slap on as an H but pretty easy with practice. And the bass itself has no extraneous hum even in single coil mode. If you don't like the pickguard (SR4HH) you can take it off - no extraneous routing (unlike some makes). I do feel quite lucky that my favourite production basses can be had with such nice, boutique quality wood, hand finished necks and hand assembled and set up - theyre on a par with more expensive equipment (such as Custom Shop). What more can you want if you like Musicman basses! The BFR Bongos (out later in August but very limited) appear to have extraordinarily fine wood - plus binding!! I understand the HS models were dropped because of poor sales unfortunately. Most people wanting multi pick up must go for the HH it seems.

The Blues for me. Every blues song always seemed to be held together by the bass. Forget the "widdly widdly" guitar, it never interested me that much, but simple lines played with feeling get me every time.

Unfortunately my experience of local music shops has always been a bit mixed - they often mean well but their range of instruments is always pretty poor and focused almost entirely on the budget end of the market.

Welcome CC. Good to see you are GASsed up and ready to go.

Well played sir. Bit of a guess on my behalf and I preferred the second. Just hoping you haven’t bluffed us all with the same bass twice!

Roadies will seriously damage any gear given time. If I was using roadies I would always flightcase my gear. I've never seen these guys look after anything.

I had a boss ve-2 for a whyle and was always happy with the performance. We ran the keyboards through it and it detects the chords so can generate accurate 3 part harmonies. Pretty cheap too

Saw them a few years back in Leeds. What a show! Met Jerry very briefly afterwards, shook his hand... The man has these massive muscular hands that just make you feel incredibly inferior. And I consider myself to have fairly big strong hands.

Yes the HH has a selection with just the bridge humbucker - it's in the same place as the H so sounds the same - but you also have four more very useable tones using the coil selector switch. Apparently my order is in the course of delivery - to be received at the start of September - HH versions. Mine are Aqua sparkle (example 3rd from back on this rack) and Cruz teal (far end of rack). The Bongo 6 at the front of the rack is a new BFR model - looks to have a roasted quarter sawn neck with incredible flame maple.

This 😎

Why would a bass need to be recyclable? They live forever don't they? In a "journeyman" existence, slowly being sold/traded amongst the BC collective...

@LewisK1975 meant to say if you want to know any more PM me cheers

That teal one is lovely, great neck too.

Tort looks good on pretty much everything apart from blues and greens.

You don't need to reproduce 30hz in order to get a great sound out of a 5 string bass. SVT810's cut off at 40hz and so do many other cabs. 5ers can get a good solid tone , at high volume, out of most cabs. You want low end without mush? All the top quality cabs should do that, if you EQ them right. BF cabs will always be capable of performing towards the top of that list.

D’Addario Pro Steels and Elites Stadium Series Stainless spring immediately to mind.

It depends what kind of look you’re after. I originally planned to clear coat and polish mine but in the end I just applied the amber nitro and left it to age and wear naturally. I lightly sanded with very fine paper, 2000 grit I think, to smooth it. I’m happy with it.

Cello fingering is not so different in terms of positions; just that 'cellists have names for them. It's still a matter of placing first finger on a semi tone note; so on the D string: 1/2 =fingers on Eflat, E, F, F#. 1st = fingers on E, F, F#, G, 2nd = fingers on F, F# G, G# 3rd = fingers on G, G#, A, Bflat etc. just like the bass on the same string. But the scale being shorter, you can extend each position, ie by reaching back with one finger from 1st position you can get E flat. by putting finger 2 on F# instead of F, you can then reach G# with your 4th finger. In fact you CAN do the same on a bass, even a double bass, by using "pivoting" (thumb stays in same place, hand rotates back or forth around it) .. though traditionalists don't think it "proper". I think the thing that makes scales and blocks different on a 'cello is the short neck - you can only finger normally up to first finger on G (on the bottom C string) after which you have to bring your thumb round onto the finger board. This combined with avoiding or deliberately using open strings raises a load of avoidance strategies in which fingering a scale from the same pattern gets non-optimal above about F major whereas on the Electric bass you can go on forever. That end to the neck does make one thing MUCH easier though. you can always find "4th" position "blind" as it happens when your thumb hits the heel of the neck, then first finger down = automatic G, D, A, or E. you can play almost any tune in first (with forward and back extensions) and fourth position; 2nd and 3rd are niceties that avoid moving your hand around too much. On the Electric Bass, it is VERY easy to get lost without looking at your fingers now and then! Anyway. Easier? No. Different? Yes. Playing one string instrument won't crack the other but it will give you a leg up. As a classical grade 8 ish 'cellist I bought a double bass and was immediately about grade 5 (took another 20 years to reach 8 ish).