Leaderboard

I work in the music industry. Why do I have so many? Because I'm passionate about my instruments as a player and collector.... and because I can :)

When you have this many basses you don't get through strings so quickly, so after the initial investment on a set per bass the replacements are fewer and further between! Strings going dead? Pick up a different bass! lol! 😂

Slightly off topic and with no G strings involved I spoke to Strings & Things (UK MusicMan distributor) recently and they said that if I register my Old Smoothie online for warantee I’ll get an extra few months and free gift in the post. The free gift turned out to be a nice tool kit worth about £46 (eek!). Nice touch, very impressed, big thanks to the Gentlemen at S&T 👍

I’m an SWR’aholic. There, I’ve said it, it’s out there and I feel strangely unburdened 😀 So as a few of you may recall, I own the daddy of all SWR amps, the SM-1500. This is an absolute powerhouse of a bass amp with 1500 real watts available if you ever need them, but that comes at a price, and that price is weight. A few years ago I was pairing the SM-1500 with either a Goliath Snr 6x10 or a pair of Goliath 4x10’s but eventually I learned that I didn’t need that type of stadium filling rig for my regular gigs and paired things back to a single Goliath, mated with an Aguilar AG500SC which is more than enough, even when headlining the Bulldog Bash to 4,000 last year. As a result, the SM-1500 lies idle most of the time in the man cave. But as good as the Aggy is, I still hanker for the SWR sound, and so I started to look for an SM-900. After a few wanted ads on here, I got a couple of leads but nothing that came to a purchase and then last night, whilst browsing a Facebook selling group I spotted what looked like a pristine SM-900 for sale in Holland. As luck would have it, I work in Holland Monday to Friday, and the SM-900 was unbelievably just 15km away from me. A few messages later and a swift trip up the road tonight and I own an SM-900 😎 Now all I need to do is ship it back to the UK and I’ll be one happy bass player.

Ok make that five...

I arranged them like that just to annoy you!

So much misguided hate... So Nick Rhodes might not be the greatest technical keyboard player in the world, but he's most definitely the right synth player for Duran Duran. In the same way that Adam Clayton is the right bassist for U2. I had a listen to Jordan Rudess, and while he's got plenty of keyboard technique I don't think much of his sound design abilities. He'd be completely wrong for Duran Duran. And if the OP thinks it's so easy why doesn't he apply for the role?

Hi I know you are moving on but, as a bass builder, just to put your mind at rest: it is exceptionally unlikely that the twist problem is anything you've done. My reasons for saying this: As folks above have said - with a single truss rod neck - in my view, the truss rod does not do anything about twist. It does not cause it and it cannot cure it. I'm pretty sure the Jazzus is a single truss rod neck. The truss rod adjustment is a routine event - especially with changing weather conditions. Adrian M explains this himself in Part 1 of his YouTube set-up guidance videos (which are good, by the way). He himself in that video adjusts the truss rod under full string tension. Adjusting with no string tension is also OK. Unless a bass has been left in exceptionally poor storage conditions (eg, I make an assumption it hasn't been left in a car in full sun in recent weather or anything of similar extremes) twist is usually an issue whose causes would have been already present in the timbers or construction at the time of building. It is entirely possible that this would have been undetectable at the time of making so it is not necessarily a sign of poor quality control. As the neck moves, through playing or through weather changes, those underlying issues can sometimes start to show. On a relatively new bass, therefore, I'm surprised that there is any argument other than to replace the neck FOC (I think the neck is bolt-on?). It is usually no-one's fault - but it is, in most likelihood, a fault in the bass.

He was good enough for Fender to release a signature keyboard 🤔😋

So after that little disaster I continued spraying through the day, cutting back with 800 grit between coats, the cutting back became easier and easier as the day went on. I got a total of 6 coats on which is more than enough for one day, they will be left now until Friday and I'll have a good look at them then and decide if that is enough or do they need more, they are looking very good at the moment but I'll see how they react to a bit of time to let some thinners evaporate or whatever it does Cut back after 3 coats today This was the fourth coat, starting to look good I thing

They're untidy - why are they not all perfectly lined up by number of strings, make, colour and size? *twitch*

Thursday afternoon we played "almost acoustic" at Rebellion festival. I'm on drums and the suggestions are "snare and brushes" or Cajon. Instead I took my snare, hi-hats, crash cymbal, and a kick drum contraption I made out of a tupperware tub, pedal, EQ pedal and noise gate. The soundman didn't look very impressed when I gave him the jack to DI but the audience loved it. Best reaction to a gig since we played the Arena stage at Rebellion a year ago. The following day we did the Pavillion stage with our normal full setup, and it was good, but somehow not as exciting as the Almost Acoustic thing - probably because we were just winging that one. Someone posted some footage on Facebook, I'll try to share it here: Last night I played bass for my mate down at the local open mic and that was just as much fun as having hundreds of people cheering for you!

Not at all. I only got it a few weeks ago just for fun really. Aside from the fact the bridge is total garbage, it's really good. You're welcome to pop over if you want once I get my new cab sorted.

I've watched most of Davey's videos - they're mostly pointless but fun nevertheless.

If I have to get my credentials out, would you at least draw the blinds first please?

I had a look around, Luke, and here's at least four Andyjr1515 bloopers All covered in gory detail in their respective threads My first acoustic guitar build. Lovely neck blank. Was really pleased with it: Slight problem. Wrong size. Had to make another neck blank Mick's Psilos Bass. I knew what I meant. Unfortunately, I comprehensively failed to explain to Mick what I meant. Had to make another neck Tom's African Bass. "Hmmm...did you hear something like a cracking sound???" Tim's Alembic-esque electric. Fretted, through neck. Almost finished. Problem was that, once I'd strung it up, I realised that the fretboard was too narrow and the strings slipped over the edge. Result - I had to de-fret, add binding to either side of the fretboard, refret, re-shape the neck to fillet in the new binding...and every erroneous step followed avidly by the thread followers And there are many, many more examples. To be honest, there aren't actually many builds where there isn't at least one 'oops' moment. And usually it's a really obvious and avoidable error. The only difference to my earlier builds is that I now: triple check stuff that would render a bass or guitar complete scrap before I let sharp metal anywhere near the wood. I reckon I make as many errors, but they tend to be smaller ones. have got better at working round issues once I've c****d them up! Does that make everyone feel better?

...yes, please verify your credentials or get the hell outta here. Big Poppa.

My home made radiusing rig isn't brilliant, but it does the job. I've clearly got something horribly wrong with my geometry because I have to offset the blank by 10mm off centre to get it to rout evenly on both sides of the radius Still - with that tweak it works well enough to be able to just finish it off with 15mins of a radius block after 20 mins or so routing down to final size. Based on that it used to take me a couple of days to radius a fretboard - and the radius was often highly suspect even after that - it's still progress and was well worth the time to draw it out and make it Then onto the G&W mitre box. Theoretically the scale should be 25 3/8" but I have a 25 1/2" template already - should be close enough as the guitar is going to be for my own use. Folks may have seen one of my previous threads where I scrapped a fretboard using this rig the very first time (please note @LukeFRC ) but, now that I've found a decent method of setting it up and securing everything from moving, it works well. So, I have a radiused and slotted fretboard: Next job is the neck, using the maple/walnut/maple offcut I found. But first, I must amend the title of the thread to avoid being lynched when everyone realises this isn't a bass and think I've been hoping no one would notice!

yes I was, didn't know he was closing, but like you, not surprised. Bit of a character is Jimmy, at a recent open mic he had a bandanna on his head, I said didn't know it was it was fancy dress you coming as a pirate, to which he replied "Better than coming as a c*nt" perhaps not the best at retail diplomacy though

Back in the workshop on my phone. Turns out the splurt was water not congealed nitro, it has evaporated away leaving next to no damage so an easy fix in the end. I’m feeling better now that was quite upsetting but I’ve learned something so that’s good!

My Spector NS2's get a lot of love - they just feel and sound perfect to me. I'd use my Spectors for everything if I could (and they'd nail them all) but I take the projects I do seriously in looks and sound so Lizzy tribute gets P basses, Hair Rock covers gets Hamers/Jacksons etc, 80's hi-fi pop gets Wals, disco functions get J bass etc etc

Not sure the truss rod offers much torsional rigidity, and aren't the lower strings (BEA) generally lower tension than the higher ones anyway?

I now feel slightly dissapointed that my TC-RH450 doesn't have a thrust control. There are many times I am sure I could have done with more thrust, and as we don't get invisible bears over here, that would have been perfect. I am sure there are times when there is just way too much thrust too. In fact I might have to make an effect pedal for some thrust control.

An excellent exercise in recycling, but they're real suds to play.

Well I just saw Jim’s show last night at the Edinburgh fringe and had no prior knowledge of his misfortune. We had seen that he was on and remembered him from about 25 years ago. The show was witty, enlightening, shocking and poignant and yes, I did laugh out loud quite a lot as he said to me on the way out. He can’t play at the moment- still working on making a fist with his left hand but ‘Bessie’ the bass does make an appearance on screen. His recovery, whilst nowhere near complete, is nothing short of remarkable so if your going to Edinburgh for the festival, turn up and give the man some well deserved support.

A synth legend. As well as playing, he was very creative and also heavily into the production. The sounds he brought to the first two DD albums brought so much atmosphere which allowed the rest of the instruments to shine against a lush background. Probably the hardest spot to fill in a DD tribute IMO.

I've not played seriously for years so there's no good reason to own near 70 basses 🙂 Then again I've no family or financial ties and since I've been sober can afford it so why not own 70 basses 😎

Not much to report today, 5 coats of clear gloss on the back and the neck. Do the fronts again tomorrow

There are no hard and fast rules and plenty of overlap where high gain overdrive can sound like distortion or low gain fuzz. "distortion dumps a portion of the signal to ground from the opamp feedback loop, and overdrive doesn’t" might be true for some circuits, but it isn't a general characteristic of distortion. Not all distortions use op-amps for one!

When I first moved to Warsaw I only knew a couple of musicians, so asked them to put me in touch with anyone who they heard might need a bass player. So, a week or so later I get a call and ask if I want to go and rehearse with a band. Sure! I arrive at the given address and it turns out to be a semi-derelict factory. Okay. There's a youngish bloke waiting outside for me and he helps me lug my amp out of the car and inside - it looks like a squat. After wending our way through a veritable labyrinth of dark corridors I find myself in a darkened room with a surly looking, multi-pierced person behind a 1000 piece drumkit and another guy with a BC Rich guitar and a full-on Marshall stack. This is gonna get loud, methinks. First up, they ask me to detune my 5 string down to a low G. Alarm bells! Then they give me a quick rendition of one of their 'songs': a 600bpm deathcore number, with the chap who helped me load in jumping around shouting "WOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!" into his microphone. Hmmmmm. I think I'm at the wrong gig here, but hey whatever I should be able to keep up with them. We thrash around for 5 minutes or so and they ask me what I think, to which I reply that I don't really think I'm the right man for the job. Shouty bloke assures me that I should hang around as their second vocalist will be along shortly and he is a much better singer. OK. Second vocalist arrives, we start another 'song', now there are 2 variations on the "WOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!" theme. Enough is enough for me, so I start to make my excuses and leave. On the way out, they ask if I'd like to join them for their next rehearsal - I politely decline, but being British say that whenever they are planning to gig let me know and I'll come along (as if). I enquire as to the name of their ensemble to which I get a reply of indecipherable Polish. How does that translate into English, I enquire, 'Nun's C*nt' they reply.

My old beloved Jazz Bass I bought second hand in 1982 has undergone some dramatic changes through the years. It started as a black maple neck bass. I took off the horrific lacquer and had it more or less just wood filled/plain wood for a lot of years. It was the heaviest s.o.b. out there, causing a slipped disc and back surgery for me. Some years ago I had a new very nice body made for it, chambered, with "tiger eye burst". But - I made a mistake: I didn't tell the luthier I wanted 70's bridge pup position, so it was a beautiful wall warmer for some years. Last year I bought a super nice single piece swamp ash body with 70's routing from www.guitarbuild.co.uk and today I let the old friend out in the sunshine again. No lacquer, just heavily Danish Oiled and polished, Hipshot KickAss bridge, the Swedish Lundgren single coil pickups and completely shieded and grounded. Even the pole pieces are grounded, so no buzz when touching them. Faraday cage, kind of... Well, here is my old friend, my first ever bass, revitalised and reincarnated... It is the same bass as in my avatar, but with the beautiful body, that now has a fretless neck...

I love Vince Clarke era DM and Yazoo. A real synth pioneer but this is what he said in a recent interview, "I’ve always written on the guitar - I still do, even today. I’m not a good-enough keyboard player to write on the synth. After I left Depeche Mode, I started writing with a Roland MC-4, for me that was more important than the computer or the synth, because it was the first time I’d been allowed to make music that I couldn’t physically play. I wasn’t limited by how good a musician I was. Like I said, I was never a great keyboard player, but with the sequencer, I could play anything I wanted".

Just to follow on from this, I asked on said forum whether Richard Barbieri had any formal keyboard training pre-Japan. Now what follows is quite brilliant. Rob Dean (Guitar/Japan) confirmed Mr Barbieri was working in a bank when he joined Japan. Interestingly, Richard Barbieri also chipped in - and he's in hospital today having his gall bladder removed - and remarked that he 'was just getting the hang of it when [we] split up'. What a bloke.

When did that Rick appear? Did I just completely miss that whilst I was being completely blind-sided by your Alembic, Warmoth, Hamer and Wal?! 😂

Isn't there a live version where they sing 'All the girls are very nice, and all the boys are p*ssed'?

If you find a more aesthetically appealing cover and want shot of the current monstrosity beauty then please give me a shout

@Bassmingo meet @Cosmo Valdemar 👍🏼 If nor...WD Music/Sims. @TimAl might do single ply matt, not sure.

Maybe he was a better musician than given credit for. It seems he could play at least two chords without moving his fingers....

If you didn't like the 2x10 then I can't see how having a 1x10 is going to be a good idea? The 1x10 to my mind is a useful addition to someone who has a selection of heads and cabs but needs a practice amp, without the amp.

I am sure he is laughing all the way to the bank! Any rate, orthodox musicianship is overrated. Ask Eno...

And the result? First, in daylight: That doesn't really do it justice, so here we are in my studio under sort-of stage lighting:

Well said. If that’s what you enjoy doing then do it 👍

The Ace of Spades!

Which is why I bought an acoustic bass

Just found out this has been voted 'Bass of the Week' in the excellent (well I would say that, wouldn't I) US e-zine 'No Treble' https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2018/08/06/bass-of-the-week-ajr-guitarmods-swift-lite-lightweight-bass/ Well chuffed. It's my fourth success with BOTW Andy Smug

Gigs where your gear gets covered in baby oil after the fireman stripper shakes his oil covered wang in the direction of the stage is not cool in my book.

It looks really good aidan63. and it’s great fun building your own this is one I did it started life as a blue basic squire I stripped it and sprayed it shell pink And upgraded all of it stained and polished the fretboard. I’m a carpenter/cabinetmaker and polisher by trade it’s fitted with tapewound strings sounds really mellow