Leaderboard

Dear fellow Basschatters, these are crazy times: For this reason I've made my latest book available for the next few days as a FREE kindle download. Follow the link to access it. Hope this helps. Stay safe. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B085PV6MGK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_km0FEbQZ1JTGM

I stumbled across this just now and thought I’d share... Not seen it before - and I’m still not sure how on earth he came up with it - but it made me smile all the way through! I know it won’t be to everybody’s taste, but well worth a look as we find bass-related things to fill the time and get us through to the other side. Keep well and (hopefully!) enjoy... https://youtu.be/q9UCBsXI4LI

Oh man, that's a beaut, it's given me Jazz Gas, which sounds like an atonal fart.

Excellent, so thanks for the gesture. To reciprocate, I've ordered it as a hardcopy (I don't have 'Kindles' and such, being old, you see...). Keep well, stay safe

How could we forget this.....

This build by @Basvarken In isolation the headstock is great but in the context of it being a Grabbird it is awesome!

TESTERS REQUIRED for a Virtual Bass Bash So far we have: @Bassman Sam, @Andyjr1515, @Len_derby, and I hope still @jebroad & @ped @Oldman - PM me with an email address A few more would be good. Currently no preferences for Friday or Saturday, so probably Friday. Rich

The SBMM short scale arrived yesterday from Bass Direct. Here's a pic with my Chowny SWB-1 (sorry, just a camera phone...): First impressions: It's a Stingray... but shorter. Sounds mostly like one. Tone pot (nearest the jack socket) does the usual. Middle knob selects between three wirings - parallel, true single-coil and series, not sure which is which - the sound gets fatter... Volume knob has a push-push switch that, when out, turns on the passive boost... which I guess means that "normal" has some kind of built in attentuation. The "boost" isn't huge, but it'll happily overdrive the input on my Elf unless I back off the gain quite a bit. Not sure which of the three settings gives the most classic Stingray sound... they're all pretty good. Build quality is superb. Flawless finish, not fret sprout or rough edges. Bass arrived in tune and with a rather nice padded gigbag. Only slight minus is the nut is a bit rough, but nothing that really needs sorting out, just looks like it was slightly chewed by a dog... Comparing with the Chowny which comes in in a similar price range - not much to say about difference in quality. I'd say they're about the same - which is testament to the quality of what @Chownybass is turning out as they're competing in an increasingly crowded short-scale market - and still are tops, the SWB-1 isn't going anywhere anytime soon! They're both 38mm at the nut and spacing at the bridge looks about the same - 18-19mm. Necks are also similar - both slim front to back - maybe the SBMM is slightly thicker. Biggest difference is my SWB-1 has a gloss finish neck, and the SBMM is satin. Personally I prefer gloss, but the satin isn't bad. (I think the 2020 SWB-1s will have satin finished necks anyway...) Sound wise, couldn't choose which I prefer - they both have their place. The Chowny does a passable imitation of a Warwick Thumb (as well as its own thing) which is why I love it to bits. The SBMM does a good Stingray. The SBMM is a fraction lighter than the Chowny, but not by much. Bass Direst looks to have the white with rosewood board in stock, but mine in Daphne Blue might be the only one around for the moment. Overall - if you want a Stingray sounds, and want short scale - this is very good.

I like the headstock on my Franz basses. Unusual but pretty cool.

The S2 is looking particularly purple today 💜

With you there. When I bough my '66 I deliberately sought a bass that had been played not left in a cupboard.

This one sadly isn’t mine - it’s from Andy Baxter’s website. But I think this late 1950s three tone sunburst, good scratchplate and maple next combination is just utterly gorgeous.

Finished, ready to collect next week............... what u think?

I know there are a few folk on here who are not in the Ric fan camp but I love mine and wanted to give it a New Wave / Power Pop early 80s vibe. Off came the white plastic to be replaced with black plastic, and I had already added the zero mod thumb rest and the bezel cover. I added the neon white strings a while ago too. It got loads of comments on Friday's gig and seems to be getting a lot of likes on Facebook and Instagram.... so here it is in its full glory.

you win!

The Mrs bought me some pictures for my music/guitar room but they wouldn’t fit so they are in the toilet off my room instead

That is pretty! Albeit a bit deadly... 🙄

I’ve owned way too many basses. And recently sold what I considered (and still consider) to be the best Fender jazz bass I’ve played. It was my job for 12 years, buying and selling basses - as well as guitars. I sold 1000’s of Fender basses, and set up/restrung more than that... In selling that bass to @Normski he mentioned he had a Metro which was lovely, but sat unused as he has way too many basses (he describes his stingray collection as a roomful’) - I had zero intention of taking a trade. This is a very recent “Metroline” - and I was in trouble the second I opened the case. Is it as “good” as the CS? Yeah, yeah it is...but it’s probably not as “special”. A change is as good as a rest, and this Sadowsky has had me playing bass again, and now after some tweaking to strings (New ones on today) and action (now a bit too low...if that’s possible) - I’m really enjoying it. Might’ve overstepped the realms of normal behaviour by buying a HPJ Metroline last night...but I’ve sold 3 expensive basses recently and it keeps me out of trouble. Anyhow...After a discussion with Drew of GBBL fame the other night, we got into a to and fro about bass players “chasing the unicorn”. Some Fenders are good, some are average, some are bad. What @bassfan wants from a Fender or Sadowsky May well be hugely different to what I want - so his version of “good” will be different to mine. There is no hard and fast rule to be applied to any basses by any manufacturer. If you fancy paying £1500 to find out if it’s for you, go for it - in fairness, if you buy used you’re limiting the losses. If it costs you a £150 loss after a few months, think of it as a rental cost. Horses/Courses...etc.

Think about it! You are not going to get any original US Sadowsky parts on a bass that costs around £700.

Thanks White Cloud, I will need to read half your book just to get over the stress of downloading & installing the Amazon AppStore app 🤬, the Kindle for Android app 😠, followed by security this & that 😭 and finally your book 😌. .....................and finally 😷 this seems appropriate.

But... but... it was just a rush job for NAMM 😚

Guys, you rock! I followed your advice & went DI from the driver to the interface, and it works perfectly! Tried recording a passage with the driver on & off, shows up well in the recording. Awesome people of BC, I owe thee all pints!

I believe Nigel Godrich did, when producing ‘Chaos and Creation in the Backyard’, and hasn’t worked with McCartney since. That’s a strong album though, Godrich was clearly a positive and productive influence.

Thanks for sharing - I really like his style. Here's a general question, which I hope doesn't derail the thread too much. At the end of the clip he talks about the circle of fifths. Since the first time I had this explained to me (about 25 years ago, by a music teacher friend, who thought it would change my life), I've literally failed to see what practical purpose I'd use it for. I'm clearly missing something - can someone put me out of my misery?

Well, that's a real beauty !!!

At least..! (Although I have doubts about the 'decent' bit. )

‘Truth & Rights’ - great riddim 😊 Here’s a mess around me and my reggae friends did on the Minstrels riddim back in 2010 not the best but our good mate had fun with his camera, plus the venue is the drummers own practice place we’ve used since 2007 - every jam feels like a gig 😂

My 2013 MIJ Mustang is the one I pick up to noodle. It’s featherweight, sounds really loud unplugged and means I can wonder around the house without smacking into doorways. Its my only short scale bass but I find it very playable and comfortable. I never liked the dark tort guard so swapped it for a white one and I’m happy now (important consideration when playing at home as i constantly keep glimpsing myself in mirrors and windows!)

Just before you head for bed............. 😊

Compact and shiny compact and very shiny Compact and matt finish Compact and Old Smoothie!

Simple, but effective 😎

Indeed! I much prefer the look of a ‘paddle’ headstock and dislike small pointy ones. I know it’s a bit lame to show your own here but it wasn’t until I noticed how the ‘V’ logo fits with the shape of the headstock (particularly the top) that I realised how nicely it’s designed. The ‘scoop’ also mirrors the shape of the horns of the body. Clever and nice looking imo.

For me, this one has a nice vibe🙂

One of my hundreds of happy songs and posted here because I was listening to the album earlier tonight.

Shiny and compact and 3+1

Agree. For some reason though I only like this format on Stingrays, on other basses it just looks wrong to me.

I don't own one any more but always thought Stingrays look great with the 3+1. Nice proportions.

Look, I know these threads are a show-offy, vanity thing, but honestly, if I had to call on one bass that would be the go to, do it all instrument, it's the Lull. It's a forking monster, even more so since I installed the John East.

My Bravewood 62 p bass

New music room🤩

As many of us have a bit of time on our hands, I thought I'd offer a chunk of Deke Leonard for your enjoyment and delectation. It's from The Twang Dynasty, his take on guitars and guitarists, and this is part of his observations on Eric Clapton. EDIT: BY PUBLIC DEMAND, SCROLL DOWN A BIT AND I'VE ADDED HIS TAKE ON JEFF BECK. The last time our paths crossed was when he kicked me out of the Royal Albert Hall. He was playing a month's residency there. He did it every February for a few years. Concert Sound were doing the PA. Again, I bumped into them at the office of Marshall Arts, and they invited me to tag along. I wasn't fussed about seeing Clapton because I thought his best days were long gone, but it'd be nice to have a night out with the boys. They left my name on the door and I got there early. It was about halfway through the residency so they'd settled into a routine and there was none of the bustle associated with a one-off gig. I gave the stage a once-over. Behind the band's gear was an arc of about fifty chairs that looked suspiciously like an orchestra set-up. The boys were hanging around the mixing desk, set up in the middle of the hall, switching things on. Except for Adrian, who was conducting a tea ceremony. All was right with the world. After some concentrated banter we settled into chat mode. We talked about the upcoming gig. They told me the show would be split into two sections. The first half would be Clapton with his band but during the second half they would be joined by a fifty-piece orchestra to perform ‘The Clapton Concerto'. A shudder ran through my soul. I am always wary when established stars decide to invade other genres. It always ends in tears. Listen, if you can stand it, to McCartney's ‘Liverpool Oratorio'. This is the man who wrote ‘Back In The USSR' – isn't that enough? What more does he have to do to prove it to himself? "How are you mixing the orchestra?" I asked Robert. All the instruments, he told me, would be individually miked-up and fed down to the basement of the Albert Hall where Tim Boyle, Concert Sound's in-house boffin, had a secondary mixing desk. Tim would sub-mix the instruments into blocks according to instrument and feed them back up to Robert on the main desk, so the whole orchestra would be on just five faders (ten cellos on a single fader – yum-flipping-yum). The doors were opened and the audience poured in. The place was soon filled with murmur, chatter and laughter. I love the mood of a hall just before a gig. The buzz of expectation that heralds great events about to take place is stimulating, even if it's somebody else's gig. I sat at the mixing desk and waited for showtime. Clapton's entrance, as you would expect, was greeted with rapturous applause. Andy Fairweather-Low counted the band in and they got down to work. Clapton was dressed in millionaire casual – Armani suit worn over a plain T-shirt, classy shoes and a diamante guitar strap. He was very good but he lacked the blazing conviction of the Yardbirds/John Mayall days. He'd gone all mobile phone, and it seemed a little incongruous to see a man dressed in a ridiculously expensive suit, singing songs of misery and deprivation. Which prompts the question – do rich men have the blues? Well, I hope to find out one day. Some chance. After a twenty minute break, the orchestra, rather self-consciously, shuffled onstage, wearing evening dress. They sat down, plugged in, made a few tuning noises and chatted amongst themselves until Clapton emerged and introduced the ‘Clapton Concerto'. I suppose it wasn't bad for what it was, but it was just as pointless as McCartney's ‘Oratorio'. It lasted, I think, for about forty minutes and I was bored senseless after ten. “I know,” I thought, “I'll go and see Tim Boyle in the basement.” Robert gave me directions and off I went. I entered the bowels of the Albert Hall. Following the directions, I ended up in a large, low-ceilinged room, directly under the auditorium. The room was dimly-lit, the only light coming from the overhead lamp above the mixing desk, where Tim sat in solitary confinement in the centre of the room. Rows and rows of supporting pillars stretched off into the darkness, and along one wall were stacks of chairs piled high. I hadn’t seen Tim for quite a while, so we had some catching up to do. I took one of the chairs, plonked it down next to him and lit a cigarette. We had plenty of time for conversation because, halfway through the residency, the sound was all sorted out and Tim had little to do but make sure it was all working. We had a ‘how the hell have you been?' conversation and then the talk turned to matters technical. Facing him were two large monitor speakers, spewing out the ‘Clapton Concerto', and a patchboard like a telephone exchange with row after row of little red lights. Each light, he told me, was an individual instrument of the orchestra. As the ‘Clapton Concerto' mercifully neared its end, Tim pointed at the patchboard. "Watch this," he said. The piece ended with a long, sustained note, held by the whole orchestra, but before the note ended, the little red lights started to go out, at first sporadically, then substantially. The sound began to thin out. "What's happening?" I said. "They're all unplugging themselves," he said, laughing. "They do it every night. They're getting ready to be first in the race to get to the bar. If Clapton ever sees or hears them do it, he'll go apeshit." "Can't they even wait until the end of the note?" I said. "I'd sack the flipping lot of them." "Which Clapton may very well do," said Tim. After it was all over, I said goodbye to Tim and went back up to the arena. The house lights were up and the crowd had gone except for a few stragglers. The boys were turning everything off. "We'll be a while," said Robert, "so why don't you go backstage and we'll see you there after we've finished." Rather than wander around the labyrinthine Albert Hall corridors, I took a short cut across the stage. I'd been provided with an ‘Access All Areas' pass so I could do that. The route from stage to dressing room at the Albert Hall is centre-stage. You go down a flight of stairs into a central hall, off which run corridors leading to the dressing rooms and the backstage bars. This central hall was sardine-packed with members of the orchestra. I picked my way through them, heading for the bar. As I passed through them, I overheard snippets of conversation. Clapton, apparently, had asked them to wait behind, because wanted to talk to them. They seemed rather concerned. While I was still in the middle of them, they suddenly fell silent as Clapton, now in civvies, walked into the central hall. He didn't look too happy. The orchestra parted like the Red Sea and he walked into the middle of them. They formed a circle around him and I found myself in the front row. Before I could excuse myself and leave, Clapton began to speak. His voice was low and full of menace. "You're supposed to be professional musicians," he said, "but you're behaving like rank amateurs. In future, anybody unplugging their instruments before the end of the set will be sacked. On the spot. No appeal. No extenuating circumstances." By now, his eyes were blazing, and I was tempted to say, "Hear, hear, Eric. Sack the flipin' lot of them." Then he suddenly noticed me. Well, I was the only one not wearing evening dress. He looked me directly in the eyes. "Who the flip are you?" he said. "My name's Deke Leonard," I said, trying to fish my Access All Areas pass out of my jacket pocket. "I'm a guest of the sound crew. They told me to come backstage and wait for them. I just happened to be here when..." "Well, will you please leave," he said, "this is private business." "Of course," I said. I didn't like to push past him into the bar so I made my way back up to the stage. As I picked my way through the orchestra, Clapton, speaking in a measured voice, tore them to shreds. I went back to the mixing desk and told the boys about the bollocking the orchestra were getting. "About time, too," said Robert. "He should sack the flipin' lot of them," said Adrian. "Too good for ’em," said Keri. After the boys had switched everything off, we all went backstage. The central hall was now deserted. There was no sign of the orchestra. Maybe Clapton had killed them? I know I would have. And I'd have told me to bugger off, too. We spent a pleasant, if somewhat raucous, hour at the bar, then we all left. I got to the stage-door at the same time as Clapton. He was deep in conversation with his tour manager (I assumed it was his tour manager because he was wearing about six backstage passes around his neck and carrying a briefcase covered in stickers). Clapton caught my eye. I shrugged and made a that's-the-way-the-cookie-crumbles gesture. He smiled faintly and nodded, before making an into-each-life-a-little-rain-must-fall gesture back.He got into his limousine and I got a tube back to Highbury & Islington. Life in microcosm. Clapton didn't kill the orchestra and he didn't sack them, but, I was later told, they never unplugged their instruments before the end of the set again. Well, it was either that or suffer a savage and sudden drop in income. That focuses, wonderfully, the mind of the jobbing musician. I haven't seen Eric since. We don't keep in touch. But I miss our little chats.

I think it's about 1.5GB/hour or a bit more. I'll see if I can measure usage in a real conference tomorrow, and post here.

You can also look at Newtone strings in the UK i always order from them and they can make any string gauge you want. what the benefit from Newtone is you can choose what string core you want hex or round.