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I can only speak for my own experience from letting my beard grow out a while back. It took eighteen months to get to what you see on my avatar. Although I enjoyed ownership of it at that length, it was a responsibility which I felt would wear on me over time. It isn't so long now. You don't really want it much longer than that anyway else it gets caught up in stuff. More importantly, people don't realise what a fire hazard a long beard can be. As I am otherwise quite bald, what I learned from the experience was: I rediscovered the joy of being able to run my fingers through my own hair. I rediscovered the thrill of feeling the wind in my hair. Little children thought I was awesome Older people thought I was a dirty old tramp Oh, and when I trimmed it back to stubble I had the extraordinary feeling of wet skin where there had previously been hair. It wasn't actually wet but I still had to check in the mirror a couple of times at first. That took a day or two to get used to. Mr Sklar is therefore both my bass hero and my beard hero.

Not really a build but definitely my most adventurous mod to date. Just got the wiring to do now. Better not drink too much tonight!

Well, it's taken all afternoon and evening but.... ...using the Dremel with precision bass, I started by 'dotting' around the outline: Then joined up the dots, then roughed out the middle and then finally started the final tidy up and fit for each: ...and a few hours later, they are all in and ready to glue But that will be tomorrow

A few tracks where I’ve particularly loved the bass sound have been, in no particular order: Eton Rifles by The Jam - Bruce Foxton using a Fender Precision, think he used Marshall amps at the time Hanging Around by The Stranglers - JJ Burnel using a Fender Precision, think it was Hiwatt amps Down on The Farm by Guns N Roses - Duff McKagan using a Fender Jazz Bass Special into Gallien Krueger amps American Man by Velvet Revolver - Duff with same bass/amps as above

Given that I generally use 25" or 25.5" scales on electrics, it wasn't worth getting a template for the 24.75" of this one. And so I would still be using the G&W mitre box but hand marking the positions. For this, I used the Stemac fret calculator and double-side-taped a decent quality steel rule along the centre-line, with the rule end flush with the nut-end: To mark the positions, standing vertically above each position to avoid parallax errors, I used a sharp ended centre-punch (pictured above) to mark the position with a small indentation. After double checking the position, I then added more pressure to the punch to make a larger indentation (for reason explained below). Having marked them all, and before lifting the ruler off, I added a reverse double-check by reading the position of each dot against the rule and checking the answer with the Stewmac measurement. The ticks above means that my reading of the positions matched within a minimum of 0.05mm to the calculator. There were a couple where is was a bit more that that. For those, I just put the punch in the dip and added a teeny sideways pressure until the required measurement was exactly in the centre of the adjusted dot. Then, with clamps at either side and the board held against the side with tight packers, I positioned each blade-thickness-sized dot until it was invisible at both sides of the blade and I thus knew that the blade was right in the centre of the dot. I clamped both sides simultaneously to ensure that the dot remained directly under the blade and then cut the slot. So here we have the board fully slotted. Next job is to position each of the MoP crowns, seen here laid on top, score round them and rout the chambers: This may take some time!

Man some people really can’t stand slap bass can they!

I transformed an Ibanez Blazer that had a split in it's body into a different beast last year, always fancied a Stingray type bass. With a Seymour Duncan MM pup and John East pre it certainly does not sound like a Blazer any more..😎 Build diary is here .. https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/337115-the-blazerray-now-finished/ Couple of pics of the finished bass I named The BlazerRay..

Eminently fixable... I repaired the uv lamp the mosfets and the caps in this series 5 in Qatar in early 2016. All the parts were available from the local electronics shop ( maybe I’m spoiled here as they look more like RS than Maplin) I’m a broadcast engineer so this is like bread and butter repairs to me but never let it be said they are difficult to service. (Don’t get me started on modern multi million pound broadcast equipment some of that stuff is seriously no user parts replaceable haha)

I've always loved the look of the Drophead 200....

Here's #3...

I just noticed when looking to but a set of DR Hi-Beams to try - got a set for 26 quid! There's a lot of discounts on there currently, so some very good prices: https://sussexsoundhouse.co.uk/

I was idly doing my daily trawl of the web for a Rob Allen, when there on page 5 of Google one popped up. It was up in the wild and woolly badlands of Lancashire but serendipitously I was going near there anyway the following week. I got to the shop and found it to be an immaculate example, although unfortunately without the original Rob Allen case, it had a Hiscox one instead. They had priced it rather optimistically, then discounted it but not enough for my liking, so we had a conversation about the price and eventually came to one that we could both live with - I emerged smiling from the emporium with something of a spring in my step (not something that happens very often these days). This was all just a few days prior to the CV19 lockdown. I've since had ample opportunity to put it through it's paces. I must first say the fit and finish of everything is faultless, one thing I noticed is the tone control appears to make almost no difference. Not sure if that's normal or if it's faulty, but the effect of min to max is almost imperceptible to my ears. The other thing I've noticed is when silent practicing through headphones (I just use a Focusrite 6i6 mixer to add a backing from iReal Pro/youtube/Sightreading Factory etc) there is so much going on in the harmonics & mwah department, I almost find it difficult to identify the fundamental. It is of course different when run through an amp & cab (Tonehammer 500 or ABM500 + Barefaced Big Twin), I'm wondering if the headphone set-up is a bit too "Hi-fi", the headphones are Sennheiser HD600's. I have found the best way to mitigate this problem is with a Nordymute. Changing the strings to Rotosound RS88's did make a big difference, but I think that's going away from what the bass should sound like, and the important thing is not what it sounds like while I'm practicing. Haven't had the chance to try it on a gig yet. So no doubt you are wondering why am I selling the 5 string when I have just bought a 4 string? Well, just prior to this all happening, I located a Rick Turner Renaissance 5 string, and agreed to buy it, but was not able to pick it up before the lockdown, so there will be another NBD just as soon as I'm allowed to make the totally unnecessary journey to collect it. Meanwhile I have enough to be getting on with. Not sure if I'll sell my fretless Starbass 4, I may just keep it as a spare as it's like an old friend, or a comfy old pair of slippers. Here are some more photos - not one of my strongpoints but hopefully better than the others I posted.

Information security professional here. The "I've had access to your system, files and contacts" email is a well known scam. Ignore and delete. You cannot trigger any form of hack by simply opening an email. You can, however, trigger a hack by opening an unsolicited attachment or by clicking on a link within an email - one could run malware immediately, the other could take you to a "drive by" site that has a dropper embedded that can push malware to you. Opening an email does not notify the sender. If they have added a receipt notification request, your email client will ask you if you want to acknowledge it. Always. If that happens, just click 'No'. Back your data up regularly and keep your backups offline. Always keep your computer and anti-malware up-to-date and remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

The first time I heard Rage Against the Machine's debut album I was blown away by how good the bass sounded. So agressive, in your face and punchy. "Take The Power Back" is an amazing example of that... And then the distortion tones, oh god. "Know Your Enemy" that last part is insane and obviously also "Killing In The Name" when everything kicks in. Tool is another band that really blew me away with the bass tone. "The Pot" in particular - think it was the first song I heard by them - is incredible. That verse tone still leaves a smile on my face everytime. The bass tone on "Suck My Kiss" by RHCP also is incredible - it's so punchy!

I've got my order in for the 550 :)

😬

If you've been umming and aahing about getting the sequel, The Ballad Of Fat Labrador is available for free on an Easter Lockdown special until Thursday You've got nothing better to do, why not have a read? mybook.to/fatlabrador

I sometimes wonder if I've been playing bass with no inspiration at all for 40-odd years...

Just had this delivered.

Flea's tone on the BSSM album was incredible! i believe he was using his Wal bass and his GK Amps at the time - this album was the reason my first proper bass rig was a GK head & cab. Marcus Miller's slap tone on Renaissance is what I'm striving to get close to. I've spent quite a lot of time with my Helix trying to get the right levels of compression and EQ to get near it. And finally the drummer I play with loves some prog metal, in fact we are due to go see Steven Wilson in September but who knows if that will happen given the current situation, but Nick Beggs kind of nails that genre's bass tone for me. Again I've been working with the Helix to get close..

Black Velvet. I know.

rough plan...

Doug Pinnicks tone isn't for everyone and probably wouldn't work in the majority of bands, but boy it works in his band.

Put flats on, it’s 👌

Well I did it. I resisted temptation. I haven't been earning but neither have I been spending so I had a month of petrol money left with the spiders and bird droppings in my current account. Saved myself by spending it.

This is clearly one of those jobs where having the right tools is going to help a lot. Though that does not in any way detract from the skill required to use them properly!

This for certain. Previous rig: 2013 Wal bass (custom 4 string) - Fractal Audio AxeFxII - Behringer FCB1010 MIDI pedal - Crown xti Current Low budget rig: Ibanez Mikro bass (short scale 4 string) - ZOOM B3 (retired in 2016) or ZOOM B3 (grab-n-go/rehearsal) or ZOOM G5n (most gigs) My choice of stage speakers hasn't change (won't compromise there) but instead of powering them with a Crown xti4002 power amp, I picked up a GK 1001RBII second-hand on a sweet deal (less than half the cost of the Crown amp new). When available, I'll just DI into the provided PA system w/stage monitoring sans stage rig. For those gigs, my entire setup fits in a gig duffel bag + 2 basses. The bulkiest bag item is the ZOOM G5n. [Many of my gigs are with majority full-time pro musicians who don't tolerate anything that makes them look or sound bad, though I hung up my full-time status in favor of a regular day job (w/full benefits package). I've heard not a peep from them about a downgrade of tone or sound. Ditto for audience comments.] Regarding the Quad Cortex, the combination of size, features, user interface, and price - though not inexpensive - is dead on the money for my needs. That QC is backed by Doug Castro from Darkglass is icing on the cake for bassists. I'm a Fractal Audio fan, but as a bassist, their optional products (FX8/AX8/FM3,pedals) are excellent, but all sort of miss the mark for what I prefer in a footprint, price, and UI workflow. I'm not going in on the QC at ground floor, though. As thing progress next year and with positive feedback, I'll be doing a gear sell-off to majority fund a Quad Cortex. Likely I'll keep only the G5n.

Well, I’m going to quit before I ruin this today. I’ve got the components mounted on the control plate and have soldered a few connections. Unfortunately my soldering iron tip has seen better days as has my eye sight for detailed work. I think I need to sort out my soldering equipment and get a magnifier before I carry on with this!

Mark Gooday posted on Facebook about it. Seems like he’s using the lockdown time to build these himself from the various boards and bits they’ve got lurking. They’ll be on the website “soon” he says. Keeping my eyes peeled 🤓😳

Hi all, here a short video... sorry for the bad sound & poor bass player... FullSizeRender.mov

You're in the wrong forum, my friend. Basschat is the reason I had to move into a bigger house!

I gave in to GAS when my Eden Metro conked out during our last gig: Friday 13th: amp dies. Saturday and Sunday: sulk and think about getting it fixed. Monday and Tuesday: browse Eden gear online. Not much more than small combos to be had. Wednesday: go in to local Marshall dealer and ask about Eden availibility. All they have on 'the system' are small combos, so they'll have to ask their purchasing department. Sunday: phone call from dealer with price. I fork out for a new WTP600. Monday: lockdown announced, all gigs cancelled. Impeccable timing as ever 😩

16th Robbie Shakespeare transcription, which makes him the 3rd most transcribed bass player on my website after Carol Kaye (18) and George Porter Jr. (20 -> 30 in Donators pack) Grace Jones - Private life | Bass Transcription | Robbie Shakespeare

This could be great for my daughter when she gets her bass. So I’ve ordered One. Of course I’ll put it through it’s paces first...

Saw SRV at Reading on his first tour of the UK, saw Noel at De Barra's Folk Club (on guitar). I went for a pee and the great man came in and wazzed in the same trough!

My step son is learning the guitar, so I thought I’d do something complimentary so I could help him. He’s getting good and I’m not learning so quick, but 6 months in and really hooked. I can’t wait for the family to go to bed, so I can noodle around. I’m also realising why I like some of the music that I’ve listened to for years is around funky bass lines.

Well, it turned out OK...from a distance, the body carving didn't really seem that visible from a distance, but even so, it seemed so unnecessary.

Something cool to get a Sunday morning started...

Yes, I was a bit puzzled by that. What is a "saw rasp", why is it "such a great tool", and why don't Homebase stock them?

I SO wish that we had had Transcribe software when I was learning to play the bass! These Jeff Berlin parts were so important to me when I was learning but all I could ever do was try to approximate and I couldn't get hold of any of the details. Now I can slow things down to 25% without changing the key, I can hear everything! This is Jeff Berlin's bass part to 'Gothic 17' from the 'Gradually Going Tornado' LP. As I recall, the title is from the name of the synth patch Dave Stewart is using. Hope some of my fellow travellers can find some of the secrets that had previously eluded them as they had me. Gothic 17 Jeff Berlin Bass.pdf

Seen on another site.

My 16 year old friends were starting a band. I had no real desire to be a bass player, I wanted to be the drummer but that position was taken. The position of bass player was also taken, until the guy who had decided he was to be the bass player, changed his mind and sold me his bass so he could buy a guitar. 40 years and at least 1,000 gigs later, I'm still booming away.

But you don't know you don't need it until you've bought it, used it for a couple of days, raved about your purchase, tucked it safely in the back of a cupboard, forgotten about it, found it again at a later date and wondered why you bought it in the first place. Then you know you don't need it. 😁

Right, you've had this thing for well over 24 hours now. Isn't it 'bout time you started you're next thread of "Help me choose my first 5 string"? 😁

OK - decided. And the first job on the list is radius to 12". After driving myself to the brink of madness in the past trying to radius an ebony fretboard with a radius block alone, I then made my own routing jig and then saw sense and bought a proper one from G&W: It always takes a bit of time getting it all set up, but the rout job itself took less than 20mins to this level: Ready for the final 10mins sanding off of the tooling marks with the almost-redundant radius block. I have a terrible memory, but I always remember to keep the sanding dust!! : Now, I'm one of those people where, if I drop a piece of toast it always lands butter-side down. Except when I try to demonstrate that certainty to anyone, when it lands, of course, butter-side up. So imagine my disbelief when this natural aberration that was lurking under the surface: ...turned out to be 3mm BEHIND where I will be cutting at the end of the fretboard Well, if that was karma, I clearly must have done at least one unbelievably good thing in the recent past!

Just saw someone over at TB mentioning that PJ has his website up showcasing his personal collection of Spector basses and memorabilia. It shows some amazing looking basses from all Spector eras - Brooklyn, Kramer, SSD and Woodstock. Please check it out here: http://vintagespector.com/index.html Really love his bass collection. I hope he will keep on uploading more beauties. Would also be great to see a coffee table book in the future like Geddy Lee's. I was also pleased to see his Forte #169, the sibling of my #168. http://vintagespector.com/woodstock-era-1997-2018.html

Thanks, folks! And so to the carve. First is to mark it out. This was scaled up from a fairly flat-on photo: Now the top is glued to the back, there is little to no chance of, say, a whole knot becoming dislodged. However, the brittleness and variability of the wood was going to take some patient, steady work. The thing I always think kills a DIY SG-style is when the faces are rounded and the chamfer edges aren't crisp. There are a number of ways of maintaining that but, for what it's worth, these are my main tools for the job: Spokeshave with a very sharp blade and set for quite a light cut for the rough-cut external curves, curved medium micro-plane for the rough-cut internal curves, flat and freshly re-burred cabinet scraper to smooth and flatten off the faces. For carves like this, I have in the past used just a scraper, but with this timber, even a teeny scraper burr has a tendency to dig in. For the horn cutaway, pretty much just the micro-plane, but being careful to cut down for the upper edges and up from the lower edges to ensure no chipping along the all-important edges: Grateful for a sunny dry day for this - too many poisonous particles flying around to do in the cramped cellar. Mind you, haven't heard the neighbours moving around for a while... And the first rough carve is done. Here it is lightly dampened to show more closely how the finished figuring is starting to develop: And while I was doing this, a parcel arrived from David Dyke. Sounds like we might have an ebony fretboard blank As always, thanks for looking and for the encouraging comments and suggestions. Always much appreciated - especially for a build 'from the dark side'