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You can only improve by practice, not by buying more and more gear. Pure nonsense.

This bass is definitely a keeper!

Playing bass in a band will get you girls.

Tonewood

Well, overnight I've actually had someone else make a better offer on the Warwick and wants to collect today and pay via BACS transfer... I'm a whole lot more comfortable with this arrangement. Much safer for me. I do feel a shade of guilt if I pull out from the other sale, but being paid via PayPal for a collection just doesn't sit right, as per confirmation from all of yourselves.

First one's true though. A fact often missed is that necks come from trees that have the strings already attached.

@Quatschmacher as a former FI user, I think I would be right in saying that a lot of us are massively grateful for the time and skill you've put into this pedal and in devising and sharing so many excellent patches for free. But also taking the time to be a goto resource for anyone who has sought your help. Bravo mate, you're a hero.

ooooh... I was doing it the wrong way around!

“It’s all in the fingers”

I always take stool samples from anyone buying anything from me... doesn't everyone??

“You only need to buy one set of strings in your life, as long as you regularly boil them”. I tried it once and it was like cooking angry spaghetti, boiling hot strings flying everywhere on the stove. Sounded like spaghetti, too...

It is a myth that anyone who refers to their bass as 'she' isn't a complete w4nk3r.

Funny you should say that... Start with a length of metal. Metal I understand, it doesn't do weird things like splitting or randomly bending. It's dimensionally stable, you mill it, drill it or cut it and it stays in the same shape as when you left it. No idea what it is, normal mild I'd guess. Those who were paying attention, or have done their research, which excludes me at the moment, will know that as this cross thing slides in the channels it doesn't need to be fully rounded on the end. That, plus laziness, brings this. Hopefully it'll be enough, TIM will tell. Hole at one end to hang it, hole in the middle to spin it. Voila, le croix de St. Pierre. Or St. Andrew, or a scissor mechanism. It's symmetrical in length both ways, which means I got the hole in the middle in the right place Temporary installation to show off. Closed. There may need to be a little relief for the bolt to go into the recess, but it'll never be fully closed simply because the ends don't line up when the vice is shut.

All dry, so this morning I got to add the neck and tail blocks: Although it will become much stiffer once the kerfed strips are put all the way round the edges top and bottom (these are the strips that the top and the back of the body will eventually glue onto), it's already holding its shape pretty well:

"plays like butter" … no, no it doesn't, it plays like someone playing a bass guitar.

Well that can’t be right because it would imply that.... Oh, wait...

Same here! I guess it just doesn't work for ugly bass players 😛

This, this, and a thousand times this. I can't think of anything more soul destroying for a beginner than having to fight a poor instrument, on top of the inherent difficulties of the learning process. And yes, sure, cheap does not mean bad, but when you look at those starter packages and in general guitars aimed at beginners, you're not usually getting something nice to play straight from the box and very few beginners understand about setups.

I've officially told the buyer that I'm removing myself from the deal, they seem to have taken it fairly graciously. I think it's for the best, I don't like leaving myself open to issues wherever possible so alls well that ends well!

Just a question really, why do you want a 15? I'm not one of those that thinks you can never mix speakers, but it's an unpredictable business. It's not just the ohms that need to match, the speakers need to have the same loudness or sensitivity. Otherwise one will just dominate the sound. Mixing cabs isn't a predictable thing either, you can't just add a 15 for 'more bass' as some 2x10's can have more bass than some 15's. Some don't of course but how will you know until you've tried them? The other thing is that you might expect mixing speakers will give you a blend of both, it rarely does. If you just want extra volume getting a matching 2x10 makes more sense. It'll also give you more headroom so you can boost your bass eq a bit more if that's what you want to achieve. Of course buying a 15 gives you three options both speakers separately and together. That'll give you three different set ups and sounds which is fun. the other thing is that 15's are unfashionable and therefore cheap on the used market. I couldn't give away my old Peavey 15 a couple of years ago and stripped it down for spares. Looking out for a Hydrive at the right price might be your best bet, you keep the all Hartke look and end up with what you want not a compromise.. The only way to get a good mixed cab system is to go out with your 2x10 and amp and to try them together, some will sound horrible, some combinations lovely and most a bit meh. Is this a good time to trail around shopping or visiting socially distancing strangers? It could be a good time to keep an eye on the used ads and maybe put up a wanted ad for that Hydrive.

Far from perfect but it sounds and feels good - a few quirks for the OCD lot out there, but we’ll let them past between friends

Jamulus is a reasonable way to continue to interact with fellow musicians and actually broaden the network. I've been using it to play with the jazz band that I had recently joined just before Covid-19. It's kept some of us going - learning new stuff, even. Last week, I had a jam on sax, blowing through some standards with a bunch of complete strangers and we all said we would do that again this week. A couple of us (kb and sax) started it off in a 'room' and when other people saw that there was something going on, they joined us so that we ended up with a full band. Delay and sound quality issues could put some people off. I found on occasions, playing busier riffs, that the sound coming back to my ears late made it almost impossible. The drummer in our jazz band doesn't listen to himself through the system, for this reason, though that is not advised. I've noticed that he tends to slow down through a number, because we're coming through late in his ears. Apparently the brain does eventually adjust as long as the delay isn't too high. My set-up operates at between 40 - 50ms which isn't great but it's not terrible. 20ms is good. If you lower the buffer size, you get a lower delay, but the sound quality goes, so it's a juggling act. Every week, there's a group who hold an online streamed 'WorldJam' which is often excellent and involves random musicians from all over. I joined last week briefly on sax and again this week. Because they had technical hitches this week, they were pushed for time and didn't talk to each of the jammers. That's why I was called by the wrong name and missed the start of my solo and also why I hadn't noticed I had my 'mute myself' box checked and therefore couldn't be heard anyway! What an idiot! Still, I noticed that the eminent professors in the iSage conference kept forgetting to turn on their mics, so I'm not alone. It's worth a try if you're missing playing with others. There is a preponderance of bassists, apparently. I wonder why that is.

I built a '57 using Warmoth parts and a Lollar pickup when it was still feasible to do so. The exchange rate means that you're into brand new US Fender money for the cost of neck and body alone

Lined fretless is cheating.

How it is at the moment next to how it should look when done.

A 4 string tuned BEAD will not sound the same as a 5 string, the extra wood makes a difference.

"Active output is so much louder..." Yes, yes... "These quality pots" ...with carbon tracks. "This (put here any single component) is the key to the (descriptive word) sound." "It does not have (put here any single component), so..." Any magical ingredient, that makes the part of the setup exceptional. Psychoacoustic events, that are considered as electric or mechanic superiority of the instrument. Wattage = loudness. Well, it is related, but similar like car's horsepower would equal speed. Not that simple. Most sound comparisons are not made in suitable surroundings.

Cut to the chase, you either need a 5 string or you don't. If you really do need a 5 string, find the one you like and get it.

Down to the nitty gritty here. Their problems are not your problems. Cash in the claw, or tell them to foxtrot oscar. That way you wont lose a bass

Enough of the silliness and thread hijacking... Even though I started it. This is where things had got to. The middle three have their cut out, dados and screw holes. Made up some cheeks to go along side the block of five long ones. Through holes were drilled as lengths were finished, using the first one as a template to reduce any dimension creep. Cut some dowels and then dropped everything trying to move it. Looks like a child's construction toy at the moment. Fortunately I'd marked up which bit went where. Woah, it's halfway there, wo-oh haven't got a prayer In a sort of self deprecating way I'd like to say how surprised and relieved I was that it all went together, but I'm not. In this instance I fully expected it to go together. It's oversized and not even at the moment. Going by how the legs ended up I decided to build the chop up and then plane it to flat and square. I may regret that later of course.

It's the same footprint as the house, something like 7.5m wide and 17m long. Our last house including garden in West Haddon would comfortably fit inside the building footprint. I have no idea. I'm assuming that as it's a cellar it won't matter if a bit of damp comes through the wall, unlike plaster they won't fall off, and they're easy to clean?

So with the neck still bolted on the first but to the back of the neck can be made using the body as a template Once this was done the neck was removed and the edges all rounded taking a bit off at a time. As soon as this is done I think the look is completely transformed A quick fit of the bridge and nut and (thankfully!!) everything lines up nicely A bit of carving and lots and lot of sanding are the net jobs!!

Next task was to drill the holes for the neck bolt and threaded inserts. I drilled and countersunk the holes for the inserts I always use an offcut of the neck wood to try the inserts in as sometimes they are a bit soft or crack so always good to get the hole diameter right and test it first because this can happen: Even doing this, one of the insert snapped in the neck and had to be removed. I really need to find some better quality inserts - they are absolutely fine when they are in but getting them there can be a pain!! Anyway, got them all fitted and the wires for the LEDs are still intact (they have just been protected by a piece of masking tape). But once it was done and fitted together it looks like this

Seems appropriate: There are 2 hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-1 errors.

Echo that, and I hope that nothing I have said here (other than in expressing thanks) could be construed as directed against you personally! 🙂

This is the salient point. The last band name decision we made was so obvious we found a couple of others using it. But they were nowhere near us geographically so we went with it. One of them actually contacted us via social media trying to find out how long we'd been using the name. We reassured them that a) we play totally different circuits and b) we're so good that if they get confused with us it won't do them any harm. They'll probably be able to raise their fee

You need to remove the strings before you turn the truss rod. I was told by the previous seller it’s all original and I have no reason to question it.

Don’t apologise, a question us never bad nor irrelevant. And you don’t need 35” scale either. I have had good B’s on 33” and bad on 35”.

Scene - a band rehearsal back in the day... Guitarist: (stops widdling for a brief moment) "Anyway, a 200watt amp will be twice as loud as a 100 watt amp, won't it." Bass player: "Err, no, I don't think it works like that" Guitarist: "Yeah, of course it will, you thick or summat ?" Bass player: "No, no, it's a logarithmic scale or something" Guitarist: "You bass players are so full of sh*t" (carries on widdling)

At the end of the day, PayPal only has to abide by their terms and conditions - all of the ideas for photos, receipts and signing are nicely thought through and would give a certain sense of piece of mind - but mean nothing to a faceless corporate entity that really doesn't give a monkeys about you. They just point at the T&Cs and say "sorry, you're out of luck". This is what you agree to when you're a seller using PayPal: "For tangible items, post the item to the shipping address on the “Transaction Details” page. If the item is delivered in person or if the payment recipient posts the item to a different address (for example, if the buyer asks that you send to another address on the basis that it is a “work address” or a “gift” address) then you will not be eligible for re-imbursement under the terms of the programme." (https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/ua/seller-protection) That's it - don't abide by that and you get nothing... And there's more detail there about what constitutes Proof of Postage, Proof of Delivery, etc.

I should have been more precise..., ...This is what I need. And I should have done a search for “BEAD” - apologies I think that would be my preference - that said, there are plenty of 34” fivers out there and many of them seem to have a perfectly usable B. All of the above suggests that it’s worth an experiment. I have a 5 set of strings so I’ll nick four of them and try it out on one of the basses I don’t use very often. Thanks all!

I wouldn't do it. Just find another buyer. I've trusted a seemingly honest buyer before and been screwed. Never again. For me it would be cash or no sale. The fact that you're asking here tells me that your instincts are telling you not to do this deal. Frank.

It’s personal preference of course, but I have found all Fender bass strings to be inferior quality when compared to D’addario strings. I’ve bought US, Japanese and Mexican Fenders new and always found the stock strings to be lacking. Perhaps I’m a snob but I’ll always change stock strings to my preferred strings as soon as I buy an instrument - whether second hand or new.

Every time I see a Topic entitled NAD, I always (and I mean always) think of

FNUK in the FCUK logo?