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Hello, I feel ashamed about my first dialogue with Adrian when I received the Bass. But my order were 6 january (Nordstrand pickups take long time to get it). And when he sent me the picture of the bass finished, I asked him two times about why It was shining in the picture and the weight, and he didn't answer me. When the bass arrives and saw it shining with no answer I fell into shock. Next thing, I appreciate the fissure etc and coldn't wait to receive answers. I've just write him this email (add). I'm not arguing with him, only looking for a peaceful solution. Thank you.

Pot taper is the same on mine. Personally, I don't consider it to be an issue. Main issue here (IMO) is poor comms from Adrian, but I can't help thinking topping and tailing your email with: 'Hello Adrian. Thanks for sending the bass. I have a few questions... ...thank you.' ....might have started things off on a better foot.

I just bought myself one of the Fender Vintera Mustang basses to add to my selection. It's the first short scale instrument I've owned, and it's fun to use. I find myself playing more "busily" than I would on a standard scale length bass. When I got the bass, the Pau Ferro fingerboard looked pretty dry and anaemic. So, Ioosened off the strings and set about dressing the fingerboard. I scraped the board with a single edged razor blade to smooth off any raised grain in the wood, then buffed the board with super fine steel wool. The next stage was to apply lemon oil. This was left on the wood overnight to really soak in to the pores. In the morning I wiped off any excess left over. The end result is a board which now looks dark and lustrous, and feels super smooth to the touch. I've also received a set of medium scale La Bella flatwound strings to use (I got medium scale as short scale strings would only be usable on top loading short scale basses. The Vintera has the traditional "through body" stringing, so needs a slightly longer string length to accommodate this). I've also got a Nordstrand NM4 to use if I want (I mat also fit a couple of solid shaft CTS pots too, and a switch craft jack - just because I have a few unused ones in my "bass bits" stash at home. Oh, and the Hipshot lollipop tuners that come with the Bass are very cool!! Fingerboard - before, and after.

We must always remember. Whatever we buy, however hard we work, 99% of audience members and other musicians will not notice. I've told this sorry tale before but i'll tell it once more. Played a gig, which was going down a storm, My Eden 8x10 combo (God I loved that rig) failed with a few songs to go. When i say it failed, it began responding to the bass with horrendous farting distortion - not anything even close to resembling 'tone' . I had no back up so I looked despairingly around at my bandmates who just blithely carried on. Rather than do nothing I played on with this horrrible noise where notes should be. At least it was in time. No one. Not a bandmate, not one person in the crowd, not even my mate who was there to watch me, no one noticed. I learned a valuable lesson that day. Whatever we do is for our amusement only. So buy basses you like, amps and cabs which please you. Nobody cares.

Ghastly sticker jobs? I'm in 😁

While I'm glad and grateful that the government is offering £1.57bn, I'm going to hold off jumping for joy until I see how the funding is being dispersed. The £1.57bn is described as being a rescue package for "the arts" and the prime minister and Oliver Dowden and Rishi Sunak are quoted as saying that figure is to cover museums, cinemas, galleries and theatres as well as the opera and classical venues which already receive heavy corporate sponsorship in many cases. It's not necessarily a "bailout" for the music industry. 90% of independent festivals and venues are facing going under in 2021, and I've yet to see any mention that this is going to be addressed. The UK music industry is a huge ecosystem that goes way beyond just the musicians on stage. Obviously we all know that many concerts, gigs, shows or recitals (if you're refined!) require a team of often unseen staff and workers doing their best to make it happen. So yeah, there's the band onstage, but there's plenty of other heroes and heroines doing their bit too, many of whom will be freelancers. Like road crew and drivers. Techs and backline people. Sound crew. Light crew. Maybe a DJ or two. Bar staff and cleaners. Door and cloakroom staff. Promoters and venue staff. Or if it's a big show or a festival there'll be caterers. Portaloos and the people who install and manage them. Artists liaisons and site management, etc, etc. There's often an army of people of people behind every show working their horses off to make it happen. It's not just the folks onstage, it's the entire industry that supports and enables the show to happen. It's an emotive issue for me as I rely solely on live and studio earnings to pay my bills. And it irks me that we've had to go cap in hand to a government that clearly didn't want to get involved, just to get a bone thrown to us. Well, maybe to us, maybe not to us, it waits to be seen how the bailout package funds will be allocated. Naturally I'm apprehensive about how much of the £1.57bn will actually "bailout" the music industry. France gave €7bn to save their music and culture industries back in May without having to be lobbied for it so £1.57bn isn't exactly 'world beating' really. Sorry. I've gone on a rant! 😂 I rarely rant on about anything and I don't want anyone to think I'm having a political dig at anyone. This, to me, is a cultural issue, not left or right or centre, and it affects so many of us. "Cause even if you're not gigging, you might still want to go to see live music, or buy records, CDs or tour merch. Or you might have friends and family who are freelancing as roadies or techs and their careers could be on the line. Instrument manufacturers and repair techs are at risk right now 'cause if musicians go to the wall then everyone who depends on them go too. 'Cautiously optimistic' is how I'd describe how I feel about it, but I'm not holding my breath. (Only cos I need both hands to type and my fingers are crossed) Right. Rant over. Enjoy your day BC folks and let's stay hopeful about our musical futures. ✊

As an old git/OAP, I'm often astonished by the quality of "budget" instruments, when I compare them with what was around when I was starting out in the 1960s/70s. Modern CNC machinery means consistently accurate manufacture and it's rare to come across a real dog nowadays. The main question when buying is "Do I like it?", rather than "Is it good enough?" A decent set-up is usually all you need.

Just took delivery of this today, the neck is sublime. nice flat D profile and so smooth to play , I have owned a few Fender Basses in the past this one just feels so good. looking forward to recording with it shortly.

In my furloughed boredom I'm actually quite tempted to screw a set of tuners, a bridge and a P bass pickup and electrics to the 6"x6" uprights on my carport, record the open EADG and then record the open EADG of my P bass and see if there is a significant difference.

Very much this. There is no denying that the selection of woods and construction of acoustic instruments has a massive effect on the way they sound. When the projection of the sound is produced by a carefully selected single piece of wood, braced as little as possible to withstand the tension in the strings and attached to the rest of the instrument (whose size and shape also have a significant bearing on the tone) with minimal contact points - again just enough for the body to withstand normal playing use and little more. Compare that with the typical solid electric instrument body. Great thick chunks of timber slavered in glue and cut and joined in a way to maximise the number of bodies obtainable from a single board. The shapes while harking back to acoustic designs are often more to do with what is now visually acceptable based on the original solid instrument designs, and have no bearing on what may or may not sound best.

But how far do you take the resonance angle though when pickup type and placement and strings will have far bigger impact on the sound of a bass. You could have the most resonant bass in the world, and then fit flatwounds, roll off the tone and play over the neck which will alter the sound far more than any wood can. Alternatively have what some would regard as a dead, non resonant bass but fit stainless rounds, crank the treble and play with a pick and it will be bright and more resonant than the previous example. Everything makes a difference, but some so small it's not worth worrying about. Comparing to acoustic instruments is, in my opinion, pointless as an acoustic relies on it's body to create all of it's amplification, of course it makes a far bigger difference to an electric instrument which relies on, well electrics for it's amplification. To take it to the extreme, fat bass players will dampen the sound more than skinny players due to the large area of soft bodyfat in contact with the instrument absorbing frequencies compared to a smaller area of denser abdominal muscle and hip bone which will absorb far less of the basses frequencies. If body wood type has a large enough impact on resonance to be of concern then so should the build of the player the bass is strapped to. So all you fatties can stop worrying about tonewoods and either get on with playing bass, or get in shape to improve the resonance of your bass. 😁

You f ecking heathen. 🤮

My Glockenklang Blue Rock maintained its sound without change in tone, welly, thump etc, all the way up. I would not rule out all class D using a generalisation.

It does at that. Had a look on the Kiesel FB and thought most of instruments had horrible finishes e.g. the natural wood look, the Buckeye Burl, the Leia and the DC127 in Hot Pink Crackle . The Buckeye Burl looks like it's been rescued from a garden bonfire. There's one guitar that looks like a crime scene from Dexter

I hadn't paid, over the years, more than about £600 secondhand for a bass, until recently. What I found, when I did splash the cash, is that although an expensive bass (ie in the area £2000) is nice to have, you don't get that much more for your money. I know many bassist who play cheapish basses, who get a great sound out of them. Edit: I'd recommend investing money on amps and cabs, before spending on expensive basses. A cheap bass through good gear, will sound better than an expensive bass through bad/cheap gear.

Eastwood Hooky Bass 6 PRO will be shipping within the next 3 weeks...

Pretty much anything with a Yamaha badge on it. Bass, guitar, brass, drums, keys, tech. The price range is almost irrelevant, you always seem to get quality beyond the price you pay.

Yeah, but isnt that dance track, "Move, Move, Move. Move, Move Your Body" just about the same thing?

Leland Sklar is who I've been watching. He's played on more tracks than anyone else and whilst not every episode has him playing, he knows virtually everyone and has an anecdote from almost every session he has done.

Hi Here's a little 16 bar groove that has its origin in collaboration amongst greek bass players who were called to create something on top of a given 16-measure drum beat played by Dimitris Antoniadis.

Not at all, I was simply defining the acronym for anyone unfamiliar with the term. (I'm a drummer; what do I care about Class D or 'heft'..? )

The Uptown Top Ranking (totally love that song BTW) reminds me of the kebab shop I saw in the Spanish town of Altea. Well it amused me enough to take a pic anyway!

Tbf being a dad to a young family + new demanding job = major new responsibilities + tiredness. Spread over a long period, it can be v. draining and lead to a loss of motivation on lots of fronts. Then add to that the stress and uncertainty of Covid-19. It's not necessarily anything more. No instant cure. It's a phase of life many of us will go through or have been through and are now out the other end, celebrating our mid life crisis with our basses and bands!

I'd wager his partner is picking up the slack.

For some people it just comes naturally and they don't stress about it. Others like me i struggled with 2 bands so dropped it to one but both were start up bands so learning 2 different sets at same time was too much for me and took away the enjoyment. I did go back to 2 bands again after the first full set was sorted with my main band but it fell away when Covid started and don't see it going ahead. Not too fussed tho. I know for a fact if i had a young family i'd be more focused on them and bass playing might fade away for me. Its just a hobby. Kids are for life so enjoy them.............while they still want to hang around you. Once teens you'll be too old for them Dave

Teed Up in Germany last year. An original toon.

Must admit that when i read the OP i took from it that other commitments like young family and new job / work commitments meant he was struggling to find the time to play bass and it made him sad that he wasn't able to do what he used to and from his own description of bass being his identity. Other things were pulling him away from who he thought he was and he was sad for that. Maybe i've misread it ? Sometimes other commitments become more important in life. That's just facts of life. We can go along with it but if it makes us sad maybe we should step back and look at what's more important in our own life. I guess that's what i did after a long break from playing. I'm not sure its anything deeper than that. Sometimes we just need to put our hobbies to one side to be successful in life. By being successful i mean being a good father and husband for his family and being committed to your career. Dave

If this is for 'the arts' - the usual suspects will get the lions share. This, as impressive as it sounds, won't even scratch the surface. 😎

It's not a volume thing with class D - they can be plenty loud enough. For me its about maintaining the quality of the sound as you push them. I find they get thinner sounding and more 'shouty' as they get louder - still plenty of volume but not in a good way. Some other types of amp seem to keep the thump and welly more intact as you get louder and that's what i prefer - it can actually be quieter but still have the thump that you can feel. I read somewhere a while ago - on the interweb so it must be true - that class D can only maintain the initial burst of power for a relatively small amount of time whereas older technology could physically 'hang on to it' a touch longer and this was what made it sound a bit fuller at volume i suppose. It's more that you can still feel it rather than just being loud. I don't remember the science behind it but it sort of made sense to me. But anyway, the class D thing has been covered loads elsewhere and everyone has a view on it.

The important bit for a fan is it's CFM rating (Cubic Feet a Minute). That's how much air the fan pushes over the board. I'd guess the £2-3 ones are 12v not mains. Personally I'd look to pay for a good one not a basement bargain cheepie ...

I've done this. BC is a relatively safe environment and a lot of us are interested in gear, so many sales are on spec to the curious. I evaluate stuff and if it's better than my current gear I keep it. If it isn't I'll sell it. It has nothing to do with the quality of the particular piece, just a way of checking stuff out.

My back. I've moved on several basses very rapidly because they were too heavy.

Hit the reclaimation yards for some Victorian pine. It will be well seasoned by now 😉. I really fancy making a new bass that is over a century old!

at last some positive news for our music venues. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53302415

It's a great amp. Newer doesn't mean better or any more able. Doesn't matter what it is. If you like it, that's good enough. Some of the greatest heads are over 50 years old! And so are the bass players 😏😂😂

Calling @KiOgon John is your man. He'll make a loom up to your exact requirements.

The only sticker I've ever put on a Bass.

Or go tort?

I think my Special is around my 10th Stingray I’ve ever owned to date. It is by far the best and sits great in the mix. Love it!