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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.

I could play a straight bat assuming it doesn't have any kinks in it I could go with: "Hardly Bent-One"

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'..? )

This.

Hi, maybe this demo can contribute to the subject...

@Maude I take exception - my fat is carefully sculpted to be hard, resonant and add harmonics - it rarely farts out

I like sending and receiving cardboard boxes

After studying acoustics and music years back, I think I might have a compromise in mind when people try to argue, sorry, talk about tonewoods. Every part vibrates, when they receive energy. Some parts vibrate more, some less, some have several vibrating modes. One thing is the material. It absorbs (dampens) certain amount of energy from the strings. Another is the construction. Chladni patterns, anyone? The shapes absorb something, and the placements of the parts have an effect on the absorption. Bridges can be in very different places of the body. That big paddle with tuners is one tuned construction part of the whole instrument. Thicknesses vary, too. Wood is so uneven, that if the shape is exact, two parts are still not the same. I discussed this with a luthier (ac. guit.) who has built around 1 000 guitars. He said that when he finds a very good example of wood and makes two guitars out of the same log, they sound different, no matter what. It would be lovely to do some research on (or read about one) where the bridge should be (take a look at the acoustic instruments), and how the headstock (Steinberger...), or body shapes tune the sound. Come on, structural analysis might reveal some interesting details from our dear instruments. What might the "tuned" instrument look like?

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

Well, today was surgery day. I have a big old hole in my bass now. The little nibble on the top right is leftover from the old bridges ground wire, not a router disaster So far I don't think I've destroyed/ ruined/ killed anything, but won't know for sure for a while yet.

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

I ditched a board full of pedals a few years ago, in favour of a Zoom B2 and I’ve never looked back. I upgraded to the B3 and I can’t see myself moving away from that in the near future. I have a pretty minimal board, consisting of the B3, my SmoothHound wireless receiver, a Behringer pre amp and a Pitchblack tuner. I use the Pitchblack as a kill switch as it responds a little quicker than the B3. I struggled to find a slightly overdriven/gritty sound that was suitable for the songs I needed to use it on, hence the pre amp, but everything else, the B3 covers brilliantly. I use mine in the same way as you- a bank of 3 pedals, but I switch between a few banks. The only unusual thing about my rig, is that I use a Zoom expression pedal to trigger the effects. All my effects are set so that they only work when the the pedal is rocked up. This means, I can cue up my effects silently and I’ve got a bigger target to aim at with my uncoordinated feet! I’ve done hundreds of gigs with my B3, from pubs to large festivals, and it’s never let me down. The sounds available are brilliant and more than enough for most bassists, I'm sure. Take the time to get to know it and always audition your sounds through your gigging amp, as the difference between that and listening through headphones or a practice amp is immense.

I have been so astonished by the quality of Harley Benton basses that I now regard £400 - £500 as a high priced instrument. Would never cross my mind to buy anything over that price. I'm a working musician and nobody but me would know the difference.

I appreciate he’s a busy man, yet I don’t think it would take that long to reply to my questions. Again, he was super quick to reply before I placed my order. Why has that changed after I’ve ordered?

Fwiw I'm afraid I'm going to disagree with the right honourable Mr. Krow here. I tried a 712 for a gig once (when we had really good pa support) and I found it farty and distorted to the point where I was worried about damage at gig volume and I had to run it too quietly instead. I've also previously spent a lot of time with both of those speakers in a rehearsal room. I know everyone has wildly different volume requirements but it really didn't work for me. That's a gig that one of my old Barefaced FR800s regularly breezed through whilst practically idling. Now, a 732 or above on the other hand would be a different beastie. Here's me having words with my 712. I have to say, it's a brilliant PA top, but it leaves a bit to be desired as a bass amp.

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!

Sadly for me, the programme was pretty lame. Rather obvious, unfunny and badly played IMHO, had to abandon it half way through. 😧

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

Superb! I got into Amon Düül II in Munich in '71, and picked up on Gong through that crowd. Hillage hadn't joined yet (still BL of Khan), but he fit right in when he did. I've spent a LOT of money on Hillage's work, through 777/System 7.

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!