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No one cares about how you look after the finish, let's see some pictures man. 😁 Ha ha! That's a really good point..

Been playing drums for a few years and spent a lot on good cymbals which Covid has messed with big time so sold them and bought a sweet Classic Vibe Squire P bass for home noodling. How do they do it for the money...incredible workmanship and sounds, well, like a P bass. There's no doubt about it the balance of power is moving away from Fender, this thing is crazy good easily as good if not better than any Fender I've owned over the years and I've had a few. Surprised Fender allows it really.

I shall take a look at both, thanks for the tip! The marquetery beam is now planed down ready for the truss rod slot to be built on it, so a few gratuitous beauty shots are in order of the flattened side before it gets covered up: the next step i loosely tape the carbon rods around the double action truss rod, so that it will fit snugly, and get the positioning right on the neck: The carbon rods will run the whole length of the neck, over the body transition and up into the headstock a short way. this way theres no weak points along the neck where stress could build. The rods are then epoxied in place, with a 6mm wide strip of cabon between them. they're slightly narrower than tyhe beam, as i changed the design slightly to use the new woods, but i will re- veneer both sides so that its all perfectly flush before building up the rest of the neck blank. these things are stiff... like really stiff. as you can see the rods have 8mm holes down the middle, and i bought additional 8mm rods to go inside if i felt it wasnt rigid enough, but i now think thats not going to be a problem very pleased The first 8 coild for the pickups are done now, so i started building one up! Each pair is wired together in series (the little red wire) and then wired onto the PCB. ive removed all the standoffs and screws to give myself some more space. Then the next pair... and before you know it: all 8 coils, nicely wired together. i tested the switch and the DCR values are all as expected Next i start glueing the bobbin mounts in place. these are what will determine the height of each vertical pair, controlled by turning the black hex screw. this is done with a very small amount of CA glue, so little that i can easily take them apart with a sharp scalpel if needed. the magnets sit perfectly flush with the top of the bobbin mounts, giving nice consistent heights across all the coils. and heres one all together! nice and neat, and it looks like itll fit perfectly into the cover. ill save that treat for my next upload though here you can see how it all works. the vertical pairs are mounted over a brass standoff, and pushed up by a spring and some foam mounted beneath the coils. as the screw is tightened, each assembly can move up and down independently. the 4 holes in the pickup cover leave these screws exposed, so you just bolt the pickup in place and move the coils within the pickups to set the volume

Yes! During Lockdown #1 I worked exclusively on the E string. During Lockdown #2 I worked exclusively on the A string. During Lockdown #3 I worked exclusively on the D string. In the impending Lockdown #4 I shall work exclusively on the G string. In the Fifth Lockdown, I shall put everything that I have learned together to achieve total mastery of the bass guitar instrument. If there are any further lockdowns, I shall probably achieve world domination. It's easy if you have a plan.

....so a hell of a lot more sanding later, I tried some black stain (Crimson's water based Stunning Stains) as a reveal coat Quite an interesting purply hue to it, but that then all came off again... The yellower patches are where the panel wipe hadn't dried off yet. Either that it was my nose dripping in the cold ....and then a fresh coat of stain ...so that's where I am now. Am leaving that to dry/cure fully, then will be attempting a gentle sanding back to give a burst finish, then overlay some blue stain.

To be honest, if I had spent as much time actually practicing the bass as I have buying, selling and being on here, I would be almost as good as Pino! That`s Pino Jaconelli the local ice cream man.

My latest video on how different techniques can help to compose authentic sounding Reggae bass lines might be of interest to some of the bassists on this thread. I have put a couple of backing tracks at the end of the video to jam to. I hope this help some beginner Reggae bass players.

The point is, most bass players work within a narrow band of tone. Does the 80/20 rule fit here? It probably does, so 80% of the bass players (pro and semi-pro) are using 20% of the available tone. The differences in tone between these players is small but most are differentiated by what they play, not how they sound. Players like Chris Squire and JJ Burnell are in the 20%. They are way outside of the mainstream of bass players tones. Maybe that is what makes them stand out, but interestingly, their sound is not as widely copied as their popularity would suggest. There are bass players all over the world who got the gig because they were a mate, but I know of no bass players who get gigs just because they sound good. Good players get gigs, no matter how they sound, because of what and how they play.

I've been playing (modestly...) drums, guitar, bass, keys... for the last half a century (well, a bit more, actually...). I've always done so because I like it, and it interests me. I've played in bands, either pro, semi-pro, amateur or just mates, on and off over all that time. Now retired, I still play, and always will. 'Playing out' is fine, but, for me, it's not my sole reason for playing. Essentially, it's just because that's what I do. It matters little whether anyone hears it or not. Does a tree falling in a remote forest make a sound..?

This cab would not look out of place in one of those old vintage Trace Elliot brochures, where the product description would be along the lines of 'best used in pairs for a full range stereo gig. Richard Savage used 8 of these on the most recent Def Leppard tour. Slap players may benefit from using the optional 12x6 Mega Bright Box in order to bring out some extra highs.'

C'mon guys give them a break. It's a publicity thing. I see they are offering custom builds and designs too, maybe this started off as one of those. If Barefaced suddenly and unexpectedly offered an 8x15 we'd all be hooked into it. I'd absolutely love to play in front of that Grateful Dead PA even though I know it's 'all wrong' and would be completely blown out of the water by a modern line array. Anyone remember this Custom 8x15 bass cabinet - Amps and Cabs - Basschat Of course he chose speakers that would more or less work together, is that engineering? Who cares, it's a bit of fun, nobody here is going to buy the thing, but if we saw it in Metallica's back line???? Of course it's all wrong, those 8 speakers should be in a vertical line with proper crossovers and maybe in a D'Appolito alignment with the horns at ear level so the bassist can 'really' hear what they are playing. Think of this as like those giant figures on Route66 or the world's biggest pencil in the pencil museum in Keswick. If someone wants a custom 4x18 I'm up fr a commission

It looks big, I'll grant that. This is the kind of Frankenstein's Monster abomination that can only come out of a marketing department with no input whatsoever from an engineer. That was a common enough scenario in the 60s and 70s, but there's no excuse for it today.

I'm not sure if this is the best place for this thread. Maybe it should be in 'repairs and technical' so mods, if it needs to be moved, please feel free. Righty ho. Thats the housekeeping out of the way. A few years ago, on a whim, I bought a 1979 Washburn Scavenger. I believe these were the entry level tier of the Washburn bass range at that time, with the more esoteric versions being the Vulture, and the Eagle. Both wonderful machines, but it must be said, very rarely seen in this country. The impetus to buy the bass came from an old mate of mine, who had an Eagle guitar. Quite frankly an unbelievablely good instrument, so I'd sort of had this in the back of my mind for years. Then this came up- on ebay iirc- and the die was cast. Here is a picture taken the day after I bought it. I thought that the zebra stripe pattern might be a nicely ironic post modern comment on contemporary musical mores, but it just made me look like an over the hill refugee from a Poison tribute band. However, it played nicely and sounded absolutely great. I think the pickup is a dimarzio, but if it isn't, it sounds just as good as one. It languished in a case for a couple of years then I developed a need for a bass I can leave in my office, and not worry too much who messes about with it, and I thought: "Aha, the Washburn". So I retrieved it from it's case and decided that it would definitely benefit from a new look. I thought I might strip it and do a rattlecan nitro spray job in black. So far so good. The stripping went well, even though there was about half an inch of paint on it. Once it was down to the wood I was quite amazed at what I found. A lovely mahogany body with an ash (I think) top. So I modified plan A, bought a bottle of tru oil and got to work. Using the slurry and buff method I went through many grades of wet & dry, ending up on 000 wire wool and the end result you see below. A lovely looking bass with top notch hardware- albeit unbranded - which plays and sounds great. It is as heavy as a small star though, which is the only drawback I can find... Oh yes, one really nice touch...The original hair metal paint job was slightly iffy in a couple of spots, just bleed through I think, given the complex pattern, but as such the neckplate is stamped 'reject'. If this is a Washburn reject, I'll take the lot.

There’s always one “it’s all in the fingers” guy who thinks they can get a Musicman sound from a Hofner

Fender have been price fixing for years which has skewed perspective, partly why the big guys (them, Gibson, Guitar Centre) have been in so much trouble lately. Sire seem priced about right by today’s standards.

A friend at work introduced me to this. I use the term “friend” loosely. 😂

Picked this up a few weeks ago . Yet to clean and set up etc , as been busy . Excuse the rubbish photos

Lots of practice has meant that at the beginning of the lockdown I could not play a DB at all and now I am studying grade 5 material on one. Still, missing the boost gained from jam sessions etc.

Ive been putting off sorting my board for a couple of months now, mainly as I've been waiting on the return of a fuzz pedal which is failing to materialize. So finally got to it last night and it's about as tidy as it is gonna get with this setup. I would like to say this is the final one but I'm definitely not settled on the lineup so who knows what the next year will bring!

Over close to fifty years of gigging, I have played probably thirty different basses at gigs. Even the cheap ones worked fine.

Loving this! However, contains language many might find offensive... But you can't argue with the sentiment!

I think I auditioned for them on one occasion....... And didn't get the job!

I'm playing bass or guitar, for one to two hours most days. The most practicing I've ever done.

I got annual membership for Scott's Bass Lessons when the first lockdown started last March and found the combination of that and working from home with it easy to pick up the Bass for quick breaks has meant a lot of short bits of practice time when I wouldn't usually have been able to. The 'payers path' part of those lessons has been quite addictive working up through the levels. Having paid for 12 months membership has been incentive to make use of it, and to try and get through as much of it as possible in the time.

Sorry to burst your bubble, Martin has always been friendly and chatty with me also, even though he might just be passing through the shop whilst you’re served by someone else. I’ve never found him pushy (or any of the staff for that matter) and always seems eager to help. I was once trying out numerous basses and I felt one needed a truss Rod adjustment. There was no, “I’ll do it in a minute,” or, “Why do you want that done?” he just did it straight away, with no complaint. I bought that bass.

Martin bought my Thunderbird to put in the shop (note to self - sold it too cheap!) and when he came to collect he was really chatty, despite standing on the driveway with a mask on in the cold

And the winner is : IBTL !

Come on Bill, it looks great! Might sound rubbish, need three of you to get it on to the stage, and give the sound man no end of nightmares, but it looks great

I don't want to detract from issues around missing band life (gigs, rehearsals, studio etc) or the impact on people's livelihood in a lot of cases but just wondering how this has impacted on people's actual playing? I miss playing louder with real musicians but have been practicing much more regularly over the last year or so. Mostly with records or playing along with streaming services / videos. I have looked at a couple of different styles and even touched briefly on some simple keyboards for the first time. I can't wait to return to playing with people but it's not been without a couple of positives in these very dark times. How about the rest of you? Similar stories or is your bass gathering dust?

There was a danger of me getting all Homer's car on it. But the first sketch the guy sent me was very minimal - it was, after all, only about the shape back then. And I was really drawn to the clean, minimal design. Just felt wrong not to add a ton of stuff while I was 'in charge'. But as time passed we junked the clutter and ended up with what I think is a beautiful, clean, understated design.

Yes! Desperate to play with real people again, but I've done masses of practice over the last year, I pick up a bass for 5-10 minutes or more at least a dozen times a day. I have put serious effort into learning stuff that I was convinced was beyond my abilities. I can learn new songs faster and play more fluently. Have also learned a huge amount about how my playing style affects my sound and how changing pickup/playing position/digging in can be more profound than a bank of pedals. Still can't play Portrait of Tracy or Teen Town, and my slap is still crap, but I can live with that...

For your listening pleasure, I present.... myself! Age about 22, solo, one take. Anyone suggesting mind-altering chemicals can speak to my lawyers.

Brokencyde:

It's not all wrong. Most of it is all right, because most of it is a line array. Where it differs from a modern PA line array is that each player had their own individual arrays for their instrument, along with the vocal arrays. It wasn't the best implementation of line array technology, not because it didn't work, but because it was much larger than it needed to be. That can be forgiven, because the Dead didn't have a blueprint to follow. As primitive as it might seem compared to a modern PA it was still far better than anything else that existed at that time. It would be another 18 years before Christian Heil invented the modern PA line array, although the first major installation using line array speaker technology was in St. Pauls in London in the late 1940s. Maybe. A few hundred years ago the Scots gave the Irish the gift of the game of golf. In return the Irish gave the Scots the gift of the bagpipes. The Scots didn't know it was a joke.

And what did the pedal board of JJ look like..? A Ric plugged straight into a console sounds like a bass, just like a 'P'. The rest is in the playing style (the fingers, or thumb...).

Yeah, James Jamerson sounds just like Chris Squire.😉

Great looking cab, it might sound a bit bright with 2 tweeters 😁

Ahhhh......the under rehearsed middle aged band scenario. Gave up playing when they were 17 and returned to it aged 40. What they don't understand is that, what you could get away with at 17, you can't get away with when you're 40. I have nightmares about being in this band.

You know me - I have already clocked the new Dead Daisies album. For anyone wanting a crushing phenomenal bass tone - Glenn and this is the song - it’s phenomenal https://youtu.be/Gc1oOsGxoAk

You're laminating a bass out of matchsticks and then adding a double bass fingerboard to it? This is turning out to be an amazing project!

I gave up worrying about tone years ago after seeing a bassist using a very fancy active bass in a big live production supporting a big name singer, he might as well have been plucking a chicken....awful muddy drone. The one for me now is an instrument that is light and comfortable to play..I almost dont care what it sounds like...all basses basically sound the same ...don't they?

Looks like you've never heard this : Amazing !

On a Facebook thread for "worst cover" yesterday somebody nominated this. I replied to back them up, but went further and said it was the worst piece of music ever, cover or not. So I guess I need to put my money where my mouth is and put it here.

Sure! here's my 320 and 408 (4x15") and two 370's and a 301 (1x18")