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Hohner should buy it... save me typing in the wrong name all of the time!

And there you have it folks! She lives! The bridge is actually really easy to operate and set up. Even fitting was a breeze as the furthest mounting hole lines up perfectly with a standard 5 screw bridge. Used some old witch hats I had in my box o junk and I think I will leave them on inkeeping with the occult theme Just got to wait 7 weeks to actually play it after dislocating 2 fingers in my right hand. Peace out!

NBD was actually Sunday, but I won't tell if you don't. I've been a dyed-in-the-wool Precision devotee for quite a few years, having found that they just work for me. But slowly the worm has turned... My Dingwall journey led me along the path Super P > D-Roc > NG-2, which obviously opened up non-P possibilities. I tried a friend's Jazz (American Standard?) and thought, 'I like this!' Then I found a 2001 MIM J at an auction, loved it, but was outbid. I was pretty disappointed. Finally I came across this Flea Jazz being sold by our own @Mickeyboro, tried it, loved it, brought it home, loved it even more. If I'd been a good boy I'd have shifted my D-Roc first, but clearly I'm not - no presents for me, but that's fine, I'll just sit and play this. It does what I hoped a Jazz would do - a different and spankier voice but still with authority behind the notes, a comfortable playing experience, and a sound that makes you think, 'Ooh, that's like a record I've heard'. Going between this and my original '73 Precision, the Flea Jazz feels old like the '73, not least because it has nicely rolled fingerboard edges. I've spent some time tweaking it to my preferences - neck relief, action, Monty's Instrument Food, and a replaced intonation screw (disclosed prior to purchase) and have been having altogether too much fun going through my Steely Dan transcriptions. I'm not sure when I'll get the chance to gig it, but there may well be a 70s covers rehearsal in January, for which this would work a treat!

Thanks everyone! The opening week was wild. We're limited to 70 capacity but the first night was probably slightly over that. We had Static Dress play as their drummer is our best mate. There was only one unforeseen problem. The condensation and spilled beer made a mockery of our consumer grade garage floor paint. People were slip-sliding all over the place. The first job the next day was to mix balsam in with a new tin of paint, and get that down in time for the gig the following night. It did the trick! We had 5 gigs on the opening week, staffed by mates, played by mates, and attended by all and sundry. Loads of people travelled in to Stoke for these gigs and it really felt like the centre of a scene for a moment. And we made money! Then we realised we'd not booked any more gigs, and we have overheads to pay, and big bills to pay, and loads of debt... So now we start the long slog of learning how to make money out of a venue. At 70 capacity it's difficult to appeal to bigger touring bands. The other side of that is an other-worldly PA system that out-classes any venue of this size (that I've seen). Proper lighting, green room, potential for live recording etc. so we hope to tempt some names in for "secret" or "super intimate" shows. Otherwise we're perfectly suited to local multi-band line-ups, and the "toilet circuit" in general. Any advice on promoting gigs would be gratefully received, and if any of you are promoters that would like to put on a gig at Riff Factory, please get in touch

Back facings Now selected which one of the planks i got from the skip to use and have made a rough lay out from the template to get a good match up of the grain and avoid the worst of the scuffs and blemishes. The pieces are well overthickness (18mm vs the target of 10mm) and there is a slight amount of cupping to deal with, so fun to be had with the planer over the festive break. Pics below are the boards as recovered from the skip and a rough lay out on the best of the boards.

Have you read the opening posts and understand how much experience I have in this domain...?

Played my 734a at an audition this week. First time I'd played it live. Through a rehearsal room cheap ashdown tone master and a cheapo hartke cab. Sounded glorious just in passive p mode. Never had people comment on a small room sound before but all members loved it. Warm, fat, but authorative. Sat in the mix lovely. Got me the gig too

I've been very quiet on here recently, for various reasons, but the main one is that I've been building, and learning to run a music venue! I run a recording studio, and my mate runs rehearsal rooms, all from one building in Stoke. We've built up a decent reputation over the years. There was one bit of the building we didn't have, and that was a garage, but last year the mechanic upped and left, and the landlord offered it to us. We spent countless hours turning a dirty old garage into a spanking new venue and I'm super proud of it. Please check it out if you're looking for live music in Stoke or The Midlands, and obviously get in touch if you'd like to play! www.rifffactory.co.uk https://www.instagram.com/rifffactoryuk/ The bar: Opening week: The garage:

Probably for the best. In my experience it's the married guitarists that have a tendency to ruin the band.

Well due to injury, and therefore necessity, I have succumbed and bought a shorty. I have no idea how much movement I will get back in my shoulder but for now I can reach the 3rd fret pf a 34” bass. Back of a cornflake packer calculation says 30” scale length is ideal so off I went a-hunting. I did no want to spend an awful lot, I am already £250 down on a U Bass so It was an Affinity, HB, or Hartwood. I did not get on with the Affinity ‘Tang, the HB has been showing 1-2 weeks for about a month and now showed a bit longer so a Hartwood Delta finally showed up. So far I am delighted. Feet work is some of the best that I have ever seen and there are lots of little touches that please. Machine Heads -Smooth and precise Control Knobs- Not the push on, splined type but held on with grub screws. Body-Flawless, at least on first look. Action- Higher than I like but playable out of the box. Frets- I do my own fretwork and these are wonderful, the best fret ends on a bass or guitar I have had in 60 years. Screws-Pick-guard and control cavity screws sit well down. They are domed but sit well into the countersink. Nut-Could go lower but I will not be touching it for now. Criticisms? The neck has what look like ran drops in the finish. However you cannot feel it under your hand, The pick-up selector switch is not straight up and dos but angled. Oddly when playing it seems more natural then if it were more like a Les Paul. The switch may be the first thing I change thought as cheap ones fail quickly IMHO. Bridge- BBOT. However That does not matter to me, It is a well proven design and it works. Strings - Shiny and bright but may have more finger noise than I like.

Did a quick recording last night. Testing the edge of breakup. I'm using the Modern IsoBlock overdrive channel at low gain. I like some pillowy saturation which cuts nicely in a mix. Tested in song context and played along John Mayer's Vultures and Queen of California. I'm a big PIno and Sean Hurley fan so yeah. The SWE TC650 which is based on the EBS TD650, is an instant slap machine. Great blocks! Yamaha BB434.wav

TIs installed. What more can I say? Great bass, sounds wonderful. Debating modding it with new pups, pots, jack etc. but it sounds great as it is. Absolute steal at this price.

Oddly enough, having owned three Cort Space Basses, my four string also had a very vague wood pattern around the front pickup too, whereas my Space 5's have had lovely grain patterning across the whole front. Maybe they use offcuts of lesser quality wood for some of the smaller four string fronts? Personally though, on such a good value instrument, I'd say that how it plays/sounds is more important, but as others have mentioned, that's down to your personal preference. My previous Space 4 front... My current Space 5 front...

Yes!! Send it straight back.

Dunno, ask Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor about that...

Hello Basschatters I had been looking for a fretless for a while and there have been several on the forum that I nearly went for but in the end decided to build one for myself. The plan is for a fretless four string, with a single Bartolini MMC pup coupled to an East filter preamp. I used to do a few builds, some of which I posted on a previous incarnation of this site, but I haven't done one for ten years or so now so it will be interesting to see how much I remember. Anyhow the idea is to keep the budget down to the cost of what I was going to spend on buying a fretless so a notional budget of ca. £400. This will mostly go on parts as I have an unused mahogany body blank, maple neck blank and a wenge fretboard left over from when I last built a bass, although I will splash out on a nice walnut top for it. Here is a pic of the last fretted bass I made, the plan is for the fretless to be the same shape and style if i can find the old template and hopefully source a similar grade walnut top.

My GP-50 arrived today. It does sound exactly the same as the GP-5, but sooooo much easier to use. No need to use the App at all, except for one thing. The so called onboard drum machine is nothing more than 10 different patterns of high hat. So basically a metronome. You still need the app to get any proper drum patterns. I dont intend to use this feature, but I find it very misleading (it is mentioned in the manual, but easy to miss until you get one and try and get some drum patterns going). Still, that aside, it's a keeper. I wont even need to use the Chocolate Plus now.

That picture looks a bit like a Smiley with a monocle 🧐.

On the subject of "words of one song to the tune of another", last night at the Cavern in Tamworth had the house band (really excellent drummer and guitarist, and me on bass bringing the quality down) backing various singers - one did "Billie Jean" to the tune of "Smells like teen spirit".

And CPC have delivered some stuff. As Phil has already suggested, it neatly fits. The middle of the grille is raised (or the edges are lowered), I'll have a look and work out what to do here. Cut and flatten or flatten and cut? As the weather is miserable, no painting today.But I have worked out how to integrate the rubber feet into the corner clamps and to allow two of these cabs to be on top of each other. Not sure that's a sensible idea, but the option is there. Rob

I don’t know how many days you have had it , but as I say that is unacceptable on so many levels ..especially the attitude! I don’t know how long you have left to return it , but take it up with your credit/ debit card …and then crucify them on the sites I have mentioned right away !

I find I become familiar with what I listen to, or what people tell me. For example I now know a lot about Mark King... 😁

Some big names there in the bass world, shocked...

Poxy Music

I've got weights for four Squier necks without hardware - three of them Jazz-width, and one a five-string: 824g 827g 829g 868g Surprisingly, the fiver is the second-lightest! I'd hang fire on changing the bridge until you've got the neck and tuners fitted. Those paulownia bodies can be so light that you need a heavier bridge to counter neck dive.

Loonie Donegan

New Fender Hofner range coming soon!

This year has seen me get a few good depping roles in decent local bands. They've been on personal recommendations, too, which makes me feel great. Working with new musicians and learning new songs that I would never have looked at otherwise has given my musical self confidence a boost. If I'm honest it's also renewed my enthusiasm for playing in general, which was sagging a little. An added extra is that with the dep roles I've gone back to using backline and I've managed to get a consistent sound that I'm really happy with, and that the bands have complimented me on (as if I designed the TE cabs and Ampeg SCRDI that I'm using to get it 😂). While DI into the desk for my main band makes sense (there are 13 of us and we usually play large venues), I am enjoying the thump directly behind me.

Except for John Stirratt, Chris Wood, Tame Impala, Tina Weymouth, Robbie Shakespeare, Flabba Holt, Dale Davis, JMJ, Max Oleartchik of Big Thief... Need more?

So I took a slight detour on the way to work yesterday and picked up this rather handsome but weighty unit. I fancied a 4x10 to replace my 2x15 cabs and ended up with a Warwick 4x10 and head. I had a Warwick Sweet 15 combo in the past and was very impressed with it so at the price this was a no brainer. It's been in the freezing cold overnight so I've brought it in to warm up before I test at my lunch break. Depending on how things go this could be... It's the best amp and cab ever, becomes my main rig, Ashdown rig goes on sale; Keep the cab, sell the head. Sell off my Ashdown NEO 15s and run my ABM600 into this cab; It's good but it doesn't beat the Ashdown, so it gets moved on to someone who will give it what it deserves

It is a really good fit and possible to get the thing cut so that the grille is centred nicely. I made a picture frame, screwed the grille to that and used velcro to fix that to the cab. I did cut the plastic covering strip to fit the edges but decided it looked better plain and I deburred the edges with a bench grinder. If I did it again I'd probably fold the edges and trim them down to 10mm. I practiced this with off-cuts and it was easier than I thought, clamping the metal between two bits of timber and beating it down. Folding it this way stiffened up the structure really nicely.

The "new" ones are very good as well. The older ones with the Fender headstock are even better but mine has a neck to die for. Great bass.

Exactly the reason for my path in the industry, it’s much more pleasant working with seasoned pros in general. It also pays MUCH better. it depends very much on the level of sound techs and engineers you are working with.

You got it bang on... As for the smoke machine, I made it clear that it was NOT to be put on while I was near the stage.

After trying it again with both my amps I’ve decided it’s going back for sure . It was a good pedal but added very little that a decent EQ pedal could provide me with what I’m trying to achieve

Nigel Price organ trio ( Nigel’s a great guitarist) Vanilla Fudge

This has been stuck in my head for the past 3 days. Would absolutely love to be in a band like this.

The Paisley Jazz Bass is going to Rob Harris (guitarist from Jamiroquai) in the first week after New Year.

I believe there are some nuances that tend to get ignored or downplayed when it comes to people's subjective preferences, despite the subject being done to death in other ways. Especially when standing right next to a cab, dispersion matters, and related to that, comb filtering (from multiple drivers) matters. Multiple stacked 10s only sum to a coherent point source well below 1kHz. Above that you're going to start to get lobing. Everyone's heard this when adding a second cab. It doesn't just get universally louder, it gets bassier. Cab shape, especially height, matters. A generic single 15 mounted low down is going to sound smoother than a generic 410 (limited HF dispersal, no comb filtering). The filtering aspect isn't necessarily obvious in a single listening test - but put that cab into different acoustic spaces and you're going to get greater apparent inconsistencies between spaces. I suspect one of several reasons an 810 is favoured is that the comb filtering gets smeared out at a given listening position due to the complexity of the summing pattern. Add to that the use of similar/same drivers across multiple manufacturers and you could easily develop a 'sound' you associate with a particular speaker size. Especially drivers like Eminence with characteristic breakup peaks for particular models. TLDR I believe there are some practical differences in how different size drivers might be perceived standing up close.

Well, I guess you can only sell so many Beatles basses.

Absolutely. It's just good sense to be nice to the sound guy (or gal). Wherever I've worked, whether at the day job or in bands, I've made sure to be friendly to security/door staff, sound people, bar/wait staff and similar. They can ensure you have a pleasant experience or make life awkward, so, even if you look at it from a purely selfish point of view, it's a smart move to be nice to them.

Of course. But one need not be an arborealist to know that maple and walnut will have higher density than poplar and spruce, while luthiers know which species give them what they, or their customers, want. Also of course. One disadvantage to high density wood is weight, so to keep the weight down you need to go with some measure of hollowing out the body. Mine I made of all rosewood, neck through, with the bouts made in two pieces, each hollowed out to about 6mm thick. This gives the high density advantages of bright tone, tremendous tuning stability and almost endless sustain without being too heavy. I like the looks of it too.

Mostly it isn't the sound guy based on the antics of primadonna (inexperienced) bands that I've seen. We played a local pub 'festival' for several years, the last one the local 'famous' band had been relegated to support. Speaking to the sound guy (line up organiser), he was less than complimentary about them, their lack of professionalism and level of expectation. He said he'd put us as headliners as we just "got on stage and played". It was quite painful listening to band after band "soundcheck" throughout the day. We should remember that the sound guy is often the person who will report back to the venue organiser and recommend whether a band comes back and plays a more popular night, or never returns. There are more bands than venues.

obne sunlight stereo and beetronics phaser are new and brought the pickle back