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Massively overpricing coupled with a steep decrease of build quality will see off even the most iconic brand eventually.

If that was true Rickenbacker should've folded 40 years ago. Ricks have always fallen to bits if you look at them funny. Maybe Trump will succeed where John Hall's bloodyminded incompetence has failed. Probably because Fenders were designed to be mass-produced inexpensively & they've sensibly decided to maximise the cheap & cheerful end of their product range for the last 35 years or so. Can't help thinking their cleverest trick might have been to persuade some people it's worth paying £3000+ for a bass/guitar that's fundamentally identical to a £200 one with Squier on the end.

Having worked out the carve shape - and therefore the thickness of the body at various points in the cross-section - I was able to rout the main chambers and cable routes. Control chamber-wise, we are going for a Master Vol/Master Tone/Blend option, with the pots following the curve of the lower bout. Theoretically, I could rout deeper at the areas further from the neck but the swampash is so light it really won't make a difference. The rout in the top is more for aesthetics than weight. Bear in mind that the top will be curved and so this will slim quite a bit, it will eventually give the illusion of being a semi, when it's actually basically a solid: Before popping the top on, I will line the f-hole chamber with some redwood veneer to further give the illusion of depth.

George W got in by accident. After screwing up so much and taking the country into an unnecessary war and getting US soldiers needlessly killed you'd have thought the US citizens would have turned around and said no more. But they didn't. . . they bloody well voted the idiot back in! Trump is a far more dangerous character because he is totally uncontrollable and seems to have no idea what effect his words have on other, equally dangerous, leaders. I can understand why he got in this time, but he's a bully, egomaniac and unconcerned by any view point other than his own. That's why he likes Putin so much. Two sides of the same thuggish coin. Trump for a second term would indicate the American people really have no idea what is the best for them. A trade deal with Trump? That is the really frightening thing. For anyone who thinks the EU exerted too much control over us, wait till the details of the UK/US trade deal emerge. We are going to be royally screwed and with no way out. Oh, and Gibson are in such a bad shape because they are badly managed and charge top prices for poorly made instruments. Talkbass have had ex Gibson employees posting that one reason for the bad QC was they were on a target of instruments to be completed each day. The target was way beyond what could be achieved in the time so the manufacturing process was rushed, corners were cut and inspections were derisory. Gibson's did make instruments that had a good reputation, they don't any more.

True, but why not? Trump claims EU steel is unfair competition, meaning the U S steel industry is simply not up to speed and fails to compete. We could do the same to their musical instrument industry. Even better, tarrifs on all the junk food they dump on the unsuspecting.

I nipped in to toolstation on the way back from shopping and picked up some 600 and 1200 paper. Now I have done the body in 1200 I can see what you mean. It felt smooth before I started, but after doing the back with the 1200, the other side suddenly felt as rough as old boots

Age has no influence on if you should do something in life or not, only ability and if you want to do it or not. Being 42 is no age either, only half way through your years. I say stop thinking about it and go do it, you don't know the fun and enjoyment you are missing. As a tip for when you get started, don't pack your bass away in its case with the intention of getting it out to play each time. It won't happen I promise you. Leave it out somewhere where you see it or walk past it all the time. You'll then get the urge to play it more often, usually at weird times like before going to bed, waiting to go out as your other half gets ready, sitting waiting for a courier, waiting for the kettle to boil or the oven to warm up but it means you still get to play it. Pack it away and you'll never play it I promise. Second tip, play everything, literally everything, play along to your favourite advert, genre's you dont like, songs on the radio, literally everything. At this stage, be a sponge so be as open to everything you can and take everything in as there will always be something you can learn from. Final tip, there is no right or wrong, there is music and expression and how you play and express yourself is your choice. Don't be told you are doing something wrong but be open to learning a more efficient way of playing.

Hi All, Arrived yesterday a new ACG TKO from Alan. It is one of two he has made and it is absolutely stunning, the photo's only get you 90% there. The texture within the wood itself really adds something. It comprises: Black Limba body and top. 3 piece Maple with carbon Rosewood neck, 30.5" scale. Hipshot Type B in chrome.Hipshot string tree, Gotoh GB7 tuners, Dunlop straplocks, Newtone strings. ACG PB pickup with Alnico magnets. Weighs around 7.5lbs (not put it on the scales yet). It has what I would call a true PB sound but with more tonal variation available. Can't wait to try it out at band practice on Tuesday.

What a great idea. I recommend exploring if you like the vibes. Every cover is awesome. Members of Vulfpeck, Knowler, Postmodern Jukebox etc can be noticed there.

Love these guys and associated bands, you should check out Pomplamoose too:

I've held (my) fire until now....!

That is both weird and wonderful.

I think the important thing to note about Hooky's melody lines, especially in Joy Division, is that he'd often be adding an open string 'drone' alongside the line to keep some low end, e.g. She's Lost Control. He did this less so in New Order, though there was usually a Moog Source or similar synth pumping the bassline out, and his Clone Theory chorus sound would cut through most mixes! This is my recent attempt at a definitely Hooky-influenced bassline!

About 5 years ago my next door neighbour, a lovely German lady, decided to learn double bass. She was in he 60's. She plays jazz and her band (she already runs her own band!) is rehearsing next door right now. 3 years ago they were always out of tune and there were bum notes all over the place. These days there are hardly any and they all sound sound pretty good. They are not picking the easy songs to play either. If anyone wants to play bass be it like Adam Clayton or Charlie Mingus. . . just do it. Have fun.

i think linking it to trumpy pumpy or any politician for that matter, and inferring that gibson's decline could be terminal because of politics is a bit disingenuous - gibson's ceo and his board chums managed that all by themselves with their executive "lifestyle choice" decisions without any need for political scapegoating

doesnt work very often ( imho ymmv mcton etc etc) this example works extreemingly well great player great tune

Thanks @dmccombe7 😊 I have the harmony vocals coming off the backing tracks with the drums. Long story short I recorded my album then just used the drum and harmony vocal tracks for the live tracks. Thanks @BreadBin that's very lovely of you to say. 😊 I'm beaming now chaps, you've all made my day. 😁

Let me know what you reckon folks, I think this is better than my last one but It's still irks me that my vocals are pitchy in places. I suppose I'm making progress though so I should chuffed about that. 😊

I think you might find that 320 doesn't look as good as it feels once the finish goes on. Edges are unforgiving. If you are unsure, prepare a test piece to the same stage and apply the finish. You might find that there are finer grades of abrasive to work through yet. On the other hand, you might be happy with the finish as is. Now that you have power in your shed, It would be worth clamping a good anglepoise lamp to your bench. This will help when natural light is of poor quality. Maplin used to do a good one that had a ring tube with a large magnifier at the centre for less than fifty knicker. It gets lots of use. Good progress! From a standing start you've now got a lickle workshop and a taste for whittling. Just be aware that sheds can become storage bunkers during the colder months. If that happens, it is very hard to come back from.

I have asked the original thread that Funkinshui posted with the details about this fraud be put on hold as we wouldnt want any details that have been mentioned interfere with any trial results. So please dont ask for details as the safest thing to do at this moment would be to not mention any, there is a basic explanation at the begining of this thread, the person involved as scammed many others as well as us, it is going through the legal proceedings at the moment and as soon as we can tell you anything we will do, at the end of any case we will give you all the details we can. Thank you for any donations so far and we are nearly halfway to recovering what Funkishui lost, when his bass was stolen. Cheers everyone, you guys and girls are amazing

From what i am reading here - the thread should read Still learning bass after 40 years and that's how i look at my position

Money successfully laundered ☺️

Go for it. I taught a 40 year old women who was new to bass some years ago. She stuck at it and played in a few bands. Find a good tutor who will inspire you and keep at it. You won't regret it.

Just sold a Fender Precision to Norris. Good comms throughout, as it wasn`t sold with a case we did a shady motorway service station meet halfway to exchange the goods/folding. Great transaction all round, only downside was it was too hot today to wear the regulation sheepskin coat that is required for all motorway service station deals!

The wires you mention that have another wire within them are screened wires. This is where the signal wire (often called the "Hot" wire) is surrounded by a netting of wire strands, and then all encased in another sleeve. These are generally used for wiring to the pups or the jack socket. The main core is the hot wire, the screen is used as earth. The screen also acts to reduce interference in the signal. It does sound like the bridge and tail are earthed. So, unless something isn't working, I wouldn't worry about the stray wire. The only other thing I can think of is, if the cover to the compartment is metal, or foil lined, it could be intended to link to the cover.

Just one cut, the joint is flipped when you glue it but the laminates match up pretty well so I'm quite pleased with it My eyes are like that these days too, I need glasses to see anything and the magnifier is a must if I do anything intricate but as long as no one can see who care I loved furniture making, everything about it from a making point of view, making a living was difficult though but we got by for long enough. I only got into it by accident when I showed interest in another makers work enough for him to offer me a placement, it seemed more fun than working in a shop

Really like Bow Wow Wow - there was a BBC gig from Sefton Park (I think) back in the day that blew me away at the time. As I recall it a Wal bass was being 'strummed/slapped/picked/strangled' to within an inch of its life for most of the gig. Fabulous bass player.

Frankly, I scent more than a whiff of wishful Trump Derangment Syndrome here. Let's face it: Gibson have been splashing cash on useless sideline companies like a drunken sailor on a toot and industriously f**king themselves up the ar5e with a decade's worth of QC issues under a deranged and hated CEO whose company enjoys quite the most appalling employee ratings on Glassdoor Gibson have moreover devalued their brand with a succession of unlovable cheapies, a gimcrack quality mid-range, $5000-10,000 custom shop jobs with hideous flaws and a succession of 'innovative' models that no one would touch with a sh!tty stick unless they got them off Amazon for £300. Gibson even managed to screw the pooch with an entire frigging model range year (2015). They've back-stabbed their distributors in the UK, held retailers to ransom with ludicrously onerous conditions and jacked their prices up like Ebenezer Scrooge on crystal meth. This year Gibson didn't even go to NAMM but trundled off to CCCES (Crappy Chinese Consumer Electronics Show) to boost Henry's prestigious - er - Philips brand and some of the other unloved, unwanted names he's picked up over the years like Wurlitzer jukeboxes, a product for which there is obviously limitless demand in an age of digital streaming. Hank's even managed to derail one of the only two bits of Gibson that are still successful (Acoustics and Semis) when he announced the sudden relocation of the Memphis plant a few months ago. When challenged about this litany of failure the Great Pumpkin himself blamed musical instrument retailers for not being laid out more like Apple shops and Gibson's core customer base for being ungrateful fanboi nostalgists who really should get more up to date. But according to some, this vortex of madness, hubris and commercial disaster must clearly be eclipsed by the possibility that higher import tariffs might be applied to export Gibsons and that - even if they aren't - Gibson's sales might be dented because some people might now stop buying Gibson's as a 'protest' against Trump and his trade wars. When Henry actually came out for the populist right freakin' Tea Party a few years ago? But maybe that doesn't count. Oh, spare me. For myself, I think Trump's a giant bell-end but the suggestion that the Orange One may ultimately be responsible for Gibson's demise is sufficiently wide of the mark as to suggest that some people know so little whereof they speak that they assume they can build some sort of ramshackle political debate atop the corpse of a guitar company which has been decaying from the inside for 15 years. In short, there are plenty of places to slag Trump off on the webz - I go there myself sometimes - but I'd rather prefer it if people didn't come hawking politically motivated utter bollocks round here when there's a better and far more accurate truth about Gibson's failure to be debated. That's not too much to ask is it?

Lovely work. Did you make two cuts on your scarf? The grain matches rather well - lovely attention to detail! I'm rather jealous of your cabinet making background - although I'm sure it would be much different doing it for a living rather than a hobby. I would love to have done more woodwork in the past, but the school timetable clashed with music, and I never really did any until the last few years. Now my eyes are about shot for close work these days, so I'm constantly switching between glasses, magnifying goggles and naked eye. It would have been so much easier back when I could see

I wouldn’t even be surprised if Homer Simpson ran based on recent events.

My oldest student will soon be 81. I think that says it all about never being too old to learn. He’s just bought a 5 string too. I have a few students in their 40s and 50s. You just need to have the desire and time to learn, that’s all.

I started at 44 about 18months ago. I did my first gig after two and half months and have been playing regularly since. Got two gigs this month, both rebookings. I didn’t have any lessons but spent a bit of time on YouTube at places like Scott’s bass lessons. Mostly I just found bass lessons for songs I like and learned from them, then moved to working out basslines by listening and working them out. I also found Yousician app useful at first for technique. For me there is one key question - what do want out of it? That will determine how much you need to put in. I wanted to be in a band and be playing gigs so half an hour a week is no good. I practice an average of an hour a day and play seven days a week (have a travel bass that goes on holidays with me), when learning new sets in the run up to gigs I have been at it three or fours a day for short periods. It is amazing fun and I regret not keeping up my very brief attempt when I was 19. It’s never too late and this forum is an amazing resource and people are so friendly and helpful you have an amazing amount of experience at your fingertips.

+1 Great tip.

I followed the same route as @SpondonBassed... Interesting and thought provoking tuneage as ever @Akio Dāku

Just a friendly nudge in the direction of my latest performance video; I play as a solo bassist with drums on backing tracks, so I get away with a lot of dusty end stuff.

NOT You are but a nipper in comparison to many of the mature students here. Crack on with impunity.

Closest build to me EVER!

Well, with the final screws for the neck coming in, I think I have everything for it. Actually no, I have some machineheads coming from china, but I can use ones I have at the moment and swap later. I have had so little time since going back to work after my holiday and having a busy gigging weekend - I could do with being independently rich really, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Anyway, managed to get some time last night and this morning, and now I have power in the shed (but not light yet), I spent some quality time sanding stuff. Thats it, just sanding the edges to 320 grit, it is really smooth now. I think that is about done. Just need to make holes for the neck and that is it. I have the controls all upstairs on a piece of wood ready for wiring. And I started with the red. I did the neck, so now I have a redneck. I also while I was waiting for my wife to be ready played around with the veneers again and put a veneer on the front of the headstock, and it worked really well, the wood was less brittle than last time. Only trouble is, I am not sure I like the colour. Still, I think it is staying there now! I have also glued two other random bits of tulipwood (what the body is made of), which I will sand flat and then stain to see if there is a problem with the stain going over a glue line. So at least I feel I have done something! Got to get more done this week, next weekend is another 3 gig weekend

Way too much but strangely they are worth it! Great basses but you can get them for £100 give or take. The Thunder 2 and 3 are different animals altogether. Thunder 2 Mk2 methinks and the Thunder 3 are basically the same bass and are really special.

Wow, that´s along story. Here we go: Passive pickups can be seen as a mixed circuit which consists of resistance, inductance and capacity, hence creating a resonant peak at a certain frequency above which the frequency response is going downwards. This resonant peak is highly important for the sound of the instrument because it sits in the presence area of our hearing range. Now if you plug such a PU into an amp then the amp´s input impedance will interfere with this resonant point, usually lowering and eventually broadening the peak as well as lowering the frequency. We´re used to that and we want to hear our passive instrument like that to a certain degree. To make things worse the cable has it´s impact, too, as it sits between amp and PU. That´s why some people like cables of a certain length. Now there comes the DI with it´s own input impedance, typically 50kOhm for a passive DI and 1MOhm for an active DI. This again will interfere with the PU resonance and alter the sound. And things get more difficult if you go through the DI unbuffered into an amp because that will increase the load on the pickup and the resonance point will go lower again. Technically spoken both input impedances are parallel to the pickup giving an even lower impedance than each single one of DI and amp. For historical reason most bassamps have an input impedance of 220kOhm (many exceptions, though) while guitar amps typically have 1MOhm. To have a proper matching between output impedance of a PU and input impedance of an amp/DI the later one should be x10 of the source impedance. Pickups of passive basses have worst-case output impedances of 17kOhm, hence there should be a load of at least 170kOhm. Passive DIs cannot deliver such high impedances. They are the wrong choice. You´re better off with an active DI. Active basses have worst case output impedances of a few hundred Ohms. Here both passive and active DIs are fine regarding impedance matching. The PU resonances are already buffered by the active electronic inside the bass in a way that both DI and amp cannot have an influence on that. For the studio nerd there´s more to check out: if we have micpres with variable input impedance then this will be the next parameter to look for in a chain of passive bass, passive DI + amp. A lower input impedance setting of the micpre (e.g. certain vintage Neve preamps have this possibility) will be reflected through the transformer of the DI. That means the DI seems to have a lower input impedance than it´s nominal value (wrt 1,2-1,5kOhm input impedance of the micpre) and will load the pickup even more down, eating the treble range even more. Historically this problem has been recognized in times when there were no active basses around. The solution were active DIs, back then made with tubes. All that is theory. You will not destroy either bass, amp or DI with the technically wrong choice. It does influence sound, but if you like it then all is good. If not, then see above.

These are moving on okay - I'll post some proper details later. At the moment, there are two bodies and lots of holes... And a neck for the spalted top one...

Non-parent here. *gloat*

3 Shorties in my lineup, all for use in the Glam band. The silver sparkly one is the header, a 2012 Squier Mikey Way sig Mustang...took some tracking down that one. First back up is the 2002(?) Fender CIJ comp stripe Mustang, only has this a short while and it’s just had a fret level and set up so will be getting it’s first outing this weekend. Last but not least, bringing up the rear is a silver Squier Jag SS, cheap as chips but punches well above it’s weight.