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Leave enough room for everyone. Sounds simple and obvious but I turned up late one night and the guys had already set up. . . and left no space for the bass at all! They just looked blankly at me when I asked where they expected me to go, and then got a bit ratty when I told them all to move up to make room. What a bunch of idiots!!

May their next turd be a hedgehog.

It is a pleasure to be here. I would like to invite people to share thoughts and invite you all to get to know me. Sending you my best regards, Jeff

Blood and sand, Jez! For a start they look wonderful (mine's the one at the bottom if you are sending them as free gifts to deserving sycophants ) Secondly - we retirees rely on you employed folks to keep us in the manner we once dreamed could have been possible until we all realised that money purchase pension schemes are just charity donations to rich financiers. So it is always a concern if the employed tax-payers start letting their attention drift away from their prime purpose - that is of keeping the state pension provision afloat. So to come to the leading question - when on earth do you have time to work on your proper tax paying job if you have all those beauties on the go and should Phillip Hammond be informed? More specifically, do I need to tighten our family's belts and hide the gin from MrsAndyjr1515? Trust me, she's a very scary woman when she's sober! Ps. My wife's solicitors have served a cease and desist request based on the hurtful comment above. She wishes me to clarify that she is a very scary person whether she has consumed gin or not. I fully concur and apologise for what might have been a seen as a misleading statement.

Not much progress as I've been working on my semi hollow basses but here's a piccie of what builds I've currently got on the go....it gives a good impression of how dinky these headless things are!!

Erm...this just happened...and my pants are ripped.

Interesting development. I've posted a thread about it in "Basses" as well as it might be of interest to the general community. Oil City Pickups are doing a one-off 51 P single coil style pickup (which he's agreed to sell me ) using ceramic bar magnets, and the exact dimensions required to be the same architecture as a certain other bass which uses two single coils (no, not Jazz - the other one which rhymes with fakenpicker) It's got big slug poles in it, and it should produce quite a bit of that snarly midrange grunt which many like in "that tone". I'm going to fit it to this one and put the split coil into my solid body 51P.

I've actually just shared this to my facebook page, you never know, some of my FB friends may donate. They are mostly musos and it may touch their hearts too

Yet another thread that makes me realise how special our band are. Everyone turns up about the same time, we have a quick drink, unload all the gear from our respective cars and just get on with it. Very quickly the stuff is setup and seems to be in a good enough place for people to be ok. At the end of the night we take it all apart, put it in cars and go home.

Old valve gear is the easiest to work on. Point to point wiring and easily accessible parts make working on them not unlike working on a vintage car. Modern amps are a PITA, just like modern cars. They're made with everything attached to circuit boards, including the pots and jacks, and getting those boards out to work on them can require removing every knob and nut on those pots and jacks. It can take over an hour to remove a board to replace a component, if you can replace the component at all. Often the cost of repair exceeds the cost to replace the amp. It took me an hour to even find the oil filter on my last car, while changing it required pulling off a tire. Things today are designed to have the lowest possible labor cost to build them, with no regard to how difficult and expensive that makes it to fix them.

Finish pretty much done - it'll take maybe a week to fully harden before it can be micro-webbed, but I can finish the fret-levelling, hatch magnets and shielding / electrics installation while I'm doing that. Although I've had issues with the gloss version, the satin version of the Osmo Polyx is really straightforward to apply and gives a nice looking and tough finish.

Certainly working for them currently, but I think as a long term option it is a bad move. They are iconic because the were the instruments played by the youths in groups of iconic groups. Those groups when they start don't have a great deal of money, if you put your instruments into the Gibson custom shop / stockbroker and retired banker toy, you make money now, you don't get seen by the people who are going to be buying things to emulate their icons. When I was growing up, a lot of my bass heros played them, so I still love the look, if not the instruments themselves. They were something I wanted. When I watched top of the pops, at least one in 3 groups would have one. Now? doesn't seem to be the case any more.

I don’t think he’s changing the rules, as has been mentioned, he’s building on a lot of ideas that have gone before. However!!!!....his interpretation of those ‘rules’ and theories is wholly individual, a pure joy to listen to him explain theory and musical ideas. I actually think he’s incredibly important for music at the moment, he’s completely invigorated an entire generation of theory lovers. I don’t agree that he is danger of ‘falling’ into easy listening, he’s way too in control of everything he creates. If he writes something ‘easy listening’, it’s pure choice, and that’s fine. I actually find it refreshing where someone writes music that is beautiful and relatively accessible, instead of writing what they are technically capable of all the time. Si

To be honest, part of my excitement is the idea of a different tonal platform for a bass I'm familiar with. We have a lot of basses out there that proscribe to a specific formula: Split P pickup on P body 2x Jazz Singles on a J body 1xMM Humbucker on a MM body And so the list goes on. Now, I did a PJ partscaster last year and I have to say, I found the combination of the two to offer some tonal difference, but for me, it wasn't huge. I'm interested in the idea of a bass with something out of the ordinary. Ric pickups use ceramic bar magnets and oversize slugs with 44awg wire in a specific wind shape - it does make them different to a Jazz or a 51P single coil. I really like the idea of getting that different formula and sticking it in a 51P body made of swamp ash or the hollow variant I have just done to see what it sounds like. Will it sound exactly like a Ric? Don't care frankly. For me the experiment is "how different will it sound to a normal 51P single coil?" Ultimately, it will sound like me playing that bass - but I hope to do a compare and contrast for the interested amongst you

The dead one of course. The other one has just been copying him and faking it all these years.

I read up on a few of the different oils at the time and I seem to remember that it doesn't come from nor is it exclusively for use on Teak. ...but then I didn't really believe that you'd get Danish Oil by applying infeasibly great pressure to a Dane either.

PHOTO OF THE MONTH! That photo has made me concupiscent. I'll just sit here with a cushion in my lap for the next hour or so. If we're picking favourites, mine's the one at the end of the photo. When you've finished, have it washed and sent to my room.

I've always thought the Stream was sex on a stick..

I got one of the Surveyors and it is not leaving any time soon, what a well made and versatile bass. I love how it plays and the B string is just Thunder from the Gods. Love it Love it Love it. I like the H series too, wouldn't mind one of those too

We always get the drums set up first, with my amp on drummer's left and geetar on his right. Then we all drop 3 tabs of acid each and start on the Buckfast to prepare ourselves...

Which one..? ...

Don't talk nonsense!!

I'm quite fussy. We sort where the PA is going first, then POWER! Got fed up of everyone acting as individuals, everything being in place and nowhere to plug in. Now we operate a factory line approach. The singer and I sort the PA and power, the drummer puts his mat in place, lights/amps/ monitors go in. Cases are not allowed in the performance space, drives me nuts moving everything three times because the stage is cluttered. I've trained the drummer to assemble his kit off stage, we run the mic cables to him and the bass/guitar mics with the kit out of the way. He then slots his stuff into place whilst we do the last of the lights and we're ready. It's an 8 piece band and too many people helping actually slows us down. If I'm playing with another band that's got pro level players I always astonished at how quiet and fuss free the process is.

I think that distinction requires that you're in on the joke. I've never heard of Steel Panther, I doubt many people have. It's not obvious that it's a joke.

I've never understood this. Guitarists are even worse for it. The best bit of advice I ever had - set up, plug in, tune up, play a couple of notes to make sure it works, PUT IT DOWN!!

A list... Three words currently being woefully misused... a) Iconic b) Literally c) Decimated I also abhor High Rising Terminal, obviously. One more thing that really grinds my gears is the current trend of beginning an answer to a question with a drawn out “So...” or, particularly prevalent at the moment amongst politicians (I think I remember Tony Blair starting this) starting the answer to a question with “Look...”, a confrontational beginning to an answer that invariably avoids the initial question.

At the risk of repeating myself, can't believe the generosity shown from this forum. Way exceeded anything i could have expected, so again, thank you very much to everyone.

Or perhaps it’s the better way and all us right handed players are at a disadvantage? After all, why does it have to be one way? And if you think about it, when playing normal right handed mode it’s the left hand that has a more complex job to do which is counter intuitive to me as a right hander. If you think of the precursors string instrument wise (assuming double bass played with bow) the right hand had a far finer set of movements to perfect. But short of buying one of each and exactly matching practice from the start to see which feels easier I am not sure how you would prove this one way or another.

iReal Pro works for me.

Nor even a diary. I picked up this wee beastie from the Bay of Fleas. It's older than I am, very well made and very very heavy. It needs a new drive belt and I'm not sure how to get the extension out of the spindle yet.

They only dilute the brand if they are rubbish. A good quality Squier VM bass will plug someone right into the brand and then the aspiration starts - all part of the GAS - leads to MiM, US Standard, Custom Shop...

The overdrive on these is quite sensitive to various combinations of the gain, drive and level knobs and I have to adjust all three to get the right sound when I change guitars.

Black

We're generally playing multi-band gigs so as the drummer it generally depends on what the soundman/promoter are forcing me to use, and how long it takes the previous guy to get off. If we're on our own I try to set up my kit while the front man clambers over me trying to put the backdrop up

Drums first, the rest of us set up the PA while the drummer is farting about. Then the amps etc and the last thing is the lights. We always forget to put our banner up first and so end up clambering over stuff at the end of set up.

^^^ So, that iconic post quite literally decimated me!!! Look, you started it

Ha ha! Thanks. But once you've had a hernia you definitely think twice about lifting stuff. A second hernia just isn't an option.

Cello fingering is not so different in terms of positions; just that 'cellists have names for them. It's still a matter of placing first finger on a semi tone note; so on the D string: 1/2 =fingers on Eflat, E, F, F#. 1st = fingers on E, F, F#, G, 2nd = fingers on F, F# G, G# 3rd = fingers on G, G#, A, Bflat etc. just like the bass on the same string. But the scale being shorter, you can extend each position, ie by reaching back with one finger from 1st position you can get E flat. by putting finger 2 on F# instead of F, you can then reach G# with your 4th finger. In fact you CAN do the same on a bass, even a double bass, by using "pivoting" (thumb stays in same place, hand rotates back or forth around it) .. though traditionalists don't think it "proper". I think the thing that makes scales and blocks different on a 'cello is the short neck - you can only finger normally up to first finger on G (on the bottom C string) after which you have to bring your thumb round onto the finger board. This combined with avoiding or deliberately using open strings raises a load of avoidance strategies in which fingering a scale from the same pattern gets non-optimal above about F major whereas on the Electric bass you can go on forever. That end to the neck does make one thing MUCH easier though. you can always find "4th" position "blind" as it happens when your thumb hits the heel of the neck, then first finger down = automatic G, D, A, or E. you can play almost any tune in first (with forward and back extensions) and fourth position; 2nd and 3rd are niceties that avoid moving your hand around too much. On the Electric Bass, it is VERY easy to get lost without looking at your fingers now and then! Anyway. Easier? No. Different? Yes. Playing one string instrument won't crack the other but it will give you a leg up. As a classical grade 8 ish 'cellist I bought a double bass and was immediately about grade 5 (took another 20 years to reach 8 ish).

I'm a great believer in good design and good ergonomics, and while having all the working parts on show might have been interesting in the 80s for post-modern architecture, I 'm not so sure that it has as much relevance in 21st century guitar and bass design. Besides IME truss rod adjustment shouldn't be something you need to do on a regular basis so it makes sense to me, to hide the mechanism away so that it is only accessible if you really need to use it. The only times I have needed to adjust the truss rod has been when I have changed to strings with a radically different tension, or when I have bought a guitar from somewhere that has a significantly different climate to that of the UK. In these cases the adjustment has always been best made in several increments over a period of days. I would never want to adjust the truss rod while wearing the bass, mostly because I find that I also need to encourage the neck to bend in the correct place which can only be done by placing the the bass with the relevant area on my leg and pushing down either side. If you don't do this I find the neck will bend either at the weakest point or mid-way along the truss rod length which is not always where you want it. I think musicians are too prone to fiddle unnecessarily with their instruments and making the truss rod adjustment easily accessible only facilitates this behaviour. I don't have a problem with the volute, and besides the volutes on most modern instruments are so tiny to be almost negligible. Most angled headstocks are either multi-laminated layers or scarf-jointed which makes them far stronger than that of a single-piece neck, so the absence of a conventional large volute is less important than it use to be. There is no longer the requirement to build everything big and clunky as it was in the 50s. And the reason I asked "a random selection of bass makers" is that I suspect that they will know a lot more about the process and the various pros and cons of where to have the truss rod adjustment., than a random selection of bass players. Besides I am interested in the process and hopefully I'll learn something from them.

You need to know what you need the compressor for. Is it for home playing, live playing or post recording processing? Each situation would require different settings and if ten of us from basschat used a compressor in the aforementioned situations you would have 30 didfferent settings exception would be @Dad3353 who is a drumner (the louder the better 😊). We all hear sound differently so your ears are the best tool the find the answer. Also , remember that there are other aspects that have impact on how you set up the compressor. If you do a little search on basschat , there is a thread or more about compressors in general. I own TC spectracomp which is extremely versatile. Currently sits in the box but I was never dissapointed with it's performance. Horses for Corses.

In really dull meetings I used to relieve the boredom by trying to write my notes with my left hand. I only got about 5% of the info down but the time went really quickly.

1. Because it looks ugly. 2. Because it's just as easy to put the truss rod adjustment behind the nut. 3. Because not every bass has a bolt-on neck.

Volume changes after setting the gain on a mic'd up cab!!!

Just a touch more sanding on the top with a large flat block to ensure good flatness and the top's then ready to be glued on. As you see, I've added the veneer in the f-hole chamber: It certainly gives the illusion of a deeper chamber than it actually is:

Non-parent here. *gloat*