Leaderboard

Squier's an actual, proper name, from the Olden Days & everything: https://www.houseofnames.com/squier-family-crest The Squier brand originated in 1890 - string manufacturer V C Squier, which was acquired by Fender in 1965. Obviously what's happened is that The Internet has realised that a gross spelling mistake has been being perpetuated for several centuries, and using the power of popular usage of the correct spelling, predominantly through its Ebay instrument, is righting that wrong. This is, of course how all language evolves. In the future it'll be perfectly normal and acceptable to have a Squire base gitar with a frettles kneck and bone knut, fitted with upgraded turners. You'll need a chord to plug it in, too.

Is it still for sale? i may ask for photos....

Never been to a bass bash and this isn't too far away.... would love to meet you all.

Inspired to add a picture. Leaving out the Thumb fretless. Stage 2 1991 Stage 1 1991 Thumb 1989

Do you have any datums to back that up?

Or it's plectrum, or pick, or flatpick ... you can call it what you like. 'Hey Charlie, I've forgotten mine, can I borrow a pick?' 'Sorry I've only got plectrums.' 'You're a tosser ... just lend me one of your plectra.'

That's a whole big truckload of nope.

Hi Dazed, Your story does not sound much different than my own. In and out of playing due to work/college/family and so on. Now the career is good, family has grown and I have time to myself again. That is why I signed up to SBL. To relearn some of the forgotten stuff and to grow past where I was/am. I am not in a hurry to join a band but I want to play and be better at more than just pop, rock and country. So to the "Shed" I go! And like Scott says: "I'll see you in the shed" Best of luck (to the both of us)

Today I spent a bit of time looking at layout and making templates. The bass is going to be 33", so I've reduced the overal size of the body slightly, and because the bridge will be right up againt the edge of the body (to improve balance) I've also re-worked the lower horn a bit to allow access to the upper frets. For the pickups I'm going to stick with traditional positions for both the P and J pickups. For the P that's 84% of the scale length away from the nut, and for the J in the 60s position, 92%. I also prepared the neck blank. It came from David Dyke and it's fantastic. I cut out the neck and thicknessed it down to 20mm and it didn't move a milimetre. Look at this for symmetrical grain.... Tomorrow, neck pocket.......

Well I wasn’t expecting this much feedback, many thanks to all that have commented so far! My reasons for posting were to gauge if people had used the lessons, improved, and felt there was a worthwhile improvement from the financial outlay. I know from my own experience, good and bad, you only improve by putting the time and effort in but also focussing and not wasting your time widdling (guilty). I started off as a child, aged 8 or 9, playing guitar and having weekly lessons at school. The lessons definitely helped - good teacher. I gave it by senior school and a couple of years later picked up the bass and taught myself. I’d learned to read earlier on guitar to an ok level but over time stopped reading and learned everything by ear. I played with a large brass swing band for a year or so and realised my reading was pretty awful! Instead of practising reading I left the swing band, although my girlfriend at the time also sang in the same band and her leaving influenced my decision. Looking back I should have stayed with the band 😂 but that’s another story At 15/16 I started playing in bands, mainly original material with the very occasional cover gig. Of course at that age I was too cool to have lessons and carried in doing my own thing for 7 or 8 years, slowly getting further into a rut and not really improving my playing, knowledge, theory or reading. At some point in my twenties I had a few lessons from a quite well known bassist/ guitarist/drummer a very talented musician. The problem was I didn’t know what I wanted to get from the lessons and as we were friends, the lessons became more of a coffee and a chat. He did teach me about modes, which I vaguely remember and occasionally practice them. Life became busier as it does, music became less important and the bands I’d been playing in fell apart or imploded as we all moved onto other things. I stopped playing for a long time, ten years or so, bands and all the politics had left me with a bitter taste. For whatever reasons I kept all of my gear and eventually the urge to play returned. Anyone who has been through this will know the feeling of joy but also disappointment that your abilities have severely diminished! This brings me upto the last chapter of my playing, the now slightly rounder shaped, more disposable income, post mid life crisis, bedroom noodling, accidental bass collector (yes I do blame BC!) attempting to learn and actually understand what I’m doing. I haven’t really progressed with any theory or reading, though that is still a goal and I haven’t yet found enough courage or nerve to look into playing with other people or in public, but I haven’t complete ruled it out either. Through other tragic life events I’ve found myself with vast amounts of time to fill. A while ago I went back to what I enjoyed and set myself a few tasks of things to learn by ear. As much to keep playing as to help me through a massive depressive phase, which it really did. Sticking to a rough schedule of daily practice I did make a lot of improvement, surpassing my previous form in some areas which was encouraging. Again things got in the way and that all tailed off. So here I am again, staring at my collection of more money than talent, giving myself a bloody good serious talking to, to get rid of all those shiny things, but keep a couple and concentrate on the playing . If you’re still here reading this, I thank you, you’re very patient and I have signed up to SBL. I may even post updates to publicly shame myself into keeping at it.....

Just want to say, Paul is a great teacher. He taught me at ACM many moons ago and I've returned for private lessons to fill the gaps in my knowledge. I point vaguely in the direction of what I want to improve, he has it all laid out on a plate waiting for me. I digress with something vaguely related, he ties it all back up. Couldn't recommend him enough.

The tinted neck originally intended for the yellow Jazz is now on “the P Bass that started it all”. Pretty happy with how that looks. The headstock on the paler maple neck has now been sanded back and re-lacquered with a new decal. Will probably leave that overnight before giving it a tickle with some wet-and-dry just to knock it back to satin rather than the high gloss it currently is. Took the opportunity to fit a new Tusq nut as the original one was pretty crappy plastic. Once the lacquer is dry I can get the machine heads and string tree fitted and complete the yellow Jazz build. Sadly I won’t be able to get it strung and set up until payday next week as I’ve got about a tenner to last me until then!

My definition of new music is 'music I haven't heard yet', which could be something brand new or something written 150 years ago.

😂 There’s actually something to be said for that…! I think it’s called the ‘limp bag’ approach, where you deliberately choose a lightweight structure (e.g. wooden building) to allow the low-end frequencies to escape the room more efficiently. In fact, mixing in a tent would probably be ideal. Well, some of the time…

So a violinist is really a violin player, a flautist is a flute player? A drummer is a drum player? A vocalist is a git voice user? etc etc etc.

First of all - 'Yeah! You CAN do that' I agree - given a specific and identical set of woods, dimensions, shape and electical componentry, then there is less scope for building in a little bit of extra sonic excellence on a solid body. Loads of scope in terms of feel and finish, but less so in terms of actual sound. There is, of course, always scope for tailoring those factors to an individuals needs and taste. With acoustics, every piece of wood all has it own physical characteristics. The experts in this field not only choose specific pieces of wood ( which the good mass producers also do) but then are able to tweak things to make that piece of wood do the best that it's physically capable of doing. And the difference that can make is quite large, as you can hear in the back end of the video. Bear in mind that his top was starting where my top has finished. So the guy in that video would be able to absolutely transform the way my own build is going to sound. And conversely, an amateur like me is capable of actually making it sound worse than when it started. The mass producers of acoustics therefore are looking to consistent woods, machined to a high standard to produce predictable and replicatable tones. Having said that, surely it can't be far away that someone directly links a vibration spectrum analiser to a cnc router to mechanise the present realm of the craftsman?

Have you tried giving the trussrod a small tweak (say 1/8 turn clockwise) to make sure it's under tension?

My Stingray only does one thing. I tried it as a toaster, a car jack, a ladder, a cheese slicer and a hammer... but it was totally useless so now I only use it to play bass.

I don't like to talk about it. And I hardly ever bother to mention that I am young and gifted.

I decide I need a compressor so I buy one, use it and then decide I don’t need it so I get rid of it. Then a year or so later I decide I need a compressor so I buy use it and then decide I don’t need it so I get rid of it. Then a year or so later I decide I need a compressor so I buy one use it and then decide I don’t need it so I get rid of it. Then a year or so late I decide I need a compressor so I buy... (repeat ad infinitum)

Well, I feel like browsing, so I thought it would be nice to compile a list of the various online shops selling vintage and used basses in the UK, or indeed the EU. I'll add your suggestions to the original post. Here's the list so far, in alphabetical order: The British Isles: Absolute Music (Bournemouth) Andy Baxter (London) AngelDust (Multi-location?) Bass Direct (Warwick/Leamington Spa) The Bass Gallery (London) Charlie Chandler's Guitar Experience (Hampton Wick) Classic and Cool David J Pym (Hungerford) Guitar Classics (London) Guitar Village (Farnham) Jimi's Music Store (Dublin) Live Music (Edinburgh) London Vintage Guitar/Hanks (London) Lucky Fret (London) Mansons (Exeter) Mudpie Music (Brighton) The Music Locker (Ripley, Derbyshire - by appointment only) Nicks Guitars (Wetherby) New Kings Road Guitars (London) No.Tom (London) Oasis [Musical Instruments Ltd] (Ringwood) Promenade Music (Morecambe) Really Great Guitars (Ombersley) Rich Tone Music (Sheffield) Some Neck Guitars (Dublin) Strung Out Guitars (Glasgow) Tommy Twang's Guitars (Glasgow) Vintage and Modern Guitars (Thame) Vintage 'n' Rare (Bath) West End Music (Ipswich) Wunjo Guitars (London) Continental Europe: Bass Classics (Somewhere in the Netherlands) Bass Club Paris (Paris, France - can you believe it?) Bass N Guitar (Somewhere in France) Guitare Collection (Paris, France) Le Guitarium (Paris, France) Guitar Point (Maintal, Germany) Guitar Select (Lyon, France) Hendrix Guitars (Lavagna, Italy) (Truly ungodly prices) Kitarapaja (Helsinki, Finland) Paul's Bass Matters (Nijmegen, Netherlands) Scolopendra (Bologna, Italy) Tip Top (Stockholm, Sweden) Vintage Guitar (Oldenburg, Germany) Vintage Guitars (Rennes, France) Woodstock Guitars (Aarhus and Copenhagen, Denmark)

So the Panda Future Impact was brought out as the successor to the much loved Akai Deep Impact but with significantly increased processing power. It combines effect processing blocks with synthesizer blocks (oscillators, filters and envelope generators), and can deliver Moog-esque synth sounds with a big low-end. It has 99 presets compared to the DI's nine (which actually feature as the first 9 presets on the FI as a nod to its predecessor), as well as a desktop PC editor, 128kHz sample rate and MIDI in/out. It is, for sure, spendy new and s/h ones get snapped up pretty quickly. Here's something a bit more informative from Zach Rizer. I'll stop blowing this pedal's trumpet now

Is that white foamy stuff from the excitement of meeting a pick player? Or is it a more Macbeth Murder scene

This one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MusicMan-Stingray-Bass/253819405618?hash=item3b18d0c532:g:63QAAOSwK0lbdtd2

Now that's a nice 'un. Easy to see where Zon got the Legacy body shape from Seems to be the groundswell of opinion is heading towards a, shall we say, warmer and more vintage-y sounding instrument. Fair enough but not my personal cuppa char.

Maybe that’s what I want you to think. One day you’ll be lazing in bed on a Sunday morning only to catch something with your big toe, only to find you’ve kicked a synth stick and triggered a tsunami of octave filter mulch that’ll give you diarrhoea

So lucky escape for us all then

Hi Johnny, Great diary of two marvellous builds. Great job really enjoyed. Well done! What lacquer did you use on the head stock?

He says....not all of us have your toolkit, experience or skills. 😃😃

Some people are so plectrumy

This. Is. Special. Love your work Andy

Dub Step was a fad that happened ten years ago... so if you hear it now it's either an old song or way past it's sell by date. Code Orange, Beartooth, Deafheaven, Greta Van Fleet - loads of great rock music still out there. Just don't look out for it on Radio 1 or *gulp* Radio 2.

Does the resultant beanstalk have heft? 😄 In my defence, I did manage to return my Cali 76CB comp to the store for a refund...

Indeed they are - afraid I'm not but wish I was. They sound very Steely Dan mid/late 70s to me but what they do is great fun as well - there's a live version of Dean Town where the audience sing along with the bass part - who said no one listens to the bass!!!

Love mine to bits & it has all the volume I'll ever need too.

A quick shot showing the frequency response of Pete’s Room in blue (currently untreated) and my own room in red (heavily treated… like a padded cell) for the sake of comparison. What I’m trying to illustrate here is that although there are obvious differences, you can achieve very workable acoustics just by getting your listening position right. It’s by far the bulk of the battle. The region where you really need acoustic treatment to make any kind of difference is from 100Hz and down; and it's an exponential curve with steep diminishing returns. The lower you go, the more time/ money/ effort is required to make any kind of difference (those very low frequencies are burly and brutal!). Getting things under control down to 30Hz is certainly where I spent the most toil. Throughout the mids, however, both rooms respond very similarly. This is why thin layers of acoustic foam and hanging carpet on the walls, etc, are next to useless: they just dampen the mid and high frequencies (that typically require least treatment, as we can see here) and do nothing to tackle the low end (where the biggest peaks and dips are always found).

I use and would recommend TI Jazz flats, you will find that some of the string has to be wrapped around the tuner post but because they are so flexible this will not cause any issues. Tonally I just find them superior to any other string out there, articulate, decent sustain for flats, good mids, a little growl available too but they are definitely a flatwound in tone, none of this cobalt flatwound that sounds like a round nonsense.

I'd just like to say that I agree with the OP! 🙂 I especially don't understand dealers who miss-spell - what kind of impression does that give if they don't even know the name of the product they are selling?

This

Hi, I use these flatwounds on my s/scales, they're not too over polished in feel to the finger and have a good deep tone.

Dear Basschat, meet Thunderblackstone.....

No no no! It was Huey, Jooi and Louis ...

Its the Bison they use inside

A few recent additions to my board has inspired me to give a bit more thought on better ordering my chain and I've reset my board as follows: 2 inputs (AB-Y) [allows easy switch e.g. between electric bass and EUB] -> Compressor [Cali 76CB] -> Octaver [Valeton OC-10] -> Synths [Matryoshka & MB SS] -> Gated Fuzz & Drive [Mastotron & SA Aftershock] -> Filter [SA Manta] -> Modulation, EQ & HPF [Zoom MS-60B] -> output / amp Somehow managed to get them all onto my Metro 24, which was a relief!