Leaderboard

So I've found an album by Yes that I like pretty much the whole way through, appropriately enough The Yes Album. Funny thing is that while I find JA's voice a bit flowery in later albums, there are times on this album when it could almost be Sting (and did I impose my perception onto the music, or are some of the drums and guitars even a little Police-ish.....). There's also hints of early Plant in there as well. It's a bit 60's flower power at times, but that's no bad thing. As per the post above, Yours in no Disgrace and Starship Trooper stand out, I've Seen All The Good People is pretty decent, the almost southern boogie from 3.30ish was certainly not signalled by the rest of the song. One thing about this album is that whilst I prefer the songs and arrangements musically, the bass appears nothing like as prominent a part of the Yes thing; it's high in the mix and very well played of course, it's just not the key instrument it became later. It's been worth the journey, thanks y'all

Need to do some calculations to ensure I have the neck pocket exactly right, but to first 10mm is a tight enough fit I’d say. And neck is on straight too .... phew... Will finish next time.

Just bought this one to my add to my Tenor and Alto. It’s a 1925 Martin C melody. It needs a repad but otherwise very nice. Should be with me in a couple of weeks from the states.

It's a Aria RS-800. As per Wayne Hussey - Sisters of Mercy era.. A few bits of lacquer failing but nothing disappointing for a early 1980s instrument..

To get the full effect you need to hear one

On request, some pics of my battle scarred black Spoiler

Most fret slots are flat bottomed. The critical thing is that the slot has to be deeper than the fret tang across the whole length - even after radiusing the board - otherwise the fret won't seat. The fret is wider than its tang and so seats on the surface of the board and therefore follows any radius the board happens to be.

Ones that work; Sign o’ the Times - Prince Welcome to the Pleasuredome - Frankie Goes to Hollywood Sheik Yerbouti - Frank Zappa

OK guys the locks have been made and are getting shipped tomorrow! I'll be in touch soon RE payment!

Kerchiiiiiiiiiiing ...!! S2 Matrix 18v

Exterminate. Exterminate.

We get that quite a lot here - a good example is the owner of Grossman basses who insisted every bass he sold was ‘his own’ and ‘nothing to do with the company’ 😂

The first? I think not!

Just my opinion....... If you buy a pre-slotted fretboard, the board is generally not radiused and the fret slots will be a uniform depth. Many luthiers will use a specialist, thin circular saw to cut the slots and home builders often use the StewMac fret slotting jig, again both of these cut a slot parallel to the bottom of the fretboard and therefore when the frets are fitted, there will be a small gap behind the fret when fitted. You can get a guide that fits to a fretsaw to control the depth of cut. If you were slotting a radiused board then this would give you a slot that follows the radius. Does it make any difference? I have seen a website for a boutique builder (can't remember who) that claims these voids cold be heard but I tend to be a little sceptical and wonder if it did, could the vast majority of us notice and why do we always assume things like this have a negative impact. When a fret is fitted it is the bottom of the fret that is the contact area with the fretboard, the tang with it barbs is there to prevent the fret from coming out. Some folk will glue frets in that might fill this void, some don't. I think getting the slots in the right place as not to affect intonation is probably the most important thing and what we would notice if it wasn't correct. That's where accurate jigs like this come in. As say, just my opinion!!!

Decision time.... I am going for the individual saddle bridge. First one fitted, spot on, so now to get the rest right as well.

Swords of a thousand men , Tenpole Tudor A stomping 2 minuter that really does bring the house down

You’re one more stupid post away from a ban so be very careful or leave. Thanks.

what a genius tool - why have I never seen one of these before? https://www.hosco.co.jp/en/luthier-tools/wrenches/h-trw.html

Met Dave in Dundee outside Kenny’s Music Store. He declined cold hard cash and went for the bank transfer option, just in case...very wise. Had a good chat about all things Bass before heading home with a beautiful Spector. Good to meet a fellow Basschatter in person. Thanks again!

Very nice. Here are mine: Trevor James Signature Custom Raw Alto and Tenor (sublime instruments) and my much loved Mauriat Baritone and Soprano:

It's a great little amp.

it looks like someone took the saying 'you can't polish a turd' as a challenge

He was my favourite, always just pointing people towards his brand even if it wasn't what they were looking for 😅

Yeah... maybe save that one until February 31st.

Does work for me: Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues / Lyre of Orpheus. Not a mediocre song on it.

Yep, loads of Yes songs are like that. Long Distance Runaround always sounded a bit twee to me, for example... but when the penny drops... Give South Side of the Sky a bit of time - it's worth the effort. Excellent progress. Close to the Edge, Awaken, And You & I and The Gates of Delirium lie in wait... 🙂

Saw this beauty for sale yesterday 😭😭😭

Hah! Just got back from a long session in the studio, not about to go back down to check what I have on there, but happy to come back tomorrow. What I can tell you is that I have flats on the fretless II and rounds on the fretted III. I found the Magnum III to be particularly sensitive to string choice. Get it right and it just sounds immense, get it wrong and you'll wonder what the fuss was all about. When I bought the III it was in fairly ropey nick and the strings were very old, tired and corroded. And it still sounded unbelievable. I stuck some decent rounds on it (really can't remember which brand) and it was just 'meh'. Changed the strings for another brand - still 'meh'. Changed one last time and zing! There it was again. Luckily I have enough basses that I can always swop strings between basses, or find a home for a new set, if necessary. If I was bunging £50 at a new set each time, I'd have been getting a mite ticked off by the end.

It’s funny but I find that with live performances too, after 40mins my attention starts to wander, irrespective of how good the band are. Same with set times for whichever band I’ve been in, I always thought a 40min set was just about right.

Of course it's at this point that you will realise just how much the cab colours your bass sound.

One example where sustain is very useful is when playing a line originally written for a bowed double bass. An orchestra I play with has plenty of such numbers when fast decaying notes just doesn't work.

Here's my latest set-up 🙂

Just got this in the post so enjoying giving it a listen on vinyl for the first time.

It’s getting close to absolute zero.

And to the nut. I have to say that, now I've got over the slightly nauseating smell when you are filing a bone blank (and a mask is essential due to the very fine and dubious-looking dust), cutting a bone nut or saddle is a very satisfying thing to do. First stage was to cut it to length and file the slight curve at the two sides: Next, I used feeler gauges to mark a line a gnat's whisker higher than the maximum fret height: Then - with the spare strings fitted - filed the slots at the correct angle and spacing with my trusty Hosco nut files: Finally, filed the dropaway behind the string contact point for each slot and then took off all of the sharp corners: This allowed me to tension up the strings and try to play it a bit. Felt fine! Next job is the side dots using the last strip of green luminlay I have in my bits draw

The simple answer is no, it won't follow the radius of the neck. All the fret slot cutting videos I've seen show a cut straight across the fretboard whether it's radiused or not and it would seem from the replies above that the jury is out on this one. All the fret cutting jigs that I've seen, that are available to buy, only cut a flat slot.

"Cool, I like your Mammoth. What do the other 9 pedals do?" "Oh they're just empty boxes. I keep them there to stop me looking pretentious."

That sobbing sound you can hear is my new tiny pedalboard distraught at the idea that it might be 'pretentious'. A day old and it's labelled already. No wonder it's upset. But seriously... My tone isn't perfect by a long chalk, but this board gives me everything I need at the moment and I don't give a fffff what anyone thinks it looks like.

So it's now all about "appearances" for you and nothing to do with the sound you're after or the limitations of your budget? Because you want to make sure folk don't think you are being pretentious or a ditherer? Well this thread is a good place to start if you're needing inspiration on board size and content. Oh and the answer to your question is 7 😁

Both ads reported. I think we all need to do this, this way we may help some poor person not being poorer.

This could be helpful but he seems to have ahead and behind the wrong way round 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 It;''s instructive to listen without watching. It's not to hard to spot the changes but as he says in his comment it's easier to judge when the drums are behind.

I suppose from my collection the double album that has a good few let-downs is The Great Rock n Roll Swindle by The Sex Pistols. The tracks of them playing are good, but there’s too much other “filler” on it. I suppose it does actually live up to its name.

Not an original composition but Lordy isn’t Chris’s tone and playing off the scale good on this track. Wonder if it’s his 21 fretter Rick on here ? Steve Howes’ playing not too shabby either - well worth a listen. Play LOUD ☺️

6 bottles later and still no reply