Leaderboard

Exactly. This is why the nation is getting its knickers in a twist. It doesn’t matter whether what you want to do fits whatever guidelines. COVID is on the up and we’re going into winter. Do your bit and do everything you can to limit unnecessary social interaction. I’m astonished why anyone would do otherwise.

A trip up to the north east included a detour to meet up with my old mate Captain John Morgan to pick up an early 90s three band Stingray. I had been chasing this particular bass for about four years, ever since picking it up after seeing the Captain play a gig in a bar on the banks of the Tyne in Newcastle. I had always asked him to give me first refusal if he ever decided to move it on, so I bit his hand off when he got in touch last week to ask if I was still interested. It is a deep wine-red colour with a rosewood fretboard, a six bolt plate and the old style bridge with the mutes still attached. John has installed brass bridge saddles, which seem like a great mod, but apart from that it is pretty much stock. It currently has a black scratchplate, but I have been looking for a s/h white one (mainly because I remember seeing a picture of Boz Burrell playing one like that back in the 70s). This must be the nicest Stingray to play that I’ve ever come across and has a great neck. I’ve had a couple of Rays in the past (a great natural 91 w/maple fingerboard and a pretty nice black 95 with the transition bridge with no mutes) and always regretted moving them on. I think that this one is going to be a keeper. Edit: I've just checked the serial number online and it was made in May 91

Ok I'll put myself in the firing line. I can't stand Jaco. Noodling noise pollution. Can't argue with the guys ability, but there was nothing musical about his playing. I don't get it.

Frankly I would not be going anywhere an indoor gig at the moment, as musician or punter

Adam Clayton??????

Slightly misleading title there. Should be "Bloke who played in AC/DC for a few weeks, 45 years ago, dies.... Stops anyone thinking that Cliff Williams has passed away...

Sad, so so sad that its down to splitting grains. I give up. Time to drink 🍺🍷🥃 Dave

This makes me uncomfortable, because the social comment in this thread is being driven by people whose posts generally I almost invariably agree with ... but here I'm parting company. So long as the discussion is being framed in terms of "do the right thing and nobody dies, do the wrong thing and all those deaths are your fault" then we'll get nowhere. That's trying to isolate and then exaggerate one aspect and one aspect only of this crisis. People die. They die all the time, and in enormous numbers, of a very wide range of causes. We now have a new cause, Covid-19, and quite rightly we're taking it very seriously. But far more people still die of non-Covid causes, and the Covid-19 deaths are running (even with the new peak) at roughly 1.2 people a day per million of population. Is that good? No, of course it''s not. Is that a catastrophe? No, of course it's not. The dreadful situation six months ago largely comprised the accelerated death of people who were anyway close to death, through old age or pre-existing illness. What does 'largely' mean? The most widely quoted official stat that I've seen (do please correct me if I've got this wrong @Beedster, seriously) is that 91.1% of the Covid deaths in the Spring fell under this heading. Is that good? No, of course it''s not. Is that a catastrophe? It may well have been for the many individuals affected, but only in the sense that every death is someone's personal tragedy. I'm nowhere near enough of a hypocrite to be shedding tears over the death from (basically) old age of complete strangers in Dorset or Dumfries. Now take a look at the personal cost other than death to the 68 million people in the UK who haven't died of Covid-19, almost all of whom will end up (in due course) dying of cancer, heart disease, stroke, dementia, etc. That's 68m lives disrupted and/or put on hold and/or stricken by debt and poverty and/or so many other things. [Straw man argument] Ah, but you can't put a price on life, and all the money in the world doesn't justify one death. [/Straw man argument] Does anyone actually believe that? Does anyone actually think this situation can go on for ever? Is anyone happy that we continue to borrow endlessly from our grandchildren to try to keep some people alive who would otherwise have died from natural causes? I am NOT claiming that there's a simple answer to any of this, still less that somehow I am the only person on the planet - or even here on Basschat - who knows the answer. What I AM saying is that sooner or later we will have to recognise that Covid-19 is out there in the general population, it's there for ever, it's highly unlikely that a completely effective vaccine will ever be found, and life must eventually return to some sort of normality. I feel no guilt about the thosands who have died, any more than I feel guilt about those who die in road traffic accidents, even though I drive a car and am therefore part of the problem. I wear a mask where the law says I must, I limit my social interactions (though in truth that has had little effect on my life, what with being retired an' all), I am not a Covid-denier or a conspiracy theorist, in fact I am the very model of a modern socially-responsible bass player, but I am also sick of Project Fear, of the deceit and incompetence of those who govern the country, of the one-sided hysterical nonsense that passes for debate in this country.

I totally agree, I was trying to explain the way the statistical modelling of disease works to a friend the other day, after she said, quote "As far as I'm concerned, if the government says six people can get together, so can fifteen, we're either in lockdown or we're not". I've spent most of my life trying to be socially minded, to do what's best for everyone, but at present my view with my family is 'look after number 1" because there are people out there who fail to realise that every time they ignore the guidelines they put themselves and, more importantly, therefore everyone they subsequently come in contact with, at risk, and I don't want my family to fall into that category. I had to take my youngest daughter to hospital in London last week, I was absolutely shocked by how many people ignore social distancing, mask wearing, number limits etc. And it's not just students, it was across the board. People who put playing gigs over safety should spend a few hours on a Covid ward, see that there are previously healthy people in their 20's, 30's etc on ventilators - some are there because they went to the pub by the way - and speak to the nurses who have to risk their lives treating them about their views on society's 'Oh but my case is an exception' response. The above in part a response to my anger that I was asked to play a 'discrete' gig recently by guys who should know better.

I've only managed 2 gigs (outdoor) since March. And now I've got 2 gigs offered - but they're both on the same b****y date! Sods Law. One is a dep with a club band, other is a jazz type gig in a new restaurant venue (good luck with that in the current climate 🙄 ) I've passed the club gig over to another local bassist who hasn't had a single gig this year, poor guy. Pleased to be able to offer it to him

Not quite a build diary. But I guess such an irreversible mod that it may interest others. I scored a relatively cheap 2005 Fender Mexi Precision on here with the explicit purpose of making a dual P bass. Having listened to many of these on various videos, I became infatuated with them, though not the price that many command on the secondhand market (especially the BC Rich Basses). So I decided to make my own. Here’s a workbench photo from my local luthier, who I asked to do the routing. I also had @KiOgon make me up the electrics, and scored some other bits secondhand on here. The main P/U is a Mexican P, the bridge is a secondhand Aguilar Hot P. Put on a secondhand Hipshot bridge as well. Dual V/T setup and series/parallel switch. Didn’t help that the pickups were out of phase to each other at first.....Had to flip the leads on the Mexi P pickup to get everything working right. I was confused until I figured it out though - the lows thinned out when I blended pickups, though each pickup individually soloed was fine. I thought carefully about the pickup placement and whether it should be reversed. I ended up putting the EA bridge coil at the location of the coil of a rear 60’s Jazz Bass pickup, non-reversed - controversial....but I didn’t want to reverse the main pickup, and I feel that both pickups should be oriented the same way after listening to a lot of dual P videos, so... Both pickups in parallel sounds great. The Aguilar Hot P is a little dark for my taste, though great output, and will be changed. I really like how the typical Precision character is kept by keeping the main pickup in usual location and orientation. Rolling in the bridge gives a meaty Stingray/Jazz-ish type flavour without really sounding quite just like either of those. I dig it. The mid scoop from both pickups full on together sounds good too; different place to a Jazz though. Bridge pickup on its own is meaty Jaco type tone with a little touch of more ‘quack’ on the D/G strings, due to the coil location. The amount of this can be varied quite a lot depending on where I play. I like it, others may differ. I never play bridge pickup solo only, so it makes little odds to me, as the blended sounds with the main pickup are what I’m after. Both pickups in series is a gloriously dark, middy, thick, rich beast of a tone. I think it would work great with distortion. It sounds fabulous with a pick. I can match pickup output levels with height adjustment but impedances of these pickups are wildly different. That may have an impact. I still have my sights set on a dual DiMarzio Model P setup - like the BC Rich basses of old - we’ll see how that sounds when I test it. I also plan a swap from rosewood to maple neck - rosewood just sounds a little dark for my taste, at least for this bass. The joys of modding!

The tiny Genzler Magellan 350/BA 10-2 rig has grown with yet another BA 10-2. Now it is just small. Ol' Steinie leans on the rig for comparison. From this... ...to this...! Perfect for small stages and/or my upright...

Hi Bass Chat members, Thought i'd introduce myself as I'm new here after searching for an SEI Flamboyant bass. I was a beginner bassist in the 90s and never progressed beyond the house apart from a couple of jamming sessions. I had the chance of joining an amateur band and turned it down regrettably due to lack of confidence. Anyway, I still have my Status Graphite Energy headless bass and Trace Elliott amp (AH350SMX with the blue neon light!) and a Trace 15" bass cabinet, as new due to never being out of the house. Due to marriage, the rig got relegated to the garage. luckily the bass and amp stayed indoors... 20 years went by in the blink of an eye and now my daughter has moved out, I've brought the bass cab back indoors. I want to start playing again, and it feels like starting from the beginning. Looks easier to learn nowadays with all the online stuff, including lessons and bass tabs that are available. I used to do it by ear, badly and it took forever to copy simple riffs. I'm checking out Scott's Bass Lessons, Talking Bass.net and a looking at my old scales manuals. I've also signed up for a course on Udemy's web-site. My original influence for picking up a bass was Bernard Edwards of Chic/Sister Sledge and the 70/80s funk scene. I used to go and see Acid Jazz bands back then at Band on the Wall, Boardwalk and PJ Bells in Manchester. Also Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai, that sort of musical style. In truth, I like anything with a funky bass line. I stumbled on this site looking for a SEI Flamboyant (headless). I don't need one but just love the look of it after seeing one in Bass Player magazine 20 years ago and I like to collect things, even when I can't afford or play them come to think of it! They get rave reviews for quality build, but look quite rare and hence expensive. It seems like a nice reward to buy one once I can do it justice, if ever ; ) Looking forward to the journey and listenting to your advice in Bass Chat. Cheers, Tony

I have a teal one, I think you let yours go too cheap, mine has been my only bass and has been gigged for many years, still in almost mint condition, don’t think I would ever consider selling it.

Hm. The wanted bump button is an add on and I guess it hasn’t been configured 100% correctly. Might make sense if everyone can bump in that forum so I’ll have a look...

I’m retired from that game now 😎

Reaper. Even the licence is cheap, but it seems they'd rather you keep 'evaluating than get a cracked copy and slag them off based on faulty software! I fully intend to buy the licence once earning again. I've been using it.. you can get as complicated as you like, but there are endless YouTube tutorials, including by the developers themselves.

Now that we're out of EU we'll probably go back to old money, real weights and measures and proper feet and inches. Nane o that new fangled metric nonsense. Can't wait to go back in time and live in the 3rd world again. Dave

Me!... No... wait... I thought it said 'Slightly overweighted bass palyers'...

1lb is 7000 grains of wheat, which is why our 'murican friends weigh their gunpowder in grains. I'm lucky in that my stingray only weighs 0.15 bushels and is 0.0000651073 Wales units in size.

Me! No........ wait..... Nobody says I'm good.

The most dangerous drug I believe is still technically Aspirin! Points taken, but there are always arguments the other way, for example THC effects the brain extremely quickly compared to the effects of nicotine, especially in adolescence, which is where it is most problematic and is associated with serious problems as little as 10 years later in some people. As you suggest, data can be a double edged sword, it depends what question you're trying to answer by using it Jack, speak to any decent consultant and they'll tell you that medicine is not an exact science by a long shot even with diseases we have known about for years (BTW more people still die daily from AIDS than Covid). You mentioned that you have spent a lifetime analysing financial data, lucky you, I've spent a lifetime analysing data on humans. First lesson I learned in my PhD, all data relating to humans are an approximation at best, completely lacking in value at worst. Nothing you have said is wrong, and this is the problem, but none of it gives us a chance of moving away from Covid. As a scientist, I have to conduct a controlled experiment to test a hypothesis. If the hypothesis is supported, we move to a more refined stage of the experiment and get closer to solving the problem. If however the controls are breached, it's back to square 1. In my view, the government are doing the same, they are running different controlled experiments to see what works and what doesn't (a process that absolutely DEFINES the history of medicine by the way, with the exception of the pure chance discoveries), but the controls are being breached so often that they cannot get a handle on what does and doesn't work, and square 1 is lockdown in this case. They have made a major error however; if I want to study a certain population, I need to either control it or know how to motivate/encourage it to do what I want. The government got it wrong, and on both counts. It's possible that this factor alone explains why the UK and USA have had things so badly given the resources (time, money and expertise) we had at our disposal to deal with it. Nothing you have said is wrong mate, I just think you're looking in the wrong places to apportion blame, or at least all of it.

Some PE: As awesome as ever!

When I said ‘chuck’, I was referring to the ‘collet’. They take pretty small bits, it just wouldn’t quite grip the one that was needed for the control plate. I’m happy with drill work in general having spent several years ‘on the tools’ as an apprentice, then installation engineer, drilling anything from small holes in safe doors up to big holes through safe walls. My nervousness was more around the fact that the holes I was making were very small and very close (almost on top off) the site where the old holes had been filled. As you probably know, when drilling half off an old hole, the drill tip likes to find the easiest route downwards. Fortunately all had been filled soundly and the new holes went exactly where they needed to be. No dodgy looking screw head angles for me 👍.

Another tip : use open strings to check your intonation. And get it perfectly set up by a true luthier. Forget the myth of the round wound ruining your fingerboard. I had my first dressing after 20 years of intense playing on a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard... And no it's never been epoxy treated.

I bought the Specials Encore a few months back. It somehow got put in a pile and completely forgotten, so I dug it out this evening and stuck it on in the car. Not what I was expecting at all, but all the better for it. A really mature sounding album, with very some Blockhead like funk, some very strong Fun Boy Three influence (great reworking of Lunatics) and some right on politics 👊🏼 Would have chosen Vote for Me but they haven't credited Ernest Ranglin for th eobvious borrow, so instead, another of the more reggae styled tracks, Embarrased By You. Whole album definitely worth a listen.

Hi Tony, and welcome 👍, nice rig you’ve got there , I had all my gear in the summerhouse and when my son moved out I turned his bedroom into a bass room, I’ve now got setups in both 😁

So in a follow up to my question about amp techs. I sold my Phil Jones to a lad in Liverpool, it hasn't been used for the best part of 2 years and has been sitting at my parents house. Shipped and received fine. Get a message later saying he turned it on, no lights. Left it plugged in for while and it came to life but not working as it should. Lucky for me he has been quite reasonable and got it in to an amp tech - capacitors gone apparently, and due to the supply situation he isn't sure when he would be able to get the parts 😑 The guy is really keen to keep it so going to take it to another tech to see if he has the parts or another idea. Just feel like a prize idiot for not checking it before it got shipped off, now have the headache of trying to deal with this from afar and making sure the guy who bought it eventually gets what he paid for 😕

Well I’ve been after one for a while, spotted this for sale and after a few chats with @AndyTravis about what to look for and expect I bought it. Angry Ric he said. Absolutely spot on, man it’s killer and what a fat sound! Spot on for a bit Nirvana. Don’t expect to see it for sale, honest! It’s a keeper 😍 Look at it, round bottomed goodness 😂

Ladies & gents, It's getting to that time of year again, and it's going to be fairly odd for most people this year. Guessing pennies will be tight and I don't know about you, but I get bored writing an Xmas list each year (although doing an Amazon Wish List has taken some of the grief out of it). I've just released the following video on my YouTube channel to take some of the pain out of the process, feel free to send the link to your friends and loved ones and take some of the hassle out of the whole rigmarole! Stay safe and well dudes!

The prices have definitely risen over the last couple of years. I’ve bought and sold many, many Stingrays on these hallowed pages and a few years ago £650-800 was the going rate. However there are still bargains to be had if you shop around and eBay still seems to present a few if you’re willing to travel for the right bass.

Just posted some new patches.

Yep. Christmas Is great when you're a kid and then when your kids are little, but apart from that, it's a massive PITA. And don't even mention bloody new year...

I'd Rather Go Blind - Etta James

PM me. I may have a job for you. (Taps side of nose)

I can see this thread going down hill quickly

Good man for approaching it so positively. PJB are pretty good, I received replies from Phil in person, I'm sure they can help re parts?

If you haven't already got an interface, whatever you buy will come with a stripped down version of whatever DAW they're allied with. I bought a Steinberg because I'd previously worked with Cubase and knew it was dead easy. I did eventually upgrade to a 'better' version when they made me an offer too good to refuse, but I really didn't need to. The free version had pretty much everything I needed.

The OP’s budget is ‘up to £50’.....Just sayin’ 🙂

No..... that's Werther's.....

I got a little time today, so I've added some bass playing.

Presumably it will be exactly the same software that the use if stuff is imported from non EU countries at the present time. Or am I missing something?

This - in spades. The issue seem to be that people are all too willing to find loopholes to avoid being responsible members of society, the "I'm alright" brigade. It doesn't take much...be sensible, avoid unnecessary interaction, limit contact with others in as practical a way as you can. Sadly, this currently means that amongst other things I can't play or watch gigs but, you know, that's a whole lot better than being one of the 0.4% (or approx 360,000) of our population for whom C-19 could prove to be fatal. But back to the o/p's point - to me no, a pub band is not a professional band. My reading of the guidelines would indicate that music and the arts covers seated (or standing) professional performances in appropriate ticketed venues - not 4 guys playing yet another godawful version of Wishing Well down the Dog and Duck!

Entry to monthly basschat comp using the picture (chosen by last months winner, Douglas), as inspiration. They came with a message, in a form of sound we couldn't comprehend. Luckily a well known basschater called me and said " Nige, I've transcribed the piece and it's actually in 'E' ", with a 12 bar country feel". "Thanks Bilbo, " I said . "That's good coz I can do that stuff" !! Used the trusty tele, t-bird bass and just messed about with amplitude pedals etc. Mt drums kept a check and the diddy lpk25 did some soundy stuff whilst I warbled the vocals. All reapered and that's that !

One of these? They aren't great for the smaller diameter bits. They tend to wobble at the speeds needed for the smaller bits and the bits can break very easily.

I haven’t had much time to spare today, but the Fralin’s are now in, bridge is on, knobs are mounted onto control plate (they arrived separately) and scratch plate now has shielding tape on the back. When I tried to screw the scratch plate on, none of the screws wanted to go in at all. I put it down to a bit of paint getting in the holes, but then compared the new Fender scratch plate screws I’d bought with the old ones and found that the new ones were slightly bigger. They’re definitely right for this guard tho, so I’m not sure what the screws were that came with it. Dremel to the rescue once again - all holes widened 👍. The holes on the Ki0gon control plate are different to the ones in the VVT that had been on the body, so I asked David to fill the three holes when he painted it. Next job was re-drilling for the Ki0gon. I was just about to let rip with the Dremel when I noticed that the screws for the control plate were smaller than even the original scratch plate screws. Crisis averted. I sourced the correct drill bit from the garage, but it was too small for the chuck in the Dremel 🙄. Had to break out the big mains powered drill to do three three tiny holes. More than a bit nervous holding about that thing over the newly finished body; not for adding more scars to it, just worried about getting the holes in exactly the right position. All turned out fine though. Next job is connecting the pick-up’s and getting the neck on which is looking increasingly unlikely for tomorrow ☹️. All in good time I suppose.