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Just acquired this…

In the illustrious words of Britney Jean Spears: Oops I did it again... Alan had an ACG 6/33 part way through build on the his website, I saw it, I wanted it, I sold my De Gier and I bought it (well, placed a deposit on it). It'll be a 6 string, 33" scale Salace E Type with an AI Holly fretboard, Ash body, ART maple burl top wood, 5K DFM pre-amp with an ACG RFB pickup in the bridge and an ACG PB in the neck. It'll have top wood dots down the neck with a triple dot at the 12th and 24th fret (if Alan can squeeze enough dots out of the remaining top wood). It'll be a set neck with Dunlop recessed strap locks, Hipshot Bridge and Gotoh resolite tuners with a matching headstock cap. Shaping up to be a right stunner! (As if Alan could even build anything that isn't stunning!) This will be the 3rd ACG 6 Alan would have built me within 2 years... Unfortunately I suspect it will be the last for a good few years, looking forward to taking delivery!

New to me anyway... it's over 20 years old. Brought from Danny at @bass_japan_direct I've use his pictures here as they do the bass justice. This is my first fretless bass in a while, and it's a beauty. I'd forgotten how much more tactile it is to play than a fretted instrument. Koa on Alder, with an epoxied rosewood fingerboard, with fret inlays, so I can get my Jaco on. No idea if it was originally fretless or not, but who cares. Edit: here's a demo of it:

I wouldn't use the term 'Dream Bass' but when I get an idea in my head about a particular bass I get GAS something rotten, the only cure for which is to get one - however long it takes. The worst example for me are Westone Pantera Deluxe X790. Bought it from the Netherlands and I picked it up. As beautiful as it was, it was a shade too heavy and I didn't like the nasal tone. Yamaha BB5000. Bought from Japan. Just didn't bond with it - too heavy, too. Gibson Thunderbird - didn't look right, neck seemed very long. I fear the latest victim is going to be the Guild B-301 that I drve half way up the country to collect. Absolutely beautiful bass that sounds awesome but I don't find it comfortable to play. Still unsure about selling it but at the moment it looks on the cards. My basic problem is that none of the above are Precision basses. I love Precision basses. I love the tone, I love the look, I love the way they feel.

Surely this has to be a scam? How does someone find an eBay item, find the seller’s address and then turn up claiming to be the person who bought it and have it just handed over?

Almost forgot the access hole, could have been embarrassing!

I really was surprised how mine kept gradually improving even after it was pretty much healed. When it was all signed off as okay to use, it still wouldn't straighten properly, a while after that (didnt' keep notes, just checked one day and noticed) you could barely see the difference between that and the same finger on the other hand. If you've got to where you are, I would bet you will get back to full use.

Yep, Carol is cool.

You don't have to be a great driver to want to own a nice car. You don't have to be a olympian to own a carbon fibre cycle. Why should you buy designer clothes when the high street will do? You don't have to leave a snarky comment when you could just scroll past. (yes, I see the irony)

I can't imagine I'm the only person to have to Google this to find out what you're on about. Just to help the uninitiated: Record Store Day is the one day of the year when over 200 independent record shops all across the UK come together to celebrate their unique culture. Special vinyl releases are made exclusively for the day and many shops and cities host artist performances and events to mark the occasion. Thousands more shops celebrate the day around the globe in what’s become one of the biggest annual events on the music calendar.

Of course it does, as a matter of principle - this is a hill on which many noble souls have chosen to die!

So, this is the wrong night to put my Pensa Jazz up for sale in the forum is it?

Looks expensa...

As a tour manager, who actually has to arrange these things for the artists and crew in the touring party, and has to manage the budget for making the whole thing happen, I'd be inclined to disagree. Whilst we don't need visas or permits for EVERY country within the EU, there's a fair few we do, and some come with stringent requirements, fees, and lengthy processing times, as well as interview visits to embassies, usually in London, for all applicants (which incurs travel costs and a day's pay for each person required to make the trip). Countries that don't require a visa still place a limit on the number of days you can work in said country per year. This might not affect you if you tour Europe once a year but if, like many crew or session players, you work with multiple artists and hop from one tour to another, you might find yourself in hot water when you realise you've used up all your days in one of the countries on the schedule. On top of visas and permits, there's now tax complications in each territory as we're no longer part of reciprocal schemes. There's carnets for your equipment which big tours crossing all of Europe would have had professionally arranged, but smaller DIY/low budget tours would do without and just not drive through the couple of territories which required them when we were members. They're now needed everywhere in Europe. I'll do my best not to delve in to the political aspects of a clusterfck that one third of the electorate voted for, as politics isn't my business. Touring, however, is my bread and butter, and it's been made more challenging, more expensive, more difficult to drop personnel in at short notice if needed, and generally more of a pain in the balls in many ways by our new status as a third country.

Well there is a Pensa for sale on Talk Bass. I like to be understated but this instrument. WOW. I played a blue sparkle 5 string Pensa once at the Bass Gallery and it was something really special..As soon as I picked it up it felt resonant. They are in Sadowsky NYC prices so unless I sell my Suhr and car I can't have one. for now.My bucket list bass is a Pensa.

Hi Folks Throughout all the time I've been on Basschat, which is 14 years now, I'd lived in West Sussex, where I've had some great times playing in bands/venues across the local Sussex music scene. As well as getting to know a lot of great musicians locally (including a fair number of Basschaters), I'd also gained a good knowledge of the venues, festivals, open nights, shops, luthiers etc that make up the Sussex musical world.. But very recently, I've moved to Central East Bedfordshire, which is quite close to the Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire borders, so I've kind of got to start all over again as it were. Which is where I'm hoping that what I often refer to as 'Basschat-Apedia' might come in so I can get a bit of a head start as to what's on, who's who and where to go so I can start 'A New Music Career In A New Town' (sorry - couldn't resist the opportunity for a shameless Bowie pun 😁). In terms of specifics, I'm in a town called Potton which is about 4 miles from Biggleswade and 10 miles east of Bedford. London is about 40 miles south of here down the A1 and Cambridge is half an hour away heading slightly North East.. Am really keen to hear about good live music venues, local rehearsal spaces, good luthiers and music shops... Whatever you can share will be much appreciated. 👍 So, thanks as ever for reading Folks and enjoy the rest of your Sunday! 😊 Nik

The best way to get better is to play with musicians who are better than you. If you play with guys vastly more experienced than you, then it’s going to be a steep learning curve on a lot of things – be it playing, writing, gear (hence your recent thread about buying a new bass) and performance, etc. One of the big advantages that you have if you have only been playing for four years is that you haven’t really learnt how to do things wrong yet! If you are in a band with guys who know what they’re doing then hopefully you will just get used to doing things properly, which will make you a far better player.

Often I'm the least talented in the room but it's rare that i'm not the best-prepared... this goes a long way! There's so much to be gained from playing with musicians better than you, and i find very little pleasure in it being the other way around. It honestly sounds like you are a great band member... but never be afraid to voice any considered opinion you do have, even if it comes to nothing!

In my first “real” band I was def the weakest member. But not for long. I wouldn’t say I overtook anyone but I soon caught up. Was a good learning experience, and I’d recommend it to anyone, it soon pushes your limits further than you thought and makes you more proficient on your instrument of choice.

Yes ..it seems to have worked a treat ...thanks guys!

Good thinking! Although knowing me, I'd forget to read the previous thread 🙃

The reason I do such detailed build threads is so I don't forget on the present build what I forgot on the previous build

Can’t any metal bands buck the trend and call themselves something like Sunday Lie In, Wholesome fun or Tea with Nanna instead?

Also the opposite can be true I’ve seen a few people here saying they weren’t impressed with a Sadowsky but if there’s one bass that I’ve consistently found to ‘come alive’ at a gig, then it’s one of these. May not always sound great to some people just playing at home or in a store but they seem to sit in a band mix so well.

Absolutely this. Plenty of scorn poured on people who sell their bass a month or two after a glowing NBD thread or review, but it happens. You can’t possibly truly know how you will get on with a bass past the honeymoon period until you’ve had it a bit, particularly when it’s a “dream”, you’ve planned it, bought it and want it to be perfect. I’ve certainly owned basses that have sounded fantastic at home/in ears, but when I’ve took it to a rehearsal/gig, had it on the strap for hours and heard it in the room/mix, I’ve been turned completely off.

I am finally out of a cast & splint during the day. I still have to splint it at night During the day the ring stops me from hyper extending the middle joint and the tape is to support the end a bit. There is quite a bit of droop on the end that probably won't straighten anymore, but at least I can type with my right hand properly now. I am also allowed to do very gentle playing with that finger as a form of exercise. Few minutes at a time, couple of times per day. Being in a splint / cast for 6 months means that the joints are very stiff and the range of movement is pretty small. I've gone from Colorado Bulldog to finding U2 difficult - all because of the stiffness of the finger. I have also discovered that all my callus has gone. This was after only 5 mins with flatwounds!! I can also hold a pen reasonably normally now as long as I've stretched. I have to stretch every hour. I'm also allowed to lift light things too - like a cup of tea. Still - after the way it's been going over the last half a sodding year, I'll take any improvement I can take. No idea if I'll be able to play with fingers in September when the band is supposed to be rehearsing again, but we'll see. Fingers crossed! - (I can almost do that now!)

My advice is get the manual loaded up on and take your time. The UI is pretty intuitive but a little bit of time spent understanding what the Stomp can do will be well served. Figure out if you need it to be an all in one gigging solution or an ex unit of both. It can do all these things and much more. Get familiar with the layout of the system so you feel comfortable making changes on the unit itself but don’t overlook how handy the HXEdit software is. It’s really not that complicated and you’ll be up and running in no time. 😊

OK, not a bass player (AFAIK), but...

That was the original intention, maybe I should have been more obvious! Here's another to get us back on track. You may think you're cool but you're no Carol Kaye (no further specification needed) Keep them coming (bass players preferred).

You mean the sort of transformers you can find in any old scrapbox?

I got my replacement wiring loom from @KiOgon in double quick time and it’s a fine quality piece of work. Truly plug and play once I figured out which wires were which emanating from my pickups. John kindly answered my questions about this and once I’d plucked up the courage to cut the old pots off I was up and running in no time. Much improved control now and the switchable series/parallel feature is a useful bonus.

This is as dodgy as hell. How did the scammer know the seller's address? I bought a double bass from eBay a few weeks ago. It was obviously collection only. I was sent a collection code by eBay which the seller scanned using his phone, as proof that I’d collected it. I had no way of knowing where to collect it from though until the seller sent me his address.

If paid by PayPal for collection there should be a Ref Number sent to you that the seller should check before handing over... Sounds like a Scam

😂

Walshy has a nan with a van he uses and recomends

Moved to post again on this most excellent amp / cab set up. Every time I use it I'm reminded of how perfect it is for my needs. I am not interested in entering a slanging match with those of you who dislike the Shape feature. It's a rehash of the Trace Elliot argument and one man's meat is of course another's poison. The crucial thing as far as I'm concerned with my little RM500 1X12 combo is pairing it with the 1X12 extension cab. It just comes to life. Room filling bottom end and perfect defined melodic midrange. I use the shape button (it's never off!) and boost the mid control to taste, then I'm nearly good to go - wherever I'm playing. The only other thing I need to do is dial in just enough 'grit' from the overdrive and my 'clean' sound is complete. I have had a multitude of amps and cabs in the many, many years I've been playing. I have an embarrassment of options today of all shapes, designs, makes and sizes. I confess I usually take this out to save space in the car and to save my back. However every time I do I end up amazed by how good it sounds. It's a belter.

Test fit of eyelet boards (one partly populated) and most front and rear panel components.

Yes - little by little it's getting there

So this started life as a fairly normal Harley Benton Jazz bass kit. However, yesterday I finally screwed the new iteration together and set it up. Man, this thing rocks now! Wilkinson PJ pickups, Wilkinson tuners and bridge, an Artec SE-2A preamp and a switchcraft stereo jack. The pickguard is from WD Music - their Blacktop Jazz model. I love it!

This...once I've found a band....

You just need to be better at multi tasking. Playing, singing and head butting simultaneously.

You want a decent priced CF neck bass, consider buying a used Peavey G-bass, or any bitsa with a Status neck.