velvetkevorkian

I have a week of the Mikado with a local Gilbert and Sullivan society and... er... that's it so far. Should really get off my bum and do something about that.

Could you not just leave it locked at both ends and unhook the trem springs inside the cavity- if its anything like the licensed Floyd Rose I have the whole bridge assembly can come straight out (strings still attached) and be set aside while you do the last few frets.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='705366' date='Jan 8 2010, 12:15 PM']Interesting! IMHO you would do very well to make guitar sound (really) good through bass cabs alone.[/quote] If you're using amp and cab modelling on the Pod then it shouldn't be a problem, I would have thought. However, why do you want a stereo rig? If its just for onstage monitoring surely you're not going to get the benefit of any stereo imaging that's going on, so a single cab would be better, would it not? edit- you should be fine to run the Pod straight into a power amp or active speaker. As long as the levels are matched correctly I don't think it should give you any problems.

The way I did it was... 1) Take strings off bass. Mask it to f***. Mark the top of each fret with black pen. 2) Use the file on each fret until all the black ink is gone and the fret is level. 3) Put strings back on, and test every fret on every string. File down a little more as required; I did bits of frets on certain strings where extra wear was causing rattles. 4) Strings back off, polish with steel wool. 5) Strings back on 6) ??? 7) Profit Couple of disclaimers- this is a very unscientific way to do it. You do need to know how to set up the bass reasonably well, so you can judge where rattles are caused by high frets and where its a truss rod tweak or a bridge adjustment needed. I did it on my cheap basses first, before my nicer ones (although I got the best result on my 7 string Conklin, in terms of the difference to playability it made). Also, it may not work as well if there's a lot of fret wear. There were visible markings on my basses' frets before I did them, but a bass with serious wear may not be an ideal candidate for this. Terms and conditions may apply. etc. The way I looked at it was that the worst result would mean a professional fret dress or refret would be required, which would be needed anyway; so I didn't have a lot to lose by trying That was a bit longer than I intended Hope it helps. Cheers

Nope. That said, not many of my musical idols have died, but I don't get attached to them like a lot of people seem to.

I don't think it can be beat for the price (~£100), its fantastic value for all the effects you get. I know other people haven't been too happy with the Vf-1's distortion but it does what I need it to do

[quote name='dood' post='705295' date='Jan 8 2010, 11:14 AM']Hey matey! Does the VF-1 do distortion and drive presets then?[/quote] Hi Dood, It certainly does. There are preset algorithms for both guitar and bass, with different options for each. The guitar ones have a variety of pretty common amp models/distortion preamps, while the bass one has "Ampeg" and "Vox" (I think) amp models, as well as a bunch of distortion box models. They work for me, although I use it mainly for home practice through my hi-fi and a bit of recording- not used them live yet. Maybe one of these days...

[quote name='bassjamm' post='704704' date='Jan 7 2010, 08:19 PM']That's great help thank you I've ordered some files off the internet, so that'll get me on my way I think. What grade steel wool did you use to polish them then? Thanks Jamie[/quote] It's marked "extra fine 0000-000". That's about as fine as steel wool gets as far as I know... Oh, one other thing- as well as masking the board and any bits of the body that might get hit, make sure you cover the pickups with something- I just used more masking tape. If you don't do this all the steel filings will congregate on the pickups and be a total PITA.

I did all my fretted basses using some cheap flat files from my local hardware shop and some steel wool. Wasn't a particularly scientific method to it, but it wasn't that difficult and made a major difference to the action I could achieve. The main thins are to be patient, to mask the entire fretboard off with at least two layers of tape and try and keep the neck as straight as possible while doing, so any high or low spots are more obvious. One other thing I did was to colour the top of each fret with a black pen- that way you can tell whether you've missed any spots, and tends to highlight anywhere the fret wear is particularly bad.

Elixirs have no wrap.

[quote name='EmaTheMirror' post='704473' date='Jan 7 2010, 05:30 PM']I've tried some solid-state TE over the years and I don't like them so much. IMHO they all tend to have a "gummy" trademark sound, no matter what you plug in them, very scooped, and sometimes I had problems hearing myself... I also think these solid state models don't have a great wattage/loudness ratio (I mean what's written on the amp compared to how much you effectively hear), plus I'm not a big fan of those "clicky" volume knobs I'm much more happier with the somehow related Ashdowns (different concept and sound, BTW); they have a trademark sound either which I like[/quote] Yeah, the signature TE sound (and what you get when you use the pre-shape button) has a big mid scoop (smiley face EQ curve)- this can make them sound quieter in the mix. Can't stand TE amps myself, never gotten on with the sound when I've used one:)

I dig the "5150 Drive" patch on my VF-1 for both guitar and bass, although I've now moved more towards using the "Hyper Metal" preset.

Thanks for taking the time to do this Major. On a related topic, do you have any advice for material in a similar vein for those who play 5 strings with the low B? I always get caught out by notes below E because I see them so rarely. Cheers.

Can you take tippex to the inlays to make them checkerboard also?

Bergantino's IP series are the most well known, while ISP Technologies also make them- both very heavy and very expensive AFAIK. They're quite similar to powered PA cabs in most respects which can be had for less, with more variety available.

That's pretty cool. Doesn't look like it will fit my basses though...

Works fine now- very cool!

"This page is not available"...?

I'm pretty sure it has been done (someone on TB did it a la Michael Manring) but it either needed a custom headstock or custom detuners- can't recall which. Having done some searching on TB it seems its certainly possible in theory and has been done in practice- the determining factor is how much space there is on the back of the headstock between the tuners; people have tried it on some basses (jazz type) and there wasn't enough space.

The Boss GT-10b is another option.

[quote name='Thunderthumbs' post='692589' date='Dec 23 2009, 09:17 PM']I've got one of these and it does a great job. It'll strip the outer sleeve first, then do each individual sleeve one by one.[/quote] That's been my experience too.

I've not seen many fretless 5s in that price range, so I would either be looking at getting a fretted 5 of your choice and defretting or keeping an eye on the classifieds here. I did the latter and got a good deal, but as ever YMMV.

A Sei single-cut (series 1, I think)- something like this...

Gambisk bought my DL-8- very prompt payment, no problems. Hope you're enjoying it