Fat Rich

What about black smoke and flames out of the top of my old Bassfex?

I have the same problem with flats / groundwounds, they're just too smooth. You could try Rotosound Solo Bass, they're pressure wound which means they're much smoother than roundwound but not completely smooth which make slides a bit more comfortable. Trouble is they lose their brightness pretty quickly in my experience.

Nice basses if a bit pricey these days, hate the scratchplate though, really fugly. Preamp is pretty uninspiring, noisy and thin sounding, you'll sound more like Marcus if you run the bass passive. I run mine through a Sadowsky outboard preamp with Fat Beam strings and it gives the full MM effect. Like the maple / white binding / mother of pearl blocks, although the blocks look a bit murky and not as attractive the original 70s Fender items. They can be a bit heavy but that adds to the mid range honk that gives them their sound, quality seems to be consistently good too. A real players instrument I reckon.

Really wanted a Warwick back in the early 90s but hated the neck. Never played a Rickenbacker I've liked, they look really cool though. Steinberger / Hohner stick basses, neat design but hangs wrong, uncomfortable when sitting down, shame. Gus Basses with the chrome round the edge, slips over if you play it sitting down and needs a rubber stick on strip to fix it. Although I still think they look like an accident in a sausage factory.

Yup, Wunjo now has two stores, one for bass and one for guitar. The shop has Bass Centre in big letters on the window, and a number of confused guitarists wandering in and asking where all the guitars have gone despite Wunjo Guitars being in the same place it's always been

I thought she played well but I kept expecting this to happen: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiKpEvUShtY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiKpEvUShtY[/url]

When I started out it was Rhythm Stick, I never had the chops to play it at the time otherwise I would've. Nowadays in a shop I plug a bass in and my mind goes blank, it's like I know no songs at all.

Graphite necks are great for harmonics, you might not like the tone of the bass overall, they're not for everyone. I've a feeling stiffer necks have something to do with the clarity of harmonics but I've never done back to back tests, there's probably too many other variables anyway.

Sell the Rockbass, buy a cheap fretless Ripping frets out doesn't always end well.

I figure that most amps these days can easily handle a low B so a five string makes sense. But the extra low notes don't work for all music forms, if there's a big difference between the bass and the rest of the band it can sometimes feel like the bottom has dropped out of the song, although that may be a desirable effect to achieve. Check out Anthony Jackson on this Chaka Khan song at about 2 minutes in, the contrast between the higher notes and the really low ones adds some tension / interest without distracting much attention from the song: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGM3MGhaTMg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGM3MGhaTMg[/url] I've tried six strings but I don't like the twangyness of the high c string, I'd rather get a fatter sound by playing the other strings further up the neck. But there are players doing great things on six strings that might inspire you play one.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1366386066' post='2051964'] While I have sympathy for the OP and am glad that the problem appears to have been fixed, what I don't understand is this apparent obsession by some people to remove bolt-on necks for no real reason. I don't own many instruments with bolt on necks, but in the 20 or so years that I have had them, I have had cause to remove a neck on two occasions only. Once was to add a shim to allow me to get action suitably low, and the other was to make a truss rod adjustment that couldn't be done without taking the neck off. Can someone please explain why there is this apparent need to remove the neck of bolt-on neck basses? [/quote] Apart from checking neck stamps on vintage instruments and truss rod adjustments where you can't get access it's probably best to leave well alone wherever possible. I think a few people will think twice after seeing this thread. Edit: Said the opposite of what I meant

Aww mate I've seen it happen a couple of times but usually with old chequered finishes or on really cheap basses. Not what I'd expect from Musicman tbh.

Very nice! I always find the phenolic board too bright and clacky, I bet yours sounds great with the rosewood.

[url="http://www.guitardaterproject.org/fender.aspx"]http://www.guitardaterproject.org/fender.aspx[/url] to start. If it's an old bass there might be a date stamped on the heel of the neck, if you don't mind taking it off. Plus we like looking at pictures so you could post some, then you'll have half a dozen different opinions to choose from

Mid sweeps can really mess up your sound as a scooped mid tone is nice on it's own but usually doesn't cut through in a band situation. I'd probably set everything flat to start off and just experiment with the pickup blend / volumes. Then experiment with a small amount of mid boost, only adjusting the mid frequency it boosts. I find that really changes the character of the sound dramatically and how it cuts through the mix. Then add any bass and treble to taste afterwards.

[quote name='iiipopes' timestamp='1366131201' post='2048774'] +1! Caveat: if the body is too light, you might have to change out the traditional tuners for ultralights in order to cure neck dive. But if the bass has already been "devalued" with the addition of a bridge pickup, then it's already a "player" bass and will benefit. [/quote] True, mine are all neck heavy. A grippy strap cures that for me.

[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1366116594' post='2048478'] ........ i realise i could never play a note 4 weeks ago, now i can play 10 different Pentatonic Scales, 10 Arpeggio scales, and know around 12 notes.Although not everything is locked into my memory, i am taking a little more in at the end of my days practice. ....... [/quote] To get this far in four weeks then you're doing something right! The thing about theory is that few players have a sort of "Bb Minor scale....chromatic approach..... tritone substitution..... minor pentatonic scale.... etc" running through their brain like the words on the bottom of a karaoke screen. And the few players that do will usually sound pretty uninspiring, I'd much rather listen to someone who barely knows what they're doing but is enjoying themselves because the music will probably sound better. They say that the best players have learned their theory, incorporated it into their style and then forget it all and just play. In other words what theory I've learned has put new sounds and ideas in my head that I wouldn't have heard if I'd just stuck to playing the same old patterns and shapes on the fingerboard. That's where the ear training comes in and helps you to get the sounds in your head out of your instrument (this is a lifetime's work ). If you can put the names for this theory to the sounds then you can communicate this to other musicians but I found I rarely had to do this. I'd say stick with it, accept that you're in at the deep end and you'll probably be fine. If you find you're going to your lessons having made no progress, then your tutor should be experienced enough to tailor your lessons to suit and keep you interested. If not, then find another tutor.... it's good to learn from as many people as possible as everyone has a different approach, although that's probably for later in your playing career.

[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1366044897' post='2047673'] I am learning the Bass.I get to points where everything seems impossible.I am trying to learn music, on top of trying to learn how to play, plus the tutor throws in roman numerals into the mix.Sometimes it just seems to much.I can play most of the scales, when it comes to how to play them, but if you asked me to play the Pentotonic Major, you would just get a blank stare, as i can`t remember what any are called.As soon as i see them, i know it.I have only been learning for 4 weeks, so i don`t expect miracles, it just seems too much to take in sometimes [/quote] There are plenty of people who've played for 25 years and haven't got that far into music theory That's not to say you should give up, you'll find one day it'll all click. I would suggest focussing on learning the note names on the first 7 frets of the fingerboard, and I mean really learning them so you don't have to think about it or count frets out from a handful of landmark notes you do know. Trying to remember theory while your mind is occupied finding the note names is like learning to juggle while simultaneously learning to ride the unicycle. You'll need to know the notes when you join a band too so it's the most useful thing you can learn on the bass. Ear training is useful in a band situation and helps to get you through when your theory fails you. Try playing the melody of a tune in your head on your bass, any tune you like... the theme from The Simpsons, The Sweeney, Baa Baa Black Sheep, whatever you like. Don't spend much time on it, don't worry what key it's in or what the notes names or scales are (Lydian Dominant for the Simpsons ). Get it so you can play it roughly right and then forget it again, and do the same with another tune tomorrow and so on. The first few tunes you'll spend ages finding the notes but I guarantee within a couple of weeks you'll be picking tunes out fairly easily, your fingers will start to know where to find the notes. This really helps you play what you hear in your head and also work out other people's basslines in records. A lot of bass players work out how a bassline relates to the chords but know nothing about how the melody fits the tune, if you can understand the whole song works then you'll get more ideas for basslines and fills and be a better musician, and not just someone who plays bass. Good luck!

Adding a Jazz pickup is a useful mod but it will definitely knock a lot off the value of the bass, even if it's been done well. On the plus side there are quite a few around and you should be able to pick one up at least £500 less than a clean vintage unmodified bass. Another thing to beware with late seventies Fenders, some are fearsomely heavy and have a scooped tone that doesn't (in my opinion) work so well in a band situation as a lighter, more middy sounding one..... although you can make them work with some careful EQing. In my experience the lighter the Fender, the more resonant it sounds and the better it fits in the mix.

Fumps is the Greatest Of All Time. Or GOAT for short.

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1366039084' post='2047582'] Thanks Want sound like John mcvie in dreams off rumours album [/quote] Trying to replicate a specific sound is very difficult, there are so many variables and the pickups play a fairly small part in that. I reckon it's going to be more about your playing style, the type of strings, amp / compression settings. Other stuff like body material, bridge, pickups etc. has a pretty small effect in the grand scheme of things

The Marcus Miller signature Jazz claims to have a 60s spec pickup in the bridge and a 70s spec in the neck (or is it the other way round?) so I guess there was a difference in the Jazz pickups. Don't know about the Precision though.

Yup, it's a handy little piece of kit. I wasn't so interested with the amp modelling than the chorus / flanger sounds which are really nice. I part exchanged mine in the end because it's a bit fiddly and got a Korg multieffects pedal thingy instead although I don't use it very often.

[quote name='zero9' timestamp='1365343858' post='2038247'] Have you eliminated changes in temperature / humidity? The bass may 'warm' up during a gig if it's come in from a cold car. Depends how drastic the tuning is out, however, small changes are entirely possible under certain conditions. [/quote] Particularly if it's got the oiled finish to the neck in my experience. My Stingray seems to be ultra sensitive to everything, it means I'm constantly tweaking the truss rod to keep the action vaguely consistent and the tuning needs to be checked pretty much before every song. I think the sealed / varnished necks are more stable.

Setting the intonation on a fretless can be interesting, some people say the saddles are usually moved back a little further (increasing the string length) than on a fretted. After a while I gave up trying to set my intonation scientifically and instead adjusted it until the higher notes were in tune where I expected to find them.