Fat Rich

Another Anthony Jackson classic line: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGM3MGhaTMg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGM3MGhaTMg[/url]

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1329964' date='Aug 6 2011, 03:09 PM']im with you... some of his lines are just jaw dropping...[/quote] Some transcriptions for most of AJs work with Chaka can be found here: [url="http://www.stevieglasgow.com/transcriptions_e.html"]http://www.stevieglasgow.com/transcriptions_e.html[/url] Haven't played them through yet but they look pretty good.

[quote name='Blademan_98' post='1329536' date='Aug 6 2011, 06:07 AM']But when it's my bass, and it has no pick guard, then I don't want the finish all scratched up by a pick. I don't use picks personally because I can't hold them any more. My guitars all have pick guards and if people borrow them, they can use a pick If bass players want to use a pick on their own fretless basses, I don't have a problem I probably should have made that a bit clearer in my OP. [/quote] Fair nuff! I tried a pick on my fretless and I think I like it.... I don't know if I'd have ever tried without this thread so thanks for that!

Good stuff! Move Me No Mountain was played by Anthony Jackson, along with a few other tracks on the album (Naughty 1980). Well worth getting hold of if you haven't already.

[quote name='Blademan_98' post='1328133' date='Aug 5 2011, 12:59 AM']I lent my fretless to a friend. He proceeded to take out a pick and play I told him 'NO' and took it off him. It may just be my personal opinion, but on no account should you play fretless with a pick! /rant[/quote] I'd understand confiscating your bass more if he was slapping it and risking damage to the fingerboard, but can't see a reason not to use a pick if you want. Not sure I've ever tried a pick on fretless, will give it a go later!

bass as in ass. Or Ar$e. Or something.

I've played plenty of pub gigs with my Status basses (although not recently), nobody paid any attention to the gear only to the music which is fine by me. I play the gear I play because I like it and it works with my playing style, if it gets bashed that just adds to the mojo of the bass. But I can understand if other people want to keep their posh gear safe.

[quote name='silddx' post='1319188' date='Jul 28 2011, 11:59 AM']Really appreciate that, Rich, thanks! I have had my drummers check my technique and they seem to think it's ok. The problem is, I play kit for fun, and a big part of that fun is the physical aspect of hitting them fairly hard I have no ambition to be anything but a home player, and I'll just get frustrated having the kit around if I can't really have a good crack on them. And the money will be useful too. Thanks again. N[/quote] No worries, just thought I'd better mention it!

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='1318943' date='Jul 28 2011, 07:20 AM']..... Almost any unmodified Wishbass[/quote] We have a winner!

[quote name='silddx' post='1318858' date='Jul 27 2011, 11:54 PM'].... The Just Dance vid is seriously bollock expanding. I just wanted to get straight on my drum kit and play along! Such a f***ing shame I'm selling it tomorrow. Found out I am developing arthritis and the impact on my fingers of playing kit is making playing guitar and bass painful. ....[/quote] Sorry to go off topic folks, but have you checked your technique holding the drumsticks? On a kit with rubber pads your technique has to be really good or you'll end up with all sorts of pain, it's not quite so bad on mesh heads but still important. It might be worth getting a few drum lessons and focussing on the hands before giving up and selling the kit. Drumstick material can make a big difference to the amount of shock that gets transferred into your hands, definitely stay away from carbon sticks or extra tough sticks!

On the low side of medium, but these days it's quite a way forwards too.

On a bass, music is on the E and A strings below the 7th fret. Anything else is just technique and should be avoided. Or maybe, if you're a great musician nobody should be able to tell where technique ends and music begins. For the rest of us it's usually pretty obvious which bits we're having to concentrate to play and don't quite flow as they should. [quote name='jakesbass' post='1316662' date='Jul 26 2011, 09:31 AM']Any notion of technique and/or best practice or for that matter any thought that is not just music, in an ideal world, would be dispensed with in[i] favour[/i] of making music. It is the point at which you forget theory, scales, chord tones arpeggios etc etc that you can hopefully let ideas flow, but it is worth noting that those ideas can flow [i][b]because[/b][/i] you have put in the practice and can therefore complete tasks without thinking.[/quote] But for me it's what jakesbass said.

Depressingly I just don't think there's an appetite for innovation in the bass world, and probably even less so in the guitar world. Just plug in a Strat, a Les Paul, P bass, Jazz or Rik because almost all of the music recorded in the past 60 years was played on these, and Leo Fender got it right first time, right? And basses should only have four strings because the first Precision had four strings (except of course Fender made a five string bass and there have been five string upright basses for years.). Attitudes didn't seem to be this way when I started playing 20 years ago. Players were interested in neck through designs, ERBs, composite materials, headless designs, the possibilities of midi, Transposing tremolo systems etc. but apart from some die hard fans none these design changes have caught on and affected the sales of traditional designs. To the point where some people with a bit of cash to spend on an instrument are prepared to pay big money for a Fender clone that is still basically a couple of bits of wood screwed together, fairly cheap material costs and almost no R&D costs as they're based on Leo's 50 year old designs. Even worse there there a a surprising number of people on this forum who are prepared to slag off people who play something a bit different, I've been told that I'm: having a mid life crisis / have a mail order bride / Alan Partridge (and his jumpers!) / have manicured lawns / a slap monkey / compensating for lacking in the trouser department... just because I choose to play a Status bass. I know some of this abuse was meant in jest, but really? WTF? I didn't join Basschat to hear this kind of crap, it spoils an otherwise great forum. Sorry, this has turned into a rant. Getting back to designs, I think graphite necks, Novax fanned frets, Torsal Twist necks and Lightwave pickups, Kubicki's interesting neck construction and low D system, and Gus' construction are some of the greatest innovations in the bass world but I think it's unlikely to make it into the mainstream. I'd like to see an onboard preamp system like a simplified version of the Musicman Gamechanger that allows me to store some EQ settings and pickup combinations that are accessible at the flick of a switch. But in the future most people will be playing a couple of planks of cheap wood with some vintage passive pickups.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1313201' date='Jul 22 2011, 08:33 PM']Is it the neck, the pre-amp, the pickup position?[/quote] Familiarity, pure and simple. I get the same feeling from my Status because I've played them for 18 years.... but not from my 'Ray despite it being a great bass.

It's a P bass, just play it and don't look at it! You've got plenty of other tasty basses to look at..... It's like walking over from your barn full of Ferraris and Bugattis and asking what colour plough would look good on your tractor. I can't even remember what pickguard my P bass has on it, all I know is it feels good to go agricultural once in a while.

[quote name='nottswarwick' post='1309346' date='Jul 19 2011, 04:47 PM']Just swopped the flats out on my MIM P as I was not getting on with them - and replaced with Elixir Rounds. I use ELixir's on my Acoustic Guitar, and they are great, lasting well and feeling smooth. These bass versions, whilst dear at £28, seem to be as good so far. Just thought I would share - the bass sounds very much like a Precision should. C[/quote] They seem to last for ever (almost) so they work out good value for money although they sound a little characterless in my opinion. I also had some earthing issues so I went back to uncoated strings in the end, no one else seems to have this problem though, maybe it was the static from my nylon underpants.

I'm sure I've seen people use stick on rubber feet like these: [url="http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=adhesive+rubber+feet"]http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=adhesive+rubber+feet[/url] I've never tried them myself, I think I'd be worried they'd come unstuck mid gig. No drilling involved although they might leave unsightly sticky goo when you remove them!

[quote name='Aero' post='1309653' date='Jul 19 2011, 09:04 PM']I'd beg to differ with the last comment. I get a great live P-Bass and jazz tone from my modded basses with graphite necks. I would say they do sound a little clearer though, with these active EMGs, when recorded. With passive pickups I can't hear much difference. For me , the main difference is in how they feel , resonate and respond to your playing style, and thats a matter of taste (Marmite anyone) I'd say theres more difference between using a through-neck or all graphite bass than a bolt on graphite neck. My Status 2000 is unforgiving when it comes to fingerstyle but it can do a good impression of most bassess Fran[/quote] Fair enough, I haven't spent much time with a graphite necked J, P or 'Ray and although I saw your Aerodyne at the London Bass bash it was too loud to hear it properly. Very tasty basses by the way!

[quote name='icastle' post='1309103' date='Jul 19 2011, 01:30 PM']About 25% [/quote] You would think so, but I would say a fair bit harder unless you've really got your left hand muting sorted. If you already play with a pick and have no problems you should be fine but I mostly play fingerstyle with a lot of right hand muting, and that pesky B string always wants join in unless I make an effort to hold it down. Might be because my five stringers have graphite necks and are a bit lively, more likely it's because I'm a bit rubbish at slap. Narrow string spacing can also be a problem on some fives although I was surprised to find that many Mark King aficionados like extra narrow spacing on their headless 4 stringers

Status only made a few dozen of them before Warwick's lawyers forced them to destroy the moulds after John Entwistle died. They're rare basses and Ox / Who fans will pay big money for them, I guess the seller has put the BIN price very high just in case he gets lucky. Personally I think it looks awful but I've never played one, maybe it's stunning!

[quote name='johnDeereJack' post='1307966' date='Jul 18 2011, 03:29 PM']The body of my Cort Curbow 5 string is made of finest Luthite! Luthite - Sounds like it could take down a Superhero at 200 yards! [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luthite"]Luthite on Wikipedia[/url][/quote] Interesting stuff, Wikipedia says it doesn't sound like any tonewoods.... so how does it sound?

My experience is limited to Status basses, I'd say that graphite necks have more bite and note definition than wooden necks. Mine have an astonishing amount of sustain and ooomph, and the harmonics really ring out clearly and are easy to find. I also find graphite neck basses seem to take on the character of the strings more than wooden necked basses, sounding very different if I put Slinkys, DRs or Hotwires on. The older Status necks are completely rigid and have no truss rod, they sound brighter and a bit clattery to my ears. Your technique has to be very good or you'll get a lot of fret buzz. The newer ones have a less rigid neck and a truss rod, you can add a bit more relief if you want but the neck is still very stable and doesn't need adjusting for climatic or moisture changes. I think the less rigid neck takes some of the edge off the sound but you still have lots of sustain, harmonics and note definition. Again you need a fairly clean technique but less so than for the completely rigid necks. There's pretty much no way you're going to get a traditional Fender / Stingray / Rik / whatever type sound out of a graphite necked instrument which is why I have a Fender for that. But for a modern sound graphite can't be beat in my opinion, shame it's so expensive! You can specify wooden fingerboards, rosewood adds a bit of warmth whereas the maple seems to give the bass more projection acoustically than the standard phenolic boards. This one is a graphite skin body with an alder core and has a more traditional sound but with a bit of bite: Hope that makes some sense!

Status website, click on "Information" then "Specifications" and you'll find the current specs. Don't know if they're the same as the Groove or Shark but I think it's only the really old Strata and Series II (early 80s) that had a chunky neck. [url="http://www.status-graphite.com"]http://www.status-graphite.com[/url] Thinking about it, the wooden necks were all 34" scale length as far as I know.... not sure if that helps.

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='1306780' date='Jul 17 2011, 04:16 PM']It doesn't cost any more to produce a custom made left hand instrument does it?[/quote] If everything is chopped out by computer controlled machines then probably not, if the shapes are cut and routed by hand I guess a left handed template has to be made. Or a left handed mould if you're using carbon fibre. Plus you need lots of mirrors in the factory to check whether it looks right Daft question perhaps but do the knobs work the opposite way round on a left handed bass? Or is that as daft as expecting the pedals to be the other way round on a LHD car?

[quote name='silddx' post='1305867' date='Jul 16 2011, 03:02 PM']I've heard nothing positive about Ed Roman. He's been described as an arsehole a number of times. It does look lovely though. Stack knobs were metal so these may be transition model knobs before they introduced the plastic ones perhaps?[/quote] Pretty sure they went straight to the bakerlite ones we're used to seeing. I suppose it's possible that since it's a custom colour the buyer also specified metal knobs at the time of purchase? But they've probably been changed, and since the ad clearly says "Everything appears to be original including pickguard, pots [b]knobs[/b] electronics etc etc." I'd be suspicious of the other bits too.