Fat Rich

[quote name='arthurhenry' timestamp='1378718887' post='2203495'] Simply move your belt buckle to the side (one loop to the left or right). Problem solved. [/quote] Or put your trousers on back to front if you don't mind being mistaken for a drummer.

When I tighten my belt up I look like a string of sausages, no way it's going to damage my basses. Older basses with thin nitrocellulose finish damage very easily after a couple of decades, the finish becomes very brittle and it doesn't take much of a knock to flake some off, particularly if it's got that chequered / cracked look to it. I think here on Basschat we're a lot of enthusiasts / gear heads and take extra care of our instruments, I guess there are plenty of working musicians who just use them and don't worry.

Tried a couple of terrible ones, no tone, horrific gaps around the neck joint and some really obvious blemishes in the paint. Also played a couple that were stunningly good, as good as anything Fender US and Japan have produced, maybe better. I'd always recommend trying before buying a Fender but particularly so with MIM.

[quote name='Thunderpaws' timestamp='1378449482' post='2200345'] Get your drummer to do a countdown....10.....9.......8..... [/quote] Good luck trying to find a drummer who can count past 4.

The next one.

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1377858889' post='2192807'] tried that thanks Rich but didnt seem to make a lot of difference - are you at the SE bassbash? i will bring it along an dyou can hit it with a hammer [/quote] Sure, I'll have a look. Maybe they need an extra nylon washer in each. I'll see if I've got some kicking about the place. [quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1377861036' post='2192853'] Struggling to understand this a bit. However good the bass, however tight the tuners, surely the ambient temperature will affect the strings directly? (All my basses stay pretty well in tune when kept at home). I did a physics degree, but I can't be arsed to work out what effect say a 20 Celsius change would have on a steel string. [/quote] I agree, metal strings will always expand in higher temperatures and lose tension (probably ). But the truss rod would also expand, seems unlikely that they'll all cancel out perfectly and the bass stay in tune.

I checked out a few of this guy's videos a few years ago and nicked some of his lines Really like his playing, not sure why exactly as there are plenty of other players who can do this stuff. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zqV2ymf4-k"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zqV2ymf4-k[/url]

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1377848912' post='2192591'] yes i am crazy and basses often stay in tune an old status i used to have never went even slightly out of tune it was awesome - the beat up old matrix i have now has slightly slack tuners and actually goes more out of tune than my squier affinity - TRB has gotohs too iirc and that is also very stable [/quote] You shouldn't be having any tuning issues with the Status, they're normally completely stable. You can probably tighten the small philips screws that fix the turny bit to the stem of the tuner and it should solve that problem and give them a firmer action and less likely to get knocked out of tune.

If it's late 70s would it have the plastic shim behind the plate? I know Fender was very inconsistent fitting them in the early and mid 70s. If the paint is damaged where the old screws were biting in the plastic shim might help to hide that.

I think it's because more of the body is in contact with the neck it's supposed to have more tone. Maybe more neck stability too, although I can't help thinking with a truss rod acting on a neck that's fixed on one side it's more to twist than a normal neck The main benefit is that no one will want to borrow your bass

Steinberger for me too. Anyone else take the pickguard off their Jazz basses in the eighties?

This is better: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN42uzNFVmQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN42uzNFVmQ[/url]

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1377689184' post='2190326'] Does extra sustain matter? I seem to spend a fair amount of time muting notes when moving across strings as well as trying to stop other strings vibrating in sympathy when I'm playing (poor technique obviously) but it's rare you ever hear a note being allowed to ring out so why is sustain so highly valued? [/quote] I think it's maybe less about the overall length of the note and more about the amount of volume in the first few seconds of the note. In other words how the note decays after the initial attack. I use to use a brass nut but I found the open strings a bit too clangy and alive compared with fretted notes, cheap old plastic that most guitar builders use seems to be the best solution for me.

You could maybe say vintage basses for investors, high end basses for enthusiasts, mid price basses for pro musicians.... but it would still be a huge generalisation.

Second hand prices of most high end basses are usually disappointing, I know I'm not going to get my money back when I sell any of mine... probably less than half. I bought them because they fit my needs exactly, not with one eye on the future and probably the custom options that make a bass perfect for me make it less appealing for someone else. Whether I qualify as a musician or not is another question

Some interesting players although a lot of it is a bit too slappy or soloey for me. There are so many other great players out there too that didn't make it on, no shortage of inspiration for bass players on the internet these days.

The biggest change you can make is to try different brands and types of strings, it's surprising how many people don't experiment. I was always modding my basses when I first started playing but now I leave them pretty much alone unless there's a problem. Because there are so many "upgrades" available for Fenders it's tempting to chuck them all on it, and then it doesn't sound like a classic Fender anymore.

[quote name='ashevans09' timestamp='1376838884' post='2179737'] Heya Thanks for the quick response! I've changed the battery and have never encountered it happening in passive mode. I'll be honest I did wonder if what you described was the issue since it seems to have really not agreed with some cables, but to my eyes it appeared (and felt) completely in the jack when it happened? Worth someone having a look at the jack input maybe? [/quote] Checking the jack is a good call, most active circuits use a stereo jack that's wired to make the power connection on the active circuit when a mono plug is in. If that part of the jack is faulty it may be cutting the power to the active circuit, but therefore not causing a problem running passive. (They're wired that way so the active circuit doesn't drain the battery when the bass isn't plugged in). Shouldn't take an experienced solderer too long to replace the jack socket, probably cheaper than sending it back to the factory, but it might invalidate your guarantee.

The Fodera Anthony Jackson Contrabass is wired straight to the jack, a snip at just $22,500.00.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1376229013' post='2171019'] ....... or you are using a very aggressive sideways vibrato (rather than along the length of the string) wear to the fretboard caused by round wound strings is overstated. ....... [/quote] Yeah, I try to avoid any side to side vibrato on a fretless, just roll my finger instead. Also check whether you're pressing the string into the board harder than you have to, you'll be surprised how lightly you can play and how much extra speed and stamina that'll give you.

Love the sound of a pick but I'm pretty rubbish when I try to use one. Check out some Bobby Vega vids on youtube, I dug out some slap tuition books and played the lines with pick (including all the muted notes) and it really helps improve your string skipping and accuracy. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r_kvjO7xsc[/media]

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1375512395' post='2162356'] Hi Rich I just got a reply from Rob they've all been on their summer hols [i]Hi Steve,[/i] [i]Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. The workshop has a summer break until Monday 5th August.[/i] [i]The board is original but we only used it for a very short time. It is a simple hi / low impedance buffer rather than an active EQ.[/i] [i]Best regards, Rob Green[/i] [/quote] Aha! Learn something every day

Just watch yourself playing it, where your forearm rests polish it with T-Cut to thin the finish and eventually go through it. Same thing where it sits on your leg when you play sitting down. Where you rest your thumb, wear that area out too...maybe even the top of the pickup you rest on. Round the lower edge of the fingerboard so it feels worn in. If you hook your thumb over the neck, round that off too. Lay it down on hard floors (if you're sure no-one will step on it) and it'll scuff the edges when you pick it up. Belt buckles, rings, etc or fake some damage where you'd expect to see it. If you play slap, scuff up the pickguard where you get your fingers in under the G and D strings. But don't expect the finish to flake like a vintage nitro bass, that happens because the finish has completely dried out and become brittle, with some timber shrinkage thrown in too.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1374869867' post='2154389'] Nope, that's a capacitor so I'm guessing that's the tone pot, not the volume pot. [/quote] Ah, um.... it's not my fault he posted the pictures upside down Was expecting the active circuit to be fixed to the tone pot, not on the volume pot so got confused. So the passive tone works with the active circuit? Seems a bit strange... have you tried taking the battery out and seeing if you still get an output? Maybe the circuit's been bypassed and isn't actually doing anything?

I think the "Pre CBS were great" versus "CBS were rubbish" story gave sellers an excuse to price pre-CBS high and create a collectors market. And now most of the people who want an old Fender have presumably got one, and with pre-CBS so far out of reach for most people it's rubbed off on the 70s and now even 80s instruments as they're becoming quite rare. I guess the same thing will happen with modern mainstream Fenders in the future, but probably not to the same extent due to the large number of instruments being made, the diversity of models and factories in USA, Japan, Korea, Mexico etc. As an excuse I reckon you could swing it As an investment you'd need to get a bit lucky choosing an unpopular model now and hope that it gets "rediscovered" and becomes sought after in the future. When you factor in the cost of insuring it, depreciation due to wear and tear, and the sheer length of time it will take to become collectable it's probably not a spectacular investment. But you do get a bass to play in the meantime.