fonzoooroo

I know about the "classical musician" debate, but if you already play left handed and have no interest in orchestral playing, a leftie bass makes sense! So... Issue 1 is the fingerboard. If you have a rhomberg bevel, you'd want it cutting on the opposite side - or at least deleted. If it's a thick 'board, that's no problem - If it's a thin 'board, it's a big expense - especially if you want ebony... Expect £200 for a blank, plus up to £100 fitting. If you're happy with a hardwood board, the fitting cost's the same, but with a £50 blank. Issue 2 is the bridge. You'll be wanting a new one, unless yours is excessively tall. ... Expect £100... Could be less, or much more if you want a top quality blank (blanks range from £25 up to the best part of £100) And with gut, nylon or low tension steel (4/4 on a 3/4 bass, solo strings at standard pitch etc) strings, you could stop there... it'll work... Performance won't be optimal, obviously, but it'll make sound... Less of a problem if you're amplifying. Regular steel strings may work, but I'd be less confident - especially in the long term, due to the tension. Otherwise it's: Front off (£50 minimum) Cut old bass bar out (£30 ish) Fit new bass bar (£50 - £100... I know that's a wide variation, but it's a "hours on the bench" job) New soundpost - (£20 - £30)

The car audio guys mainly gravitate to the stuffing from IKEA pillows. (Though I've never been sure why they're so brand-specific!) In a sealed cab, legend has it that a 30-50% fill has the effect of making the driver "think" the cab volume is 10% bigger than it really is. Obviously, this could be designed in, to make the cab smaller.

Some facts: It's the structure of the wood that dictates which way round the bridge is fitted. Only the luthier who first fits the bridge has to worry about that! Once fitted, there's a flat face (the back - facing toward the tailpiece) and a profiled side (generally stamped - though don't rely on that... I've seen some stamped on the wrong side, and some Chinese instruments have the bridge maker's stamp on the back, and the instrument maker's stamp on the front!) which faces the fingerboard. The BACK of the bridge (tailpiece side) should stand vertically (90 degrees) to the front of the bass. The bridge legs are "spread" whilst fitting (a couple of mm) so if all the strings have been removed and replaced, once the new ones are approaching playing tension, pulling the legs outwards (toward the f holes) slightly is likely to improve the fit (and hence how solidly the bridge stays put when playing heavily) Bridges fitted without spreading often move side to side during heavy playing. Having the feet re-fitted is the only real cure. If you don't want black marks on your bridge under the strings, lubricate with dry soap ("simple" or similar) instead of graphite. Use graphite at the nut.

Depending on whereabouts you are in Ireland: [url="http://www.belmontmill.com/uploaded/KeenanWeb2010%20version%20updated.pdf"]http://www.belmontmill.com/uploaded/KeenanWeb2010%20version%20updated.pdf[/url]

1/2 size double bass is 38" scale length, while 1/4 is 35.4 [url="http://www.gollihurmusic.com/faq/2-SIZES_DOUBLE_BASS_SIZING_FAQ.html"]http://www.gollihurmusic.com/faq/2-SIZES_DOUBLE_BASS_SIZING_FAQ.html[/url] I'd be looking at 1/4 size, though obviously, a string designed for a longer scale length will result in a lower tension... Most easily available would probably be Pirastro Piranito, but plenty of others available. What happens at the tailpiece end of your bass? The length of silk at that end of the string may cause an issue. A bar at the tail end says it's unlikely to be Thomastik strings that're fitted - they have ball ends.

I'd be thinking in terms of an acoustic one with a piezo, a mic, 2 volume pedals (or a blend pedal) then using the piezo output for wilder effects, and only subtle "acoustic" effects on the mic output. I built a solid electric cello a few years ago, and find it impossible to get a "natural" sound from... I can get bass-like sounds easily - just like the bloke in the video, but there's not enough resonance for a good, bowed cello sound. Even played through a line6 bass POD xt, it only really lends itself to clean bass, and heavily effected sounds. Useful when I need a [i]rock[/i] cello though.

1st one looks easy enough - you could take it on as a DIY job, or get a pro to do a cheap job on it. ... It's just a case of glue/clamp each issue. For the right money, it could be worth a punt. 2nd one is a "more trouble than it's worth" job I reckon - front off, gluing each crack then studding to reinforce inside... Probably a soundpost patch too... Every time I see them, I think what a bargain they'd be... I'd expect they would be worth about 1/2 the RRP once fixed... so the typical rockabilly style efforts need to sell for £100 or less. They never do!

+1 on these for the sound... Though if volume's your primary concern, I'd go for steels. Perhaps Spirocores?

Pretty much every aspect of the bridge is asymetric.... The "front" face (fingerboard side)is curved, whilst the back is flat. The feet are fitted *accurately* to the profile of the front of the instrument. As above, the string grooves slope downhill toward the tailpiece (to prevent string buzz in the grooves) There's no guarantee that the neck/fingerbaord will be perfectly in register, so revolving the bridge may not result in ideal action. Similarly, there are a lot of "standard" fingerboard curves, and whilst some are radii, others aren't, which, given that the bridge will follow the same curve, would result in uneven action on the D&A strings.

If you already play electric left handed, you'll be wanting to do the same on your upright. If you're planning to buy a "cheap" bass, it's probably most sensible to leave the internals of the bass alone, and simply get the fingerboard and bridge altered. Bass fingerboards generally have a rhomberg bevel under the E string, (though some don't) if you can find one without, go for that, as it'll save you the cost of a fingerboard re-shoot! (You'd want the bevel removing altogether, rather then re-cutting on the opposite side, as there's unlikely to be enough thickness to cut a new one on the "wrong" side of the 'board.) If the bridge is significantly too high, it'd be possible to re-cut it left handed. Otherwise, a new bridge (or the legs cut and new feet added) would be required. Going this route makes it reversible, hence easier to sell if you upgrade/decide it's not for you! The structure of the bass would be fine like this. (particularly if the bass is ply!) The sound would not be as good as it would be with the bass bar and soundpost positions swapped.... But it'd get you going for minimal cost. If you plan on amping up in the future, a bass modified in this way would probably be more than adequate. Clearly, to do the job properly involves removing the front (expense!) removing the old bass bar (not much expense) fitting a new bass bar (expense!) re-fitting the front (moderate expense) and a new soundpost (another moderate expense) in addition to the fingerboard and bridge work. Hope that helps.

These too huge? [url="http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/range/guid/EE4517B9-0807-4DC9-A665-3024CFCF808B"]http://www.machinema...65-3024CFCF808B[/url]

If the string has little/no left/right movement, I'd think it'd be fine. If in doubt, pick up the cheapest set you can find that are tapered, and try them. It'll either work, leaving you with a set of cheapie strings fitted and a definitive answer, or it won't - leaving you with a set of cheapie strings for something else (fresh set for something on sale day!) and a definitive answer!

I run a rack mount compressor ALL the time - 1 side compressing, the other limiting. My preamp's a POD XT, which gives me "whole song" effects, and different sounds for different basses. My pedal board rarely leaves the house... but when it does I've got Roland MIDI in there, which is lovely for "filling out" when the synth player does piano-y stuff for example, with swooshy stuff... I'd love to need to use the 'board more... It's just that folk rock and blues/pub covers don't need it!

I'd be tempted to either build a sleeve case for the preamp, and velcro to that, or at least velcro a piece of board to the top, then velcro the pedals to that... Either of those'd reduce stress on the preamp case.

still here...

You, Sir, are a star. Fantastic. Cheers.

Anyone know of any? Or something with silks that allow for oversize scale length? Reason for asking is I'm working on a mando bass, which is a 37 1/2" scale length. It came in with phos bronze acoustic bass guitar strings on. Sounded nasty - all tinny and top endy. I suggested electric flats, because if I fitted 1/2 double bass strings, the silk at the ball end would extend about 4" up the playing surface (It has a seperate tail piece, but close up to the bridge.) Snag with all the flats I've measured is the silk at the tuner end - it always seems to allow for a 35 1/2" max. scale length. (I've checked Ernie Ball, Fender, and Thomastik.) D'addario 1/2 rounds are silk-less, but I'd rather go for true flats. I'l point the camera at the instrument in the next couple of days and post on here - bit of an interesting beast!

Cheers for that - yes... PS2 and VGA

Bought from Maplin a few years back, used for a year or so, then plonked in a box. It's an "Aten cs-62B" if that helps... I bought it because I had a music PC that I specifically didn't want online, and a day-to-day pc that was... No idea how this'd get on with windows7 etc... I was using 98se and XP when I was using this. If you can use it, it's yours! I'll happily post at your cost, or you can collect from Coalville, LE67