Truckstop

I love GK gear. Sometimes I feel sad that I traded my old 400 away, but knowing that one day i'll own some more GK gear warms the cockles of my heart! Truckstop

Personally, when I have a choice to do so, I will not endorse irresponsibly sourced products. So, I choose to buy responsibly sourced coffee, clothing, chocolate etc etc when there's a choice and whenever it's practicable. When it comes to buying a computer with cobalt batteries and copper wiring it's hard to be a responsible consumer, but when given the choice between a product that may or may not be made from conflict/slave resources and another product that probably isn't, for me it's an easy choice! Anyway, strings make hardly any difference to your sound anyway, right? Truckstop

While we're here, and I know it's been done to death before, but how does 1 or 2 1x12's compare to 1 or 2 2x10's? Im looking to upgrade my cabs and im wondering what 1x12's can do that 2x10's can't and vice versa. Any help would be gratefully received! Truckstop

Oooh, I've never seen a blazer in anything other than Natural! Refinish? Any pictures at all? Anyway, thinking about it now, I think it's because I have a little gut on me that makes slab bodied guitars swing to the right. If you dont mind me asking, do you have a bit of a belly too? If so, then that could be the reason why! On everyone else they might sit perfectly! Truckstop

I quite like it when I see a band that rearrange a classic every now and then. Particularly if they take a quite slow song and turn it into a disco thumper. It can be funny initially but then it people realise it works too. Personally, when I play covers, I prefer to play it as close to the original (or rather, most popular version) as possible because we've most likley been booked to play songs that the customer knows. There's nothing worse than singing along to your favourite David Bowie song (Modern Love, if you care!) and then they throw a solo in place of the chorus or something! Truckstop

Hmm, now you mention it my Blazer also seems to gravitate to the right a little too. Further thinking on the subject reminds me of how my old 54' Precision (MIJ Sting RI model) also did that too, so maybe look into the '51 and '54 RIs they're excellent basses and if you're prepared to spend another £50 you can upgrade the pickup to a delano or Seymour Duncan jobbie that IMO sound much more versatile and crisp. Truckstop Ps, aren't Blazers just awesome? How do people spend all that money on MIM Fenders when you can pick up a Blazer for around £150?!

Love the school desk guitar! Really quirky, but quite smart at the same time. Truckstop

5ers are always tricky. Like someone else said, you just need to try lots to find one with a feel and tone that you like. B's can vary wildly between different manufacturers. In my personal experience, Yamaha TRB's have had consistently good B's through the years or if you got more money, Dingwalls have simply stupendous B's thanks to the scale length. I initially made the jump from 4s to 6ers thanks to the ridiculously small string spacing of the Washburn XB600 I bought. Subsequent 6ers and 5ers I tried with 18mm+ string spacing I've always struggled a little with (with the exception of my Fender Jazz 5, amazingly enough) so I dont think that you should focus on 5ers with similar string spaces that you're used to, you might be missing out big time if you do! Truckstop

Bought Theo's Spector NS2-b (well, he was selling it for a mate!) the other day and was well happy with the whole transaction. Easy to chat to, knowledgeable and was perfectly frank about any problems he'd noticed with the bass. He also held on to it for me for a few days until I could get to him/sort some cash out and was happy to do so. So, highly recommended! Cheers mate Alex

Just got back from Chippenham to pick my new Peavey Firebass 700 Whiteface from Chi and I couldnt be happier with the transaction. He held the amp while I sorted my money out and gave me a very good price. He was knowledgeable about it and offered to help out if I ever encounter a problem with the bloody thing (being a Peavey though, I doubt i'll ever need it!). So, full marks mate and I hope your monster 4x15 works out for ya! Cheers Alex

Oooh, I like Yellow - Coldplay and Dakota - Stereophonics. And whoever said All Night Long - Lionel Richie, yes! I also like to chill out with Dance of Eternity - Dream Theater. Truckstop

Hmmmm, interesting! Cheers, Luke! Alex

Well, I've just managed to complete my bass collection (got a P, a J and a P/J!) and I'm all sorted for amps (valvey goodness with the GEM and solid state loudness and adaptibility with the Firebass). I basically just want to sort out all my accessories. I want to get matching cables for everything, I want to buy my basses some good quality gigbags (probably Protec Contegos) and I want to get them all set up and serviced properly; The Fender and Ibanez set up for fingerstyle and the Spector for pick style. The GEM also needs a quick service as well as some new valves too. Also some matching straps might be quite cool. I also quite fancy a reverb pedal of some sort. But if I buy one of those, then I need to get a Pedaltrain mini and a gigrig Generator cos I already have a boost and a fuzz and Ill need to keep everything neat, so maybe not this year! But, maybe I just need an EBS Microbass II? Oh wait, I want a 6er at some point too. Maybe a Yamaha TRB or I'll see if I can find a turquoise Yamaha RBXJM1. Or, when I win the lottery, a Wood & Tronics Chronos 6... oh dear. Truckstop

^ Big time! Truckstop

Yeah, classy's a good word for it! Its a mexican so came with a rosewood board which I've decided to keep. I prefer the feel, the sound and I always find rosewood boards to look a little more subtle than maple which can look a little too clinical for me, especially if you cant get ahold of an old/aged one. However, if I ever see a Fender-style Ebony board... it's mine!! I'll take a few pics and put them up soon! Cheers Alex

Hello all, So, a while ago I went through a 'relic' phase and after spending nearly all of 20 minutes reading about other BCers efforts and Youtube videos, I decided to give my beautiful Jazz 5 (it was Olympic white at the time) a relic job. I had rather hoped that I'd end up with a sort of 'Herbie Flowers' look bass. Unfortunately, as you've probably guessed by now, what happened next was many different types of wrong. So, armed with some sandpaper and a hammer, I relic'd it. Doubtless to say, it looked dreadful. So I did what somewhat with absolutely no refinishing experience (or patience) would do, and decided to refinish it to its former glory. I bought some Olympic White paint and some lacquer and set to work. Many headaches later (for gods sake, work in a well ventilated area!) and lots of carpet ruined, I had finished! It was at this point I decided to just send it to someone who knows what he's doing. I got in contact with Ou7shined of Osprey Guitars after having seen some of his previous work on his homebuild threads and restoration jobs and we sorted out a price and then he set to work! The photos can be seen through the link below: [url="http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d67/ou7shined/Osprey%20Guitars/Truckstop%20-%20J5/"]http://s33.photobuck...kstop%20-%20J5/[/url] Unfortunately, the first few photos really dont show the level of my ineptness in their full glory. My efforts really did amount to nothing more than a complete disaster. Orange peel effect all over the place, I hadnt filled in any of the chunks I'd sanded or knocked out and I hadnt bought enough paint to finish the bloody job anyway! I initially wanted Olympic White, but Rich convinced me that Vintage White would look a lot more sophisticated and I'm very glad to say he was right! However, before he could start applying paint, he had to do loads of prep work on the body. He filled in all of the dents I'd put in and also filled a couple of leaky knots he'd found under the old paint with some veneers (something I hadnt actually asked him to do and wasnt included in the cost!). After much sanding, the primer was put on and then many layers of Vintage White was applied in order to get that lovely rich creamy colour we've ended up with. Rich then lined all the cavities with copper (this is something that Rich includes with ALL of his respray jobs; the benefits of this are espsoused in many threads here on Basschat) and fitted the bridge, control plate and pickguard for me. So, please enjoy looking at the photos and hopefully if you need something refinishing you'll look no further than Basschats very own Rich Lewis of Osprey Guitars! Cheers everyone! x

Might be tricky to do in time, but I'd rather record the basslines to a click and play it through the PA. As long as the dummer can hear the click (and can play to a click) it should sound a million times better than a bass generator. Record the tracks, load it into iTunes, connect your laptop to the PA and press play. Done! A very successful functions band near where I live dont use a drummer or a bassist, but have friends that record the songs for them and they just play guitar and sing over the top of the recordings. Sounds great as the bass and drums volume/EQ can be adjusted to the room and no mistakes!! Truckstop

Just learn to slap, that'll sort any problems you have with anchoring your thumb or finding something for useless fingers to do. Alternatively (and perhaps a little more seriously), I've taken to using my three main fingers all the time leaving my pinky finger sticking out a little. When I practice at home, I'll play the same riff with each finger individually and then I'll play more complex riffs using different variations of those three fingers. Keeps them all strong and helps with triplets, trills and muting. Truckstop

I go into music shops if I'm in a strange town with the missus and I see one just to see what they've got. I'm too shy to ask if I can try anything out and I normally just end up buying a strap or some picks or something to show my support for the trade. When I was at school I used to go to The Music Dept. in St. Albans at least twice a week. I must have well annoyed the staff but they were very accomodating for me and they let me try out second hand stuff. Which was fair enough I suppose. Truckstop