mcgraham

I think there's been quite a few little advancements that help to perfect an already pretty good design. At the end of the day it's an electric bass guitar, i.e. a longer scaled fretted electric guitar. Beyond better/improved construction with better quality materials, I can only think of a few more things I'd like to see. I'd quite like to see more preamps with a headphone jack out, i.e. an onboard preamp that allows you to hear your instrument without a rig. Electric violins have this, some electric guitars (e.g. traveler guitars) as well, even some electric pianos! It seems a fairly obvious design option considering that the bass is an [i]electric [/i]instrument. Perhaps more transparent pickups/means of detecting motion of the strings? Forgetting about what sells and what people expect to hear for a moment, consider that in dealing with sound signals, it is useful (not saying best as it depends on mixing purposes, at least in music) to start with a 'pure' signal first, and then effect it after achieving this. You can't reintroduce something accurately into a sound that wasn't there to start with etc. Some pickup companies have gone for this such as Q-tuner, certain active pickup companies etc. Oh and more companies producing basses with finger ramps! Mark P.S. I'm not saying that any of these things will take off, but I think that they are common sense ideas that I rarely see or hear about.

[quote]What it is not is randon noodling.[/quote] I would take issue with that statement Bilbo. I do love good jazz, but I would hasten to point out that jazz [i]can [/i]descend into random noodling even at the best of times with the best musicians, never mind musicians who are just starting out in jazz or who are prone to pretentious behaviour. I think we must remember that jazz is just an art form, and thus it is only as good as its representatives. Mark

I am sooo tempted by the electric guitar version. Particularly the 'Castar' as I already have a humbucker equipped guitar and a telecaster, AND it has a trem/vibrato bar. Genius! Mark

I look forward to checking that site out at home Bilbo (blocked at work; jazz = p0rn) I've been feeling the urge to throw myself into some more jazz standards recently, thinking about working my way through Scott Pazera's list of 100 jazz tunes that every jazz musician should know. I was also reading an interesting article/blog that someone wrote about Coltrane's (in)famous piece 'Giant Steps'. The guy effectively broke down how it worked (at least a few ways to look at it) and set out the demands it places on the performer. [i]However[/i], he then proceeded to explain why he felt that the actually piece itself severely lacked in creativity, in that he felt it had been arrived at primarily by mixing geometrically laying out chords. Whilst it isn't always the most listenable of performed jazz, I enjoy listening to at least the original and relish the fun of playing over it. Mark

I'm of two minds about jazz. It's not that I can't make up my mind, it's more that jazz and more set/repertoire based music define opposite ends of the spectrum. Taken to extremes, the point of jazz can be said to be to serve the purpose of freedom, improvisation and expression of the [i]performer[/i], and the point of set/repertoire based music being to supremely execute a set piece of music as flawlessly as possible to a set arrangement, typically for the benefit of the [i]audience[/i] (saying nothing about what that objectively means, or what that arrangement may be). As Bilbo has said, jazz pieces can vary wildly in their styles of execution, depending on the mood they want, depending on the individual performers, how they listen, how they interact, how they play/don't play etc, it's heavily dependent on at least some spontaneous interaction between the performers, i.e. it is, at its root dependent on what the performers choose to do with it. And once you have even a slight bit of skill in this area, or a bit of appreciation for this, it is just so intense to listen to other performers and see where they're going with something. That is very exciting to me. However, as more experienced performers will tell you, when performing a set piece/arrangement, it is about serving the audience, to give them a great show, one that fulfills their needs as they are effectively your 'customers'. I for one love to hear songs that I've heard before when they have been excellently crafted and flawlessly executed, when an arrangement of individual instruments has been put together so that when they strike up as one there is a synergistic effect that exceeds the sum of its parts. Often, the whole point is to know what is coming so that you can feel the crescendo coming. That is very exciting to me. These ends of the spectrum are not mutually exclusive, but if you're more interested in expectancy of music in the latter, the former improv based music is less likely to hold your attention. If you're interested in the spontaneity and interaction of the former, it makes sense that rigid structure will be less appealing. Neither is wrong or right, they're just different. Also bear in mind that these aspects are only as good as their representatives, if a band/performer is crap, regardless of what camp they're in it'll be poor. All IMO of course Mark

Volume is an interesting one. To be honest as long as I can hear myself [i]clearly[/i] and the lead instrument (as most of my playing is based on improv and just following the leader whatever/wherever they may do/go) and/or vocals, I'm happy. I don't like things to be too loud or enjoy them being that loud unless I've got ear plugs; I have exceptionally sensitive hearing and I plan on keeping it that way. As a group, if you're tight, and you exploit your volume level by your style of playing you can work with most any volume level. As an individual, if you're playing tastefully and adding to the overall sound of the group/piece, you can get away with being a lot louder than if you don't do this. I don't mean this as in you get artistic license for being louder (escaping getting told off for being loud), I mean that you may find the sound technician actually wants you louder than you would expect, at least relative to the rest of the mix. Mark

It's an interesting idea, although the induced eddy currents in the string are incredibly small and highly localised around the position of the magnets; therefore I'm really not sure how much signal (if any!) you'd get at the bridge. Also bear in mind the massive difference in frequency range from lowest frequency to highest, so even if the signals did propagate along the string there'd be some real discrepancy/offset in frequencies once it arrived at the bridge... unless perhaps the magnet was located right against the bridge, but that brings with it its own issues. These are just my initial thoughts, I'd be interested to hear other's views. Mark

FYI it's not actually my bass, I had the one in question in my possession for a short time and I tried virtually everything adjustable to sort it. I lowered the pickups a full inch away from the strings and it didn't help, though I believe now that removing them from the cavities totally would be a good test (they were Nordstrand Dual Coils, powerful magnetic field by all accounts, if it were strong and inhomogeneous this could [i]perhaps [/i]introduce a virtual 'second' speaking length of string). It wasn't the strings as I tried two different sets, and in two different tunings (High C vs Low . Didn't affect it. As it occurs on all notes, in two tunings, with different strings, it makes me think it's not a resonance issue. I understand that bad resonance issues should present as a dead note or a couple of dud notes, but this was a total issue, which makes me think it's something like the pickups or bridge. Mark P.S. The bridge was also swapped out in experiments for a different one, issue still remained. Tres bizarre no?

[quote name='6stringbassist' post='319800' date='Nov 1 2008, 08:13 PM']I've heard of this sort of thing with LaBella exposed core strings, but it's not something I've personally experienced.[/quote] Likewise, but it wasn't this. To those who've said amp position, I heard this acoustically and through a headphone amp. Mark

Those are my thoughts as well. On one bass I've heard it get worse higher up the fretboard, but it existed all over the fretboard to a lesser degree the further down the neck and the higher the strings. I lowered the pickups to about an inch away from the strings but it didn't seem to affect it. It was acoustically audible as well. There are only four things that (I can think of) that can affect a bass's sound on all strings on all notes: pickups, bridge, the bass itself, and the strings themselves. If the pickups are too powerful that could account for it, and it's the most likely culprit, as the sound I'm referring to sounds like a constantly dissonant harmonic(s) superimposed on the sound of the bass, almost as if there was another speaking length of string sounding at the same time. If the pickups were creating that 'imaginary' secondary length it could explain something. However having lowered the pickups and it not being substantially affected left me puzzled. The bridge could have a weak witness point, leading to an incorrect/inconsistent speaking length, but I imagine that other problems would present themselves as well. The bass itself would mean a resonance issue, but this should be damping of notes, not the introduction of additional harmonics into the sound. The strings themselves is plausible, but only at the very highest frets on the highest gauge strings when the string cannot resonant in an ideal way. But I can't account for it occurring even on an open B string. Mark

Are they indeed? I shall check that out! Mark

I so wish I could see the images at work. And I don't even have internet at home. Rubbish. Mark

Looking sharp! It's very brown! But also very exotic. Reminds me of a Carl Thompson crossed with a Benavente. I'm not so keen on the relative narrowness of the body where it joins the neck though. I realise it's a 9 string and you need to make it manageable, I'm just commenting on the aesthetics. Have you had a chance to try it out?

I've noticed on a number of basses, typically the higher quality ones, that certain instruments have a bizarre sonic artefact that sounds like 'warbling'. This seems to occur most on the low B and E strings, rarely the higher ones. Every time you play a note, something like a dissonant harmonic also appears to be sounded on top of the note you just plucked. Sometimes it's the result of unsuitable taperwound/exposed core strings used with the bass and the string just isn't ringing true. Part of me says that it's the wood combination, but then that should produce one or two wolf notes, i.e. odd notes that match with the resonance of the bass. Another part makes me think it's the pickups, as they are the only thing that affect the vibrating length of the string regardless of what note is being played. Has anyone ever encountered this issue? If so, did you ever ascertain what it was? Mark

Bear in mind there are all sorts of things you can do to a bass's setup to change its feel. For example, you can have an (almost) completely flat board and a low nut height with saddles raised to give a certain string height at the 12th fret (or whatever fret you like), but you could also add some relief to the neck, same low nut height, and adjust the saddles to attain that same string height at the 12th (or other) fret. They will both feel very different, as the first (flat) setup will have comparatively higher action/string height the further you go up the neck, whilst the second will have comparatively even string height after the first fret or two. There was even an article with Anthony Jackson on setup where he advocated setting your bass up with a flat board, lowering the saddles, and then actually raising the nut so as to get an even setup over the whole board and also achieve the best intonation possible. Not sure I fully submit to the raising of the nut, but I concur with the flat board being a good thing. Mark

[quote name='Protium' post='316893' date='Oct 28 2008, 05:39 PM']Setting my precision up atm is proving to be a nightmare - can't get the action any lower than ~4mm @ 12th fret without buzz on/above the 15th fret [/quote] Sounds like a fret levelling or the like is needed.

Practically, with slightly higher action than your lowest action, you'll have a lot more dynamic range available to you, as when the action is low, the limit to how hard you can pluck the strings is determined by the height of the action. If you raise it, then you have a greater range over which you can alter your plucking force. Another 'advantage' (or maybe difference is a better word?) that I've identified as nice (for me) is that the strings are slightly further away from the fretboard (duh!). When they're miles away from the fretboard or it's tiring to play, it's not nice, but I find a little bit of extra distance makes me feel a stronger connection to the instrument. Particularly during hammer-ons/pulloffs/legato, it's very physically rewarding to be effectively physically 'plucking' and 'hammering' with your left hand, instead of just 'touching' your fingers to a higher fret or 'releasing' the string to a lower fret, which is the sort of physical reaction you get when you have a low action. It isn't as easy to play [i]at first[/i], but it feels very rewarding (IMO). Mark

[quote]- and here's my picking instructional thing - might give you a few ideas as well - but sadly I need to make another video covering muting - hopefully do that soon![/quote] How do you mute exactly Mike? Mark

Ohhh, I think I get when you mean... Do you mean like Oteil Burbridge looks when playing? Try searching for a picture when you've got the time. If you look at Todd Johnson or Gary Willis, they use the floating thumb and advocate 'holding' your forearm/hand in place by way of your shoulder, i.e. effectively holding it out in front of you rather than resting it on anything. It's just a question of how much one is doing it and whether it's painful or not. You say you play hard, maybe try lightening up and seeing how that affects the pain? If that doesn't help, try half holding your arm (as you're doing) and half resting it on the bass, i.e. have some contact between the forearm and the bass, but not placing the full weight of the arm on the bass. Does that makes sense? This is what I do and it helps me stay relaxed whilst keeping good form. You could also try bringing the neck side of the bass closer to your fretting hand and pulling the bridge side of the bass further out from your right shoulder to even out the way your hands approach the bass. Of course, I can't see you so you may be doing all of these things, but off the top of my head those are some suggestions that may help. I hope they do. FWIW, sorry about the broken bones bud! They sound a bit unpleasant. Mark

Everyone's posture is different. I don't pretend to be an expert on such things, but I consider that you've got to do what feels most comfortable, whilst bearing in mind basic understanding of the human anatomy to see what would/could cause damage in the long run. Also, people often forget that you need to re-evaluate what 'feels' comfortable as you improve and develop. What feels comfortable plucking root notes at 8ths at 80bpm as a beginner isn't necessarily going to be comfortable when playing arpeggios and complex lines at 16ths @ 200bpm at a more advanced level. I think this is often the downfall of certain players, being limited by what they started out doing and not allowing themselves to progress beyond that. What exactly is so odd about your posture if you don't mind me asking? Mark

Umm, not quite? Look at Bill Dickens, or Victor Wooten (as examples). They both have their basses (somewhat/relatively) high, their wrists are cocked with the underside of their forearm resting on the top of the bass. Due to the height of the bass and the cocked nature of their wrists, their elbows are inevitably bent up alongside their body. For me, even when my wrist is straight and I'm not resting on the bass, having a bent elbow introduces too much tension/resistance in my right hand movement. I consequently have my bass height lower than other bassists who are conscious of their playing (i.e. not just having it low or high for appearance's sake) in order to straighten out my elbow and help my arm and hand movement feel more relaxed. Mark

Jon does great work indeed. I had him build a new neck for my Geddy. He replicated it excellently with the small (but numerous) modifications I requested. It plays excellently now and I've not had to adjust the action once despite it being that thin. It's essentially a top spec J-bass now Love it. Plus one for Shuker bass. Mark

[quote name='bremen' post='315724' date='Oct 27 2008, 12:46 PM']What's that?[/quote] If you look at bassists who don't keep good form on their right arm, i.e. bent wrist and bent accompanying elbow, it looks remarkably like a chicken's wing. Avoiding this/mitigating this form is good to do! Mark