Bass Awkward

Hello dafLewis. Could you please add me to the list for these? I play almost exclusively jazz pizz. - but I, erm, well, I [i]own[/i] a bow... Will possibly have to take these gigging if they are around for a week or so. They're going on a carved, modified Romanian flatback (yes, one of [i]those[/i]), with a mic/piezo setup for amplification. Will be very pleased to check these out. Cheers.

Hi there, So, I sat my Ibanez musician down on top of an audio jack... Now the jack input is fritzy. If only it had just broken the sodding cable. I've taken it apart, and tested the wires for continuity: the issue is within the sealed unit jack input. It's wiggly somewhere inside, and because it is sealed, I can't get in to bend the contacts and fix it. The problem in replacing it is that it's a weird one. A giant switch on top of a mono jack barrel input, wired with a couple of diodes(!) to earth. Including the rest, there are eight (!) pins on the sodding jack housing - presumably a DPDT switch, and, er... I can't find anything [i]nearly[/i] like this, anywhere, and given the wiring, I'm totally unsure about trying to reconfigure it for a SPDT switching jack. I've even bodged a fix for one of the preamps in these bases before, but this jack has me absolutely stumped. Borrowing an image from another thread - though for some reason I can't put this directly within my post: [url="http://www.talkbass.com/attachments/image-jpg.447479/"]http://www.talkbass....age-jpg.447479/[/url] Bought something like [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-4-Switched-Jack-Socket-Panel-Mount-Connector-JS01-/191347277226?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Audio_Cable_Terminations&hash=item2c8d2fbdaa"]this[/url] as a replacement... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Edit: Found a 9 pin input - fishman make one that is available through thomann.de, or there's a nice cheap one that Stewmac sell. These are fairly similar to the Ibanez part, and identical in configuration (and I suspect that the StewMac generic part is just rebadged for Fishman). It just means moving the wiring over, essentially identical wiring on a different part. Easy!

[quote name='muttley' timestamp='1392213182' post='2365991'] It's still driving me nuts :-\. Perhaps the mods can change the title and put those of us with grammar OCD out of our misery? [/quote] Driving you nuts? I suppose a bass with [i]frets, less [/i]- would be less likely to have a zero fret? Anyway... I think that the sinuses in my head must be choked up, or the codeine is deranging me. I was thinking of a semi-fretless, with only frets 1,3,5,7,9 and 12. I'm kind of disappointed by the mundanity. My tuppence: given [i]less[/i] [i]of[/i] [i]frets[/i], more options for different body designs at different scale lengths, and with different pickup spacings open up. Given more, and it is at least possible to get away with reading things for other instruments - not to mention to get out of playing things in the wrong spot, given that 15th and up isn't really accessible on a jazz for the lower strings. Also, a 21 fret design with good access to the lower strings in the upper register is at least as good as a 24 fret design with poor access to lower strings at the upper register for many uses. Given that the utility of that extra space will most often be felt for 'special effects' and/or whilst soloing - or in study of harmony, and parts for other instruments - it can be said that the space isn't vital - though it obviously is nice. And the fretless, or the double bass, they obviously have none, and get along fine. The double bass even has more range up top (if your fingers and thumb can manage). My conclusion: I wouldn't fret about it. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRFFFFFFFFFFFGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Sorry.

Bought a really neat vintage Ibanez Musician at a very reasonable price from Mike: he was patient enough to wait after I had a bit of trouble fiddling with PayPal, kind enough to hold the bass through that period - and he posted it off instantly on receipt of funds. The bass arrived exactly as described and pictured - if anything Mike had overemphasised the flaws in photographs so as not to oversell the thing. I can only thank him for a great bass. Cheers!

Are you leaving the bass plugged in (even to a loose lead) when not in use? That would run down the battery - sometimes whether the preamp is switched on or not. The next thing to do is pull the battery. Then the jack on the inside, with the continuity tester, or the ohmmeter on a multimeter looking for a short between positive and negative without a jack connected. Then check the little flex that sits on top of the 9v battery. Try flexing it a bit to see if the terminals short. Now try shoogling the preamp about to see if it is touching the conductive coating on the inside of the bass. And then despairingly go around the connections to the preamp, and see if any of them (non-earth/negative connections) short to the earth ring of contact surrounding the pcb. I suspect if it's not that, it's a diode. But someone with an electrical background may have a better answer.

Just a little aside - obviously I agree that you must fix any hangar to the full depth of the screw, preferably to a load bearing wall, else to the solid wooden join in a partition or false wall. Unless you have a Hofner violin bass, in which case Sellotape, static, damp paper, or blu-tack will more than suffice. Same goes for most short-scale basses, especially if they have narrow string spacing.* Additionally, Ikea sell PVC clad 'swing hooks' often in big boxes of 20, for less than a single Hercules clamp. Obviously, they're nowhere near as good as the Hercules, or similar sprung clamps - but if you have a lot of basses to hang up, or spent all your money on that last Zon, Overwater or Pedulla, they do the job in a pinch, without requiring additional screws as these are integral to the hooks. You'll still need rawl plugs for walls, though. *this information may be dangerously untrue and prejudiced by my irrational big-handed, fat-fingered hatred of rubbery-sounding loose-strung basses for children.

I was initially encouraged to sterilise a needle and thread it. Then burst the blister with the needle and allow the thread to soak up all the blistery goo. Quite what the point in sterilising a needle is, if you're going to use thread like this, eludes me. Perhaps if you dipped the thread in meths first? Or perhaps a hypodermic syringe would be the best way to evacuate the squidgy sludge. Mind you, having those just lying about is quite hardcore, and in any case detracts from the simple pleasure of manually sooking up blister juice. Anyhoo, I've had very few blisters since I decided to start turning up WAAY louder than sax players and guitarists, then adjusting my playing to be quite quiet. Not so easy playing acoustically, though.

Okay, here's what's missing: World music section.... Unusual meter section..... The world music section should be geographically subdivided, and the funny-meter section should cross-reference the other entries (most often, this'll be 6/8 dances from whereverywhere) - Thus: Unusual Meter -> Simple Time -> /4 2/4 3/4 5/4 etc. World -> South America -> Brazil Afoxe, Afro-Brazilian 6/8, Bahiao, Bossa Nova, Choro, Frevo, Forro, Maracatu, Samba, Samba Reggae, etc., etc. Within each of those styles, we could have a couple of examples of each sort of music, a little discussion of the common theoretical aspects from each and how their application can affect groove (i.e. clave 'modulation' in Cuba, or swapping upbeeats in Jamaica). And we can have similarly long entries to Brazil for Cuba, Jamaica, Argentina, Indonesia, Bali, China, Japan, India (subdivided to Karnatka and Hindustani) and so on and on and on. It must be worth it! Even Baron VonWasteland's heinous plans should not put us off!

Was that Zoltan, or Garry, Skej, or did I guess the wrong establishment? In answer to the OP, I'd go for Jacob's Ladder, but by Incognito, not Rush. The only good choon that bunch of scmoozy session pros ever did.

Any chance of a circuit diagram? And has anyone tried wiring up one of the [url="http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=33100.0"]Bartolini NTMB schematics[/url] kicking about?

About 9/10 of the basses you see in any situation, even in pits, will be 3/4. But still, it does have to be said, again, as others have said, that there can be a huge variance in basses size and shape, whether classed 3/4 or 4/4. Given that a lot of older basses are adopted from 3 string designs, and that the bass has one bout in the gamba and another in the viol, these variations are probably to be expected.