BASainty

I'm looking to expand into playing Acoustic guitar as I think it will help me with song writing and also when I need to play unplugged gigs I don't have to get drowned out with my AB lol.

So I'm on a pretty tight budget, could anyone suggest a good cheap acoustic guitar?

I'm looking for a new strap myself, I need one that's pretty wide to help with my creaking back (im only 21 and already suffering with a bad back!). This thread has been really useful and I will go for a levy.

Where it beat to buy a levy strap? Also how wide can you buy them?

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1351535896' post='1852342']
I'm now a BB414 owner courtesy of 4StringFortress (thanks Ben).

What a fabulous instrument. I had a RBX a few years ago and really liked that, but went all Fender (and look-alikes).

The BB arrived Friday - and I gigged it that very same evening, with flats. So that's a totally new and unknown instrument, with strings I'm not used to. What an idiot I am.

Well, it turned out to be perfect. Got some roundwounds to put on it (thanks again Ben!). But god it sounds so good with these flats I may leave them on there a little longer.

Very nice indeed.

Cheers

Geoff
[/quote]

Glad your enjoying it yea I do love flats on BB's I will probably get a 5 string set for my 415. Just to let you know they are Picato flats, they are very nice quality and a reasonable price too If I do get more it will be Picato again.

[quote name='bzmnt' timestamp='1351350421' post='1850444']
I have used this serial number chart:


[url="http://www.yamaha.com/yamahaguitars/ElectricandBassGuitarSerialNumberSystems.pdf"]http://www.yamaha.co...mberSystems.pdf[/url]
[/quote]

Thanks for that, ive had a look at it and i cant make any sense of it lol, never been good at this kind of thing. If I give someone the serial number could they find out for me? Or explain to me how this chart works?

Is there a way of dating your TRB? I have a TRB-5 II made in japan and I would like to know when it was made.

Sold my BB414 for Geoff, Really great guy to deal with. Provided all the information I needed and fast to pay and respond to any questions.

Would happily buy or sell from/to Geoff again.

Cheers man!

[quote name='Gilby' timestamp='1351029623' post='1846533']
Is this still available ? Where abouts are you ?
[/quote]

It's currently on hold at the moment but will contact you if it goes back up for sale again.

Cheers for your interest.

Cool thanks I might have a look at these, I also ordered some Picato nickles see what they are like, I really like their flatwounds so thought I would give a crack at their roundwounds.

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1350997035' post='1845980']
There's quite a few companies doing nickel strings for less than £10, I've heard good things about the majority of them. Not so much on the Steel, you can't seem to find budget steel strings anywhere. I'm using Newtones these days as they are pretty good value (not in the under £10 league though) - especially when you can order custom sets
[/quote]

Ive heard the Newtone name bounced around a lot and they seem to be getting good reviews, how much are they? and do they do nickles?

[quote name='iiipopes' timestamp='1350914252' post='1844980']
I have used GHS Progressives in custom gauges 45-60-80-105 on my Rickenbacker 4002 since @1993. My body chemistry eats nickel, so for me nickel plated rounds go dead after one gig and stainless goes clunky after only a short time as well. The higher iron content keeps the strings from going dead, and the tone is between conventional nickel plated rounds (like GHS Boomers or D'Addario XL) and stainless (like Rotosound Swingbass).
[/quote]

I received my Legacy nickle wound bass strings today, strung a set to my BB 415 and so far I am very impressed, only cost about £9 from StringsDirect but they sound and feel like strings that cost much much more. They make my BB growl nicely with the tone turned down and nicely pingy with it cranked up. I guess the real test will be when I start gigging with them, see how long they last. I still might try out some nickle and iron strings see how they play.

[quote name='TRBboy' timestamp='1350723692' post='1842620']


Yeah the vintage white was my favourite, but the orange metallic was quite cool too. I later upgraded it with a Gotoh bridge and an Aguilar OBP2-SK preamp with stacked treble/bass. Aguilar fitted with virtually no modification!
[/quote]

Oh that's cool how does it sound now with the preamp and bridge?

Speaking of bridges I'm thinking of upgrading my BB 415 with a new one to help with sustain on the B string (every other string is perfectly fine). Anyone got any suggestions?

When ever I see any acoustic sets I always notice that the guitarists normal have some help from the pa by placing a mic by the guitars body, if that is acceptable I would expect that it would be fine for me to take a small amp with me or go through the pa when ever I need to crack out my acoustic bass.

Thats cool been looking into fender strings they seem good value, just ordered a set from amazon for £10 with free delivery! cant go wrong with that lol .

Ahh cool cool I won't touch the string height but I do need new strings which would you guys suggest?

Ok cool thanks

Is it possible to lower the action on an acoustic? Or not advised?

So I've had this bass hanging around for ages and I haven't touched it within this last year.

I would like to give it a good going over and start using it more now but im not sure if its worth my while, has anyone had any experience with these and could advise me?

Ideally I need the string height to be lowered, the strings to be changed, someone to look at the electrics and generally give it a going over.

The specs are as follows:

[size=4][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Topboard: Solid Spruce
Back & Side: Mahogany
Neck: Mahogany
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Bridge: Rosewood
Soundhole's Decoration: Mahogany Inlayed
Back Center: Mahogany Inlayed
Side Board Binding: Mahogany Inlayed
Fingerboard Binding: Mahogany
Fret Wire: Nickel
Machine Heads: Diecast Chrome
Upper Nut: Bone
Scale: 864 mm
5 Band Preamp E.Q. Shadow P7[/font][/size]


Bare in mind they only cost around £200 to buy brand new, this is why im not sure if its worth me spending any money on it or just buy a new one.

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1350552753' post='1840327']

The RBX with DiMarzios for sale on here at the moment for £185 (I think) would be perfect!

[/quote]

+1

That would be a perfect bass for what you want, 4 string, slim fast neck, very well built and killer sounding (especially with the Dimarzio pickups)

Currently in an originals band with a few of our own versions of covers thrown in.

Thanks for the help guys I thought I would go for the Legacy strings as I've seen a lot of good reviews about them and they apparently last longer than rotos and for the price I dont think you can beat them, looking forward to trying them out!

[quote name='skidder652003' timestamp='1350719198' post='1842564']
i use strings direct's own brand (Legacy) nickels cos
a) theyre 8 quid a set
not as harsh (some say zingy) as steels
c) some say they're actually unbranded roto's
d) they sound fine and can be replaced regularly without breaking the bank.
[/quote]

That's cool man how long do they normally last you?

I've seen quite a few bass tutors round these parts having to stop doing lessons or concentrate on teaching other instruments now as they are struggling to get work out of it including my old bass teacher who really great.



Also I would say that the lessons I had with him helped me massively and improved my creativity 10 fold. I started off for a year playing on my own and I was quite happy with myself being able to bash out a tune or two and was coming up with my own little bass lines... But I quickly started running out of ideas on what I could do, so I thought I would get lessons and it was the best decision I ever made, I mean I'm a pretty creative person anyway but there is a limit to what you can create when you don't have much knowledge on bass techniques and all that. It didnt take long for my playing to go to a whole new level when my tutor gave me the extra knowledge that I needed to go further and now 6 years on I've never looked back since.

I wouldn't say having lessons gave me creativity, you either have it or you don't its not something I think you can learn but my tutor gave me the knowledge and techniques that I was able to apply to the creativity that I had, that is why I think having some tuition is important, you can eventually learn that stuff on your own but why not take advantage of the knowledge and experience that will be past down to you from a tutor?

Ahh ok cool thanks for the advice.

Has anyone tried the nickle with alloy 52 strings? They are meant to be more durable and because they have a more magnetic property are meant to give more of an attacking edge and stuff.

Has anyone used them?

[quote name='TRBboy' timestamp='1350681579' post='1842371']
If we're posting playing pics with our BB's, this was me playing my BB414 at our Stag and Hen party (Pimps and Ho's theme!) back in 2008:

[attachment=121568:stag and hen.jpg]
[/quote]

Loving the white BB! It really brings the colour of your jacket out
I didnt even realize they did a white BB414 this is shocking... I feel like I've let myself down

So I want to have a go with some nickle plated roundwounds but never using them before I am unsure on how they compare to stainless steel.

What are the differences between the two types? Also what string makes would you go for for nickle?

Just received this little beaut today:
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[sharedmedia=core:attachments:121530]

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The Current Family:
[sharedmedia=core:attachments:121532]

From left: BB415, TRB-5 II, RBX374 and BB414