Scoop

The scraper thing - would that be a spoke shave? I'm dredging back over thirty years here to O level woodwork but "spoke shave" seems to ring a bell.

[quote name='The Funk' post='164188' date='Mar 26 2008, 11:53 PM']It's not as hard or as niche as people can sometimes make out.[/quote]

But there's the rub, innit? Your cousin came to fretless from a guitarist's perspective never having played bass before. It was a new instrument and he had no preconceptions and preset ideas. For the likes of me, age 47 wth 33 years of playing fretted bass under my belt, the fretless is a very strange animal indeed. For me, it IS as hard as as niche as people make out.

[quote name='2wheeler' post='162318' date='Mar 23 2008, 07:22 PM']My first solid body electric bass is a single pick-up Warwick Rockbass Streamer standard. I used to think it was great and I loving tweaked the action, strung it with the finest DR strings. It has been in a cupboard for a few months now as I have been getting used to my new(er) Ibanez BTB555 (thankyou Tinman, it's a beaty!) and thought it better not to keep switching between the two until used to the new one.

So far so good.

I am on holiday and wanted to take something with me for practice so I packed the smaller Rockbass. Then I come to get it out and have a bit of a play. Eeek!
Suddenly it has become cheap and nasty. The neck is like a baseball bat, the tone is muddy and the only really good thing about it is the strings...

Does this happen to everyone? Am I just going to rachet my way up, getting a taste for more and more expensive instruments until I lust after some piece of custom-made sonic artwork (I am already thinking John Shuker )?

And would avoiding the bass bash help to slow things down a bit? (Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's bad-ass.)[/quote]

[Sigh] It happens to most of us 2wheeler, it happens to most of us. And it gets worse. Eventually, just one Shuker won't be enough, you'll want a Pedulla too, or a Roscoe, or a Sei. And that's just the expensive stuff. Obviously, you'll need a precision and a jazz as well, that's a given. And probably a proper warwick of some description too.

Look at my sig... It may not happen to everyone but [and I hate to tell you this] from the contents of your post, you're already turning into me. I pity you.

I also play (and gig) as a guitarist, and at one gig we needed a bass dep so we contacted a Liverpool Muso called Andy Frizzel who plays with a Frank Zappa tribute band called the Muffin Men. He's an astonishingly talented multi-instrumentalist and one of the best bassists I know.

He turned up for a rock covers depping gig, having never seen us play before and knowing only half the set, with a fretless five string. His reasoning was that using a fretless on a dep gig means that if you cock up the tune you can slide up to the corect note without anyone really noticing. He was so adept at it that I reckon it's probably the best bass performance I've ever been involved with, either as a bassist myself or playing another instrument in a band with a different bass player.

Astonishing.

In the right hands a fretless can be a devastatingly effective tool. Sadly, they don't include my hands - I've been jonesing after a fretless for ages but the truth is that whenever I pick one up I play a bit of Mick Karn's Japan stuff and then go blank about whatever else to do with the damned thing.

I play a lot of altered tunings on guitar like Open G and DADGAD - many of my guitar playing mates have reached a stage in their lives where they simply can't be bothered to learn new stuff like that. I feel pretty much the same way about the fretless. I'm too old to get that technique nailed and too set in my ways. Sad. But I'm a curmugeonly old git at the best of times.

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='163798' date='Mar 26 2008, 02:49 PM']Loving that Bob Glaub Scoop [/quote]

Thanks NGH.

I bought it about two years ago on Ebay. The vendor was a Lakland endorsee from a 2nd division signed rock band, the name of which escapes me. He had a US Glaub as his main bass and this one as his backup. The band had lost its record deal and he was paring down his gear for some extra cash. As a consequence of it being an endorsee's bass it had been tweaked slightly through the Chicago custom shop and arrived with a p/up cover and a few other extra bits and pieces, including a non standard tortie plate.

It's always looked cooler with the pup cover on, tbh, and that earlier shot was taken on a night I was gigging with it off to see if it made a significant difference. It didn't so it's back on again now and looking VERY cool.

[attachment=6906:myglaub_1_.jpg]

That's the original EBay shot that attracted me to it.

Great bass.

I'm pretty happy with all my basses at the moment tbh and it's difficult for me to choose one above the other.

I love my P basses...

I'm very partial to my Roscoe - the woods, finish and build quality are just a league above anything else I own

[attachment=6892:my_Roscoe_skb.jpg]

I also love the sound of my Warwick Fortress One - it's got TONE with capital everything even though I recognise that it's as ugly as sin.

[attachment=6890:my_stati...otel__7_.jpg]

And then there's the Ric Blue Boy. Gorgeous but an acquired taste.

[attachment=6891:kif_0574.jpg]




You can't choose between your kids. S'not right.

The one's that got away? Should never have sold my Gibson Grabber or my Ibanez Blazer.

I've always been a fan. At the moment I have a Lakland Skyline Bob Glaub and a Fender '51 Reissue.

When I was discussing the spec of my new ADC custom build with Alan after the North West Bash I had one main question: "Will I be able to make it sound like a P-Bass?"

The Fender has a solo single coil p/up while the Glaub is loaded with a Lindy Fralin - an astonishingly good p/up.

The split coil P-type p/up also have the added advantage of being hum cancelling. One of my gigs is to play gospel in church every Sunday morning and the church is fitted with a hearing aid induction loop. If you've ever tried playing a bass with single coil non-humbucking pickups (like a jazz for example) with an induction loop present then you'll know what I'm on about. Uncontrolable feedback no matter where you stand or what you do - they're a nightmare in that scenario.

But a P-Bass? Silent, feedbackless, fullsome bass. See? Even God prefers them.

here they are - God not in shot.
[attachment=6883:scoop_precision.JPG] [attachment=6884:naked_scoop_4_.jpg] [attachment=6885:naked_scoop_1_.jpg]

Babunga!!

Cowabunga!!

Bubinga!!

And, yeah, that's Ash anyway by the look of it.

[quote name='Sugden' post='162377' date='Mar 23 2008, 08:57 PM']O just realised Im Paul btw just incase my rambling above didnt make the link between Sugden, and paul on alans gallery [/quote]

You are indeed the Paul in question. I saw your bass on Alan's site and just fell in love. I appreciate your offer to come and play but that'd feel like having an affair with my fiance's older sister. Or something.

I think I'll probably avoid everything ACG until mine arrives as I don't want any preconceptions of how mine should feel and sound before I actually get my hands on it. But I genuinely appreciate the offer. Cheers.

dave.

My friendly neighbourhood instrument shop's manager informs me that as far as he is aware Tokai are now the *official* manufacturers of all Fender Japan instruments, under licence. The embargo on Fender Japan instruments being exported FROM Japan is to ensure that there is no detrimental impact on Tokai's own brand sales worldwide.

This is going to be fascinating. I'm more than a little envious to be honest. I've got to do something like this at some stage. Can I ask how much this one to one course is costing?

[quote name='ped' post='161073' date='Mar 20 2008, 08:41 PM']Excellent! Alan struck me as a really nice bloke and I am sure he is a pleasure to deal with. G'warn my son[/quote]

The whole dealing with Alan thing has been very good indeed. Even at this very early stage I'm confident that Alan's the sort of bloke who does what he says he will do, he does it when he says he will do it, and he's also a very very bloody good luthier.

I'm chuffed, me. And I still have the whole pregnancy to go. My bass isn't even a bump yet.

After meeting Alan from ACG at the North West Bass Bash last sunday and having been very impressed by both him and the ACG bass that was in attendance I followed up on Monday and started choosing woods and body shapes almost immediately.

I was very impressed with the look of a spalted beech topped, black limba bodied recurve which I saw in the ACG site gallery and which belongs to Paul.

(This one: [url="http://www.acguitars.co.uk/Gallery/104/"]http://www.acguitars.co.uk/Gallery/104/[/url] )


So I ordered one; mine will be pretty much identical to Paul's except his has a macassar ebony 'board and I've gone for a highly spalted maple one.

First impressions of ACG are brilliant. They haven't even got my deposit yet but already I'm getting a handful of e.mails a day with pics of wood blanks and combinations of woods to choose from. Most impressive... and compared with getting a bass custom built in the USA by the likes of Roscoe, Alan is VERY competative on price. He undercuts them by some margin.

So the woods I have chosen...

[attachment=6659:My_ACG.jpg]

from left to right: (marked D1) spalted maple fretboard; Black Limba body blanks; spalted beech top for bookmatching.



More details to follow.

[quote name='metalicman' post='160024' date='Mar 19 2008, 12:16 AM']HELLO ALL
DOES ANYONE KNOW, OR HAS ANYONE HEARD OF
ZOOT BASS CABS.
IF SO CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THEY ARE LIKE. HEARD THEM MENTIONED BUT HAVE NO INFO ON THEM. ANYONE GOT ONE ?
CHEERS
CHRIS[/quote]

Oh, by the way. THIS IS CONSIDERED TO BE SHOUTING. No need for it.

Bassbunny brought a couple of slightly different spec Zoot cabs to the North West Bass Bash - I was well impressed with them. So much so that I asked him to PM me all the specs and supply details so that I could look into them further.

Try a PM to him and have a read of the North West Bash event review here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=15431"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=15431[/url]
coz I'm sure the the cabs are mentioned more than once or twice.

HTH

Hi Chris,

I have an SWR Triad as one of my cabs and it works brilliantly with my Trace head and Lakland Bob Glaub Pr*cision. The Triad is a 1x15, 1x10 and attenuable horn cab, 4 ohm and about erm... no idea of its rating actually but 475watts pops into my head for some reason. There or thereabouts.

Heavy though, about 75 to 80lbs, but still an utterly remarkable cab for earthy P bassisms, especially with a Trace head.
HTH

Shakey - the Biog of Neil Young.

A hero of mine. And a certifiable nutter. In a good way.

Me: 47 years old with 33 years playing behind me, gigging since I was 17 (sh*t... am I really that old?) It doesn't feel possible because I'm still about 19 on the inside.

Very eclectic musical tastes ranging from Tom Petty to James Brown but if anyone mentions Miles Davis, Jon Gomm, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, Primus, The Who, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell or King's X then they have my undivided attention. Just about the only thing I don't listen to much these days is metal, which is weird (or perhaps not so) as I used to be a journalist writing for Kerrang about a billion years ago. The aforementioned King's X being the one notable exception.

As a player I'd describe myself as meat and potatoes. I do the job with as little fuss and fluster as I can manage. I CANNOT slap. While I enjoy listening to slap players it's simply not something that I have ever wanted to attempt. I mainly play 4 strings although I do have one five and one 12. Fingerstyle mainly although it wasn't always that way and I played with a pick for years, reverting back to mainly fingerstyle only about three years ago. I also sing reasonably well but cannot play bass competantly and sing at the same time. I need to USB an outboard brain to achieve that. Backing vox, yes. But I simplify my basslines quite a bit to manage it.

I also play riddum guitar and have about 200 gigs under my belt as a guitarist though I have never attempted to play a solo in my life, not even in home practice. I can read music, but slowly, and get very confused when there are lots of sharps and flats and my theory is rudimentary to say the least.

Yeah, sums me up just about.

My gig last night was..... Cancelled!! Yay!!

It was a depping gig for a band that I really don't like that much musically. I agreed to dep for them, initially, a couple of years ago coz they had a really great drummer. That guy's now left the band and I hate to turn them down coz they're nice guys but their music just doesn't inspire me. It was nice to put my feet up after dashing back from the NW bass Bash instead.

welcome.

There are lots of good fivers out there for less than £500 and both the Warwick Corvette and the FNA can be found for less than that regularly enough in the forum's market place.

Despite your initial "wrath incurring" previous post you'll actually find this a really friendly and helpful resource and information forum. I have no idea of the context of your previous post but as a *relative newbie myself* (I've been registered a while but lurk rather than actively posting too much) I wouldn't read too much into it. As I say, friendly place.

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='158712' date='Mar 16 2008, 11:58 PM']It'd be really useful, if anyone's got time, to have some names/details put next to the photos so we can follow things a bit easier from down here in the 'sarf'![/quote]

hehe - I hadn't previously met anyone who attended there today. Since I got home I've identified people who were there by matching the gear I saw to their sigs. I met loads of people, obviously, but they were introduced as Tom Dick and Harry (so to speak) not "Bassist_67" "LowDownPhunkster" and "SLAP!" so it's really really hard to match everyone up.

I had a great time though - some excellent gear to play with and some very very talented players in there. The highlights for me were, I think, listening to Dave slap the beejessus out of my Roscoe SKB3005, the look on people's faces when I fired up the 12string through the Omni and playing the ACG and then meeting the bloke who built it.

That ACG took my breath away and I'm so bloody impressed that I've just sent a set of specs off to Alan and asked him for a build quote.

Top marks to the organisers and heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended. Good to meet you and thanks for letting me play with your stuff.

Dave (aka Scoop - scruffy scouser with beanie hat for those who can't place me)

[quote name='dangee' post='158114' date='Mar 15 2008, 06:51 PM']I have Eubassix's SKB that was up here recently. Great bass...really impressed. Have a bump...[/quote]

really?

The 4 string? SKB3000?

If you ever grow tired of it, give me a nod.

[quote name='mr_russ' post='157962' date='Mar 15 2008, 01:38 PM']I'd love to see some pics- could be interested if I can muster some more cash[/quote]

The pups are now Nordstrands apparently - and this pic is with Bartolinis - but this is how I remember it as this is Machine Head's website promo shot...

[attachment=6474:skb3005_...tle_lg_1.jpg]

Nice innit?

[quote name='Flanker' post='157710' date='Mar 14 2008, 09:08 PM']Selling Roscoe 5 String fretted bass previously owned by Mark at BassDirect.

Great looking/sounding bass and a nice comfy weight just under 9lbs.

I really want a Roscoe but a fretless one so I need to sell this one to fund it, I would have this one defretted but have been advised not to and I don't want to spoil this great bass.

It has Nordstrand Big Singles and Audere pre. (Still have the Bart pickups too)

For Sale......UK£1300.00 inc.case
(or possibly consider a trade for a fretless up to similar value.)

New Pics to follow but see Roscoe at BassDirect for Sold Basses.

Milton Keynes area.[/quote]

I know this bass.

It was originally purchased from Machine Head (shop now owned by my chum and musical compadre Dave Barlow) and I played it *lots* before it sold. In fact I wanted to buy this bass but ummed and ahhed and then eventually wasn't quick enough. I then had to wait until another came in stock - which I bought.

Give me a day or two to ponder this as I already have an SKB3005, as I said, but with totally different woods and electronics and, while I'm interested, I sold my other fiver (a Warwick FNA) coz I simply didn't need two of them.

While I ponder it, if anyone else wants to step in then please feel free - I can vouch that this is an *astonishingly* good bass.

Bump for a great bass - but where's the pix gone?