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fretmeister

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Everything posted by fretmeister

  1. fretmeister
    Ooo! That will make sanding the edges even easier!
  2. fretmeister
    Slightly changing the subject... Is there a good 51 style shorty P bass? I seem to be watching a lot of ZZ Top vids and Dusty's various 51s look and sound excellent so I'm quite tempted.
  3. fretmeister
    Sorted!
  4. fretmeister
    I got the burst first - it was my first shortie and it was very cheap so it was an experiment. I loved it apart from the neck dive. The stock pickup was crap as were the controls - really on/off with no gradient to turning the knobs. But the basic construction was good enough to make upgrades worth it. The Sandberg was my 50th birthday present from my wife, and while I was waiting for that (custom order took about a year) the cream one came up on here so I grabbed it. I had planned on stripping it but when it arrived the colours worked far better than I expected. That one was quite badly set up when I got it (sorry to whoever it was) with a really high action. I think at some point the neck had been off and it hadn't been properly seated again when reassembled. That was an easy fix and now the action is nice and low. The EMG P-X version of their pickup is a lot better than the stock EMG P. More headroom and more mids so it sounds more like a proper P but with more output. The tone control on the X series actually does something too! It's my first choice for plectrum rock stuff.
  5. fretmeister
    I have very limited experience in recording vocals and I hardly have any vocal plugins so this really appeals to me - it's loaded with presets for just about every type of vocal. I'm going to download the demo and give it a try. The last time I sung properly was about 20 years ago when I fronted a power trio (that was a fun band) so it will be interesting to see what it does with my well out of practice voice. €199 but with 20% off if someone owns other NDSP plugins already. After conversion that makes it about £136 or so. Not cheap, but also cheaper than buying a load of separate ones. It's a great move from Neural too - expand the customer base from the rather limited metal guitarist crowd.
  6. fretmeister
    Well, here's 3 that sound like a P bass. The two Jim Deacons were very cheap to buy but they do need some upgrades. Both of them got Hipshot Ultralight tunes to get rid of the neck dive. The Cream one has an EMG P-X pickup and the burst now has an Aguilar AG-4P 1960s spec pickup and a Kiogon loom. The Sandberg is a custom order Superlight Lionel (5.7lb) that started as just a P, but I wanted more options so I had it modded to PJ. Aguilar pickups again, with a 3 way switch. I never use the bridge pickup alone on that, just the P or the PJ setting. The J pickup is slightly overpowered to match up with the P and I tend to add that if I need a bit more cut through. Cream has rounds - a great clanky rock sound Burst has ancient La Bella Deep Talking Flats - my main Duck Dun / Jamerson / Motown choice. Sandberg has Fender flats - does everything really. They all sound like P basses and the different pickups and strings give me plenty of options between them. The Deacons have very narrow bridge spacing which is not for everybody - it's about 16.5mm. The Sandberg is 19mm like a 34 scale would be. I was surprised to find that I really like the narrow spacing for finger and plectrum playing. It's a bit of a challenge for slap but when I slap I'm old school disco funk rather than Mr Wooten so it's doable.
  7. fretmeister
    It's almost like conversations evolve over time. Whodathunkit?
  8. fretmeister
    Now I’m wondering about how to fit mutes on my Pingray.
  9. fretmeister
    I wasn't mad on the Black Label pickups so I swapped them for EMGs. The original EMG J pickups were modelled after 1960s jazz pickups without any hum so they are not high output metal things. I did put an EMG preamp in as well as I like to be able to tweak when I'm miles away from my amp. As it happens I've just got my first set of Elixirs to try on it. I installed them last night. I expect I'll need a little truss rod adjustment today as it's settled in but they sound good and feel very nice under the fingers.
  10. fretmeister
    Paulownia body. Norwegian maple neck (lighter than Canadian) Lightweight aluminium tuners and bridge. Mine is a 1st gen SL so it's a Cedar body and weighs about 6.7lb. My Lional Shortscale SL is 5.7lb! Zero neck dive on either of them.
  11. fretmeister
    This question comes up on the Facebook Telecaster Owners Group all the time. It seems to be a rough split between those who think it has to be a Fender and can only have 2 single coils and those who are not stuck in the 1950s. Some go as far as saying that a Fender not made in the USA is not a real tele. Their complaints are usually swamped by people posting the partscasters they have put together, often using far better quality parts for a fraction of the price of a US Fender. I am generally against putting Fender decals on non-Fenders but for the sole purpose of annoying some of the cretins in that group there is nothing more effective than a Fender decal on a parts guitar made from the cheapest bits Chinese ebay can offer, and then clearly assembled by someone who doesn't have opposable thumbs. The rage is quite a joy to behold.
  12. fretmeister
    Just in case, here is a handy link.... https://uk.fender.com/collections/electric-guitars-telecaster
  13. fretmeister
    Lovely! I love mine. Long gigs are much easier with that low weight.
  14. fretmeister
    I'd like to do a guitar course like that. Would be very handy.
  15. fretmeister
    The cheaper the neck the more work it is likely to need so sometimes that £50 ebay neck might need £150 worth of fretwork to get it playing right. Mind you, sometimes a real Fender neck will need that as well.
  16. fretmeister
    Alas, too much for me. One day I'll find a really light one. Probably 10 mins before my car bursts into flames knowing my luck.
  17. fretmeister
    When I was doing the educational music trust thing kids would get promoted up into the next difficulty ensemble and many would be very nervous. Sometimes it was quite a jump even when there was a 4th part for their instrument. Always told them to start just playing the root on beat 1 of each bar. Do that for 2 or 3 rehearsals. Then play whatever the right note was for beat 2 and so on Building their confidence until they filled the gaps. Didn't matter if it took a couple of weeks or even a term. They were counting right and adding in the notes as they got confident. They got to feel like they were joining in properly even if they were only playing 1 note in a bar. Funny how quick progress is when they are having fun and not feeling like they are making mistakes.
  18. fretmeister
    A good telecaster is a thing of beauty. As it happens swapping instruments for a bit has got me writing again and I haven't done that for ages. I still have my favourite bass kit, but at the moment I'm looking at it as part of composing rather than being a bassist. I might even record some of it if I ever get a week off work.
  19. fretmeister
    I put one together - a no-name P body from the classifieds and bought a real Fender Jazz neck (Mexican). I had tuners and a pickup already but I needed a pickguard.
  20. fretmeister
    What’s the weight please?
  21. fretmeister
    Just make sure you don't end up like I did. I quit my band after 12 years... Now I have a Telecaster and a guitar amp. I feel dirty.
  22. fretmeister
    Thank you. I will flip a coin as to which to try first then!
  23. fretmeister
    I'm interested in those Nordy J shaped 51s as well. I love the EMGs in my Sandberg but I also fancy a change, just for no reason at all!
  24. fretmeister
    This thread is interesting to me. I think I'd like to try some coated strings on my Pingray. I usually have a problem with nickel skin reaction, but this would let me have more choice. I'm thinking about Elixir's but open to others. Is this a reaction to DR's coating material? I want something smooth feeling as well. I've got flats on other basses so I want rounds on this bass but I do like to minimise string noise. What coated strings have the lowest finger noise?
  25. fretmeister
    Have you got a L6 or L6H? Your link points to the H, but you say the non-H. They are different.
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