Grangur

And Carole Kate will have influenced Macca. And I very much doubt if Kaye's lines in the 60s would have been what they were without Macca.

This exactly.

Thank you @Al Krow for your vote of confidence, but I'm not sure of how much help I can be.

You mean this one? Sadly his life has got more complex over the years. Maybe he used only 2 strings for effect at the time. Back in the day, bands did object to miming on stage. I read that in the early days ToTP was played out live. When The Who were invited on they left the stage during the "performance" and danced with the audience. They didn't get asked back and the show went on to be pre-recorded.

Also, be sure the lead and socket are ok and you're not wrongly suspecting something more complex.

Good point, and very interesting. I guess this is due to the UK being a wetter climate then that found in eastern Europe. So in English oak there may be a higher water content which will mean that when dried it's less dense, but I am only guessing here. Also, where in the UK can we find prolific growers of Oak trees for harvesting for large scale production? There's a reason why products made from real English Oak are expensive - it's a very limited resource. In Poland and Romania oak is much easier to source. They have more land space to grow it in.

@Manton Customs Yes, I am a little surprised. The oak and beech we used (I'm no longer in the business) were from eastern Europe. I don't know what difference that makes? So, why is is that when I've picked up a 20mm thick oak shelf, smaller than a bass body, it's been significantly more heavy than any bass body I've ever held? The reference table is well and good, but in actual real-life practice I'm not mistaken on this.

Mahogany furniture usually refers to the mahogany being used for panels - wardrobes, sideboards etc. Where a frame is included, such as a coffee table, the mahogany is usually the top. The frame will then usually be made from beech. Beech is another very dense wood. So dense that working with it will blunt your tools. Right now I've been turning a bowl on the lathe, from beech. I have to keep sharpening my tools... I digress. When you buy and oak table and chairs, you'll often find the table is oak, but the chairs will be made of beech. This is because the chairs, if made from oak would be stupidly heavy. Also, mahogany wood is getting less common in furniture now. This is because in the 70s, when mahogany was in fashion, we were stripping rain forests to feed the furniture business. Sorry... back to basses.

Hello, I have designed and built oak furniture. Oak might be fine for an 8mm top, but if you had a body 45mm ish deep, it would be very heavy for playing a gig. It is a very dense hardwood. This is why it's good for furniture, because this makes it good for joints; through its strength even when cut thin.

It's not easy to impose rules like this really. While we like to consider ourselves "members", we aren't really. We're only registrants. Anyone can register click to show agreement to a code of conduct, but most of us don't really know those terms. Then, if thrown out, anyone can re-register with another email address and re-appear again with few checks to stop it. (There are some checks in place and doing this is against the Code of conduct) While here I'd like it to be known I'm not on anyone' payroll, but I am open to offers.

Yes, @Reggaebass. I'm occasionally giving the strings a tightening 1/4 turn. The strings are naff anyway and slowly does it.

Hi @Reggaebass, Many thanks for your interest. The TR adjustment is at the heel. Also, to adjust, you have to remove the neck. (pita) If you tighten clockwise, the back bow becomes more severe. So the TR is working correctly, but the neck needs to develop new habits. P.S. the block on the neck does seem to be working to correct this!

I think it would help here if @Chrisbassboy5 actually said what he's looking for. What sound are you after, Chris? Flats can give a "normal" bass note, but without any rasp/grit sound, or a smooth deep tone, or a double bass sound and more. What is it? I use Chromes. They give a ringing "normal" note with no rasp. Yet that also varies depending on the bass it's on. So, really you need to try strings out for yourself to know for sure.

Flat wounds have a continuous smooth surface, so trying to bend the string on a tight radius, as you do when feeding the string through the body, will damage the string.

So, the sound person is trans and refuses to do the gig because one of the band's claimed to be, or is, gender neutral. This sounds like a classic, "I'm the only gay in the village!" She needs to grow up. She could have had a great night of LGBTQ unity. What a missed opportunity.

Yes, @Stub Mandrel, I've tried tightening the truss rod, to make sure it is working the right way. It is. Then I loosened it right off. What I might do is steam the fret board and see if doing so, causes it to allow the neck to straighten and then re-attach the fretboard in a better position. I suspect the bass has got damp at some stage and the rosewood has expanded more than the maple has. Especially as the maple is lacquered, and the rosewood is bare wood.

A new addition to the collection is a short scale Mustang, but the neck has a backwards bow. So the strings rattle against the frets as it's played. I've dressed the frets and put a wood block under the strings at the 8th fret; to get some forward pressure going on to pull the headstock forward. Has anyone else had this and had any success in fixing this issue?

Also, look for signs of where connections of the pots could be touching any screening in the body.

...generally...

I too am a lefty who plays right handed, although left-handed for most other things. There are no left handed brass or wood-wind instruments. Also, nobody would get a job in an orchestra who configured their violin to play left-handed, because when playing their bow would point the opposite way to everyone else. This could cause folk to get bows tangled up and cause embarrassment to the whole orchestra.

Give it a a go, if you like. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained". Good luck.

Shame about the uneven body, @JohnR I see no reason, though, why it can't go through a drum-sander thicknesser and have a new top put on it if necessary. Or maybe that's too much messing about? But it's not like all this isn't beyond the scope of Wal. Maybe they just wanted to sell another body.