Grangur

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

And we respect Paul because he didn't have 50 years of Rock & Roll bass playing and hundreds of bass players to look back on and draw from.

Paul was pioneer.

Blue

This exactly.

10 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Have a chat with @Grangur. He may be able to refi the body in white for you (or recommend someone who can) for a reasonable price, if you're unable to find a white Yammy in trade. 

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.

3 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said:

I saw a documentary that looked at Olde English timber framed buildings.

I forget the details but depending on the latitude of the forest the oak would grow more or less quickly.  This has a direct bearing on the density of the wood.  You could tell, by looking at the relative width of the rings showing the length of the local season for rapid growth, roughly what part of the world the oak had come from.  Wealthy builders imported oak partially for this reason.

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.

4 hours ago, Jimothey said:

I agree that most people associate Oak with furniture but there is just as much furniture made out of Mahogany yet that's OK to build a body out of? 

Also granted Oak is heavier than Ash, Alder, Mahogany etc but it's lighter than Bubinga, Wenge and Ovangkol etc which are widely used for guitar making so I think that people's perception needs to change and use more widely available/sustainable woods otherwise more woods will be added to the endangered list??

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.

Pictures added.

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

This Warwick is in great condition, but has had a few changes made. The original fittings were black. Someone has changed the knobs and tuners. The tuners are Gotoh.

It all works well and gives an amazing array of tone. All spec is as for most Warwick basses:

24 bell-brass Frets,  Wenge fretboard, Just-a-nut, active/passive with push-pull on the volume. 

Comes with a Gator semi-hard case.

No trades thanks unless it's an Overwater or similar.

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.

On 27/02/2019 at 20:12, Rocker said:

Why not string the P bass through the body rather than from the bridge?  Thanks.

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.

25 minutes ago, leftybassman392 said:

 

Image captured from here

Not trying to be awkward, but in this area of human endeavour, where there's a will there's usually a way. Saying 'there's no such thing as a lefthanded...' is IME a dangerous exercise.

...generally...

On 23/02/2019 at 18:12, LeftyP said:

I wonder if left handed people, who play other instruments, get hung up about having special instruments for them.  I don't recall ever seeing a left handed piano or trombone etc.  Can you play a flute with it sticking out to your left?  Pianos (and keyboards in general) are a good case to look at because the melody is usually played with the right hand and the left hand provides a steady bass section.  You would assume that left handed players will not be as nimble over the keys as a right hander.  It seems that only guitar players make a thing about being left handed and wanting special instruments made for them.  I like being left handed but have no problem in adapting to playing as a right handed person would.  Whichever way I play, I'm still rubbish!

On 23/02/2019 at 19:28, BassTractor said:

There might be a case for stating that if left-handed versions are not provided for orchestra instruments, that left-handed people have a higher risk of not being able to play those instruments well. In case, we initially wouldn't know, coz all violinists and flautists in orchestras are good at what they do. One would then need to find whether left-handed people are underrepresented before making statements.

Left-handed versions have been built for some instruments that are not guitars, but IMS it was for finding out about these things - not as commercial products.

On a more personal note, as a leftie, when I was young, before trying to play guitars, I was handed a left-handed guitar and really couldn't get on with it. Was then handed a right-handed one, and everything fell into place. Still, I believe I could've learned to play the left-handed one.

As a leftie there's no chance I can throw a ball with my right hand, but there's also no chance I can fire a left-handed gun and hit the target. Idunno. It's complicated.

 

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.

1 hour ago, Bean9seventy said:

ok ,, what about if i do a video ,, with mark adams as my spiritual reference ,, that billy shenan ,, would like , something even victor wotton don't do ,, something scotts bass lessons has not shown ,, ??

a simple hack that will change the way people play bass for ever ,, probably forever ,

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.

Hmm... this thread had taken me 2 steps further to the conclusion that this forum has lost a lot of what it had going for it.

Have a good life.

Nice @JohnR, is the replacement body still a Wal, or from another source?