neepheid

My wife lets my buy any basses I like - except pointy ones. I call them "divorce basses" That is a bargain though, someone should snap that up.

Having owned a Takamine G-series and an Ibanez AEB, I believe that NO acoustic bass guitar will compete unamplified with even a single acoustic guitar. There just isn't enough space in the body to resonate enough air to produce enough sound at bass frequencies. [b]In my humble opinion[/b] the only reason to have an acoustic bass guitar is to blend in aesthetically with an acoustic ensemble, but you'll still need amplification.

[quote name='Gust0o' post='1010717' date='Nov 3 2010, 01:25 PM']No, they use standard templates for their responses - you will not get a human response this side of writing to someone senior or causing a fuss. They are absolutely awful. Criminally awful. In fact, I'll post their MD the link to this article. Yet another example of how they can't get the basics right.[/quote] I couldn't even get their attention by reporting someone who was asking for Western Union payment while passing themselves off as a PowerSeller when they weren't. It seems they don't even care about fee avoidance which I thought would be a sure fire way of piquing their interest. Success rate in getting counterfeit basses taken down has gone way down also. Oh well.

[quote name='farmer61' post='1010608' date='Nov 3 2010, 12:00 PM']OK thanks, file in situ or remove the saddle? Anyone else see a disaster looming??? [/quote] Remove the saddle. Filing/sanding will make an awful mess of your guitar and dust/filings could get into the slot and sit on top of the piezo - you don't want that.

[quote name='farmer61' post='1010374' date='Nov 3 2010, 09:03 AM']Just aquired this new beasty Really good nick, normal acoustic issues of low volume when unplugged, but a fine aquisition all the same (used to have one, sold it, regretted it, so rebought one!!!) Anyway after my initial play, I'd like to adjust the action if possible. At the headstock end the action is fine but is a tadge high at the body end, prob by .25cm or so. Now as far as I can tell, there is some possiblity to reduce the height of the plastic (?) bridge, I assume by filing and I'm sure some truss rod adjustment. If anyone has done this before on an ABG I like some words of comfort/tips/advice before I have a crack at it. It's a Takamine EG512C. Thx.[/quote] IIRC on the Takamine the bottom of the saddle has notches in it which might have something to do with making individual contact with the piezo for each string. I seem to remember deciding not to mess with that and filed the top of the saddle instead. Take your time. If you do attack the bottom, make it squared off otherwise you'll get poor physical contact with the piezo, resulting in uneven output. I had to fix an electro acoustic guitar recently - no signal from the low E string. This was due to the guy having a go at lowering his action but filing the bottom of the saddle squint. So basically, either shape the top to your liking or make sure the base of the saddle is flat, straight and true if you file the underside.

Each to their own, but if you come near my basses with that cheese grater I'll knock you into the middle of next week

The last time I was at this caper it was 24 songs in about 3 weeks and I know some people are faster but we didn't even manage to get the whole band together until the day of the gig. Everyone else in the band was way more experienced than I and was probably winging it. I kept my end up by obtaining an acoustic bass so I could practice in my lunch hour at work and at home was plonking away every spare minute I could grab. Gig went great I need to know that I've done my best. It reminds me of a time back at school when I was in recorder group. There was this one song I couldn't get my head round when practising at home, so when it came to the song I asked to be excused to go to the loo and waited outside until they were finished! What a coward! That's fine when you're in a group of people all playing the same thing, but obviously that won't wash in a band situation. I promised myself I would try my damnedest not to be in such a situation again

Not a prolific gigger (11 so far, so I guess my experience doesn't really count for much) but I've only ever taken 1 bass to a gig. In that time I have never had technical difficulties on a bass, never broken a string in my life come to think of it.

I'll go one better and say you'll never get your money back on upgrades. That is why you should keep the original parts, so you can return the instrument to stock for selling. You'll get more money selling the fancy parts on separately than you will with them contained in an instrument. Sticking EMG stuff in my Epiphone Les Paul bass does not double its resale value, even though it cost more to put in all the EMG stuff than it did to buy the bass in the first place

Yay, a polarising debate! I think some use of tab is fine as long as its limitations are taken into consideration. You should always use your ears first. It'll be slow to start with, but it will get better the more you try to pick out bass from listening to music. I have found that tab can occasionally give you [b]an idea[/b] of how to play a song (or a difficult part), but play the notes along with the song to see if they make sense. As some people have said, there's a lot of rubbish out there - that's because all the free tabs out there are people's own interpretations and people get things wrong. I've only been playing properly for a few years, but my ear is improving all the time and my reliance on tab and suchlike crutches when learning songs is getting less and less. Don't rely on free internet tab because it isn't reliable, but if you go into it eyes and ears open then it can sometimes be useful.

Another vote for obbm!

Heh, I just sold one of those Ibanez AEB10E basses, the dark violin burst is very nice looking, they're medium scale (32") which had surprisingly little effect on my muscle memory, nice acoustic sound (but like any other acoustic bass, too quiet for anything more than jamming along to a (quietly played) song), plugged in it had a robust sound, not too harsh like some piezos I've heard - if anything it was a touch bass heavy with the EQ flat and I had to rein it in a little. Has some nice features like built in tuner (which made it ideal for why I had it - practising songs for an upcoming gig in my lunch hours at work), XLR and jack output, and most curiously runs on AA batteries instead of 9V PP3. I also had a Takamine acoustic a while back, also a fine instrument. Ultimately I got shot of mine because it's an expensive luxury to have lying around the office doing nothing when you don't have 24 songs to learn in a short time and the pressure's on!

[quote name='Deep Thought' post='759785' date='Feb 28 2010, 03:29 PM']In purely practical terms, I have found it far easier to see the position dots on a darkened stage on a maple board than a rosewood one.[/quote] That depends on the colour of the dots Thanks for that, Gibson - now where's my black marker pen?

As long as I'm nowhere near Off Topic Wynd then I'll be happy.

Perhaps I should clarify my meaning - If it is solid [i]acer saccharum[/i], your shoulder will know about it very quickly.

Not as often as I should, and not as often if I want to progress. It probably averages out to be < 10mins per day - shocking. I will really have to get into the habit of having a bass in the living room to pick up and try to play along to whatever is on the tellybox, that should help train my ear more. When it comes to jamming out song ideas it takes me longer than I'd like to get into what is being played. I think a wall hanger of some sort is in order, as we've no room to have a bass on a stand.

Gibson RD Artist (post 1979 with the 2 switches for the Moog board instead of the single 3 way) Any other weird non EB/SG Gibson basses which take my fancy. On the amp front - seriously considering downsizing (and getting louder at the same time) with an Ibanez Promethean + extra 10" cab. Why break your back for 230W into a hulking 4x10 when you can get 250/500W into a lightweight, modular 2x10 setup?

I have to like how it looks, I won't deny that. I have bought basses purely on looks before. However, if it is to stay in the collection then I have to like the neck. If I don't like the sound, I can usually fix it.

Don't worry mannie, perfection is worth an extra week You're right about the hardware, I'm so lucky to have acquired 29 year old chrome parts in such good nick.