neepheid

If you're doing it for the experience, to say you assembled it yourself, as a springboard to getting better at maintaining your other basses, or as a leap off point to doing more adventurous building/restoring then sure, go for it. It'll be like Lego - which is fun. Will it be cost effective vis-a-vis buying an already assembled HB bass? Time is money, so... no. Will it be as objectively "good"? If this is your first time then, sorry, but probably not. Even cheap basses are assembled by a squad of specialists doing one particular aspect of it repeatedly.

I used to own this T-shirt - substitute "cape" for "bass" and "woosh noises" for "low notes"

I think my overly glib reply needs expanding upon. I prefer to get it right. Every time. I do not have a phone it in, "that'll do" approach and never had. Serious bloops need addressed as a band. I think my mistake management has improved. When I started out, I would be very uptight and small mistakes would put me off a lot - my drummer is still mentally scarred by the "death stare of '09" when he had the audacity to miss a snare I was expecting! Nowadays, I am a lot better at recovery when I make a mistake, and see other people's mistakes as an opportunity for humour - a knowing look with a smile tends to get a better performance out of others than a death stare. Looks better from an audience point of view - whether they notice the mistake or not, they see a band having a good time, so they feel predisposed to having a good time. Good vibes transmit way better than a scowl or grimace of "F F F BolloX I made a mistake!" followed by several bars of self flagellation. Forget about it for now, pick up the song ASAP. The time for discussion/review is after the gig, not during.

Beligerence. You are the best bass player in the building at that time playing a bass. Oi, smartarse heckler, come up here and have a go if you think you're good enough - thought not - back in your box then. They could have asked anyone to take the gig on, but they asked you. Don't dwell on mistakes. Accept that they happen - pick the song up again ASAP and forget about it - the time for analysis is after the gig.

Striving for perfection is admirable, but don't let it drag you down. Did the audience have a good night? Then you did a good job, case closed.

Oh yeah, I forgot that I sometimes do lazy boi practice with my Epiphone Jack Casady unplugged. Easily heard over tinny laptop speakers for all the non-bass sounds.

Yes indeed, it is the perfect match for the combo, very happy with it and my rig.

Well, as reported in the "how was your gig last night?" thread, I took the Soloking out for its maiden gig last night. It did great. I have no complaints, it sounded good, held its tuning fine, felt nice to play and despite being on the heavier side, being well balanced it wasn't an issue. These basses are fantastic at twice the new price IMO. If you're put off by the lack of provenance or the stupid name then do yourself a favour, get over it and get one!

Pedalboard, can either take headphones straight out of the Monomyth, or I can additionally use a Yamaha Sessioncake if need aux in. Sometimes, I use a USB audio interface into the laptop if I'm learning stuff off computer. Bass straight in, headphone monitor out.

First gig with a new singer last night for Nine Lives, at the Balaclava in Fraserburgh. It was a good gig! Our new singer has put a lot of work in to get the songs together and she did great, if she was nervous she didn't show it. I'm really chuffed with how it all went - change is always difficult for all concerned but we all handled it like champs. Pub was lively, maybe 40-50 folk in there at the peak with plenty dancing and 1 face plant that someone is definitely going to feel today! Kit used - the Soloking's first live outing (which also did me proud) and the Yamaha BB1200, all into a Markbass Mini CMD 121P IV plus New York 121 cab.

I doubt you're going to be happy with anything other than an actual '64 T-bird. They'll get everything physically perfect and it'll be "nope, it doesn't smell like someone smoked several thousand Senior Service next to it, and my wallet is telling me that I haven't spent a five figure on a bass - something still doesn't feel right..."

Lucky you. Tonight I'm an hour in each direction. In two weeks time, it's two hours in each direction (on one of the most pitiful so-called "trunk" roads in existence, the A96 so 2 hours is assuming no lorries, tractors etc.). Two weeks after, admittedly it's like a 5 min drive for me, but that is only one of the venues we play. Furthest I've had to go is probably Dingwall, that's over 3 hours each way (using the same crappy A96 mentioned before). We may both be country bumpkins, but you don't have stupid effin mountains in your way...

Had one, sold it. It did not elicit this emotional attachment in me that it seems to in others. It was a 1975 Gibson Ripper which I restored (apart from the refinishing) from a shell. Nice bass - was one of the ones they did with an alder body rather than maple so didn't weigh as much as a house. But I went through some tough times and suddenly it stopped being a bass and had to become an amount of money. C'est la vie. It's just stuff.

Tainted Love? We do an unholy alliance of three versions - the pace of the Gloria Jones, the structure and "rockness" of the Scorpions, and the "*emphasised double hit* run away"ness of the Soft Cell. As long as the people at the gig like it, I don't really care what anyone else thinks about it.

Backlash relates to looseness in the teeth of meshing gears (in this case the interaction between the worm attached to the button and the worm gear at 90 degrees on the baseplate of the tuner which is attached to the capstan) - most noticeable when you change direction, there's this moment where the turning does nothing, is usually easier than normal and it's quite disconcerting until the teeth mesh properly in the opposite direction then work as expected. Change direction again and the same thing happens in reverse.

I know what it means in that context, but I enjoy a good fnar as much as the next punter

There's an echo in here...

Mystery resolved - yes, they're real, but they're a zzounds exclusive in the US and they don't ship internationally, so tough! https://www.zzounds.com/item--EPIEITB6PRSNH3 https://www.zzounds.com/item--EPIEITB6BBSNH3

I have nothing to add to this conversation, except Holy zombie thread resurrection, Batman!

So sorry to hear this. Condolences to you and your family. Can't begin to imagine what you're all going through. Thanks for posting this, must have been hard to write.

It's a no here - EBMM prices long since disappeared over a horizon I'm not willing (or frankly able) to follow. Had a quick play with the configurator though, that was fun.

Are you being serious? It was clearly a parody of the very rude user from earlier today telling me to wind my neck in. I took zero offence to it.

That's your opinion, and you're entitled to it

That looks lovely - your photos look way better than the ones I've seen online. How can they sell instruments if they're set up like that? Oh well, money off for you! Yes, please document what you do with this in a thread, I'd be interested for one.

Thank goodness Dad doesn't check spelling also...