richardjmorgan

Cheers guys. I think I'm going to attempt the wiring myself, as I actually quite enjoy the soldering, but if I make a complete hash of it, I might give [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=4]KiOgon a shout![/size][/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=4]I see there are a couple of P pickups going in the marketplace at present - an EMG and a Dimarzio Will Power. Don't really know anything about either of these - are they likely to be suitable for what I'm aiming to do?[/size][/font][/color]

Oh yeah, pickups/electronics-wise, do I want to start looking at actives/preamps, or is that a whole can of worms I'd be best steering clear of?

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1363696356' post='2015929'] If changing the parts has to be done, my recommendations would be: Pickup - Seymour Duncan Quarterpounder (for the music-type mentioned) Bridge - Gotoh (reasonable in cost, look roughly the same, but very good quality) [/quote] Cool, cheers. A friend's got a QP in his cheapo P-Bass and it made it sound vastly better, so that was already on my radar; just thought it worth seeing if I'd overlooked anything else. I've heard various things about more massive bridges, but the standard-type one on this seems pretty solid so if I can get away with something relatively cheap, then that's grand. If it'll just screw into the existing holes, even better.

This is my very old Encore P-Bass copy, which was my first ever real instrument. I sold it to a school pal in about 1997, and it then apparently sat in another friend's parents' cupboard for the next fifteen years, until I was alerted to this and retrieved it, as it was destined for the bin otherwise. It seems like an ok-ish bit of wood, although it's RIDICULOUSLY heavy, so I thought I may as well put some big fat strings on it, get it a setup, and use it for knocking up demos for the metal band I play guitar in (tuned to C# Std), as my 32" Aria Cardinal probably wouldn't take well to that sort of downtuning. We've just got a new bassist, so over the weekend I spent a bit of time with it (trying to work out bass parts to show him) and got a bit more used to the longer and wider neck, although it's not as comfortable for me as the Aria. So, as it was, essentially, a free bass, I thought I might as well spend a bit of money tarting it up and making it look/sound/play a bit nicer. So I was sort of hoping, if I listed what I was thinking of doing, people might like to chuck their thoughts at me as to the best ways to go about it. Here's what I'm thinking of doing: 1. New nut. The current one's a pretty horrible bit of black plastic, with sharp edges I keep catching my fingers on when around the 1st fret. It's annoying, more than anything else. I've never had a nut replaced on anything (guitar or bass) but imagine this'd be a relatively cheap thing. 2. New electrics. Again, relatively cheap and I quite like soldering. Thought it may be worth chucking some decent pots and a jack in it. 3. Flip the pickup round. I know this may cause a bit of consternation amongst P purists, but, particularly with the low tuning, I feel like I'd like the extra heft to the top strings, and tightness to the bottom ones. And I'm really not too concerned about getting a bit of extra wood routed out. This, of course, means I'll need… 4. A new scratchplate. I'm thinking single-ply black. 5. Replace the pickup. I imagine there's something I can throw in here that'll do the sort of thing I want (lowish-tuned, but thrashy metal) a bit more competently than the cheap things in here. 6. New hardware. This is fairly low down the list, as it's really a using-at-home bass, and the stuff on there actually seems to do its job fairly well (bar a rattly tuner "ear" and the fact the height screws on the bridge poke up and scratch my hand if I'm playing with it), but I'm not a big fan of gold/brass hardware. Currently weighing up the relative merits of Black and Silver. So yeah, apologies for the essay-length post (although I sort of figure if you're not a fan of people banging on about basses, you're probably in the wrong bit of the internet), but if anyone has any suggestions/advice/words of warning regarding my upgrade quest, it'd be most welcome. As I mentioned, I'm first and foremost a guitarist, so although no stranger to fiddling with instrument bits, my knowledge of what stuff to use is best in a bass context is pretty thin on the ground.

Oh man, that looks totally awesome.

[quote name='Hutton' timestamp='1361612872' post='1988184'] I suppose I could always sell them. Does anyone want to buy three gorgeous looking, gorgeous sounding precisions? [/quote] No thanks. Pickups are the wrong way round, innit.

[quote name='Hutton' timestamp='1361566416' post='1987824'] A bass-off is out of the question for me due to the fact that I intend to burn my precisions in a solemn ceremony. I'm afraid that they just have to go. The pickups being the way they have been for 60 odd years is just not good enough anymore. [/quote] Yeah, sorry about that. Hope the burning goes well.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1361558045' post='1987621'] This is quite surreal for me, as it's usually me getting frothy mouthed at people slagging off Gibson basses. I'm not sure who's genuinely upset, who's taking the mick and basically why the world appears to have turned upside down [/quote] OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE? Or not done? Or… oh I don't even know any more.

[quote name='cocco' timestamp='1361531209' post='1986970'] Oooof. Can of worms. [/quote] I'm beginning to see that! [size=4] I can assure you though, it was borne out of genuine curiosity, not an attempt at trolly can-opening! [/size]

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1361475197' post='1986382'] Ultimately a bass either sounds good or it doesn't and there isn't a "right" and "wrong" in this. [/quote] Yeah, I totally wasn't suggesting there was - I assumed the fact I phrased my original post predominantly as a question would've been enough to convey this. Seems I've stirred up a bit of Fender rage though, which absolutely wasn't my intention!

[quote name='gapiro' timestamp='1361473265' post='1986341'] I recall a thread on here about it where a luthier pitched in, I'll try and find it [/quote]Would be interested to see that!

So is there an actual justification for putting it the Fender way round (bass side further from the bridge), or is it just that it was done that way originally and most people aren't bothered enough by it for it to be worth changing?

… are they kind of the wrong way round? I've just been doing a bit of rough recording with my Encore P, having not played it properly in aaaages, and the note definition on the bottom two strings, compared to the top two, is pretty awful (yeah, I know it's not a great piece of kit, but bear with me). In comparison, my Aria also has a split coil pickup, but with the coils reversed (i.e. the coil for the bottom 2 strings nearer the bridge). Given the tendency of the upper strings on basses to be a bit snappier in my experience, all things being equal, the latter ("wrong" way round) seems to make more sense, and give a more balanced attack across the four strings. So is this just me being weird in terms of personal preference, is there a valid reason for the "normal" way round, or did Leo just get it wrong to begin with and it stuck like that? Being more of a guitarist than a bassist, I'd be interested to hear some input from those more knowledgeable than me.

The band I play guitar in, The Quarry, is looking for a new bass player. We play fast, thrashy metal with smatterings of hardcore and other bits. Hear a EP we did last year here: [url="http://them*****f******quarry.bandcamp.com/album/we-the-disease"]http://them*****f***.../we-the-disease[/url] Requirements: • Sweet bass chops • Decent gear • Backing vocals would be a plus • Not a twat We've had a bit of a quiet 2012 as our old bass player had a baby (ultimately resulting in him deciding he didn't have enough time to put into band stuff) so the other three of us are keen to get cracking at having a more productive 2013.

He certainly has a pretty distinctive style style, which contributed in a big way to Korn's sound, but it's really not my thing. Someone played me his solo album once and it was hilarious.

[quote name='thodrik' timestamp='1358451661' post='1939550'] It looks like it is the drop D equivalent of playing in C standard. Plenty of bands have use it without sounding like a complete inaudible mess (though that is open to subjective interpretation). I'm pretty sure that the Red Album by Baroness is in that kind of tuning. Kylesa play or played a lot of stuff in Drop A, as do Mastodon (though its basically D standard with a low A instead of a D). In terms of set up, I'd imagine that for drop C you are using fairly hefty strings (115/120 on the low C) anyway, which would probably 'do' for trying a few songs in drop B flat in order to tell if the singer can sing at all. If the singer works out, then permanently change your set up. Or just transpose a couple of your songs into different keys in the drop C sharp tuning, in order to work out if the singer can sing at all. Or get some light strings and tune up to F standard, so you can play an open A string as the root B flat that I would imagine the guitarist will probably play off a lot of the time. There is nothing inherently wrong with low tunings, though they also don't necessarily make the music any 'heavier' just by being lower. Don't assume that you always have to copy the guitar tuning. Think about how you personally want to approach the music and proceed accordingly. If the other band members aren't giving you that freedom, consider whether it is the right band for you. [/quote] +1 to pretty much all this. Yeah, it's a bit of a faff (and yeah, more so for bass than guitar) to change tuning, fiddle with the intonation, etc, but in the long run it'll sound better than a singer being outside their comfortable range. Like it or not, that's going to be more noticeable to most people than a slight loss of definition in open notes on the bass. This all assumes, of course, that this new singer is actually competent and not using the tuning to make excuses for their lack of ability. It's hard to judge this without hearing them, but it seems to me that if you get a better sound out of your singer by dropping tuning a couple of semitones, then it's worth the inconvenience. If the singer's not yet a done deal, I'd suggest just tuning down a bit and just grin and bear the string floppiness/intonation wobbles for a bit, and see if the singer actually does do a better job. If so, and they end up becoming a permanent fixture, then you can go ahead and sort your setup accordingly.

Eh, I just don't see the point in getting particularly riled up about this. Sure, it's stupid, but it's obviously not directed at anyone with a genuine interest in music, it's just yet another bit of PR-motivated industry self-congratulation.

Lost it at "Bass Guitarists." as a stand-alone sentence.

I think Fumps hit on something pretty astute. HMV couldn't compete with the likes of online retailers (both in terms of physical stuff and downloads) and supermarkets on price, and couldn't compete with the smaller indie shops on actual personality and interaction with customers, leaving it somewhat at sea in the middle. Still must be bogus for anyone at risk of their job going down the pan though.

If anyone's after an iOS thing that does this, I'd recommend Tempo Advance. Handy little app. Sadly, looks like that's not available for Android.

Hello bass experts. I've recently picked up my bass again after several years of only guitaring in order to play it in a pop-punk band (c.f. Ramones, Screeching Weasel, Squirtgun sort of stuff), and we're recording a demo this weekend. This means I need to go out and get a spare set of strings, because I'm not the sort of idiot who'd turn up for recording without. However, I am the sort of idiot who's left it a bit late, so I'm kind of limited to whatever's widely available in shops, rather than going for any fancy mail-ordered types. I think I last changed the strings on this bass about ten years ago, so I can't for the life of me remember what gauge or make they are (although they still seem to be doing ok). I think my preference is for slightly lighter than standard (via being Not A Proper Bassist) but, as the bass I'm using is a 32" scale, I'm a bit wary of sacrificing too much string tension. So please, recommend away!

I'd agree with that. I find my V more comfortable than any other guitar, provided I don't try and sit down.

Although I think RhysP makes a good point re Maiden being at the less extreme end of the metal spectrum, it does seem there has been a bit of a move of late away from ludicrously pointy/none more black guitars, at least in some areas of metal. Look at Mastodon, for example - not much in the way of ludicrous pointy things there. Even the dude from Slipknot's using Strats and Teles (albeit with EMGs in) these days. Possibly worth mentioning that last time I saw Maiden (a couple of years ago), Adrian Smith was using a Les Paul and an SG as well as his Floyd/HH Jackson Strat. And I think Dave Murray's main Strat has a HH config, too.

Being more of a guitarist than a bassist, if I had the cash, I'd totally get something built by Feline (felineguitars.com) - played a few and they're lovely. Not all that cheap, mind…

Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but one of my bands is looking to do a video at the moment (on the super cheap), so this was all quite pertinent/interesting. Love the Red Fang ones. Also thought people might like to see this, which my mates' band made last year, for pretty much no money. I was rather impressed. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud6qGFH6pjE[/media] (Full disclosure: I am the cyclops' voice on this song, but sadly wasn't around for the video shoot so that's not my sexy cyclops torso.)