randythoades

I may have to bite the bullet and get a TSB 550 or 650 eventually, just to see what the difference the set and thru neck makes. Generally I like bolt on necks for both bass and guitar for the extra bite they give but I am curious. I had a set neck Cardinal series bass but it didn't quite have the same aggressive qualities as the bolt on... the TSB are much better made though.

Posted 27 July 2014 - 11:29 PM Quote I have 3 [color="#ff0000"]Aria[/color] [color="#ff0000"]Pro[/color] II CSB basses and they are excellent. They have a bit more growl than a precision and quite responsive controls. I have had 2 TSB basses too but foolishly sold them on a Fender Crusade... (on look out for another TSB350 - if anyone happens to have one for sale...). The medium scale suits me well and also, as a pick player, the fact that the string spacing doesn't increase much at the bridge really helps. I have your 350 :-) It's great, so you can't have it back I might let my 650 go at some point. Depending on how skint I get, as the 550 does pretty much everything I need. [b]Edited by 2pods, 27 July 2014 - 11:36 PM.[/b] [b][i]Peter[/i][/b] [b][i]My Feedback [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=213-2pods-empirical-emporium"][color="#0f72da"]http://basschat.co.u...irical-emporium[/color][/url][/i][/b] Hi 2pods Blast! Nice to see that at least one more is still in circulation! You got a 550 in the end then? I have another TSB350 now but not quite as good feel or balance as the last one - it is my go to bass though for the bluesy rock I play at the moment. Slightly heavier so that may be why, but a nicer colour for me - I am fickle that way and fall in and out of love with black guitars. Am in the process of converting my home build pbass into medium scale by adding a medium scale Squier tele bass neck. Just need to double check my measuring before I get the router out - holidays got in the way mid project!!!

I have painted a few guitars so I will just say that the hardest bit is making sure you sand off the varnish well and spend a long time with different grades of sandpaper and wire wool to get a super smooth finish to start with, filling any nicks and dents. Then use a decent spray primer and off you go. I tend to use acrylic spray paints from B+Q, Homebase etc and normal artist acrylic paint on the top for my "artwork". Once all done, do about 20 or so coats of laquer (I prefer satin) with a rub down in between coats with super fine wire wool. After that, let it cure for a couple of months and rub it back with car rubbing compound to even out the lumps and give it a burnish. Be prepared to spend a lot of energy and time with sandpaper. DO NOT RUSH IT.... as with decorating, preparation is everything if you want a good finish. Most of all...Enjoy it!

I agree with BOD2. Go with what feels right... I have had the best part of 50 strats or teles over the years and they all feel different. I eventually settled on two mid 90 MIJ ones as the feel was so good. In general, with small EQ adjustments, they all sounded pretty much the same, some slightly darker or hotter than others - like a strat or tele - with the exception of ones with noiseless pickups. They just didn't have the same bite. My personal choice is to change pickups to Tonerider Surfari pickups. Low output 50s sound, lovely In all honesty, I have been disappointed with USA standard strats, I think the Mex Deluxe or Classic player models sound and feel better.

I have gigged with the Tiny Terror and it does run out of juice even in a pub setting. As others have suggested, 30 watts would be better and give much better headroom for cleaner and classic rock tones. The Dual would be better. I changed to a Peavey Classic 30 and couldn't have been happier.

You can pick up a reasonable Japanese made RG or Jackson for not far off that sort of money on ebay [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ibanez-RG507-Gun-Metal-Electric-Guitar-/151315129475?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item233b15a483"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ibanez-RG507-Gun-Metal-Electric-Guitar-/151315129475?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item233b15a483[/url] [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ibanez-RG-550-LTD-Guitar-fujigen-/141323341922?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item20e7871062"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ibanez-RG-550-LTD-Guitar-fujigen-/141323341922?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item20e7871062[/url] Even the newer Ibanez RG are worth a look (not a good as an old one but perfect for home) [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/neck-thru-Ibanez-RG42DXFX-guitar-Paul-Gilbert-Steve-Vai-Rg-Rg350-Rg470-/371078580067?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item566601c763"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/neck-thru-Ibanez-RG42DXFX-guitar-Paul-Gilbert-Steve-Vai-Rg-Rg350-Rg470-/371078580067?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item566601c763[/url] [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ibanez-RG350DXZ-WH-Electric-Guitar-HSH-Rg-350-Steve-Vai-White-Rg350-Dx-/371086144961?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item56667535c1"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ibanez-RG350DXZ-WH-Electric-Guitar-HSH-Rg-350-Steve-Vai-White-Rg350-Dx-/371086144961?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item56667535c1[/url] Or maybe an 80's Aria Pro II Wildcat / Black Knight / Cat series... great shredders... and cheap. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aria-pro-11-guitar-Black-Knight-Warrior-/321446064929?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4ad7adb321"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aria-pro-11-guitar-Black-Knight-Warrior-/321446064929?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4ad7adb321[/url] [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aria-Pro-ii-The-Warrior-Guitar-/111395541001?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item19efb11009"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aria-Pro-ii-The-Warrior-Guitar-/111395541001?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item19efb11009[/url] [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Cat-Aria-Pro-II-Electric-Guitar-With-DiMarzio-Pick-Ups-/310983108618?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item486809a80a"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Cat-Aria-Pro-II-Electric-Guitar-With-DiMarzio-Pick-Ups-/310983108618?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item486809a80a[/url]

New set fitted and dull E string a thing of the past! Will keep the old set anyway as an emergency backup...

Just thought I would add a quick post to say that how good the customer service at D'addario has been. In these days of online shopping, customer service seems to have taken a nosedive, but D'addario seem to want to buck that trend. I decided to try out the D'addario Chromes flatwound strings on my Aria bass. When they were installed, the E string seemed 'a bit dull' in comparison with the others. I adjusted my EQ and my pickup height to compensate but couldn't eliminate it so I emailed D'addario Customer services to see if this as expected with those strings or if they had any suggestions. I also started looking for alternative strings to replace the Chromes. Email response came back same day. Definitely should not happen and they would replace it. Another email from D'addario UK to confirm my address and a new full set arrived in the post. Can't ask better than that. A disgruntled customer now spreading the word about how well they have been treated. Thanks D'addario.

I really like the look of this. I have had two LG 1000 and had no problems with either. I sold the first, being talked into an ABM500 but couldn't get on with it so sold the ABM and got another LG1000. Granted, it is woefully underpowered for what it is suggested it will do, but loud enough for me and a good sounding head which has been reliable for several years. I even use it as a poweramp for my guitar effects units. I could seriously be tempted to try out one of these though...

Maybe not the style that your are looking for, but a violin bass is a great lightweight bass and surprisingly versatile... I also have back problems and built my own pbass using a lightweight body. Much easier to support for a long time but definitely a more lightweight sound, which actually suits some stuff. I generally play Aria Pro CSB and TSB basses, medium scale and lightweight bodies. Work great. The best solution for me personally was to start electric upright bass. No strain at all on my back and shoulder!

Mattanorak, with all due respect, the TSB 550 is not a TSB 400. The market for the higher range instruments is still quite buoyant, although you initially wanted £150 more than your selling price. The 550 is through neck rather than bolt on and yours was a very unusual factory colour. But, as you say, if you bide your time you can get some good prices.

Unless you need the money I would keep hold of it. It is a lot of bass, better than a lot of the mid priced new instruments around. I think you would probably be looking at a selling price of between £200-250, but you might get close to £300 with a good wind. Having the case is a good asset and may bump it up though as not many around. Real shame as they are far better than a similar priced new instrument.

I have used Guitar Village several times and always found them very good in store, helpful and good advice. I have not sent an email so can't comment on that, but I do run a small printing shop trying to survive in the modern internet world. Interestingly (or not) I agree with several posts. We get hundreds of emails every day to answer as well as customers in the shop. I treat emails in the same way I treat phone or personal enquiries. If someone has been genuine and polite in their request,I do my best to help them, even if that means that another company is best suited to their need. That customer may not spend money TODAY, but they may in the future or recommend me to someone else who I might not have dealt with before. That said, 90% of the emails lead to nothing, on the other hand 10% do, usually higher job value than face to face enquiries. That percentage goes up to about 25% of face to face enquiries. If the request in any format is rude or unfriendly then it will be treated in a polite but dismissive way. Email requests have become such an accepted way to do business that we are considering closing our door to general public and only take orders via phone or email. I can generally deal with 20 email or telephone enquires every hour compared with maybe 4 personal ones. That is an order per hour conversion rate of 2 to 1. Makes you think.

I have to say that I started learning guitar first and found it hard. Having to think about chord shapes etc. So I started learning bass too, initially much easier to string together a few notes, although harder to hold a note, but it enabled me to learn the notes on the fretboard which was a huge advantage when I came back to guitar. I then developed both instruments together, although having more affinity to the bass, which I hope has held me in good stead, appreciating the roles that both guitar and bass hold in a band environment. Just getting a child interested in any music instrument is a massive plus, it is their journey, let them discover!

I am also a designer and have my own print company too and we struggle with charging and costs for artwork. For my own purposes, we tend to charge pretty much a flat fee for logos depending on how much time we think it will take at the beginning (average of £150). In our experience, customers do not understand or appreciate the time taken to think about and create the concept of logos and don't like an open ended project. What I tend to do is to do a couple of sheets of hand drawn ideas and concepts, no colours, no fonts etc, just very quick sketches. These we provide free of charge an let the work sell itself. If the customer likes any of them we will develop them into proper mockups and then charge for it. If there is nothing suitable and we are on different wavelengths we merely shake hands and part company. I think a young start up band (similar to as a young start up company) will not appreciate the time and effort and importance of good design, nor have money,whereas a more mature band (or company) can see the benefits, and have the finances.

I was thinking of sending mine to Catswhisker pickups in Birmingham. I have had some tele pickups would by him and he did a really good job at a reasonable price.

See below for photo, looks like the MBii, with a bit ceramic bar underneath. This pickup has started to die, the D and G atrings becoming slightly weak, i have put it back in other way round and see if that helps, might need to get it rewound. [URL=http://s843.photobucket.com/user/randythoades/media/936CCD81-7C8E-4556-A382-8DAC286BF6F8_zpsg02yhg2h.jpg.html][IMG]http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz351/randythoades/936CCD81-7C8E-4556-A382-8DAC286BF6F8_zpsg02yhg2h.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

In fact, it worked so well, I did it twice! [url="http://s843.photobucket.com/user/randythoades/media/IMAG0274_zpsb419f997.jpg.html"][/url]

Well Mr Leo Fender did lots of experimenting and I am just following in those footsteps!! Works for me...!

I was one who did go to the effort of routing the forearm and rib contours for my tele but it was never quite right. So I bought a hardtail strat body and routed the pickups and turned it into a tele... Perfect! [url="http://s843.photobucket.com/user/randythoades/media/IMAG0385_zpse2ce7c16.jpg.html"][/url]

If I was buying new I would probably go for the Vintage. They are excellent guitars, if a little generic, but great pickups and hardware. I would agree with some other comments though and go second hand off ebay. There are some great deals to be had on some of the older Japanese or Korean made stuff from the likes of Westone, Aria, Washburn etc. Great guitars and a reasonable investment. If you wanted to sell it, it will likely increase slightly in value whereas the Vintage or Epiphone will plummet from the new price...

Hi Bloodaxe. The CSB 300 + 380 + CSB Deluxe have (according to the catalogues) the MB-IV pickup which I find is higher output and gives a really great grunt, roll back 1/3 for pBass tone, full up for punky aggression. The CSB 450 + Black and Golds have the MB-III as far as I can tell which is smoother tone and I think better for pop, soft rock, blues. I prefer the IV to the III slightly. I had a TSB 350, which also has the MB-III and it was great, on the lookout for another, but I didn't really like the TSB 550 for some reason. Supposedly the same pickup but didn't have the punch of the 350. I will take one out tonight if I get a chance and post a picture. I am not really a pickup expert so am not sure of the actual construction differences.