Kiwi

It could have been 1988 or 1989 come to think of it,  I wasn't really aware of different basses until after September 1987. I would have only been playing for a year in 1987.  But regardless, it would be quite something if your father had kept my letter...!

On 10/02/2022 at 08:51, Matthew Canty said:

Hello everyone,

 

My name is Matt and my dad is Laurence Canty. I have so many beautiful memories from the little pubs of Lancaster (UK) where he played with the local trad' jazz bands. Eventually he started his own band here in Lancaster called Quay Change. They peddled "modern?" jazz to the local area - weddings, university balls, and such like etc.

 

He is perhaps best-known for his book Electric Bass Guitar, The Complete Guide which has had various titles and versions since it's inception around 1974. There was also a significant stint as lecturer(?) of bass guitar at Goldsmiths. He took over this post from Mo Foster! He taught me how to play bass guitar from about 12 years old. I remember long lessons spent on the correct pressure to apply to the strings. 

 

Unfortunately, he has mid-to-late Dementia. He still remembers significant amounts of his life however he suffers delusions and logic completely escapes him. He is in an a sad situation but the fact he can remember his life makes it all the more important that I gather stories sooner rather than later.

 

I am looking for anyone who may know anything about him. You may have been his private pupil. You may have found his book and found it to be advantageous? You may have played gigs with him in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s or 10s and have something you remember about him?

 

I am ultimately looking for the bass communities' experience of my dad. I'd love to see stories, photographs, videos or simply a memory of the way he was way back when.

 

I'll be seeing him tomorrow. We'll probably talk about coffee and music, as we always do.

 

I have a handwritten letter from your dad in a book somewhere in storage...from 1992!  I read What Bass at the ripe old age of 16, having taken bass up and left drums behind the previous year.  I can't remember what I wrote to him about specifically but I was obsessed about bass and thirsty for information being stuck in the comparative wilderness that was New Zealand at the time.  I suspect I was asking him about Jaydees and Status basses.

6 hours ago, three said:

Wow, thanks - I haven’t played a graphite Alembic but would definitely love to - thanks for posting, stunning!

It's not too different to a wooden necked series 1 apart from being a little brighter and maybe a little more clinical sounding - no room for sloppy technique as the clip below will testify.  The neck is like a broom stick, almost no taper on it and the action is super low.

On 22/05/2022 at 07:31, three said:

What a thing to happen to a gorgeous Alembic though it seems to be a common situation

Oh trust me, this was not a situation of my choosing.  Last time I was in the UK was 2016 and then we opened a service based business that couldn't function without me and that basically screwed any chances of coming back to the UK until COVID struck...and the rest is history.  I never took the batteries out of the bass before putting it into storage because I didn't think I'd be away for so long...!  Any hoo some pics are below.  The original pickups gave out so the previous owner sent the bass back to The Mothership and had new ones installed.  The rest of it is original and honest - finish issues and all and the facings are walnut IIRC.

And one of it being played live: 

I would share a pic of mine but it's been in storage for the last 7 years...so all my photos are at least that old if not older.

Pinning the fingerboard was a good idea, I've entertained doing something similar for body wings when I get around to repurposing an abortive through neck build I commissioned.  Ken Smith basses have locator dowels on the wings for the same reasons.  With the fingerboard though, was there a reason for pinning in a fretslot rather than under a proposed fingerboard inlay?

3 hours ago, TimR said:

Thought I was giving helpful advice. 🤷‍♂️

By referring to Mumsnet...?  I can't work that one out. 
 

BTW I came close to locking the thread but I'll hold off in the hope things get back on track.

Hi BC'ers, 

We installed a series of updates to the forum software this evening. 

We couldn't find anything major with the themes like last time.  But if you happen to stumble across any new posting or text field related issues today, please let us know below and we'll look into it. 

cheers

K

 

7 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

And heel fit done.

 

It's actually one of the more challenging things.  The pocket is a very specific shape, it is tapered and the neck needs to be straight to the body.  Getting two of those three right is somewhat of a challenge.  Getting all three right takes faith, hope and the charity of the gods.  It pays to pray to all denominations, modern and ancient, religious and pagan while measuring and checking everything 100-200 times.  Because if all three don't come right first time, there will be a gap.

 

And so, two out of three OK - shape is right and taper is right:

 

 

And it's straight!!!!    Three out of three!!!!

 

 

Starting to look more like a neck now:

I'm doing exactly this with a strat this weekend.  57mm wide neck pocket in the aftermarket body which I've only just confirmed is slightly off centre. It's solvable with some fervent sanding on the longer edge of the pocket and maybe the opposite side on the heel but I risk losing that tight fit. 

1 hour ago, Bass Culture said:

Hmmm, interesting.  The Rautia was the one that got the most love on the Aria SB Facebook users page and was felt to be the most authentic generally.  Mind you, I don't recall any particularly negative comments about the Armstrong pickup.

Well look at it this way, whatever the merits of Rautia might be...the Armstrong pick up is the real deal. 

On 21/11/2020 at 00:48, Bass Culture said:

Big shout out to Veijo at Rautia for this - I know he's got a pretty substantial backlog he's working through but it looks as though the bass will be finished in time for my trip down south at Christmas.  I've heard so much about these pickups, I'm really looking forward to hearing it installed, especially in combination with Mike's recreated Varitone 6-way selector and the Prostheta Noisekiller pre-amp.  Thanks @Cosmicrainfor posting the update.

 

A bit late to the party, I realise.  But Kent Armstrong did the originals for Aria and Aaron still has the Alembic licensed moulds stashed away in his storeroom somewhere.  

10 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

Get an Uber? 😉

An excellent suggestion.

Great location too, loads of space.  A bit of a walk for me though, these days.

11 hours ago, warwickhunt said:

I did email/message but obvs folks can have hands full.

 

I haven't seen anything come in via the Support inbox.  If you're having issues, try a password reset on GC.  While it uses the same database, it's not shared with BC and your password for GC will be whatever it was for BC when the BC database was copied over.

11 hours ago, Bunion said:

I think he’s on the opposite time to us too 😄

Seven to eight hours ahead, so I'm working while you sleep peacefully.  No Indian call centres are involved.

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

It has become a PITA, because you can hide it but it just reappears after a while. After a certain amount of exposure the nag effect makes me less likely  to have one of my occasional visits to 'the other place'.

When I hide it, it stays hidden. 😏

Realistically I think the announcement bar probably has a limited life span in terms of exposure before it stops being effective.  Perhaps that point has been reached for the time being. So I'm happy to hide it until late Summer and then bring it out again for three month periods.

On 27/04/2022 at 15:24, LukeFRC said:

I now have a router table on my shopping list!

I bought a cheap one a couple of months ago.  Thirty quid and it probably flouts most CE mark standards for getting fingers caught in folding mechanisms.  But it's sturdy enough and will fold away when not in use.  I bought a second 1200W plunge router for about fifteen quid and a smaller 800w fixed one for six quid.  OEM manufactured tools are sold at pretty much wholesale prices online here.  After Summer I *might* get my own workshop but any progress on my builds really depends on finding suitable wood and swamp ash/alder are very hard to get hold of over here, as is figured maple.  Most of it comes from Russia (often not dried properly) but also sometimes Canada.  Nothing from the US thanks to tariffs.

19 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

This is the headstock shape that @funkle has asked for on the maple blank:

 

I recognise that headstock shape...:)

11 hours ago, funkle said:

4. Some impact from mahogany body. Yet to be determined. I suspect less impactful than the items preceding it. 

I wonder if Roger Sadowsky is assuming the wood weighs the same and has the same density?  If they do then he's correct but jazz basses sound very generic to me anyway...which is why I don't play one.

For a bolt on construction, the mahogany will almost certainly have an impact.  It comprises part of the structure that acts against the string tension, so how could it not?  Replace the body with one made out of weakened MDF and see if you get the same timbre!

When I had two Smith basses they were identical apart from one having mahogany core wings and the other having flamed maple (and was fretless).  Both had different characters and were through necks!  The maple winged bass was firmer in the mid range and had slightly less low end than the mahogany winged bass.  So that would suggest also that the body wood has some effect even in neck through instruments.

On the other hand, in the mid eighties, Musicman were mating necks to outsourced bodies made with poplar and alder (solid tints), ash and they all sounded like Stingrays and Cutlasses should.   There were even a few examples with mahogany and those owners reported a slight change in timbre.  Some times if the signature tone of a particular bass is wrapped up in the electronics (e.g. Status), then yeah the body wood will have less of an effect than one where the pickups and preamp are relatively clean.

7 hours ago, Basszilla said:

Wow how many years ago was that Kiwi now!!? 

2006 IIRC.

8 hours ago, Basszilla said:

it's good to see you're still on the forum.

LIkewise!  I can't seem to get away  

15 hours ago, funkypenguin said:

A bit long in the tooth perhaps, but there is still nothing that sounds like those Alembic series basses  

 

It wouldn't be that much of a deal for them to update the op amps they use and it wouldn't impact on the sound at all. Jazzyvee is probably right, they don't fix something that ain't broke.

4 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Did a bit of digging and apparently it was only the very early models (early 80s) that had the narrow neck and 15mm spacing before Yamaha switched back to their more standard wider neck.

 

The passive and first active version were both 15mm, they were the bulk of the production run.  The broad neck version with 18mm string spacing was limited in numbers and right at the end of production.  They are around but they don't pop up often and the only examples I've seen seem to be heavily modified with pickguards and soap bar pickups.

On 06/04/2021 at 14:32, Basszilla said:

Ah man, my 400+ now you're taking me back 🙂 I think kiwi bought that off me.

I did, we met in a service area off the M4 if I recall correctly.  That was a fabulous amp BTW, even better than the V8 I later owned.  We both know it weighed an insane amount though, especially with the shockmount case.  I miss it sometimes.

7 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Oooh really, 15mm string spacing, not the usual 18mm?! That is very interesting. 

Yeah my Status has 15mm string spacing and it feels like the strings just fall under my fingers.  It's going to be a must have in the future. 

I've been gassing this week for a BB5000A, mainly because it has 15mm string spacing and can do fairly traditional sounds.