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Kiwi

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Posts posted by Kiwi

    What are you listening to right now?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Found these guys today - I can't think of many bands that can jump from Toto 

     

     

    to Pink Floyd 

     

    to Steely Dan 

     

    to Dire Straits

     

    to Queen

     

    and do it all in a way that absolutely respects the original tracks and the musicians who played them.  No short cuts here.  Hell, they're living the dream and who wouldn't want to be up there?

    • Like 2

    Dawsons are in administration... again.

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

    I remember Sterling Ball once saying in the EBMM forum that people have great new product ideas but EBMM has to be very careful and cannot make them all as otherwise this would guarantee him a new career in hospitality: "Do you want fries with that?" 😉 

    He's already got a career in hospitality - competitive BBQ-ing. 

     

     

    https://www.youtube.com/user/bigpoppasmokers

     

     

    • Like 1

    Did a bass you played in a shop ever make you regret buying your main bass?

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    Sort of - I definitely have regrets from not buying a bass when I had a chance to.  I played a plain looking Celinder J Update 5 in the Bass Gallery back in 2009 I think it must have been.  A time when I was selling off quite a few bits and pieces in preparation to emigrate.  The asking price was 2250 quid and it was the jazz bass I had been hearing in my head.  Full, snarly, crisp and it played like liquid Jesus butter.  I've never played a jazz bass like it since.

     

    The only other time I had that experience was playing a Spector NS5CR owned at the time by a BC member who no longer posts on here.  It was at a bassbash and I made a mental note to myself to grab it if it ever came up for sale.  It did come up for sale and I missed it.  Then it passed hands one more time and then came up for sale a third time and I jumped on it.  It's been with Mr Shuker for a while to get a slight neck warp sorted but that was my main bass...ironically ever since I stopped gigging.

     

    The last one is Dood's Shuker 6 string headless.  We compared his and mine at the LBGS one time - maybe in 2013 or maybe 2009.  I can't recall.  I remember humming and aaaahing over the spec, wanting something like my Smith but with a little more midrange.  On paper, the spec was right but my bass never quite got there tonally.  It's a fine sounding instrument but very piano sounding rather than snarly in the mids.  I tried Dood's though and it was everything I'd been looking for.  How much simpler my life could have been if I'd just asked Jon to copy Dood's spec...but it's not for sale so not totally relevant.
     

    NBD Sei Original 5 headless

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, LeftyJ said:

    Those look like glue joints to me, where the wings join the through-neck. Very common when the top is glued before the wings are joined to the neck. I had a Human Base that was constructed that way too. 

    But it's a one piece top, isn't it? 

    NBD Sei Original 5 headless

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    2 hours ago, three said:

    I can strongly recommend Bow Finishers to the South of London - the original may have been a Bow finish?  Sei build some absolutely beautiful basses - real artistry and artisanal skill - this looks like a fantastic example

    Ironically, they probably did the original finish to the bass. 

     

    Martin used them up until he switched to Simms.

    NBD Sei Original 5 headless

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    Sei make the best wooden necks in the business IMO.  And the flame maple/wenge necks sound particularly nice.  I was sorely tempted by a black four in a similar spec many years ago.  Seems like yours has a couple of body cracks though?!

    Drum machines - what are you using?

    in Other Instruments

    Posted

    3 hours ago, sammybee said:

     

    It's not about the number of sounds, it's about the few that it does do, authentically - which samples, and any Roland gear post 1985 fail to do.

    So much this.  It's my experience of using samples generally.  The amount of time that auditioning hundreds to find one that makes you go 'ooh'. 

    Bass too bright, loud 'clacking' when strings hit frets

    in Repairs and Technical

    Posted

    On 28/09/2016 at 19:07, 1976fenderhead said:

    I have a Squier Vintage Modified V which I bought here long ago and is my spare bass. I love it, beautifully made. It's been set up by the bass Gallery and it feels well set tup to me. My main issue with it is that it's a very bright bass (maple body probably the cause) and the sound of strings hitting the frets when I press them is too loud! I don't mean fret buzz, I mean the 'clack' when I press a string and it hits the fret above and below. My main bass, a MIA Fender Jazz Deluxe is nearly completely silent in that regard by comparison. It's quite distracting. The strings are Fender nickel, not exactly known for being bright and which I've used many times on my main bass with no problems.

    So what could I change in the bass to stop this noise being so loud? Pickups? Pickup height? Anything else?

    It's a direct consequence of two things: 
    1) The neck is made from very stiff maple...possibly too stiff (it happens).
    2) The neck pocket may also be well designed, making for an overall rigid and vibrant structure
    3) The maple body may be too dense

    I'd put money on it probably being number three given the other aspects can be applied to other Fender Jazz basses which don't have the issues you describe.  Using maple isn't always bad but it's very variable and for the cheaper models manufacturers will be less discerning in the wood they use.  I have an all maple Spector and a strat with a maple body and both are fine instruments.  But they use soft maple, not rock maple.  Here are some suggestions: 

    1) If you don't need to slap, try half wound strings. 
    2) You could try putting a veneer of softer wood like mahogany under the bridge.  This will loosen the acoustic coupling between the strings and instrument, making it less efficient at transferring (dampening) higher and lower frequencies.  You'll  need to adjust the string height to compensate for the raised bridge so if you like super low action it might not be feasible.
    3) You could replace the bridge with something more vintage in design, for example bent steel rather than cast for example.  The lower mass will transmit string energy less efficiently.
    4) You could also install Bartolini 'darker' flavoured pickups and use a SWR SM400 amp to sweeten things up a bit (this combo is great with bright graphite necks in my experience).

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