Kiwi

Paul Reed Smith has been critical of the CITES requirements. He says the Indian rosewood he uses comes from salvaged trees auctioned off by the Indian government after monsoons. Failing that he uses plantation grown rosewood from Indonesia. The point he's making is that there's no shortage of rosewood and there are plenty of sustainable supplies available so asks what's the point of the regulation? [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzhjOTEbNxU&spfreload=10"]https://www.youtube....xU&spfreload=10[/url] Skip to 54:30

[quote name='Bassnut62' timestamp='1491855940' post='3275967'] If you're talking stock Fender pups, I agree. They often sound both harsh and bland to me. Luckily there seem to be some highly respected pup-upgrades. I only have experience of Lindy Fralin Vintage Hot pups for Strat and they are sweet and toneful, with a little bit of bite when dimed. [/quote] I think anything faithfully specc'd for a strat. I had a set of obsessively constructed 50's single coils in my Hitmaker-replica and they were TERRIBLE. No reflection on the maker or quality of construction but the sound was just awful. So I threw a set of Fender vintage noiseless in and haven't looked back yet. Neither of my strats are particularly chimey though, the Chandler is more of a crisp, low noise studio tool (EMG's) and the Hitmaker isn't supposed to be too chimey (it does the Nile Rodgers thing really well.)

[quote name='blunderthumbs' timestamp='1361614909' post='1988220'] Whilst I have your attention on the Jaydee. Do any of you Jaydee owners have the problem of when the active switch is on you hear a crackling noise similar to bacon frying.? If so what is it and can it be cured? It seems to improve when you back off the hi eq control. [/quote] Probably a dry solder joint or a live short circuit (signal path contacting signal path) Does it change if you jolt the bass with the heel of your palm?

Pearl yellow! It was available but I've never seen one.

Hi Mark ex-Christchurch bod here, playing for 31 years too. Welcome!

All that might be needed is to sand the fingerboard flatter if there's enough depth to it (ie. shaped slab not veneered). If the workshop is set up, it might only take a couple of hours to defret, mount on the sanding jig, refret and dress. Minimal refinishing would be needed (which tends to be where the costs stack up). Alternatively, buy a Fender licensed neck from Allparts or Warmoth and have the board flattened. Even if there's not enough depth, it could be flat sanded or planed and a new fingerboard attached. If your heart is set on a new neck rather than a modified fingerboard, Jon Shuker or Martin Petersen would a great choice for a well engineered neck but you'll need to specify flame or birdseye maple if you want a little growl as the rock maple Jon has is super rigid. If you want something a little more Marcus Miller then you'll be fine. Alternatively, Bravewood (if they're still taking orders) or Limelight might be a good alternative as they've got a lot of experience in preCBS Fender replicas. Expect to pay over £400 though.

I sort of have a love-hate thing with strats. No denying their versatility or egonomics and they're at the core of some classic sounds. My Chandler strat is super easy to play - I like the 25.5" scale and maple fingerboard. But the pickups can be harsh sometimes. Mahogany based construction sounds so much nicer.

"Piano" tones? Gospel isn't played with basses that have "piano" tones, it's played with basses that have a nasteh midrange spike. Smith, MTD and maybe Warwicks, 80's Musicman Stingrays and Dingwalls will fit the bill - basses that use wenge in the neck and/or soft maple. Class D amps sound pretty good with them as they are fairly neutral sounding and don't scoop the midrange. For god's sake don't pair these basses with scoopy heads like SWR, Warwick or Eden heads though or you'll lose that pokey midrange (although Warwick basses and amps do sound good together). If you want "piano" tones, go for something with a very stiff neck - Steinberger M-series, Modulus Quantum, Status Empathy, Zon Legacy or Sonus. Pair with SWR or Eden to soften the sound a little.

You can find luthier species in a lot of places, its incredibly important to make sure the stuff is dried properly or work may end up cupping, delaminating and/or twisting.

Don't forget Level 42. Funny, I never thought of Propaganda as edgy and I've had their album a Secret Wish for decades.

I dunno, one person's boredom can so easily be another's nuance. I agree both of them are great song writers. They wrote pop and I guess that won't appeal to some. For anyone into being rebellious music or testing boundaries, they're both about as edgy as Dire Straits or Four Play. But maybe they didn't need to push boundaries in order to express themselves. Pop music has never really pushed boundaries - or it wouldn't be popular.

If you need grunt, the GK RB700 is hard to beat. I had two but just check the castors before you buy. The rubber tyres kept disintegrating on mine and were replaced under guarantee multiple times.

You probably want to start with a treble booster into the LT drive, guitarists like Tim Pierce have even used a Boss GE7 (graphic equaliser) as a boost - which makes a lot of sense given it's possible to select very precisely which frequency bands to boost into compression and which to leave clean for definition. Then see if you need another overdrive pedal but what overdrive will really depend on how much gain and compression you want and whereabouts in the frequency spectrum you want it to go. Tube screamer clones and Marshall Guv'nors are popular but opposite in terms of how they treat mids. The Tube screamer boosts mids and thickens things up which is great for pretty much anything, the Guv'nor cuts the mids which evens things up when using smaller speakers that have more prominent mids (around 600hz) or for very particular sounds (like AC/DC). Nobels ODR are also fantastic budget pedals - great, natural sounding overdrive that cleans up nicely when the volume is rolled off. [url="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nobels-ODR-1-Natural-Overdrive-Guitar-Pedal-/292049462664?"]http://www.ebay.com/...-/292049462664?[/url] If it were me, I'd get an ODR and a tube screamer...maybe get rid of the Blackstar...

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1488792223' post='3251697'] Everyone is different. I saw Nathan East, one of my favourite bassists, at GAK and he had a very even and light playing style. Every note was perfect even when he was messing about. When I saw Victor Wooten at DV247 his playing style was very "agricultural". It was a surprise to me how rough he was when playing. Almost attacking the bass. [/quote] lol I once watched Jonas Hellborg demo EBS amps and the way he grabbed at his instrument could only be described as feral. His hands were grasping at the strings like they were pulling out entrails.

In my experience at least, it's not possible to get low action on all basses because wood isn't a very consistent material. Even in expensive instruments there can be inconsistencies in the fingerboard (s -curves, slight twists, humidity changes etc.) that are barely noticable to the naked eye but enough to rob the action of a mm. In mass manufactured instruments there's also the issue of frets that aren't seated properly that flex under the load of a sanding beam. Basses I've found with consistently low action tend to have very rigid necks like Status, Alembic, Steinberger, Pedulla Buzz series and Vigier. The frets are solidly seated and the neck curves consistently under tension, so its relatively easy to dress the necks well. Whether someone likes the sound of a super rigid neck is another thing because they tend to be brighter and less forgiving of poor technique. Some manufacturers like Smith deliberately soften their necks a little to dampen the highs a little but it makes the necks less rigid and less able to provide low action. Lowest action I've ever played was a Status Series 2000. It felt like the strings had been glued to the fingerboard. But my Alembic gets pretty close.

I used to tease my wife with this [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKOiO7-2oCk[/media] But then I remembered this and surely there is no contest! [media]https://www.youtube....h/?v=xXMrDu7374Y[/media] It's so bad it's not even funny.

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1488315490' post='3247897'] People in York have taken to the streets. [/quote] In China too, people throwing themselves under tanks left right and centre in moral outrage. In a couple of cases, they accidentally stole tanks after a hilarious misunderstanding and were later forced to throw themselves under by state officials to protect the nation from moral turpitude.

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1488280806' post='3247448'] Thanks for the update It's a great looking design and build and the learning points you raise bode very well for the future ones. Improvement on something that's pretty darned good to start off with is well worth following - can't wait [/quote] Thanks for the reply! I know it took a while to complete the instrument but I'm surprised by the lack of other replies.

[attachment=239314:20170228_172845 - Copy (2).jpg] OK so now I've lived with it for 5 months, probably time for an update. I fitted the headstock string clamp and it works but it still isn't elegant. I looked into designing an alternative but the main issue is the angle of the fixing screws for the headstock cap aren't parallel to the fingerboard. Designing a headpiece that is more substantial to provide clearance for string clamping screws is going to be a problem. At the moment the clearance isn't needed because the string clamp is detachable. On the whole though, while the honeymoon phase has worn off, I'm still really happy with it. Things I like most are: 1) The sound. It's got a really lovely, articulate mid range purr/honk thanks to the body design and wood choices. The pickups are pretty neutral so capture lows and highs in equal measure. The graphite neck also adds an authority to the lows that is missing from the wooden necked basses I own but lacks any brittleness 2) The playability. The graphite neck allows very low, fast action (which also adds to the purr) and there are no dead spots. I use reasonably light gauge strings (035-120 which are getting increasingly hard to find) and the whole package of neck and strings lends precision to how the instrument feels when played. The chambered body is also nicely resonant and the whole instrument feels very alive - I'm looking forward to the day when I can play the instrument at stage volume just to test how the amp and instrument interact with one another. Surprises: 1) The hidden tuner system won't be to everyone's taste but I've found it surprisingly usable despite the lack of finger room. 2) The neck pickup also gets really close to the sound of a 5-string Stingray - more by accident than design. 3) The bass really doesn't need the active electronics. I've achieved my objectives for how the bass sounds just in the construction alone and it sounds great passive. 4) The edge binding is very practical - helps absorb all sorts of slight taps and knocks. I'd definitely put binding in on future instruments. 5) The B string is phenomenal. Very focussed, clear and full without sounding muddy in the slightest. Things I would change: I won't say the instrument is perfect! There's a bit of a clanger in the balance of the instrument when seated thanks to the location of the bottom horn that I really should have checked and picked up during the design stage. It's not head stock heavy enough (needs another 250-300g) and tends to slide off the knee. But on a strap it feels really nice - weighs in at 3.8kg. I like wide body basses too but this bass is perhaps a smidgen too wide, my arm can start to feel a little cramped after playing a while. So perhaps I'd reduce the width by 10mm on either side as well. At the moment I just keep thinking about what I'm going to do for bass number 2. Spanish cedar is a cheaper substitute for mahogany and has been used in a number of Les Paul tribute guitars to wide acclaim (the Huber Krauster for example). I'm curious about the impact of wenge on the sound - should fatten it up a little but it's not clear how much is needed. Also need to think about whether to go with Moses necks again given the lack of string-clamping headstock and the problem with lining up the pre-drilled bolt holes. We'll have to see what the future holds.

In all honesty Bass -> Amp -> Speaker unless there are particular song requirements If bass synth (or fretless) was being used for a song, I'd need to bring a lot more.