BigRedX

Two important things to remember. 1. Probably the most important factor in getting Mani's bass tone is being Mani. 2. The reason why his tone is so good is not the tone in itself (if you heard it on its own in one of those isolated bass tracks you'd most likely wonder what all the fuss was about), but the way it fits into the overall soundscape of the other instruments. So unless you are playing in a Stone Roses tribute band where the other band members had completely nailed the sounds of the people they are copying, you'll find that you are going to have to alter the sound to fit with what the other members of your band are doing to make the bass sound right.

Be prepared to be amazed then. Remember that when they were first produced the Flying V and the Explorer were desperately unpopular. It took almost 20 years before you started seeing lots of musicians in well-know bands playing them. They are already selling half the price they were when originally released. At some point they will become affordable while still being unpopular and then someone will come along at make it his or her "own" guitar of choice.

I have to say I have a bit of a soft spot for the Firebird X. Also I guarantee you that some time in the next 20 years there will be a big-name guitarist who uses one of these as their instrument of choice, causing the price of the few remaining examples to go through the roof, and whoever owns the Gibson brand at that point to hurriedly bring out a re-issue that incorporates none of the important features, and only just about gets the shape right.

As much as I like the idea of new instruments that sport all the correct features of the model they are based on, as an owner of a Firebird with banjo machine heads, this is one original feature I could live without. The minimalist look to the front of the headstock is great, but the machine heads themselves are horrible to use and the case for the Firebird is twice as big as a standard guitar case simply to accommodate the extra depth of the machine heads. As for that Les Paul SL, it really does shown that aesthetics are completely subjective. Personally I think it looks horrible. It has all the grace of the worst kind of 70s Woolies special guitar - although considering that in real terms it probably costs less, I shouldn't really be surprised.

And I'm completely the opposite. When I was getting into music in the 70s the for the vast majority of my favourite bands if the bass player wasn't sporting a Rickenbacker then it was a Gibson - usually a Thunderbird or EB3.

Before anyone else mentions it: Scott Walker and Sunn 0)))

I never bother with a drink on stage anymore. At best it will be ignored, forgotten and warm by the end of the set. At worst someone will knock it over.

Unfortunately nowadays "Made In America" for mass produced instruments mostly means overpriced, for the build quality.

Can you keep the bit that stops the pop-ups from the user names? I find them really annoying and the fact that they aren't working at the moment is a relief!

You could aim pretty much all those criticisms at Fender and Rickenbacker as well.

I don't see why it's a problem. There's plenty of other basses out there and according to your post you already own some that you like. So why are you apparently so desperate to find a Precision that you "bond with"?

Is that for the Schaller bridge? I would have thought it would be cheaper to buy direct form Schaller, or through one of their UK dealers.

The easiest way to buy a Tune would be if you were friends with a Japanese musician who could act as an intermediary for you. Unfortunately a lot of Japanese companies aren't geared up for selling outside of Japan and will generally ignore you as a foreigner because it is just to difficult and/or embarrassing. Having said that Tune basses do show up in Ishibashi's U-Box (their second hand selection) and they are pretty good at dealing with potential buyers from outside Japan. The only thing you need to watch with Ishibashi, is because of the time difference between Japan and the UK, instruments can often be sold locally in the time between you seeing it on the website and their customer services dealing with your email enquirery. There was a very nice looking (and relatively inexpensive) 10-string Tune bass that showed up a few years ago on Ishabashi. Unfortunately at the time I didn't have the cash spare to buy it.

Can someone who actually knows something about physics and tension forces prove or dispel this for once and for all?

You can get dimmable LEDs but you may need to change the dimmer switch to an LED-compatible one.

Tune Japan also make a one-piece 8-string bridge. I fact I'm surprised that they haven't been mentioned more in this thread. If I was going to buy another 8-string bass I wouldn't make any decision before trying a Tune. However if you think the Schaller bridge is expensive you shouldn't do a currency conversion on the Tune one! That means AFAICS there are only 4 different 8-string bridges with individual intonation adjustment for each string currently available. What is the problem with the T-O-M style 8-string bridge? The generic one fitted to the Dean, Schecter, Spector etc. basses is a perfectly functional unit. It's just the horrible tailpiece that makes it look so ugly IMO. As the Warwick bridge is essentially for Warwick basses only, there shouldn't need to be any reason to adjust the height of the saddles individually since the radius of the bridge and fingerboard should be matched. The Schaller one appears only to be sold as an after-market part there is no way of knowing what the fingerboard radius on the bass is going to be so the saddles have to be individually height adjustable.

So how have you learnt your parts for the songs - from recordings?

Having actually owned one - it's an Andreas Shark Guitar, no tuning issues at all one account of a properly cut nut that allows for those string angles.

A not very interesting song reduced to elevator music... And what's up with the guitarist? Is he about to rob the others? ;-)

Made by someone inspired by Wishbass?

Some more observations that the OP might want to take not of... I'm assuming that both songs in this mash-up are covers? I'm familiar with Superstition, but not the other song. If that is the case, it may make it trickier to get the licences since not only will you have to get (and pay for) a licence for each song if any of the rights holders don't like how you've combined them, they might not allow to use their song in this way. Also I would recommend that for the moment you set your SoundCloud link for this track to private and get this thread moved to Off-Topic where it is not visible to Internet Search Engines. If any of the rights holders for these songs are a bit "iffy" about granting you a licence, the fact that you have essentially released the song before the fact might just make them say "no". Which brings me the crux of the matter... What do you hope to achieve with this track? Because you aren't likely to make any money off it. In fact it's probably going to cost you a lot more to put this out legally than you are ever likely to receive back in streaming or download sales. Cover versions rarely make the artists cover them any money unless they are massive hits.

As a general observation, getting the appropriate permissions for a cover song release these days is a lot harder than it used to be - especially since digital downloads don't have a finite quantity. In the past with vinyl or CD you simply told the MCPS how many copies you were pressing, what the retail price was and what proportion of the songs were covers to originals and they worked you out a price based on those figures. You paid and they issued a licence which allowed you to get your records or CDs manufactured. It was as quick as it could be given that everything took about 28 days by post. The rights holders of the song(s) you were covering were rarely bothered as they were getting their share of all the Mechanicals up front irrespective of how many copies actually sold. These days of digital downloads sales numbers are open-ended. You might sell 1 download to your mum. You might sell 10,000,000 all over the world. That means the Mechanicals have to be recorded individually for every sale and only come in as and when a download is actually sold. Also the rights holders can be a lot more precious about how the songs are used. They might also be worried that a cover may detract from sales or the "original" version. My experience of trying to get covers cleared and licensed for digital distribution, has been that on the whole it's simply not worth the time and expense required to get the permissions. At the moment, my 80s synth band have been toying with the idea of re-releasing our two cassette EPs along with some other demo recordings as a digital album. However one of the tracks in a cover. Trying to get permission to include it, has so far proved to be hard work. We'll probably end up having to leave it off.

That look pretty good. Is there an option to fit lighting to the top like a "Nimlok" stand?

PPL is yet another organisation you probably want to join, but completely separate and different to PRS/MCPS, As Steve Browning says, if you want an ISRC for your track which makes getting performance royalties much easier, then you will need to join. However there is absolutely no reason to pay for your ISRC. Join the PPL as a record company member as well as a musician member (they are separate applications so complete both), which cost nothing and you can generate as many ISRC as you need for free.

Get in touch with PRS/MCPS for the appropriate licence. That’s assuming you are in the UK. Otherwise you’ll need your national PRO.