Silvia Bluejay

Damn, you're right, hadn't noticed that.I'll email them straight away! On a more serious note, I got this email a few minutes ago: --- hi there, Thank you for the email and the photos. Please return the faulty unit back to us for replacement. Please send the unit in its original condition with all the accessories in the original box with the labels which you will receive within few hours in a separate e-mail. You can print the label, stick it firmly on the parcel and take the parcel to nearest post office to be sent. Pack the unit as good as possible so that the possibility of a further transport damage would be at its minimum and in case of one, we could get the courier responsible for it. Please include a message with your contact details, reason for return (written fault description) and your wishes for the procedures made with this specific return. Within 30 days from purchase, we can exchange the item under the following conditions: -The unit needs to be in mint condition. -No dog ears on manuals. -Original packaging and accessories needs to be returned as well. If these terms are not met or the 30 days is clearly over, we will instead repair the unit for you. Please observe! Normal repair time is 3-4 weeks from the time we receive the returned item until we can send it back to you. Unfortunately we cannot lend you a product during this time. Repair info only: In case where the technician states that the fault was accidentaly caused by you, we can not cover any of the shipping costs nor repair the unit under warranty. I don't think that is the case but I am obliged to let you know this before hand. --- My reply: Thank you, but surely this is no way to make amends - four weeks!! I do not accept your offer of a replacement as stated. If you send a new, good bass in the next couple of days, AND NO LATER, and collect the other one at the same time as you deliver it to me, I can accept that. That would be the ONLY way I could accept an exchange. Asking me to wait longer is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE under any point of view. As a less preferable alternative, I request from you a partial refund on the price of the bass, so that I can pay a luthier to repair the bass here in London. Please reply without delay. Best regards, Silvia ------------- I think their suggestion is an insult, TBH.

Haha I wasn't up for the sake of it, on certain days I may have to be up at crazy times because I work online with countries in different time zones. So I was in bed by 2am last night and today I was up at 5:30am.

LOOL I'm not, but I know the feeling! But hopefully this year they'll have a lower profile as there's no Mark King gig?

Yes Mark, please join our jolly - er - motley crew...

Yum! Thanks It's satin black, which means very dark brown in fact, and the grain of the wood underneath the finish is still visible. I chose it in preference to the normal jet black - which was available too - like that of my upright and my Crafter (my very first never-touched-a-bass-before student instrument).

PS Discreet, forgot to thank you for liking the pics! I love my new baby, scratched or otherwise... and I'm also beginning to sound all right on it. Will keep you guys posted on progress in the Thomann refund saga

It's there, if you know where to look. It's very visible in some photos I've taken but chosen not to publish, as these were better.

OK so if it works (I HATE Flickr from the bottom of my heart), here is the link to the whole set of 10 pics of the new baby, scratch and all [media]http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluejay_my_photos/sets/72157628882162125/[/media] Edit: I confirm that I detest Flickr.

[quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1326623039' post='1499533'] The only tip I can offer is that I found I played open strings more frequently rather than fretting(!)/fingering the note on a lower string, as this gave my ear a reference point for intonation. I did this less as my confidence grew, but still did it occasionally. G. [/quote] That's what you tend to do on upright/double bass, so I'm familiar with the trick . But It's far less necessary on the fretless after a bit of practice.

Brilliant.

The one I have appears to need a bit of adjusting at the bridge saddles too, but I'll wait a while. I also like to lower the G string so that it's closer - within limits, of course - to the fingerboard than the other strings, as I find it easier to play like that. That's something I'll do in a few weeks' time as well.

I may or may not get a top, but I'll be there, and I'll soon start pestering everybody in a new thread so that we decide where, when and how to have a Basschat meetup at the show and/or after it

Thanks Paul, I may try that too. But in general, I'm finding it easier to get into the swing of fretless playing than I did when I started on the upright, as my hand has already memorised the fingering positions on the 5-stringer.

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' timestamp='1326582942' post='1499266'] I'd get some frets fitted, it'll sound like a proper bass then! [/quote]

Just had a session which included some work on the fretless and I'm sounding a lot better already, after following the advice you guys gave me both on position and musical ear. Thank you all so much. PS Geoff, apologies for misspelling your name. Edited.

LOL so that they might end up paying me for having bought the bass

Got yet another email from Thomann's Customer Care, requesting more photos, this afternoon. Impressed as it's Saturday. I've now sent them more shots of the bass with the scratch, plus pics of the boxes, which are in tip top condition as I opened them with much care, in case the bass had to be returned in them (sigh). Anyway, I'm working on the photos I took this morning - not just of the scratch, but of my beautiful baby in general! - and will post some of them here as soon as I have selected the best ones.

Thank you Noel and Geoff! Luckily my musical ear is now reasonably trained, also thanks to playing the upright, so it should mostly be a matter of practicing on the fretless until I sound acceptable

LOL I know what you mean! As I said in my first post, adjusting the bridge saddles was what i thought about doing in the first place. Will try all suggestions and let you know how I get along Thank you FR!

Excellent. Thank you all!

The reason why I said that the dots indicate the notes is because I put my fretted and my fretless 5-stringers side by side and looked at the dots on each. The fretless has dots where the fretted has the actual bit of metal. So yes, probably silly of me not to think that I should press a little behind each dot, as you can't help doing when the actual fret is there. But you're right, it's best to just get the hang of it by ear - after all, I'm taming the upright, therefore I shouldn't allow a humble fretless to have the better on me

Ha, good point. Will try that. Thanks.

If I understand correctly - from comparing with a fretted bass - the side dots on a fretless indicate exactly where to press your fingertip in order to obtain the corresponding note. That's as opposed to the dots on a fretted which are bang in the middle of the relevant fret. The two dots that indicate the octave appear to (more or less) be in the same place on both basses, and I need to press my fingertip between them in order to obtain the note. If the above is correct, then it appears I'm at least partly wrong in blaming myself for not getting the right intonation while playing. If I use a chromatic tuner and play each note correctly as marked, it reveals that nearly every note marked, on almost all strings, is sharp - in some cases waay too sharp, despite the open strings having been tuned to perfection. So my musical ear hasn't suddenly abandoned me, after all. My question - can I do what I would do on a fretted bass, and set the strings up correctly via the springs at the bridge? Or is there some trick I'm missing? Incidentally, since this is a new bass, it's probably advisable for me to wait a few weeks or so until it has 'acclimatised' to the UK and my neck of the woods and my flat. But I'm asking you infinitely helpful and patient folks in advance Thank you, as always.

LOL I promise I'll take some close-ups as soon as I manage to persuade the camera out of its sulk, so that we can all enjoy the sight of my new baby's fingerboard H, no worries, it's still a bargain, and I love it - although I'm still seemingly unable to play it (it's my first non-upright fretless and my intonation is all over the place!) . I'm pursuing the issue out of principle, mostly. Thomann haven't replied to my email with the photo attachment. That probably means I won't hear from them until Monday.

Will publish some as soon as my effing camera stops being temperamental - it's currently on the blink, and the other one I have is pretty sh*t and wouldn't do justice to the bass! I love taking macro photos of the nice bits of my new babies, but you need a decent lens...