Silvia Bluejay

Not sure about Bass Player Magazine - it's not sold in the UK. Bass Guitar Magazine, on the other hand, had Alex Venturella on its cover in May 2016. I will have a copy somewhere in my archive, but I'm not going to part with it - however, I can scan the article and send it over to you in PDF format if no-one can help you with an actual copy. Alternatively, you may be able to get a copy from the publisher as a back issue or at least contact them for help if it doesn't appear to be available there.

Also check out @Chownybass, who are a British company although their basses are not built in the UK.

Interesting topic. I play mostly 5-stringers at 45mm max, but the main difference I notice is, as mentioned above, with the string spacing at the bridge. Usually the wider the bridge, the wider the nut, but not always. When I visit music shows (remember those?) I pick up a lot of basses, and I'm usually surprised at how easy I find adapting to different shapes of the neck and different nut widths - but more than 16.5mm string spacing at the bridge, and it goes straight back on the stand.

You ARE loud enough if your sound engineer is a bass player...

Then again, is that something you miss or look forward to at a gig? PS I don't believe that nobody notices the bass player, really. That will depend on so many factors, number of bandmates, attitude, the way you dress, etc. Or indeed whether you're playing an upright or a DB as opposed to a bass guitar...

Paging @Happy Jack. Hint hint - Mike Lull Basses.

NOT missing the following: 1. Me: Soundcheck? Band: Nah, use our first number. 2. (Usually drunk, mostly female) punter: Can you play X, Y or Z? Me: Ask the band. Punter: The band? Oh. I thought *you* played the setlist [on the tablet] 3. (Generally male) punter, usually while we're grappling with DB feedback: That's a big cello. BUT, I AM missing the following 1. Venue/pub manager to band: That was great, guys, perfectly balanced sound and volume. @Happy Jack to manager: Thank our sound engineer for that... 2. Random punter(s) to me while I'm checking the sound levels in the crowd: I'm in a band, would you like to work with us as a sound engineer?

Also, I know you are specifically asking about your 'left' hand ('right' hand for us lefties), but do make sure you are also plucking the strings in the correct way for a DB. With correct DB plucking the strings will be easier to finger.

As a fellow (petite) woman-with-little-hands, I'd recommend making sure the action is comfortable for your hands, and the strings are 'soft' enough, even before you start applying any fingering method at all. Nothing worse than having to work with a set of steel rods sitting half a mile above the fingerboard. FWIW, I had a couple of one-to-one lessons at the very beginning. I was recommended Simandl, which I profoundly disliked and dropped as soon as my fingers felt strong enough to. I am of the opinion that you simply should use your fingering hand in the way that makes you feel more comfortable/less uncomfortable. Do try to have your muscles learn and memorise the right places on the neck for producing the correct notes. At first, to get used to it, you'll have to look at your hand all the time, but you'll soon be free.

Merged. Thread remains under Bass Guitars (a link remains under Gear Porn). My own naturals: Warwick Corvette Pros, originally 'twins', until I changed the fretted to black hardware. Bass Collection and Rockbass Corvette. I don't think anyone's managed to beat @blablas's collection yet! 😎👍

Happy to merge the threads if there's consensus? :)

They were OK, Lozz, and I knew they were in jest, but I appreciate that.

Watch out for politics-related derailments, guys, please. Thanks.

That's quite a sizeable audience, if you decide to play there again...

It's a small private wood, with lots of beeches and a few oaks and fir trees. The guys played for the cameras (recording for band reference only, not intended for publication), for yours truly behind the cameras, for Jack's couple of hundred thousand bees in their hives, and for the occasional jogger or dog walker stopping by for a few minutes. Good fun.

It's not a matter of being easy or difficult, it's the right kind of compliance that I'm after. For instance, Thomastik Infeldt strings are softer/easier than either Chromes or Labellas, and I do love them, but for certain kinds of songs/styles/genres they are too floppy. (I have them on my Hofner violin.)

Roundwounds? Certainly not the case with flats.

D'Addario Chromes and LaBella Low tension flats are my go-to strings. I'll keep your suggestion in mind if I feel like a change.

It's not you. They are unnecessarily stiff. I tried their flatwounds, light gauge, once - and once only! - and they stayed on the bass for half a day before being thrown in the bin.

Excellent stuff.

Lovely.

When you're forced to shop online, as I am, you can always send it back if it's not to your liking - as long as you realise quickly.

Being left-handed, and preferring to buy new rather than second hand, necessarily means buying online unseen. Having started playing in my early 40s means I was old enough to have a reasonable idea of what I liked from the start - no Fenders, no big bodies, no muddy crappy P-style pickup, thin neck, modern sound, 34 inch scale, minimal string spacing. Every bass I bought myself (as opposed to generous presents from @Happy Jack) has been from Thomann, with only one exception (PMT). I've had to send back a couple of defective instruments, which Thomann replaced quickly and with no quibble. The only bricks-and-mortar shop I can think of, which almost every time I visit has a lefty bass I might be interested in buying, is Wunjo's.

My basses all sound different from each other, but I'm damned if I can say for sure that's due to the pickup/strings, active/passive combination as opposed to the actual woods they're made of...

Same here, replaced the original chrome security strap buttons with normal, 'mushroom-shaped' black ones. The screws are a very common size.