oggiesnr

Second hand Korg Prophecy. Can do a lot more than just the bass end but very good at bass. Steve

I have now gone over to the dark side, well halfway in the eyes of some banjo players. I am now the proud owner of a 1930's shortscale tenor banjo. Strange as it seems playing bass and double bass is great training for playing one of these as I'm already used to using the little finger on my left hand for fretting which makes life a lot easier. Currently tuned to standard tenor (CGDA) but I'll probably swap to Irish tuning (GDAE) so that the fingering mimics my mandolin. Right hand triplets are a fun learning experience. Steve

I'm not sure how welcome an electric violin is going to be in an orchestra! Other than that any small guitar amp, so Peavey, Marshall etc, whatever isn't going to break the bank. I'm assuming here that it's solid body so piezos etc don't come into play. Steve

Perfectly valid reason for leaving. Sounds like you and the drummer who would be a good basis for starting a band playing what you want to play the way you want to work. Steve

For something a bit less traditional check out the Moog Theremini. Awesomely stupid piece of kit, adjustable response so you can set it to play scales without worrying too much about intonation. [url="http://www.moogmusic.com/products/etherwave-theremins/theremini"]http://www.moogmusic.com/products/etherwave-theremins/theremini[/url] Steve

Start off by sorting out the action, that'll give you a true reading on how far out the intonation actually is. In reality if the intonations ok up to about the seventh fret then that's going to be fine for the majority of uke based stuff. Have fun Steve

Bass is a group instrument, in real life how often are you going to be the only instrument playing? Sure work at technique to play as cleanly and accurately as possible but once you're in the mix most of the "extra" sounds will be gone. Steve

If you look at the Gear4Music site you'll see that a lot of higher end gear is listed as "Available to Order". In other words place your order and they'll get in for you with a time lag of anything from a few days to a couple of months. So they'll put it on their weekly order knowing that it's pre-sold. Highly useful this as they have no risk, I imagine that as they have your card details you would struggle to back out. Would you accept that from your local music shop, even if they ordered often enough to be able to offer shortish lead times? Frequency of orders is another area where the big on line people will always win over smaller shops. Steve

[quote name='M-Bass-M' timestamp='1421422758' post='2661049'] Once these assumptions have been made, then what are the remaining key differences? Arguably, location. Where the online retailer needs storage space for the stock, the local music shop (LMS) is able to make use of shop floor / back office space. To simplify things further, assume that the space required is identical. However, whereas the local LMS needs to have a central town/city centre location, the online store needs only an out-of-town industrial estate to run their business from. Here you have your first major cost difference: out of town industrial units will have considerably lower rate and rents than a town centre location. However, the online store needs to run and maintain a website, and will need to work out a delivery charge strategy. Also, they will pay higher bank fees as they will need to be able to offer secure online payment methods (e.g. Verified by Visa). So the question is: are the associated costs of running an online store lower than the additional rent and rates that a LMS pays for their town centre location? If so, then an online store will have a lower cost base. [/quote] Couple of thoughts. I suspect that most music shops today need a web presence to be taken seriously so there is some cost for both of them. The rent differential between a retail shop and an industrial unit is huge. Prime retail space (ie with good passing footfall rather than people having to know where you are) is horrific, 460 sq foot in Princes Quay in Hull is £30k plus £10K rates. My new industrial unit which is the same size is £4k plus £1,500. You can get cheaper retail, it's cheaper for a reason and even that is getting out of hand. Steve

[quote name='M-Bass-M' timestamp='1421412165' post='2660870'] From a pricing perspective, if local music stores aren't able to compete on price, then they have to compete on something else - and again, others have clearly identified this as customer service / in depth knowledge. In this area, I look at the success of Bass Direct and the Great British Bass Lounge, and specifically the very tailored customer service that is offered by clearly passionate individuals. In my mind, the enhanced service that I receive more than justifies the fact that I may end up paying slightly more for a new guitar. [/quote] I'm afraid you may be one of a dying breed who think like this I'm friendly with the owner of a music shop who spends a lot of time running courses, workshops etc and has brilliant customer service. He also sells lots of ukeleles. In fact they are a big reason that his shop can keep going. He has also stopped selling ANY electric instruments, guitars, basses, keyboards, the lot. Reason? There's no profit in them. Not by the time he's bought them, used wall space to display them, staff (or his time), to tune and dust them, stocked a range of amps so folks can try them out, it's not worth his time and effort. Especially when coupled with the "try here, buy on line" ethos. So he sells lots of ukes, has a great display of acoustic guitars and lots of other acoustic instruments which people seem to try and buy from him rather than online. Maybe folks who buy acoustc instruments have a different point of view? Steve

Fingers were hurt in the making of this picture! [URL=http://s173.photobucket.com/user/oggiesnr/media/070.jpg.html][IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w62/oggiesnr/070.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Most of my "covers" are folk songs so the main keys are G, D, Em (plus odd modes). The five stringer is great for those keys, especially if there's a piano accordion in the mix, as that B string lets me keep sliding under the mix. Steve

Maybe as part of any restructuring they'll release the name and patterns for "Tacoma" so someone can restart building what was a brilliant but under rated series of acoustic instruments with some quirky but effective design features. Steve

True for almost all of them. The exceptions, if you can find them, are the Guild, a Martin or the Tacoma Thunderchief. All the usual "acoustics" that you see around have bodies which are too small and too heavily built. Steve

I want one! Not quite sure what I'd play on it but that's a mere detail [url="http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2014/10/16/jackson-steel-guitar-company-introduces-slideking-bass/"]http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2014/10/16/jackson-steel-guitar-company-introduces-slideking-bass/[/url] Steve

I had a similar problem which was cured by moving the sound post. Tend to agree it's luthier time. Steve

Long in the tooth and getting harder to find in good condition but the Korg Prophecy is a brilliant beastie. Steve

If your timber merchant has a panel saw get them to do the cutting, it saves a lot of time and effort and an 8'x4' sheet of 12mm birch takes up a lot of room and is quite heavy. The price you've been quoted looks about right but check that's it got a decent number of laminates in it, the more the better.

It's probably Mahogany. My other thought was sapele but there are machining issues with sapele that a more budget guitar company might not want to handle. Definitely not beech, the way the grain has lifted and the ragging round the screw holes IMO discounts that. For cost reasons it's also probably glued, even then large chunks of wood fetched a premium. Steve

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]1. Bassace - Upton and Bryant basses, Clarus amp and Crazy 8 speaker.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]2. Owen - 5 string DB, NS5 EUB, Clarus/Acme rig, Fdeck/Berg rig and some bass uke things.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]3. Zero9 - Gedo 'Blonde' 4/4 hybrid DB with Thomastik Solo strings, KK Rockabilly and AI Coda R combo[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]4. StingrayPete1977 - Gedo 3/4 half carved 'antique' with Thomastik Spirocore weichs ebony board/tail, Yitamusic carbon fibre french bow.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]5. Geoffbassist - German trade bass with Evah regulars[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]6. Sarah Thomas - German flatback, Superlight EUB, Nemesis 50w amp[/font][/color] 7. Oggiesnr - worked upon Antoni plywood bass (see what a bit of money can do )

Fences R Us. I see the same people taking stuff into our local one (just round the corner so I pass it most days) on a regular basis and the staff never seem to query why the same bloke is taking in yet another mobile phone, laptop or guitar when he took one in the week before and the week before that etc etc. Steve

I have a Tacoma Thunderchief and it will cope with several guitars and other stringed instruments and even a squeezebox or two. I have a double bass because we ended up with four or five squeezeboxes and at that level it didn't cut through, especially out doors. Still use it for crowded sessions where the DB is just too big or I can't be bothered to trolley it round all (Whitby FF this week). Problem is that they're not made anymore so second hand is your only bet and not likely to be cheap. Martin and Guild acoustic basses are also good but again you're paying a lot of money. Steve

The Rev's point is important. When working out fingering you need to consider the next few notes as well as the one your actually playing. Your aim should be to minimise the number of shifts you have to make. Steve

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1404371331' post='2491906'] Me too... it's only ever going to come up short really isn't it, it's just too small. Nothing else for it, I'm going to have to lug one of my cabs on the train. [/quote] Silly question (but I've been caught out before) is there any power that you can plug into? Steve

I suspect it partly dates back to HH and the first cheap PA amps in the mid seventies. Prior to that PAs were relatively small (IOW Festival was the first 1000 watt rig in the UK, soure Sound on Sound). We used to gig clubs etc with 100 vocal PA and backline, big bands would do City Hall with two or four Crown Amcron DC300s. Then came HH (at the same time as Punk) 500 watts a side for £180 and bands were using them in multiples. The Adverts played Hull Uni with a 5000 watt rig. At this point backlines got bigger and the rest is history. I now see bands playing venues we played at with many times the wattage and with the drums miked up, loud and big becomes the new normal. Steve