Jean-Luc Pickguard

You can make one from a liquorice allsort if you drill the white bit out

Whatever you do don't use behringer stuff. People will point & laugh at you. It doesn't matter that it sounds good, is easy to use and robust everyone knows its crap

You mention a Thunderbird - Have a look at the Epiphone pro-V (or IV) T-bird. The Pro-V in natural Oiled finish I got last week is a lot of bass for the £305 I paid (from Thomann)

Sometimes the marketing dept tries too hard & it comes out a bit clumsy. In this case, I expect they don't have a dedicated marketing dept, but someone in admin who's been asked to write something.

Flats on everything!

I use guitar rig, but I also have a Behringer V-amp2 which I used to use for recording guitars. It's a very good sounding and cheaper hardware alternative to a Pod.

[url="http://www.allparts.uk.com/online-shop/allparts-guitar-amp-parts/bridge-parts/bass-saddles/bass-bridge-saddles-for-gibson-bass-tunematic-4-p-2020.html"]http://www.allparts.uk.com/online-shop/all...c-4-p-2020.html[/url]

I won't list them all, but I currently have 15 basses. My favourite three are [list=1] [*] Japanese Fender Mustang which is stock except for an aged pearloid pickguard, a Sei/Gallery Fret level, a set of TI JF324 Flats & a rub over the back of the neck with scotchbrite to degloss it a bit. So easy to play & get a good sound that it feels like cheating [*] NS-Design CR5M upright which oozes quality [*] Epiphone Thunderbird Pro-V with Natural oil finish - my new toy as I've only had it a week [/list] All very different; I'd not expect these basses to be on anyone elses list though

[quote name='funky_numba' post='1055570' date='Dec 12 2010, 12:16 AM']What do you mean 'put in the right order'? I was under the impression that the bass gets tuned initially with the guitar tuning pegs but the 'fine-tuning' and the action is done by adjusting the saddles/ bridge screws. I am lost now!! Please advise!! Thanks. Funky_Numba[/quote] If you've been fine-tuning it at the bridge, the bass will now be playing out of tune as you've have bollocksed up the intonation. Have a look at this: [url="http://www.garywillis.com/pages/bass/bassmanual/setupmanual.html"]http://www.garywillis.com/pages/bass/bassm...etupmanual.html[/url] You need to get the bridge set up properly for the strings you are using & for your playing style . Then you won't touch the bridge again unless you start using a different type of strings.

Assuming the bass is 32" scale & the strings are for 34" scale basses, you *might* be alright with long scale as the italia has a good distance between [list=1] [*]the tailpiece anchor & the bridge [*]the nut & the E / G tuners [/list] compared to some other basses

[quote name='nick' post='1053198' date='Dec 9 2010, 06:47 PM'][attachment=66047:paul_daniels.jpg][/quote] Its a bit of an SG - not a lot!

Free your mind - en vogue

For me it's not the playing, but for certain gigs its the driving / parking / gear loading which I don't look forward to if it's extra hassle.

The one you need should be here probably the 099-4943-000 or 004-8688-000 [url="http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/bass_trussnuts.htm"]http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/bass_trussnuts.htm[/url] You may be able to order the part from your local Fender dealer or someone like [url="http://www.allparts.uk.com/"]allparts uk[/url]

[quote name='paul h' post='1051878' date='Dec 8 2010, 04:53 PM']Growlers[/quote]

As chart position is such an obvious and definite indicator of quality, any single which hasn't spent three weeks at no 1 is not as good as Mr Blobby's 1993 single.

Whenever I get a new (or secondhand) bass it doesn't fell like its mine until I've replaced the strings with TI Jazz flats, tweaked the truss rod & adjusted the bridge saddles (& on some basses, shimmed the neck). I did this yesterday with my new Epi Pro-V T-Bird & its pretty much perfect for me now. It wasn't bad with the stock strings, no worse than anything hanging up in a shop, but I don't like roundwounds and I know how I like my basses to be setup. It just didn't feel like my bass until I'd set it up. Anyone else this fussy? Or are people generally happy to play whatever strings come on a bass for a while?

[quote name='ezbass' post='1049291' date='Dec 6 2010, 02:14 PM']Having to hide it from the Mrs means no photos of course Get the camera when she goes out again! What other toys did you get then?[/quote] My Ritter t-bird gigbag is the perfect hiding place as I always kept the white t-bird in it next to my desk & you can't tell whether anything's in it without opening it or giving it a squeeze I'll pick my time to unveil it. I also got an endpin stand & tripod stand adaptor for my NS-design CR5M upright, plus a set of Panoehoe polyurethane strings to try out on the Ashbory, a set of Thomastik JF345s & some planet waves string cleaner solution to make TIs last even longer.

My Pro-V (natural Oil finish) arrived on Saturday - I've had to keep it hidden from the missus, so I've only had a chance to put my Thomastiks on & set it up this morning. She's just come home for lunch so I've had to whip t back into the gigbag right now - now i know how blokes having an affair feel keeping a secret from the missus. Its a lovely bass - one of the latest ones, rather than the front strap button being on the top wing it's where the neckplate would be if it wasn't a thru neck - balances very well on a strap. I love the neck - its not as deep as my peavey 5 string (my only frame of reference for 5ers), wider and quite flat on the back - very comfy to play. the stock strings were typical stock strings - rough zingy roundwounds, but its much classier with a set of TI JF345s now. The dual action truss rod enabled me to put just the right amount of relief in the neck, something that can be a problem if the strings are low tension. I initially was a bit concerned that the B string lacked some of the the punch & focus of the other strings, but raising the pickups on the bass side after setting the bridge saddle heights has worked wonders and the B sings out loud & clear now. A lot of bass for £305 from Thomann & I had some dosh left over from the sale of my alpine white epi T-bird 4 to buy some other toys.

[quote name='sockdeluxe_mikey' post='1048238' date='Dec 5 2010, 02:10 PM']Aaaahhh...a trolley that you actually fit onto the cabinet? A smart idea! Can I be open minded and ask you how you fitted it?[/quote] The one I posted looks like it attaches to a bracket or something you fit to the cab, but the one I had (which I couldn't find by googling) was fitted permanently & also came with feet for the front of the cab to level it up. The handle was telescopic so the amp didn't look too much like one of these at the gig:

I used to have a small Trace Elliot Commando combo which was a lot heavier than it looked. I fitted something like this to it: [url="http://www.terralec.co.uk/handles/removable_case_trolley/16420_p.html"]http://www.terralec.co.uk/handles/removabl...ey/16420_p.html[/url]

I use UPS via interparcel economy - Although its not sold as a 24hr service, each time I've used them the package been safely delivered the next morning, even when I had it picked up at 5pm. Its a paperless internet-booked service, but the UPS man is always happy to sign a second copy of the label for me to keep as a receipt when picking up.

I use guitar rig session i/o. It's really simple to set up & there's an input for the bass/guitar on the i/o & outputs on the back which go to the hifi amp. This can be bought for £79 from a few places. When I got it, there was a promotion for a free upgrade to the full guitar rig, but this isn't needed for bass as the bass amp model is included with the bundled cut-down version. I usually play along woth tracks from iTunes, so it should work with other software as well.

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='1047811' date='Dec 4 2010, 09:57 PM']I swapped them about before, never been an issue[/quote] Yep - me too. I'm a sucker for the Fender 'F' ones on a tele or precision