bass_dinger

@LeftyJ the fear was real! My reaction was "if I wanted something without a truss rod, I would have got a ukulele!". Anyway, in the final straight now. Graftech nut fitted, aperture opened, neck sealed. I have been offered the original neck back - is there any reason why I would need it? It won't fit in the tube that I used to package it, once the new neck is in there. I could have the headstock cut off, to retain the serial number. I could leave it with the luthier - he has a wall dedicated to bad-quality Washburn Custom necks. Any thoughts?

I admire the noble and patient stance of @EddieG. Very dignified, and I applaud you. The thread has certainly helped me to decide who to use if I ever order an instrument. Lett's Not....

And now, the factory fretless XB925 has materialised (sort of)! When I bought the fretted Washburn XB925, it came with a second XB925, with a neck so bent that it was unrepairable, and in bits. So, I ordered a new fretless neck from the same person who ran the Custom Shop when that bass was made. So, as close to factory as I can get. Second Unicorn incoming! Well done @nilorius!

Scrap metal at the local recycling centre for my strings. I try to put them in with the domestic recycling, but my wife has a very narrow view of what makes domestic waste. I argue that I spend more time playing bass at home, than I spend eating soup at home - yet the soup cans go to home recycling, and my strings require a special trip to the dump....

For all my legendary grumpiness when it comes to tardy rehearsals, when I am actually playing in church, all is well. You know that it is going well, when the congregation is louder and more musical than the band! Superb service, great gig. And a few people even recognised my bassing (by which I mean, they saw that I was playing a bass guitar).

That's why hymns have 7 verses: 6 verses to learn the proper bassline, and the last one to get it right! Ask me how I know....

I think that even playing left handed, tuned in 5ths, in a minor key, wouldn't make it interesting.... Nevertheless, at your word, I shall cast my net in the direction of fretless, here:

Spot on! I am increasingly going through my home run-through without even bothering with a chord chart. I asked if the chord charts could be shared with the band. No, because the leader would have to go to the church to do that. So, I can't practice what we rehearsed in the week. It makes the midweek run through somewhat pointless, so I have concluded that I won't need to go again. There is no point in turning up to learn songs I already know, while the ones who don't know the songs don't even come along. We don't have a "no rehearsal no Sunday " rule - if we did, then the leader wouldn't get to play!

Mine are Linsoul too and they sound good - great bass response but only down to low E. Anything below that and it breaks up, acoustically.

We have a band of 11 people on Sunday. Just four of us turned up to the rehearsal. Some had excuses and sent their apologies, others simply didn't turn up. And the smaller band was wonderful! No need to worry about "key negotiation" (" I can't sing that key. Can we go higher?" "No , it is already too high for me "). The songs, the music, and the words, became a musical conversation between the musicians- a time of worship. Lovely. Roll on Sunday, when the stage will be filled with yet more proficient musicians, and a mix of vocalists who can't sing, or even remember to arrive on the day.

Hang on..... Where's the Truss Rod aperture? Edit - he has not yet opened the aperture up. Phew.

One month later. The headstock veneer was not saved or reused. Instead, the luthier found a new veneer to match the body. All that remains is for the neck (but not the headstock) to be sealed with a finish; a serial number to be put on the back of the head; and for the luthier to buy a Washburn XB925 transfer and pop it in the package (for me, postage from the USA would be $16 for a $5 item). I have an update on the colour, and another on the saddle. But for now, here, the completed neck.

This too. Correct form and technique will make the journey easier, and the destination easier to reach.

If you play guitar or piano, and sing, then let your son become your accompanying bassist. Nothing beats being part of a live band, if Son of @Bassman1974 wants a practical experience of what his role will be! As for how to learn, let him try various options- tab, read music, play along by ear, watching someone's hands, note-at-a-time lessons, audacity slowdown, books, a teacher, his dad, in a band with his mates - then decide what works best for him.

I was once asked to play that. If the music is out there, I might look at it again. And to keep On Topic. 1. Pick a tune - always for fun and for stretching myself (and never for a band). 2. Write it into an A5 book (double page for each tune). 3. Write a short list of 3 songs I am working on. 4. Practice each of the three, daily. Write progress notes into the book (",played Good Times at 80% speed. Can't get all the notes in on the A chord section at 90%. Watch out for the transition between the verse and chorus") to remind me of what I am working on. 5. Rinse and repeat. That said, the reality is that my progress is not so linear.

I shall be using my chest hair to manufacture the world's smallest violin bow.

A cunning way to stay in the Gear Abstinence challenge, the next time someone with a hip replacement needs a bone nut!

The bluegrass version sounds like the original, correct version - the lyrics, the chord structure, the main theme played on violin. All lend itself to the genre. The more familiar version sounds like a modern cover version. There seems to be a whole bluegrass industry dedicated to covering pop songs - without derailing the thread: Rocket Man; Put a Ring on It; You Rocked me all night long. All are out there on YouTube, and arguably sound better (or at least, historically older) as a bluegrass version.

Another Serial Reworker is Paul Simon. Here, his bluegrass version of Gone at Last. And the original recorded version. So difficult, that even his live bands can't manage it!

The first mainstream re-version that I heard was the Beatles Revolution. Loud overdrive version on the B side of a single (hey Jude, I think) Acoustic guitar version on The White Album. I won't even bother looking them up on YouTube, as Beatles stuff is taken down. You could go back in time to The Reverend Gary Davies (American blind country blues guitarist 1930s to early 1970s), and listen to Candy man, as the straight 4/4 version, or a waltz in 3/4, or a stop-time (buck and wing dance) version. However, that's probably too obscure. So, here instead is Hugh Cornwell's Mariachi version of Golden Brown, more familiar to listeners when he performed it as part of the Stranglers.

So, I did have The Chat with the senior Sound Guy, having listened also to the broadcast and not heard any bass there either. It turned out that the Scenes on the desk had been adjusted, and there was no bass at all in the mix. Or, more accurately, no bass being input to the desk - there was no bass channel. The week after, the same problem with the second electric guitar. I don't understand why the sound team can't hear that an instrument is missing. It makes me and the guitarist want to stick with on stage amps, thereby removing any possibility that the sound team can control the sound in the room.

So, what happened? Any news?

20 hours? No wonder he has no time for basschat.co.uk! The fool!

Am I allowed to agree with that statement, even though it is my bass? It gives me the Wavy Hair/ White Ebony effect that I originally wanted, but looks like the pattern was designed for a fretless bass. Dark on the edge that has the fret lines, wavy on the playing surface, and a black area to prove that it is ebony. Now that I have measured the neck pocket, the luthier is able to carry on with the neck carve. That allows me to focus on the next step, of the missing parts. The machine head screw is likely to be easy to find. That leaves the saddle insert. Four options for me. 1. Make do with the homemade saddle insert in the bridge. Cheap and easy. 2. Buy the correct new-old stock bridge from the neck luthier. Bin the existing bridge and saddles. Expensive and perfect. And frankly silly.... 3. Explore the possibility that you @LeftyJ have actually found the company that made the bridge saddle manufacturer, and approach them. If it's correct, then it's a cheaper solution, and certainly less wasteful. 4. Today, I had the neck pocket measured by a nice chap with a vernier, and access to a railway workshop. Lathes, drills, lumps of metal. If options 1 to 3 don't work, then I plan to ask if he might make a replacement saddle. Bonkers attention to detail - and perhaps over-the-top.

Fretless fretboard... Unblack ebony. Unmetal frets. Unshaped neck. Uncanny.