bass_dinger

Andyjr1515's PM, and this thread, and  messages from basschaters, have given me options to think about.

Most pressing is whether the existing fretboard can be saved and reused - right now, my understanding is that it could be reusable- but I need to be open to other options. For example, I would be content to lose the fret board (and the markers), if that makes the work easier for andyjr1515.

My aim is to have a usuable instrument again.  However, I am also excited about the possibility of improving the instrument - not just a replacement truss rod or fret board, but a better truss rod, or an improved fret board.

I also need to think about a spare bass while the neck on the 500 is in for repair.  That gives me the option of converting one of them to fretless.  However, right now, that feels like an unnecessary distraction.

Over the next few days, I will collect the bass and bring it home, and take some photos to share with andyjr1515. That will give him a better idea of the task.

22 hours ago, Owen said:

£1K for that is...............uncool.

To be fair, the quote was for a little less - but still £700 and potentially  above that, but would have covered everything, including work to refinish the neck if it were damaged when the fret board was removed, new truss rod, a refret, and new fretboard too.

Here's an example of their work, plugging a jack socket hole on a mahogany Lowden.  I am happy with everything they have done, and they have been honest about stopping other projects when I would have incurred a big bill, for no real benefit. 

On 03/05/2022 at 18:35, 3below said:

Careful what you wish for, it could be done

 

The only card he needs is the Bass of Spades…

12 minutes ago, Bunion said:

If that doesn’t pan out I’m waiting on standby with the truss rod gel

 

 

 

If that is Plan B, then I plan to take up guitar!!

I think that the stuff that goes into the truss rod cavity is similar to bathroom sealant  - flexible enough to move with the truss rod, but grippy enough to stop the metalwork from vibrating. 

However, it seems that my problem is not a rattling truss rod, but one that is fully tightened and stuck in both directions.   So, no washers can be fitted, and we have no more adjustment to remove the bowing in the neck.

It is a sad day for my bass guitar....

3 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

I would message someone like andyjr1515 and get their take - £1000 to fix a truss sounds a bit like the price you would give if you didn’t really want the job..

I think that it would work out as less than that, and the work includes the removal of the fretboard and a refret too. 

As for andyjr1515, is he the gentleman who repaired the neck of a Washburn acoustic, when the truss rod had burst out of the neck? If so, I enjoyed that thread!

Hmm. Washburn.  Truss rod problems.  I see a theme here.

Looks like I will soon be taking a break from playing bass in church shortly - my bass is starting to fail and cannot be repaired! 

No bass, no playing.

Actually  . . . . I do in fact have an acoustic 5 string bass that I could use (although it feeds back on our noisy stage.  So, maybe not).

I took the bass to my local luthier, who tells me that the truss rod is as tight as it can go - there is no more adjustment left in it.  Nor can it be easily slackened off - again, it is stiff.  

Only when 4 of the 5 strings are loosened, does the neck become straight.  I am told that the buzz is likely to be fret buzz, and it seems to me that it is getting progressively worse.  In January,  it was "when I play a B flat on the G string".  Now, in May, there is a resonance or buzz, when I play the notes D to G flat on the G string.

I am told that the truss rod can be replaced, or a new neck can be made.  Both options will cost the thick end of £1,000.  

So, I am looking for a replacement neck; or a replacement bass; or some advice on how I might get the instrument working again.  In particular are there any luthiers here who can fix a maxed-out truss rod?    

 

YMCA. 

To get the gallop rhythm in the chorus, I have had to learn a completely different approach to playing bass - using my thumb and two fingers, and not just two fingers.   

I am struggling with the octave chromatic runs too. I don't yet have the dexterity to fit them all in where they should be.

And look - 6 flats! 

So, this is a challenging piece for me, but terrific fun.  

https://reverb.com/uk/item/53221267-unknown-maker-unknown-5-string-bass

It's on Reverb.com.  It has stripes.  It makes me sad.

For my own education, could the luthier have used a commercially available body-mounted tuner?

6 hours ago, nekomatic said:

Only one bass here. I can see the attraction of having more, but I’d have to be playing a lot more to justify it… either to myself or to the rest of the household

Same for me - I don't feel that I play enough to justify an additional bass.  I also tend to use something until it breaks (cars especially, and, it seems, basses too). 

However, I have plans for a second bass, and will start searching seriously later this year!  That's more to give me a backup instrument, and less about having a collection.

For me, I have two basses.

The acoustic 5 string bass never gets used. It was bought when I played in an acoustic ukulele band.

However, the five string electric bass is played on stage pretty much each week.  As a result, it is need of a setup (rattling truss rod), and I need to wait for a break in my playing schedule before I can have the work done.

So, one bass effectively, but two basses numerically.

Did you find anything suitable?

When my daughter was learning, it seemed to me that the teacher was for ever correcting bad habits, preempting bad technique, and sharing good habits that carried her easily to Grade 8.

Conversely, another family friend had taught herself on the recorder.  She was very good indeed, but had somehow managed to get her hands the wrong way round.  By the time a teacher told her that, it was too late to change years of ingrained habit. 

1 minute ago, Richard R said:

Bad luck to go out on something that will make no difference whatsoever to the sound. Arguably, however,  the battery status checker is not in the signal path, so you could stay in on a technicality.

What say the thread?

Could I just point out that a flat battery makes a huge difference to my sound.  It's a lot easier to listen to, for a start!

It did feel like a small thing to fail over, at less than the cost of a pack of bass strings.  And it is not in the signal chain (or, arguably, is fundamental to the signal chain).

Had I purchased an outboard battery checker, I would not even have mentioned it. 

However, a thing in the bass, and a light and a switch outside of it, feels like a bass purchase. 

Let's see what the basschat legal team say. 

1 minute ago, Kev said:

Giving them a lick is much cheaper and much easier, and you'd still be in!

I tried, but I couldn't get my tongue into the battery cavity....

1 hour ago, neepheid said:

 

Buying batteries every month? How often are you playing? Are you leaving the bass plugged in when you're not playing?

It's fear, not necessity, that compels me to buy them. 

I had one run down while I was warming up, after less than a year's usage.  From then on, I changed them every month. That's now changed to every quarter year.

I play weekly (and, indeed, weakly...). I also play a few times in the week for perhaps an hour.  The bass is always unplugged when not in use.

I know that the batteries still have life in them. However  I don't know how much life they have, and it is easier to buy a battery from Poundland, and replace it.

The battery tester therefore felt like a better solution. 

It looks like I am out.

I purchased a battery status checker, from zvirus.  It is designed to fit into the bass, and illuminate an LED when the battery voltage drops below a predetermined level (7.5v for mine).

I also need to pay my luthier to fit the item  - holes drilled, switches and LEDs installed. 

I was getting fed up with buying batteries every month, on the off-chance that they were about to expire. 

On the plus side, I can finally use up the six old batteries that I have in my kit case....

Thanks, all. The Gear Abstinence thread has been a great discipline!

15 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

@Sardonicus - so the music is unlikely to challenge you so focus on the positives - you are being trained to pick up songs quickly, improvise parts, change key on the fly… all that stuff without paying Scot’s bass lessons* for the “pick up songs quickly”, “improvise parts” of “change key on the fly” lessons 

 

 

 

* other online bass lessons exist but don’t show me adverts everyday on YouTube so might as well not

If one immerses oneself in church worship bands, it is a great training ground, for the reasons that LukeFRC shared.   However, not everyone embraces the opportunity, and it seems to me that some musicians become better, while others simply stagnate.

So, I have learnt to play in all the keys, because the YouTube video is in one key, the chord charts are in another, and, on the day, the singers find that the chart key is too low, and they want it higher.  So, one song in three keys - sometimes in the space of 5 minutes.  Add to that a drummer who plays differently to the drummer that played last week, and a new guitarist who does not follow the charts ("Just play by ear, Rob!") and I get the opportunity to become more versatile.   

However, I do feel that the whole gig is made less enjoyable when people make no effort to improve.

23 minutes ago, oldslapper said:

Thought some of you guys might like this. 

No theology, but lots of truth in that tattoo.  I like it.

10 hours ago, lowdown said:

 

He has nice subtle tempo movement and lovely, musical phrasing, which all makes for better listening and holding my attention.

Usually Bassists tend to just plough through these Cello pieces and they sound like they can't wait to get to the end.

 

That's a useful reminder of what makes something musical, rather than simply music.

Certainly, it felt to me that this bassist had mastered the piece, and was able to introduce expression, feeling and emotion into his playing. 

@Zvirus , do you have plans to reintroduce this bit of kit?

6 hours ago, Dom in Dorset said:

Last night if an eight show panto at a theatre in a town 1/2 hour from home. 

"Where's the amplifier, boys and girls?"

"It's left behind you!!"

"Oh no! It isn't.....!?"

Oh yes it was.....

It perhaps won't help you, but in my band, I don't have keys in my stage mix.  That way, I am not distracted by what they are doing.  The house mix is different of course - the Sound Engineer can decide how best to weave keys and bass together.  For all I know, he may have switched me off in the room! hahah

I also play in a way that a keyboard player can't - so, driving bass riffs, hammer-ons, slides, melodic riffs, and plucking different parts of the string for different tones. 

An active bass and steel roundwounds help to cut through the mix.  

9 minutes ago, Richard R said:

That's one heck of an effects pedal!

It's not an effects pedal - it's the natural acoustic reverb  in the 300 foot tall vaulted ceiling . . . .   

So many talented musicians lost to us at an early age 

1970 - Robert Johnson appears on the Old Grey Whistle Test   

1980 - the Mama Cass Workout video is released.

1990 - Buddy Holly reunites with the Crickets, and plays at Wembley stadium.

2000 - Jimi Hendrix composes a piece for orchestra, to great acclaim. 

2010  - Brian Jones leaves the Rolling Stones, citing ill health.  Has a regular slot on Radio 2 ("Sounds of the 60s"). 

6 hours ago, Mykesbass said:

 

 

Hendrix would be dealing with the problem of wild parakeets taking over London's parkland.

"Hey Joe - where you going with that airgun in your hand?"