Zenitram

No. They're all musicians.

I have some Fender tapewounds, and don't like them. They're not very smooth at all (though maybe they're not meant to be); it's a bit like having a roundwound version of tapes, rather than the flatwound versions, sadly of unknown make, that are on my electric fretted upright, and which I much prefer.

The "girl" who clearly gets it is a professional singer.

Even Telly Savalas loved Birmingham http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoHVO1eSMFc

Yes.

As is this from the same gig. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPiqwvbegq0 And Anne Dudley is the coolest person in the whole world.

This is great stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsrU71O2FyA&feature=related

Great egg shaking.

Out of curiosity, what else would a luthier do for intonation other than what you have described above? Or do you mean they'd do it in a more expert way, taking saddle height and the truss rod and all the rest into account at the same time?

Could you not just buy any old cheap crappy amp and leave it at your friend's house?

I would suggest the Vox Pathfinder, an Ashdown Tourbus, or one of the smaller Laney RB series.

I have actually just gone fully old-school and bought a Roland MC-500 hardware sequencer.

I find Reaper hard to get my head round, it seems rather counter-intuitive to me. With a poor help section (that others say is great, so it must just be me). I'm used to Logic Audio (a very old PC version), so that might be it. Or not. I had trouble with Cubase back in the day as well. However, Reaper is free, and for free it is absolutely amazing.

Bob Holness?

That's what I was thinking. A neck, tuners, pickup and bridge to use for a project. If you live close by, I suppose.

Talent borrows; genius steals.

I'm going to be struggling for 1.30. Will try to get a groove on with my work and see if I can make it, but, er, it's not looking likely I'm afraid. Sorry.

I was about to say, and this is coming from someone with no knowledge of anything at all and very much a beginner on bass, wouldn't it be easier to learn what notes are in the chords you want to play (or what chords are formed by the notes you want to play), and then just putting your fingers on those notes? Is that not how one usually learns with bass?

My cat runs away if I so much as look at my normal bass, but tolerates me playing my fretted electric upright. He also enjoys walking up and down my synth keyboard, and particularly likes sitting and falling asleep on a fairly large mixer with loads of really uncomfortable knobs.