geilerbass

Another true metal heart right here! I play in a progressive metal band ([url="http://www.myspace.com/tomeraband"]To-Mera[/url]) an extreme metal band ([url="http://www.myspace.com/thedemagogue"]Demagogue[/url]) and a traditional metal band ([url="http://www.myspace.com/thelostlegion"]Lost Legion[/url]). There's a few shameless plugs for you all...

[quote name='andy67' post='207896' date='May 28 2008, 10:59 AM']would have to ask: can the drummer keep time/beat in the first place??[/quote] Better still, once you've decapitated your drummer, attach one of these to the stump and you've killed two birds with one stone: - [url="http://www.turnkey.co.uk/product/boss-dr880-32-voice-patternbased-drum-machine/"]Replacement Head[/url]

I've often fantasised about doing this but three things have stopped me: - 1) The prospect of injuring myself 2) The prospect of injuring my beloved bass 3) The prospect of looking an utter tit when it all goes wrong But respect to you sir, for daring the risks and having some (albeit short-lived) success. Unfortunately, I don't have enough faith in either strap locks, or my ability to not knock myself unconcious.

My Streamer LX has always had the "Oh yes!" factor. My recently acquired Ibanez also has that, but that's as much a feel thing as it is sound. Though since I've finally mastered the EQ setting on my Trace head, pretty much any instrument I play through my rig gets an "Oh yes!".

These look pretty comfy. Anyone have any experience with them? [url="http://www.overwater.co.uk/bass_guitar_straps.htm"]Overwater Bass Straps[/url]

[quote name='Bassmurf' post='204768' date='May 23 2008, 09:09 AM']Agree with all the previous comments - friendly, great advice on gear etc - only trouble is my GAS has gone thru the roof looking at what everyone else plays! [/quote] This. I didn't know what GAS was until I joined this forum. Now it consumes my every waking moment... well, not quite, but nearly...

[quote name='peteb' post='204475' date='May 22 2008, 06:19 PM']Kryptonite might work??[/quote] Unless I play any gigs on Krypton, in which case I'd kill most of the crowd.

Big up the basschat love! I totally agree. It's so refreshing to find an online community that isn't full of people bitching at each other or going out of their way to bait other posters. There's none of this 'anti-noob' culture, where longer standing members go out of their way to exclude newer members and be as cliquey as possible. That really seems to be the flavour of most forums, regardless of their theme. Basschat seems to be all about friendliness, courtesy and support - things that the wider world often appears to be lacking.

[quote name='OldGit' post='204666' date='May 22 2008, 11:27 PM'] Geiller is that what you do with your two straps?[/quote] Pretty much, yes. It looks kind of weird, but definitely spreads the weight out. I was looking at getting a dare strap, but a lot of people advised that they weren't great quality so I tried experimenting with a couple of Comfort Straps. The other advantage for me is that the strap on the right shoulder pulls the neck up a bit, which, with the way my two Ibanez basses are balanced, means the bass sits in a more upright position, which suits my playing style. I'm still experiementing with how to attach the two straps together at the back, but it's been great not having my shoulder aching after rehearsals.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='204431' date='May 22 2008, 05:15 PM']Yeah mine's a mess of wire too. But there would be room in there if I tidied it up. I'm trying to think how to maximise the weight/space ratio - lead would be best I suppose. Being an aquarist, I use lengths of lead ribbon to weight the plants in my tanks, perhaps you could get a hold of enough and mould it into the available space. A bunch of solder would work too I suppose. [b]edit :[/b] Ooh what about that lead they use for stained glass windows? It's quite ply-able. Hardware store/craft shop. Gotcha. Mine is quite low slung and I'm pretty energetic when I play and nod the neck (mine and the guitar's ) in time with the music so I'm gripping the neck all the time. Technique doesn't come into it. [/quote] Lead's a great idea - though I've no idea where I'd get hold of any. Guess I'll have to look online. I move about quite a bit on stage too and have been known to swing the neck about a bit. I recently joined a band whose music is far more technical and complex, so I'm having to adapt my style a bit. And years of bad posture etc are now taking their toll on my frail frame, so I need to try and preserve what technique I have left...

I use comfort straps (two at once in fact!) and have found them to be, as their name suggests, very comfortable. One thing to be aware of, particularly if it's your shoulder that is sensitive, is that, while the big stretchy foam pad is very kind to an achey back, depending on the size you get and the angle at which you hang your bass, you can end up with the foam bad on your back, but the non-elastic, un-padded part of the strap sitting right on your shoulder. In my case, I pretty much have the plastic buckle that connects the two parts of the strap sitting right on the top of my trapezius muscle. This has given me some problems, hence why I now use two straps, so as to balance the load across both shoulders. If you get the shortest strap (which is VERY short) or have your bass slung much lower, so that the padded part sits on your shoulder, then you shouldn't have any problems. I'd recommend seeing if you can try one out first, to make sure that it won't agitate your shoulder. Aside from that I notice that Sadowsky do all-neoprene straps, that can be ordered direct from their website - might be worth a look: - [url="https://secure.sadowsky.com/store/index.php?cPath=29&osCsid=9402b431043daa3206a22575fc9f45a5"]Sadowsky NeoStrap[/url]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='204379' date='May 22 2008, 04:06 PM']What about putting some weights inside the electronics compartment? Nobody will see anything. I have no problem regarding neck angle with my Ibby. In fact I switch to different angles for different riffs. My strap is very slidey and I can go from horizontal to Feildy any number of times in a song... all part of the show.[/quote] I did think about that. I'm yet to open up the electronics cavity of my 5 string, though I did on my 6 string and it was a huge mass of wires Didn't look like there was room in there for anything else. I notice you have an SRX, rather than SR - perhaps the balance is more vertical-friendly? Thing is, I can easily get it into a more vertical position, but I'm either holding it up with my left hand, or pushing down with my right, neither of which, I find, are good for my technique.

+1 for Ibanez - the SR range have a very narrow string spacing and the necks are very slim and playable. Old Bass Collections are also worth considering as they have very slim necks and are also seem to be quite cheap when they appear in the classifieds here or on Ebay.

Just for my own amusement, I tried hanging a bag of coins from the bridge-side strap button and whaddya know, it set the balance perfectly, for the angle I like. Kind of annoying, is it's just not practical to have something hanging off my bass while I play. Maybe I could just try taping some weights to the body and see if that helps...

That's totally awesome. I actually love him. So cool that he signed your scratchplate - I'm jealous!

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='203476' date='May 21 2008, 08:48 AM']The flute wasn't a waste of time, mate. She tried it, she learned some stuff about music (reading?, listening, playing in time, bits of theory - there's loads of transferable skills here). She decided she didn't like the flute - could be because she didn't connected with it. Could have been a bad teacher (there are LOADS out there), could be that the teacher only threw classical stuff at her when she wanted to learn more popular music forms, could be that she couldn't identify with the genres she was being introduced to. She may find out later that she does want to play the flute (or saxophone?). There are 1,000s of top notch musicians out there, professional players and celebrity musos alike, who started on one instrument and later changed to another, sometimes several times. Its a journey and many kids don't get the instrument right the first time. It woudl be a shame to ditch the whole idea on the basis of one bad decision. I know its a pisser when you are spending money but, as someone said, you could sell the flute (or play it yourself). The gift of music is priceless and the outlay relatively cheap (what does an ipod cost? Or a weeks holiday?).[/quote] YES! Bang on the mark with this post. I played recorder when I was about 5 and gave that up after a year or two. I then started playing trombone at age 11. I was able to pick up the trombone much more quickly and grasp many of the concepts a lot more easily than I would have done, had I not played the recorder, since the latter gave me a rudimentary but fundamental grasp of the basic concepts of music. A few years later I picked up the bass and got to grips with it very quickly. I already read music (bass clef, no less!), had played in a brass ensemble, so knew about playing in a group and was generally a lot more comfortable with many of the more abstract concepts of music. Every little bit of exposure that I've had to playing has contributed to the player that I am today and nothing has been wasted. Especially not the recorder lessons! So while it may not seem that this is the case now, if your daughter does end up getting on well with the bass and goes on to play in bands, she will not look back on her brief experience with the flute as wasted. Bilbo's comment about good/bad teachers is also a very valid point. I had 4 trombone teachers in my school days. Two just went through the motions and I could quite easily have quit while being taught be either. Though one teacher, who only taught me for a year, showed me music in a totally different light and completely changed my approach to playing. I'm certain that without his inspiration, I would not be posting on a bass guitar forum today... Sorry that was a bit melodramatic...

Nice one! I think Wooten is a must - I saw him with Bela Fleck last year and he was awesome. Would be great to see the guy with his own band.

[quote name='E_MaN' post='202966' date='May 20 2008, 04:12 PM']whats the point? seriously, do you really NEED to change from fretted from fretless mid song?[/quote] There are a couple of songs I play with one of my bands in which I could do with jumping between fretted and fretless - the sections just work better on one or the other. That said, I can't really see the point of having two necks of seven strings. I would have said that you had every eventuality covered in one bass, but this guy appears to have a million Conklins!!? Either way, it looks absurdly great. More silly basses please!

I think it's a common problem with Soundgears - even the top end ones. As I said, I think they're designed to be played at a more horizontal angle. Which is odd since their biggest advocate, Fiedly of Korn, pretty much plays his K5 in a vertical position.

Some quite novel suggestions there! 3) and 4) look definitely worth trying out, despite the fact that I'm going to look pretty silly with a bag of washers hanging from my bass I really don't want to sell the bass, since it's perfect in every respect apart from this one. Thanks!

That seems really obvious, but I never thought of it Thanks!

I find the most comfortable way to play is to have the neck of my bass angled quite steeply (at least 45 degrees to horizontal). However, my current bass (an Ibanez) has a bit of neck dive - I think it's designed to be played at a more horizontal angle, which means I have to hold the neck up a bit with my left hand. I don't find this to be good technique, so I'm looking for a way to get my bass to sit at a more comfortable angle for me. If you check my profile [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showuser=2450"]picture[/url], you can see the kind of angle I like to play at. Does anyone have any experience of this? Is this a fundamental problem of the way the bass is balanced? Would moving the strap post on the bridge side of the body further up towards the top of the body help it hang at a better angle? I also have a Warwick Streamer, which has the strap lock socket further round the body, and sits at a perfect angle, so I wonder if repositioning the strap post is the way to go, though I'm reluctant to start drilling into the side of my beloved Ibanez. Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated.

I'm sure I remember reading on talkbass about removing screws. I think you should be able to use something like [url="http://www.google.co.uk/products?hl=en&q=screw+extractor&cr=countryUK%7CcountryGB&um=1&ie=UTF-8"]this[/url], though will probably need a very small drill bit to get in there in the first place. Broken screw heads have to be amongst the most infuriating problems ever to be encountered...

I never had a problem with the neck profile. My first bass was a Bass Collection, which have very slim necks and I went straight to a '97 Streamer LX and didn't notice any problem with the neck profile. In fact it felt more comfortable and was easier to play than my old BC. I keep reading things about people not getting on with Warwick necks - either they feel too long or the profile is odd - but I never experienced this at all.