PaulKing

[quote name='artisan' timestamp='1344451194' post='1764841'] ok got my finger out,here's some pics of my f-hole covers made by Jim Fleeting in Ripon who also fitted my 2nd sound post so my bass is "almost" feedback proof & stills sounds mega [/quote] That's what mine look like too ... I managed to get some thinner foam for the outer surface, so they sit a little flatter too. Just a cosmetic thing... Nice work. damn ... pics won't upload... hmm

I'm always transfixed and astonished by his playing. Remarkable and beautiful.

Nice blues sound Steve. More clips anywhere...? I used to know the Railway on Chapeltown Road .. in fact I used to see a girl who lived up the road near Turton Tower. Stood on that railway platform many times... Enjoy the 'tour'

Hope some of you guys made it. I was with the 'little' jump -jive (hey, more jump blues and RnB than Jive actually... and less of the 'little', 6 of us on stage with piano and upright bass make quite a mess of sound geezer! ;o)). I also got a slot with Jules and the Gamblers later in the eve. Cheers to all those who turned up, esp at 2pm!

Bob fillings??? Damn auto type... Bob gollihur.

I hope the superior kit turns out well, it's a new thing. There are some well proven amp-top dual channel mixer preamps, Dtar solstice is popular. For tailpiece mounted, k+k make one that is widely used, it's a fiddle though, and I don't think it's quite the sound bob fillings credits it. Lr baggs mixpro is small, easy to use, beautifully transparent, a much better bit of kit for mixing clicky and bridge pups on the tailpiece. I've given up on blenders now, use 2 wireless sets to send to independent eqs, then input separately to amp.

Rev speaks wise words. All I can add to it is that, on at least the 4 basses I've tried various pick ups on, Underwood consistently gives me reliable, easy to EQ, forgiving on fit/positioning, lovely organic sound, plenty of mechanics, just everything I want. Beats bassmax, realist, shadow, planet, polytone, blah.

It's really easy to fill the notch in your nut, even to rebuild it and start from scratch. Use Milliput epoxy modelling clay, which dries like ebony, sands and carves like wood. You have to paint it black, but it works. I've filled bridge notches, extended bridge feet, altered bridge wings and rebuilt nuts all with Milliput, great stuff.

+1 on all those, it can take forever to find it. Beware the 'pressure on seam / rib' as this can fool you, you eliminate the buzz by damping whole bass vibration, even though it's buzzing somewhere else. Sometimes its the bridge feet not quite flat, quick tap of the bridge can solve it. Also check the screw head in the centre if the tuner cog. But if it's on open A and not fifth stop A, it sounds less likely it's bodywork, more likely string height, winding, nut, or bridge notch. Body buzzes respond to same frequency whichever string it comes from.

I have done - especially with a very hot pickup. I found the Planet Wing pickup sounded great until I slapped, and I needed to roll loads of compression on in the ProPlat preamp to combat it. It did the trick though. That said, I reverted to underwood pickup, and now the slap is beautifully subtle anyway. But whatever you do, steel strigs are going to give you a prominent slap sound amplified. Milty Hinton got away with it by playing acoustic though microphones I guess. Ah .. you said steel 'core' - are you playing Prestos?

+1 on Bob Gollihur. Along with Upton he's really one the main, and most established double bass dealwrs in the world. Grerat bloke, friendly service. Pickups - you can get an Underwood direct from Vivace violins in London. I prefer it to Bassmax, it's less fussy about positioning, and will happily go direct into any amp with a decent high impedance input. About £130 these days. But the TM pickup on ebay gets very good reviews. Dave, who makes them, posts over on doublebasschat.com, he's a very reliable chap. That's the best forum for tips on set up and technique for rockabilly. Many very well known playwers post there. I don't think Emma Goss reverses her strings. As previous posters have said, it's most likely the strings, Rotosound could be the answer. Also, almost all double bass playing happens around the top two strings, as the lower ones are so low, and can be indistinct if you're using nylion or gut as many slappers do. So where you're used to playing A/E on the bottom strings of a guitar or bass guitar, on upright you'll certainly play the top A/E 90% of the tuime.

I'd go for Boosey and Hawkes Golden Strad, 1960s Hungarian import, solid front, ply back and sides. Squat shape, f-holes close together, C-bout with sloping lower corner.. quite distinct. Let me see ... does it look like this? Yes I think it does. Quite common, very good tone for a student bass. Thick chunky neck, small size, lightweight, good tone. Nice budget bass. With top in good condition, no splits .... £5-800?