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PaulKing

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Everything posted by PaulKing

  1. PaulKing
    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.
  2. PaulKing
    Still going, mojo mojo mojo mojo
  3. PaulKing
    What will you be playing on it? Vintage Framus, cracking hybrid bass, carved front, awesome rich vintage tone ... see my for sale post - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/176995-vintage-1950s-framus-bass-l1150-london/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/176995-vintage-1950s-framus-bass-l1150-london/[/url]
  4. PaulKing
    Ooh - one just went on ebay for £27 ... missed it. At least I think it was ... the paddles were silver and the jack barrel an odd shape. But it wasn't a shadow.... maybe an early underwood?
  5. PaulKing
    You know what make they are?
  6. PaulKing
    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.
  7. PaulKing
    +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.
  8. PaulKing
    I'll have 'em ... if the scale length is right. Short / long?
  9. PaulKing
    Underwood not included, but negotiable. Bassmax also possible. Cash really, but try me. No rush...
  10. PaulKing
    Bump. Someone's deram bass this....
  11. PaulKing
    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?
  12. PaulKing
    +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.
  13. PaulKing
    For comparison. Doesn't sound much, but it's a bigger bass. Doesn't fit inside a 3/4 gig bag which is very loose on the Kay. ............................................[b]Framus[/b]......[b]Kay[/b] String Length....................41.5"..........41.5" Front length.......................46".............44.5" Upper bout width..............21.25"........20" Lower bout width...............27.25".......26.25" C bout height......................10"............9" Waist ...................................15"............15" Depth...................................8.75",,,,,,,,,7.5"
  14. PaulKing
    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?
  15. PaulKing
    Update: Its a hybrid, of course it is. I'd forgotten. Solid top. Explains the powerful tone.
  16. PaulKing
    Not quite! I got a bit excited when that 1950s Kay jazz special came up on eBay. Did you see / buy it? I was tempted... Then I've been playing a mates burns bass this week, cos I'm playing some covers at a wedding in a week or two. Strangely enjoying the experience. Girls bass.
  17. PaulKing
    Very sturdy, very big, very deep sound. I know they all say that, but I can compare this with a dozen other basses I've owned. It's louder than them all, and at least as loud as the carved bass I had. I've always presumed it's ply. Actually I should check the top isn't solid.
  18. PaulKing
    Bad luck on the door damage Clarky. I feel it... can only imagine your white face when you haerd the crunch and opened the bag up... Carved bass isn't it? At least a carved bass is proper fixable. It'll add chatacter...
  19. PaulKing
    I'm going to pull the trigger on a bass geetar. So I need to move one of the family on... Hard to choose which should go first, but here goes, the big old 7/8 Framus. Offers around £1150. Collection from west London. Tom and Will gig bag included. Pros: It has astonishing carved-bass tone - deep, rich and by far the loudest of all my basses, acoustically. I play it with SilverSlaps to keep that amazing pizz tone and projection. The sustain and definition beats the Kay and King Mortone hands down. The fingerboard is a well seasoned, non-ebonised hardwood (rose-wood or maple?), with a very forgiving soft click. Innovation strings do not sound boingy and twangy on this bass, as they do on some. It has an amazing easy action, butter soft strings makes it very easy to play. It also looks DAMN cool on stage. Cons: It is big, and quite heavy. 7/8 size (LOUD BOOOOM!). Not so easy to play lying on your back, which is a pre-requisite for my gigging basses. Can't think of any others. No label inside, so no serial number ... but the Framus Museum themselves confirmed it very likely was Framus. Why would I sell this one first? Tough choice. I think it's just the one I'm least attached to. It probably sounds better than any of the other three. If I played acoustically pizz at all I wouldn't pass it on ... but I'm always amplified, so that tone is kind of wasted. If I had the cash and the space to keep them all I would. But I've been itching for one of these for ages...
  20. PaulKing
    Presto / eurosonic give a perfectly respectable thunk unless you have v bright lively fingerboard. Can be a bit twangy, but not the clank of steel. Even so, I'm still a piezo guy. On Saturday night I played louder than I am ever likely to in my life. 50k rig to 18,000 people in Hyde park, on gut and presto E/A, through Underwood pick up, markbass 500W backline, drowned out by stage monitors. I even climbed down and ran into audience with no feedback. The sound was gargantuan. Bill Haley slap bass louder than ever before...
  21. PaulKing
    [quote name='keeponehandloose' timestamp='1335250374' post='1627808'] Big band era bass players had to be first to a gig so they could claim a spot on stage where they could drive the spike into the floorboards, this would be done over a cross beam and the sound would get transmitted along the beam ,thus using the stage as a big sound box. Not sure how effective it would be though [/quote] And they used to stand in the corner too, so sound was bounced out from the walls. I believe.
  22. PaulKing

    Guts

    PaulKing replied to Owen's topic in EUB and Double Bass

    [quote name='owen' timestamp='1334764124' post='1620874'] I have been looking at the Cordes Lambert site but cannot actually make it work [/quote] Yeah, those guys are not the best at technology... Ivan put up that website ages ago and has never got round to finishing it. To say it's a cottage industry is putting it mildly. I've lucked out and got a few sets on various basses (actually that's me on their website, plucking away in my bedroom, madam). They are great strings, it has to be said. Latest version are higher tension than earlier versions, and pack a harder punch - though that makes them more effort to play. I've played them alongside Lenzner guts and the G and D are indistinguishable, at least on my vintage ply basses. Depending on the bass, you can get a reasonable approximation of the tone from Innovation strings, Velvets, Prestos etc ... but the acid test is always arco 9if that's your thing) or slapping (if that's your thing). Lamberts, to me, really pay off when it comes to slapping, because they have no clatter or twang or nasal honk.
  23. PaulKing
    Supersilvers to match the tension of the solos, as Supersilvers are slightly higher tension than Silverslaps. But Silverslaps are better for slap ... for once they got the name right on that one!
  24. PaulKing
    [size=3]Underwood AND fishman? Why not I suppose.[/size] [size=3]Anyway, K+K is ok, but fiddly. I found LR Baggs just sounded a bit nicer on my bass, though maybe it was just the fabrication of the pre-amp, much nicer design. Could affect psychology quite a lot. I have the MixPro, and though i only used it for a while I loved the sound it gave, nicer, more transparent than K+K. I used to mix Bassmax and a neck clicky with it.[/size]
  25. PaulKing
    You can fix a warped bridge. Steam it in a vegetable steamer for 10 mins, with lid on. Not submerged in the water, but held above the water bathed in steam While it's still hot, lay it on a flat surface, put a flat bit of wood over the top and pile as many heavy things on as you can. Leave it a few hours ... Bingo.
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