PaulKing

Thomann Rockabilly basses are not amazing, but I've heard from a number of people that they are perfectly decent for someone who wants to play rock/blues/billy whatever. There is always a downside to basses that are a bit rough ... the poor sound can disguise your technique and make it harder to play, or slow down your progress. But for hammering out 12 bars I've heard people who have been happy enough with Thomann Rockabillies. A bit higher in their range (Thoman 111) the basses are made by Strunal - they're really very good beginner basses, but start around £1000. Thomann are a good company ... just get the most expensive one you can afford. But yes, remember you'll need to spend £80+ on strings (get Innovation Silver Slaps as your starter string, even if you don't want to slap - Thomann may put them on for you). And you may need to spend more on set up (adjusting string height etc), though Thomann will do a simple set up for you I believe. Bass care: Get one thing clear - you're talking about a plywood bass here, not a carved instrument, or hybrid one (plywood with wood front, either carved or pressed into shape). They don't like radiators much, but they're not gonna crack like a carved instrument. They're much more robust. Keep it propped up in a corner, out of direct sunlight, away from radiators. Or even better, lying on its side if you've space. And buy a vinyl gig bag at least if you're ever going to take it out of the house. Learn how to move it ... hold the neck and the upper lip of the C-bout (the scoop in the 'waist' of the bass). Never knock, pull or lift using the bridge. Read up on how to change strings - you can do a lot of damage if you fiddle before you know what you're doing. The bass is held together by the string tension, and bits start falling off if you undo without care! Learn where the bridge should stand, and how to ensure it is vertical, so you can check it's not falling when you change strings. Learn what the bits are called ... you need to know whats going on with your tailgut, endpin, tailpiece, bridge feet, nut, fingerboard, sound post, bass bar... it's a world of fun! enough for now...

Sweet. Happy days.

Bassmax, great pick up Once you've settled for that style of wing piezo they all sound pretty similar, and very easy to use and dial in. They all have subtle differences that suit different basses and different ears and different playing styles. Underwood Shadow Schatten Planet Revolution Solo TM... you might end up trying them all eventually. I settled on Bassmax for a long time, then I switched to Underwood for simplicity and transparency of tone. Currently running 3 Underwoods on 3 basses, and a Bassmax on one. I'm about to try a Planet now,...

I want to try one. Anyone got one they want to pass on? Lend out even....?

Dead right. I've used it for years to make fixes to my bridge ... build up height, build up wing slots for better pickup fit, build up nut grooves etc. When you mess about with different strings as much as me you can end up adjusting the set up a lot. Great stuff.

You could also try Prestos. Similar to innovation Silverslaps in many ways, good for slapping, strong gut-like tone, good sustain and definition, nylon outer gives reasonably soft slap tone. But metallic inner wrap means they work with a mag. They were once almost as popular as Rotosounds for slappers, but fashions and options change, people seem to use Innovations and whackers more than either of those now. Or as mentioned elsewhere, try Innovation (Braided core) Solo guage, detuned to concert. Nice tension, nice tone, nice click. Here them slapped here: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41F2ukjtBf0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41F2ukjtBf0[/url] Curiously enough I've a set all boxed up on my shelf, looking for a new home.

Very nice i agree, saw this on ebay. Good price - decent lammy like that should be worth £900 or more, but that's the market at the moment. There is another gorgeous blonde bass around,similar white (ivory?) tuners. Still for sale, still asking an awful lot more money! those black lines are called purfling. They're designed to stop cracks and delamination spreading from the edges. Still trying to put a number on the Kays in the UK (come on, show us yours! ... or did you already and I forgot?). A dozen, more? I was talking to Thomas from Slap-strings.de yesterday ... he used to have 15 Kays! And 2 Mortones. And several Framus, and a bunch of other basses. drool...

I heard back from Steve. Tis true the business is going. But if you're an existing client, then you know where to find him. He hasn't totally disappeared...

I was idly browsing, especially looking at old pics of my Kay being restored a few years back. Saddened to see the economy has put paid to Steve Laws amazing luthiery... another small business bites the dust, and we lose an incredible and precious talent. We've got til December to hget those last bits of work done. Daf, you're on his testimonials page, rotten news eh?

Could be a nice bass, looks like a B+H Excelsior, though difficult to say from one picture. Any label inside? What did you pay for it? A good 60s Czech ply bass could be worth £900 or more, although no basses seem to be selling for good prices at the moment, so something like this could easily go on ebay for £3-400. Bridge: Definitely wonky. Lie it flat, slacken the strings until bridge becomes easy to move around, adjust position until feet lie in line with the notches on f-holes (centre of feet to inner notches), gradually tighten strings making sure bridge stays at 90 degrees - you may well need to nudge it back to 90 degrees as the strings try to pull the top of the bridge over. When strings close to tension, pick up bbass and continue tuning. Fingerboard: +1 to the above ... does the wood below look a nice colour? Alternatively, if you go slowly and carefully you could sand down the laquer with a fine grain sandpaper, finish off with wire wool unttil perfectly smooth, then rub the exposed wood with strking oil / almond oil / olive oil, polish and let dry. Go slowly, evenly, long single strokes, do not rub and rub back and forth cos that will introduce lumps and bumps on the board. Are you sure it's a lacquer peeling off, or is it just a stain wearing away? Sometimes rosewood or other hard wood fingerboards were 'ebonised', stained with black to make them look like ebony. After 50 years this staining could easily be wearing away, so it's only cosmetic and i wouldn't worry. The stain is only on the surface so it can easily be sanded away, but you really must go slowly and evenly! That said, i decided to do exactly this to my czech bass - beneath the worn black stain was a lovely reddish rosewood with a nice grain. It looks beautiful.

Hi Stillman ... to all bass brethren out there, hes the real deal ... pays up, turns up, no hassle. Safe trader! Glad youve been enjoying that big ABM cab... Paul

Fishman Platinum Bass is pretty widely available LR Baggs do a good clean, small package, harder to get hold of there are lots of others ... deatils over at doublebasschat.com

[quote name='brewster' post='1348559' date='Aug 22 2011, 11:14 PM']Hi I'm new to the forum and seek advice. I've just purchased a couple of double basses, a Stentor Student II and a Thomann Rockabilly (only £285). I've purchased a set of Ultra Blacks for the Stentor and will soon snaffle up a set of silver slaps for the Thomann. My query relates to amplification. I play electric through a Hartke 3500 rig with 4x10 and 1 x 15 cabs. I've looked through a number of posts and the consensus seems to be that the head and 4 x 10 might be okay with a pre amp. Alternatively I could purchase a smaller combo but only really have about £150 left to spend. I'm perfectly happy to buy s/h but would really appreciate any comments/advice. I will hopefully progress to a reasonable standard over the next 6 months and hope to get out gigging ASAP. Would imagine mainly small gigs with no PA. I understand the strings won't be suitable for piezo pickups. James, my teacher and contributor to the forum, recommends a realist pickup, will this be transferable between the two basses and is is suitable for both jazz and rockabilly styles ? All advice would be appreciated. Cheers [/quote] 2 basses at once? I celebrate your leaping in big-style! Is the Stentor carved? I expect the Thoman will sound a bit cardboardy in comparison - do appreciate you'll get what you paid for in tone from that bass - great for messing around amplified rockabilly, but there are other ply basses that sound leagues better. Don't forget to look at your string set up before you start worrying about pick ups. You need to find a good string height that is comfortable to play - but remember that when you start you'll probably be playing very gently. As you progress you will almost certainly get much more vigorous. That is GOOD, you want to get digging in to those strings. But what seemed a good string height at first may become too low for more vogorous playing. Its a peronal thing - for jazz it's often bewteen 6-9mm, for more rootsy thumpy stuff and rockabilly more like 9-15mm, even higher for very low tension strings. Anyway, I'm sure that amp set up will work for you to begin with, so long as you have decent EQ. You may begin to find that it becomes difficult to get a transparent sound without colouring it with theamp and speakers - I dunno, do Hartke have characteristic sound? Bright? Metallic? Don't buy anything else yet. A preamp will help with most passive pickups, but it's not essential if the input on your head is high enough impedance. If needed, it will help keep transparent sound, and fight fedback though. Depends on the pick up/amp combination. A piezo pickup will work with any strings, including the ones you mention. A MAGNETIC pickup (like on electric bass) will only work wth metallic strings, or ones with metal core. Gage Realist (piezo) is the most common jazz/classical pick up, so often recommended by luthiers. It seems best for low volume gigs, where a little boom is required to help boost the natural sound of the bass. It is a bit limited in tone, nice big soft low end but not much mid and top. For most people playing louder styles with other amplified instruments it is NOT the best option. Wing pickups like Underwood, Schatten, Shadow, K+K, Planet are all very good, flexible, simple piezos, relatively low cost, but suitable for all styles inc rockabilly. They all have much fuller range, and better feedback resistance at higher volume compared to the Realist. They are all easily transferrable too... just pull them out of the bridge wing. Realist is slightly harder to transfer, you need to slacken off strings, take out bridge, remove pickup, refit bridge and tighten strings. And I think the jack socket fits around the G string, so you have to take that off too. Worry about technique before worrying about amplification ... it's a different beast from ebass in so many ways. I'm still fiddling with pickups and strings, trying to get the sound right, and I've been playing over 20 years. I enjoy fiddling ... Also remember one thing: Every bass is different. What works for one, sounds awful on another. That goes for strings, pickups, set-up, sometimes even technique. Have fun, keep posting.

I'm not a bower but ... I've read quite a bit about Silverslap/Supersilver tending to roll under the bow. Somethig to do with all windings going in same direction maybe?

[quote name='Clarky' post='1342978' date='Aug 17 2011, 12:21 PM']Being dumb here but I thought SS's were entirely synthetic, hence they cannot be used with mag pickups. This imples there is metal core?[/quote] There is a fine metal wire adding weight (I presume) to the winding. I was amazed to find a signal coming from a mag pickup on an old EUB I had strung with Innovation Rockabillies. I'm not sure it was enough to rely on, but it was there.

[quote name='Mr Bassman' post='1216030' date='Apr 30 2011, 06:25 PM']Thanks for returning the pups Roger. Glad you liked the Bassmax And thank you for your generosity covering the postage, you didn't have to. Mrs Bassman & I will enjoy a drink on you this evening [/quote] Hi Bassman - you stull got that Planet pup? Is it the older version (flat surfaces, sandwich filling visible) or the newer version in little sealed copper lozenge? I'm interested to try one, heard some very positive comparisons to my faithful underwoods.

Happened to me once, though at an audition rather than a gig. Pitched up at a studio, played some 80 tunes straight off with Rockabilly covers band, on a pretty new (CCB) bass. 4 hours in, the neck just came away in my hand and bass folded in half. They loved it, I got the job... but at least they didn't make me bust the bass every gig. I got a new bass too, though it was the last CCB I bought ... a long time ago now.

I'll be watching with interest!

[quote name='slobluesine' post='1308530' date='Jul 18 2011, 10:38 PM']sure does, Lamberts get better and better the more you play em hey. i found it was hardly playing anything on the E string with Silver Slaps/Prestos because it just didn't cut through. then again i aint a slapper roots and rockabilly are different strokes AFAIC[/quote] Depends how you play. I know it's not for everyone but I love the slap sound of those blues players like Larry Taylor, Bill Stuve, Roy Kedar, and going back to Willie Dixon, Ernest Crawford. Any of that great stuff by Hollywood Fats, Junior Watson, William Clarke, Rod Piazza, Lynwood Slim ... it's not rockabilly, but the set up and string characteristics you need to get that thunk are pretty much the same. Steels just sound too noisy on most basses. That said, I've got a detuned Innovation Solo E on my Mortone.... synthetic core but steel wrap.

[quote name='slobluesine' post='1308211' date='Jul 18 2011, 06:41 PM']yes!!! that's what i like about the bumped Spiro A, silver slap/presto E is just too 'dull' just try it, very easy, tune your ADG down[/quote] I can imagine that sounds pretty punchy John ... just don't slap it eh?