Maude

Being completely niave here as I've never actually played one, but what are short scale five strings like, or more to the point what is the B string like? A lot of fuss is made about five strings being more than 34" scale to get a decent sounding B string, and the reason for fan frets to get a longer string run on the lower strings. Just curious as to how a short scale low B feels.

I'm certainly very intrigued to see any solutions to getting bands back gigging in pubs as I just don't see how we can until social distancing ends. The idea of perspex screens seemed good, a complete screen across the front of the stage area, band behind screen and PA and crowd in front. We always all go through the PA anyway so it would be easy for us. The band members could agree to be a social bubble if they were all happy with what each other were doing to stay safe. It seems great, but then I remember that a small pub that has a hundred people in normally for a gig can only have 10 to 15 in with social distancing and I don't know any pubs that can or will pay a band to attract a crowd of ten. It's just not sustainable. I swing between hopelessly optimistic one day and then negative the next. I'm really intrigued to see how the first pubs tackle the situation.

You're lucky he didn't stitch you up completely. He could've paid you through PayPal, taken the case and after a week or so opened an 'item not received' dispute with PayPal, and as you cannot prove he has it, no courier or post office receipt, then they would take the money out of your bank and refund him. Leaving him with the case and his money. Chalk it up to experience and move on. 🙂

So on the fence about Fenders really then? 😄

And a curly lead for added coolness. I spy a thunderbird guitar as well don't I? A very cool picture. 😎

It looks great with the horseshoe pickup. Has it got standard bass tuners rather than the little guitar ones?

No, I had little fiddle with it. 😁 There is a build thread but all the pictures disappeared in change of server. Basically reshaped headstock and scratchplate, added f hole, binding and bridge cover, and refinished in vintage white. 🙂

They don't get a lot of love on here but mine would have to be my Variax. I love the neck on it and the versatility of tones wins over any others if I can only keep one.

That all just goes together so well, it looks fantastic.

Fair enough. 🙂

Just wondering how many have fitted new strings when they fitted a new bridge, I'm guessing most. Could the new improved clarity and sustain be due to new strings but subconsciously you decide it's the bridge as that cost you money?

I like playing in cold weather as cold air is more dense and thus better able to transmit soundwaves to my ear resulting in less loss of frequencies between the speaker cab and ear. If you believe that then you'll believe that different mass bridges make a noticeable difference to sound too. 😄

It looks to be in good condition so yes just key it up. As Japhet said, the easiest thing to use is scotchbrite (if prefer it wet but it can be used dry) which is an abrasive scouring sheet made by 3M, much like the green part of your standard kitchen sponge/scourer. It's good because it follow the curves of your bass without squaring off corners which sandpaper can do, if you can't get any then wet'n'dry used wet (1000 grit or so) will be fine but go easy on the tight curves, you don't want to rub through or you will need to prime and flat those areas to stop old paint edges showing in your new paint. If you need to fill any chips you'll need a car body filler, actually car body stopper will be best as it's a finer version of filler and will rub down smoother and need less primer to hide it. These repairs will need priming and flatting before painting. There's no need to prime at all if you've not done any repairs, the red will be a good base for the pink colour. If you use scotchbrite your old paint will just look matt when done, not all scratched up, this is plenty enough of a key for the new paint to grip to. Just try to make sure it's fairly evenly matt with no glossy areas. If any of this is unclear or you have other questions, however silly they might seem, just ask away. 🙂

That's even worse, he'd better keep control of his left hand. BTW, I saw what this thread was before he changed it to .

@Japhet You must be another from the world of bodyshops if you're talking Dolphin Glaze. 🙂

Woah, slow down there 😁. What are you planning to do, just a normal refinish or are you relicing to reveal the underneath colour? There's absolutely no need to strip a poly finish off to refinish a bass if it's in good condition. You can just key the surface (not as harshly as you might expect) and paint your colour straight over it, no primer needed. If the original finish is damaged then any repairs done will need primer applied, left to dry and then flatted to stop the repair showing in your final finish. If you want to remove your fresh finish to reveal the paint underneath as per your picture then things get a little more complicated to make it look realistic. If you want to remove the original paint then you can but I see so many folks complaining about what a nightmare it was, not realising it's unnecessary. The only real reason to completely strip is that any new chips may show the old colour depending on depth, and if the old finish is badly damaged. 🙂

Absolutely, I was being sarcastic about most folks on here say an acoustic bass is a waste of time, and yet here we are enjoying one. I actually think acoustic basses are great and totally useable. Totally agree on the sound quality of bass on phones and laptops. You have to use decent speakers or headphones to make a recording anything other than a tinny caterwauler........ .......... unless you're listening to slap bass, there's no saving that. 😉

But why d'you want to be called Loretta, Stan?

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Welcome to the forum Billy. Now, what are you doing!? 😁

No sooner said than done. 🙂

Glad you're liking it @barrycreed, and you @stewblack, great basses. Perhaps this thread should become the TMB30 appreciation thread. 🙂

Sorry, my post does read a bit bitchy, it wasn't intended that way. 🙂

Not worship but I play doublebass in an acoustic band and we do our own take on lots of different styles. In our version of Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) in usually play the bassline from Salt'n'Pepper's Push It through the chorus. Also in another band (Mod/Northern Soul/Ska) our latest original has a Tin Soldier by Small Faces feel to it, not intentionally but that's how it's ended up. I added a little bridge leading into the chorus as we were writing it that everyone said "that sounds great, keep it in". It sounded familiar to me but I couldn't place it, then I realised it was the chorus vocal melody to Mel and Kim's Respectable. It makes me smile every time we play it.

Back on topic of comments I don't miss, in the band mentioned above I solely play doublebass and, as mentioned by @Silvia Bluejayearlier, "That's a big cello", or "How are you going to get that violin under your chin?" gets tiring pretty quick, but they're only having fun and I'm gigging so it's all good.