Maude

Here's my 90s reissue Danelectro Longhorn, mint green with silver sparkle instead of the white tape. Lovely and lightweight with a surprisingly aggressive, Rickenbackeresque tone.

Have you bought it? No! That's how it's helps with your travel. You don't need to carry around do you because they've cunningly designed it as a pointless bass that won't sell, therefore nobody will have to carry around. 😁

That's the great thing with individual bridge pieces, you can set them to exactly your preferred string spacing. His preference was, "All over the feckin' place!"

I don't usual like 'fancy' basses but "HELLO!!" that is a beauty. Amazing wood and colour, congrats. 👍

I'd be happy using Troy's cover (video above) as an accurate rendition of the song. It seems a relatively simply bassline compared to some of the stuff he posts which is bang on. I don't mean easy though, it's a surprisingly busy line for quite a slow, laid back song, but it is repetitive which helps. I had to learn The Who's 'The Real Me' and his version was spot on and helped a great deal. Good luck with learning it and as others have said, don't worry too much about getting it absolutely perfect. It's better to not play it exactly the same but play it well, than get it note perfect but with no feeling. And the most important bit? Enjoy yourself. 👍

Can you apply the same logic to Ultravox's Vienna?

I think you'll find it harder to sell as a fretless so may have to let it go cheaper. Only because there's less people looking for a fretless. It's completely your call though, obviously. 🙂

A second hand fretless neck would be a sensible route to take as it's reversible. But it depends on the value you place on the bass you want to convert and how committed you are to using a fretless. I'm in a similar position in that I have two Line6 Variax's and was going to defret one, but they are selling for about £600 ish now so I might try a find a suitable neck to see if it's what I want. If it isn't I can refit the original neck and sell it. Ultimately only you can decide I suppose.

Agreed, but if the other mustang is his main bass then it should be relatively easy to adapt (I obviously don't know what other basses the OP has). While it's true that the shorter the scale the more difficult good intonation becomes on a fretless, plenty of people love the likes of Rob Allen or SWB fretless'.

There's a thread here about short scale fretless'.

Ah I see, that makes sense. They'll be checking boots then. 😁

I can't see there'd be any problems with a short scale fretless. String tension and choice will stay the same. Whether to defret or get a new board, I don't know. For some reason you don't seem to see many maple boards on fretless basses but epoxying the board on a fretless is definitely a thing so no reason (that I can think of) why you shouldn't use a maple board. Unfinished they get dirty but if it's lacqured/superglued/epoxied then it should be fine.

Just a thought with 'drive in' concerts, and films, do they charge per car or per person? I'm guessing it'll be per person for maximum profit, but an individual in one car takes up the same amount of space as the five in the car next to them.

The biggest concern I have here is that you've been listening to and taking notice of James Blunt's lyrics. 😉

Takemine TB10. I would absolutely love one of these, but I play in two bands, one Mod/Northern Soul/Ska so won't be used there, and the other I solely play doublebass in. I could use it in that band but don't want to not play doublebass and there's no way I'm taking both and swapping for songs, so I know it just won't get used and at well over two grand they're not exactly cheap. Doesn't stop me having one in my Thomann basket though, keeping an eye on the fluctuating prices. 😁 I'd jump at a second hand one as I could have my fun and move it on if necessary but you just don't see them.

If I was looking to buy another semi, one I haven't tried yet but from everything I've seen and heard, I'd be looking for a Jack Casady.

Congratulations, I love my Variax. I agree with what @Machines has said about regarding it as a bass with huge tonal variety, although I do feel most of the models do capture the essence of the bass being modelled. For instance, some might say the P bass isn't exactly like a P, but whose P bass are we comparing it to? My P probably sounds different to the next man's P due to differing strings, pickups, etc. I should've chosen a different example as that's a lot of talk about pee. What I really like is the different decay on the models, the really short 'dead' ring of the Hofner for example. Coupled with your HD 500 it'll be great as you can set up patches of bass model, amp, cab, EQ and effects and select it all with one switch. Great for cover bands. I've got a spare one that I was going to defret as I reckon some of the models will come alive without frets, doublebass and synths particularly. I'm going to try and find a suitable fretless neck instead now though in case it doesn't sound as good as I hoped and I need to sell it. Have fun experimenting. 🙂

First thing I've ever done with an acoustic (guitar or bass) is get those bronze strings off. You'll lose a bit of acoustic volume usually, but along with that you'll lose the horrific clatter and screech you get from playing it. I've got Fender nylons on both my acoustic basses.

I was too incensed to pass a reasoned comment on this earlier. As the song is about the New York club and not the Brazilian holiday destination, then factually @redbandit599 is correct in his statement. It's still the best song ever written about a showgirl named Lola and two blokes called Tony and Rico, and I won't have a bad word said about it, UNDERSTAND!!? 😉

Mines got plenty of oomph, really nice growly tone and no quieter plugged straight into an amp than any other bass I own, louder than some. One of the best tones in American punk Fat Mike's Danelectro in NOFX. Certainly not lacking there at all.

Just curious as to why a Danelectro wouldn't work for metal? Loud, punchy, clangy Rickenbackeresque tone would be well suited I'd have thought.

I have a Yamaha BEX4 and it is a seriously under rated bass. The build quality is exceptional. It has hollow body looks but has a centre block so none of the feedback issues. The soapbar pickup is the same as in my BB and due to position sounds very much like a P bass but more aggressive sounding or a slight added hollow sweetness, depending on playing attack. The piezo bridge pickup gives a lovely bright snappy tone, not really acoustic as some say. With the three band EQ I challenge anyone to find a style it's not capable of doing. It's not a light bass though as some might expect. If you can find one they are exceptional value for money. Not mine though as you couldn't pay me enough to let go of it. 🙂

Jesus Built My Hotrod. I hesitate to bring religion into this topic but I'd like to see some hard evidence before I accept this claim. I'd also love to claim the lyrics to be untrue but I've never quite worked them out. It matters not, it's an epic song! 🙂

I have this picture saved on my phone for no other reason than its the best red I've ever seen. The Merc low rider's not bad either.

My string of choice is D'addario half rounds, ENR72 (50 - 105) I like 'em stiff with a good girth.