NickA

Allianz are very expensive ... but they do pay out and there is no excess. Not the same as when that were British Reserve and genuinely knew about stringed instruments, but still the most knowledgeable available.. I was going to drop my insurance and just cover any repair costs myself ( only one claim in 30 years ). Then a neighbour had all his guitars nicked from his front room.... Going to look at new moon next year tho.

They're amazing value because for some reason ( fashion? overproduction? ) they don't hold their value from new. You can get a late 1990s German built Warwick for £1500 that has the build quality of something costing twice or more that new. My 2001 dolphin pro 1 was £1600 Inc shipping, but would be £5k new I think. The ( waxed, wenge or ovangkol) necks are lovely. Superb fret work. MEC pickups a bit thin sounding to me, need some bass and treble boost, but that's easily dialed in. Lovely clear sound. I note that the German " team built " basses are not a bad price now either. ( £1500 for a streamer LX4 at bass direct just now). So no need to buy an Asian made "rock bass" really. The sound is, "distinctive" however and, in an age when band leaders often want the dull thump of a precision, not to everyone's taste.

Put a schaller 3d bridge on it if it the alignment bothers you.

The perfect number of frets is no frets at all 😁. Despite which, I have a dolphin pro 1 with 29 and can't frankly fit my stumpy fingers into the top few. Also a mk 2 Wal with 24 and though perfectly accessible (despite the bolt on neck ) I only use them for noodling. For most mortals an octave and an extra fifth is enough. There's also a theory that fewer frets make for a better slap tone ( if you admit to being into that ) Depends entirely on what you play.

The narrow line between madness and genius!

I'd have said carpal tunnel and a need for more stretches plus maybe a visit to a physio ( I once had the same from typing at a computer all morning then eating lunch with chopsticks ... Lived in Seoul at the time). But if Phil says bananas ... who am I to argue. Try eating bananas!

My fingerboard fell off. But the bass had fallen forwards onto the floor. What gave way was the wedge that was between the maple neck and ebony board; the wood split. The mender said the wood of the wedge wasnt seasoned enough. No Biggie, just get it glued back ... and ask why they think it fell off. Doubt your humidification and careful transport regime are to blame.

Malcolm Healey. Box Hill. http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwjQ68fGzrjmAhWYrO0KHSvVBPUYABAAGgJkZw&sig=AOD64_01QoWDRxeebqRJVhjrSPhNXK60mA&ved=2ahUKEwivk8DGzrjmAhWNEMAKHbUWC8UQ0Qx6BAgLEAE&adurl= Gallery Strings (used to) contract everything to Malcolm, they are dealers not repairers. PS: Bought my first and only double bass from Peter Giorgardis at Gallery strings; setup by Malcolm and I still have the same bridge and soundpost 30 years later (though he finger board fell off and had to be glued back)

... and I thought you were going to chisel two neat little grooves all around the outside and hammer in little strips of dyed maple ..... Looks great btw (certainly better than mine); probably needs a coating to keep it wipe clean, but otherwise it could stay that way.

Wonderful strings. Nearly as nice as proper round wounds! I have them on my backup fretless and may yet put a set on my best bass too. In truth, they feel nicer than rounds and sound really good. .. quite distinctive though; might change the sound of your bass more than you like; especially if you really want the deep thuddy fundamental of regular flats.

I'd like my "real" Wal to have that! There are some sounds you can only get with single coils :¬) Depends how you design the filter doesn't it? You can set an upper frequency that is anywhere up to the bandwidth of the op-amp in the filter circuit (1MHz if you wish)! Harder on a truly passive bass, in which the inductive impedance of the pickups is always loaded by the low pass filter control resistor and capacitor (and the input impedance of the amp) !

Something we do on Double basses for some orchestral pieces is to tune the bottom three strings in 5ths (C G D G) ... various composers want the basses a full octave below the cellos. Not heard of that on an electric bass, but it should work OK - probably better as using all four fingers (not possible on a double bass really) you can still play a scale without changing position. Just a thought.

John East ACG EQ-01? Have one on my fretless Jazz Bass. HUGE tonal palette; a bit TOO huge. Best to find a sound you like and superglue the knobs in that position, as you may never find it again. Looking at John East's website I notice that he doesn't list the ACG EQ-01 any more. Shame, as it means no-one but Wal make a filter per pickup system now (I suppose you could fit two NB: I don't generally like the look single cut basses much (I understand the advantages .. they just look ODD).. but this one is rather special.

The bigger PJB stuff is very neutral. The 5x eq knobs mostly stay at 12:00. If the cabs aren't near a wall then the bottom two knobs need turning up a bit to get enough bass. When I had a trace GP12SMX + 15" thing it always needed a smile EQ or sounded boxy and midrangey (to me). I'd assumed that adding the PB300 to the flightcase would bring along more bass and add more heft to the sound ... but it's also neutral, just makes things louder - probably improves bass at a distance though as the wide total area of the extra 6 forward facing 5" speakers will suffer less dispersion. In some ways (for electric bass, especially my Warwick, which is rather "polite" sounding) I miss my old Trace rig.

You know, a few cracks in the table (if that is what the front is properly called) isn't an issue. The rest of the front looks rather nice and it has quality tuners too. Shame about the ribs, but a decent mender should put it right and a new bridge and maybe sound-post would be part of a normal first time setup. Probably worth a few £1000 .. so worth spending a few £100 on; expensive things double basses.

The PJB bass cub is not loud at all. It's a good thing for practicing electric bass at home, but hardly adds volume to a double bass unless you add a PB100 or PB300 (powered cabs), which kind of spoils the point. I think the 4 speaker flightcase (or maybe the cheaper, heavier and slightly more lively sounding BG400) is the minimum in the PJB range for performance. Though people have managed with the "briefcase" for playing in a trio (un-amped piano and light drums). By luck and perseverance, I found good priced PJB kit on this very site ... if I had to buy new I'd certainly be looking at the Markbass one too. PS: At a gig last night, our baritone sax player kept saying he couldn't hear me very well; I kept turning the volume up, but it still seemed quiet. When packing up I realised I hadn't turned the PB300 on, and had been playing though only the PJB flightcase. So it will hold its own in a small venue!

Plus one for PJB here. Great with double bass; with a good pickup you hardly know it's there. Bit 'hifi' and insufficient thump perhaps for electric and not very loud either. My 150 flghtcase is nice at home, but even in a jazz sextet (2 saxes, guitar, electric piano, bass) I have to sit it on a pb300 to be loud enough. Markbass seem good - one of these was the amp at a jazz session I went to http://www.markbass.it/product-detail/mini-cmd-121p/. sounded fine whatever bass was plugged into it . ..from a double bass through a fretless Wal to a fretted 6-string.

Do NOT look at your left hand! If you feel tempted, start playing in a dark room. When I was a small boy learning the 'cello, my dad (who was also my teacher) put a bit of elastoplast on the neck where my thumb should be in first position (ie finger 2 on the A string = C, thumb behind 2nd finger, more or less); from there, one finger back is half position, moving your hand up to the neck so your thumb is on the heel gives you a 5th up, or an octave up from the next open string down. Filling in the space between first position and "tuhumb on the heel" is a matter of replacing second finger with first finger (do that three times and you've reach the neck position) - the brain's ability to map where a finger was touching and replace it with a different finger is amazing. It got to be learned and is quicker than you think ... and won't hurt your neck either! It's much easier than an electric bass because of the clues telling you where your hand is (but harder as you can only use three fingers and the gaps are bigger!). I admit to looking at my hand now and then when playing electric otherwise I just get lost - but never look at my left hand when playing double bass or cello.

Pretty much a stock answer to this type of question: "Talk to David at Bassbags" They used to (and I assume still can) get custom sized cases made to measure but also have lots of stock (I guess the clue is in the name of the company!). My own bass is the opposite to this one, being long in scale and body, but not very deep. I assumed I'd need a custom case so took it to BassBags, where David looked it up and down and pulled out a stock Westbury case that fitted like it was made for the bass. www.bassbags.co.uk

Mine works fine up and down the E-string. Too much like hard work holding the big fat E down onto the Romberg bevel to make thumb position worth it, but I sometimes use the E string to play a B if I'm up there. Check your bridge and sound post? Bridge may have shifted. NB: probably rather bass dependent; mine is a big & rather "rustic" fully carved german one, currently strung with "un weich" Spiros. I had a go on a French 3/4 flat backed one in Thwaites a bit back and that sounded much the same everywhere, which is probably why they wanted £20,000 for it.

I think it is the implication that one might purchase a young lady at all, let alone with the aim of enslaving her nether regions to keep ones amp warmed up is the potential source of objection; rather than the word BUM itself --- after all if the forum is happy with BUM (having previously changed the US rendition of derrière (*) to Donkey) it must be OK :¬). Still, no worries, this country will elect ANYONE to be an MP .. except Nigel (seven times failed) Farage apparently ... and Screaming Lord Sutch (RIP) who stood 40 times without keeping his deposit (probably get elected now). (*) Still changes AR$E to Derriere!