NickA

Excellent article btw. Full of things I'd thought but never managed to put into words. Had me snorting into my glass of red.....nerd that I am.

Mention of Chick Corea reminds me . Stan Clarke! Why has no one mentioned Stanley? Best known as a funky slapper of Alembics, but he's a better double bassist. Check out the John Coltrane tribute on "Johnny McLaughlin Electric Guitarist" and "jazz n the garden" with Hiromi Uehara. He has massive hands, plays fast and is spot on in tune. His big trick is playing in unison with someone playing a much easier instrument ( Kai Ekhardt does that too, but only on an electric ). Not a hope of emulation, but hear and marvel.

Incomprehensible. But then, I feel the same way about battered 60 year old fenders. Might keep it as part of my pension fund!

Why not just get an oc2? How much do they cost these days? I've got one in a drawer (cost £30 in 1988). I never use it as it tracks low notes badly and makes midrange notes sound muddy even when it tracks. Works ok if you play an octave up. Works better if you feed it sounds from the neck pickup with a bit of filter applied. I'll sell it if there is a demand.

Hmm, never has GAS for a precision before .... £2300 for a passive single pickup bass mind. Still, better value than a beat up 60s fender.

Double bass =it's too big and makes my hand hurt playing in tune Bass guitar = the neck is so long and lacking in tactile clues it's impossible to shift positions accurately 5-string bass guitar = as above but add an extra string for more confusion and a lot more possible hand positions ..and mine has frets (!!) which buzz if you don't exactly hit the spot. Cello = the music is so hard Alto recorder = the order you put your fingers down belies logic and intonation is hard as blowing harder makes it louder as well as sharper. Harmonica = as above, but which holes you blow or suck at Viola da Gamba = six strings, (moveable) frets, weird tuning, written in the ALTO clef rendering the music unreadable even without all the double stopping. Don't even go there. Conclusion: there is no easy instrument, especially if you want to play hard stuff and do it well.

What's that tail gut made of? Mine is bare stainless wire, like sailing boat rigging.

It's all country and western so far ( sorry, " Americana" ) but I shall persevere. Doing my German skills some good at least, as keep trying to read the ( grossly inaccurate) sub titles. Well spotted.

Baritone sax = one of the bestest and coolest instruments every invented. Goes nearly as low as a 5-string bass guitar. Remember my brother taking up the (tenor) sax aged about 14 ... the dog used to crawl under the dining room table and howl every time he picked it up. Done him alright; though I'm not sure the current device is really a sax any more; same buttons on the front but all kinds of gubbins on the back (shameless plug for big bros band):

HOW much ... I thought that was a joke. Like, WHY would ANYONE pay $12,500 for a precision? https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2019/07/27/fender-custom-shop-unveils-limited-edition-phil-lynott-precision-bass/ Oh, I see " Fender includes a custom Anvil case, leather strap, and studded wristband, a pair of mirrored aviator sunglasses " Fair enough. I was going to ask the neck profile, fingerboard radius and string spacing .. but Skankdelvar got in with that joke first!!

That really is quite some end block. Looks like it's been bolted (rivetted?) to the bass! I think relocating the tail gut to the proper place will be fine. It will put LESS force on the end pin, due to lower torque on the end pin assembly the closer the tail gut goes to the end block. The end pin assembly is usually taper fitted into the end block; mine was a bit loose so that the end pin and its housing were coming out at an angle with gap on one side (replacement now done); yours looks very solid .. extremely solid ... nuke proof probably. Slack off the strings with the bass lying on its back (to minimise the chance of the sound post falling over), then move that tail gut!

See a physio; they will hand out some stretch exercises and strict instructions not to overdo it but not to stop playing either. Worked for me. BTW, physios often say to take Ibuprofen as part of the treatment; reduces pain and swelling and makes the exercises easier to do. Though also said to reduce your immune response so that the corona virus will hurt more when you (inevitably) catch it! Cold packs and hot packs also good and without side effects.

PJB are great .. at a price. That double 4 is probably the best practice combo you can get, especially if you want to hear what you're playing rather than make a noise. But those Roland MicroCubes are suprisingly good too. Like the PJBs, they don't have any heft to them but the sound is all there; they even have a few DSP presets so you can model different kinds of amp. I was very impressed at the price; nearly bought one, but then got a PJB flightcase as a main amp which is pretty portable itself. My home office is right next to the room my basses, amp and hifi live in and it's very hard not to sneak in for a noodle when I'm supposed to be working. A dangerous path if you want to do any actual work in said work room ;¬)

That's the one! It was a great day, good to meet you, and I'm looking forward to another one! Though I guess dragging you, and Marilyn over the pond to join in would be a tall order!

Very Smart 🙂 Several of my orchestra colleagues have bass capes - makes the basses look as though they are in dinner dress (like the players). Personally I've never bothered as after 150 years mine looks like it's been re-finished with a wire brush and ronseal wood stain Still, one of our orchestra number dropped her nice 5-string Paul Bryant the other week, whilst wrestling it into her car, and took a chunk out the edging.. quite upset, the first bruise is always the worst. And my dad (retired pro 'cellilst) had his bow come loose inside his 'cello case which put some deep scratches in the front of his (crazily valuable) 250 year old 'cello - which having been refinished and cleaned at great expense had barely a mark on it; he's getting a "cello blanket" for his birthday to protect it in its case.

i went to hear a Jazz Violinist once (some acolyte of Billy Bang) with a friend who played violin in the CBSO. "He's playing out of tune" she decried (quite loudly). I said that perhaps it was deliberate or that he felt the line of the improvisation was more important than the actual notes, to which she replied "no; he's just not very good". But she was used to not only playing in tune, but playing in tune in different tempers. Then again, she only had to play the dots in front of her, not make them up on the fly! I'd put Gomez up there in the top X list simply because his lines are so melodic and I like his tone too. @HumblePie: Cannot disagree with your A-list! Got even more to listen to now. Esperanza plays in perfect tune and sings at the same time; which just seems impossible to me (but she has gone a bit weird recently what with her spirit sister Emily and obsession with the number 7).

Gomez and Haden intonation flaws? Really? I always counted them as particularly good; at least, compared to Ron Carter (who is often awful) and Mingus (who cared more about the music than the notes). Need to get my ears recalibrated Gomez on Joni Mitchel's "I've got a blue motel room" and with Bruford & Ralph Towner on "If summer had its ghosts" .. I love it and need to get more of him. Meanwhile I'm just playing an el cheapo CD I bought from HMV (yes there ARE still CD shops!!) that has The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady and Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus on it (for about a fiver). In places it sounds like Mingus was playing a laminated bass with tired gut strings on it, recorded using a mike wrapped in a wet cloth .. but Oh can Mingus swing a band a long behind him - sometimes intonation isn't all that. PS: so much great music in this thread .. should take up a couple of weeks of self isolation (when it inevitably descends) quite nicely!! :¬)

Two things: My dad had a Violin that an uncle gave him, it said Stradivarius inside it and was hence considered worthless and hung on the wall as an ornament. Then on an off-chance he had it valued ... no it wasn't a Strad, but it was still worth £1200 which got him a nice new 'cello bow. Ever read the Spike Millligan story about an old fella who calls in a pawn shop with a Violin with Amati written in it; shopkeeper sees it's genuine but only offers him £20 "see a lot of these mate - common as muck; what did you think it was worth?" to which the old fella replies "£200,000". Let a Violinist have a quick fiddle which will tell you if it is worth anything (ie not chinese plywood) and if so go to a dealer and ask what it is. Places like Tim Toft Violins have free valuation days .. and are pretty honest too. .. and a couple of photos would help ;¬)

Ok. My Wal playing pals on Facebook say that what you have there is a "rear loaded pro 2e" built by Wal and Pete Stevens In the early 80s whilst they were developing the pro 2e into the Wal Custom ( now called the MK1). They only made 2 or 3 like this and from the serial number, this was the first. Valuable to a collector indeed, to a player it's a very nice pro2e which would currently sell for £3k to £3.5k. I lived in Putney in 1983, used to walk or cycle past that Fulham shop every day. Never saw,a Wal there. Did buy a carlsbro cobra bass amp there, and wheeled it back to Putney high street on a sack truck.

THAT is seriously unusual! The body is not like any Wal body I've ever seen. Looks like pro 2e electronics (one big PCB) mounted from behind in a body that is a bit like a Wal Custom.. As W1111 was the VERY FIRST Wal and this is W1112, it would seem to be a very early prototype; all the other W serial numbered basses start with W2xxx. http://walbasshistory.blogspot.com/p/normal-0-false-false-false.html Probably worth lots to a collector. If you post to the Wal facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2413094311/). There will be much interest and discussion (I copied one of the photos as a teaser - hope that's OK). And you could also ask Paul Herman at Electric Wood.