solo4652

It's pretty much what I was looking for; a short scale passive 4-string, pickup arrangement closer to a Stingray than a P, with a nut width closer to a P than a J. I've had G&L's (USA and Tributes) before, and have always liked them, apart from the over-complex controls on some of the active models. Bass was very well packed in a box inside a box. Came with a small set of Allen keys for neck and saddle adjustment, and D'Addario roundwound strings which were immediately replaced by my favourite nylons. The strings I had here were all medium scale to suit through-body stringing on my previous short scale bass (Squier Vista), and needed to be cut down a fair bit to fit the Fallout. I'd say short scale strings would be fine for the Fallout. I'll need to buy some proper length strings for it. Initial impression was a little disappointing, to be honest. Fret buzz was so bad it was virtually unplayable. I saw that the bridge saddles were all over the place - two had one screw all the way in and the other all the way out. The other two saddles were sitting on the bridge plate. I sorted that out and put a tad more relief into the neck. Now the bass started to sing and play. The MFD pickup is well-known and suits this bass well, I reckon. The pickup is powerful without being too barky or aggressive. Roll off the tone, and you're not far off P sounds. Differences between the three settings are fairly subtle, and only one is truly humbucking. I'm settling on the middle position - no idea what it is. Tone control works well with a good range of adjustment - better than plenty of other basses I've tried. With a wide, rough-finish leather strap, I'm not getting any neck-dive. On luggage scales, bass weighs 4.2 Kgs. The finish on the rear of the neck is not as good as my previous G&L's, and this has been the main disappointment for me. It feels rather unfinished, and not especially smooth. I may decide to wire-wool it and then use some oil. The quality of the finish on the body is absolutely fine. Maple fingerboard has a few natural stains in it, but feels smooth enough. I've not discovered any sharp frets yet. Setting the intonation has been a challenge. That's most probably because the new nylon strings are stretching quite a bit, and my clip-on tuner is not agreeing with my output jack tuner! Overall; My feeling is that this will be an excellent back-up to my No.1 bass which is a Lakland Skyline Hollowbody. And that's what I've been looking for. Because of the woeful (i.e. non-existent) setup on arrival and my liking for floppy, stretchy strings, it's taken me two days to get the bass to a playable state. Maybe that's to be expected for a brand new instrument that's travelled a long way. The quality of the neck finish (I think Ed Friedland mentions this in his short video) could be better and does not match the finish of other G&L Tributes I've had. Overall, I'd say the bass is worth the money because of the unusual mix of nut-width, scale length, pickup position, and for its MFD pickup. Waffling now. I'll shut up.

Today's (18th January) text from DHL: "DHL Express delivery from Andertons delivered TODAY before the end of the day" That's a day earlier than DHL originally said. Today's lockdown project of making a pasta drying rack will just have to wait.

Just received this text from DHL; "Your DHL Express shipment with waybill number 8280254640 from ANDERTONS MUSIC COMPANY is on its way. We will require a signature at the time of delivery. The current estimated delivery is Tue Jan 19 2021 before End of Day."

Will have to make do with this for now. "I wouldn't be able to tell this from my US version...."

Diary entry today reads; "New bass delivery?!", so I checked the last email I received from Andertons on 6th January (that's this year, not last year...) "We are writing to notify you that our supplier has recently informed us of a delay to the G&L Tribute Fallout Short Scale Bass CAR MP PRL (Stockcode TIEFLB-111R03M30) you ordered. Based on this new information, we are now expecting to receive our delivery to our warehouse around: 15/01. Please note that arrival dates are always subject to change."

Lucky man!

Yes - I was pretty surprised at the total. Trouble is, I can only remember between 20 and 30 at any one time without notes, so I still need them to gig. Some of the more surprising songs I uncovered; Creep - The Muppets Kiss - Prince, with note to self: "No problem playing this - there is no bass on the original..." A song by Celine Dion.... Most mangled/annotated notes, suggesting most used were; Dakota, Valerie, Long train runnin', Tainted Love, Superstition, Sex on Fire, Bohemian like you, and Don't look back in Anger. Band with most songs: Beatles with 6, Morcheeba with 6.

Started playing bass 10 years ago, and have been in and out of covers bands for the past 8 years. My initial guess at the number of songs I've played is - errrm - 250. Well, it's taken me all afternoon, and the total is 519. Blimey.

Anybody?

As a result of Santa bringing me The very best of Crowded House, I've been overdosing on their songs. I've played quite a few in covers bands before, but not Chocolate cake. I can find the chords on the web, but not a bass tab or a bass cover video. so I've had a go at tabbing out the bassline myself. Anybody else done this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M699TqhO06k

Yep - I strongly suspect you're right.

Update from Andertons; Delivery expected "on or about 15th January".....

and...Sharon Jones right in the soul groove here. Not completely convinced about Darryl Hall's singing in this instance, however.

Not sure whether this has been posted before. Had a bit of a funk--out last night:

Update from Andertons today: Delivery now put back to 5th January.

Just jammed along to it. Sort of. Thought I could hear some echoes of Paul Young and Mick Hucknall in the singer's voice. For me, the track slightly ran out of puff and direction about 2/3rds way through. Pino lifted the middle instrumental with some nicely understated playing but, overall, I felt the song lacked sparkle/bounce/interest/hooks. That's just me though.

Not here yet. Last message from Andertons on 27th October said they were expecting delivery "on or around 27th November"...

I wanted a Maple fretboard. The surf green one was just a smidge too, errm, "sweet" for my personal taste.

Held out for as long as I could. Caved in today, and ordered a CAR one...

Andertons are saying late November for delivery. Price has already gone up from £499 to £549, even though none has hit these shores yet... https://www.andertons.co.uk/g-l-tribute-fallout-short-scale-bass-candy-apple-red

Well, it was a long time ago when I did my Psychology degrees! Since then, I spent all of my working life as an Occupational Psychologist trying to understand and predict human behaviour in the workplace. Eventually, I gave up and retired. Took up bass playing instead. Off the top of my head, here are a few things may be innate in humans, but I'm not saying they definitely are; Blink reflex Disgust reaction , and an associated puckered-lipped expression. Garcia Effect, which is an innate predisposition to associate illness with taste on a one-trial basis. Wariness around snakes. The Five-Factor model of personality, sometimes referred to as the OCEAN model. Primacy and Recency effects in memory. - the tendency to remember the first and last things in messages. Eyebrow lift as a greeting. Miller's magic number 7 (Plus or minus 2) - how many "chunks" of information can humans comfortably process at any one time. Innate predisposition and ability to learn language. Chomsky was your main man there, I think The need for some sort of over-arching belief system. Doesn't matter what it is - Shamanism, Sun-worship, Communism, Belief in Spirits/Gods, whatever. It's long been argued that humans have an innate need to believe in something... Steve

Here's the link: https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-33/october-2020/which-human-experiences-are-universal