Greggo

I'm a recent convert to flatwound strings and particularly love the smooth feel. But I still sometimes crave the "bite" of rounds. Are half rounds a good middle ground in this sense? I'm thinking of trying inexpensive status halfs. I know people say some flats are bright like rounds (chrome?) but it's more about keeping a flatwound feel but a rounds type of sound and not spending a lot. Plus I'm going to be going to one bass so can't string one with flats / one with rounds. Thanks!

I've been playing bass for 14 years and the most I've paid is £220 - I often get a complex thinking I should invest in something better (more so when I was gigging and rehearsing weekly) but since I've joined this forum I've started playing more and getting better on the basses I've got and I've learned absolutely loads from setting basses up including truss rods, saddle heights, pickup adjustments to wiring electronics. I've come to conclusion that for me personally I don't need to spend a lot of money to get what I need out of an instrument.

I went into a music shop to try out various Squier Precision including a 50s CV, and the one I liked the most was actually a P/J Squier Affinity (also the cheapest). I think my Yamaha plays slightly better but having played the Affinity side by side with a bass similar to mine (a BB424) the squier did sound a bit nicer to my ears and the P pickup was still in the correct place despite having a J in there too. I may just keep the Yamaha though for time being and see what comes up and will use it as trade fodder (as it was itself acquired in trade).

Thanks for replies. What makes me think I want a Precision may sound silly, but years ago I used to own an Encore P bass copy and I have never had a better recorded bass tone than that bass believe it or not, even though I've owned "better" basses. So I'm hoping a decent precision is what I would like to get sounds I want. Or maybe I need to get another Encore P?!

I like the idea of getting a Squier CV Precision to go along with my CV 6 string telecaster and I feel that the P pickup suits the music I'm recording at the moment anyway so may move on the Yammy and another instrument to fund. Taking away the fact the Yammy has a J pickup more than the CV does anyone have any thoughts on whether it would be worth pulling the trigger on a CV but losing the Yammy. In other words would the p pickup alone on CV be better than the P pup on Yammy. I've always felt the Yammy sounded great but perhaps a tad too hot. I know it should be a case of playing one, but as this is a knowledgeable forum and most combinations of basses have been tested thought I'd ask first! Thanks

As above anyone happen to know so I don't have to mess about with taking strings off? I've printed and laminated some radius guages to get bass and guitars saddle heights set "correctly" rather than approximately, but don't have any info on my Vintage bass.

Cool, managed to sort them out! Luckily I found the broken cobalt string and matched by string colour / lack of silk ends - cobalt are very grey in colour so stand out a bit!

I'm going through my spare string box and there's a full set of legacy 4 string and any incomplete set of EB cobalt as well as a dead set of rounds of unknown origin. Can anyone quickly confirm whether legacy strings have no silk ends and have silver ball ends because I'm confused as to what is what!

Thanks for all help. I need to stop myself from using the Scotch brite pad on a gloss neck on my squier classic vibe tele six string. It probably would benefit from a quicker satined neck but it's such a pretty neck I don't want to spoil the look of it!

Update - rubbed neck down with Scotch brite pad and this has achieved desired result of a smooth matte finish that has taken away the stickiness that was present before. Any coursing done by lower grade paper doesn't really seem noticeable anymore so it wasn't scratched like I first feared

Managed to get a grey Scotch Brite ultrafine pad from a car shop, which I beleive is equivalent to around 800 grit, so will give this a rub over tonight.

Bob bought some plectrums from me, quick payment, excellent communications. Pleasure to deal with!

Paul bought some plectrums from me and payment received instantly. Pleasure to deal with!

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1391508387' post='2357816'] You can get it at Homebase, in the decorating section with the sandpaper. [/quote] Not at my crappy homebase near me unfortunately.

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1391465128' post='2357567'] This might help. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxGz6IZ9BFI [/quote] This is the video that inspired me to try but find it hard to get Scotch brite on shops. May just try online or use a high grit paper

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1391465128' post='2357567'] This might help. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxGz6IZ9BFI [/quote] This is the video that inspired me to try but find it hard to get Scotch brite on shops. May just try online

The baas is indeed the Yamaha BB414. I probably haven't been that clear but prior to using wrong grit, the end goal was to satin the neck to reduce stickiness, but since don't believe as much corrective action is needed as I hadn't actually scored the wood (luckily). If getting rid of existing neck marks means going through wood I'd be happy to not go that far but make best of neck as it is, but just fine sand it to achieve the satin if that makes sense.

In daylight managed a good look and to be honest it's not the actual wood that's scratched after all its just the finish is abrased where the grit paper was too coarse. In fact I think the neck actually feels better than before, so thinking finishing up with a higher grade should make it lovely to play and less sticky than it originally was.

Thanks all for the info. I didnt do a major amount of "damage" with the 120, I rubbed it up and down neck and noticed it was scratching as opposed to smoothing, so I stopped immediately. Having wiped off the 'dust' I cant really feel the scratches but can see it lightly in the places where it abrased (I suppose its no worse than the general marks on the back of the neck that were done by previous owner just through wear and tear). Think I originally panicked a bit! If I was to jump to a higher grit, say 600 as noted above for a smooth matte finish, would this smooth off the neck still in spite of the light scratches?

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1391383531' post='2356651'] The sanding sheet you got should have some numbers on it: 40-60-80-120-180-240 etc. You will need to go to a lower number than the sheet that caused the damage to get the scratches out. Work through the different grades to a high number as the higher the number the finer the grit ( and the harder to remove scratches ) but equally the more you remove the less of your neck is left, so its a balancing act! Don't use the sheet with your finger, get a small wooden block, wrap or stick some of the sanding sheet on it and gently sand off the scratches but don't just sand in one place or you'll cause a flat spot. Using fine steel wool will give you a satin finish but with any abrasive media, the more you sand, the more you take off the original neck finish....! [/quote] Thanks for info - the sanding sheet had 120 on it. Just checked on it again and I don't think it's as bad as what I first thought - I think it looked worse after sanding so I immediately stopped, but I wiped it down and can't really notice the scratches, but if I run hands up and down neck I can feel them ever so slightly. I've read somewhere that Scotch brite pads are good for satining a neck is this a good way of doing it? If so which colour?

[quote name='Horizontalste' timestamp='1391380110' post='2356608'] What grit did you use? If you work down to 1000 that should sort it if it's not too deep. [/quote] I'm not sure what it was but the guy in shop said was finest so stupidly I took it to try. It's not to deep luckily, and isn't massively noticeable in feel but it just looks a bit naff, but I want to try to get it like a satin finish so would like to do it properly. Will 1000 help it get to this type of finish?

This is going to make me sound like such an idiot, but having looked into getting my neck being a bit smoother and to smooth of some scratches i was given some fine sand paper - at least I thought it was and it seems to be a bit coarser than required because it's scratched neck somewhat. If I get the correct grit paper can I correct my idiocy?!