linear

I went back and set the relief properly with a business card - I had to increase the relief a little to get the card under there without the string lifting. It has made such a difference. I didn't realise how much of a difference very small tweaks of the truss rod could make. I wouldn't say I've managed to get the action super-low, but it's about 4mm above the 12th fret now, whch is much better than it was before. I think it's possible that I have a high 13th fret. It seems to affect the D string more than the others. I actually brought the G string back up a bit, even though it wasn't buzzing, because it was so much closer to the fretboard than the D that it felt weird. I am using roundwounds, and yes there is still a little buzz when I lift off. but it's nowhere near as bad as before. I'm going to leave it for a day or two and then go back and take another look. Thanks so much for the help guys. I can play my bass again

Thanks so much for all the replies. There are so may options it's a bit overwhelming especially when looking at piezo pickups, and we hadn't even considered electric violins, having assumed the cheap ones were garbage. The Shadow NFX pickup looks like a reasonably safe bet, although it sits under the bridge and will presumably raise the strings a bit, and is maybe a bit too expensive. The option with a lavalier mic is tempting (as I could use a cheapish lavalier mic myself anyway), but it seems riskier when playing live. I shall have a chat with the violin player this weekend and see. I think we need to set some sort of budget first, decide which options we can definitely rule out, and then see what we are left with.

It's interesting how he slides his thumb down from the pickup towards the E string when he's playing on the D and G, initially at least, then later on he doesn't, remaining anchored above the pickup. Am I right in seeing that he plays in that sort of classical guitar style where you pull through the string and come to rest on string below? I tend to pull through and then float/hover. I sometimes wonder if I should make the effort to learn how play in the more correct manner - I'm still at the stage where I could change the way I play easily enough.

We've recently added a violin player to our merry band and we're looking into ways to get him playing through the PA and be heard without spending much cash. At the moment he's just playing into an SM58 and as expected it's difficult to get any sort of volume without feedback. The rest of us did resolve to play more quietly, but you know, drummers ... Any thoughts?

From a geometry perspective I just can't see how removing the shim will do anything I couldn't achieve by adjusting the saddle height, [i]but[/i] I'm willing to give it a try - it's hardly an honerous task. I added the shim because the saddles were bottoming out after I fitted a bridge with a thicker baseplate, but that was when I was going for a very low action and was happy to accept a bit of fret clatter. Now I'm trying to get it 100% buzz-free, so I should have enough adjustment in the saddles without the shim. I straightened the neck until it started buzzing on the low frets, then backed off a bit. Lowered each string until I was getting buzz on the high frets, backed off a bit. Repeated the process a couple of times. So now it doesn't buzz from hitting the frets, but the action is sufficently high that I struggle to play it without getting buzz from the fretted note itself, especially when I lift off :*(

Does having a shim in the neck affect how low you can get the strings (assuming the saddles aren't bottomed out)? It seems to me it should make no difference, but ever since I shimmed the neck on mine I just can't seem to get the strings low enough without getting buzzing while playing at the upper frets

Bought an EBS UniChorus from Dave. Top guy, and very patient while I faffed about a bit with payment.

AC/DC - It's a Long Way to the Top, complete with bagpipe player. I used a capo on the first fret

A good blast of urine does the trick. Also works if you want dibs on the front passenger seat in the car. I also tape a bit of card with my name and number under the scratch plate and/or access plate on the back. If I had my own business cards, I'd use those. If I were shimming the neck, I'd mark the shim in a similar fashion. I'd do the UV pen thing too if I had one. None of this would deter thieves though - it's just a way of doubly confirming the bass is mine should it turn up in Cash Converters. If I really wanted to deter thieves I'd stencil all my basses with naked pictures of Freddie Starr. Or maybe switch to playing the tuba.

I bought one of these basses in September last year, when I was in the US. The loud E string is a known problem with them, although some people seem to notice it more than others. It goes beyond the "weak G" that Stingrays are infamous for; if it's anything like mine, the A, D and G are balanced fine, but the E booms like a crazy thing. The best advice I can give, beyond what has already been stated here, is to do a search on talkbass, dig up the threads talking about it, and see what the latest thinking is on the issue. (Make sure you're reading about the Sterling SUB and not the MusicMan SUB which is a different bass) I managed to get it tamed to a reasonable level by a combination of upgrading the strings, adjusting the pickup height, and rolling off the low end a bit on both the bass and the amp, but I'd be kidding myself if I said I was 100% happy with it. As it was, the bass was bought for home practice only, so I stuck with it - if I'd bought it for gigging or recording I would have taken it back. Are you sure they are definitely Ernie Ball strings on there? A rep. from EB posted that the stock strings were basically the cheapest strings they could get, and that even a change to basic Ernie Ball Slinkies would be an upgrade. It helped a little for me. There is also a mod that can be done to the preamp to correct an issue with the volume control only being effective over a very small range of its travel. I think it involves shifting the volume pot from before the preamp to after. I figured this probably wouldn't have an effect on the loud E, so I never tried it out. Please bear in mind, my personal experience is of a bass bought last year in the states - things may have changed since then. For all I know they are now shipping with Slinkies and the modified preamp as standard. Let us know how you get on. I'd be very interested,

I don't know what it is with the rubber base on the Digitech pedal, but the velcro just wouldn't adhere to it strongly enough - it would hold it to the board securely enough, but when I try and remove the pedal from the board the velcro gets left behind. So, I gave the hairdryer idea a go and it worked a treat. I scratched the paint a little bit when levering the rubber up out of the recess on the base, but once I had an edge to get hold of it came off very easily. Thanks for the help.

Went to pick up a BBE Opto Stomp from Jose today. As can be seen from this thread, he's a great guy to deal with, and my experience was no different. Thanks Jose.

Thanks guys. The flipping the base plate idea is genius. I tried it on a couple of pedals last night and it works a treat. There are a few for which it won't work though (Digitech). I've tried sticking the velcro to the rubber base before, but I rearrange my pedals quite a bit, and it's always come off eventually. I shall try again, but this time I'll clean the base thoroughly with alcohol.

Sorry, I should have said It's just so I can stick velcro to the bottom of the pedals for pedalboard mounting. They're not rare or precious, but I'd like to keep the rubber in one piece and undamaged so that I can stick it back on if I want to sell them. Using the plates from a bicycle chain seems like a great idea, and I do have some spare, but I'm using a Diago board/case and I wouldn't be comfortable drilling holes into it.

Is there a trick to doing this without damaging the base, or should I just go for it? I have a couple of pedals to do and the bases seem pretty firmly stuck on.

I bought a Zoom B3 from Mark. Great guy to deal with and he wrapped it up nice for me Recommended.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1399034092' post='2440245'] Oh please, no clock puns. I'm ticked off already. [/quote] Seconded.

How many sunburst 74 P-basses does the world need? And who knows what state it was in before it was refinished - wasn't stripping the finish off your bass/guitar all the rage at one point?

An inferiority ?

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys, a real range to choose from and loads that I would never have considered.

Bought a pedal from Simon on Thursday evening, received it on Saturday morning. Great guy.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1398431152' post='2434056'] [media]http://youtu.be/6zGKAbhyDw8[/media] [/quote] Sorry, slight derail, but you get a rather unexpected set of related youtube videos for yours Love the track.

I'm think my simple iron is something like 15 watts presumably because it dates from the period when lead solder was still used in everything, and because it's cheap and rubbish. I have soldered small gauge cable with it successfully in the past, but when I tried to unsolder a ribbon cable from a PCB a few years ago I burnt some tracks off the board. Time for an upgrade I think.