Mokl

Holy cack! What a beast

I have this problem with two of my basses, and it's very annoying! On the one I don't even bother putting the truss rod cover on, so frequently do I have to adjust it. When I had a Lakland I found the neck pretty stable, although I did need to tweak it now and again. I also tend to notice the relief changing, even if it's only by a small amount, because I run a very low action - are you the same? EDIT: I should mention that my bass was a Skyline series.

I don't profess to be an expert, but I don't have a double jointed thumb and can pull this off okay, in fact I tend to keep my thumb fairly straight. I try to keep my thumb and wrist pretty much still - the movement coming almost entirely from my forearm. I found that it helps to imagine that the outside tip of my thumb is a plectrum stuck on the end of my arm, and I'm trying to pick cleanly up and down through the string. It does feel a bit weird at first, but once you have it down you can pretty much strum along as you wish. I don't think that you should be hitting the string with your knuckle on the up, although if it works for you who is to say it is wrong?! I still haven't mastered up, down + pluck on the same string... my plucking finger always seems to mute the string before I can perform the pluck and thus makes it sound disjointed. I've tried varying hand positions but can't quite nail it. Don't know if anybody can shed any light on this?

PM'ed

A Worcestershire venue would be great for me - I might actually be able to attend as I live just across the border. Sorry to hear the sad news.

Wow, that was a mega-bargain!

LOL, the Crack Converters near me has a second hand Qwik Tune guitar tuner for £29.99. You can get them new for a tenner!

Mein gott! It makes me feel ill to think of one of my basses ending up in one of those places. The place I work in is very closely located by two of these types of shop, and while there is plenty of legitimate stuff in them, there is no doubt in my mind that a substantial quantity of the stock is of dubious origin. You see the same dodgy-looking dudes waiting outside for the doors to open most mornings. Having said that I've picked up a couple of bargains there myself, but nothing I felt was dodgy - and in one instance the original sales receipt was supplied (bicycle!).

I personally favour fret lines. Why make life difficult for yourself I say?! Anything that helps with tuning has to be a bonus IMO, I truly detest the sound of badly intonated fretless bass. I don't play my fretless that much, so I really appreciate the lines (on my bass they're quite faint - almost wish they were more visible!), but I guess if you are a more regular fretless player then you would memorise the positions pretty quickly. The bass sounds cool anyway, I hope it fills your expectations.... which, being a Status, it surely will

P.S. I have never had an active bass cr@p out on me during a gig. Make sure you carry a spare battery and you should be fine. You could also consider getting a bass with active/passive switching.

I reckon a Lakland 5 string would fit the bill perfectly here. The one I had was absolutely perfect for a functions band playing a very diverse set. It was very playable and I could always find an appropriate tone to suit the music. Great basses!

Charge as much as you think you can get! Personally I think you should be aiming for at least £150 each, although it depends very much on the gig and how much you want to play it! I'm lined up to dep for a band this New Year and we are looking at about £300 each - this is after agents fees etc. We have to play a quite a few sets mind you, so we're going to have to work for it, I also find the material is pretty tedious, even for a function band. Anyway, no getting drunk for me until it's all over.

... oh yeah. And I hate bass players who hate stuff

[quote name='escholl' post='274089' date='Aug 31 2008, 10:28 PM']two for one!....if someone can just slag off graphite nuts and hand-wound pups now, that will be everything i own, trashed in this thread i don't know why i'm enjoying that...[/quote] Errr... I think someone did slag off hand-wound pups a few pages back (can't be arsed to look back and tell you who though). Having been through large piles of gear, I hate to admit that I always seem to sound mostly the same no matter what amp or bass I am using. Sure, there are subtle differences, but, in the end, I always seem to strive for my particular sound. I also hate that this doesn't stop me thinking about getting new or different instruments. Having said all that I really couldn't get a sound I liked with my Rick 4003 when I had it - it was a beautiful object though. I particularly hate (although "hate" is too strong a word) the way this forum feeds an illogical desire within me to acquire gear that I certainly don't need, nor am likely to benefit from. Yet, I still keep coming back for more!

[quote name='jensenmann' post='272329' date='Aug 29 2008, 10:28 AM']Still no reply from Paul. Maybe my mail got spammed? Did someone over here actually have email contact with him?[/quote] Bear in mind how busy he must be! There must be hundreds of people who have either been waiting for news on a Wal order, need spare parts or are desparately keen to get their hands on a Wal that have all been denied any point of contact for well over a year now! I realise this is frustrating - I need some bits myself, but I'm sure he will get in touch with you in due course. I hope you have some luck soon FWIW I would also be interested to know if anybody has actually made successful contact with Paul via email.

That's good news, thanks for the info. I need some bits and bobs for my 5 string, but I'll not bother him for a few weeks as I expect he must be having to deal with an absolute deluge of enquiries!

I regret parting with almost all of the basse I've sold, but the ones I lament the most are: F Bass BN4 (I thought I had to sell it due to a pending move aborad which hasn't happened ), S/B Fender 76 P Bass (this was immaculate with all the original guards etc - the amount of times I've wished I had a P Bass since, and that one was a corker) and finally my Warwick Thumb BO 4 (sounded simply brilliant in a band setting, couldn't coax a bad sound out of it. Played wonderfully as well). There are others, but those are my biggest regrets.

As above, I've seen that quite a lot on 70`s Fenders!

[quote name='obi 2 kenobi' post='262466' date='Aug 14 2008, 02:48 PM']Paris is great. Lived there for 10 yrs. Go to rue victor masse in pigalle. Loads of music shops and at least 3 bass only. Better selection than london.[/quote] Bugger! How did I miss those?!

I spent quite a bit of time in Paris last year and was surprised by the lack of impressive music shops. It's quite possible I missed some though - Paris is quite large after all. There seem to be a few centred around the "Pigalle" district, which is neat as you can check out Le Moulin Rouge and numerous other seedy emporiums whilst you are there (at least the exteriors)! The Sacre Couer is just up the hill too, and is worth checking out for the views across Paris if nothing else. I must admit, I was underwhelmed by what I found music-shop wise, I was hoping to stumble across a Parisienne equivalent to The Bass Gallery, but failed miserably

[quote name='JimD' post='257364' date='Aug 7 2008, 04:38 PM']Hello I have a Wal question. Watch this clip. After about a minute the left handed guitarist, who is on the left, switches to a bass. The video quality is not great, but I think he's playing a Wal. Any thoughts on whether he is? [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYhTgRhKDS4&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYhTgRhKDS4...feature=related[/url] Jim D.d.d.d.d[/quote] Yes, I'm sure that's a Wal. Maybe a ProII, although I can't make out how many pickups are on it!

Here's my old beast, an '88 Mach II fiver. Did a trade on this for my lovely Mach I with Walplayer (Pete) - a legend of a bloke (hope all is well Pete!). At some point in the nineties it was refinished in black poly, God knows why, although I suppose it does look pretty good in black. Underneath all that black are schedua facings, and I hope to get it restored back to a natural finish by Sims Custom (or someone like that) as soon as finances allow. One thing I'm slightly nervous about is what I might find once the black is stripped off, although there are no discernible signs of damage underneath the finish when held to the light. Perhaps someone on here might be able to shed some light on the history of this for me? It's on the Wal database: W3074 This doesn't sound as punchy as my old Mach I (which I miss *sob*), but has an incredible low-mid growl. Very dark and lovely sounding bass this one. Sorry the pics aren't that great, but you get the idea:

It's quite possible that the guy with the Drozd may well use just the one bass for live and studio work. Perhaps he prefers to keep as consistent a sound and feel as possible? If you feel inclined to splash out for an expensive axe, you might as well get the use out of it too!