EliasMooseblaster

This might be the daftest question I've ever asked on (this part of*) Basschat, but it's been bothering me for days now: is there a tougher grade of solder, with a higher melting point, that some manufacturers use in their instruments? I opened up my Hagstrom in the hope of changing the pot configuration, and for the life of me, I can seem to unsolder the original joints! I'm fairly sure the soldering iron is fine - it's 25W, I've used it for plenty of jobs in the past, and it's still melting the solder in my coil. I know heat is being transferred because I can feel the casing of the pots getting hot. Is there something else I've missed? *[size=3]I've probably asked something really chuffing stupid on other boards...[/size]

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1508238857' post='3390697'] As far as I'm aware there is no requirement for last orders at 11 o'clock any more (all that changed with all day opening). My Local is licenced to serve drinks until midnight mon-thu, and til 1am fri-sat. They are only licenced for live music up to 11 IIRC. However, they choose to call time at 11. [/quote] There are certainly more places with later licences now - I know when they first bought in the legislation for late licensing, a standard licence meant you could sell from 11-11 each day, but you had to apply for extended hours. I don't know how many hoops the landlords/ladies had to jump through to be approved, but some clearly decided it wasn't worth the hassle. On the other hand, most of the Wetherspoons in my neck of the woods serve until midnight, and probably the most successful music pub in the area is much like your local - midnight in the week, 1am Fri and Sat.

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1508234090' post='3390650'] Point well made! Yes, the early ones are dual rail humbuckers. I for some reason never put two and two together! - I will however need to go listen to some Paul Gray now! Loved his TB tone! [/quote] Feel free to share any particularly pertinent examples with the rest of us - I do love the sound of a good 'bird!

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1508169967' post='3390224'] My favourite bassists are mainly P players, but when it comes to the two, I can't decide and thus I tend to be a PJ type chap, or at least 'two pickup' basses. There's something about the combination that seems to offer a tightness to the sound that I can't really describe. I think my favourite combination which is going off topic is a pair of dual-rail soapbars. Would that be J Bass on steroids? [/quote] Would that be more or less the same as a pair of humbuckers in Jazz bass positions? If so, you've basically got a Thunderbird!

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1508185518' post='3390397'] If the pubs are in residentially zoned areas, is that why you don't have 4 hour gigs? Blue [/quote] [quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1508185777' post='3390403'] Probably is in many cases, most of the pub gigs I play have strict curfew times, often half eleven or midnight - pub gigs after midnight are very rare in my experience. A lot of places don't want us to start until nine as people eat in pubs and want to enjoy their meals in peace. [/quote] There's actually a historical reason for calling last orders at 11: I believe limited licensing hours were brought into force during one of the two world wars. I think it was the second, as the government realised it was advantageous not to have workers drinking until the small hours in the middle of the week, and also to get everyone into their homes with the blackout curtains up before the night-time bombing raids began. It was always assumed that the law would be repealed after the war ended. But, just like the hugely elevated tax we pay on alcohol in this country for similar reasons, the powers that be "conveniently forgot." (Of course, twenty years after that, with the explosion of amplified music in pubs, you had to start considering the neighbours as well, so perhaps ironically there was a good reason to keep an 11pm curfew in place!)

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1507749124' post='3387762'] Over time I'm getting the feeling that my local bar scene and cover band culture is different than in the UK. First of all our patrons are music and people lovers. I never see anything remotely like this "drunken idiots" crowd you speak of. I'm not sure what it's like in the UK, in the States if you get charged with drunken driving even if it's a first offense your looking at no less than 10K after everything is said and done. [/quote] One difference which is worth noting: over here, your "local" pub/bar is often within walking distance, especially if you live in a town/city centre or suburb. No need for a designated driver when you can just roll home after closing time!

[quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1507903145' post='3388704'] Follow-up now that we're home - here's a couple to get you started: [/quote] Hadn't heard of either of those chaps before - both were exceptional. Thanks for those!

Ralph McTell. No, really: it seems everyone knows Streets of London, but a lot of people are very surprised when you point out that he had some exceptional acoustic fingerpicking skills. I'd like to present the jury with Exhibit A: [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28UrFz5PKto"]http://www.youtube....h?v=28UrFz5PKto[/url]

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1507619091' post='3386738'] Internet bands are on the rise a bit at the moment. I think the mentality of these is : we will record and release stuff, posting regularly to social media and the like and if the demand calls for it we'll look at branching out to gigging if/when the need arises. [/quote] And it may be of interest to note that it's not an entirely new phenomenon: Kate Bush is probably the most famous example of someone who decided she didn't much like gigging and just ensconced herself in the recording studio. There are groups like Big Big Train who seem content to play two shows a year.

[quote name='radiophonic' timestamp='1507549256' post='3386207'] I'm really curious about one of these. Fender seem weakly committed to the idea - there is no 'Fender' model, only a Vintage Modified Squier although Pawn Shop models with the rear humbucker circulate s/h. My only concern is that I don't play with a pick and really never got on with them. This would mean some sort of weird finger picked / plucked hybrid. OTOH, I could lay finger picked guitar chords and I'm guessing the combination of a VI with an octaver might be quite interesting. Nowhere near me seems to stock them of course, so it'd be a risk or a long drive to demo one. Anyone tried them? |They are definitely a Bass, not a Baritone. Fender are adamant about it! [/quote] I've had a go on the Squier VM model. I quite enjoyed it, though it's a bit counterintuitive if you play long-scale basses and "normal" guitars: it sounds more like one of the former but feels more like one of the latter. Due to the shorter scale length you don't get the same sort of sounds you might expect to be able to get from, say, a Precision, and similarly the thinner strings won't take as much punishment. I think I found it more satisfying to plug the Bass VI into a guitar amp and go more for a deep, twangy sound - though I suspect this was me subconsciously trying to treat it more like a baritone than a bass!

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1504694971' post='3366594'] Yup, it's a real thing. And it's a right pain to deal with. Can't EQ it out because the vocals sound weird. Can't gate on lead vocals as it sounds pants... especially when there's talking and singing going on... and stuff with lots of dynamics. As stated above, bleed into vocal mics and concurrent use of overheads on the drums may be the recipe for a disaster in a small or reflective venue! [/quote] Get a smaller drummer and a taller singer?

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1507281505' post='3384419'] Malcolm Young of AC/DC - Angus gets the limelight, but without Malcolms rhythm work I doubt the band would have been so good. A great platform on which Angus/Bon/Brian could work on. Izzy Stradlin - Guns N Roses. Again a great rhythm guitarist, and seemed to have a knack of playing very sparsely, adding to the songs rather than being the rhythm guitar that kept the songs going - not an easy feat to accomplish. G`N`R certainly missed him when he was gone. [/quote] Good rhythm guitar playing is definitely an underrated skill. For years I had a phobia of working with two-guitar bands after playing with one too many "rhythm guitarists" who felt the need to maintain a wall of eighth-note power chords over every chuffing song.

When I started out on fretless, it was a shoot-out between the Squier VMs (a P and a J) and a s/h Warwick/Rockbass Corvette. The Corvette cost a bit more but was a lovely bass with a Jazz-style pickup configuration; at the time it felt like a bit more bang-per-buck. I really liked the Squiers, mind. The only thing I found a bit off-putting was the ebanol fingerboards. It felt and looked a bit odd for my tastes; having owned a couple more fretless basses since then I might now judge it differently. It may be worth keeping an eye out for a s/h Corvette if you like the Warwick/RB shape - but definitely try the Squier VMs.

Apparently so! I asked a similar question with regards to upgrading my Epiphone SG bass, and one of the best suggestions seems to be to swap out the big mudbucker for a Model One: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/312566-epi-eb-3-varitones-and-other-mods/ If you get round to it before I do, let me know how you get on!

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1506951942' post='3382218'] My 8-string is surprisingly weighty - comes in at around 11lbs. I know this is being comfortably beaten by quite a few other basses on this thread, but then this one's only a 30" scale length! [/quote] Oh yeah: why? Well, it's the only 8-string bass I've ever chanced across in a shop. It would have been remiss of me not to at least go in and try it out.

I've returned to noodling around on one of those things that has little strings and big hole in the middle. Took an interest in some Russian folk music, and whilst some of you may know this as "Korobeiniki," it's probably better known as one of the tunes that used to come out of a Nintendo Gameboy:

[quote name='DJpullchord' timestamp='1506862056' post='3381554'] Robby Krieger. [/quote] Oh, hell yes. I suspect he gets overlooked because (i) The Doors seem to be quite divisive and (ii) the things you notice first tend to be Morrison's voice and Manzarek's electric organ, but I've always loved Krieger's playing.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1506715095' post='3380692'] I'm probably going to be the only person to vote 'other' . [/quote] Nope, one more here! I have an 8-string in my arsenal (4-string double-course rather than a particularly extravagant ERB!) Other than that I am quite boring though - one fretless four-string, and probably more fretted fours than I really need...

My 8-string is surprisingly weighty - comes in at around 11lbs. I know this is being comfortably beaten by quite a few other basses on this thread, but then this one's only a 30" scale length!

Nice one, thanks for posting that! Building the capacitors onto a little PCB looks like a much tidier solution than some of the pictures I've seen of ready-made varitone circuits - I'll might have to take a closer look at the control cavity and see whether I've got space to do something similar. Also, it's funny you mention that Pete has settled on soloing the DiMarzio as his preferred tone. Soloing the stock mudbucker tended to be my go-to when this was my main bass, so perhaps I should try popping a Model One in there first and then seeing what I think of the overall tone.

[quote name='bassjim' timestamp='1506685433' post='3380401'] I know guys that post things on FB about playing here this evening , playing there that evening and I would think " wow , you lucky gits. All these regular gigs.." But after delving deeper its mostly playing for £25.00-30.00 each, in a trio, in some almost empty bar playing mostly to their personal friends group who are there to support and raise the £90.00-100 that pays them. The bar staff would otherwise be bored or the bar itself closed that evening. They do it to help convince themselves they are a struggling self employed musician. They also tend to have some flat share with no real life commitments outside of paying rent which I suspect most of is paid via some sort of hand out. They are however young and free so good luck to them and being free means maybe their ship comes in and they can get onboard. [/quote] Ah, the notorious "look at my amazing life!" filter that Facebook puts on everything. It's quite deceptive, isn't it? I had a similar experience when a band we're quite friendly with went to the US. A certain member of my band who I should probably stop moaning about started kicking off, bleating about how "they're touring the US, why aren't we touring the US? We need to tour the US. When are we going to tour the US?" Of course, when you look at the photos that come back, there are lots of backstage selfies, and the occasional shot of them onstage, but no pictures of any audiences. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that maybe those venues were about a little on the empty side. Through casual conversation with one of them, I did manage to ascertain out that yes, the audiences had been thin on the ground; no, the tour hadn't exactly been a massive success. Obviously I felt bad for them, and I hope that subsequent visits go/have gone better for them - they're an amazing band and deserve to do well. But I did also feel quite vindicated pointing this out to CertainMemberOfBandWhoIMustStopMoaningAbout and explaining that this was why I wasn't prepared to use up all my annual leave to attempt an ill-fated tour of somewhere we've never been just for the glory of it.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1506680683' post='3380356'] AFAICS none of those circuits include the choke which IMO is an essential part of the Gibson Varitone sound. That's the hard bit to do as it seems for the best results you still need to wind your own. [/quote] True, but then I have the dilemma of whether to try and pursue a closer replica of the original Gibson sound, or whether to just take a punt on something different and see what sort of tones it opens up for me! I feel like the bits for a 6-position varitone are probably cheap enough that I won't have poured too much down the drain if I don't like the results.

Cheers, Andy - I won't lie, it was your gorgeous SG build that got me thinking about modding my EB-3 in the first place! I did a quick search on Fleabay after posting, and found a couple of cheap kits for a six-position switch (5 filters plus a bypass), so I'm starting to think I could just take a punt on one of those and hope for the best. Once I've worked out how to connect it to the output from both pickups, at least...! Might have to give that DiMarzio a try. For years I was quite happy with the mudbucker as the huge signal sounded pretty consistent regardless of what cheap amp or toilet-circuit PA I plugged into. Now that I have nice amps, I feel like I need something with a little more definition - the neck's "mud" and bridge's "honk" are proving difficult to blend to a satisfactory conclusion!

I do love my faithful old EB-3, but I'm aware of its limitations, and I catch myself eyeing it up with a soldering iron in one hand with increasing frequency. Are there any mods people would recommend (besides the obvious one about the bridge)? I had a couple in mind... Firstly has anyone else tried this? (And any idea where I could acquire a similar Varitone without spending a fortune importing from the US) http://drchucksgearrants.com/3-easy-mods-make-epiphone-eb3-great-part-1/ Also pickup upgrades - I do often feel like the bridge and neck pickup don't complement each other all that well. Anyone tried swapping them out for alternatives?

Do you think it was an attempt to capture the aesthetic of one of those Parker Fly guitars that, you know, didn't quite go to plan? (http://www.parkerguitars.com/products/fly/Fly%20Mojo%20Flame.html for comparison...!)