EliasMooseblaster

I've been playing an Epi EB-3 myself for a few years now - it's become my main bass with my current band. I'm about 6'2 myself, so I too look a bit silly with a 30" scale bass. If anything, this is kind of the opposite, as with a relatively small body and a 34" scale, the first fret seems a lot further away than it does on my other basses!

Mine has the chicken-head selector, though only two pickups (neck and bridge position), and trapezoid inlays rather than dots. Still quite the beauty. And it's in cherry red, like all good SG derivatives should be. Kind of neck-heavy though, but I'm sure you've been warned about that before.

I think - though I couldn't be sure - that they've changed the neck profile on the more recent ones. Played one in a guitar shop while trying an amp and the neck seemed noticeably thinner, though it might just have needed a decent setup.

[quote name='iconic' timestamp='1375012026' post='2155670']
...a few things seems to going decimal, money, measurement and we only really have twelve notes at the moment a sort of imperial system if you want... and that is a fudge of sorts (equal temperment) I wonder what a 10 note system [i][b]would[/b][/i] sound like....I'll google that, someone must have done a video for that
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I thought Holly already managed this in [i]Red Dwarf -[/i] a system of ten-note scales ([i]Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Wo To Do[/i]), with the unfortunate consequences of "pianos the width of zebra crossings, and women banned from playing the cello."

[quote name='itsmedunc' timestamp='1374578701' post='2150322']
Raygun relics are now offering a relicing service [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEAVY-RELIC-STRATOCASTER-STRAT-ROADWORN-HUMBUCKER-AND-FULLY-COPPER-SHEILDING-/400528581706?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item5d415d244a"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item5d415d244a[/url]
[/quote]

Ha! "If you send me your favourite guitar, I can knock it around the garden with a cricket bat for half an hour, for as little as £50!"

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1374666470' post='2151482']
That's very true, but I tend to be sort of 'living the lyrics in my head' when I'm performing.
[/quote]

How literally? This could end very badly with a song like Longview...

Has BC ever considered compiling a book of some of the best stories about daft gigs that its members have ended up playing / not playing / narrowly snatching from the gaping maw of disaster? Because this would be prime fodder for it. 10/10 on initiative, I have to say!

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1374702927' post='2152286']
They are both treated insensitively, all about marketability, I don't like either.

Here's one that has been tret much more carefully but retaining some punch and yet much air, not got the guitars like yours though ..
[/quote]

I rather enjoyed that! (Would have been even better with a nice guitar solo somewhere along the way!)

But yes, thanks for everyone's sonic input on those JST tracks - I have been wondering if this is symptomatic of the fact that they were recorded and produced in the US. At the risk of getting a bit anecdotal, I have heard tell that a lot of American producers follow a formula for the way things "should" sound, and so the drums are far too loud and bass far too buried, completely ignoring the fact that she's a blues artist. Throughout [i]Almost Always Never, [/i]the louder songs seem to have been mixed with about the same attention to detail, and that harsh, dry vocal sound. Which is odd, because they still managed to give the mix space and air on her first two albums, complete with a nice warm vocal sound.

I've just gone back to Joanne Shaw Taylor's most recent album and I'm left with the same nagging doubt that I had when I first put it on. I like the songs, and her guitar playing is still excellent, but there's something about the overall production that doesn't sit right with me. I'm increasingly convinced that this album has become a victim of an overly zealous compressor in the "loudness war," but I just wonder whether somebody with better ears can verify this for me.

Exhibit A is the first track from the most recent album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9SMZA5fMVI

Is it just me, or does it sound like somebody just pushed all the faders up to full on this one, and the mastering engineer just compressed it to buggery?

Exhibit B is the first track from her debut album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxsr2do0Wrk

I of course realise that the instrumentation's a little different on this one, but this one just seems to have a lot more space for the mix to breathe. It's not just me, is it?

Agree with Bilbo, there's a definite Sabbath vibe going on with is - and hints of Iron Maiden and even Soundgarden here and there. I like these. There is a lot to like about them.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1374167607' post='2146081']
However, I still resent someone's tele holding sway over someone else's musical practice.
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Whilst I take all the above points about their telly not exactly being loud enough to disturb you in return...I agree, your sons' music practice is more constructive and potentially important to their future development (career, even?) than the angry neighbours' being able to vegetate in front of Eastenders. Not that this is a line of argument you should try with any neighbours!

Oh, and we seem to have managed two pages of this without any mention of The Nice (first LP excepted), or even Emerson, Lake and Palmer! Now I think about it, I seem to remember the Crazy World of Arthur Brown managed without a guitarist as well. Maybe it's not such a new thing after all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxgY9eEFiYM

For those in a hurry to get to the point, skip to about 2.00. Worth listening through the build-up to it, though.

[quote name='Fat Rich' timestamp='1374147194' post='2145742']
Keane did a lot to help that
[/quote]

Oh god, I'd forgotten about those whinging dullards...which kind of proves JTUK's point!

No guitar...no bass either!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKUgpDVPRHE

My one.

He's not strictly a bass luthier, but I do know a chap in London who makes beautiful acoustic guitars:

http://alexbishopguitars.com/

He certainly did a great job setting up some of my instruments, and was a great help when I was building my Frankenbass. I know he also finished off an acoustic bass guitar for a mutual friend, so could probably do you a bespoke bass if you were prepared to pay for one!

Funnily enough, I used these on Cherry White's most recent album - Mr Ball was kind enough to send us some free sets, so I put them on my Epiphone and my Schecter.

It probably wasn't the fairest comparison as the studio had a beautiful, early '60s Fender Bassman for me to play through instead of my solid-state Laney, pleased though I am the latter. (The results are (surprisingly audible) at http://cherrywhite.bandcamp.com/ if anyone wants to hear them!)

Longevity wasn't great, though. I have come to expect this of Ernies, and this is why I rarely buy them. They lasted better than the sets of guitar Slinkies I've tried, but I decided it was time to go back to my usual Rotos for our last gig.

A few years ago I had the perfect solution: my friends and I shared a house on the end of a street looking out onto a main road. South London's Bricklayer's Arms Roundabout, no less - anyone who's lived down that way will be familiar with the "Walworth Lullaby" of periodic sirens and ceaseless traffic.

But this basically meant there were certain rooms which were as good as sonically insulated from our neighbours. I could play bass without fear of disturbing, or we could recline in the living room with some fine beers at our feet and Hawkwind blasting through my friend's none-too-powerful stereo.

I do kind of miss that place...

A wider strap can obviously help relieve some of the pressure, and a strap with more grip can stop the bass from moving.

I bought a wider strap with better grip to keep my Epi EB-3 in check - notorious instrument for neck-diving that it is - the difference now is that it still dives but the strap takes my shirt with it!

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1373463260' post='2137872']
Although I have tried a fair few, to run two sets of parallels effects but most strugged to have a decent output when both are on.
I'm assuming you are using it to switch basses between songs though, to which i will say that's fine but the issue comes with gain differences, but as long as the basses are fairly even it shouldn't be a problem.
[/quote]

Well, that's the other thing I was worried about - it would just be to switch between basses, but I'm not sure how different their output levels are likely to be. Of course, it would hardly be the end of the world if I just had to go and adjust the volume of the amp!

The advantage of building my own, of course, would be having the option to add a volume trim to each input so I could match them, but perhaps that would just be a bit too anally retentive. I need to take the 8-string along to a few more rehearsals anyway and see how it compares with the EB-3 in a band setting.

Not sure about them myself - making the obvious comparison with the White Stripes, DV have the better drummer, and the singer's voice is less annoying than Jack White when he's yelping away.

Still, they're not the only female two-piece going - I think this pair have been around a bit longer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHG6MxsoPiY

Oh, well since you asked so nicely: I've whittled down (quite a substantial) number of active bands to focus on one main project, which is Cherry White. We released our new album last week. You can hear it, and stalk us, here:

http://www.cherrywhitemusic.com/

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1373285889' post='2135610']
If you're handy with a soldering iron, it would be a simple task to make one yourself with a few bits from somewhere like Maplins. Even using good quality connectors should leave you plenty of change out of £20.
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Well, this was the other option, of course - there is a Maplin just down the road from my office. And looking at the prices of these things online, I could probably save myself a few quid and have fun burning my fingers with a soldering iron to boot!

I don't *think* this has been covered before, but admittedly it's a bit hard to know what to search for.

So: anybody know anything about the wiring in a typical ABY box? This is probably a stupid question, but since they're used for running a single guitar/bass signal to two rigs, could one use one in reverse? That is, have two basses plugged into the box, sending the signal out to one amp, so I could switch between the two without having to fanny around with unplugging cables, etc?

Sort of. More accurate would be say "being in tune all the way up the neck." Or, as near as damn it.

A quick check is to do the following: choose a string, and play the harmonic at the 12th fret. Now, fret the string at the 12th fret and play it normally. Is the note higher or lower than the harmonic you just heard? Rinse and repeat for the other three strings.

If the fretted note is the same as the harmonic, your instrument's intonation is probably ok. If it's higher or lower, it may be time to move the bridge saddles backwards or forwards a touch.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1372243459' post='2123206']
The best-playing Fender I've ever owned says "Mike Lull" on the headstock.

The second-best Fender I've ever owned says "Alleva Coppolo" on the headstock.

The two most expensive basses I've ever owned say "Fender" on the headstock.

Sweeping generalisations are always tricky ...


[/quote]

Yeah, the best-playing Fender I've ever owned says "Schecter" on the headstock...but that might just be because I can't afford to buy that gorgeous US Fender I tried in the shop a few months ago!