Clarky

Looks like I might be selling my Fender Jazz to a Finnish BC'er. By complete coincidence I will be flying to Helsinki on business next week so there is the option that I bring the bass with me and meet the BC'er concerned to hand over. Question is: if I pack the bass the same way I would for a normal Interparcel/ParcelFiorce delivery is this safe? It comes in an old-style (CS tolex, orange lining) Fender hard case and I can pack in a bass-sized cardboard box. Does something going in the hold from a passenger get treated the same as if it was part of a (say) UPS delivery? I am just concerned that if I carry it with me, the bass will emerge in Helsinki airport in pieces as the box has taken a beating

The strings on my newly acquired Aria SWB* are very taut, much more so than the Thomastik Superflexibles on my DB. Would like to give some low tension Silver Slaps a go. Failing that a set of Innovation Honeys? So has anyone got a spare/used set they want to sell? Cheers Clarky * I have the piezo-only version

[quote name='cocco' post='978970' date='Oct 5 2010, 11:20 PM']My japs fenders are both buzzing furiously. I may attempty first truss rod adjustment tomorrow. They both need their necks loosening first though. Is the risk of making it worse high?[/quote] Not if you are methodical. loosen neck with bass flat ( eg on a bed) and - assuming basses are buzzing because the neck has flattened out and doesn't have enough bow. - small turn counterclockwise of truss rod ( try an 1/8th turn to begin with) may well sort things. It will take some of the tension out of the truss rod so the strings pull more heavily and the right gentle amount of bow is restored. Be careful to screw neck on tightly but not in such a way that you risk stripping the threads if you have to adjust again. if it's the other problem, ie, too much bow, then clockwise turn of truss rod.

I'll be bringing my stealth black Alembic Spoiler and, depending on how many amps are lined up, my TC 450 and RS112 cab or Markbass CMD121P combo

Sprouts, seasoning? Must be getting closer to Xmas

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='978326' date='Oct 5 2010, 01:39 PM']^^ This. See also Burning Rope, The Day the Light Went Out, Dodo, Me & Sarah Jane... great tunes.[/quote] Scenes from a night's dream (poor little Nemo) - euurrrghhh, sorry

[quote name='lonestar' post='978253' date='Oct 5 2010, 12:56 PM']Thanks for sharing this. For me Steve Hackett leaving was the final nail in Genesis' coffin[/quote] +1 The gap in quality between 'Wind & Wuthering' and 'And then were three' is immense. For example, Blood on the Rooftops is beautiful Hackett-led song that they would never be able to replicate again

[quote name='molan' post='977800' date='Oct 4 2010, 10:45 PM']My new Alembic has gone insanely floppy! First 5 frets virtually unplayable & everything buzzing & rattling right up to 12th! Admittedly the action was pretty low to start with but I've never seen a bass move quite this far in such a short space of time. The Alleva Coppolo seems to have moved a bit as well - funnily enough both of these have had real pro set-up jobs to get them as low as they'd go & now both are buzzing away too much for me.[/quote] Both should be dead easy to adjust Barrie. You need a 1/4 inch spanner for the Alembic (may have come with the bass anyway) and turn each of the two truss rods the same amount, probably only an eighth to a quarter of a turn. You could always bring them round to me to adjust although you may discover you are a bass light when you get home

[quote name='JTUK' post='977749' date='Oct 4 2010, 10:13 PM']Yes..but nothing major. I am very aware of how I store a bass between gigs though.[/quote] JTUK, when I look at your avatar and read about how you "store your bass between gigs", I get bad thoughts

But where's the fun in an entirely stable neck? I thought we bassists love to tweak truss rods and, er, other things? I imagine Status owners have carefully manicured lawns and quartz watches that are accurate to 1 picosecond per millennium. Chaos, entropy (killer word), wild times, thats what life's about ... and slightly shifting bass necks

Same here. My Alembic (burn him, he's a toff) now buzzes on the G string whereas it played perfectly 2 weeks ago. Trus rod tweak needed. Must be problematic for a very thin necked bass like a Geddy Lee. Time for the Status owners to come over all smug with their carbon graphite-yness

I picked up a Shadow p/u on BassChat and seems to work well (similar to an Underwood, they squeeze into the wings of the bridge). FYI, just had a lesson with jakesbass. Highly recommended if you can sort out the distances involved (he's in Surrey and I know you're nr Canterbury). My left hand postioning and plucking technique was pants beforehand and already sounds massively better (much more volume) and more precise.

I just had a 2 hour lesson with Jake on DB. I have a new band and a gig upcoming, never having gigged a DB (or in truth played it much in the past decade) and we concentrated on lh and rh technique, positioning and intonation (sliding to position etc). Fantastic clear instructions, reinforcement of messages so that I retained them, and a thoroughly nice guy to boot. Noone has ever played my Alembic Spoiler so well either! Highly recommended. Once I am the other side of my first gig, I will definitely book another lesson with Jake to work on those areas have been exposed in the band/live situation.

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='977461' date='Oct 4 2010, 06:23 PM']Is this Carry On Basschat?[/quote] Big One's, Midgets? That Alex Claber has a filthy mind. One can only wonder about the Super Twelve ...

No idea, to be honest but it seems to be standard. Doesn't affect how the bass plays IMHO (maybe it would if you played up at the highest frets a lot but I never venture up to that dark, murky other world!)

Here's my bass. You can just about see the 'overhang' of the neck pocket on the lower side here [attachment=60513:fender_72P_front.jpg]

Thats standard - the non-aligned edge. My '72 Precision has that and is still the nicest bass I've ever played. Not an issue for me!

I've no idea whether right or wrong but I would say it sounds logical that greater headstock mass reduces dead spots. My logic is as follows: well known players like Leland Sklar (who knows a thing or two about bass) use the clamp thing on the headstock which adds mass and clearly believe in it, thus a headstock with more mass/weight will replicate this better than a downsized headstock, all else equal. Probably b*llocks but makes sense to me.