DanOwens

My main DB was from a school. I took it to Sam Wells and he said it's fully carved, and in good condition would be worth around £7k, but since it was fully carved and poorly looked after the top was similar to this one (perhaps worse) and he valued it at £1.5k. He offered to make me a new top for £1.5k and yes it would raise the value but I don't really care about that. I just asked him to glue it up and learned to love it. And I really do love it!

I contacted a few luthiers to get quotes and none of them would do it for me; admittedly it was on an EUB and there were concerns about the quality of the wood, but they were all easily dissuaded by smaller factors. Since its a destructive process, you'd probably want someone with experience doing the work and I couldn't find anyone up North.

I think the resolution is I need to buy a pair of DT770s, just because...

It was a toss-up between the DT770s or the AT M50xs and I went for the ATs. They sound great but they're bloody heavy. What are the DT770s like?

Les Claypool bows his through distortion (poor audio but you can hear the grind)

That’s a lovely finish @ordep

That's exactly what I've done to my CR4M; I tried quite a few strings and none of them were bad, but when I used the stock strings and had the bridge lower, it gave the fretless mwah that you hear in so many demos. Now its all thump.

I would say that whilst 'third hands' can be useful, they can also be a right pain in the behind as they can be difficult to manipulate into the exact spot needed. One of the bendy ones like @bloke_zero posted above looks ideal; I'll definitely be getting one.

I agree wholeheartedly with Mr Wind above; start by checking the pickup is sending a signal. If so then all you need is a simple impedance matching circuit (like the mint box http://www.scotthelmke.com/Mint-box-buffer.html) and you can do the rest in your amp. i should say that I own about 300 preamps but sometimes simple is best.

My mate sold his cheap Chinese G4M bass on eBay for more than it was worth because the buyer wanted to turn it into a drinks cabinet. you could always insider that...

It might be overkill, and somewhat blasphemous, but couldn't you run a Spectrum Analyzer while the band is playing to see where your space actually is? Or where there is so much traffic that you definitely don't want to be there? I know Basie preferred the Octave RTA whilst Ellington liked Audiotool (but he was famously pro-Android). I jest, but it could offer interesting insight.

I bought a Little Mark 250 around 2006 and it's still my main gigging amp to this day. Second hand they're cheap too.

My solution was spinach. I love the stuff anyway but I committed to a fistful of the stuff every day and it really helped with the speed and quality of nail growth.

I really like the baby-pink colour.

War Dogs is a great film, too!

I was watching the movie and Packouz has a cameo at the beginning, performing in a retirement home with the Beat Buddy. I did some digging!

Did you guys watch the movie 'War Dogs' with Jonah Hill and Miles Teller? Miles Teller (the guy from Whiplash) plays am arms dealer called David Packouz. Post international-arms-dealing, David Packouz went on to invent create SingularSound. Seriously!

Got any photos of that? It sounds awesome.

I'm glad it's working out for you! I would add that I practice blindfolded AND play with a bow as it produces a clearer fundamental that allows you to more accurately discern the tuning issues. A top practice tip is to buy a looper (I use a tiny Donner one); it allowed me to make my practice sessions a little bit more creative and dynamic so ultimately more fun.

If you’re after P90 type And vintage style then I love Vintage Vibes’ ‘CC Rider’ which they do in a humbucker-shape

Yeah, you can just close your eyes or look away but I found it uncomfortable to be screwing my eyes shut and dangerous to my shoulder position to look away to an unnatural position. Blindfolded was a suggestion of my former teacher, Steve Berry, and it was absolutely a top tip. It allowed me to really focus on the note I was producing and more critically analyse its pitch and tone. Try it! What's the worst that can happen?

It depends what you're practicing for. If its to develop your line writing, or your harmonic, melodic and rhythmic understanding then yes absolutely; the instrument's 4 strings and consistent tuning means that all are interchangeable. If you're trying to practice muscle memory though then no, they're not interchangeable as the positions will differ, and with upright I advise practicing blindfolded, with a bow, along to drones to develop muscle memory.

Is the problem with your plucking hand or your fretting hand? If its the plucking hand then I suggest doing exercises around string skipping. Put on a slow metronome and practice playing 8th notes in a variety of patterns. I'm a big fan of isolating the problems and working on them in isolation before integrating it into normal playing. So if it is just your plucking hand, put on a slow (gradually increasing) metronome and play 8th note patterns such as: Moving top note: EAEDEGED Moving bottom note: EGAGDGAG Now there are a LOT of possible permutations, working in groups of 3 rather than 2, or eventually introducing the fretting hand (playing scales in 5ths or 6ths can be a great workout). The world is your oyster, but focus on what the problem is and isolate it to address it.