cytania

The modern sound begins with drums coming to the fore of the mix. I think XTC's English Settlement was one of the first productions to get this treatment. Hugh Padham was behind that so it may be his work with Peter Gabriel was earlier (at work so no time to check this!).

There was a series called 'Play It Again' and another called 'First Love' where celebs returned to an instrument they had given up on in their youth. Surprisingly emotional. I remember Bill Odie could play guitar lines but not chords...

I've also had a machinehead shear off at a rehearsal, The A string too. Had to rethink several songs on the fly... When you think of the things could give out... a bridge saddle, pots, caps, solder joints etc. a backup is a must when it's live.

Quick, a cittern has gotten in amongst your basses!

Try some Thomastik Infeld roundwounds and the joy of breaking strings will be yours :-)

First off great video production and recording. [color=#000000][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]1. Gibson EB-2 - Gave [/font][/color][font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#000000"]the song a '60s mod band playing on an early disco record' feel. A compressed synthy tone.[/color][/font] [color=#000000][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]2. Gibson EB-13 - Snarly without much rubbery body.[/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]3. Gibson Les Paul Bass - Better but still snarly.[/font][/color] [font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#000000"]4. Stagg (!) EB-3 - Has a definite lisp, a raspy edge to each note, least good.[/color][/font] [color=#000000][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]5. Gibson Thunderbird - Distorted metal tone, like Metallica had covered this groove as an attention getting funk cover very early in their career.[/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]6. Fender Precision Bass - Ah that's more like it. Has the best of the EB2 and EB13/Les Paul worlds. The clipped 'pop' section works best on this.[/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]7. Fender Jazz Bass - Also good but just a shade more wiry and [/font][/color][font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#000000"]clangy.[/color][/font]

Seems the last decade has been about individual artists not groups; Ed Sheeran, Jake Bugg, Adele etc. They often have backing bands but it's not the same as being a definate unit. Some real blockbuster bands would help.

Just changed them strings and like Big Red X said they were deeply rutted on the underside. Now playing off the whine of new EBs.

Thought my strings had plateau-ed out to a nice dead sound after nine months but this week they seem to have found a basement below and it's not a good dead. Any advice from those who've had the same strings for years? Guess I'll just have to change them… darn :-( Before you ask Ernie Ball Regular Slinkies (Fluorescent Yellow Pack).

Tauzero, if you search out a Pistols CD on Spotify named 'sp**k' you'll hear the Pistols with Matlock playing, generally different from what went on any released record. Can't say what Vicious contributed other than great visuals.

Ah the Mental Slippers... Fine psych band, didn't they support the Thirteenth Floor Elevators ;-)

Oasis's dirty little secret: Most recorded Oasis baselines were laid down by Noel Gallagher no matter who plays them live. Obviously not I'm the same league as David Gilmour doing Pink Floyd's classic baselines, more like Steve Jones rerecording Matlock's lines for the Pistols...

Ah yes, I wouldn't mind Alex James' rock'n'rural lifestyle :-)

I blame the 90s. Oasis and Blur submerged bass deep in the mix. This may be influenced by having to learn Cigarettes and Alcohol and Parklife for my band . Neither very inspiring for bass but I serve the song...

Yep my band does 500 Miles by the Proclaimers and we first learnt it for a wedding. Now it's a firm part of the set and I march on the spot like a mad man :-)

I'm very sure that bass guitars do 'play-in' and 'open up' sound wise over the first few years. Not sure if the process continues over the decades though. Also wonder what happens to basses left in cupboards for years… do they lose it and go dull/dead again? Double-bass players certainly have to keep their instrument alive by playing it and acoustic guitars take about 3 days playing to 'revive', but basses I'm not sure yet...

Just forking off from the Vintage Fender value thread here and now. No this isn't some kind of tag team wrestling match... It's just occurred to me that all your basic original Fender designs have a common design. Now with vintage guitars, such as strats and teles, collectors and players talk about the tone in terms of the mid/treble sound that guitarists want. With vintage basses, such as Precisions and Jazzes, we talk about the tone in terms of deep bass, thrum, growl etc. Now since all these guitars are based on bolt-on necks, ash/alder bodies, maple necks etc (the very Fender vibe that can give a band a homogenous look, see the first Shadows LP cover) then shouldn't they age in the same way? If basses gain more low end gravitas over the decades then shouldn't strats and teles also age towards a bassier, thuddier sound?

I found this neat wikipaedia page listing Stradivarius violins; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stradivarius_instruments#Violins As you can see a lot of Strads are on loan to top violinists around the world. Now wouldn't it be nice if you were contacted by someone who wanted you to see you play their 62 P bass?

A new take on ant-theft trackers. http://www.thetileapp.com Had thought it would be neat to hide one away in a bass control cavity. But would the screening block the Tile's signal?

A new take on ant-theft trackers. http://www.thetileapp.com Had thought it would be neat to hide one away in a bass control cavity. But would the screening block the Tile's signal?

Overthinking? Well it certainly has me struggling to pin down why anyone would do that. Soon as I saw it I felt annoyance. Something beautiful spoilt… Sorry to everyone who's cool with it. Just my gut reaction that's all.

"[color=#A4A4A4][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]My conscious mind is a friend, forever growing with me. My sub-conscious mind is the stranger who teaches my friend who I am."[/size][/font][/color] Like your sig line bubinga. That is deeply wise.

Hi Musky, those tiffs coming up as unreadable on my mac. Taking this along with KiOgon's post this suggests Fender have been using holes as erratically in the past for painting reasons but over the last two or three years have made this the norm. Two different paint shops? Why do Strat owners get three holes sometimes? I looked at the strat forum photos and they're not 3 tone bursts. Going through the dog-eared pile of Guitar and Bass magazines in the loo and there's Norman Watt-Roy holding his 70s Precision. He took the guard off to be more like Jaco and he'd played it so much the finish is obliterated. No rout, no sign of a hole. If I owned a Fender and had never taken the pick guard off I'd be feeling a dread 'do I look underneath or do I live in happy ignorance' emotion. Sort of like Schrodingers Cat, but for a hole that may or may not exist!

"[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]These holes first appeared in the late seventies"[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]But I've seen so many, ahem, topless photos online over the years and never noticed the holes before.[/font][/color][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828] If that's so it's a bit like discovering all the old Page 3 pin-up girls where silicon implant wonders [/color][/font] [font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828]They've been described as 'Fender Crop Circles'. Like crop circles they were rumoured about in the seventies but by golly they're everywhere now! [/color][/font]

Well' looking at the pictures I assume a combination of rout, pick guard hole and neck pocket hole. I've not really gotten into 'cracking the Fender code'. Here's a link to another line up of pictures, this time Stratocaster bodies. [url="http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/stratocaster-discussion-forum/145704-fender-crop-circles-cnc-holes-explain-please.html"]http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/stratocaster-discussion-forum/145704-fender-crop-circles-cnc-holes-explain-please.html[/url] It could be random 'bit sharpness' tests I suppose, but to me that's even worse. What it clearly isn't is a necessary part of the production process.