Woodinblack

I am getting a lot of 'when are we going to be practicing again' sort of hassle from my new band, I mean we are not even gig ready so I am not sure why but getting the feeling they are getting fed up with my reluctance to die for the sake of getting some tunes ready. Not sure how that is going to play out. I imagine this is happening in quite a few places. Now that things are opened it seems like a lot of people think it was all for nothing and it is just the government overreacting (as opposed to my opinion that it was the government underreacting).

Really? I read the government advice yesterday. Outdoor gigs can start from the 11th (tomorrow no less). https://www.gov.uk/government/news/performing-arts-given-green-light-to-resume-outdoors-on-july-11 The guidance makes clear that the following measures should be considered to allow for safe resumption of performances: A reduction in venue capacity and limited ticket sales to ensure social distancing can be maintained All tickets must be purchased online and venues are encouraged to move towards e-ticketing for help with track and trace Venues should have clearly communicated social distancing marking in place in areas where queues form and adopt a limited entry approach *. Increased deep cleaning of auditoriums Performances should be scheduled to allow sufficient time to undertake deep cleaning before the next audience arrives Singing and the playing of brass and wind instruments in groups or in front of an audience is limited to professionals only Performers, conductors, musicians must observe social distancing wherever possible Don't know what they mean about professionals. Is that us?

Im one of these. I only play 5 strings, and I mostly (live) play in a cover band covering songs that people played on 4 string basses (and a few 5 string songs). I could take another 2 basses along to do e flat and drop d songs too, but find it easier with 1, especially when some of those songs dont have gaps between them. And frankly some of the other songs are just easier on a 5, and I am terribly lazy (and would have to relearn them).

Quite right. And I would extend that. What good was the modern motor car? I mean, we could get round just fine in a car from the 1960s couldn't we? I mean they don't do any more than they used to? And the colour television set, the programs aren't any better these days are they? But to be fair, the 4 string bass made a drastic decline in music quality. I mean there haven't been many beethovens and Tchaikovskys since we had the electric bass have there? No, its all 'she loves me, yeh, yeh yeh' and boom boom boom. And hey you kids, get off my lawn!! ah.. bring back national service, that will learn them!

That is just how your head got used to things growing up though isn't it? I mean I couldn't get a wow factor from a fender anyway but I never really thought much about the country of origin, more about the instrument itself. I understand that conditioning, I remember getting my first gibson after watching all my guitar heros with their les pauls and thinking 'wow, I have a gibson', then getting the creeping realisation that it wasn't as good as some other far cheaper guitars I had. Obviously anything that makes you want to play something is good.

The only thing I did want was a bass sub for the PA, luckily I was still deciding when lockdown hit. That money can stay in my account until next year

Most basses I have got have come from there, it is more reliable than most places and there is more choice than anywhere else

I just sold my dean 8 string

It is. They finally got round to emailing me to say they are looking into it, and I am happy with that, or I would have been happy with that last week. I know hermes are having trouble, my wife is have problems with stuff she was sending to customers, but she carried on trying and kept in contact with her customers so they knew what was going on. If you can let your customers know they are important to you and you are putting an effort in, it makes a huge difference.

When I bought my squier CV P bass, from a not so long departed shop a few years ago, I tried a MIM and US bass at the same time. It was better than the MiM sound wise, it was similar to the US, the us had better machineheads, but was 4 times the price. I don't regret the choice on that. I am not a fender player, so It would be hard for me to justify the price of a US fender, as I never found one that was far away better than anything else and they all look the same to me, for that sort of money I could get something special.

To be fair, that looks like a group of guys discussing scratchplates

Well, now I have asked them again, and they have failed to call me back twice, so at the moment I couldn't recommend them to anyone.

Ah, I misread the original question. No, simple answer, it doesn't sound much like an octave pedal at all. The 8 string sounds rich, the 4 string with a shifter sounds like a 4 string with a synth harmonic. I believe there is a thread around here showing the differences.

describe? It would be like an 8 string with a lower copy I guess, I don't know, I never put my 8 string through one, but probably would sound good as an 8 string is harmonically richer

They are lighter, an octave up. so the smallest one is wire, the rest are still wound though. 8 string basses are a lot of fun. I found the ESPs a bit chunky but that is a good price for an 8 string.

Mine are all neatly bolted to the walls, in the hope if she doesn't trip over them, they don't annoy her!

In more serious quote, it looks really well done. Not my sort of thing but certainly looks good. What sort of price range does that go then? Thiking about it I have no basses with pickguards so probably doesn't help, but I have a few guitars.

Are you sure it is a pickguard not a scratchplate?

What is the difference between that and other ones? Looks like a generic fender fretless?

String art, that is exactly what I saw (well, it wasn't a ship, it was a butterfly, but the idea).

Your rats are more obliging then ours. Here is our rats travel bag... Oh I seem to have dropped a plectrum..

While I don't disagree with your point, I am not convinced by your analogy. You don't send lab rats out, they stay in labs and you experiment on them. Its canaries, you send them down mines (or in pubs) to see if they die of a lack of oxygen (or abundance of something else). But yes, as you were

Long term? Nothing like that here, if an instrument isn't going to be played it might as well be sold.

I have, many times

It makes absolutely no difference. Connect it to the place that is most convenient to you, and the first place you can. Generally you would put them to the same pot as then you know where the wires are if you want to move them but it certainly isn't worth the effort of moving them and makes no electrical or sound difference.