HowieBass

[quote name='neilp' timestamp='1473072168' post='3126511'] I have a B4FL that deps for the Wal when I'm nervous. I love it, can't beat it for the money. If it had a decent preamp it'd be even better! What do people recommend? [/quote] I believe some have swapped it for an Aguilar OBP-3 and have been very happy but to be honest I don't think the stock Bart is that bad (and you can always run it in passive mode) http://www.aguilaramp.com/products_preamps_obp3.htm

Great looking bass - I didn't realise they echoed the top wood on the back as well! Happy New Bass Day!

If the action's really low and the E string is good then it might be you need to raise the action a little... could be note choking that's affecting the tone.

The one thing that puts me off the 4 is the choice of wood for the top; the 5 looks really classy in comparison and I like the 3+2 tuner arrangement too.

This might interest you: http://youtu.be/xDznrr2nUgo

Just get a headless bass...

Love the colour - if it plays as good as it looks it'll be fantastic

The CB will mean Cry Baby won't it? Reading elsewhere online it looks like some of the Rockson pedals are clones of old Boss pedals but not as good. Try it and see what it sounds like (though I wouldn't personally have much use for a wah wah pedal with a bass).

Gorgeous finish! I bet that's a tone monster now!

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1472817974' post='3124494'] I love it when an expert bass player announces "and you can hear that lovely clear piano tone" before playing a few notes that couldn't sound less like a piano if you hit it with an adjustable spanner. [/quote] I thought EXACTLY the same!

I'm not saying that playing bass is a guaranteed way to increase hand/grip strength but to my mind if you keep exercising your fingers it can't be a bad thing - my mum and my sister can't open a vacuum cleaner to empty the thing whereas for me it's simple (it's a poorly designed Zanussi thing my mum bought). Yes, I'm a few years younger than my sister but I was surprised at her lack of strength (I'm now aged 60 and as thin as a rake) so I wonder if bass playing has helped rather than hindered me. The one area where age seems to take its toll is with our backs - from the points of view of having heavy basses strapped to us and shifting around bass amps/cabs/combos. I reckon you've already done as much as you need to regarding instrument selection and just follow the advice of 'let the amp do the work' when it comes to playing.

Surely it's all in the fingers?!?!!

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1472774237' post='3124238'] Yes too linseed oil but its best to use the boiled varity. Just because of drying times. Raw oil can take a few days to dry, depending on how thick the application, which should be minimal, but on occasion some boards do need that bit more, it can get on fingers then strings etc if played before really drying. [/quote] Never had a problem with stickiness but there again I use very little, applied and polished off using paper kitchen towel.

Is the problem more with your fretting hand than the plucking/picking hand? If this is the case then I think you need to get the action as low as possible. As for where you strike the strings; compliance/perceived tension varies not only with string gauge but also where you pluck the string so you might need to experiment with hand placement (which is why it's often better to play a low B nearer the bridge if it feels too flabby nearer the neck).

[quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1472720336' post='3123565'] Beautifully built, great components, silky smooth to play - for me the only weakness is the bart mk1 clone preamp... [/quote] The new Cort Artisan A Plus, B Plus and C Plus basses now employ a Markbass MB-1 EQ in place of the old Bartolini design preamp.

These look like they're worth considering http://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/nyc-bass-set-4-strg-3

Hovering over the OP's name at the top of the page tells me he was last active at 11.13am yesterday (Aug 31st) so he was still with us then at least!

Cort build Lakland Skyline and G&L Tribute series basses at their Indonesian plant; they also build Squier basses which is why there's quite a lot of love for Squiers these days - says a lot for the company.

In case you can't find a leftie Jazz with humbuckers of the Modern Player type (which Fender now seem to have been replaced with the Dimension series) I suppose you could put stacked coil humbuckers in a 'conventional' leftie though the poles won't replicate the arrangement with the Modern Player or Dimension type pickups (and hence I expect there'd be a difference in tone).

My hands aren't that big either and I have a 5 string Cort Curbow and a Squier Vintage Modified Precision (which has a slightly narrower neck than the 'traditional' P bass) and I find they're just as easy to play as my other basses that have skinnier necks. My first bass was a Jazz copy and I never understood what all the fuss was about with P basses until I eventually added one to the collection - they sound great whether they're wearing flats or rounds!

Racking my brain on this as to what else could be the problem. It can't be the nut otherwise you'd more than likely get it worse on the open E. When I set my Cort fretless up I adopted the same amount of relief that you'd get with a fretted bass because I was getting unwanted buzz (I prefer the word 'sizzle' here to describe the sound) in a few areas when the fingerboard was almost flat - I suspect my bass would benefit from being properly levelled by a good luthier/technician as I think there may be some very slight height deviations here and there.

It could be a sympathetic vibration (sometimes the truss rod but you've tweaked yours and it hasn't disappeared). Do you get a buzz if you play the same note on the A string? There could be a slight problem on the fingerboard around the 12th fret position meaning it needs some attention to get it levelled.

They're usually really well put together and very good value for money. Watch these videos: http://youtu.be/8zTUxqfJEYs http://youtu.be/jOt9iB7xaeY

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1472561939' post='3122110'] I think your change in action may be more responsible for the changes you hear. If there's minor choking on the higher frets, there will probably be other effects with strings vibrating and hitting the frets at other locations in ways that are not obvious 'choking' but resulting in a change of the sound. The bass will probably be more responsive to how light or hard you pluck too, because of that. Do you notice something like that? [/quote] The change in action hasn't been massive - talking perhaps 1/64" at the most with all of the strings (say going from 5/64" to 4/64" for the G). The strange thing is I'm finding the A string as the one where I notice the tone better and that's always been the one that had plenty of adjustment available in saddle height with it being in the centre. It's always sounded better when played harder but I'm not one to dig in and I've not changed how I play it. I did wonder if it's a bit more fret noise but it almost sounds more than that somehow. Whatever the reason, I like it!

Right, experiment conducted (swapping the constant thickness full shim with a partial shim) and I've got some interesting results (assuming it isn't me fooling myself). The Curbow has a very long neck pocket that extends all the way to the pickup (which I think is in the Stingray position) so I ended up using a relatively thick shim of about the same thickness as the original full pocket shim. As expected it changed the neck angle a fair bit (not stupidly different obviously) and I got a greater range of adjustment available with the saddles. I'd previously got the G and low B saddles pretty much down to the deck so my action has now improved a fraction, in that it's lower (the bridge itself is angled back so you get less height adjustment per turn of the saddle screw than you would with a conventionally situated bridge). I think I might be getting a little note choking at the very highest frets because of the change in neck angle - I haven't changed the neck relief. This very minor note choking doesn't bother me. I don't see much change in the dead spots; I don't think they're any worse. The biggest change to my ears is the sound seems somewhat harmonically richer - this is a GOOD thing! I might just be hearing a bit more noise from the frets with the change in neck angle but I might well have changed the way the neck/body combination vibrates because there's less of a connection between the two with a partial shim. I've read more than once that bolt on neck instruments often sound brighter than neck through designs and some believe it's because the fundamental is stronger with a neck through... in other words the neck/body junction of a bolt on can favour the harmonics a bit more. I'm wondering if this is what I'm hearing? I can see why people use partial shims - they're easy to fabricate and install but I really didn't expect to hear an improvement in tone! The partial shim will be staying!