HowieBass

What sort of tension will you get on the neck? I guess a double truss rod will be more than capable of dealing with it. Love the poplar burl

Yet another good reason to become vegetarian and eat more baked beans *whiffle*

Or the clear lacquer used over car metallic finish paintwork.

If ever I needed some excuse to post a link to a Pixies song, and check out that beautifully simple bass line... "hey, been trying to meet you... " http://youtu.be/v6xU96KLBL4

You might also notice the tone changes a little according to a change in string to pickup distance, this is quite normal and becomes a compromise between even volume across the strings; leaving sufficient space between string and pickup so the strings don't hit the pole pieces; getting the tone you're after (bass/mid/treble).

It's probably wearing a set of Fender nickel roundwounds; there's nothing wrong with these strings at all. They might have been on the bass a while and it might have been played by a few people with greasy hands so they might have some grime on them and that will affect the tone (duller than new strings). However if you like the sound you get so far then there's no reason to change them straight away but it's worth knowing about the different string windings and gauges (steel vs nickel; roundwound vs flatwound vs groundwound; light gauge vs medium gauge vs heavy gauge) and you'll find that there will be differences in tone between manufacturers even when the strings are the same gauge and construction. Add to this the fairly high cost of a new set vs the longevity of a set and you'll realise it might take you years to work your way through the many permutations before you settle on a set you really like! Have fun! Edit: One habit you should develop is using a clean soft cloth to wipe the strings down after you've played your bass, this will help keep the strings clean and untarnished because you'll be wiping off sweat and grease.

That looks to be in amazingly good nick - just as well I haven't £500 burning a hole in my pocket as I'd be tempted...

I hope the action's already set reasonably well (the bridge saddle heights) because learning how to set-up a bass is something else you'll probably want to explore in time...

I think I took to the bass as someone having a visually driven way of thinking because as you rightly point out it's all about patterns on the fingerboard. Ease of transposition is the great virtue of the instrument and it's all highly logical to me. The fun starts when you can play with nuance and fluidity and in truth all of us will continue to improve for as long as we decide to pick up an instrument and play. Welcome to Basschat!

Yeah, the distance between the strings and the pickup affects the loudness from string to string. You often need to drop the pickup a millimetre or so for the E compared to the G string. Try making a single turn on the screw(s) at the side of the pickup, lowering the side under the E or raising the side under the G and note how the volume changes string to string. Continue to make incremental adjustments slowly. Hopefully you'll be able to get a fairly even response across all the strings.

Have you adjusted the pickup height?

£820 dearer than the limited edition chequerboard model also for sale on eBay...

That's interesting regarding the customs and handling charges... I bought a book via Amazon marketplace; it's a secondhand text book that cost something ridiculously low like £1.88 and the post and packing charges were £2.80. It arrived within two weeks of my ordering it; and it came from the USA. Judging by what was on the packaging I think it actually came via airfreight too. No additional costs were due.

This diagram should help - by the way I think that's a 206 and quite hard to get hold of... http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/6295/gotoh.jpg

I don't change strings often (haven't been able to afford to really) but I've never had a bad string let alone a bad set. What is it that can affect a whole set and render them dead? Anyway, sorry that you've wasted your money and I can't blame you for avoiding them in future.

There are some user submitted B3 patches available here including one for the track you've mentioned http://guitarpatches.com/patches.php?unit=B3

Love the sound of the front Jazz pup with the MM! Do you think the Barts are more sensitive to string to pup gap (the A being furthest away than the other strings)?

Saw them live supporting New Order in (I think) Bradford. Got stopped on the way back by cops looking for flying pickets during the miners' strike. Might be tempted to go to the Manchester gig and see what new adventures await...

Once you approach the best setup that suits your playing style then it's a case of making small adjustments as you zero in on the appropriate combination of relief and saddle height. Let things settle a day before you go back to the instrument as necks can take time to adjust. Hope you get it sorted soon!

[quote name='tonyquipment' timestamp='1404926958' post='2497100'] Where's the dirt? Sounds poppy [/quote] I thought similar, they might be hoping for a broader fan base, but I still prefer them to Royal Blood...

Minor thread resurrection here - I've just put a new set of strings (La Bella SN45) on my old Spectrum LX, courtesy of fellow BCer jude b who had some strings he didn't need (too heavy a gauge) and he's very kindly donated them to me. Now the Westone is my oldest bass and from new it's only ever worn steel rounds (Rotos) and steel flats (tried Rotos early on, then some Fender flats most recently). As a late convert to nickel rounds I'd never tried any on the Spectrum so was more than a little curious to try the La Bella set (a new string maker to me) and OMG, it's incredible... a bass that I'd generally put to one side, as I was playing more the two Squiers I own, now has a favoured place in my collection. Something about the Westone pickups, and electronics (where I believe the active EQ works rather like a Wal in that the Spectrum LX has a sweepable filter tone boost overlaying a passive tone filter though it sounds good in both passive and active tone shaping modes) and I'm gobsmacked at how good it sounds now... I'd characterise the sound as having great 'authority' if that makes sense. So, if you haven't tried changing strings in a while I can definitely recommend the La Bella SN45 set.

If a MIM P 'outguns' your 2012 Limited Edition Walnutburst Rickenbacker 4003 then do you really need that custom build P (unless of course you've already played a Limelight P bass and found it blows your MIM out of the water)? But whether you get another P bass or not it looks like the Ric is going to a new home...

Well, I guess they'll never break or crack... but then neither has any nut on a bass of mine and I successfully took off, filed down and refitted a graphite nut on the fretless neck for my Westone.

A plastic credit card is a bit too thick really, it's supposed to be a business card - that's usually 12 point card stock or 0.012" thick = 0.3mm roughly. I also happen to agree with Grangur that a partial neck shim could cause problems with getting the bass set up properly, the neck might well be misaligned and tilt backwards (or indeed forwards since it depends where a partial shim is) - only a full neck pocket shim will raise the neck such that the geometry stays the same as a neck with no shim. It's certainly worth looking at if all else has failed.

Great! I knew they were back together and working on new material but didn't know it was ready for release - that single's a bit 'cleaner' than their previous work but I still like it. Hoping the album will be equal to their first.