Happy Jack

[quote name='walbassist' timestamp='1380716451' post='2229377'] PS 50th Birthday not until 2016, but bass is ahead of schedule! [/quote] Erm ... you're sure about that.

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1380715218' post='2229339'] I'm disproportionately and irrationally amused by the thought of photographing a bass in the garden, on an ironing board. I'm imagining the thought process. [/quote] Well, I considered taking shots of a bunch of moody-looking basses standing around an alley, probably with one of them wearing a tatty leather jacket and another one trying to look mean, then I thought about showing a bunch of basses jumping around on a floodlit stage while teenaged girls shrieked at them and wet themselves, and then I thought ... sod it! And I reached for the ironing board.

No, I'm just easily board.

OK, OK, so I was in a hurry, I missed it ... [size=1]sh*t sh*t sh*t[/size]

My fretless Mk.II 4-string is quite simply the nicest fretless I've ever played. I used to think that it was a "special" bass, a one-off where everything had just come together. Then Clarky bought another example of the same bass and we A/B'd them ... they were identical, and identically "special". Wals are really very good basses.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1380703500' post='2229056'] That's a good build time... I was quoted 17 months last week [/quote] Much as I like Paul Herman's work, with a build time that enormous surely it makes more sense to put some effort into locating a pre-owned original Wal which ticks your boxes?

Yup - from my perspective [size=2](I'm an absolute beginner on DB, been playing for less than three years, and even that pretty sporadically)[/size] I couldn't hack playing two different sizes of upright bass. The neck on a KK is simply a normal 3/4 DB neck.

Absolutely not my sort of music and way after my time, but strangely I am sorry to hear this too. When my daughter hit 13 and discovered loud, offend-your-parents music, the song she played loudest was [i][b]Last Train[/b][/i] ... and I ended up loving it.

You do mean Spring 2014, right?

[quote name='hamfist' timestamp='1380697909' post='2228944'] ... with a muscular technique ... [/quote] That's a phrase that I like ... far more flattering than ham-fisted (which is how people usually describe me)!

Nope ... Status double-ended roundwounds. Despite the apparent soapbar at the neck that's actually a split-coil P under there. Terrific 18V pre-amp too.

Late to the thread, guys, sorry! All the above is true (regarding strings, amplification, etc.) although I should mention that the Prestos are inherently quieter than the Thomastiks and so require more amplification. I have now made my DB and my KK feel almost exactly the same under the fingers in terms of strings and action. I have played both basses in the studio and live on stage in the last week, and there is simply no denying that the DB sounds better than the KK under all circumstances, but on the other hand the KK has the DB beaten all hands down on gigging practicality. Manoevering my DB in a gigbag through and then out of The Troubadour last week took me and Bluejay working as a team, plus the cooperation of nearly half the people in the bloody place! ([i]Excuse me ... coming through ... watch that light fitting! ... mind your back please ... was that your foot? ... yes, if you could just move those stools ... oops, I'm sorry, shall I buy you another one?[/i]) In terms of on-stage sound, the truth is that we're all so dependent on so many factors for FOH sound that the distinction in sound between DB and KK is nowhere near as obvious as you'd think from playing in a studio. In a band situation (Dani is a semi-acoustic 3-piece) only a bass-player would spot the difference. KB1 -v- Classic? For me, that's a no-brainer. They sound identical, but the KB1 is more slender and therefore significantly lighter. Given that the KK's chief attribute is ease of use (IMHO) the only reason for choosing a Classic would be the aesthetic. One more point though: The experience of playing a KK is nowhere near that of playing a DB, and for me that's chiefly because you can't lean the KK against yourself as you can with a DB. In turn, that means that you can't wrap yourself around it in the same way. It's still big fun to play, but in a very different way. I tend to hold it upright at about half an arm's-length away from me (it balances surprisingly well), for sustained single notes I can take a half-step away, for swing passages I can sway the KK from side to side or backwards and forwards, etc. It's really not an orchestral instrument.

3 cubic metres is HUGE ... that's roughly 90 cubic feet. You'd need a bloody big DB to exceed that size limit.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1380630785' post='2228080'] Take a bow, Mr. Fitzmaurice. [/quote] You can probably find one in that grove of trees ...

Time to go headless perhaps? And carbon fibre should be capable of handling the rough treatment. [URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Basses%20CURRENT/Status%20Graphite%20Streamline%205%202011%20CURRENT/CIMG0836.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Basses%20CURRENT/Status%20Graphite%20Streamline%205%202011%20CURRENT/CIMG0836.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

There's a "Wanted" section in the Marketplace ... but +1 to the Fission Bass anyway.

Regardless of whether or not Jon Harriman's letter actually makes sense or answers the question, I'd just like to say that it is beautifully written and represents very elegant use of English.

Naaaaah ... don't waste your time, useless amps, and that guy selling it is not to be trusted anyway. [size=2][psssst ... is that OK JapAxe?][/size]

http://www4.cs.fau.de/~koesters/Privat/Wal/walpics/JG1113-leather.jpg

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1380549521' post='2226883'] Wow, I've never known such a touchy subject. Those who own VS those who do not own (and may have potentially tried them) is quite heated! [/quote] Agreed. It is genuinely a mystery to me. I know a fair number of Basschatters (personally, as opposed to cyperspacially) and many of them either own Barefaced cabs or have at least tried them properly - i.e. an extended loan, or borrowed for a gig or two, rather than 30 seconds of slapping on someone else's rig. Without fail, all those I know who have tried Barefaced cabs are genuinely impressed with them. Some choose not to buy them, preferring Bergs or Schroeders or whatever, which is absolutely cool. None of them feel it necessary to whinge incessantly about cabs they don't own, such as Bergs or Schroeders or whatever. But there is also a hard core of Barefaced-haters on Basschat who seem determined to slag them off at any opportunity, frequently using wildly-exaggerated comments and criticisms. If these people were slightly more restrained and sensible in their tactics, they might engage in a more sensible, constructive conversation. In that case, Barefaced users might not feel it necessary to point out just how wild some of those criticisms are.

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1380489361' post='2226176'] Customers shouldn’t have to use wood glue, sawdust and matchsticks to stop bits falling off a product that costs over a thousand pounds. [/quote] Yup, it's true, [i][b]feet [/b][/i]really are the new [i][b]handles[/b][/i]. Next on the list to bitch about: [list] [*]Grilles [*]Finish [*]Corners [*]Plywood [*]Shape [*]Colour [*]Weight [*]Smell [*]Price [*]Name [/list] In each case, do remember to use the phrase "...[i] costing thousands of pounds [/i]..." because then you'll be on the side of the consumer (natch), rather than merely having a cheap pop at someone who's actually achieved something.

Hypothetical make some great basses ...

Just a word to the wise ... don't take a DB/EUB to a jam session unless you're ready to play [i]Superstition [/i]on it. Turned out that I wasn't.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1380377527' post='2224489'] I think Alex is planning a short run ... [/quote] He's planning a short run of Midgets then?