Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Happy Jack

⭐Supporting Member⭐
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    14,789

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    22

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Happy Jack

    Is it time to start shaving?

    in EUB and Double Bass

    Posted

    Looks like I'll be taking the bass into Thwaites just as soon as the new pickup arrives. I think Steve is posting it to me today, so that should hopefully be a trip to Bushey on Wednesday.

     

    Incidentally, this is the bass in question. This video is from near the end of Set #2 (of 3) on Saturday night, by which time I'd worked out how to get a decent sound out of it with the current setup.

     

    I'm bloody glad I'd taped my fingers ...

     

     

    Wireless transmitter & DB

    in EUB and Double Bass

    Posted

    I use the X-Vive Wireless Bug system with DB at pretty much every gig and it usually works just fine. My DBs have either mag or piezo pickups and the wireless bugs seem to have no trouble with either.

     

    I say "usually" because occasionally I get intermittent drop-out issues, caused (presumably) by all the signals in certain rooms. When that happens, I don't fight it - just shift back to a cable.

     

    DBs generate more physical vibration than solid-body electric basses, so you also need to pay a bit of attention to the mounting point for the 1/4" jack socket. Adding the weight of a wireless bug to a freely-vibrating socket can also cause occasional cutting-out. It's usually very easily fixed once you realise where the problems lie.

     

    My experience of wireless systems with base receivers and belt-packs and such has been uniformly poor; the quality and reliability of the signal doesn't seem to be significantly enhanced but you get to carry and plug in a shed-load of extra gear. Given that almost all my DB gigs are doubling gigs, with frequent swops to electric bass, I find that it's way WAY easier to just have two sets of X-Vive bugs and a 2-channel preamp.

    Don't you just hate being flannelled

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    17 hours ago, stewblack said:

    I still get disappointed at the self serving decisions people make in music. 

     

    That's never bothered me at all. We all make decisions that are - ultimately - self serving so I've never had a problem with a muso colleague who "gets a better offer".

     

    What does bother me is the musos who make self-defeating decisions that screw up everyone, including themselves, i.e. no one benefits from the decision, it's just a clusterf***.

     

     

    • Like 2

    Is it time to start shaving?

    in EUB and Double Bass

    Posted

    25 minutes ago, Beedster said:

    ...either way thinning an already unstable board will likely make it more unstable?

     

    Damn! That's what Silvie said. 

     

    I'm feeling outvoted here. 😂

     

    I assume that the existing fingerboard is (?) glued in place using (?) fish glue or similar. If that's the case then it should be a fairly easy job to remove it from the neck, especially since it doesn't matter if the fingerboard gets damaged in the process.

     

    Does anyone have any idea how much a good-quality (stable) replacement fingerboard is likely to cost? On the one hand it's just a shaped slab of (non-CITES) wood; on the other hand, this is DB we're talking about ...

     

    Is it time to start shaving?

    in EUB and Double Bass

    Posted

    I have a lovely Zeller 4/4 DB which - for a variety of reasons - only gets played at certain venues. It's not uncommon for there to be a few months between gigs for this particular bass.

     

    I took it to a large RBL hall last night and found it verged on being unplayable. The dusty end of the fingerboard has turned into a ski jump, with the action at the octave being perhaps 5/6mm but less than 2mm at the very end of the board. Worse, it's asymmetrical with the G side being noticeably more affected than the E side. (In fairness, it was only this asymmetric 'skew' that made the bass playable at all last night. 🙄)

     

    For clarity (1) the bass lives permanently in a centrally-heated house at a more-or-less constant temperature and with no outrageous swings in humidity. It lives alongside two other DBs, both 3/4s, neither of which have experienced this problem.

     

    For clarity (2) yes of course I should have checked before the load-out, but in truth I can't remember ever checking the neck/action on a DB before going to a gig ... it's never been necessary before. The only thing I always check is whether or not the straplock on my Precision has come loose. Yet again.

     

    So my largest bass has picked up both a huge banana-bow and a slight twist and I need to do something about it. Whatever action is needed is clearly outside my skill set and on another planet from my comfort zone. There is a DB luthier quite close to me (Thwaites in Bushey) so that's where I'll take the bass, but I need to know what to tell them to do.

     

    My own feeling is to have the fingerboard shaved to get it into the right profile for playing right now. That's reasonably major sugery and non-reversible.

     

    @Silvia Bluejay feels that I should instead ask Thwaites to try to straighten the neck (steam? clamps? electric shock treatment?). I agree that straightening is an option and would probably work, but my best guess is that it would be a short-term fix and that the fingerboard will tend to 'banana' again back to the same, unplayable condition.

     

    Full disclosure: Before this happened I was just about to do something to the end of the fingerboard anyway. I have ordered one of Steve Whitehouse's custom DB pickups, choosing one of the 'temporary fitment' packs so that I can move it between the Zeller and the Kolstein Busetto. 

     

    353948044_863204078468763_9153208482140694412_n.thumb.jpg.9e98d18f52c6988ca833abd6c76f8b1c.jpg

     

    Although in theory this shouldn't make any difference to the shave/straighten debate, it is something I need to bear in mind.

     

    Right now I'm looking for relevant experience, informed opinion, constructive suggestions. Let's see what I get. 😂😂😂

     

    1960s Kay K1B

    in Basses For Sale

    Posted

    44 minutes ago, silverfoxnik said:

    Looking at your pictures @tayste_2000 really does take me back to Christmas 1975 when my parents bought me one of these from Woolworths as my present that year. Think it cost them about £15..

     

    Now I'm picturing you a year later standing over your pristine bass with a rattle can of black spraypaint and a safety pin through your nose.

     

    😂

    Extension of expression (DB to E-Bass)

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    I really can't imagine having a bass guitar with a neck anywhere near the depth of that on a DB.

     

    I've had both the Takamine TB10 (a great instrument) and the Safran Iris with which I replaced it. Both of those have necks - unsurprisingly  - far more like a bass guitar than a DB.

     

    Playing a bass on a strap in an upright position is a very awkward thing, unless you happen to be Bill Wyman.

     

    I strongly recommend you start by simply buying a cheap fretless to experiment with. Lots of bassists buy a fretless and find they don't get on with it, so they are easy to find pre-owned and often at very reasonable prices.

    • Like 3

    Modulus Quantum Q5

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    I spent ages trying to find a Quantum neck in the early days of Basschat (so we're talking 2007-09 here) without success.

     

    I love graphite necks (hence my Status Streamline) and I love the 35" scale (hence my Mike Lull) but putting them together has always been a bit of a problem.

     

    Rob Green (Status) wouldn't even talk to me about it. 😂

    Yet more noob questions

    in EUB and Double Bass

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, pete.young said:

     

    Who are you, and what have you done with the real @Happy Jack ?

     

    Bwahahahahaha!!!

     

    In truth, I have ... ahem ... well actually I have ... erm ... four DBs of varying size and design.

     

    BUT (and it's a big BUT) there's no real overlap between them and they are all for different purposes.

     

    So there.

     

    😏

    • Like 2
    • Haha 1

    Seeking advice; Recording pub gigs, GoPro etc.

    in Accessories and Misc

×
×
  • Create New...