peted

10 pounds added to the pot.

[quote name='phatmonkey' post='337389' date='Nov 26 2008, 04:01 PM']Whups, my bad. We had a bit of a DNS crisis yesterday, I forgot about the wiki.[/quote] There's a wiki?

Ooh, this is something a bit different. Looking forward to following this...

[quote name='7string' post='337848' date='Nov 26 2008, 10:57 PM']From Essex it's just a swift drive to Stanstead and an hour in the plane Prices start from 1p + tax. [/quote] You're right, I have no excuse

My Warwick Thumb BO 4. It's the sound of bass in my head and a joy to play. It's highly likely to be knocked into 2nd place by my forthcoming custom though

That is gorgeous, and it's not even finished yet! It's a shame you're up the other end of Britain as I'd love to check this out in person.

Great news! Can't wait to see the finished bass. I bet it's going to be a real looker.

I love how they seem to get better the further down the post you go. You have a lot of very interesting basses there.

I have permanent tinnitus. I don't notice it during the day but can drive me nuts if I'm in a silent room or trying to hear something faint. Fortunately after a while you'll find that your brain will naturally filter out the background noise of tinnitus, eventually. Just try not to dwell on it and 'tune out' of the sound rather than concentrating on it.

I've known Gamble for a fair few years now and he's a top bloke. I've sold him a Samson rack compressor, and fretless bass. Not a bad bassist either

Be careful about taking Wattage advice from guitarists! They can fill a stadium with a 100 Watt guitar amp, but you'll need at least a 300 Watt bass amp to be heard against them. My rule of thumb for bass is that you should add up the wattage of your guitarist's rigs, then double it to get the figure for your own amp. E.g. If you've got 2 guitarists in your band, each with a 100 Watt amps, you'll need 2x(100W + 100W) = 400 Watts to keep up at a minimum.

The lines are pleasing, but I don't like it. There's more than a hint of Les Paul shape going on there.

Neck dive and a dodgy nut - they've copied the Warwick Thumb to a T!!! The only place i've seen that particular model of Westfield is in Cash Converters, where they were selling them new. I'm guessing that Cash Converters bought a big job-lot from the Far East and had sole distribution.

I've been using my Hartke 3500 head for quite a few years now. I've replaced the Sovtek valve with a Groove Tubes Mullard and put an Aphex Bass Xciter in front of it and that seems to have beefed up the otherwise very thin sound I got from it. The amp doesn't sound inspiring when played on its own, but in a band setting it really cuts through and sounds great in the mix. It gives me miles of headroom even from it's 350 Watt spec. The only gripes I've got with it are that it hums quite loudly when it's on, so it's not all that great in the studio, the onboard compressor just sucks all the tone out of your playing and is best left off, and it's quite heavy compared to all these tiny digital amps which are popular at the moment.

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='331202' date='Nov 18 2008, 01:45 AM']Forgot to mention that Jon said he plans to let the bass grace the home page of the shuker website for a bit too.[/quote] With that facing wood I'm not surprised. That's gorgeous that is!

Got my first photo today. The 7 piece wenge and maple neck: [attachment=15988:DSCN5063.jpg] [quote name='eude' post='324037' date='Nov 7 2008, 10:23 AM']Is the neck going to be more wenge than maple?[/quote] That'll be wenge then! w00t!!

[quote name='Mike' post='327519' date='Nov 12 2008, 12:49 PM']We could have a Chelmsford bash and I could bring my 2 Shukers [/quote] Would be very interested in hooking up to compare Shukers. I also need someone local to let me know where all the best places are for live music! [quote name='Mikey R' post='327617' date='Nov 12 2008, 02:17 PM']Spose we'd best get busy then... Looking forward to how yours turns out! I was really impressed with the Shukers I tried on Sunday, yours will be a top bass when its done.[/quote] Likewise, I'm relying on watching the progress on yours for inspiration Better get back to practicing my chops so I deserve such an awesome bass! [quote name='dood' post='328109' date='Nov 13 2008, 08:37 AM']Hey Pete!!! Well, this is gonna be one awesome bass!! Your wood/hardware spec is pretty much the same as Doodle, so I can guess what sort of tone you'll be getting - though I suspect the fan fret/scale differences will lend a lot to the tone... but even without the fan fret system.. she's gonna sound awesome!![/quote] The spec did seem to converge with Doodle as we went. I guess it's because you made so many sensible choices

I was initially taught bass by a guitar teacher and he was great. Most of the lessons were based around scale theory and navigating the fretboard. He also gave me plenty of exercises to practice fingerstyle plucking and made sure that I was really holding my right hand properly. I had historically played keyboard and piano a bit, so the theory wasn't completely alien. Therefore I believe that you [i]can[/i] be taught bass by a guitarist, but I don't like the sound of your lesson structures personally. My teacher did tab a song for me probably every few lessons to keep me interested. The majority of my 'homework' though was to play scales across strings, up one string, in different positions, using modes, etc. This practice I feel was invaluable. I did get to a point where my teacher had to turn around and tell me that I'd exhausted his knowledge of bass. I think in the long run you will benefit from being taught bass by a bassist. On my TODO list is return to lessons with a proper bass teacher.

[quote name='Hamster' post='327178' date='Nov 11 2008, 11:08 PM'][/quote] Call me a killjoy, but I can't see a single power point there. Will the next SE Bash be acoustic only

I've got a racked Hartke HA3500 (350 Watts). I'm based in Chelmsford but will be in Harlow for a band practice Thursday night (still 60 miles travel for you each way). PM me if you're interested.

The only idea I like from the above is the ability to host web stores for those companies who are already 'part' of Basschat. I don't think the cost should come from a percentage of those sales as it will encroach on the bargains which could potentially become available. I don't mind paying a small voluntary subscription for a few extra perks, like a bigger PM inbox and the ability to pin my For Sale ads to the top of that forum.

Share funny stories with the band and talk about any events from the past week, have a beer (just the one!), check out the local totty, and go for a wee just before hitting the stage. I used to be VERY nervous before taking to the stage, but most of that is gone now. I also used to drink a lot before going on stage and found that the improvement in my bass player was purely in my head.

[quote name='Merton' post='326508' date='Nov 11 2008, 08:54 AM']Sounds awesome, looking forward to pics of this! Shame tho as Mikey and I thought we were the first people in the UK to be doing a fanned-fret singlecut bass (see linky in my sig...) but this will probably get finished first We've angled the PUps on ours (well, Mikey's design) to match the polepieces and string spacing, plus it follows the fan nicely so looks good [/quote] Hi Merton. I did see the thread for your build project - great minds think alike! I think it was seeing your prototype that gave me that final nudge to get this bass made. I'm not convinced that Jon will finish this before you've finished yours though. I'm trying to manage my own expectations regarding timescales here. I haven't asked Jon for an estimate of how long the bass will take as the figures never seem to match reality. Based on the other high profile Shuker builds on here I think it's going to take about 11-12 months. I'm quite happy about that build time as it means I can spread the payments. My manic enthusiasm is starting to subside, thankfully. When I was drawing up the spec with Jon I was thinking about this bass 24/7! Looking forward to seeing your build progress. Cheers buddy.

That looks ridiculously detailed. Gorgeous. How does it sound?

I think your tone requirements outsrip what is possible with a practice amp. I'd recommend either building or commissioning a BFM Omni 10.5 and hooking it up to your Markbass head. Personally, I love my Lowdown 110 and have even used it to gig a couple of times! (with PA support - a must).