Al Krow

Which (will hopefully be again shortly) touring bassists currently pretty much only play 6ers these days? Not being snarky - genuine curiosity question.

How's that going? 😁

Ordered a HB PSU (they really are good value and very compact!) from Thomann. Under £135 so no additional charges to pay UPS. Arrived within a week and completely hassle free. All good: somehow, despite you know what, the world is still turning 😊

Sorry I beat you to it this time around 😁 (PS did you get around to re-checking the OC-5 tracking?) To the OP: if this is your first 6er then good for you. Taking up a new challenge after your 30 years of playing bass is a great way of keeping things "fresh", particularly with the current lack of gigs.

Jaco wasn't addicted to 6 strings 😁

Congrats. Already sounds like you're going to enjoy this a LOT; not least for the fantastic price you managed to bag it for!

Having recently got a predecessor Carvin BB, I've started noticing Kiesel a lot more these days and just come across your post Rick. This PJ 5er, 24 frets, headless, could be an interesting alternative to a Status.

Wow! Thanks for that confirmation - and look forward to getting your update. I have to agree with your comment about the OC-3 which, FWIW I rated as my worst bass gear purchase in 2019(!) - but mostly from a poor tracking perspective. I guess why I'm really glad to be hearing the comments above about how well the OC-5 tracks. Seems like Boss may well have taken some of the tracking tech from their SY-1 pedal which is sitting on my board and has ridiculously good tracking.

Indeed we are! I was actually referring to all the contributors to this 4 year old thread, which seems to be as popular as ever. I guess it's a simple testimony to just what great basses these Yamaha BBs are 😊

Here's my Metro 24 with John's 'pedal risers' attached over the existing feet, with the suggested bit of glue to stop them popping off. I "clamped" overnight with some heavy books across either end and it seems to have worked a treat - but will be interesting to see how they securely they remain in place when the board is used and knocked in a live setting. @jrixn1 - ok if I recharge the cost of the HB Iso12 and the Boss OC-5 to your account, that have both been ordered in the past week directly as a result of your (excellent!) hack? 😁

Great to hear! In terms of tracking - how low are you managing to get it to track without glitching?

That's a good price - thanks for the heads up. Also ordered.

Yeah I've noticed an increased prevalence of short scales with us aging BC'ers! But Hooke's law dictates (or, if not that, whatever the relevant physics is!) that we are likely to get a muddier E and certainly low B string with shorter scales, although maybe 32" is still ok for a low B? Be really interesting to see how you find it on that score. 6,000 posts? How did that happen? 🥂 😊

My white BB425 got moved on a while back (not sure which BC'er has it now!) and the current white model I have is the mid range BB1025, which is a bit more expensive than the 425, but still great value. The spacing is usually 18mm on Yammy 5ers - is that too wide for you? If so, I guess you're going to be limited to basses like your existing Ibby SRs with their 16.5mm or Spectors with their 17.0mm - albeit with a 35" scale that took a little getting used to initially for me, having been a purely 34" scale player beforehand.

You about to come over to the light side and get a Yammy, Woody?! Wasn't expecting that! Tbf a £150 BB425 in good nick would be an absolute steal. But also an excellent bass, not just "for the money!"

Agreed.

I'm just responding to krispns query earlier and also trying to get my head around the issue of string forces (which I have now done to my own satisfaction anyway!) With regard to 4 a side headstocks, maybe we're at cross purposes here? The tuner positioning certainly isn't to one side with the traditional headstock, but actually pretty evenly spaced across the width of the head.

John - absolutely brilliant hack, thank you! Ordered a pack of 4 (just under £6) and they fit like a glove on my Metro 24. Bit of Uhu glue going on shortly, as per your recommendation, and a decent PSU (HB Iso-12) to slot underneath on its way from Thomann 😊

I appreciate that Captain Hooke's analysis may only be hanging by a thread 😊 However I do believe it is the best approach here and nice to be able to dust off my physics A-level / undergrad notes for once! "Hooke's law is applicable not only to coil springs...but also to the bending of metal and some other materials, the stretching of wires like guitar strings, the stretching of rubber bands, and the stretching and compressing of chemical bonds." [Source: Hooke's law (xaktly.com)]

Very good! But potentially more relevant / correct than a theoretical analysis of tension based on the concept of mass-less strings?

Here you go, enjoy. Force is proportional to cross-sectional area i.e. the width of the string.

I think it could have legs. What lyrics would you add....? 😁

Actually that's a "deep" (and very fair) question! I've got as far as there is a correlation between string gauge and greater tension for a given string...

Most folk go in at the front with their pedal boards. A few still use pedals in the amps effects loop, but it seems to becoming more of a minority sport this century 😁 I think a key reason for doing the latter is to avoid any colouration from the amp's preamp section. But if you dislike your amp's preamp that much, worth asking the question whether it's worth bothering to keep the amp?

I actually think the 2+3 headstock might be the "right" answer in terms of balancing string weight / tension on each side of the headstock from an engineering perspective. Used by a Mr Ken Smith and actually also by Ibanez. Yup I wonder if Mr NE ever managed to lay hands on a Spector during his many years of playing bass and sneakily plays it at home when no one's looking? 😁