scrumpymike

What a bummer! That must really take the edge off owning a good amp.

Thanks skelf - I know this is pretty complicated. The compromise I'm after is low physical input with good sonic definition but I don't know how to translate that into a string spec. Maybe time to have a chat with Newtone.

Thanks for the lead. As you suggest, shorter scale normally means lower tension and a heavier gauge is the obvious way to add some tension back - hence my surprise at how good the light-gauge Fender strings sounded on my tuned-down 30" scale bass.

I've been asked to dep with a rock band from now til the New Year. I only play short-scale basses nowadays and the band tune down a semi. Had a rehearsal with them on Sunday and tried out my Maruszczyk Elwood (medium-gauge D'Addario flats) and my Andy Jr special (Fender Rascal neck/electrics/hardware on custom body with original light-gauge Fender rounds). Surprisingly (to me anyway) it was the custom bass that gave the best sound (thru my Mesa Subway 800 and 2 x BF Super Compact G3 cabs). The band seemed happy but I'd like to experiment a bit with different strings on the Elwood. Any suggestions for what might tighten things up a bit?

JB has always been one of my bass heroes too. The first band I played in as a teenager did mainly Cream and Hendrix stuff and won the local Youth Music Festival with Sunshine (yours truly on bass & lead vocals!!) - great memories ☺️

Nothing if not consistent - looked just the same when she was Christine Perfect in Chicken Shack.

Jogged by the mentions of Jet Harris, my tired old brain has just come up with another couple of names - Eric Haydock and (post-'66) Bernie Calvert of The Hollies. I saw the band - including EH - in '64 as a kid on holiday at the Princes Theatre in Torquay, where they were sharing the bill with Jet Harris and Tony Meehan. I was mainly interested in The Hollies for their vocal harmonies but I really loved the distinctive bass lines Haydock played on a Fender VI, although Calvert turned out to be a more than adequate replacement.

My 'I was made to play bass' moment was hearing Stevie Wonder's 'I Was Made To Love Her' for the first time in '67. Although I'd already been playing bass for 3 years by then, that bass part went straight to my soul and raised the bar for me. Certainly exciting to my ears then - and now. Pretty much every other name on my late-'60s radar has already been mentioned except Trevor Williams. He played bass with one of my all-time favourite bands, Audience, who just about scrape into the decade as they started in '69.

Thanks again 👍

Given all the circumstances, it's probably the best possible Fleetwood Mac.

Thanks.

Not a bad effort but Neil Finn doesn't have the attack and edge of LB at his best - mind you neither does Buckingham himself nowadays. Interesting to note that he's effectively been replaced by 3 guitarists. BTW, what bass is Mr McVie playing here? In this mix sounds a bit woolly for The Chain IMO.

Okay, I'll see if I can sort something.

'Thrust' appears to be some sort of fancy compression. Even though I sold it, I liked my BH550 - the onboard tuner and Toneprint were handy.

Top marks Andy - really pleased for you and Len_derby!

Hi again El_JimBob, just an observation based on your last post. If a quality truss-rod has been correctly fitted and used (however frequently), there's no reason why it should seize.

That's just not acceptable. Like I said before, he's walking on thin ice and needs to give customer complaints-handlng to a professional. If further proof were needed that Adrian himself does not have the necessary skills, then you've just provided that proof. I wouldn't now buy another bass direct from Public Peace, so my choices are either buy used off this forum or new from Bass Direct. Given the high-handed attitude he seems to be adopting, Adrian may not have UK distributor for much longer - or a business! In terms of advice, it gets a bit tricky when reasoning and pleading have failed. If I were you, I'd consider getting an inspection and report done by a suitably qualified person. It may even be worth contacting Mark at Bass Direct to see whether they'd be prepared to have a look and give an opinion - he can only say no but at least you've made him aware that there's a fair bit of dissatisfaction with Maruszczyk quality in the UK*. You could also harness Basschat power by organising a petition - "We the undersigned are UK customers of Public Peace. We are concerned about the recent poor quality of some of the basses we have purchased from you and think your refusal to rectify E_JB's bass is unreasonable. We therefore wish to register our support for his claim." I'd be happy to put my name to something along those lines to be sent to Adrian and copied to Mark. *If I were Mark, I'd be monitoring this topic and getting involved without being asked.

Despite the issues I've posted, my Elwood is still my 'go to' bass - and my Cazpar was/is flawless. As NickD posted, I'd like the best of M to be what everybody gets.

I understand where you're coming from with this comment. When I had problems with my Elwood last year, Adrian sorted them and I decided to post nothing at the time out of loyalty to the M brand and because nobody gets it right every time. In view of the recent experiences of others, I decided to share mine because: a) it's obvious that there is a significant quality issue, b) I am still a big fan of Adrian M, c) constructive criticism is IMHO what he needs and (last but not least) d) I know that Pierreganseman will feed this stuff back to Mr M. I think Public Peace has now reached the point where he has to put in place proper quality-control and customer-complaint systems run by people with the necessary specialist skills.

I remember you posting about this - and I've since discovered the probable reason. When I changed my Elwood over to strap-locks, the screw that fixed the original bottom button was in extremely tight and I had to be careful not to round the head off. Once I carefully got it moving it was obvious that it had been driven in at an angle nearer 45 degrees than 90 degrees to the body surface. On close inspection of the extracted screw, I saw the shank was actually bent at the point where the button meets the body. This is the best way I know to weaken/break a screw. In practice, failure often happens later either due to repeated loading from the strap - as in Woody's case I think - or when you try to take the screw out as I did (i was the lucky one!). I had already noticed that most of the scratch-plate screws hadn't gone in straight either as the heads weren't sitting flat. You'd be shocked if you found that on a £150 Ibanez (which you wouldn't - I've owned a couple).