Cato

The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails is one of my all time favourite albums. It does a superb job conveying its themes.

There are definitely degrees of story telling when it comes to concept albums. At one end of the spectrum you have 'The Wall' by Pink Floyd or 'Tommy' by the Who where there is a relatively clear and easy to follow story being told accross the album. At the other end of the scale you have stuff like Iron Maiden's 'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son', where apparently there was a story being told but to this day I have no idea what that story was,apart from a vague idea that it might have had something to do with wizards.

Those gauges should be absolutely fine for slap (or any other style). Is it possible it might be a technique issue? You don't need to slap or pull the strings very hard to get a good slap sound, a lighter touch is generally better. Also basses are generally noisier than electric guitars when it come to string noise & fret buzz, especially if you hit the strings hard. Other than that my only suggestion is to take the bass to another luthier or tech, demonstrate the problems you are having and get a second opinion.

Clayton does exactly what he needs to for the U2 gig. Whether or not you are a fan, the popularity of their music speaks for itself. I don't think any of us will be in a position to judge him as an unimaginative or 'bad' bass player until he releases a solo album that showcases the full range of his skills. He hasn't always helped himself mind, I remember an interview in Guitarist ( or possibly Bassist) in the 90s where he spoke about using sequencers and loopers on U2's most recent tours and essentially miming for large parts of the show. I have wondered if those comments are the fountainhead of a lot of the derision aimed in his direction.

11200ish. I'm not really surprised. I've spent a lot of time at loud gigs in small venues & its only in the last year or so that I've started wearing ear plugs in an attempt to save what I've got left.

I don't know about Spector pickup width, but I installed a set of AJ70s in my squire jazz a couple of months ago and they're standard Fender Jazz size, with the neck pickup being slightly shorter than the bridge. If its just pickup covers after and your not bothered about branding then try http://www.allparts.uk.com/collections/plastic-pickup-covers/single-coil-jazz-bass-style

[quote name='PaulGibsonBass' timestamp='1454676057' post='2971929'] Nice live stuff from Frankie in 1984 here... Mark O'Toole rocking a nice Cutlass I by the look of it. I thought they couldn't play..? [/quote] The recording of Relax is legendary & there are a lot of myths and rumours about it. From what I've read over the years my impression is that the problem wasn't so much that the original Frankie line up couldn't play ( they'd been gigging for a while before they got signed) it was that Trevor Horne had a definite idea in his mind about how he wanted the song to sound and neither Frankie or half the session musicians in the UK, including members of the Blockheads could get the song to sound the way he wanted it to. The eventual single release was stitched together from about a million different sessions ,including some from band members ,with some serious post production thrown in for good measure. Of course others may have heard different versions of what actually went on during those sessions.

Strangely I like that a lot more than the bass.

I can't imagine Quo are short of cash. I imagine it would take a fair whack to be enough of an incentive to do a one off private gig.

I think it depends on your mobile, mines a bit rubbish for internet stuff in general, but the mobile version of the site is generally excellent on my Kindle Fire. (Apart from not being able to watch embedded youtube vids since the last software 'upgrade' but thats entirely a problem with the Kindle, not Basschat).

I've got the first couple of Cribs albums, which I like a lot. I suppose their biggest claim to fame is that Johnny Marr joined the band for an album & a tour. Pretty surprised Gary's got his own signature model though, although they've been touring internationally for years, maybe they've got wider appeal than I realised?

I thought it was great.

I'm not sure Fender can really win. If any of us were offered our choice of any new Fender bass from the current range how many would go for a Dimension? Over the years they've had a few goes at doing something different both with guitars & basses, none of which, as far as I know, have set the world alight sales wise.

They seem roughly in line price wise with the deluxe line they are replacing. The natural jazz with black blocks looks very promising, similar to the Squire VM 70s which for me is just about the best looking bass in the entire Fender range (especially now they seem to have discontinued the natural deluxe).

I'm sure you could rig something similar up with a slotted cork superglued onto an old drill bit & a Black & Decker cordless... What could possibly go wrong?

There's no definitive answer for me, my tastes are in constant flux. As an example, for years I found Rickenbacker 4001s & 4003s to be unspeakinkaby ugly, then one day I saw one in darkest blue & fell instantly,inexplicably, head over heels. If I'd had the funds I'd have bought it on the spot, about 30 seconds after seeing it, probably without even trying it out. I also used to be pretty indifferent towards Jazz basses. Now I own 2 & think its generally just about the sexiest shape around. My love is fickle.

From my somewhat limited experience with 5s the only immediate possible problem might be that you have to adjust your left hand technique more to cope with the extra width of the neck. On a four a lot of the time you can play with your thumb over the neck, on a lot of fives that doesn't work so well so you need to go for the more 'correct' thumb on the back of the neck left hand position. Of course if you already have a more or less classical left hand technique on guitar it probably won't be much of a change.

That is stunning. If it plays half as good as it looks then its going to be something really quite special.

Or got wet. Its still amazing though.

I only signed up relatively recently but it seems very pleasant here so I reckon I'll be staying for the forseeable. I sometimes read talkbass but I'm never tempted to join, it just seems way too serious.No danger of that here.

I'm getting tempted to get my first 5 after 25 odd years of playing. That may be down to Basschat inspired gas rather than any practical need though & I'm not entirely confident that the extra string won't end up getting most use as a 34 inch ( or longer) thumb rest in my case.

I found these guys when I was looking for something else. http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/bpickup_covers.htm There are probaby others who sell pick up covers a bit closer to home.

Probably less than I used to. I used to listen to the Zane Lowe show a lot on Radio 1 which was a great way of hearing new stuff, since he left the show's focus seems to have shifted more from new bands to new dj's/producers which isn't in itself a bad thing but less to my personal taste. Me and a few mates do try to go into Brum every couple of months to watch a band on the national touring circuit, more often than not its someone none of us have heard. It may be because Birmingham has a huge student population but generally the audiences for those bands are late teens/ 20s. I've been a bit surprised at some of the recent comments on here about young people not going to gigs anymore because that hasn't really chimed with my recent experience at all. Though maybe those people are talkng about pub gigs rather than national tours.

Its listed on the Fender webiste at £2700.Which actually seems to be at the cheaper end of the scale for the current custom shop models. Compred to the Pino or the Dusty Hill its an absolute snip. There is an actual jazz shaped Journeyman Jazz as well. Aparently 'journeyman' refers to a light reliced finish.

I'd have to go with Stone Roses closely followed by the Wedding Present's Bizarro. Honourable mention for Sisters of Mercy-Floodland.