Cato

Pink Floyd is about as far down the prog road as I've travelled.

I tried to listen to Rush after their excellent performace at the Taylor Hawkins tribute, but I couldn't get used to Geddy's vocals.

Another vote for the Zoom.

They're a great and inexpensive entry point into the world of effects pedals, also good enough to gig with.

I've not had a look at mine but I'd be very suprised if there was anything more than the standard black shielding paint you get in most pickup/electronics cavities.

I definitely wouldn't describe my 1st gen V7 as a noisy bass though.

Generally speaking, active basses do tend to be quiter than passive and humbuckers are usually quieter than single coils, so, on paper anyway out of the two Sire models the OP mentions the M2 with it's active electronics and humbuckers should be quiter than both the active and passive versions of the V3 with it's single coils.

5 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

I am continually amazed by how many people have learned to live with crap setups. Any instruments I've bought used usually come with ludicrously high action, starting at the nut and working all the way down the neck.

I can cope with a high action. I learnt on a bass like that and in those pre internet days I never learned how to adjust it.

What trips me up me is basses with an action so low that anything other than a feather light touch causes massive fretbuzz.

My technique just isn't that subtle.

There's quite a long wikipedia article on the term 'Geordie'.

The short version is that the earliest recorded use of the term seems to be applied to miners from the Newcastle area.

There's no universally agreed on explanation of where it comes from but one candidate is that it stems from 19th Century miners from that area prefering the 'Geordie' lamp designed by George Stephenson to the Davey Lamps more widely used in other parts of the country.

Barring the Bass V, Fender were quite late to the 5 string game, I think their first 'low B' 5 string was early 90s?

I'm not sure they've ever really caught up, although I know their Jazz and P fivers have their fans.

I can't see them doing a B to C six in the neat future.

That's a lovely looking instrument.

Getting a Bass VI last year has turned me into a fan of 3 pickup basses.

2 hours ago, msb said:

 I’m doing a mostly instrumental project , Mexican music , if you can imagine a Mexican take on the Ventures … so I’m thinking it might be fun. 

Sounds like something you'd hear on a Tarrantino soundtrack.

Love the Univox btw, I've been very tempted by a few models in Eastwood's Mosrite inspired Sidejack range in recent years.

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Some pretty good ones, and some unexpected 

That's an outstanding setlist.

That band looks like it's going to be a whole lot of fun.

Congratulations.

This is my Indian laurel Squier Bass Vi.

This is my rosewood P bass.

If I didn't know I'm genuinely not sure I could tell which was which or even that they were made from different woods.

Maybe it's more obvious on more figured rosewood boards?

Anyway, I'm more than happy with both.

On 29/12/2022 at 16:24, Smanth said:

I've been playing it a lot these past few days, and loving it more and more ... apart from one crucial factor ... my fretting hand was cramping up and the tendons on the back of the hand were starting to get sore.  This is the same problem I have when I play a long scale but never experience with short scales.  I had hoped that the fan fret would let me manage the mid scaleness of the lower strings, but sadly this turned out not to be the case; I can get by with 30 inch but nowt longer.

 

Daft question but have you considered stringing a shortscale 4 stringer for BEAD.

I've not tried it myself, no idea whether it would work on a cheaper bass, but given that there are shortscale five strings it seems like it might.

I've not tried this particular model but Squier have really raised their game in the last few years.

Quality is top notch, they've started offering classic models in some seriously funky colours rather and they're putting out a couple of models each year which don't really have an equivalent in the Fender range, the double humbucking active Contemporary Jazz being a case in point.

Depends on the exact models, but generally

Ibanez =lightweight, thin neck, modern sound

Fender = varying weight, chunkier necks, classic sound.

I'd expect both to be of pretty much equal decent quality at the eqivalant price points, so I suppose it comes down to whether you want that vintage or  modern feel and sound.

1 hour ago, Ricky Rioli said:

A long long time ago I was in a Thai restaurant in Salisbury. The music was on traditional Thai instruments. It took me several tracks before I was listening to Prince's greatest hits.

When I was a student in Plymouth I used to go to a Chinese restaurant that always used play Chinese language versions of British and American pop songs with Chinese instrumentation.

The one that sticks in my mind for some reason  is 'Like a Virgin'

Squier Bass Vi

I've barely put it down since it arrived, it's just so much fun.

14 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

The article contains links to about 5 other artists who tried to stop Trump using their songs... You'd think he'd get the message being the sensitive type he is!

 

With the US as polarised as it is I can't imagine any comercially minded band or artist wants their work associated with either Republicans or Democrats.

It's just going to alienate half their potential audience.

4 minutes ago, Smanth said:

Thanks @Cato, the strap I use is grippy enough to hold, but I loath the feel of it pulling on my shoulder, trying to drag my neckline down etc.  At present I am mostly playing sitting (cause my back is painful) where a grippy strap would not help (Tho I read about a neat trick where one hooks the strap to the bottom button and then sits on it which apparently stops any dive).

 

There are some other reasons I'm toying woth the headless approach (See my recent post)

 

S'manth x

Fair enough.

I look forwards to another one of your excellent build diaries.

Re: neckdive

Before you do anything drastic it night be worth trying a really grippy strap that'll resist the pull of the neck.

Something like this maybe. (This is the first wide neoprene strap I found on a google, there are very similat products available for less money).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ernie-Ball-Neoprene-Polylock-Comfort/dp/B07N8S47HL?th=1

When I first got into music my favourite bands were Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Megadeth.

By my early 20s grunge had happened and I was mainly listening to the like of Dinosaur Jr and Mudhoney with a few British Indie bands like Carter USM and the Wedding Present mixed in. I also started listening to a fair bit of hip hop, mainly fairly mai stream stuff, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem etc

My tasted mainly stayed in that direction, although as time went on mainly skewing towards British bands like Arctic Monkeys, Editors and Maximo Park until around 2010, when I realised I was bored with guitar led music.

The last decade or so I've been on a bit of a journey exploring 70s funk and soul and a bit of modern jazz. Stuff like Chaka Khan, Sly and the Family Stone etc and the likes of Snarky Puppy and Kamasi Washington.

The last week or so, inspired by a couple of threads on jere I've been listening to and very much enjoying The Cure. I'd listened to a few albums and other bits and pieces when I was younger but never really appreciated just how very clever their music is. I do now.

11 minutes ago, Grimalkin said:

It's the "Validate My Godawful Technique Circle Jerk Thread."

 

Very funny indeed.

Looks like your duelling diary is going to be full for a while.

2 hours ago, Grimalkin said:

 

At The Guitar Institute in the '90s, there were around 13 other bassists at that time. Everyone wanted to come out on top, that was unspoken friendly competition. All I'm asking for, is a demonstration of technique, nothing more.

Presumably there was some sort of mutually agreed on points system by which you determined who was best?

I've been a member here since, I think, 2016.

Pretty sure this is the first time I've ever seen someone challenge someone else to a 'Bass Off'.

This is surreal.

As you were.

I used to think that my habit of muting the e string with my thumb sometimes when I play slap was a result of my self taught poor technique and I was fine with that.

A few years ago someone on here posted a link to an old Stu Hamm instructional video where he demonstrated the exact same technique.

If it's good enough for Stu Hamm...

ACG does short scale 5s and 6s.

Not cheap though.

This is just the first example I could find

30.5" scale.

Other body shapes are available.

I've spent over a grand on new USA made Fenders in the past.

The two basses I've played the most this year are my first gen Sire V7 fretless which I think was around £3-400 new and the new Squire Bass VI I got a couple of weeks ago for around £450.