skankdelvar

Centred up. Given you generally can't see the fingerboard while you're playing, why don't they put them on the back of the neck. And number them. Schoolboy error, imho.

If the gig's important or particularly well-paid, hire a session drummer. Some will do it for as little as £50-100. Plenty on sites like musofinder, gumtree etc If you go that route bang 'em a recording of your set and have a rhsal with them the day before..... Drop any particularly difficult or weird songs and stretch the others a little with extended drum intros, breakdowns in the middle, "put yer hands together" (if you're that sort of band), audience chat. You should have no difficulty persuading your guitarist to double the length of any solos... Venue won't notice if you come in 5 mins under...then start looking for another drummer, just in case this happens again...

[quote name='fumps' post='286063' date='Sep 17 2008, 05:05 PM']So here goes.......i am still a little confused as to where the info for the beginner is on this site.[/quote] You'll find lots about basses in the forum - gear - with a bass guitars sub-forum and lots about amps etc in the amps and cabs sub-forum. Loads of posts from people asking the same sort of questions, and scads of useful info. Enjoy.

But where have all the Subs gone? The few shop BIN's that appear are priced loopy high

I knocked up a Brandoni Jazz a few years ago. Bit heavy, otherwise did me proud as a cheap gigging axe. Solid hardware, pickups nowt special but do job. Finishing the wood was a bit dull and slow. Ditto varnishing neck. Construction was pretty straightforward - bit of measuring, etc. Cheaper than buying separates, and if you can get it for less than £169.99 fine; but this was before good, cheap Squiers...

25% off for blues, full up for all else. Sometimes use vol pot (only goes up).

I've tried those bass lines as well. Ten times more difficult than you think. Man's an unsung genius. I'd have just died on the spot. Well done!

John Hiatt

Peter Cook's in Hanwell, West London. Not really a bass shop, but good value and open to a deal if you just want a guitar or yer usual vanilla Precisions, Jazz's, Epiphones and Blueburst Ricks. When you walk in, it doesn't look like they've got much, but anything they list, they have - it's all in boxes out the back. So not really a browser shop - decide what it is you want before you go in. Fastest in-shop set-up I've ever seen. Out of the box, relief, string height and intonation on a Telecaster in about 3 minutes. For nowt. Averagely polite in a weary way, but given the spacker customers I've seen in there, I don't blame 'em.

Everybody always says 'Arriving at the gig, be nice to the Soundman; buy him a drink" etc etc. So how come they're not buried under piles of chocs, flowers, cuddly toys? No imputation intended; just wondering.

IMHO, a riff that leaves you with little to do but ...er...[i]follow the guitar[/i]. For the main riff, try half as many notes as you're currently playing. When it opens out, play twice as many. So, less busy under the main bit, more busy under the 'open' bit. As an aside, I'd ask him to play it three times faster. Much more fun, and he'll have to come up with yet more riffs to fill the time available. Heh-heh-heh!

After a break of a couple of weeks, I come back to the bass and my digits are flying round the frets faster than before. I also seem to be playing quite different basslines. Am I just imagining this, or is there some physical or mental reason for this apparent improvement?

Sarah, you've started a firestorm on the bent neck thread! Well, a smouldering bonfire, anyhow. Again, enjoy the gig. Just glare menacingly, wiggle your tongue, set your axe on fire and spit blood at the audience.

[quote name='6stringbassist' post='269686' date='Aug 25 2008, 07:12 PM']Mines flat and doesn't rattle, the action at the 12th fret is about 1.5/2mm. I use 120-30 strings, I do have quite a light playing style, but fast fingerstyle doesn't cause any rattles.[/quote] Well, YMMV. The OP's playing metal (?) on a Dean Metal Man bass. Smidge of relief would help with all that right hand action. Matron. BTW - If, fretted 1 and end, your neck relief at the 12th is 1.5 - 2mm, then clearly you have a measurable relief. If, OTOH, I'm misunderstanding and you mean 1.5 - 2mm unfretted, then that's brilliantly low, and reflects your excellent choice of bass for the music you're playing. Those are pretty light strings, which theoretically should [i]increase[/i] fret-buzz. You must have the touch of a jeweller... Nice work sir.

Hi - as per your other thread: suggest you leave it till after the gig, unless it's much less playable than before. You may have only just noticed that the neck has a slight bow on it. Don't worry - it's [i]meant [/i]to have a slight amount of bow to allow the strings to vibrate - see attached sketch. [attachment=12640:neckrelief.jpg] So, come Sunday, when you come to do it. [b]Check the relief[/b] Holding the bass in a sitting playing position, with your left hand fret the E string, (or the b if it's a 5-string) at the first fret. Place your right hand little finger on the same string at the 15th fret. The string should now form a straight line between these two frets. There should be a very slight gap of around 1mm between the bottom of the string and the 8th fret. This is about normal. (Keeping your little finger on the string, try tapping the string with your thumb. There should be a little 'impact' as the string hits the fret). Much more than a mill or two and it'll be difficult to play Much less, or flat to fingerboard, and you'll get fret buzz and a floppy tone. [b]To adjust the neck relief[/b] * Remove the truss rod cover on the headstock. Put the very lose-able screws to one side, in a saucer or something * Slacken off the strings completely. * Using the correct tool - allen key, screwdriver, as recommended by the Mfr - insert tool into truss rod cavity and engage with the truss rod nut * To flatten the neck out more: Tighten the truss rod - Turn clockwise (this is the usual way, but check with the Mfr first) * To increase the bow : Loosen the truss rod - Turn anti-clockwise (this is the usual way, but check with the Mfr first * Turn no more than 1/8th of a turn. (If you're tightening the truss rod there should be a little resistance at first, but if the nut will not turn - stop! Go to your repairer. ) * After making the turn, return your strings to normal pitch, give them each a little tug to take the slack off the string turns on the tuner post, retune again and try the 'check' as described above * If the string are now buzzing on the frets, or the action feels too low, repeat the above procedure, loosening the truss rod, but now only by a 16th of a turn * If the strings are too high, repeat the above procedure, tightening the truss rod, but now only by a 16th of a turn In this way, you can gently zero in on the right amount of relief. Setting neck relief takes a while to do, as you need to make small adjustments and then check, and then adjust again, etc until you're happy with how it feels and sounds. [b]Finishing off[/b] Once you've set your neck relief, make any adjustments you may wish to make to string height by adjusting your bridge saddles. Finally, check and if necessary set your intonation - it will have changed during the procedure. As a tip, try setting the intonation on your G string 5 cents flat. I find it helps to make the sound slightly sweeter when tuning at 5th fret or using 5th > 7th harmonics. Finally, replace your truss rod cover. Nice, eh? Check the neck relief after a few days to make sure it's settled in OK. It may need further minor tweaking to settle down.

[quote]Have done intonation and string height before but never the truss rod so not sure whether to leave it..[/quote] Unless it's become unplayable, leave tweaking it till Sunday. Just practice your licks. Truss rods are pretty straightforward - have seen a couple of threads on here, plus loads of advice elsewhere on the web. Main thing is: 1) If it won't move, don't force it - stop and take it to a luthier. 2) Only ever tiny increments - no more than 1/16th to 1/8th of a turn. And always slacken off the strings before adjusting, then back up to pitch to check. Have a lovely gig

Bass / GTR market doesn't seem to follow the same rules as others - e.g. art, books, vintage cars. 'Rarity' doesn't seem to enter the equation - after all, there must be thousands of pre-65 p-basses out there. And they're worth £3,000 - 50,000! Whereas a numerically rarer yet comparably 'good' EB0 would go for £1,000 - 3,000. 'Older' seems to be the driving force, not 'fewer' If these rules applied in the art world, a Constable would go for lots, but a Damien Hirst for pennies. While we might relish such an outcome, it clearly does not pertain to commercial reality. For the record, I reckon cheap 50's and early 60's basses - Danelectro, Valco, Sears, Harmony, National etc - are the ones to watch. After the classics, but before Jap-Crap. But YMMV.

One guitarist is a good guitarist. Two guitarists are swine.

Used to have them at Survival Studios (Rehearsal room in Acton, W. London) dunno if they still do. Sounded ************* glorious, almost the best sound ever. Problem was, the early ones crapped out about every 3 days. Heat related problems, bit like those on the DSL's and TSL's. Circuit board warping, cold solder joints. If you're going to buy a VBA, get a later one, or one that's been past an amp tech. Probably wise to upgrade the fan. Plus, there's a lot of power tubes in there. Re-valve costs v. high. I reckon possible to do them 2 at a time, rather than a full set. And the rig, even in 4 spkr format, weighs ludicrous. But despite all this, it's soooooooo worth it.

+1 on posting the audio. Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on!