Ukrobbiej

I usually find that a little review on their Facebook page soon sorts things out. I had to do this with gear4music once when I wasn't happy with the service. A little review of my experience on Facebook and I soon had the manager emailing me and pulling out all the stops. I have bought from GAK before, but usually face to face, and they are generally good blokes. The only time they weren't was, ironically in the bass department, where I think the guy was annoyed that I was interrupting his practice time to ask about fretless basses. That was just my perception though. No doubt, you have been extremely badly treated in your case, and they should have sorted it better. Rob

You might like to try la Bella gold nylons. Quite a lot looser than other nylon tape wound strings. Robbie

Yes, this j200 style body is, I think, going to replace the Okement. Si and I decided to call this one the Lowman (which is a river somewhere I. The south west- Cornwall I think). Not sure if Si has gone with this as an official model. The label still says Otter, but between the boys and I this is a Lowman. The top is Engelman, the back and sides are Bubinga, and the neck walnut. Thentuners are hipshot, having a bit of a false start with some absolutely crap Schaller da Vincis. Here is another gratuitous picture [URL=http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/ukrobbiej/media/Lowman%20Bass/March%202016%20Rob%20Bass%202_zps5gusrmw6.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x413/ukrobbiej/Lowman%20Bass/March%202016%20Rob%20Bass%202_zps5gusrmw6.jpg[/IMG][/URL] And this is what the beast sounds http://youtu.be/DuqCBgLBWkM

Not quite an otter- it is their new Gibson J200 body shape. [URL=http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/ukrobbiej/media/Lowman%20Bass/Rob%201_zpse0madjmd.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x413/ukrobbiej/Lowman%20Bass/Rob%201_zpse0madjmd.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Hope that picture worked. It's a wonderful thing! I've two two other custom Brooks as well, both Tavy, Robbie

First of all, sorry if this breaks any forum rules. If I need to post this in classifieds then I will. I have a set of la Bella deep talking 750 g strings. Gold white nylon tape wound. I had them very briefly on my Brook acoustic bass when I was trying out different strings. I decided they were far too light for me. Bear in mind they are 50 to 105, they certainly feel a lot lighter. I would have gone for a heavier set- in fact I think Brook have a set in their workshop waiting for me, but since the 760 set is massively thicker, I don't really want to go the whole hog and widen the nut slots. I have since settled on D addario EXP phosphor bronze. Very nice! Anyway, the 750g set were on my bass for about a week. Does anyone want them? It would be nice if someone covered my postage expenses but otherwise I am willing to let them go to someone who would like to just try them. My bass is 34" scale length. The strings were trimmed a bit, but should easily still fit most basses. They are still very good nick. Perhaps if someone really likes them and makes good use of them they would consider a donation to a cancer charity- I have an old friend this week to the disease. Robbie

Yeh, bolt on necks used to be a feature of the Tacoma basses. Found a YouTube clip of them, but it is a shame that the demo is only of the plugged in sound. Would love to know what these sound like purely acoustically.

Interesting that Bubinga is on this list. I always thought that this wasn't quite as endangered. I have two acoustic instruments with bubinga back and sides, an acoustic guitar and a bass.

Maybe I'm a bit behind with this news , but I was browsing the Spector website and noticed this new acoustic bass: http://www.spectorbass.com/TimbreSeries As the owner of a very nice acoustic bass guitar, I'm quite interested in this particular species of bass. These look remarkably like the Tacoma Thunder chief basses thatbare no longer in production, but are spoken of in very reverential terms whenever the topic of acoustic basses that "work" comes up.. Robbie

Thank you Dad (!!!) Have edited the links now. Glad you liked it

Thank you everybody. I recorded it using a stereo pair of Rode NT55s, purely acoustically. Recorded into iMovie. I've recorded a couple of other solo pieces, including this arrangement of Star of County Down, a tune I have always loved, and have arranged in a variety of ways. Here it is in my recent solo bass arrangement http://youtu.be/D41AtOL0pnw I don't know how you embed videos on here. Can anyone help me out? Anyway, high time I introduced myself and my bass, which I shall do so in another thread. Thanks again, Robbie

I know this is not everyone's cup of tea, and maybe I'm opening myself up for a bit a ridicule here, but here is a recent composition of mine played on my custom Brook acoustic bass http://youtu.be/DuqCBgLBWkM Got my bass back in July, and have been slowly getting to know her (yes my bass is female, called Patricia if you really want to know). I am trying to build up a little repertoire of pieces that make use of fingerstyle in a slightly Celtic/ folk style. I have some recent arrangements to record of some real traditional folk tunes. The bass is basically a Gibson j200 shape, Engleman top, bubinga back and sides, and walnut neck Robbie

Just an update, just in case anyone comes across this topic in a search in future. The da Vinci were replaced by Hipshot ultralites, and couldn't be happier. Tuning is much more precise, and the tuners themselves feel firmer and more secure. On taking off the Da Vincis I was told that they failed because of poor design, and I have no reason to argue with that opinion from someone I respect greatly. So at the moment, although Schaller Da Vincis look great and sexy, they really are not up for the job. A tuner should not break after 4 or 5 months use. It's not even as if I was tuning the string up and down constantly! Robbie

Does anyone have these on their bass? I had a set fitted to a very nice custom acoustic bass a few months ago, but have just had one snap on me. They have always seemed pretty stiff to get up to pitch, and to me this doesn’t seem right. Anyway, was playing in dropped D last night, tuned back up and then the cog completely came away from the shaft. Just wondered if anyone else has had issues with the stiffness of these tuners. They took an age to arrive and held up the building of my bass by a couple of months, and to be honest I am not that impressed with them. What else could I replace them with? I would quite like some hipshot ultralites but is it going to be a problems that the hole required for them is 1mm smaller (13mm as apposed to 14mm)? Robbie

Hi guys, first post here, and sorry to start with a question. I have an acoustic bass guitar being made for me by Brook guitars in Devon, nearly due for completion. It's in the spraying booth as we speak I have two questions. Firstly, what pickups do people recommend? I am looking at k&k or headway. I have k&k in all my other acoustic instruments (guitars and mandolin) but not sure how it would perform in a bass with its bigger body (it will be a Gibson j200sized body). Secondly what to amplify it with. I already have a nice acoustic amp, and Acus One 8, and a HeadwY EBD-2 preamp. I was thinking of adding a subwoofer to cope with the lower frequencies, but am not adverse to buying something more specific to the task. I have been researching Acoustic Image and Euphonic Audio. What about Phil Jones? To put it in contex, I will be using this bass for gigs with my mandolin ensemble, so won't be playing at humongous volumes. Also, to try and put it politely, I know people don't think acoustic bass guitars work, but there are very specific musical reasons I went for one, not least of which is that playing a fender jazz alongside a load of mandolins just looks plain wrong. Also I am after a double bass sort of sound, so any amplification should be capable of reproducing as natural a sound as possible. I'm not interested in built in tuners or limiters. Thanks for your time and help, Robbie https://robbiej1.bandcamp.com/album/the-road-to-easterbrook-and-other-journeys