mybass

Pm’d

I’ll come back in on this conversation with this……many years ago when I played for Marshall Amplification at the giant Frankfurt Music show, I happened across Mike Tobias’s stand. As a budding luthier myself, I was very keen to chat with one of America’s top bass builders at that time, ( the great bassist Jimmy Haslip, the upside down left hand six string player from the Yellowjackets used Tobias basses). Mike brought a bass out for me to try as we were discussing different woods but that bass wasn’t the sound I looked for so he brought another two or three basses out but the last bass was ‘the’ sound that pleased me most. It had a main ash body, with a cap of walnut I think. I had started building using ash already, liking the sound very much for my style of fretless finger playing. Yes, wood does make a difference, though not the huge amounts we may imagine by reading descriptions like..’provides punch and clarity…cuts through the mix’ etc etc. a lot of this is done by fingers or pick style and aggression, strings, amplification. I am happy to say that both audience and bass players attending my gigs always say they hear my bass notes really clearly and mixed in well with whichever band I’m with, then go on to complain that most of the time with other bands, the bass is very woolly! 

Barrell Jacks are literally a barrell length that encloses all of the Jack plug. Type in barrell jack to Google and pics will come up.

Commonly used for instruments with active electronics to ‘un switch’ the battery when not in use…..or in instruments where the instrument cable jack plug is inserted on the edge of the instrument. Fender type instruments usually use the ‘normal’ jack.

Well look at this, my first model of bass I ever owned....and in NZ too. 

Edited……. Apologies but I was trying to Tru Oil!

I use Tru Oil (Birchwood and Casey). Perhaps you were warned off from using oil after staining if the stain was water based? Also, using 'Micro Mesh' as a final finisher before oiling and between coats really can bring up an oil finish.

17 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

At least you now have a good excuse to buy a mustang

Stop suggesting..!

Yes, a good deal to have ...except I mistakenly ordered the medium scale ones and you can't send these 'free' ones back doh!

4 hours ago, Stingraychris said:

thanks for the reply! There’s no shim in the neck slot, it’s a standard action level that I raised a bit today without making a difference. The frets I looked at today and took a few ink layers off with a luthier 12th fret and above. They are balanced with each other but I’m thinking maybe a few more layers might make a difference, but there might be something we haven’t thought of. It plays fine everywhere else as long as I’m not bending up to whole tones above the 14th fret

Well, could be a string that wasn't quite ground to normal diameter or has a miniscule kink right 'there'.....

could be if the pickups are...

a) too close to the string when you depress at 14th fret or above...

b) very strong magnets pulling the string/dampening it.

Possibly a lone fret slightly high, possibly a shim under/ in the neck slot has raised the neck height, possibly the strings are set really low and play fine in lower positions……difficult to tell without handling the bass myself.

1 hour ago, mcnach said:

 

If other builders did it like you, I would not have the strong preference I have for maple fingerboards. I find dark dots on a pale background a lot easier to see on stage when I need it.

 

Excellent solution, it looks great and it's very functional. 

…….and with a fretless the dots are large enough to help intonation placement of wandering fingers! Cheers.

1 hour ago, Doctor J said:

Does... does this mean Leo didn't get it right, first time?

 

Wow. I don't want to be the one to break this on TB 🥺

You’ve broken the rule 😆 but I have to say the side dots are always too small as on my Fender Roscoe Beck, they appear to disappear on stage, hence when I build basses, it’s 3mm black dots on the maple neck wood

Apologies for the late reply bpc…….The bass is passive but I have actually dropped in some new pickups now and a new pot, seems to be okay on the one gig tried so far. Thanks.

I've been using these straps for over twenty five years and more and still in use, with a couple of recent new thick leather ones for me and two for a guitarist friend. Mark at Stones Music started this business up in the 80's after being a luthier and working in London (Rokas)

so he is well versed in the music business and a very nice person to deal with, pay the money and get the quality..

https://sites.google.com/site/stonesmusicgbbo00/stones_straps

There’s two sides to every story! Enough people have hired Gomez over the years and having seen him play I’m not surprised his double bass playing was sought after.

I think getting a luthiers repair shop to just look at it may yield a conclusive result. When you had light strings on, the neck had some ‘backbow’, when heavier strings where on it was the opposite….? That’s quite dramatic movement really and a first thought was obviously the rod isn’t doing its job but maybe just maybe it’s actually broken internally and although it isn’t rattling (but go ahead and give the back of the neck a good hand palm slap and listen) adjustment will be of little use.

I had a new Fender years ago where the neck would not be straight. I couldn’t adjust it enough and I was on tour! I replaced it with a replacement neck and put the old one on a shelf for 8 years. After time I checked it and it appeared to be good so I took off the fingerboard and put a Macassar ebony fretless one on and it’s been fine. I concluded that it had not been correctly prepared/dried before assembly. Good luck.

Opened the amp. no sign of anything burning out, loose or dusty, connections all appear secure...

49 minutes ago, rmorris said:

What degree of volume change are you hearing ?

Is the amp very hot (as far as you can tell) when the volume change starts to kick in kicks in.

It seems to be time dependent ? So that sort of points toward a thermal issue.

I'm running into a Markbass 2x12" Ninja cab and not using anything like 'loud' input/output' ie input 4  output 3 so it shouldn't be heat causing the problem and it doesn't feel over hot at gigs end. I would think any thermal issue would have the auto cut out switching in, I've had that many years ago on a different amp. The actual change appears to be more tonal lower end bringing volume with it....

Thanks people……I might open up the box and check everything is secure inside.

18 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

It's haunted!! 👻👻

…..haunted in the best possible way 😄

Without naming the amp to prevent any pros and cons for it…..but I’m aware that it seems to get louder by itself about halfway through a gig. Is it possible for a ( non valve ) amp to do that as I’ve never had this before either in this make of amp or earlier makes? I’m looking at other possible sources as in pedal board, pots, cables but if any knowledgeable folk know more than me, please advise.

Without handling this bass I couldn’t guess precisely but….sounds though the ‘A’ string resonates for some some obscure reason only with the TIs ?

Bump

22 hours ago, WHUFC BASS said:

Power has now been hooked up. Blimey ... IT'S BRIGHT !!

Excellent….I hope you haven’t fitted ten wall power points for ten guitarists down the end 😃

I’ve used Galli nickels. Very good strings with a long playing life. The gauge was slightly larger on the low strings than I really wanted at the time but I have to say I was impressed with their quality….and maybe they aren’t as copied by the bogus string makers that plagues the D’Addario company. If you can find them then try them.

Skoda Octavia carries my markbass 2x12…2 Electrovoice SX PA speakers and two poles… PA amp… Markbass amp…gig bag… leads bag…pedal board bag….leaving the back seat up! It also carried two MB 2x10 cabs and various bags plus bass in soft case. The estate versions though don’t have a flat load area when the back seats are dropped so loading in a wardrobe isn’t as easy as some cars 😁