bnt

What a FCheese-Head - can't even spell Hohner, even though it's printed on the headstock...

Spector all the way for me. The only Warwick shape I've ever liked is the Thumb bass, since I saw Jack Bruce with one. I thought about getting one, but was put off by the price, and the fact that that the body size might suit Jack, but not me, since I am about 18 inches taller than JB.

If I think of songs with clear 5-string bass, the first band that comes to mind is Living Colour. Especially the [i]Stain[/i] album with Doug Wimbish, songs such as [i]Ignorance Is Bliss[/i], and [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DwZo1Kaq8aw"][i]Auslander[/i][/url].

ps: [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-mJUUAfZF1o"]here's[/url] some Bach on a 5-string, but there's a catch...

Just been looking at Phil Collins' website forum after he was mentioned in another thread here, wondering if he was still working with [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leland_Sklar"][b]Leland Sklar[/b][/url] - another Great Bass Player.

There's an [url="http://www.philcollins.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=101"]Ask Leland Sklar[/url] thread there where I found out more: Phil's done his "First Final Farewell Tour", so that's that for work with Phil - till the next final farewell tour. Meanwhile, Leland toured with Lyle Lovett last year, has recorded with Rod Stewart, and this year he's subbing with... Toto! (Mike Porcaro has a hand injury... but Toto is in good hands.)

In Ireland, I've heard that [url="http://www.chrislarkinguitars.com/"]Chris Larkin[/url] is the man. "tel and fax +353 66 713 9330"

I've bought High C (roundwound headless) 25-105 sets from [url="http://www.status-graphite.com/"]Status Graphite[/url] by specifying the single gauges, and they packed them in to "custom" sets for me. Their website doesn't have custom set ordering of flatwounds, but they might help by email? The gauges you'd get would be 30-45-65-85-105, which is a bit heavier than you mentioned, but I have the 4-string 45-105 flatwound set on my fretless and I like it.

Colin Moulding of XTC fame is one of those off the wall" bassists I should get more of - see Mayor of Simpleton for an example of what I mean:



I also think Pete Trewavas (Marillion) matches your description - a bassist who really makes songs work.

[quote name='Machines' post='62013' date='Sep 18 2007, 07:27 AM']Myung has had it for a couple of months I think. EB made it for him but there is no endorsing or contract from either side. It will go into production next year I reckon...

There is a very long thread about it here, but tells you everything:

[url="http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-basses/23659-bongo-6-update.html"]http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-...o-6-update.html[/url][/quote]
That thread's a bit old - try [url="http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-basses/25761-welcome-family-john-myung.html"]this one[/url]. JM has officially taken a (toilet) seat on the EBMM roster.

[quote name='funkysimon' post='55138' date='Sep 4 2007, 10:27 AM']i.e. alternate high string with my index finger, low string middle finger, make me start turning my wrist so my fingers point back towards the bridge of the guitar and generally feels a bit unnatural.[/quote]
That's odd - I find myself doing the opposite, pointing my fingers towards the nut. I suppose it's a related to how you wear the bass in general, neck level or angled up, low or high. When I see Mark King doing fingerstyle I wince, his wrist seems to bend at an unnatural angle.

[quote name='ped' post='61083' date='Sep 16 2007, 11:26 AM']Searching google is pretty useless - I tried 'Dodgy basses' and it came up with a GB ;0)[/quote]
Doesn't help that there's a band named Dodgy. What's that about - reverse headology?

I'm a fan of the [url="http://clusty.com/"]Clusty[/url] search engine, which categorises results, and a search for "weird basses" leads to a few interesting sites, such as [url="http://altguitarbass.com/weird/"]http://altguitarbass.com/weird/[/url] , or the [url="http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om25550.html"]Wishnevsky[/url] site.

I've also heard Gear Avarice Syndrome being used as the meaning of GAS.

As for the OLPs - I've been wondering about those too. There is a Tony Levin Signature OLP (MM 5), so if they're rubbish, maybe we ought to let him know..?

Three: Hohner B2V (w/ EMG 35s), Hohner B2A fretless, Tune TWB43 Bubinga (new).

I haven't included my Chapman Stick (10-string) in the count - it was a bad idea, and I intend to offload it on my next visit to England.

Splendid - another Acolyte of the Temple of Syrinx. Bwahahahaha...

My first Rush bassline was [i]Grand Designs[/i] (Power Windows), and I had great fun with much of Hold Your Fire and Presto. The production on Presto is squeaky-clean with the bass up front - great for study. Another personal fave in [i]Where's My Thing?[/i] (Roll The Bones), the predecessor to [i]Leave That Thing Alone[/i].

Re the older stuff: not much to add to Phaedrus' list, but Freewill is very interesting for what Geddy is doing under the guitar solo: a lot of notes, but not too many. I think I mentioned The Main Monkey Business ([i]Snakes & Arrows[/i]) already?

I don't have much time for this kind of nonsense. Some of my favourite bands from the 80s are those which [i]could[/i] have done without bassists, but were all the better for having them: Ultravox, OMD, Tears For Fears, and the like.

That's not to say I expect to have things my own way, but I do know that I will be doing the bass in any band I'm in - sequenced, synthesised, sampled, or slapped, it's me or nothing.

Can't go wrong with a bit of Rush, and there's plenty on YouTube e.g [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S9uNxUI9ng"]Far Cry[/url] (2007) is not their most gnarly work by a long shot, but it offers some fun time signature practice. Probably the most bass-visible track off of Snake & Arrows is [i]The Main Monkey Business[/i]: there are already videos up there or people making a Dog's Dinner out of it.

If you have a copy of Yes' 90125 handy, that has a song called [i]Our Song[/i], which I remember Bass Player magazine calling "a one-song electric bass primer". It's one piece that I learned quite early on in my bass studies... and have relearned several times since 1984. I think Chris Squire is playing his Mouradian "Green Fish" bass on that one.

Other: Hohner B2V and B2Afl, and now the new Tune TWB43 "Hatsun's" that arrived this week.

[quote name='gilmour' post='55205' date='Sep 4 2007, 12:39 PM']Thinking about it Billy Gould from Faith No More had a crazy heavy pick sound - but he used it to emulate slapping, which begs the question "why not just slap?"[/quote]
When I saw this I thought "you gotta be kidding". I've seen Billy use a pick, but I've always assumed he used fingers around the time of [i]Angel Dust[/i]. In the [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf_C95C2qUY"]video[/url] for [i]Everything's Ruined[/i], for example, it's all fingers, and some thumb during the verses, which matches what my ears tell me. On the other hand, there's Land Of Sunshine, which I play mostly thum, but which Billy uses pick for (see [url="http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=lbnVZDvUh1I"]here[/url]). If I'm going to do that with a pick, I need a bionic hand...

Some of my faves not mentioned yet:
- Paul Webb & Lee Harris - Talk Talk
- Tina Weymouth & Chris Frantz - (Talking) Heads / Tom Tom Club
- Tony Levin & Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel, Tony Levin Band)
- Colin Greenwood & Phil Selway (Radiohead)
- Jim Glennie & David Baynton-Power (James)

+1 for the Porcaro Brothers, Lee & Peart, Danko & Helm

edit: add in Billy Gould & Mike Bordin (Faith No More).

Well, it's here - and it would have been with me yesterday, had UPS actually bothered to update their site to tell me it was [b]in the bloody country[/b]. They allegedly tried to deliver it to me, and I was at home, but I live in a building with a secured front door. It wasn't always secure, the lock was added because of some mail thefts... so the buzzers are [i]behind[/i] the locked door. I'm not going to say any more, lest it lead me in to yet another rant about the way thing are done here in Ireland.

So I'm told to expect delivery at roughly the same time (3:30)... nothing. By 4:30 I've called to give them directions, in case the driver can't find the building. By 5:30 I'm out on the road watching for the UPS van, as a van from a digital imaging company drives in behind me, with what looks like groceries in the back, though I didn't look to closely, being occupied watching for the UPS van. The van pulls out, and my flatmate calls to tell me he's taken delivery of the bass. Good thing he was in... but I never want to deal with UPS again, ever. Muppets.

Definitely ex-demo... packed OK (strings loosened, plenty of bubble wrap), in a Cort box, inside a Fender box. A little dusty, and a couple of belt scratches on the back if I look closely, but the top is excellent - thick Bubinga on Mahogany, oil finish, a bit Warwick-like.

Neck over-tightened a bit, visible "hump" at normal tension, so I've taken nearly a turn off, and it's looking a lot better. I need to lower the strings, though, and I have to find my 1mm Allen key for that, or buy a new one. As it is, the string response is uneven, E string is a bit dead, so it means new strings too, tomorrow. The electronics are quiet and powerful, but I won't really be able to say how it sounds until I sort out the setup problems. In other words, the expected ex-Demo condition, no real surprises. I'm not surprised it didn't sell from the store.

Apart from that, I like it: headstock is smaller than it appeared in the photo, because the neck is thinner than I'm used to at the (brass) nut, and the tuners feel solid. I'll post some photos in the Bass Porn section later, but first those cheap knobs have got to go. Gotta have solid knobs in gold, to match the bridge, x5.

I have the [url="http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?a_prod_no=AmpworksB&category_id=6"]Korg Ampworks B[/url], which I like: similar effects to the Pandora 3B, but with knobs on. Works great as a headphone amp, though it's only portable if you have a big back or leg pocket on your trousers. Sounds are great, especially the amp simulations (for an amp non-expert such as me), though a bit effect heavy, so I've saved my own presets in the 3 provided slots.

It's now four years old, and therefore super-cheap. RRP is £89, but I bought its guitar sibling (Ampworks G) for £49 at a music show, and that was two years ago.

[quote name='lwtait' post='55027' date='Sep 3 2007, 11:03 PM']I can't understand why Geddy Lee is playing a Jaco Jazz when he has his own signature? Why not defret one of his signature Jazz basses?[/quote]
Because he wanted a different sound to his main bass? The way he tells it, they were in the middle of recording when he got the idea, no time to hit the workshop. Besides, why should he mutilate a bass when he can just call his Fender artist rep and say "can I try one of those, please, eh?"

[quote name='lwtait' post='55010' date='Sep 3 2007, 10:33 PM']At London Guitar Show, Jonas Hellborg was standing next to his signature bass in the Warwick stand, and my dad walked past him and hit him with a guitar stand he had just bought. [/quote]
Ah - didn't know he had a signature electric too. The [url="http://www.warwickbass.com/basses/hellborg_bass.htm"]Hellborg Signature[/url] body looks huge...

I've seen Jonas Hellborg and his signature [url="http://www.wechterguitars.com/news/player-hellborg.htm"]Wechter Roman[/url] acoustic, live. Wants.

[url="http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=rKorbU-5ihM"]Here's[/url] another clip of Narucho's [i]Akkapachi-ism[/i] solo, this time from 1994. Same bass - the Tune custom 8-string with whammy bar.

With all these stories of beautiful bespoke instruments, lovingly crafted by expert luthiers, and heading to appreciative owners who will cherish them for life... I feel compelled to share my tale of amateur industrial lutherie. The following story is not suitable for sensitive readers, professional luthiers, and owners of custom basses, and I accept no responsibility for any emotional distress, hare-brained ideas, injury or death that may result.

By 1988 I was really dissatisfied with my first bass, a P-copy (Hondo?) with an OK neck but a dull plywood body. This was in South Africa, where I was an apprentice at a steel factory, and was placed at various departments for months at a time. In one outlying department the technicians I worked for were laid back, and spent a lot of time making fancy knives, some good enough to win prizes at shows. My sole knife attempt produced a glorified letter-opener (I used the wrong steel), so I decided to replace the body on my bass. I already knew I'd need to buy a new bass some time, and decided to experiment a little.

I didn't like Fender shapes (and still don't): this was the period when I lusted after a Steinberger XL-2, but was also aware that the ergonomics could be difficult. I "designed" a body roughly similar to a [url="http://instruments.garyhendershot.com/Yamaha_BX1.html"]Yamaha BX-1[/url], perhaps a little bigger, with a shorter horn. I later tried reducing the headstock, but the first version had the full-size P-bass neck attached.

OK, I'm in a steel factory, where do I get suitable wood, or woodworking tools? Yeah, right. I made the body out of 2 one-inch-thick plates of [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite"]Bakelite[/url]. No router available, so I drilled the pickup & control holes on the front plate, then the rear "rout" on the back plate, and glued them together with some evil industrial adhesive. Bakelite is bloody tough stuff: hard to cut (killed a jigsaw) and evil to work on, even with protective masks. I shaped the edges with an angle grinder, so the workshop looked like a DDT bomb had gone off inside. I bet you could go back there today, and still find orange Bakelite dust in the corners.

The single pickup was an Ibanez-branded P-type, in a bigger soapbar case, like they used in the 80s, and I wired up a volume control only, no tone control. The neck was OK (no more than that), and the sound was a bit like a piano with a stronger fundamental. From memory, the closest comparison I can think of is Status Graphite - sharp attack, full-bodied and deep, but not as consistent. There were dead spots, but where there was sustain, there was a lot of it. The neck was heavy, so the total weight made the thing nearly unplayable. The horn was too short, so the neck dived as much as (insert footballer's name here).

If I ever get workshop facilities, I'll be looking at Bakelite (or similar) again. It's like a prehistoric "luthite", and was the material used to make the first ever solid-body "Spanish" guitar (the [url="http://www.gruhn.com/articles/rickelectro.html"]Rickenbacker Electro Spanish[/url]). It's a b**ch to work with, however - toxic dust everywhere, and it chips easily if knocked (brittle).

The Bakelite BX is long gone, and I have no pictures, which is probably a good thing. The memory is quite enough.