Bridgehouse

I don’t think it’s old fashioned - I think the people who don’t like the tone think it more “anachronistic”

The ACG Finn? No, it was originally passive only. It was routed for a battery box and had one fitted so I thought “why not?” Turns out it opened it up completely and it’s a different beast compared to when it was passive only.

I meant to ask - those Tune Maniacs seem pretty rare - but I like! Seems like they’d be difficult to get hold of tho?

Yep. I picked up a uni-pre from Alan for my ACG Finn and it transformed it. When the Shuker needed new gubbins there was only one guy to go to.. John East. Such quality and brilliant service

Ok, it’s wrong. I hold my head in shame. Despite the claims of “tone suck” and many having it... I just can’t stop using this for those dial-an-overdrive sounds... (plus it makes a cracking boost...)

I always thought I was a Chromes man, but it occurred to me today that the two basses I play the most have TI Jazz flats on. Weird, I always used to think they were a bit too rubbery for precise playing. But there’s a set on the ACG (and I forgot I’d put them on!) and a set on the fretless. Just goes to show...

I thought the most pornographic bit was the obvious pair of tweeters. Fnarr

Your uni pre sounded fantastic on Friday night at the O2 Academy in Leicester - my ACG is gig bass number 1 and I would seriously stuggle to move to something else for live use when it matters!

Wielded Uberhorn One in anger today. I was slightly tempted to gig with it on Friday night, but chickened out and decided to use it at a Jam session today with some guitar buddies. Took the ACG as well as it’s my known staple. Had my QSC10.2 and Preamp board as setup one and used the house Trace GP12 as well. Interestingly, tried the Uberhorn through the GP12 first and it sounded massive - one note played and everyone in the room looked at me with that “wtf was that!!” face.. thinking it was the Trace I swapped to the QSC. Nope. Same thing. Massive sound. Deep, punchy, but lots of rich overtone harmonics all over the shop. I was a bit stunned by it to be honest as there’s so much there that it almost got a bit unwieldy. On piezo alone, I rolled back the bass and tuned the mids and then rolled on a bit of treble and kept the vol at just under half way. It was still huge but quite manageable. The GP12 gave it a thunderous sub bass whereas the QSC gave it a bit more “hifi” sparkle. Both very nice in their own way. For a couple of jams a guitar chum played bass and used the ACG whilst I had a drum, and I have to say, it sounded real good, but the sheer weight of presence of the Uberhorn is something I’ve just not experienced before..

Bit late with this one, but Friday night was support slot at the O2 Academy Leicester supporting The Men They Couldn’t Hang.. great venue, great gig and loads of fun..

I like Chromes on my P. Bit of zing, plenty of thump, and they dull nicely after a week or two. Will last a good 5 yrs or more. I personally like TI’s - not so much on P basses but on some basses they are tonal nirvana for me. And I guess that’s the rub - it’s horses for course and you’ll find you love some and not others despite what anyone recommends. Oh, and the Fender flats are surprisingly good for the money...

I have a full fat floor version. It has never been gigged. Does that tell you something? Well, no, actually.. It gets used every day. It’s under my desk and is my primary practise tool. It’s my audio interface, mic interface, it gets used for guitar and mandolin as well as bass, and it lets me try a load of different bass sounds on tracks so I can work out what I like/don’t like. It’s probably my most used bit of kit, but not as a live tool.

I think we have the answer then! The board is 7.25 at the top and probably at the bottom, thus appearing a bit looser, and the frets a bit tighter due to also being 7.25 Cor. I'm sticking to a one piece fretless neck - this stuff is too hard for my little brain 😁

I reckon that they are the same radius and that means they look like there is more wood in the centre than the edges...

Yep - frets def look like they are at a tighter radius. Maybe it’s how they are shaped at the edges...

Rather you than me Then again, although there’s extra steps involved I suspect it’s not that tricky. At least you can mount the truss rod a bit higher for that authentic look

7.25” top and bottom would look right in my opinion, just based on staring at mine for a while I think as long as you get the thickness right then it will broadly look no different to mine. The biggest thing will be trying to match some of that wear at the end of the board which has that “old smoothed wood” look about it

That’s exactly the issue I had - the E was taken off and there was a clear kink where it went over the saddle - I straightened and put it back on the other way over to try to increase pressure - combined with reversing the saddle this worked well. I suspect a new string would be fine as well.

Lol - you might say that, but I've got one right in front of me and I still can't work out what they have done 😁 I can however see why fender went back to slab later on as the work involved in this method just to get the truss rod a bit higher does seem a bit extreme.

Those mustang necks aren't a good gauge The board on my P is still pretty thick, and it's def. radiused top and bottom - I wouldn't want to steam/clamp/glue this board back on if the bottom was flat - it'd be quite a pig to do I reckon. Looking at the end grain I'd say it's cut bottom first (concave) out of a rectangular piece, then mounted, then the top carved to match. Then again, I'm getting well out of my depth on this now!!! 😁

I had a similar(ish) thing with my Shuker Fretless. I say ish, because my E was significantly quieter than the others when I refitted all the gubbins after swapping out the preamp etc. (see separate thread for whole long long story). However, It was clear that the issue was break angle - they were metal strings (TI's in fact) and the fact yours are nylons will make little difference. After all, a piezo works perfectly well under an acoustic saddle which is often plastic, bone etc.. I could reverse the saddles in mine, which I did, and it increased the break angle and gave a much stronger contact, and thus all strings balanced equally. Not the best photo in the world.. But hopefully you can see that the break angle is up a bit on the E string compared to the others, and it's sitting on the 'higher' side of the saddle for maximum contact - without the break angle there will be insufficient pressure exerted on the saddle for the piezo to work properly

Interesting. All of the talk of different radii and other such matters piqued my curiosity and I went and looked at my 64.. Ignoring the fact that the corners are pretty much worn down from years of something.. it does look a bit like the board is 7.5" radius top and a similar radius bottom, and thus the neck top is not far off 7.5".. but it is quite difficult to tell. If you follow the lines of the frets vs the bottom of the board then to me, there doesn't seem to be a huge difference in radius - but again it could be less scientific than that. Having measured it, the board (at the frets) is definitely 7.5" but to me, I'd be surprised if the bottom of the board is as much as 12" Having said that, my understanding was the rosewood board was cut to 1/4" or so, the underside then curved appropriately, then the top of the neck pin routed for truss rod, which was then fitted, and then the board glued to it, and then the top of the board radiused to match. It's more than possible that a standard radius was used for the bottom of the board and presumably it was determined by the channel required for the truss rod. I also believe that the logic behind this wasn't to save rosewood and thus cut costs, but to enable the truss rod to be mounted slightly higher in the neck and thus deliver more power and stiffness. This pic of some mustang necks clearly shows the truss rod higher in the veneer board on the right: I've seen some P slab boards where the truss rod nut cuts into the slab board as well which suggests Fender wanted the rod higher but it compromised the board in some way.

Established originals band performing Singer/Songwriter Americana/Rock looking for a new keys player. We rehearse usually on Sunday evenings in Loughborough, and gigs generally tend to be music venues & festivals around the East Midlands. Established line up, Vox/Guitar, Bass, Guitar, Drums. Age range 35-45 but we aren't fussy about age/sex etc. Looking for a keys player who is capable of writing own keys parts and can play in a variety of styles. We have recently finished a debut album and I can send anyone interested in auditioning a full selection of tracks to gauge style and to prep a few songs. PM me for details.

I found a good clip on tuner and a quick check for intonation on each note really helped

I have to admit I was really nervous about fretless. Shouldn’t have been. It’s liberating and a fretted bass feels like a “my first bass” now.