micguy

I use the Dunlop flush mounts. Downside is if I ever forget a strap I'd have to play sitting down. (I keep a spare in my accessories bag, and I've never fogotten the main strap strap anyway). Upside is they're almost not there when you're practicing sitting down, and you don't have to worry about the end pin getting impacted in a gig bag.

I play church gigs, which hare 90+ percent covers (we do some originals here and there). A lot of the tunes we do, the recording has the same part on every verse, and every chorus - there's no build. When you see any of those artists live, tough, they do "build" their tunes. So, what I do is try to play what they'd play if they played a tune live - my part goes with the vibe of the tune, how the place feels, how the singers and worship leaders are emoting, how the drummer is playing - all of that enters into what I play. Often it starts with what's on the record (which is usually pretty simple), and evolves from there. We do a couple rehearsals of the songs in the middle of the week at rehearsal, and again on Sunday morning (you have to know the song structure and chords cold when you come in). During all that I work out most of what I'll do for the services. Often the second service is different than the first,though - my part is still evolving. As I play in different churches with different leaders, singers, drummers, etc., sometimes I play very different parts for the same song. If I did what's on the record every time, most of the time, it wold be wrong on some level. The interesting part of what I do is that bass is the person on stage who has the most freedom musically - worship guitar parts are full of memorable licks that you have to play verbatim, the vocals and drum parts are also often very memorable. So, if you want the song to sound like the song, but feel right for the situation, that's largely my job.

You might still meet him, but it won't be at NAMM. 😉

I play in churches where it's talent that matters. I'm 61 , and sometimes play with a drummer who's...17? (I've been saying 16 for at least a year, so , yeah probably 17). We have a real mix of folks.

I promise not to buy any basses on January 1. As I'm in the USA, that means I have to wait 7 hours longer than some of you,; I expect some extra credit for that. ON Jan 1, I'll be busy assembling a bass - all the parts are here, the finish is done, and should be good and cured by tomorrow.

I build my own - Warmoth wood, Hipshot hardware, etc. My heaviest (a 5 string) is a bit under 8.5 pounds. Heaviest 4 string I have is about 7.8 pounds. Currently, I'm building another 5 string that will come in (I've weighed all the parts) about 7.2 pounds ( a few grams of uncertainty due to the weight of the finish). Lightest I have is 6.6 ( a 4 stringer) - that one I can play for a very long time.

As you've been given freedom from thinking it's a few day off from your birth, I suggest you now assume it was born the same exact day you were. In the evening, or course, as if it was born during your morning, the folks in California at the factory wouldn't have been at work yet

It's not supposed to be super hot - I heard rumors it was designed to emulate a certain vintage P pickup owned by Bobby Vega. So, adjust it like a vintage pickup. Which, of course means nothing - On a two pickup bass, I generally adjust the bridge pickup as high as I can get it without issues of hitting the pole pieces, etc, and then adjust the neck pickup height to match outputs. On a P , I go for something a bit closer to the strings, as I like the way that sounds - there'a s non-linearity in pickups which adds harmonics as you get closer to the strings, I like a bunch of that when can get it. A rule of thumb I've heard is: Hold the strings down at the last fret, and adjust for ... a couple nickels from the strings to the pole pieces. I have no idea what UK currency matches a USA nickel in thickness.

I can positively identify the P bass clone - it's the item in the chair.

Warmoth will do that for you; their necks are very good, and nothing you're asking for is all that far afield.

When you're playing a string, the vibrating part has two ends - one is at the bridge, the other is either the nut or a fret. A fret is a rather small/light piece of metal, anchored on a somewhat flexible piece of wood (the neck). The bridge is a relatively massive piece of metal attached to a much less flexible piece of wood (the body). When you think about this for a bit, you realize that the majority of the losses in the string's energy (when vibration leaves the string and starts vibrating the wood) occur at the fret/neck end of the string, as things are less massive and less stiff there. If you want to improve sustain of a vibrating string, the bridge is the wrong end to work on. A more massive, stiffer neck, with bigger frets will get you more sustain faster than making the bridge heavier. It's like a boat with a pinhole in one end and a hole a foot across at the other end. If you want to stay afloat a long time, you work on patching the big hole first. A lot of people talk about the bridge;s job as being a means to couple vibration into the body. That's wrong - the ideal (infinitely massive) bridge would not put any energy into the body - any energy put into the body or neck has to come from somewhere, and in fact it' is "stolen" from the string and thus reduces sustain. Physics lecture is done for today. Tomorrow I have a quiz for you on the Acoustics of Tort.

The things that wear well when being scraped by metal are...harder metals. Metals aren't.......black, therefore frets aren't available in that color. To the original question, all my bass with frets have stainless frets. Warmoth charges $20 extra for stainless. Given that that option gives you much more fret life (probably lifetime frets, as I'm old and spread my wear across multiple basses)), it seems rather silly to go with nickel frets to me. One a couple of my basses I've gone with smaller frets (but still stainless) to see if it tames the high end zing - it seems to do that, although there are enough variables that I can't say for certain.

AKA 3 guys that play bass in trio format loud bands (yes, the Who had a singer, too, but just 3 instruments). Their tone is part of why their bands could make so much noise with just 3 guys.

I have a Wampler Pantheon - with the presence knob off, and the other tone controls at noon, it's flat - doesn't lose bass. Very good at "just a hint of breakup" sounds. If you want something a bit snarly, then a Pike Vulcan is just the ticket - I go back and forth between the two, depending on what vibe I'm chasing for a particular gig.

Godlyke Power grip is what I use - not sure if it's available on your side of the pond (I'm in the colonies), but it uses the same stuff on both sides, and doesn't gather dust too badly - kind of like loops on both surfaces. Holds really well, too.