Annoying Twit

Some real bargains out there. I've seen a lot of people mentioning the T40 as an undervalued bass. It certainly seems to have a wide variety of potential sounds, all of which sound good to me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOLvGYHemPo I presume that the Foundation doesn't have that much variety.

This isn't exactly the most active thread around However, I'll just mention that I got a chance to work on this again after a panic week at work. I can now change the tempo and number of bars in the loop. However, currently if I change the length of a loop, it doesn't handle existing audio well. I don't know what to do with it. At present, if the loop becomes longer than it has been before, the audio disappears. Or, if the loop shortens or is lengthened to a length less than the maximum it's been before, it just leaves whatever audio is/was there. I'm thinking that eventually I want to include use of the rubberband time-stretching library to handle tempo changes (in particular) better. For a while I was wondering how you count BPM if you have an odd time signature, but changed the code so that it actually counts the beats in a bar and then calculates tempo. Importantly, I can now import samples from disk, which gives me the ability to import drum and other loops to play over. Currently the programme is aggressively mono. If I tried to import a stereo loop, it would do very odd things. And recording is mono only. This has to change. But my main playback/recording function is a bit inefficient, as it does things sample by sample. I need to rewrite that to be more efficient, and it's not sensible to do anything about stereo until that's done. I must admit that I haven't plugged in a bass yet. As I'm still working on quite basic code, the only loops I've recorded are me clapping in front of the computer's microphone. This will change soon Edit: When I said that the looper is mono only, I meant that it can only record live audio in mono, and import mono loops. However, it's possible to set (and reset) the volume and pan positions of audio after it's been recorded, and output is in stereo.

Do you have any recordings of the fretless? I've sort of got my eye out for the right fretless, and looking for a USA Peavey Foundation would be an interesting, but affordable, option. However, the only audio example I found online (linked above) didn't sound very good.

I was sort of tempted by this, but forgot to watch it as the auction neared its end. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281174874116?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649 Does anyone have experience with one of these? It didn't get any bids at £99 starting price and a reasonable postage cost. What would be a target price for one of these second hand?

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1380917676' post='2232508'] J&d brothers bass? Do you mean my jack daniels bass in my avatar ? [/quote] Sorry, I misunderstood the J&D bit. I thought you had one of these: http://www.musicswopshop.com.au/content/images/stock/large/photo%204-mss%2029524.jpg

Hmmm.... Putting a fresh battery in seems to have significantly improved the sound of this bass.

I've bought them, and presume that they'll turn up next week. I'll be the first to admit that I was wrong if they sound like £$%^.

I did not know it was possible to buy a made in USA bass from a well known manufacturer for that little. I was shocked at the £150 until I searched sold listings and found them selling for less. I'm not going to buy one as I have a four string fretted that I really like. I had a google to see if they're available fretless. I found this: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu_S-chaqBE[/media], but I don't really like that sound. Just out of curiosity, have you reviewed your foundation? What's it like?

Really? Is there more to this than I'm aware of? [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Made-in-USA-peavey-foundation-bass-guitar-/151136782798?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item23307449ce"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item23307449ce[/url] Eh? Made in USA bass sells for £85 shocker?!?!?! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/peavey-foundation-5-string-bass-guitar-made-in-usa-/251256578173?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3a800f207d

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1380879193' post='2231765'] Is that the biggest volute you've ever seen?[b] It should have a bloody base camp on it. [/b] [/quote] I'd heard of volutes, but hadn't seen one like that before.

There's quite noticeable fretboard wear. Would someone be able to sand down the fretboard and refinish it? (And use flats/tapewound strings to prevent future marking?) Also, the bridge is missing the saddles. Are these standard types that are easy to find? I'm not going to be bidding myself, too far away and I'm not the right person to fix it. If anyone here does buy it, and starts a restoration thread, I'll follow it. Edit: Ray against the machine; have you reviewed your J&D Brothers bass anywhere? I'm not likely to buy one, but I think they look quite nice and have been wondering what they're like.

Is this really MIJ if it's from the 90s? Edit: Most likely Korean it seems In any case, it looks to me like a bass that needs to be bought and restored by someone who knows what they are doing. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VESTER-4-string-fretless-bass-Active-90s-Thumb-bass-/300982115614?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4613ee9d1e"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item4613ee9d1e[/url]

Hi. I do greatly appreciate your advice, but must admit that my gut feeling now is that I would like to give the blade pickups a go. While at that price they aren't going to be the best pickups, I am experimenting, and would think that they would be in the ballpark. I've searched around, and I can't find an examples of blade pickups that are split coil without it being visually obvious as the blade is not continuous. E.g. I have asked the ebay seller if they know how the pickups are wound. I've played a number of very cheap jazz basses, Johnson basses and the like, and while they don't sound excellent, they sound reasonable. I've also heard youtube videos of very expensive basses with active humbuckers that sound unattractive to me in the same way that the Shine does. So, swapping cheap pickups for cheap pickups might still be a reasonable experiment, if the type of pickup is very different. From the measurements, it also looks as if I can put those blade pickups in without having to remove any wood, perhaps just putting blocks of foam into the pickup holes to help suspend the pickups in the right place and drilling guide holes for the pickup screws. At £24 for this experiment, I don't think I'd be too upset if in future months I decide I wish to try another pickup in there. It's more the experiments I want to do at this point, rather than being too worried about the quality of the result. On the other hand, I did find last night that the bass seemed to be sounding worse and worse, and losing oomph. My experiment for tonight is to put in a fresh battery and see what, if anything, that does. I bought the bass several years ago, and I think that might be the battery that came with it. I can't remember. BTW: I bought the shielding tape as discussed in your build thread. But I found that I couldn't remove the electronics from the Shine as I couldn't undo the jack plug. I'm so used to cheap instruments where I have to keep an eye on the jack plug in case it loosens and disappears inside the bass, and hence was surprised to find such a robust one on the Shine. Which I must admit I couldn't work out how to undo and remove. I did shield the cavity on a Vintage V100 LP-a-like as a substitute experiment. It didn't look as neat as your shielding from your recent build, but looked like a reasonable coverage of all exposed surfaces with an overlap to make an electrical connection with the tape on the cavity cover. If the guitar is placed sufficiently near sources of electrical interference, it still picks up hums and buzzes however, but I guess that no shielding will prevent electrical interference if it's strong enough. I do greatly appreciate your advice, which is why I don't want to just do the opposite without explanation. But my inclination is to give the pickups a go and see what happens. I guess I'd still be able to sell them for £10 on ebay or something But, I'd probably keep them around for experiments, e.g. if I ever DO get around to making a lap steel bass.

[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1380811369' post='2230931'] When I first started playing, I bought a 2nd hand 3/4 scale bass which had a Kay logo on the trussrod cover That's "Kay" the catalogue people at that time Anyhow, it looked a bit like a sort of Rick shape but had a bolt-on neck, which was twisted slightly I didn't really know what I was buying at the time so I wasn't aware of the twist It was cheap, and it was all I could afford at the time [/quote] Was it one of these? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/vintage-Kay-short-scale-bass-guitar-/151131905156?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item233029dc84

[quote name='Bassmonkey' timestamp='1380801188' post='2230687'] Now thats a thought.....a bunch of chrome mirrors screwed on to the body of your bass (lets you keep an eye on the drummer too!) [/quote] Given no matter how weird something is, you can usually find it on the internet. But I'm pleased to say that a quick google did not reveal any basses festooned with mirrors. I did however find this: Thanks Dean.

[quote name='Bassmonkey' timestamp='1380800946' post='2230681'] You could buy that and screw it on to your headstock. Would look AMAZING!!! [/quote] I've already got a tuner that lives there permanently. If I keep festooning my headstock with all sorts of stuff it's going to start looking like a mod's scooter.

Initially I thought that I quite liked the look of this custom fretless bass. It's made by a company called 'Unorthodox guitars'. But why is there that sharp bit where the neck joins to the headstock. And while I like the neck through natural wood look, what's up with the massive wide 'through neck' bit on the back of the body? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/fretless-bass-/171141299388?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item27d8d0fcbc

I half wouldn't mind something that attaches to the front of a bass where I can put a few picks for easy access. But not enough that I'm going to go and google one and buy it.

Thanks. Which pickups would you recommend I go for? This bass only cost me £60 at the beginning, and I'm not expecting to turn it into a really top-flight thing. In fact, I may well wreck it when/if I get around to levelling the frets and refinishing it. Hence, I don't want to sink £200-300 into a set of Barts and matching pre-amp. If I was keeping the electronics, then I could change only the neck pickup (I generally prefer neck pickup sounds, but on my Cimar find both neck and bridge pickups to give very useful sounds). Looking around, I've found good reviews of the actually quite cheap Artec pickups. [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f38/artec-pickups-great-512689/"]Artec pickups are great! (Talkbass)[/url] You're going to be using a Artec sidewinder pickup in your SG bass build, so presume they can't be too bad! They're more expensive than the rail pickups I link to above, but still a very reasonable cost if I'm just mucking about with the idea of a pickup swap. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Artec-6-string-Bass-bar-pickup-15k-ohms-P35-/140743962779?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&var=440059927667&hash=item20c4fe709b"]About £19 all up on ebay.[/url] Also, there are Wikinson MWJF6-6 pickups. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wilkinson-MWJF6-6-String-Bass-Guitar-Humbucker-Hot-Jazz-Pickup-Brand-New-/310414669802"]Wilkinson pickup on ebay, about £20 all up[/url]. I haven't found reviews of these, but my experience is that Wilkinson stuff is generally reasonable for the price. Both of those are humbuckers, but include the extra wires for coil tapping. In this thread I've more or less mentally written off the Shine bass, so I'm not scared to do things to it. So, drilling holes to add a coil tap switch and/or holes for the lugs on the Wilkinson pickups is something I'd consider, even though I don't have the experience to be confident of not making a big mess of it. Edit: It appears that neither of those pickups will fit in the current pickup holes. The pickups in there at the moment are about 105mm long. The replacement pickups are 112mm and 114mm long, as well as being wider. Hmmm..... Edit: I'm told that it will be OK for me to have the CNC machine at work used to route out the pickup holes a bit bigger if I wait for a suitable time. BTW: I can only see two wires coming out of the black cables from the existing pickups. I'm wondering if I peel back the insulation a bit whether there might be other wires in there allowing coil tapping, which have been chopped off when the bass was manufactured.

The more I experiment with this bass, the more I decide that I think it plays acceptably well now, but I simply do not like the sound of the pickups. I'm strongly considering putting in these pickups, wired passively. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400303187981&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123 Those are five string pickups, but the seller has asked me for my string spacing as he believes that they will be wide enough. I'd be tempted to remove the current active electronics and replace them with passive electronics. As that would allow me to swap them back. Or perhaps I should wire these pickups to the current active electronics? I've looked as carefully as I can at the wires for the current pickups, and I can see no sign of additional wires that would allow me to coil tap them. Advice would be very gratefully received, as this will require monetary outlay But while I can imagine that other people may well like the sound of this bass, unfortunately I don't. BTW: I'm not concerned if the pickups don't take up all the room of the current pickups, and I end up with ugly exposed routing.

I just tried raising the pickups on my Shine SB26. Maybe it sounds a bit more beefy, but it's not a night and day difference.

[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1380500650' post='2226352'] Got it for £42.00, so £60.50 delivered [/quote] Well done. I hope you enjoy it greatly.

[quote name='hamfist' timestamp='1380467555' post='2225690'] If it's MIJ then it's a great price. If not then it's what I'd expect a MIK from that era to go for as a "collection only" listing [/quote] I looked up this page, which seems to suggest that a 'Professional' series Futura EX of the vintage claimed in the ebay listing would have been made at the Chushin Gakki plant in Japan. http://audiozone.dk/index-filer/jackson-pro-professional.php Though, that page mentions that the 'professional' series are not the ones that are truly desirable, it's the 'pro' series that are. A bit of googling suggests that the Chushin Gskki shut down after the tsunami in Japan. It would be a shame if that's true.

This seems quite a reasonable price for a MIJ Ibanez, though I don't know how much these things sell for. http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/ibanez-sr760-made-in-japan-active-4-string-bass/1033725971#photo-content Though, it appears that the same bass sold on basschat lst year, with the asking price being the same £150. So, maybe this is a typical price. http://basschat.co.uk/topic/168974-for-sale-trade-ibanez-sr760-made-in-japan-sold/ Does anyone know which factory or factories the modern Ibanez guitars are made in? Is it still Fujigen gakki?