shoulderpet

23 hours ago, Skezza said:

I have a number of guitars and basses and this is a problem I have never come across before. 

 

While I am playing one of my basses one of the saddle height adjustment screws is undoing itself presumably because of the vibrations.

 

I did a gig two weeks ago and after 45 minutes of playing  one of the screws had vibrated back into the saddle meaning the low E string was unplayable due to the fret rattle.

 

Do I need a new saddle or can it be cured?

 

 

 

Assuming it is something easily replaceable like a Fender style bridge I would just get a new saddle, cheap and easy fix and hopefully should hold out for a long time.

3 hours ago, Jimch25 said:

I have an Ibanez TMB100, another bass in the house has Reflex Red pickups on it

If I was to swap the original Ibanez P pickup with the reflex red, would the preamp in the Ibanez be good enough ? Would it upgrade the bass sound wise ?

Not sure what the preamp in the TMB100 bass is but if it is the same preamp as the one used in the Mezzo bass then the biggest upgrade sonically would be too upgrade the preamp.

1 hour ago, meterman said:

I don’t know what Fender were making their Musicmaster basses from in the late 70s but mine was so insanely heavy that if you played it sitting down for more than about 45 minutes, your leg would go numb from the weight of it. It did sound really good though, I will admit.

Yeah mine was ridiculously heavy, sounds like yours sounded better than mine did though, mine was mud central.

On 02/04/2024 at 12:35, Cat Burrito said:

 

I was in a Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute for 6 years so we didn't have a choice. 

 

 

I grew up with the Sisters of Mercy version so never liked the GnR version and I must confess I heard the Sisters before Dylan's original. 

I love the Sisters cover of Confide in me

Upgrade day, Hipshot licensed tuners, the tuners being the only real weak point of this bass

I used to go to a jam night a while ago and stopped going in the end.  Problem was the house band always had there favourite musicians so there favourites would be on for several songs and unless you were lucky you would get squeezed in at the end for 1 or 2 songs and occasionally if it was a busy night you might not get to play at all so you would end up at the pub till half eleven on a work night so that you could play for 3-6 minutes, to make it even worse if you showed up even slightly after 8pm they wouldn't even bother trying to make sure you got to play and would use that as an excuse. 

I actually really like this composition of his

https://youtu.be/Ks2yqt3eJmY?si=GtVTpWMEmNmdpPu_

On 17/03/2024 at 20:14, Baloney Balderdash said:

 

And here is my counter argument:

 

I am not usually into solo bass but this is awesome

On 16/06/2020 at 11:29, meterman said:

I absolutely love short scale basses but I often used to struggle with getting them to record well, it would always be the E string.

Over the years I've had:

early 1970s Shaftesbury Tele bass copy (beautiful to play, horrible to record with)
1978 cream Fender Musicmaster (recorded okay, but was the heaviest bass I've ever owned)
1978 black Fender Mustang (looked cool but was 'meh' all over)
2003 fiesta red MIJ Fender Mustang reissue (sold one Xmas when I was skint)
1997 surf green Squier Vista Musicmaster (beautiful to look at, but the frets started lifting so I moved it on)
1997 black Squier Vista Musicmaster (was okay but sold it to part finance another Mustang)
2008 oly white MIJ Fender Mustang (was nice but I swapped it for a 1966 Gibson ES-125T) 
2012 silver sparkle Mikey Way sig Squier Mustang (kept the neck for a partscaster Mustang)
2000's black Squier Mustang (kept the body for a partscaster Mustang)

I've still got a little Tanglewood EB-18 kid's bass I found in a charity shop as well. Not sure what the scale length is but I'm guessing 25" or something as it's tiny, really feels like a toy! It's got La Bella strings on it now and was my only bass for a couple of years. Fun to play but really hit or miss to record with. 

I wouldn't rule out another Mustang. If I had the funds I'd buy a JMJ Mustang reissue today. Like, right now. Maybe I'll find one someday when I've got disposable £'s. Anyhow, have a couple of gratuitous pics:

 

I owned a black Musicmaster at one point and I concur that they weigh a tonne, its the heaviest bass I ever owned, that thing must have weighed 14 pounds, it also sounded like mud regardless of what strings I used and the tone control was close to useless.

Regarding the E string I find a lighter gauge string helps, lighter will give more clarity and heavier will give more thud/thump.

6 hours ago, Aidan63 said:

I'm sure Jack Bruce gave as good as he got dealing with his d1ck of a drummer when the latter was drunk or hungover (ie most of the time)

Ginger Baker is someone who always struck me as being a thoroughly unpleasant person.

10 hours ago, thebrig said:

I have a couple of questions I would like to ask you guys and gals who play, or have played, short-scale basses.

I play mainly P basses but I've tried a couple of short-scales in the past and given up after a few weeks because they just don't feel right, they also sound very different, and I also struggle with the neck-dive.

So my questions are:

 

1. How long does it take to adjust to going from long-scale to short-scale?

2. How do you manage the inevitable neck-dive that you usually get with most short-scale basses, would changing the tuners to lightweight tuners make any noticeable difference?

Actually you are much more likely to have neck dive on a long scale bass as the neck is longer

18 minutes ago, WishIcouldplay said:

Hi thanks for your suggestions.

Which J pickup would you recommend?

Will the Gotoh tunes drop straight in?

Where would you source the stacked controls and switch etc?

 

Not sure if the Gotoh tuners unfortunately, with regards to the J pickup it depends what you are after.

Vintage - Fender pure vintage 62 I think they are called

Aggressive, dark - Dimarzio model j

Aggressive scooped - Seymour Duncan SJB-3

Modern scooped - Dimarzio ultra jazz

I like the ultra jazz personally, nice and crisp sounding

4 hours ago, WishIcouldplay said:

Just purchased a Fender Player PJ Mustang Bass which plays extremely well.

 

However I was wondering about upgrades. Almost every thing. Bridge, Pickups. controls, jack and switch, and machine heads.

 

Anyone done this or have recommendations, suggestions?

Honestly I think the P pickup on these basses is great, you can upgrade but imo it is not necessary, the J pickup is worth upgrading, bridge can be upgraded but again I don't think it's necessary.

I think the thing that is worth upgrading is the machine heads as the stock ones are junk and if I still owned a Mustang I would put some Gotoh tuners on it.

With regards to the controls, if you are looking to upgrade them then I would put in a series/parallel switch in place of the pickup selector and swap the volume tone for 2 volumes or stacked volume controls plus a tone control.

On 09/05/2022 at 13:51, dmccombe7 said:

I originally started with Elites which came with the bass plus Warwick sent me 3 free sets when i had an electronics issue with the bass and it was returned to Germany for repair. I quite liked the Elites 35-95 that came with the bass.

I have tried Warwick red labels and they were ok but didn't last long. 

Used the NYXL's on my MarloweDK last night and they felt ok but i was too close to my amp to hear the top end clearly which is an issue with this particular venue. I have to just set up at soundcheck and go for it hoping i've got it right. Once i hear some of the vids taken by same guy every time we play i might get a better idea how they sounded. 

Certainly didn't get too many issues with finger blisters on plucking hand altho i was trying to play a bit lighter but i just get caught up in the moment with some songs 

I want to see how long they last and it might just be a trade off of tone V's longevity.

Dave

I initially really liked Nyxl's, when I fitted them I thought I had found my ideal string tonally then a couple of weeks later they fully broke in and they just sounded really lifeless, no balls to them at all.

I thought maybe I had a bad set and decided to give them another try a few months later and same outcome.

Ok so positive update, after reading up a bit on truss rods I decided to apply a little bit of grease around where the truss rod turns, applied a little grease loosened the truss rod a tiny bit, tightened it a tiny bit and repeated a couple times then tightened and now the truss rod turns though it's full range with no issues, before it felt very, very tight but turns out it just needed a little grease to get it moving

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

If you are starting from a situation that the neck is strung up and the trussrod is already there or thereabouts, then it is unlikely that any 'seasonal' adjustment would ever be any more than 45 degrees to change a slightly high relief to a lower relief.

 

When you say that it doesn't turn as far - do you mean that the resistance gets so great you can't turn it any further?  With the G held down at fret 1 and fret 16, how much of a gap do you have at, say, the 7th?

Yes, exactly that, my other basses I can turn the truss rod (if needed) probably a full 90 degrees no problem, this bass I can turn it about 45 degrees and then it doesn't turn any further. 

I need to get a set of feelers gauges so not sure if the actual measurements but the relief does by eye look a little more than it should be but the weird thing is that the bass plays absolutely fine, action is lowish, no buzz, no fret rattle.

Hi

I have a bass with a heel access truss rod, plays fine but I notice the truss rod doesn't seem to turn as far as my other basses.

Not sure the best way to describe it and adjusting the truss rod to show what I mean would mean removing the neck so I am going to use the below which shows angles, 360° would mean a truss rod that did not stop turning etc, hope this makes sense

Using the below and imagining that the two lines shown below in each angle represent the movement of a truss rod I would say most of my basses in terms of available adjustment would correspond to the picture of the 90° angle, the bass with the heel access truss rod I would say in terms of available truss rod adjustment is more like the picture of the 45° angle 

Is this normal, should I be concerned?

On 26/01/2024 at 01:55, Vin Venal said:

I am using EB cobalt flats on my precision, which I love, loads of mid-range growl in these, and the main reason I got them is I hope they last a lot longer than rounds do before they go dead and lose that, cuz I hate changing strings.

 

However I have one slight issue which is that if I'm away from the bass for more than a day the cobalt seems to oxidise or something as they develop a coating which can only be described as sticky or clingy. It's definitely not something coming off my hands, cuz it goes away if I play, and stays away if I play regularly.

 

I noticed though that when I had just put some cuticle oil on my well manicured nails (lol), it solved the problem, instant nice slick feel.

 

Obviously I probably don't wanna use cuticle oil as an ongoing thing, cuz it's got all sorts of stuff in it, but I was thinking of getting some pure mineral oil, and basically just applying a dab of that to my fingertips before I start playing.

 

If I do that, do you think it would be bad for the longevity of the strings? Or even the poly finish on the maple fretboard?

 

If yes, any other recommendations?

 

Sorry if this is a bit of a dim question. 😬

If you want them to sound like thumpy Labellas then keep using the oil, if you want any semblance of brightness then I would pass on the oil.

Only thing that is stopping me from getting one is the lack of body contours, I moved my PJ Mustang on for that same reason.

On 05/01/2024 at 13:44, nicsim said:

I'm looking at the Junior Jet as an option. I've got an Ibanez Mezzo (medium scale) I might trade-in/sell, but I'm interested to know how the neck on the JJ compares with an Ibanez SR series - which of course are famously slim/fast. Can anyone offer any experience of the two? Is the shorter reach of the JJ neck traded for a slightly wider neck?

I haven't played the Gretsch but I have heard the neck on them are quite chunky

On 30/12/2023 at 11:52, Chienmortbb said:

We have generally a good band, but one member slightly irritates me. Last night I played a wrong note, he told everyone out loud. I admit that I am not the greatest bassist the world has known but? However, I can rarely;y hear our monitors (vocals only) and last night I hear this horrible noise during one song. He is trying to sing backing vocals and it's horrible.

 

I am the newest member of the band, and he has been in almost since the start, so how do I approach the subject without causing a major incident.

A wrong note, a single wrong note? I would say you are doing a cracking job if you only played the one wrong note in a live performance.

On 22/12/2023 at 22:42, markbunney said:

NBD today for something I’d been looking at for over 3 years, but for various reasons wasn’t able to get.

 

This was an Ibanez SR1600B in Caribbean Shoreline finish.

It arrived today and had a scratch on the fretboard and a ding in the back of the neck.

 

The shop said they were just minor imperfections, which I guess they are, but after spending £1100 on something I expect it to be perfect, so they agreed to take it back as faulty.

 

Just wondering if I was being overly picky, or right to expect a new instrument to arrive in perfect condition.

 

For me it would depend on how it played, if I could get the action to my preference and it played well with no buzz anywhere then I would deal with it and try and get a discount on it, if it needed any kind of fret work to get the action where I wanted it then I would return it, not because of the marks but because the next bass might have better fretwork so I would use it as my excuse for a replacement.

56 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

That is a good bass part. As long as you know the key you’re fine as it’s all pretty simple based on that.

It's the speed of it that gets me, a lot of notes crammed in, actually it's just the part in the "jumped up pantry boy" part, in that section there is a mixture of various descending parts and walks up that use every string and span from the low part of the next on the E string up to the dusty end on the G

This charming man by the Smiths, I can probably play with no mess ups 40% of the time, very busy bass part and all over the neck