Beer of the Bass

There was a thread on Talkbass a while ago where a guy was posting plots of frequency content over time for some different basses. IIRC, a long scale (41-42") EUB with piezo bridge pickups contained a far higher proportion of fundamental than a 34" bass guitar with magnetic pickups. So a very long scale might be a good idea if the strongest fundamental is required. Here's the thread: [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/bass-frequency-waterfall-plots-what-they-mean-rigs-510749/"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/bass-frequency-waterfall-plots-what-they-mean-rigs-510749/[/url]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1378139378' post='2196184'] In the 80s did everyone think Carlsbros were good? 70s Carlsbros are good, wondering how it all looked from the time. [/quote] As far as I can gather (not being of that generation), I don't think the 70s valve Carlsbros had much cachet at the time. They were good solid utilitarian gear, but Carlsbro didn't do much on the advertising and artist relations front so mostly sold their amps to blokes in the Midlands playing working men's clubs. Marshall, Vox etc managed to get themselves associated with the big names and were desirable because of that, even though when you look at a 70s Carlsbro now, it's certainly not of lesser quality than Marshalls of the time.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1381840609' post='2244362'] I could just find a suitable bag, get a board (like a chopping board, as I have seen a certain BC member use!) and use that, once covered in the appropriate material... It'd probably be cheaper too, but I'd rather just buy one... [/quote] Ah, that would be my chopping board you're referring to, fresh out of the Tollcross Poundstretcher! I was using a tea tray for a while too. I keep meaning to cut myself a decent bit of plywood...

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1381828780' post='2244156'] Looks just like a Gittler. [/quote] It is! It looks like his son is trying to revive the company, using different materials.

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1381694874' post='2242545'] It seems odd to me that we have a forum of mostly amateurs (when it comes to bass building) slagging off someone who has been doing it as a career for quite a few years. i.e. "I can't understand how tapping a piece of wood with a hammer can help predict its tone in a guitar, so therefore it must be wrong". Are these the same armchair experts that shout their valued advice to the professional players while watching Man. U. V. Chelsea on the telly? [/quote] I can see your point here to a certain extent, as any luthier who is getting a decent amount of work rarely has time to hang around on forums. Having said that, this guys process just doesn't seem very convincing. My brother is a classical guitar builder, educated at the Guildhall in London and is lately becoming quite well respected among luthiers. I've seen some of the stuff he was studying and experimenting with during his degree, to do with the mass and resonant frequency of various parts of the instrument and its effect on the final instrument, and it all seemed so much better measured, recorded and understood that what the Fender guy is doing. Sort of like the difference between listening to a doctor and a homeopath explaining a health condition (if that's not too contentious an analogy!).

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1381605431' post='2241398'] Yes, I'd agree with all of that. I understand that wood can be denser towards the centre (and bottom) of the tree, but I'm talking about something different. I'm talking about latewood and earlywood. A quarter sawn board has a higher concentration of dense latewood compared to a tangentially sawn board, regardless of where on the tree it was cut. [/quote] i'm not quite getting your point here. Picture a square section of timber, say 2x2" with the grain parallel with one of the planes. It would effectively be quarter sawn if you looked at it one way round and flatsawn if you rotated it by 90 degrees. How would that change its density?

I think with low voltage, low current stuff like pedals, it's more total hours of existence rather than hours of use. There shouldn't be much thermal cycling going on in a pedal, but electrolytic capacitors are only dependable for 20-30 years (unless you're lucky) and pots, switches and jacks are subject to mechanical wear with use. I'd worry more about your power supply getting warm if you leave it on constantly.

Is there much of that style Gospel being played in the UK? I'm not a church-goer myself, but I've heard that we mostly get the "U2 with added God" style of contemporary Christian music around here.

It turns out the Fender short-scale bass bag may be a touch too narrow for a Jazzmaster, though it is long enough. However, I found a nice Kases leatherette bag here on the basschat classifieds which is well padded, classy looking and a good fit, so I have solved my gig bag issue. Hurrah!

Bought a gig bag from Loz. He was helpful about measuring it and answering questions before I bought it, and kept me well informed about the couriers afterwards. A good guy to deal with!

[quote name='benbastin' timestamp='1381481876' post='2239596'] Obviously the player is a much bigger factor in how a bass will sound. But the thread was about how the bass itself changes over time which is an interesting thing to contemplate. I feel my main bass change throughout the year as the seasons change, so there are consideration to take in. Instrument builders are in a much different position to that of Panormo or Strad. We have access to a huge selection of wood, which we can be pretty sure has been very well looked after. All the time makers are trying to pair down what makes the difference to each instrument. Should it be 4mm thick or 3mm, etc etc etc which really can never be fully explored when the wood is so different, but perhaps a reason for looking for drier and more stable wood choices, is also in that effort to remove variables to the process of building. Its interesting to hear every bodies experiences of how their instrument has changed since they bought it, or even how its different in the winter to the summer, and then to theorise as to why these things might happen, or even if its just a placebo. [/quote] My bass is somewhere in the region of 100 years old, and it has been several decades since the top was last off for repairs. I guess this means that it's quite settled in terms of long term changes, but I think I do notice a seasonal change in the sound. I [i]think[/i] (but I can't be sure) that it's somewhat quieter and duller sounding during spells of high humidity, especially with the bow. Of course, some of this could be related to my bow hair too. It's hard for me to say whether the sound "closes up" again if the bass is unplayed for a while, because this usually means that I'm out of practice also. Certainly, I get a better sound when I'm playing every day, but since I only own one double bass, I can't seperate the effect of the amount I'm playing from the amount the bass is being played.

I Danish oiled a rosewood fingerboard once (years ago, but I think it may have been Rustins brand). It never looked right, and I later scraped it all off and used a lighter non-drying oil instead. I don't do it very often, but I tend to use a bottle of woodwind bore oil I have sitting around, which is just a light mineral oil.

On the MB200 8 ohm vs 4 ohm thing, I can report that I've been quite happy with the volume of mine through a fairly efficient 8 ohm 2x12". Sometimes the volume control on mine gets turned up quite high (up to 1 or 2 o'clock), but it sounds fine like this. I can see an 8 ohm 1x12" not being so satisfactory for big rooms with the MB200 though.

When I've done this before, I've started by using a large sheet of tracing paper ( to check alignment directly with the body), and worked around a marked centreline on both the body and paper template. It's also worth mentioning that if you're using multi-ply material and bevelling the edges, this is a real hassle to do by hand. I hope you're better tooled up than I was!

I blame my dog usually. It's his job!

Wow, that is really nicely built. I'm not used to seeing amps built this way without decades of dust and crud on them!

I've found one long enough here; [url="http://www.spider-engineering.co.uk/music/typeproducts2.asp?id=4843-5796"]http://www.spider-engineering.co.uk/music/typeproducts2.asp?id=4843-5796[/url] but it's a bit cheap looking and I'm not sure how well padded it will be for 15 quid. I don't like that design where the zip goes all the way round the bottom either. I notice that Fender do a short-scale bass gig bag, and I have a hunch that might be a good size. I'll send off a couple of emails and see if I can find out.

Having finished my Jazzmaster bitsa (as seen in the build diaries section), I'm struggling to find the right gig bag. At 104cm long, it's just a little too long for the gig bag I had with my last guitar, and most typical strat/tele bags. I've been putting it in a bass bag, but it really needs its own bag. I know there are a few folk on here who've had Jazzmasters, so I'd be interested to know what you used. I need shoulder straps, just enough pockets for spare strings and tremolo arm, and it would be nice if it wasn't too high-tech/sporty/gimmicky looking like some bags are. Most retailers websites are terrible at showing the dimensions of cases, so finding the right one online is proving difficult...

[quote name='Stacker' timestamp='1380969256' post='2232889'] I've emailed the seller for his reasoning for doing this. Interesting mod. [/quote] If it's the seller I think it is, the "reasoning" has got to be simply that he had a strat pickup lying around and it fitted in the hole. It seems eccentric, but at least he hasn't chiselled great big holes in the body.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1380886232' post='2231893'] Just listening to it again to see whether it has any merits I previously missed. Sadly, I still don't get any real sense of why. Lot's of stuff but no context. A jam on nothing in particular. [/quote] For me, the merit in Bitches Brew is that it has a sort of intensity which literally makes the hairs on my arms stand on end. That's not something I can analyse, I'm just moved by it. OTOH there is a lot of music raved about on Basschat which absolutely leaves me cold, so it has to be a personal thing...

[quote name='Fionn' timestamp='1380881161' post='2231808'] Some of your replies have made me very interested in hearing "A Silent Way". I just downloaded it. The afternoons listening at "work" is assured. Gracias [/quote] One of the things I like about In a Silent way is the minimalism of the drums. I mean, they've got Tony Williams sat behind a kit, one of the all-time great drummers and he plays hi-hat only for the whole of side one and mostly snare rim for much of side two, only using the whole kit for a few minutes of the album. It strikes me you'd need some real confidence to do something as sparse as that!

Picato flatwounds are quite cheap. They're very smooth feeling and voiced towards the old fashioned thumpy end of things. The last time I tried a set I had one duff string which I had to send back for a replacement, but other than that they seem fine.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1380637225' post='2228236'] Who cares about bass cabs when you have a Porsche?! Just make someone else take the cab. [/quote] Was there not a small Ashdown cab a few years ago, called the Boxster because it was designed to fit the boot of one? This was in the early days of Ashdown of course, when they were still more of a premium brand...

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1380543200' post='2226726'] But a lot of the "modern" single cuts have a lot more in common with the Telecaster shape than the stereotypical Fodera type single-cut shape. Even what is considered to be a modern signal cut comes in a wider variety of shapes from the Warwick to the Ritter, with many others in-between. [/quote] I think the length of the upper bout compared to the lower is the difference between the modern single cuts (Fodera et.al) and the traditional sort (archtop guitar inspired). Comparing the "double cutaway" Strat to the "single cutaway" Tele is interesting, as the Strat actually adds a horn rather than having more material cut away. The modern single cut basses are closer to that Strat/P-bass descended shape, only with the space between the upper horn and the neck filled in.