Beer of the Bass

Thanks for the input. Foam cases seem not to be an option then. Rental is looking the most likely at the moment.

I'll maybe explore the possibility of a rental then - the organisers say that expenses are covered, so hopefully they'll stretch to that. Unfortunately EUB is not an option, as there is some unamped playing involved.

My band are talking about a potential gig in the spring - not confirmed yet but it's going to involve a plane journey, and the gig itself is doing several sets a day outdoors over three days. If the gig is confirmed, I'm thinking about picking up a cheap laminated bass as a knockabout travelling/outdoor bass for the situations where I don't want to use my old German flatback. It would also be handy for busking in dodgy weather. So, what I'm wondering is whether people would trust the styrofoam type cases (as supplied with Gear4Music basses, for example) when flying with a laminated bass. I've not seen this type of case in the flesh, so it's hard to be sure.

The Sunn guitars and basses were in all the home shopping catalogues in the 80's when I was a kid, so they're probably the equivalent of a squire affinity or similar in terms of their value at the time. At £400, I'd run a mile.

Agreed, Ken McDonald is the guy to speak to.

From experience with the torch cleaning files, they're fine for minor shaping on a plastic nut (like lowering existing slots or changing string gauge), but a bit useless if making a nut from an unslotted blank, particularly with harder materials like bone. So they're useful to have around, but don't totally replace the fancy nut files.

You may find you're OK even with individual pole pieces. Rickenbacker toasters for both guitar and bass have six polepieces under the cover. I've got a Kent Armstrong copy of one on my four string, and have no problems with string balance. How the tone of a guitar humbucker would translate to bass would take some guesswork, however.

I had a similar issue on a fretless, and found that the neck relief also makes a big difference to getting that sound. A flatter relief seems to maximise the "mwah" qualities, so it might be worth checking it and adjusting the truss rod if necessary.

I'm not really an expert, but the shape of the body around the heel suggests it is blockless (i.e with the ribs set directly into the neck, rather than using a neck block). Along with the hatpeg tuners and decorative purfling at the heel, this often a characteristic of older Germanic basses - around the late 19th to early 20th century would be a rough estimate. With a decent ebony board fitted and the cracks sorted, it'll probably be a good sounding bass, the sort of thing a lot of working jazzers seem to use. A full restoration on any bass tends to be expensive, to the point of exceeding the value of lower end basses, but it may be possible to get it into a playable state with less than that.

Mind you, who wants to go on stage in their slippers? Nothing wrong with a good Fender, but there is definitely a place for the more wild & interesting stuff out there!

Nice and compact for a valve amp! I wouldn't think the value would be massive, but this would be a nice little studio/rehearsal/small gig amp for somebody.

Largest; packed 900 capacity venue on new year's eve. Smallest; erm, 0. We kept playing, too!

It's a long shot, but if you have the number from the sticker on the side, why not email Eminence and ask what would be the closest replacement from their current line? I've heard they don't give out specs for OEM units, but will tell you if it's close to any of the retail drivers.

Another one completed. Cheers, Martin

It's also worth mentioning that reverb pans (usually mounted in the bottom of guitar combos) don't like being near power transformers - it makes them hum. Probably only a problem if the guitarist uses loads of reverb though.

Check your spelling, dude! I didn't spot any gardening tools in the video...

I played a 12 1/2 pound bass for years, and am now using one weighing just a tad over 9 1/2 pounds, which is much more bearable. 12 1/2lbs gives me shoulder problems, 9 1/2lbs doesn't. I think 8lbs or less is light, 9-10 is medium and anything over 10 is heavy. Come to think of it, my dog weighs 10 1/2 lbs, so I should set up a big set of scales like they use for witches in The Holy Grail. Anything weighing the same or less than the dog would be OK!

I wonder how much use it would be, as our perception of tension varies a lot with the flexibility and elasticity of the string as well as absolute tension. As an example, Thomastik Dominants feel about as stiff to play as Spiro Mittels, but I am told the measured tension is lower.

Double bass looks good, and that's sometimes the most important thing in busking. You need something that makes people stop and have a look, and only then will they check out the actual music. On that basis, a bass balaika would work well too! I'm busking with a singer/guitarist, portable drum kit and occasional fiddle in Edinburgh through the festival. We amplify the singer a little and everything else goes unamped. The best way to make money out of it seems to be to have CDs available at £5 a time. They make a big difference to how much we can bring in, and it's a good way to get our stuff out there.

The idea that there is a "correct volume" for the cavity which must not be deviated from is bizarre. It might make sense on a true acoustic instrument, but not on a chambered solid body. Why not just come clean and say that the lack of an access panel is for aesthetics? It is an interesting looking instrument though, and someone out there may love it.

Not positive this time, I'm afraid. I bought a Pignose amp from Graham on the 5th August. On the 11th, he messaged me with "Hello fella, sorry for the lateness the Amp should be there in a day ir two ". I then messaged him two more times over the next few days, as there was still no sign of the amp. He spun me a story that he was away from home camping and didn't have the tracking details with him, yet when the amp arrived, the label clearly showed he hadn't actually dispatched it until the 16th. So why did he imply that he had already posted it on the 11th? When the amp arrived, the input jack was intermittent and crackly and the power jack appears to either be missing or broken. The description did not mention either of these things. I am going to hang on to the amp and fix these, but there is no way I would deal with this guy again. I hate having to post negatively, but the feedback system is worthless if I don't.

[quote name='chrisd24' post='1339062' date='Aug 13 2011, 08:18 PM']Out of curiosity what does an alnico magnet look like?[/quote] It's a dullish grey metallic looking material. On alnico Fender pickups, the polepieces themselves are the magnets - there is no bar magnet on the bottom.

Well, I got through it and it wasn't too bad! Only three of the four songs got recorded due to time constraints. Conveniently, the one that got dropped was the one where I was really struggling with the score, so that issue didn't come up. I'd got the wrong end of the stick about them wanting to record the whole string section live - We laid down double bass, organ/piano and guide vocals live, with good separation, so we could drop things in for minor errors. I'd say I'm happy with my playing on the first two we did. The third track was a rush job in the last half hour of the session and will require some editing to get a good complete take, but there wasn't time to do more. The parts are actually not too complicated, but have some weird timing going on due to following a singer with loose, folky delivery. So, lessons learned are as follows: - I should have a bit more confidence in my playing. I did a decent job and didn't hold things up particularly. - It wouldn't hurt to do some work on my reading. I think i was mostly bricking it as I'm not used to having to get material laid down straight from notation in a short time. Any suggestions of good ways to develop my reading are welcomed. - Handwritten scores can be a nightmare! I think I should be prodding my friend to use Sibelius or similar.

[quote name='lowdown' post='1337597' date='Aug 12 2011, 01:30 PM']To be honest from reading your posts, little thought has gone onto the charts, IE - like you say above and notes out of range, unclear directions etc. Well in my experience that always leads to one thing -[b] All [/b]the band charts will be like that, and time will be wasted sorting it all out on the job, And that includes the other Musicians. Oh and dont worry about string players being 'On it' they will be even more confused than you if it is not written out correctly.... You will all be in the same boat, so just enjoy it. Garry[/quote] You may be right. I've spent most of today playing through the parts, so I feel like I'm doing what I can. I think 2 of the 4 songs will be OK, one is marginal and one will need some rehearsal to work at all. It's an odd band dynamic - they're sort of folk-rock with proggy leanings, the drummer sings and writes most of the songs, and has ambitiuous ideas of what he wants to do with the music, but he doesn't read or write music, so the keyboard player/vocalist runs around frantically sorting out arrangements etc. I think the drummer/songwriter can sometimes fail to appreciate how much effort other people are putting in to making his music happen, or that time is needed for this.