Beer of the Bass

Just to help square things up with what we're hearing on the recordings, can you remember which cab had the healthy one?

If nothing else, it makes me feel a bit better about my own bass building efforts!

I'm obviously a bit out of the loop on this stuff, as when I'm looking to buy gear being sold privately I won't usually consider approaching the seller unless I'm in a position to turn up in person with the asking price in cash, unless the advert explicitly offers postage. Sometimes sellers have kindly offered to drop things off if they're local and in certain circumstances I've offered the same when selling. But lately when advertising things for sale I've had a lot of potential buyers with what seems like a mammoth sense of entitlement, where I'm expected to deliver the item to them without compensation for less than the asking price and they seem offended when I decline to do this. I tend to price things at the low end of market value to begin with, so there comes a point where that just doesn't feel worth doing.

[quote name='scojack' timestamp='1445955485' post='2895678'] How does an expensive bass with the same string length have a 'less floppy B string' than a cheaper model ??!? [/quote] I've never quite understood that idea either. The tone of the B string can be clearer on a well made bass with a stiff neck (I've heard it myself when swapping necks on the same bass) but the tension of the string won't change.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1445953749' post='2895650'] Really? I use the Silver Flex 75s which I believe a the heavier versions. If I don't loose them they last less than a month before the point has become too rounded to give me the desired feel and sound when playing. [/quote] Are you playing roundwounds? I find I wear out the point of picks with roundwounds but less so with flats. On guitar I really seem to get through them - I used to like the Fender celluloid ones but they would leave a fine dust of grated pick material all over my guitar!

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1445941413' post='2895520'] Do we think he's trying to recoup a massive outlay? Did he pay a fortune for it? [/quote] From what I can recall of Tennessee instruments on eBay they were improbably cheap for what they were attempting to be, though I've yet to see anyone expressing satisfaction with one. He may have spent as much on the strings as the bass, if not more.

I suppose this song belongs in this thread, though it comes from a blissful unawareness of British colloquialisms rather than any intentional smut. Still makes me smile though! [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH_ODa805D0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH_ODa805D0[/url]

[quote name='sprocketflup' timestamp='1445900526' post='2895300'] Its easy to see how the bridge(s) have been added to with the extra strings, but the headstocks a different kettle of trout. Cant see that one meself. I wonder if hes made a whole new neck for it? maybe from an old section of dual - carriageway perhaps [/quote] I think it was built with 15 strings, but so badly thought out that it would barely be a useable instrument. I've seen pictures of these in their original form, and there were quite a few abominations on eBay under the Tennessee brand a few years ago. There are pictures of an unmodified one here, though come to think of it this might be the same one with a few awful hack jobs and a coat of brown paint on the fingerboard. [url="http://www.talkbass.com/threads/now-thats-just-crazy.447817/"]http://www.talkbass.com/threads/now-thats-just-crazy.447817/[/url]

[quote name='wmsheep' timestamp='1445885924' post='2895081'] I think the all time classic for having the "F-Bomb" in it is "Hey Jude", by that popular liverpool beat combo "The Beatles". in case you are wondering, it's at about 2.57 into the song. [/quote] The Kingsmen version of Louie Louie has a not-very-hidden one as well, not in the lyrics, but when the band trips over the timing you can clearly hear one of them exclaiming "F*ck!" in the background.

[quote name='colgraff' timestamp='1445880140' post='2895005'] Re Yellow Mellow: if we are going with the drug theme, what does "I'm just mad about 14 / She's mad about me." mean? [/quote] There's a live album where he sings "I'm just mad about fourteen year old girls", which seems fairly unambiguous.

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1445871270' post='2894867'] What a bizarre thread! Are we really all stunned and reeling at the shock revelation that an awful lot of popular music is, was, and alway has been, quite unambiguously about shagging? You guys... Jon. [/quote] That much I'm quite comfortable with; It's when the subject is underage or unwilling that I start to feel uneasy. I wouldn't go so far as banning any of the songs mentioned, but it's worth acknowledging that the lyrics may be a bit questionable by modern standards.

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1445863395' post='2894773'] Wow. That was one auction where I was expecting a crazy flurry of activity in the dying seconds... as bidders rush to retract their bids!! [/quote] There was one retraction this morning - that could be the be the seller under another account trying to push up the price to the next highest bid.

If money was no object I'd use something low powered and valvey, perhaps an old B15 or something from a small builder in that style. The "money no object" bit would be in having good enough sound guys and PA to work with the moderate stage volume.

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1445816836' post='2894507'] I've never picked up on this. [/quote] I think it's the "I'm just mad about fourteen" bit, possibly compounded by "your cup I'll gladly fill" later on.

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1445777361' post='2894033'] Just as a sideline, does anyone have any idea what kind of fuzz pedal RS would have used back then? I always liked his fuzz sound, just not Phil Miller's. Trying to remember what was around then, MXR, Electroharmonix, Coloursound, Fuzzface? Cheers MBA [/quote] Hmm, good question. I know that a few of the Canterbury scene bands liked the Shaftesbury Duo Fuzz, which was the same as the Shin Ei FY6 and Univox Superfuzz, but then bits of the Rotters Club album sound like he's using some sort of fuzz/wah combo.

So was recording B the 12mm with bracing?

There was Jazz model with similarly extended horns around this time so I wouldn't be surprised if there'd been a Precision too, although I haven't seen one before.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1445537197' post='2892289'] You might be able to undo the modifications and make an ERB with fewer strings from it. If I had landed it with my £50 bid, that's what I would have been thinking. [/quote] Like a wide-necked 6-string bass for those sausage-fingered builders and bricklayers? You could be onto something there! Though in all seriousness, it looks too cheap and nasty to be an attractive instrument even if you managed to make it playable, with the plywood body and brown painted fingerboard.

It's a Squier with a dodgy decal on the front of the headstock. The 70's decal and serial number don't match anything else on the bass.

I like B better out of those recordings, though the difference doesn't seem huge. Both are a more pleasing tone (to my tastes at least) than the recordings of the Markbass combos from the same day.

It would appear he's been posting on Gumtree for 3+ years and he supplies a landline phone number. Surely someone fencing stolen goods would have a new account and a PAYG mobile?

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1445410708' post='2891203'] Theres a fat idiot who I think is called Roy, lives in Livingston who buys stuff up on gumtree and then flogs it for profit the next week... watch ebay... [/quote] It was the seller who was called Roy and I think he was in Duddingston, so I'd presume it was a different chap from the Roy you've encountered.

This is a bit of a cheat, but for small localised dents in a rosewood fretless fingerboard, I had good results filling them with a couple of layers of CA glue, scraping level with a single edged razor blade, then very lightly sanding with fine wet and dry to even out the surface. It could be considered a bit of a bodge, but it's quite hard to spot if done well and can buy you some more time before the next fingerboard dress.

Occasionally the treble loss of those curly cables can make a welcome difference with single-coil equipped guitarists and bright sounding amps, as I've yet to hear anyone complain that their telecaster doesn't have enough treble! Although turning the tone control down a little would achieve the same thing in a more controllable way.