Beer of the Bass

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.

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1445347961' post='2890739'] With a spectrum analysis on the source files, I was surprised to learn that the noticeable difference is that A has a peak at 400Hz that B doesn't have, and is much stronger around 3khz. B is 6db down at those frequencies. Other than that they are very similar. Obviously these aren't perfect samples but there were some other samples from both, and it is borne out in those too. [/quote] I think it may be that 400Hz content that I like less about the first recording - it sounds sort of boxy to my ears.

There's a Fender Custom Shop P-Bass which has the mute mechanism from a Jaguar guitar installed, and Jaguar mute kits are quite easily obtainable. I've seen threads about this over on that other bass forum: [url="http://www.talkbass.com/threads/installing-a-jaguar-mute-on-a-p-bass.1021488/"]http://www.talkbass.com/threads/installing-a-jaguar-mute-on-a-p-bass.1021488/[/url] It looks quite neat but you do have to drill holes.

I like recording B better out of those two.

[quote]Some guys need to find the perfect compressor just as badly as some gals need to perfect a new scale. There is no right or wrong way to develop, just be yourself.[/quote] Ah, if only this interview had been available when basschat had the notorious compressor thread!

I suspect this will not be the last time this is listed. He'll find some spurious reason not to go through with the sale and then relist it, I reckon.

It looks like it's a little cheaper straight from the author. Perhaps I'll check it out myself at some point. [url="http://www.tylerbasses.co.uk/page4.html"]http://www.tylerbasses.co.uk/page4.html[/url]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1445014954' post='2888225'] What was that about..? They were sometimes in black bin liners, too. Quite often accompanied by a knotted old dobbie full of spongle. Why did the nation dispose of their unwanted bongo mags under hedges in the 70s? Obviously not as concerned about recycling back then, I suppose. [/quote] It went on well into the 80s, at least in our neighbourhood. There were little stashes of them dotted around the patch of trees we used to play in, and no-one knew who put them there...

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1445013470' post='2888203'] Hipshot got it badly wrong with the Ric bridge, I'm almost tempted to say it was designed by an infiltrator from Ric. If I get another Ric it's going to be wearing a BBOT [/quote] Isn't the spacing on a BBOT way off Rickenbacker spacing? I'd be tempted to go with something like a Schaller roller bridge (for the adjustable spacing) with a Geddy-style surround (maybe made from mirror acrylic) so that it looks good from a few feet away and hides the routing.

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1444995328' post='2887959'] I wonder if it will sound as good as this fine Kay guitar from the 1970s (ass advertised in the Gratton catologue)... [/quote] I had one of those for a little while, it was a fun charity shop find. The effects were awful, except for the Fuzz which was crude but useable. The best "feature" was entirely accidental - by lodging the effects bypass switch halfway between on and off it would connect the input and outputs together, causing howling feedback noises which could be modulated with the controls.

[quote name='Number6' timestamp='1444921933' post='2887384'] Seasick Steve is a luthier.....or at least i prefer his less than pretentious creations for his instruments which don't look like grandfather clocks on straps. [/quote] I dunno, you could argue that for a wealthy and successful artist like Seasick Steve to keep up his hobo shtick and backyard lash-up instruments is actually kind of pretentious, or at least an affectation. I certainly felt like that when seeing him sing "Never met a rich man that I liked" with his friend John-Paul Jones on bass, who is on the Times rich list. The original blues guys would tend to go out and get themselves fantastic tailored suits and ostentatious instruments once they made some money!

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1444982758' post='2887776'] Eminence, I believe. Not sure of the specifics. [/quote] Yes, the quoted specs for the cab match the Beta 12 quite closely so I'd be interested to find out whether it's the stock Beta 12 or a tweaked OEM version. It's a respectable driver, a little less capable than some of the state-of-the-art stuff though that would make sense if they're going for the particular sort of colouration it has which lots of bassists like.

Out of curiosity, has anyone had a peek inside their S112 to see what driver they're using? I'm curious to see if Stevie's guess elsewhere on the forum is correct!

I've not seen them in the flesh, but Matamp look like they've kept up the quality. The newer ones look very well built indeed.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1444558854' post='2884011'] IME having a single saddle for each pair of strings makes an 8-string bass unplayable due to tuning issues above the 7th fret. [/quote] Isn't that one of these Schallers on there? It does look like an oddly thought out bass though. I hope it's not really one-piece pine (softwood for an 8-string neck?), and who plays an eight string bass guitar in upright position?

I think I've said this before, but someone really needs to start an MDP fan page on facebook, both to further appreciation of his, erm, unique work and to make the job of the mods on here a little easier. There are some real gems among his other listings at the moment, but I presume that this may not be the place to bring them up.