Beer of the Bass

I was sad to read about Ornette Coleman passing away yesterday. He was one of the real innovators and even his 50s records still sound fresh today IMO. He had a great ear for bassists too, as some of my favourite of Charlie Haden's playing was with Coleman, and then there's Scott LaFaro and David Izenzon. While his music has a reputation for being challenging, I've always found it more to my taste than straighter be-bop based jazz.

Since he seems to know so spectacularly little about it (Van Halen pickups?!), I can't help but wonder how he came by this bass. I hope it's all above board. But yes, if it's legit it's a very good price, as you could easily pay more than that for the pickups without the bass attached.

I saw him something like 20 years ago at the Dunoon Jazz Festival (when that still existed) with Nikki Yeoh. He had a Marmite jar velcroed to his bass which he used for some weird slide noises on one tune! I was a teenager and hadn't been playing long, so he made a bit of an impression. Nice to know he's still going strong.

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1433194509' post='2788887'] The makers of this bass posted it on a local FB muso group I use, mostly just to get reactions & feedback. This was my "assessment": [i]Aesthetically I love it - I'm a sucker for a see-through bass, but from a player's perspective I have a few misgivings about the practicality of the design & the pickup & switching choices. A bass is usually a pretty heavy instrument, and lots of hard edges & protruding fasteners might make this pretty uncomfortable to play over a long gig - the 4 sharp ridges where a forearm chamfer would be on a solid body look particularly eye-watering! Not at all convinced by the Strat-type pickup layout & switching - on the whole a pickup selector is pretty much useless on a bass, the facility to blend pickups (either individual volumes or a pan pot) is far more flexible. I'd be inclined to go for a 2 pickup arrangement with pan pot. And some LEDs. Lots of LEDs.[/i] Well, it's just a giant Strat really, innit? Jon. [/quote] I agree about the forearm chamfer. It might be possible for them to make the top layer full size and bend it in drop-top fashion to cover the edges of the lower layers.

I wouldn't let fear of expensive repairs put you off a carved instrument if that's what you really want. Unless you're very unlucky, the worst climate related damage is likely to be the occasional open seam which is a cheap and quick repair. Good insurance will cover any accidental damage outside of that, too.

[quote name='Mr H' timestamp='1433872809' post='2794767'] Anyone who has only seen RD in that new [i]All Shook Up[/i] clip won't be aware of what a humble and hilarious man he is, as well as being an awesome singer/songwriter and musician. I'm going to see him again in September. I'm a bit partisan, really. [/quote] I saw him a couple of weeks ago when he came to Edinburgh. The thing I hadn't quite expected is quite how funny he is when performing - between songs he comes across like rambling non-sequitur standup. He really doesn't seem to distinguish between serious and absurd at all, as they often both happen at the same time.

[quote name='BobVbass' timestamp='1433845560' post='2794431'] not my cup of tea and the tuning makes my teeth grate but I think its great the BBC still experiment with new music [/quote] Indeed, the tuning is kind of out there. I have a fairly good ear for pitch, but I find that "out" sounding stuff when done with the right attitude can be just another flavour to use and somehow I'm not bothered by it. This, for example, causes me to break out in a massive grin: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXFSVvnA7X4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXFSVvnA7X4[/url]

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1433842779' post='2794396'] Phew! I like the idea of the raffle... I can imagine this turning into some sort of alternative bass relay: you're [b]it[/b]! [/quote] The Bass Relay idea is brilliant - imagine picking this up and trying to get through a song in front of an audience...

Rather than a recent attempt at the relic look, I reckon somebody started trying to strip it with a scraper and gave up because it was hard work, maybe some time in the 70s when stripping your 60s Fender was the fashionable thing to do. It's lucky that they didn't give it a badly routed J pickup and brass hardware while they were at it!

What's your pickup at the moment?

[quote name='FlatEric' timestamp='1433159716' post='2788340'] I bought some "Rainbow" pick-ups, in the late 70's/very early 80's, for a guitar project and never fitted them. One those, the whole pick-up was resin. Is/Was Rainbow anything to do with Armstrong?? Anyone? Cheers. [/quote] IIRC Rainbow used to carry the Armstrong designed Sky pickups in the 90s, so that seems likely. I remember sending off for their price list from the advert in the back of a guitar magazine. I think they either changed their name to or were acquired by WD music later on.

When you look at the seller's completed auctions, this guitar has already failed to sell four times at £700 and £845 with no mention of the mystical woo. This makes it look like a very odd selling tactic... [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Charvel-San-Dimas-Custom-Electric-Guitar-/161694032019"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Charvel-San-Dimas-Custom-Electric-Guitar-/161694032019[/url]

Most of them have threaded holes in the side for fitting rack ears, so if you want it in an enclosed box that option is available. I do prefer it when makers use front handles to protect the knobs a little, like the GK MB amps do. Carry it in a padded bag, or rack it if you're touring, and the whole thing is a non-issue IMO.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1433456633' post='2791328'] If I remember correctly, Rondo Music in the USA was selling a fretless 12 string guitar. Surely everyone needs a fretless 12 string guitar in their collection. [/quote] I wonder how many of those they've sold? It might be fun to string it in unison with a single string on the bottom and play it like an oud, otherwise I can't think what else you might do with one!

I like the maple/ash natural look, the neck looks like a nice bit of quartersawn wood and it all looks very tidily built. If you gig it on Friday I might be around to hear it, though I think my Saturday gig clashes with yours.

A friend showed me a link to these, a miniature bow which can be strapped to the ring finger for quick changes between arco and pizz. Obviously, it's never going to replace a full size bow, but I'm kind of intrigued by the idea. It looks like it would be a fun thing to experiment with, and could lead to some unconventional parts. [url="http://expandinghandsmusic.com/ehm1_005.htm"]http://expandinghandsmusic.com/ehm1_005.htm[/url]

Send them some pictures of the most portly bass player you can find, and tell them the pictures are of you!

It might sound like Mick Karn, if Mick Karn had ever tried to milk a cow on a winter morning with cold hands!

Good, isn't it? I'm never sure whether to laugh, cry, or slip on a pair of crocs, crack open the home brew and sit out in the garden with my bass...

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1432988697' post='2786814'] It seems to be a link of some sort. Seriously... it's a Wishbass. As in 'I wish he hadn't bothered'. They do have some love on this forum. [/quote] What's not to love? It's quite hard to watch this without some sort of smile, even though you may alternate the smiling with grimaces and head-shaking... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efOgS3eT0HM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efOgS3eT0HM[/url]

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1432736215' post='2784412'] You'll start losing floor coupling at about 2.5 feet off the floor, so don't go higher than that. If it's still hard to hear tilt it back. A keyboard stand is a bit too high. The same applies to the distance to the wall behind the cab. Placing the front of the cab more than 2 feet from the wall will not only reduce boundary reinforcement off the wall, it will cause a response dip. That can be of use on boomy stages. The correct distance from the wall can put the dip at the boom frequency, cancelling out the boom. [/quote] That's interesting, as there's a pub I've played in several times where I'd usually put my cab on top of a chair, but tried a 3 foot tall bar stool for one gig. I did feel like I had trouble dialling in enough bass that time. I've played around with boundary reinforcement when playing unamplified double bass - I've found that standing as far into the corner of the room as possible seems to give me a little extra low end.

Ooh, the four string looks nice. I've always preferred the look of basses with a pickguard, and I didn't realise that ACG did them.

[quote name='fatback' timestamp='1432589409' post='2783129'] I always say this, and I'm sure y'all yawn, but check out Rabbath's method. Intonation becomes a dream because there's so little arm shifting going on. And instead of learning by marking 'frets' you can learn by marking the thumb positions and practice those three (or four) shifts. If it works for me, it'll work for anybody. [/quote] I've not looked into Rabbath much - is that the method where you use all four fingers pivoting around the thumb? I think that the Simandl style 1-2-4 fingerings are so ingrained into my playing that it would almost like re-learning the instrument.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1432582895' post='2783037'] Perhaps, but who would be there to kick you out? Nobody, or it wouldn't be a desert island to start with. I suppose the point is that we can never go to a desert island. Well, we can *go* but we can never set foot on it. This then renders the current thread pointless. [/quote] Doesn't that change the premise of the thread a little? Like, which bass would you banish to an island where no-one ever sets foot? I can think of one or two...

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1432565631' post='2782713'] Still puzzled as other commercially available horizontal, multi-driver cabs have been singled out as flawed and most have a crossover in them. Not that I am fussed but it seems odd to have had so many years of posts deriding the horizontal alignment of drivers and then along comes a BF cab of the same design. I've no doubt I shall be learning something new re. this matter very shortly. [/quote] I think they're using what's referred to as a .5 alignment, where both drivers handle the lows but only one driver gets the upper mids and highs. So in the frequency range where horizontally arranged drivers would affect the dispersion it behaves as a 1x10" cab.