Beer of the Bass

If you're going for a bare fingerboard and want to use roundwounds, then I'd go for ebony (or other equally hard and dense woods) over rosewood. While basschat threads can go round in circles ad infinitum when discussing woods, a fretless fingerboard is one of the places where different materials really do affect the sound IMO.

[quote name='spacey' timestamp='1434878613' post='2803446'] If they were the Chinese Mackies the horns might have blown. They dont take much stick. [/quote] I did wonder if blown horns were a part of it. I've played a few pubs with small PA systems with blown horns and got exactly the results the OP describes, and you can't do much about it with EQ. And the landlord always seems to insist that they're fine because they still produce sound.

It's not just you. I'm between bands at the moment, and still have a small-gig setup, but I wound up selling my bigger 2x12" cab to cover some expenses when moving house. I'm now thinking I ought to replace that while things are quiet so that I don't have a mad last-minute scramble to find something when I join another band. It's surprisingly tricky to work out what your needs are when you don't know what sort of band you'll end up in though!

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1434832022' post='2803221'] What if you're told there's something there , and there isn't ? What if it packs up/ makes dangerous noises when your banging away? [/quote] I've had an amp pack up mid-song on a festival stage, fortunately my DI was in front of the amp and I managed to finish the song by sight alone then ask the sound guy for some bass in the monitors. It wasn't much fun, admittedly!

One major advantage of using house rigs when available is the ability to get the bus to the gig, which means not having to faff about finding somewhere to park or get roped into driving anyone elses gear around and being able to have some beers. There are some gigs where that would tip the balance for me!

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) in the bottom of the slot with a drop of thin superglue sets to a substance which is probably harder than the original plastic and can be filed cleanly. I haven't read up on the chemistry of this, but there must be something going on as it sets much faster than the glue does normally and produces some heat. Do it somewhere well ventilated! It works very well though, I've done it a few times to build up over-deepened nut slots.

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1434535769' post='2800473'] I have a student who is broke but needs a set of strings. Does anyone have a mature set of any Innovation strings they would do for £50? [/quote] I have a well-used set of Honeys which are redundant as I'm firmly in the Spiro camp now, but I wouldn't ask that much for them. I'll PM you.

I've recently had to get rid of my piano, as we had to move at short notice to a smaller flat. I'd spent ages replacing felts, pitch-raising it back to concert pitch and teaching myself to tune it, and had just got it working nicely when we were given our eviction notice! Still, it was an educational experience and I've kept the tuning tools I picked up.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1434365310' post='2798881'] ... but who the heck ever carries their Twin by its unique handle, eh..? [/quote] Indeed, the time honoured manner seems to be to hoist the thing like a bag of cement whilst grunting prodigiously, then stand around clutching your groin for ten minutes. I'd still like one though, even if it only came out a couple of times a year while I gigged my smaller combo!

[quote name='chriswareham' timestamp='1434320009' post='2798673'] The notion of tonewoods has been comprehensively proven to be bollocks in the violin world [/quote] Reference, please.

Could the listeners see the basses during the test, or was there some sort of screen involved?

Do you play with the bow at all? I had a Kent Armstrong magnetic for a while, and it could sound good played pizz, but with the bow the response was really uneven and barely usable. If it wasn't for that, I'd have kept it for use in louder settings.

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1434121444' post='2796937'] And then you plug into a DI box (pre EQ which is usually the case) and the sound person reduces your fastidiously, sculptured, sound into an inaudible, mushy, mess. I quite like the sounds of flats when I have control of how I EQ them. But that rarely happens if I'm going through a venue's PA and my amp is there purely for onstage monitoring. [/quote] That can happen, but it's a sound guy issue rather than a string issue. I'd rather stick with the flats and be able to get my favoured sound under certain circumstances than use rounds and not be able to get the sound I like under any circumstances.

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1434118823' post='2796895'] You can get a flatwound sound from roundwounds, if you take all the tone off your bass. [/quote] I hear this a lot, but I don't agree. I like flatwounds with no muting, tone control on full and the treble boosted on the amp, so the sound is actually quite bright but not in a metallic or zingy way That provides a sound which I can't get from roundwounds - you can get the harmonic content similar with tone controls and EQ but the attack/decay envelope is quite different.

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.