nilebodgers

I originally learned to play bass before there were any affordable tuners. Trying to get the rest of the band to shut up long enough to tune by harmonics and ear was a nightmare. That is one bit of the good old days I'm certainly not going back to!

I'd agree with everyone else that has said some kind of P-Bass or J-Bass as a starting point. You can't go very wrong with either as a first bass. Ordinary nickel roundwound strings would be a good start, you can always turn the tone knob to take the high zing off if that is what you need to do to get a sound you like. Getting a good bass setup is very important though. If your bass is very hard to play (e.g. very high action or string height at the nut is too high) you are less likely to stick with it. For an amp I'd recommend something simple with a headphone socket and an aux input so you can connect a PC/iPad/whatever to allow you to play along with backing tracks or youTube lessons without annoying anyone else. I personally use headphones a lot as it is so revealing of sloppy muting or imprecise playing, it's a lot easier to fudge things with normal amplification. Also - get a tuner and get used to being in tune whenever you play.

Interesting, I saw the Talking bass course but didn't want to spend the money if I wasn't sure I'd finish it. I'm inching my way through the Ed Friedland book at the moment ("building walking bass lines"). I have had it for years, but never seemed to get round to applying myself to it until recently when I got back into bass again. The problem I have (apart from being really bad at reading music) is that I get distracted by cool funky basslines I can learn on YouTube & play quite convincingly rather than fumble my way through Jazz that I can hardly play at all.

I have done a similar thing on my 2012 mim P-bass (rosewood f’board). Stock it had a very square edge which dug in to my fingers, so I rounded it over slightly and that fixed the problem completely. I’d be very cautious doing that with a maple fingerboard though as it would take the protective varnish off and it could end up with discolouration where the hands touch the bare wood edge of the board. If I attempted it I think I would try and use some thin coats of wipe-on clear poly to protect the sanded bit.

My oldest guitar lead is a (blue) Klotz+Neutrik - it's 30 years old and good as new. I currently like the Van Damme XKE (classic instrument) cable, it's just as good and similar flexibility to the equivalent Klotz. (both have the extra semiconducting plastic shielding layer to reduce handling noise) I always make my own cables, I'd never buy anything like that from a guitar shop.

Awesome song. There is a lesson on youtube from "Cambridge Bass Lessons" on it. This is a cracking modern Ska/Punk track that is great fun to play:

Interesting. I've got one waiting to fit to my mexi P. I've got an Fender "original 62" (not the cs62) in there at the mo which I like, but its maybe a touch too "clanky" for my taste. For the price of the Tonerider I thought I'd give it a try.

+1 to the 'plucking the octave note' suggestion. Talkingbass.net has a lesson on "disco octave" basslines that would be well worth a look.

Good point. A lot of online discussion of setup parameters ignores this completely - a vibrating string has to have room to vibrate. I can get down to about 2mm at the 17th fret without significant buzzing (on a neck with perfectly level frets and about 0.3mm relief), but that's the lowest I can go due to my inherent heavy-handedness.

That Sire is really extreme. I just like it rounded to the point that there isn't a sharp edge that digs in to my fingers.

Mini angle grinder will make short work of the bolt if you can get it in there.

T-nuts are an inherently cheap&nasty item - I built a lot of PA cabs back in the day (over 50) and I could reckon on a significant percentage having a duff thread. I ended up testing them all first to save re-work time. Not an option that would work for real volume manufacture, but I'd do it on one-offs or small batches.

That nut is an abomination. Just saying. Although you could use any string thickness in any position which is a genuine innovation come to think of it.

Interesting thread. My old Yam BB1100s has a rolled edge and I'd never played a bass that didn't until I got a 2012 MIM Fender P - that had a very square edge and I found it quite uncomfortable to play. I took the the sharp edge off when I was tidying up the fretwork and it is great now.

I had a Hayman 40/40 bass, a Marshall 100W Super Bass head and a HH 4x12 Lead/Bass 200W cabinet. That was back in the late 70s. Not exactly very bassy, but it was loud and that was all I needed in my hard rock band.

Just nice tools to me, I'm not sentimental about them. I don't like having instruments around that aren't being played regularly, so I'd never have a collection of any size.

That gets better every time I look at it...mmmmmmm

That takes me back, I was a massive Free/Bad Co fan when I was a lad. I last played that song 40 years ago when I was still at school It's a less-is-more song anyway, so I'd save the bass fills to the repeats at the end and avoid cluttering it up. (I don't like the first obvious stand-out fill in the 1974 live version at all, I'd not be playing that) That later live version sounds quite stiff, so it looks like some of the swingy feel has been dropped over the years.

That was great, very upbeat and catchy.

That colour and scratchplate are terrific. It's a beautiful thing.

Crikey, that action looks high! It'll be so much easier to play if you get it set up so you don't need to fight it.

That's not a valid comparison though, in pro PA different sizes and types of drivers have crossovers/processing to ensure they work together. Also multiple drivers of the same type often have processing which varies with the number of drivers to get the overall required target response. (e.g. line length in multi-cabinet line arrays)

I do all my own fret work. It's not difficult, but you have to have developed the touch through practice. There are loads of youtube videos showing the process so you can see what is involved. A single high fret is relatively simple with minimal tools, but I wouldn't start out on a valuable instrument.

It's not even a complete replica for that £12k - where is the Yamaha BB3000 bridge pickup that was fitted to Phil's #1?