nilebodgers

Many moons ago when I lived in London I had some bass lessons from a guy that could play up a storm on the most complex jazzy fusion stuff. He was light years ahead of me in every respect.
 

He invited me along to see a band he was playing with (at Ronnie Scott’s I think) and I was very surprised by how simple and elegant his playing was in that context. I was expecting a chops-fest, but he didn’t play anything that would have even stretched my ability. 

It was quite heartening really.

Normally 17th fret on P & J basses. (according to Fender factory outline spec)

You have a contract with the bride - she needs to sort it out with the other parties that are trying to vary it. 

I always feel that the “how high should the action be” discussions are pretty futile as it is so personal.
 

2.3mm through 2mm E-G and 12-15 thou relief works fine for me with my moderately heavy hands and personal tolerance for buzzing and fret-slap, but someone with a light touch could undoubtedly go a lot flatter and lower. It would be unplayable buzz-city for me.

I like the idea of that check sheet.

Wow, that is pretty bad. It sounds like someone messing about demoing a bass in a music shop by playing a lick they haven’t quite mastered yet.

Yes, everything up to nut making and level and crown frets.

I hope to progress on to refrets when I get a workshop again. I have a couple of guitar necks I defretted ready to practice on.

After a bit of time playing them, I'm really enjoying flats. The smooth slideyness is really comfortable to play.

It's not a sound that would work for everything, but it sits well when the bass is required to be supportive rather than up front.

This is a cracking episode. I really enjoyed it.

The thing that gets me about Rick B is that when he plays along he syncs exactly with the track so it sounds like he is on it. I wish I could do that!

4 minutes ago, EssentialTension said:

 

So are you saying lower tension or higher tension?

Maybe a fraction higher for the flats, but close enough that the playing feel isn’t too different. I looked at the Rotosound string tension info and deliberately chose a slightly lighter set of flats than my usual rounds to keep the tension down. This is how it has played out in practice.

Yes - flush. Some of the aftermarket wiring looms don’t use the short bush length (6mm) pots though and the knob skirt ends up with a gap under it.

On 15/01/2022 at 14:10, EssentialTension said:

 

I'm surprised you call Roto 77 Jazz flats low tension. To me they always seem to be high tension.

I stuck 40-100 Roto 77s on my USA Jazz and the tension feels pretty much identical to the 45-105 stainless rounds that were on there before. The truss rod didn’t need touching.

After my successful experience of just changing the G, I have followed through and put a  full set of Rotosound 77 Jazz 40-100 flats on my J. Interestingly the neck didn’t move at all compared to the 45-105 rounds, so I didn’t even have to tweak the truss rod.

I like them for doing the Jazz exercises I have been practicing, it’s a more mellow sound (and no finger squeaks) and the initial pluck of the note seems more prominent compared to rounds, so it’s a tip of the hat to the attack of a double bass.

I can’t listen to that snare (sample?), it’s really annoying.

22 minutes ago, deepbass5 said:

 

 

We have been on this subject a few times. PAT & PLI So here is my bit again.  Not picking on these two individual comments but as examples of, so don't beat me up.

 

As an electrician and later a lecturer in H&S inc Electrical safety.  There are certified courses run to train individuals on PAT testing - been there done that.   Though this does not stop a competant individual doing this without a certificate but removes that ambiguity, one less thing to prove in court.   I have had individuals that were on the course that simply needed that certificate to get a job or extra pay for that role. So mindful of their reasons for being there my emphasis was always around due diligence, which is why all H&S law is written very openly, so you need to prove you have done all that was reasonably practical to avoid that situation that may occure. So I went to great lengths to emphasise that this was not about buying a tester and pressing a button. But inspection and understanding how the equipment would be used and where etc.  Many bits of kit i have tested and passed on the machine I have later, on inspection seen things that were dangerous inside and required rectifying or scrapping.

As a Band you have a collective responsibility to each other your audience and the venue.  Under H&S Law "by your acts and omissions"  So what you do and what you fail to do to avoid danger.  Prove that you care and are a professional outfit that people will want to hire.

If money is changing hands for you to perform, you are a business and the hirer or other third parties may wish to persue you for losses or damages. So get insured MU is good for legal advice. 

 

Playing the bass is the easy part 😁

That is not my comment quoted, my response to that mentioned the city&guilds testing course.

Lol. I always fancied a Shergold Marathon when I was a teenager, but that is comedy.

Gain is actually combined gain and master volume, you just turn it up until it is as loud as you need.

Lol. The plan for 2022 is just to stick a set of flatwounds on my Jazz and play it as a much as I can. I don’t need more gear.

You can’t go wrong with an old Peavey Bandit.

19 hours ago, gapiro said:

Because there is no such thing as a defined PAT test, there is no such thing as a course for it...

All the law says is that a competent (which is agian, undefined) person has inspected (undefined) the equipment at an appropriate (undefined) interval

This: https://www.cityandguilds.com/qualifications-and-apprenticeships/building-services-industry/electrical-installation/2377-electrical-equipment-maintenance-and-testing#tab=information

If you don’t have it already get a copy of iReal, it’s a great practice tool for jazz backing tracks.

I’d recommend this free course, you should be able to whizz through the first 2 modules on a superficial level and that should be enough to fake it.
 

https://www.walkingbasslessons.com/walking-bass-lines-course/

Mim-style tuners and headstock end truss rod adjust suggest mex.

I’d have used a thin cutoff disc in an angle grinder myself, good Allen keys are going to be hardened steel.

I am in the middle of an experiment on my J. I’ve been grumbling about the “twangy” character of the G string (elixir stainless roundwound) not sounding the same as the other strings and not being right for the Jazz exercises I have been working on. Instead of trying a full set of flats I bought a 0.040 single Rotosound 77 flat string (similar tension to a 45 roundwound) and fitted it tonight.

Sounds surprisingly good, tonally it’s very similar to the other well played-in rounds so more even across the neck. I’ll play it for a bit to see if it goes too dead, but it’s promising so far.