Mottlefeeder

[quote name='jono b' post='196312' date='May 11 2008, 01:43 AM']I'm thinking about getting my gear covered against theft, breakdown etc. and I want to know what my options are. I'm currently looking at the Musicguard website and for the total amount of my gear (£1200-ish) I'm looking at £6.59 a month via Direct Debit, or £70 in one go. Clearly at that price it's pretty much a no-brainer, and that's including my gear being covered away from the 'insured location' (my house), in-vehicle and breakdown cover. Does anyone else use Musicguard, or what alternatives are there?[/quote] I don't play for money, so my gear is covered on my house contents all risks section, and on my car insurance during transport providing I list 'musician' as a second occupation. Obviously that won't suit everyone, but it's a cheap option for those it does suit.

[quote name='Macko1968' post='196215' date='May 10 2008, 08:31 PM']Just wondering who you buyers & sellers use to ship guitars? I know Parcelforce are cheap but their £150 maximum compensation limit makes them a no-go & the major couriers seem shockingly expensive.[/quote] Have you seen [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5572&hl=couriers"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...amp;hl=couriers[/url] ?

[quote name='XB26354' post='193293' date='May 6 2008, 08:44 PM']...With regard to strap height, too high is even worse than too low, as it pushes the headstock (and therefore lowest frets) as far away from your fretting hand as is possible. A lower strap (with the body of the bass around the waist) allows you to angle the neck up towards you. This also puts a comfortable bend in the fretting arm and straightens the fretting wrist (ironically bringing the playing position a little closer to double bass).[/quote] Whilst I agree that you can pull the neck towards you if the body is lower, I have great difficulty in playing that way. I got rid of a bass because it was neck heavy, and I was not comfortable with that. YMMV, but it is a point worth considering.

[quote name='Pedro1020' post='194930' date='May 8 2008, 07:35 PM']Ok, well with the purchase of my 1986 Streamer, I feel it needs a wax. Rather than getting Warwick wax, whats a decent alternative?..if any..colron? :blush: Im quite a wax virgin. Oh yeah, I'll post up porn pics of my Two "W's" tomorrow Thanks in advance.[/quote] I used boiled linseed oil on the (wenge) neck, and Colron wax polish on the (bubinga) body. That was fine. Over on Talkbass, these was a thread where the consensus seemed to be anything that would feed the wood would do. One guy was using gun-stock oil.

[quote name='Merton' post='193741' date='May 7 2008, 12:02 PM']It's for new products only, it came into force in July 2006. Anything that's sold new in the EU from that date has to be compliant, no matter where it was built.[/quote] My understanding is that the above may not be strictly true. If you are refurbishing something, you may also have to update the old to comply with the new standards. This first came to light when organ builders discovered that they were expected to replace all the lead-soldered pipes in church organs if the refurbishment of the organ strayed over some threshold value or proportion. I'm not sure whether this has been resolved, and I am not tracking it, so my information should be treated as suspect until proven otherwise.

[quote name='NJE' post='191868' date='May 4 2008, 09:47 PM']I am really not having a huge amount of luck looking for a five string. I just got beaten to a G&L on the bay because windows decided to have a fit. I have another thread going enquiring about laklands, musicman etc but wanted to know about these german bad boys im seing around. Anyway, I have been slightly turned on by a Streamer 5 and was just wondering what the 5 string warwicks are like having only played a 4. Are the B-strings any good and what are the necks like on them? are they beefy affairs or quite slick. It is a bolt on and wenge neck so just interested to know what they are like. Looking to try one on tuesday but thought I would get a heads up first. What are peoples thoughts on Warwicks in general? Im looking for something different from my musicman. I look forward to hearing what everyone thinks. Cheers Nathan.[/quote] I have no experience of Streamers, but I had both 4- and 5-string Corvettes. The body size was the same on both, so when I went for the wider 5-string neck, (and a lighter swamp ash body) I ended up with a neck heavy bass. The B string was great, but the bridge was designed for a tapered string, so you are either limited in what you fit to it, or have to file out the slot that the string feeds through. Neither of these may be relevant to Streamers, but I have a feeling they will be.

[quote name='Oscar South' post='185694' date='Apr 26 2008, 02:01 AM']How hard would it be to make the opposite of one of these (high impedance to low) for use with piezo pickups?[/quote] Fdeck over on Talkbass has one on his web pages - PM sent

My experience with induction loops in our church is that hum-bucking pups are a major advantage, in that they reject any loop signals. On that basis, stay with the P bass unless your other bass is similarly equipped. Also, a passive bass with the volume at 0 will still pick up from the loop because of the way the volume control is wired. If you need to kill the volume between songs, do it with a pedal, or on the pre-amp. Finally, when I have played outdoors using a cheap power generator, I have found that the buzz increased when I took my hands off the strings - all my gear was checked and working - so you may find that you can lose some of the buzz by not putting the bass down between songs.

The Warwick wood sound is one most people either love or hate. However, the cheaper Rockbass series have a couple of fretless 5-stringers, and are conventional alder/maple/rosewood. They might be worth a look. I think there is also a 5-string fretless Dean and an Aria in, or close to, your price range. Another alternative that might be worth considering is to abandon the G-string and buy a 4-string fretless, tuned BEAD. That would give you more choice, and higher quality for the amount you want to spend.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='185906' date='Apr 26 2008, 01:29 PM']Would that have been a NT 5 string Thumb destined for Flo? [/quote] No - a 4-string fretless Bubinga Corvette and a 5-string fretless Swamp-ash Corvette. My orignal post was about the 4-string, which went to a long serving menber of their forum, and the 5-string to a newby who posted in 'wanted'. He lives just down the road from me and paid cash when he collected.

I just sold a bass on the Warwick forum, half the cash up front, by bank transfer, half the cash on delivery, by bank transfer, and about 10 e-mails between us so we both knew what was going on. I would not feel comfortable with that kind of deal on ebay - perhaps I am over-cautious. David

Yesterday I Googled TRB1005F, and started phoning the suppliers whos names came up. Virtually all of the ones I was able to contact had no stock, but would order it in. The exception was the Bass Gallery, who had one in stock, were able to talk knowledgeably about that bass and its competitors, offered the bass at a good price, and got my business.

I phoned Mark at GAK, and they have no stock of TRB5FIIs, nor does he remember them ever having them. He contacted Yamaha UK who confirmed that they were discontinued, and no stock remained for the UK. I had also asked about the TRB1005F, so Mark got the story on that too. The fretted version ships in bulk, and can be found for £500. the fretless version is rare, (Yamaha UK have not seen one for the last 6 months) and Mark could sell me one for £600 (rrp £739). However, the lead time is currently 6 months. Based on the above, it sounds as if I need to find a good 2nd hand 5-string Yamaha, and pay to have it defretted. I could probably even buy a new TRB1005 and have it defretted and not be far over £600 total. And I thought I was sorted...

Thanks for these - its given me lots to think about. My existing RBX 765A is Alder/Maple/Rosewod, and that has never bothered me. The GAK description talks about a 1998 specification change, and the picture is a TRB5F (Mk I), so I think my first job is to contact them and confirm what it is they are selling. I've tried e-mailing them, and got a reply asking me to phone them!

[quote name='Mottlefeeder' post='181037' date='Apr 20 2008, 02:29 PM']Any of you Yamaha enthusiasts may be able to help me - I am looking for a 5-string fretless, and have two Yamahas on my short list. The TRB 5FII is discontinued, but still available from GAK at £650, and the TRB 1005F seems to be its replacement, and is being discounted to £500 at places like Dolphin. Is the TRB 5FII a better bass, and if so, what more do I get for the extra £150?[/quote] We're writing so much this evening that this has already slipped off the radar - bump for comments please.

Any of you Yamaha enthusiasts may be able to help me - I am looking for a 5-string fretless, and have two Yamahas on my short list. The TRB 5FII is discontinued, but still available from GAK at £650, and the TRB 1005F seems to be its replacement, and is being discounted to £500 at places like Dolphin. Is the TRB 5FII a better bass, and if so, what more do I get for the extra £150?

[quote name='jimbartlett' post='174447' date='Apr 11 2008, 11:59 AM']Thanks, I think that is good advice. I have pretty much resigned myself to kicking myself up the @rse to change batteries![/quote] An alternative is a cheap battery tester. It will not tell you the remaining capacity, but if you check the voltage before every gig, you will see how slowly the voltage reading goes down over time. That will tell you whether you have enough capacity to play another gig befoe changing it. Oh yes, you need to carry a spare battery too!

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='172845' date='Apr 9 2008, 08:52 AM']Or... Take the saddle piece out of its mounting block and open it out with a file. I'd like to think that spares are easy to come by, given that they're common to all Warwick designs (except the Triumph, Nobby M and Alien and anything approx pre '91), so you could put a new one in if you go for a lower gauge. Besides, don't they ship with .125" B strings on the 5s and 6s? .005 is quite a tight tolerance. Nut-wise, the old Just-a-nut I would take anything as all the grooves are the same width !? I can't vouch for the Just-a-nut II, though![/quote] Just-a-nut one has differing width string grooves. I asked when I wanted to tune my 4-string BEAD, and Warwick DE sent me a larger A-string screw.

[quote name='loafer' post='171137' date='Apr 7 2008, 08:23 AM']I have a problem that I have not seen discussed in bass forums, but I did eventually find some info. in a cellist's site - this is a fairly common problem for them, I read. At about the seventh fret on my A string I get a very loud, colourless note, with great sustain. It is as if the neck, body, string, pickup, cabinet and driver are on on exactly the same wavelentgh; I cannot hear any harmonics or colour to the note. It repeats to a lesser degree in the higher octaves of this note. By varying my amp EQ settings I can move the wolf howl up a fret or two, with a reduced effect, also different strings can improve this - but - I don't want my strings or EQ settings forced on me by my bass (I assume it is my bass). Cellists use a weight attched to the string between the bridge and 'the end bit', or fix a weight inside their instrument or 'sqeeze between the knees at this note', none of which apply to my solid bass! My bass is a 'Yamaha Attitude Special' (Yamaha p'ups), and a 'Rock' 100w 12" combo amp. I am a hobby player, at home only, so I notice my sound a lot (no competeing drummers/drinkers). I have had this bass for a few years and noticed this for a year or so - I suspect my 'ear' has improved to reveal this effect. Has anyone any advice or understanding of this probelm please? Thanks, Loafer[/quote] I have the same problem on a Yamaha RBX 765, but only with certain types of strings. It happens with Rotosound swingbass 66s, and it happens with Warwick Black label, and it happens with LaBella Deep Talkin, but not with Ernie Ball slinkies, so that's what I now use. If you want to confirm that you have identified the cause, clamp a weight on the headstock, and the resonance should move - that is what a bad-finger is designed to do, but it adds weight to the headstock, which could change the balance of the instrument. Your best option is to find a set of strings that don't do this, and stick with them - the alternative is to sell the bass, because it will annoy you from now on. It is also worth pointing out that my bass tutor could not hear it, and cutting through the mix, it is unlikely that the audience would hear it either, but I know how annoying it is. Good luck.

[quote name='ahpook' post='170219' date='Apr 5 2008, 12:47 PM']i've got an old HH 15" bass cab that i've had sitting around for a while - i never really use it as it's only rated at 150W. i'm thinking of upgrading the speaker to something in the region of 400W. would there be any issues with bunging a much larger speaker in a box only rated for 150W (speaker parameters and box tuning aside)[/quote] It shouldn't be a problem, unless the glue joints have weakened over time.