Stub Mandrel

But so what? How else do you explain what its sounds like to someone who hasn't got a Fourier analyser and the knowledge to use it?

"But that's your job!"

I'm not convinced string length makes any overwhelming difference when we are talking such small differences. Whether I play Bb on the e-string sixth fret or a-string first fret on a standard bass the difference in sound is very subtle. Yet the difference in the vibrating string length and gauge are significantly bigger than between a 34" and 28" scale basses. The short scale bass may be lighter, but it's also going to be considerably stiffer (stiffness varies by the third power of length, other things being equal) so with the right choice of string gauge it could actually be brighter sounding. After all, who has noticed guitars (or mandolins) that lack brightness...

Basically, yes.

How do I 'learn the frequencies' as I don't have perfect pitch? The only practical answer is some sort of subjective guide to how sounds translate into frequencies, which is what that graphic tries to do. Every book I've read on sound engineering (OK only two) and most websites uses similar terms to try and help you translate what you hear into what frequencies to adjust. Put it this way... would you think your Lighting Engineer was being more objective if he said 'Increase the 550nm light source' if you asked for a green spotlight?

Technicians of Spaceship Hawkwind. Followers of Dr. Technical! (one of Brock's many aliases). Back in the early 80s the audience was split roughly into three, leather, labcoats and afghans 🙂 Sadly my afghan got attacked by rats and my labcoat is no more, so when I went to see Hawkwind for the first time in over 25 years last November I bought a NOS one from the 80s and used special fabric crayons to draw the cover of Warrior on the back. To my amazement I was the only person in a thousand or more wearing a labcoat!

Presumably the extra harmonics caused by that style of playing are in the honk-zone?

Yes... but ears are subjective. No point telling someone 'if it sounds like there's too much gain around 500Hz try -3dB at 500Hz.' Subjective descriptions let them put the sound in a ballpark, and even a pro engineer will know what frequency to tweak from a learned skill and listening to the song. If you want to be objective you can look at a Fourier analysis of the music and apply corrections until it matches the ideal profile for the genre... Yes, I know there are websites that will do that for you but hand's up who thinks they do a better job than pro engineers and their subjective ears?

Changing to a different one of my basses.

Those are by far the prettiest, IMHO. Basic price seems reasonable for a custom build too. Did you go for any extras?

Someone will be along to advise why you shouldn't play one finger per two frets...

Pale blue: Death metal. Grey: Heavy metal Brown: Rock Beige: Pop Purple: Prog I think blue is the basic range of the instrument, red is the range of significant harmonics.

I'm worried about the bits at top right. What are they? Interchangeable codpieces or tongue armour?

Cricket jokes? Douglas Adams barely pulled it off, not sure mere mortals can...

Lots and lots of extra little grace notes compared to the tab! Funky 🙂

In case of Sonic Attack it is imperative...

Oh so serious! I have a Hohner B2 which is about as tiny as a bass can get without being a 'compact'. Plus various mandolins and things, even a uke... They all look silly, but I don't care 🙂

That was probably part of my confusion... all this 'pop' music sounds the same to me anyway...

To my shame, reading this has finally made me realise that UK and Brand X are completely(ish) different bands... for some reason I always though Phil Collins drummed for UK and that In The Dead of Night was a Brand X song. I don sackcloth and ashes...

More to the point, why can't Americans spell 'Squire'? 🙂 Actually some digging shows that the spelling was originally 'squier' in Middle English (although spellings were not consistent back then) which may be why it ended up being used for some surnames.

I spent an afternoon playing with/jamming on a Mustang in a random studio 'somewhere in mid Wales' in 84 or 85. It was huge fun, and when I saw a Jag SS 18 months ago I had to try it out. Yes, it was funTM so I got it. Not sure I would like longer than 34" but I have long fingers and at 6'2" guitars and shorties look a bit small on me...

The frequency is probably the point where the straight line in off the left is notionally (it varies with the amount of cut/boost) 3dB down. If the full scale is 50dB, for the yellow and green I would say the 3bd point is probably not a long way from 40Hz on that plot. The magenta is a bit closer to 70-80Hz

IIRC most 'log' pots really just have the track with a different total resistance for each half to approximate a log response. So for simplicity I'll assume a 100K pot. A 50:50 pot would be 50K at mid point i.e. the same as linear. 80:20 would be 20K at the mid point. 60:40 would be 40k at mid point. The modern higher ration gives more sensitivity at the start (anticlockwise) while the older pots would be comparatively sensitive at the high end.

I was first exposed to Hawkwind really late - 1981. My first Hawkwind gig was on the Choose Your Masques tour at Hammy Oden, so pleased to have the live CD that eventually came out. I've seen Hawkwind more than any other band (although the Stranglers were close for a few years). I love both the wild and improvisational extended jams and the snappy Calvert songs. I drifted away a bit in the 90s, but in the last five or six years they have brought out a succession of excellent albums with The Machine Stops and the latest Carnivorous being up there with many of the 'classic' albums. I saw them in Glasgow last year and hope to see them again once this nonsense ends! My secret ambition is to start up a band playing very much in the Hawkwind mode.